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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E2v p68]

In fraudulentos.

Deceivers

EMBLEMA XLIX.

Parva lacerta, atris stellatus corpora guttis
Stellio,[1] qui latebras, & cava busta colit,
Invidiae, pravique doli fert symbola pictus.
Heu nimium nuribus cognita Zelotypis!
Nam turpi obtegitur faciem lentigine quisquis,
Sit quibus immersus stellio, vina bibat.[2]
Hinc vindicta frequens decepta pellice vino,
Quam formae amisso flore relinquit amans.

The little lizard, called the ‘starred’ gecko from the dark star-shaped marks sprinkled all over its body, a creature that lurks in holes and hollow tombs, is pictured here and presents symbols of resentment and wicked deception, known only too well to jealous wives. For anyone who drinks wine in which a spotted gecko has been soaked comes out in ugly spots all over the face. This is often a way of taking revenge - the husband’s fancy woman is tricked with wine, and, when the flower of her beauty is gone, her lover abandons her.

Notes:

1.  stellio, ‘the ‘starred’ gecko’. See Ovid, Metamorphoses, 5.461 for the explanation of the name stellio.

2.  Nam turpi...vina bibat, ‘anyone who drinks wine...all over the face’. See Pliny, Natural History, 29.22.73.


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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [k3r p149]

Remedia in arduo, mala in
prono esse.

Remedies are hard, damage is easy

XCII.

Aetheriis postquàm deiecit sedibus Aten
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [k3v p150]Iuppiter,[1] heu vexat quàm mala noxa viros.
Evolat haec pedibus celer & pernicibus alis,
Intactumque nihil casibus esse sinit.
Ergo Litae proles Iovis hanc comitantur euntem,[2]
Saturae [=Sarturae] quicquid fecerit illa mali.
Sed quia segnipedes strabae[3], lassaeque senecta,
Nil nisi p̣st longo tempore restituunt.

Once Jupiter had cast Ate down from the heavenly abode, what an evil bane thereafter assailed poor man! Ate flies out fleet of foot with fast-beating wing and leaves nothing untouched by mishap. So Jove’s daughters, the Litae, accompany her as she goes, to mend whatever ill she has brought about. But they are slow-footed, poor of sight and weary with age, and so they restore nothing until later, after long passage of time.

COMMENTARIA.

Ate, Dea fingitur noxae, inimicitiarum, o-
mnisque destuctionis pernix ac volucris, quae
postquam de Coelo eiecta fuit, protinus in
terris hominum mentes seducere variisque ma
lis implicare coepit, pergitque celerrimo vola-
tu, loca omnia foedans atque perturbans.
Huic autem opponuntur eamque comitantur
Litae Iovis filiae, praecatrices & reconciliatri-
ces amicitiarum dissutarum. Eae quod Ate in-
ter mortales turbat conantur reficere, sed
quoniam strabis oculis, claudis pedibus, &
ob senectam lassae defatigataeque lentè admo-
dum incedunt, vix Aten illam velocem asse-
qui possunt: idcirco nihil confestim, sed tardè
denique restaurant. ut ingeniosè commenta-
tus est Homerus Iliades 9. Significans offensas
quidem veloces esse, reconciliationes veṛ
tardissimas.

Notes:

1.  ‘Jupiter had cast Ate down’. See Homer, Iliad 19. 125ff.

2.  ‘the Litae accompany her’. See Homer, Iliad 9.502ff. Ate means ‘Mischief’, Litae, ‘Prayers’. Ate was cast out of Olympus to bring harm to mankind, a personification of humans being led astray. The Litae were a personification of prayers offered in repentance.

3.  Textual variant: luscae.


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  • Slow Motion (+ emblematical representation of concept) [51MM1(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Viciousness, Naughtiness (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA6(+4):54D4(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Revenge, Requital, Retaliation; 'Vendetta' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA741(+4):54DD4(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Jupiter seizes Ate by her hair and hurls her down from Olympus, possibly because of the delayed birth of Hercules (+ variant) [92B143(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass

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