Link to an image of this page [n2r p195]
Nobiles & generosi.
High born and noble
XX.
Aurea Cecropias[1] nectebat fibula vestes:
Cui coniuncta tenax dente cicada fuit:
Calceus Arcadico suberat cui lunula ritu,
[2]
Gestatur patribus mullea Romulidis.[3]
Indigenas quòd se adsererent haec signa tulerunt
Antiqua illustres nobilitate viri.
A golden brooch knitted together the robes of Cecrops’ descendants, a brooch which had attached to it a cicada, gripping with a tooth. A shoe called a mullea with a little crescent-shaped ornament below in Arcadian fashion was worn by Romulus’ patrician clans. Because they proclaimed themselves descendants of the earliest inhabitants, men distinguished by ancient noble lineage wore these symbols.
1. Cecropias, ‘of Cecrops’ descendants’, i.e. Athenians claiming descent from Cecrops, the autochthonous first king of Athens. See Emblem 227, n.3 ([A56a227]).
2. Arcadico...ritu, ‘in Arcadian fashion’. The Arcadians wore crescent-shaped ornaments because they believed themselves to be the first men on earth and older than the moon. See Ovid, Fastii, 2.290. Evander, who came from Arcadia, was the founder of the primitive settlement on the Palatine hill which preceded Romulus’ Rome. See Vergil, Aeneid, 8.; Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, 76.
3. patribus...Romulidis, ‘Romulus’ patrician clans’, i.e. members of the inner circle of noble Roman families claiming descent from the first senators (patres), one hundred in number, appointed by Romulus, founder and first ruler of Rome. These patrician families wore a distinctive black boot with a crescent-shaped ornament. Those members who achieved high political office wore similar red boots, calcei mullei, so called because their colour was like that of a mullet (according to Isidore, Etymologiae (Origines), 19.34.4 and 10).
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- moon as celestial body [24B] Search | Browse Iconclass
- minerals and metals (with NAME) [25D13(GOLD)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- insects (with NAME) [25F711(CICADA)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- extinct, 'historical' peoples (with NAME) (+ costume) [32B2(ATHENIAN)(+3)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- extinct, 'historical' peoples (with NAME) (+ costume) [32B2(GREEK)(+3)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- extinct, 'historical' peoples (with NAME) (+ costume) [32B2(ROMAN)(+3)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- shoes, sandals [41D2332] Search | Browse Iconclass
- buckle [41D2644] Search | Browse Iconclass
- brooch, agraffe, clasp [41D2665] Search | Browse Iconclass
- nobility and patriciate; chivalry, knighthood [46A120] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Respectability; 'Precedenza et Preminenza de titoli' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [59B33(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- geographical names of countries, regions, mountains, rivers, etc. (names of cities and villages excepted) (with NAME) [61D(ARCADIA)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Link to an image of this page [m8v p192]
Prudentes.
The Wise.
VIII.
Iane bifrons, qui transacta futuraque calles,
Quique retro sannas sicut & antè vides,
[1]
Tot te cur oculis, tot fingunt vultibus? an quòd
Circunspectum 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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- Precaution (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52A24(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Janus' head, two-faced head [96A128(JANUS' HEAD)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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