Link to an image of this page [H8v p128]
In senatum boni principis.
On the senate of a good prince
LIX.
Effigies manibus truncae ante altaria divûm
Hîc resident, quarum lumine capta prior.
Signa potestatis summae, sanctique senatus
Thebanis fuerant ista reperta viris.[1]
Cur resident? quia mente graves decet esse quieta
Iuridicos, animo nec variare levi.
Cur sine sunt manibus? capiant ne xenia: nec se
Pollicitis flecti muneribusve sinant.
Caecus at est princeps, quòd solis auribus absque
Affectu, constans iussa senatus agit.
Figures without hands sit here before the altars of the gods. The chief of them is deprived of sight. These symbols of the supreme power and of the reverend senate were discovered by men of Thebes. - Why do they sit? - Because lawgivers should be serious, of a calm mind, and not change with inconstant thoughts. - Why have they no hands? - So that they may not take gifts, nor let themselves be influenced by promises or bribes. But the president is blind, because the Senate, by hearing alone, uninfluenced by feeling, impartially discharges what it is bidden to do.
Link to an image of this page [I1r p129]
Le parlement du bon prince.
LIX.
Ces gens sans mains qui sont assis,
Sont ceulx dont justice est pourveue:
Ilz seent ayans le sens rassis:
En don chose n’est d’eulx receue.
Leur prince privé de sa veue,
Ne peult apercevoir personne:
Et juge par sentence deue,
Selon que en l’oreille on luy sonne.
1. This is Thebes in Egypt. See Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 10; also Erasmus, Adagia 2601, Scarabaeus aquilam quaerit.
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- sitting on an elevation [31A2352] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward [31A2512] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm or hand held in front of the body [31A2516] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm or hand held in front of the body (+ holding something) [31A2516(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- blind, blindness [31A41110] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mutilated person [31A419:31A2245] Search | Browse Iconclass
- 'Acheiroi', i.e. creatures without hands [31A4414] Search | Browse Iconclass
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