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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [i5v p138]

Qui alta contemplatur[1]
cadere.

He who contemplates the heights comes to grief

LXXXIII.

Huntsman shooting an arrow at a crane but being bitten by a snake at the same time.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Dum turdos visco, pedica dum fallit alaudas,
Et iacta altivolam figit harundo gruem,
Dipsada non prudens auceps pede perculit: ultrix
Illa mali, emissum virus ab ore iacit.
Sic obit extento qui sydera respicit arcu,
Securus fati quod iacet ante pedes.[2]

While he tricks thrushes with bird-lime, larks with snares, while his speeding shaft pierces the high-flying crane, the careless bird-hunter steps on a snake; avenging the injury, it spits the darting venom from its jaws. So he dies, a man who gazes at the stars with bow at the ready, oblivious of the mishap lying before his feet.

COMMENTARIA.

Auceps quidam dum turdis visco & alau-
dis pedica, laqueis quibus pedibus capiuntur
insidiatur, dumque sagitta volantem gruem
transfigere cupit, imprudens pedibus pressit
iacentem in herbis Dipsadam (colubris seu
serpentis genus est morsu suo inextinguibi-
lem sitim adferens: ut Lucanus lib. 9.) quae do-
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [i6r p139]lore irrita ulciscitur, oreque venenoso momor-
dit eum, sic ille parum providus, qui dum ar-
cu extenso insublimi alterum venari vult, pe-
riculum ante pedes non considerans, ipse pe-
rit. Similis extat fabella Aesopica de Aucupe
& Vipera. Fertur huiusmodi ferè de Thalete
Philosopho clarissimo, qui prius Astrologiae
inventor, eiusque peritissimus fuit, cùm nocte
quadam à vetula ut astra contemplaretur ex-
tra domum ductus in foveam incidit, quem
lugentem derisit anus, dicens quomodo ô
Thales quae alto in coelo sunt agnosces, cùm
ea quae ante pedes adsunt considerare ne-
queas? enarrat inter alios Diogenes Laërtius li-
bro 1. de vita Philosophorum.

Notes:

1.  Other editions read contemplantur (plural).

2.  See Anthologia graeca 7.172 and Aesop, Fables 137.

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [G5r p105]

La figura de la Esperança.

TERCETOS.

Dialogo. Lettor. Esperança.

Group of statues. Two women, one sitting holding a snake, one standing holding a staff. One child and a man holding a cup and a sheaf of corn.
[Click on image to enlarge]

L. Quien eres tu que a’l cielo estas alçada?
Con que pinzel fue fecha tu figura?
E. Elpidio[1] me pintò. yo soy llamada
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [G5v p106] La Esperança que no ay cosa dura
Que facil no la buelva y la enternezca.
L. Por que hizo verde (di) tu vestidura?
E. No ay cosa que por mi no reverdezca.
L. Por que las flechas de la Muerte ayrada
Quebradas traes?[2] E. Porque a’l bivo crezca
Solamente Esperança, que acabada
La vida, que esperar acà no queda.
L. En la tinaja por que estàs sentada?
E. Volando el mal yo sola estuve queda:
Como lo canta d’el Ascręo la Musa.[3]  [M]
L. Que ave es esa (di) tan mansa y leda?
E. Es la Corneja[4], que contino usa
El dar buena Esperança, por que quando
No es, dize serà con voz confusa.
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [G6r p107] L. Quien son los que te estan acompañando?
E. Cobdicia y Buen succeso,[5] y van delante
Los que velando estan, y estan soñando.
L. Quien es esotra que con faz constante
Te mira y te acompaña y junta viene?
E. Es la que venga el mal en un instante,  [M]
Y solo da à sperar lo que conviene.

[Marginalia - link to text]Hesiodo.

[Marginalia - link to text]Nemesis.

Notes:

1.  Elpidius is an invented name derived from Greek ἐλπίς, ‘hope’.

2.  For Death’s arrows cf. [A49a065], [A49a066].

3.  See Hesiod, Opera et dies 90ff. for the story of Pandora’s box or jar

4.  The crow was a bird of prophecy and an emblem of hope. Its caw was interpreted as cras, cras, ‘tomorrow, tomorrow’. Cf. the proverb, Quod hodie non est, cras erit: ‘What is not today shall be tomorrow.’

5.  Bonus Eventus or Bonne Aventure, cf. Evento Buono in Ripa, Iconologia; also called ‘Success’ or ‘Happy Ending’.

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