Link to an image of this page [C2r p35]
Prudentes.
The Wise.
EMBLEMA XVIII.
Iane bifrons, qui iam transacta futuraque calles,
Quique retro sannas, sicut & antè, vides:[1]
Tot te cur oculis, tot fingunt vultibus? an quòd
Circumspectum hominem forma fuisse docet?
Two-headed Janus, you know about what has already happened and what is yet to come, you see the jeering faces behind just as you see them in front. Why do they represent you with so many eyes, why with so many faces? Is it because this form tells us that you were a man of circumspection?
1. quique retro sannas, sicut et ante, vides, ‘you see the jeering faces behind just as you see them in front’, a line based on Persius, Satirae, 1.58-62.
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- groups of trees [25G11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants and herbs [25G4] Search | Browse Iconclass
- low hill country [25H114] Search | Browse Iconclass
- prospect of city, town panorama, silhouette of [25I12] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- floating in the air (+ variant) [31A2763(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- anthropomorphic beings with parts in greater number than normal (+ head, face) [31A442(+41)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beard [31A534] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Janus' head, two-faced head [96A128(JANUS' HEAD)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- Prudence, 'Prudentia'; 'Prudenza' (Ripa) ~ one of the Four Cardinal Virtues [11M41] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Precaution (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52A24(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Link to an image of this page [g5r p105]
Quod non capit Christus, ra-
pit fiscus.
What Christ does not receive, the exchequer seizes
LXII.
Exprimit humentes quas iam madefecerat antè
Spongiolas, cupidi Principis arcta manus.
Provehit ad summum fures quos deinde coërcet,
Vertat ut in fiscum quae malè parta suum.[1]
The dripping sponges which he had previously filled with moisture the tight hand of a greedy prince is wringing out. He advances thieves to the top and then puts pressure on them, so that he may divert to his own treasury their ill-gotten gains.
Link to an image of this page [g5v p106]
COMMENTARIA.
Princeps avarus, quemadmodum iam nunc
madefactam atque inflatam spongiam iterum
premendo exiccat, sic etiam postquam fures
illos aulicos praesertim ad amplas divitias
pervexit, iterum denique eos coërcet ac punit,
ut eorum malè parta in fiscum suum conver-
tantur. Nunc mirum si (ut Iureconsulti di-
cunt) fiscus semper dives praesumatur.
1. This is based on Suetonius, Life of the Deified Vespasian 16.
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- groups of birds (+ flying animal(s)) [25F31(+5262)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- coelenterata: sponge [25F75(SPONGE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head turned to the right [31A2422] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward (+ other neutral connotations) [31A2512(+939)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards (+ holding something) [31A2515(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- one leg in front of the other, walking position (+ leaning) [31A26211(+52)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- brush, sponge, etc. (toilet articles) [31A5462] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult man [31D14] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult man (+ more than eight persons) [31D14(+79)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- violent death by hanging (+ execution (by judicial verdict)) [31E2355(+6)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- ladder [41A343] Search | Browse Iconclass
- front steps [41A35] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- trousers, breeches (+ men's clothes) [41D231(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- gear for legs and feet (+ men's clothes) [41D233(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- king [44B113] Search | Browse Iconclass
- crown (symbol of sovereignty) [44B191] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- mantle, gown, dress (symbol of sovereignty) [44B197] Search | Browse Iconclass
- on the scaffold or place of execution [44G342] Search | Browse Iconclass
- working class, labourers [46A17] Search | Browse Iconclass
- crowd, mob [46A7] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- ruler and his subjects [44B127] Search | Browse Iconclass
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