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Section: PRINCEPS (The Ruler). View all emblems in this section.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [L1r p161]

Principis clementia.

Clemency in a ruler

Swarm of wasps or bees around a hive.
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Vesparum quòd nulla unquam Rex spicula figet,[1]
Quodque aliis duplo corpore maior erit,
Arguet imperium clemens, moderataque regna,
Sanctaque iudicibus credita iura bonis.

The king of the wasps will never implant any sting and will be twice as big as the rest. This will be a sign of mild dominion, a disciplined kingdom, and inviolable law entrusted to good judges.

Notes:

1.  According to Pliny, Natural History, 11.21.74, wasps do not have ‘kings’: it is the ‘mother’ wasps that are without stings. On the other hand, the ‘king’ bee (the ancients believed the queen bee to be male) and its lack of sting, or refusal to use its sting, was often mentioned; e.g. Aelian, De natura animalium, 5.10; Pliny, ibid., 17.52. For the analogy with kingship, see e.g. Seneca, De Clementia, 1.19; Erasmus, Adagia, 2601 (Scarabaeus aquilam quaerit).

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Section: PRINCEPS (The Ruler). View all emblems in this section.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [K7r p157]

In Senatum boni Principis.

On the senate of a good prince

dialogismus.

A dialogue.

Blindfolded figure on a throne with other learned men sitting before him.
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Effigies manibus truncae ante altaria Divum
Hinc [=Hic] resident: quarum lumine capta prior.
Signa Potestatis summae, Sanctique Senatus
Thebanis fuerant ista reperta viris.[1]
Cur resident? Quia mente graves decet esse quieta
Iuridicos: animo nec variare levi.
Cur sine sunt manibus? Capiant ne xenia: nec se
Pollicitis flecti muneribusve sinant.
Caecus at est princeps. Quòd solis auribus, absque
Affectu, constans iussa Senatus agit.

Figures without hands sit here before the altars of the gods. The chief of them is deprived of sight. These symbols of the supreme power and of the reverend senate were discovered by men of Thebes. - Why do they sit? - Because lawgivers should be serious, of a calm mind, and not change with inconstant thoughts. - Why have they no hands? - So that they may not take gifts, nor let themselves be influenced by promises or bribes. But the president is blind, because the Senate, by hearing alone, uninfluenced by feeling, impartially discharges what it is bidden to do.

Notes:

1.  This is Thebes in Egypt. See Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 10; also Erasmus, Adagia 2601, Scarabaeus aquilam quaerit.

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