Section: PRINCEPS (The Ruler). View all emblems in this section.
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Principis clementia.
Clemency in a ruler
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.
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).
Related Emblems
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Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- insects: wasp (+ animals used symbolically) [25F711(WASP)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- insects: wasp (+ postures, positions of animal(s)) [25F711(WASP)(+53)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees [25G3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- low hill country [25H114] Search | Browse Iconclass
- farm or solitary house in landscape [25I3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dove-cote [34B2311] Search | Browse Iconclass
- farm (building) [41A17] Search | Browse Iconclass
- bee-hive [47I242] Search | Browse Iconclass
- swarm ~ bees (+ postures, positions of animal(s)) [47I243(+953)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- pedestal of a piece of sculpture (perhaps in the form of a herm) (+ variant) [48C244(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- poison ~ product of animal [25F(+92)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- virtues of the ruler [44B10] Search | Browse Iconclass
- ruler and his subjects [44B1270] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Indulgence, Clemency; 'Clemenza', 'Clemenza & Moderatione', 'Indulgenza' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57A73(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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