Link to an image of this page [B8v p32]
Non vulganda consilia.
Keep counsels secret.
VIII.
Limine quod caeco, obscura & caligine monstrum[1]
Gnosiacis clausit Daedalus in latebris:
Depictum Romana phalanx in praelia gestat,
Semiviroque nitent signa superba[2] bove.
Nosque monent, debere ducum secreta[3] latere
Consilia, authori cognita techna nocet.
The monster that Daedalus imprisoned in its Cretan lair, with hidden entrance and obscuring darkness, the Roman phalanx carries painted into battle; the proud standards flash with the half-man bull. These remind us that the secret plans of leaders must stay hid. A ruse once known brings harm to its author.
Link to an image of this page [C1r p33]
Kriegs anschleg sol man nít
offenbaren.
VIII.
In dem banier der Rhomer gmalt
Ein Minotaurus stuend mit art,
Den in ein yrrgarten der alt
Dedalus het gar wol verwart:
Solchs zaygt, das man der widerpart
Zu veld der hauptleut bschluß nit sag,
Vil schwetzen wird hie wol gespart,
Oder schaden bald kummen mag.
1. ‘The monster that Daedalus imprisoned’, i.e. the Minotaur, the half-man, half-bull monster kept in the famous Labyrinth at Knossos, which Daedalus, the Athenian master-craftsman, constructed for King Minos.
2. According to Pliny, Natural History 10.5.16, before the second consulship of Marius (104 BC) Roman standards bore variously eagles, wolves, minotaurs, horses and boars. Marius made the eagle universal.
3. Cf. Festus, De verborum significatu (135 Lindsay): the Minotaur appears among the military standards, because the plans of leaders should be no less concealed than was the Minotaur’s lair, the Labyrinth.
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- Rome (one of the four world empires) [23S14] Search | Browse Iconclass
- chest, bust (+ nude human being) [31A222(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards (+ indicating, pointing at) [31A2515(+931)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- index finger forwards, pointing, indicating [31A25552] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monsters ~ domestic animals [31A4521] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beard [31A534] Search | Browse Iconclass
- banner, standard (as symbol of the state, etc.) (+ nation; national) [44A31(+2)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- Secret [52DD11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Taciturnity; 'Secretezza', 'Secretezza overo Taciturnitৠ(Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52DD3(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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