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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [R6r f121r]

EMBLEMA CXCIII [=192] .

Aëre quandoque salutem redimen-
dam.

Sometimes money must be spent to purchase safety

Beaver biting off its own testicles which are eaten by hunting dogs.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Et pedibus segnis, tumida & propendulus alvo,
Hac tamen insidias effugit arte fiber.
Mordicus ipse sibi medicata[1] virilia vellit,
Atque abicit, sese gnarus ob illa peti.
Huius ab exemplo disces non parcere rebus,
Et vitam ut redimas, hostibus aera dare.[2]

Though slow of foot and with swollen belly hanging down, the beaver nonetheless escapes the ambush by this trick: it tears off with its teeth its testicles, which are full of a medicinal substance, and throws them aside, knowing that it is hunted for their sake. - From this creature’s example you will learn not to spare material things, and to give money to the enemy to buy your life.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [R6v f121v]

Das CXCIII [=192] .

Man sol zu zeiten kein Gelt ansehen
daß man sich ledige.

Ein Biber ob er wol ist träg
Auff sein Füßn und hat ein bauch, läg
Jedoch so kan er artlich frey
Der Hünd empfliehen groß geschrey
Sein Hödlin er im selbs hrauß reist
Und herab hauwt dieweil er weist
Daß man darumb nachstellen thut
Im, dann in der Artzney seinds gut
An diesem nim ein Beyspil ebn
Das du zu erretten dein lebn
Vor deinem Feind kein Gut noch Gelt
Erkargen noch ersparen sölt.

Notes:

1.  Corrected from the errata.

2.  This is based on Aesop, Fables 153, where the same moral is drawn. For the information about the beaver, see Pliny, Natural History 8.47.109; Isidore, Etymologiae (Origines) 12.2.21.

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Section: HONOR (Renown). View all emblems in this section.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [I8r p143]

Ex arduis perpetuum nomen.

Lasting renown won through tribulation

snake attacking young birds in their nest. Figures gathered round a fire on a plinth.
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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,[1] cuius fama perennis eat.[2]

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 will go on through all the years.

Notes:

1.  The manuscript correction, on account of damage to the original, appears to have been made at an early stage.

2.  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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