Link to an image of this page [C7v f23v]Salix.
The willow
Qụd frugisperdam salicem vocitarit Homerus,[1]
Clitoriis homines moribus adsimulat.[2]
When Homer called the willow ‘seed-loser’, he made it like men with Clitorian habits.
1. Homer, Odyssey, 10.510. See Pliny, Natural History, 16.46.110: the willow drops its seed before it is absolutely ripe, and for that reason was called by Homer ‘seed-loser’.
2. The waters of Lake Clitorius in Arcadia generated an aversion to wine in those who drank of them. See Pliny, Natural History, 31.13.16; Ovid, Metamorphoses, 15.322ff. The combination of the two images here may symbolise minds and characters gone to the bad and producing nothing of value. See Erasmus, Parabolae, p. 268: “As willow-seed, shed before it ripens, is not only itself barren but when used as a drug causes barrenness in women by preventing conception, so the words of those who teach before they have truly learnt sense not only make them no better in themselves, but corrupt their audience and render it unteachable”; and p. 230: “Those who have drunk of the Clitorian Lake develop a distaste for wine, and those who have once tasted poetry reject the counsels of philosophy, or the other way round. Equally, those who gorge themselves with fashionable pleasures reject those satisfactions which are honourable and genuine.”
Related Emblems
Show related emblemsHint: You can set whether related emblems are displayed by default on the preferences page
Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- trees: willow (+ plants used symbolically) [25G3(WILLOW)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- low hill country [25H114] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- sobriety; 'SobrietĂ ', 'Astinenza' (Ripa) [31B59] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Licentiousness, Lasciviousness; 'Lascivia', 'Licenza' (Ripa) [57AA51] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Non-procreation (+ emblematical representation of concept) [58AA2(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- (story of) Homer representations to which the NAME of a person from classical history may be attached [98B(HOMER)3] Search | Browse Iconclass
Hint: You can turn translations and name underlining on or off using the preferences page.
Link to an image of this page [C6r f22r]Buxus.
The box-tree
Perpetuo viridis, crispoque cacumine buxus,
Unde est disparibus fistula facta modis,[1]
Deliciis apta est teneris, & amantibus arbor.
Pallor inest illi, pallet & omnis amans.
[2]
The box-tree is evergreen, with crinkly shoots. From it was made the pipe with its variously pitched notes. It is a tree appropriate to tender delights and to lovers. Box-wood is pale and so is every lover.
Related Emblems
Show related emblemsHint: You can set whether related emblems are displayed by default on the preferences page
Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- groups of plants (herbs) [25G13] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees (+ bare plant) [25G3(+351)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- shrubs: box (+ plants used symbolically) [25G31(BOX)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- boulder, stone [25H1124] Search | Browse Iconclass
- (high) hill [25H113] Search | Browse Iconclass
- farm or solitary house in landscape [25I3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- rural housing, e.g. country-house, villa, cottage [41A16] Search | Browse Iconclass
- topiary work (shrubs and trees trimmed and trained into ornamental shape); bonsai, espalliered, etc. [41A672] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- lovers; courting, flirting [33C2] Search | Browse Iconclass
- panpipes [48C7353] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Pleasure, Enjoyment, Joy; 'Allegrezza', 'Allegrezza da le medaglie', 'Allegrezza, letitia e giubilo', 'Diletto', 'Piacere', 'Piacere honesto' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [56B1(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Hint: You can turn translations and name underlining on or off using the preferences page.
