Link to an image of this page [E8v p80]
Vespertilio.
The bat
EMBLEMA LXI.
Assumpsisse suum volucri ex Meneide nomen,[1]
Socraticum auctores Chaerephoonta ferunt.[2]
Fusca viro facies, & stridens vocula, tali
Hunc hominem potuit commaculare nota.
Writers tell us that Chaerephon, Socrates’ follower, got his particular name from the winged daughter of Minyas. It was his sallow complexion and squeaky little voice that gave rise to such a slur to sully his reputation.
1. For the transformation of the daughters of Minyas (the founder of the earliest race of Greeks) into bats - for refusing to worship Dionysus - see Ovid, Metamorphoses, 4.389ff.
2. Chaerophon, a distinguished disciple of Socrates, was nick-named ‘The Bat’ and ‘Boxwood’ for his pale complexion and poor health, supposedly brought on by excessive study. See Aristophanes, Aves, 1564; Philostratus, Vitae sophistarum, 1.482.
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- night [23R14] Search | Browse Iconclass
- waning moon, i.e. facing this way ( [24B3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- flying mammals: bat (+ animals used symbolically) [25F28(BAT)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- flying mammals: bat (+ postures, positions of animal(s)) [25F28(BAT)(+53)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- low hill country [25H114] Search | Browse Iconclass
- landscape with tower or castle [25I5] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Relating to the text:
- study and diversion [49A1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- studying at night [49B4411] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Minyas' daughters changed into bats: having aroused Bacchus' anger by weaving instead of worshipping him, the daughters of Minyas, Leuconoe (Leucippe), Alcithoe and Arsippe, are changed into bats by the god (Ovid, Metamorphoses IV 399) [97CC7] Search | Browse Iconclass
- male persons from classical history (with NAME) representations to which the NAME of a person from classical history may be attached [98B(CHAEREPHON)3] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Link to an image of this page [G6v p108]
Consilio & virtute Chimeram superari, id est,
fortiores & deceptores.
Wisdom and courage defeat Chimaera (i.e. the powerful and deceivers).
Bellerophon ut fortis eques superare Chimeram,
Et Licii potuit sternere monstra soli.[1]
Sic tu Pegaseis vectus petis aethera pennis,
Consilioque animi[2] monstra superba domas.
Bellerophon, that bold horseman, was able to overcome the Chimaera and lay low the monsters of the Lycian land. You likewise, borne on wings of Pegasus, seek the high heavens and, by the counsel of reason, tame proud monsters.
1. The King of Lycia imposed on Bellerophon, among other tasks, that of killing the Chimaera, a fire-breathing monster with a lion’s head, serpent’s tail and goat’s body. He achieved this last with the aid of the winged horse Pegasus, which Athena, goddess of wisdom, helped him to catch.
2. ‘by the counsel of reason’. The name Bellerophon was interpreted by some as ‘bringer of counsel’. The Chimaera symbolised various uncontrolled passions.
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- Strength, Power; 'Fortezza', 'Fortezza d'Animo e di corpo', 'Fortezza del corpo congiunta con la generositą dell'animo', 'Fortezza & valore del corpo congiunto con la prudenza & virtł del animo', 'Forza' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54A7(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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