Link to an image of this page [F7r p93]
In Adulatores.[1]
Flatterers
Semper hiat, semper tenuem qua vescitur auram,
Reciprocat chamaeleon[2],
Et mutat faciem, varios sumitque colores,
Praeter rubrum vel candidum:[3]
Sic & Adulator populari vescitur aura,[4]
Hiansque cuncta devorat,
Et solùm mores imitatur principis atros,
Albi & pudici nescius.
The Chameleon is always breathing in and out with open mouth the bodiless air on which it feeds; it changes its appearance and takes on various colours, except for red and white. - Even so the flatterer feeds on the wind of popular approval and gulps down all with open mouth. He imitates only the black features of the prince, knowing nothing of the white and pure.
1. From 1536 onwards, Wechel editions used a different woodcut which looks slightly more like a chameleon and has a castle in the background.
2. This creature was supposed to feed only on air, keeping its mouth wide open to suck it in. See Pliny, Natural History 8.51.122. For the chameleon cf. Erasmus, Parabolae pp.144, 241, 252.
3. ‘except for red and white’. See Pliny, ib.
4. ‘the wind of popular approval’. This is a common metaphor in Latin, e.g. Horace, Odes 3.2.20, ‘at the behest of the wind of popular approval.’
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- lizards: chameleon (+ animals used symbolically) [25F41(CHAMELEON)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees (+ bare plant) [25G3(+351)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- rocks [25H112] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- colours, pigments, and paints (with NAME) [22C4(BLACK)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- colours, pigments, and paints (with NAME) [22C4(RED)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- colours, pigments, and paints (with NAME) [22C4(WHITE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- lizards: chameleon (+ animal(s) changing colour) [25F41(CHAMELEON)(+4831)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- breathing, respiration [31A22221] Search | Browse Iconclass
- royal household; courtiers, retinue, train [44B152] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Innocence; 'Innocenza', 'Innocenza o purit�' (Ripa) [57A631] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Flattery; 'Adulatione' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA6121(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Section: SPES (Hope). View all emblems in this section.
Link to an image of this page [D3v p54]
Illicitum non sperandum.
Do not hope for what is not allowed
Spes simul, & Nemesis nostris altaribus adsunt,
Scilicet ut speres non nisi quod liceat.[1]
Hope and Retribution stand together beside the altar I have built, to ensure that you hope only for that which is allowed.
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- groups of plants (herbs) [25G13] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mountains [25H11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- landscape with tower or castle [25I5] Search | Browse Iconclass
- landscape with ruins [25I9] Search | Browse Iconclass
- winds [26C] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm raised upward (+ holding something) [31A2511(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward (+ holding something) [31A2512(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards [31A2515] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards (+ indicating, pointing at) [31A2515(+931)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- index finger forwards, pointing, indicating [31A25552] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trampling, treading, stamping on someone or something [31A2726] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting on an elevation - AA - female human figure (+ forward) [31AA2352(+61)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head turned to the left - AA - female human figure [31AA2421] Search | Browse Iconclass
- one leg in front of the other - AA - female human figure (+ standing) [31AA2621(+51)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- bent legs extended forwards or backwards, with knee or foot placed on an elevation - AA - female human figure (+ sitting) [31AA2622(+53)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- looking upwards [31B6211] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult woman (+ two persons) [31D15(+72)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- bird in a cage [34B131] Search | Browse Iconclass
- wooden container: barrel, cask [41A775] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown (+ women's clothes) [41D211(+82)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- veil (+ women's clothes) [41D2211(+82)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- barefoot [41D2339] Search | Browse Iconclass
- drapery, draped garment, 'Gewandgebung' [41D27] Search | Browse Iconclass
- archer's weapons: bow (+ destruction of weapons) [45C15(BOW)(+69)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- saddle and bridle (saddlery) [46C13161] Search | Browse Iconclass
- ruin of a building ~ architecture [48C149] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Hope; 'Speranza', 'Speranza delle fatiche' (Ripa) (+ abstract concept represented by female figure) [56D1(+11)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Relating to the text:
- Legality (+ emblematical representation of concept) [59C3(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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