Single Emblem View

« Previous EmblemNext Emblem »
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [n1r p193]

Ex damno alterius utilitas.

One man’s loss is another man’s gain

XII.

Dum saevis ruerent in mutua vulnera telis,
Ungue leaena ferox, dente timendus aper,
Accurrit vultur spectatum, & prandia captat.
Gloria victoris, praeda futura sua est.[1]

While a lioness, vicious in claw, and a boar, fearsome for its tusks, were setting upon each other, inflicting mutual wounds with their savage weapons, a vulture hurried up to watch, lurking in expectation of a meal. The victor’s glory will belong to the one that gets the spoil.

Notes:

1.  Cf. Aesop 200 and 203.

« Previous EmblemNext Emblem »

Related Emblems

Show related emblems Show related emblems

Hint: You can set whether related emblems are displayed by default on the preferences page

Iconclass Keywords

Relating to the image:

    Relating to the text:

    Hint: You can turn translations and name underlining on or off using the preferences page.

    Single Emblem View

    « Previous EmblemNext Emblem »
    Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [B1v f9v]

    Scyphus Nestoris.

    Nestor’s cup

    A large vessel with birds perched around it.
    [Click on image to enlarge]

    Nestoreum geminis cratera hunc accipe fundis, [1]
    Quod gravis argenti massa profudit opus.
    Claviculi ex auro: stant circum quattuor ansae:
    Unam quanque super fulva columba sedet.
    Solus eum potuit longaevus tollere Nestor.
    Maeonidae doceas quid sibi musa velit.
    Est coelum scyphus ipse. color argenteus illi est:
    Aurea sunt coeli sidera claviculi.
    Pleiadas esse putant, quas dixerit ille columbas.[2]
    Umblici [=Umbilici] gemini,[3] magna minorque fera est.[4]
    Haec Nestor longo sapiens intelligit usu.
    Bella gerunt fortes, callidus astra tenet.

    Receive this bowl of Nestor with its double support, a work which a heavy mass of silver shaped. Its studs are of gold. Four handles stand about it. Above each one sits a yellow dove. Only aged Nestor was able to lift it. Do tell us what Homer’s Muse intended. The cup itself is the heavens; its colour is silvery; the studs are the golden stars of heaven. They think that what he called doves are the Pleiades. The twin bosses are the great and lesser beast. The wise Nestor understood this by long experience: the strong wage war, the wise man grasps the stars.

    Notes:

    1.  Nestor’s bowl is described at Homer, Iliad, 11.632-7. Only Nestor, for all his great age could lift it when full. For the interpretation of Nestor’s cup (or mixing bowl) given here, see Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, 11.487 F ff.

    2.  The Greek word for ‘doves’ is πελειάδες.

    3.  ‘twin bosses’, i.e. possibly the protuberances inside the bowl where it was joined to the two supports.

    4.  ‘great and lesser beast’, i.e. the Great and Little Bear, a phrase based on Ovid, Tristia, 4.3.1: ‘magna minorque ferae’.

    « Previous EmblemNext Emblem »

    Related Emblems

    Show related emblems Show related emblems

    Hint: You can set whether related emblems are displayed by default on the preferences page

    Iconclass Keywords

    Relating to the image:

    Relating to the text:

    Hint: You can turn translations and name underlining on or off using the preferences page.

     

    Back to top