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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [o1v p210]

Lascivia.

Wantonness

LXXI [=72] .

Delicias, & mollitiem mus creditur albus
Arguere, at ratio non sat aperta mihi est.[1]
An quòd ei natura salax, & multa libido est?
Ornat Romanas an quia pelle nurus?
Sarmaticum murem vocitant plerique zibellum,[2]
Et celebris suavi est unguine muscus Arabae.[3]

The white mouse is supposed to represent self-indulgence and licentiousness, but the reason is not very clear to me. Is it because it is highly sexed and has strong sexual appetities? Or because it adorns Roman women with its fur? Many people call the civet-cat the Sarmatian mouse, and famous for its sweet oil is the Arabian musk.

Notes:

1.  The white mouse was a proverbial example of the effeminate and the promiscuous. See the Suda s.v. mus, and Apostolius, Proverbs, 11,87, who also reports its sexual proclivities.

2.  zibellum, ‘civet cat’, one source of musk, an ingredient in many perfumes. Sarmatia was the region north of the Black Sea.

3.  murem...muscus, ‘mouse...musk’. The words ‘mouse’ and ‘musk’ (late Latin muscus) are connected, from the mouse-shaped sac of the male animals which produce musk. Some plants have a musky smell. Muscus also means ‘moss’ - Arabia was famous for plants which produced aromatic gums (e.g. incense and nard).

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    Gula.

    Gluttony

    LXVI.

    Curculione gruis tumida vir pingitur alvo,
    Qui laurum, aut manibus gestet onocrotalum[1].
    Talis forma fuit Dionysi[2], & talis Apici,[3]
    Et gula quos celebres deliciosa facit.

    We have here painted a man with a crane’s long gullet and a swollen belly, holding in his hands a gull or pelican. Such was the form of Dionysius, such the form of Apicius, and all those whom gourmet taste makes famous.

    Notes:

    1.  These birds were symbols of ravenous greed. The pelican is called inexplebile animal, ‘insatiable creature’, by Pliny, Natural History, 10.66.131; cf. Emblem 283 ([A56a283]). For the gull, see Erasmus, Adagia, 1133 (Larus: the gull will also fit food-suppliers because it is a bird with an appetite for fish).

    2.  Dionysius II, Tyrant of Syracuse. After his deposition, he lived in Corinth, and many anecdotes were told of his indulgent way of life there, including the story that he died of being overweight.

    3.  Apicius was a famous gourmet of the time of the Emperor Tiberius. See Seneca, De consolatione, 10.8-9 and Martial, Epigrams, 3.22: he spent a hundred million sesterces on food items and committed suicide for fear of starvation on discovering that he had only one million left. He composed two cookery books, but the one which has come down to us under his name is a fourth- to fifth-century compilation drawing on his works and several others (ed. princ. Le Signerre, Milan 1498).

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      • Gluttony, Intemperance, 'Gula'; 'Gola', 'Ingordigia', 'Ingordigia overo Avidità ', 'Voracità ' (Ripa) ~ personification of one of the Seven Deadly Sins [11N35] Search | Browse Iconclass
      • water-birds: pelican [25F36(PELICAN)] Search | Browse Iconclass
      • shore-birds and wading-birds: gull [25F37(GULL)] Search | Browse Iconclass
      • holding something «« KEY (933) TO 31A the (nude) human figure; 'Corpo humano' (Ripa) [31A(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
      • anthropomorphic beings with parts of abnormal shape (+ abdomen, belly) [31A444(+13)] Search | Browse Iconclass
      • anthropomorphic beings with parts of abnormal shape (+ neck) [31A444(+615)] Search | Browse Iconclass
      • anthropomorphic beings with parts of abnormal shape (+ neck) [31A444(+615):25F37(CRANE)(+3)] Search | Browse Iconclass
      • Intemperance, Immoderation (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54AA43(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
      • specific aspects, allegorical aspects of Bacchus; Bacchus as patron [92L17] Search | Browse Iconclass
      • male persons from classical history (with NAME) representations to which the NAME of a person from classical history may be attached [98B(APICIUS, Marcus Gavius)3] Search | Browse Iconclass

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