Link to an image of this page [D4v p56]
Ex arduis perpetuum nomen.
Lasting renown won through tribulation
Crediderat platani ramis sua pignora passer,
Et bene, ni saevo visa dracone forent.
Glutiit hic pullos omnes, miseramque parentem
Saxeus, & tali dignus obire nece.
Haec, nisi mentitur Calchas, monumenta laboris
Sunt longi, cuius fama perennis erat.[1]
A sparrow had entrusted her young to the branches of a plane-tree, and all would have been well, if they had not been observed by a merciless snake. This creature devoured all the chicks and the hapless parent too, a stony-hearted beast, turned to stone as it deserved. Unless Calchas speaks falsely, these are the tokens of long toil, the fame of which lasted through all the years.
Link to an image of this page [D5r p57]
Nom perpetuel des choses
difficiles.
Ce qui doit durer a tousjours,
Et par gloire estre pardurable,
Ne peult venir en peu de jours,
Ains fault labeur contollerable.
Calchas en veist loeuvre admirable,
Es oyseaulx dung dragon mengez,
Au temps que par guerre incurable,
Les Troyens furent assiegez.
1. See Homer, Iliad 2.299ff. for this portent which occurred at Aulis, where the Greek fleet was waiting to sail for Troy. Calchas the seer interpreted the eating of the eight chicks and their mother, followed by the death of the snake, as foretelling the nine-year battle for Troy, followed by success.
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- song-birds: sparrow (+ young animal) [25F32(SPARROW)(+21)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- song-birds: sparrow (+ feeding and care of young) [25F32(SPARROW)(+42)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- song-birds: sparrow (+ nest, den, burrow) [25F32(SPARROW)(+421)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- snakes (+ animal with prey) [25F42(+452)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- snakes (+ climbing animal(s)) [25F42(+5222)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dragon [25FF411] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees (+ stem, trunk) [25G3(+21)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- flowers [25G41] Search | Browse Iconclass
- a snake is turned into stone by Jupiter, after swallowing eight young birds and their mother (when the Greeks are assembled in Aulis before sailing to Troy) [97N72] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- Industriousness, Assiduity; 'Assiduità', 'Industria', 'Zelo' (Ripa) [54A11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Difficulty (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54DD4(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Punishment; 'Castigo', 'Pena', 'Punitione' (Ripa) [57BB13] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Fame; 'Fama', 'Fama buona', 'Fama chiara' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [59B32(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sacrifice to Jupiter and Apollo: a snake swallows a nest of eight young birds and their mother; the augur Calchas explains the portent [94D12] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Section: GULA (Gluttony). View all emblems in this section.
Link to an image of this page [G2r p99]
Ocni effigies. De his qui meretri-
cibus donant, quod in bonos
usus verti debeat.[1]
A representation of Ocnus. On those who give to whores what should be turned to good use.
Impiger haud cessat funem contexere sparto,
Humidaque artifici iungere fila manu.[2]
Sed quantum multis vix torquet strenuus horis,
Protinus ignavi ventris asella vorat.
Foemina iners animal facili congesta marito
Lucra rapit, mundum prodigit inque suum.
Ocnus never stops busily plaiting rope from broom, joining the damp fibres with skilful hand. But what he manages to spin with great effort in many hours the she-ass, a beast with greedy guts, continuously consumes. - Woman, an idle creature, grabs the accumulated savings from her complaisant husband and squanders it on her own adornment.
1. The painting by Polygnotus depicting this scene is described in Pausanias, Periegesis 29.2. See also Propertius, Elegies 4.3.21; Erasmus, Adagia 383, Contorquet piger funiculum. Ocnus, idleness personified, was a proverbial example of wasted effort.
2. Variant reading, artificis ... manu, ‘with a craftman’s hand’.
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- groups of birds (+ flying animal(s)) [25F31(+5262)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- (high) hill [25H113] Search | Browse Iconclass
- city-walls [25I146] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting on an elevation [31A2352] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched sidewards (+ holding something) [31A2513(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- one leg in front of the other, walking position (+ standing) [31A26211(+51)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- drawing, pulling something [31A2747] Search | Browse Iconclass
- pushing something [31A2748] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward - AA - both arms or hands (+ holding something) [31AA2512(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- looking downwards [31B6212] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult man (+ two persons) [31D14(+72)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown (+ men's clothes) [41D211(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head-gear (+ men's clothes) [41D221(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clothing for the upper part of the body (+ men's clothes) [41D223(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trousers, breeches (+ men's clothes) [41D231(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- gear for legs and feet (+ men's clothes) [41D233(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- ass, donkey (+ animals eating and drinking) [46C13142(+745)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- tools, aids, implements ~ crafts and industries: rope [47D8(ROPE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- spinning (manufacture of yarn) (+ men (labourers)) [47H31(+21)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- (ball of) yarn (+ reeds, rushes ~ crafts, industries, agriculture) [47H352(+442)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- rope-making [47H41] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Ocnus, usually twisting a cord which is eaten by an ass as soon as it is being made [9.30E+87] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- shrubs (with NAME) [25G31(BROOM)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- whore, prostitute [33C520] Search | Browse Iconclass
- marriage, married couple, 'matrimonium' [42D3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Industriousness, Assiduity; 'Assiduità ', 'Industria', 'Zelo' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54A11(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Sluggishness, Inertia; 'Dapocaggine', 'Pigritia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54AA11(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Squandering, Extravagance, Prodigality, Waste; 'Prodigalità ' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [55C11(+4):42D36] Search | Browse Iconclass
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