Single Emblem View

« Previous EmblemNext Emblem »
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [o2v p212]

Dolus in suos.

Treachery against one’s own kind.

LXXIX [=80] .

Altilis allectator anas, & caerula pennis
Adsueta ad dominos ire redire suos,
Congeneres cernens volitare per aëra turmas,
Garrit, in illarum se recipitque gregem,
Praetensa incautas donec sub retia ducat.
Obstrepitant captae, conscia at ipsa silet.
Perfida cognato se sanguine polluit ales,
Officiosa aliis, exitiosa suis.[1]

The well-fed decoy duck with its green-blue wings is trained to go out and return to its masters. When it sees squadrons of its relations flying through the air, it quacks and joins itself to the flock, until it can draw them, off their guard, into the outspread nets. When caught they raise a protesting clamour, but she, knowing what she has done, keeps silence. The treacherous bird defiles itself with related blood, servile to others, deadly to its own kind.

Notes:

1.  Cf. Aesop, Fables, 282, where the decoy birds are pigeons.

« Previous EmblemNext Emblem »

Related Emblems

Show related emblems Show related emblems

Hint: You can set whether related emblems are displayed by default on the preferences page

Iconclass Keywords

Relating to the image:

    Relating to the text:

    Hint: You can turn translations and name underlining on or off using the preferences page.

    Single Emblem View

    « Previous EmblemNext Emblem »
    Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [o1v p210]

    Philautia.

    Self-satisfaction.

    LXX [=71] .

    Quòd nimium tua sorma [=forma] tibi Narcisse placebat,
    In florem, & noti est versa stuporis olus.[1]
    Ingenii est marcor, cladesque philautia, doctos
    Quae pessum plures datque deditque viros,
    Qui veterum abiecta methodo, nova dogmata quaerunt
    Nilque suas praeter tradere phantasias.

    Because your beauty gave you too much satisfaction, Narcissus, it was turned both into a flower and into a plant of acknowledged insensibility. Self-satisfaction is the rot and destruction of the mind. Learned men in plenty it has ruined, and ruins still, men who cast off the method of teachers of old and aim to pass on new doctrines, nothing more than their own imaginings.

    Notes:

    1.  For the story of Narcissus, see Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.344ff. On the flower, see Pliny, Natural History, 21.75.128: “there are two kinds of narcissus... The leafy one ... makes the head thick and is called narcissus from narce (‘numbness’), not from the boy in the story.” (cf. ‘narcotic’).

    « Previous EmblemNext Emblem »

    Related Emblems

    Show related emblems Show related emblems

    Hint: You can set whether related emblems are displayed by default on the preferences page

    Iconclass Keywords

    Relating to the image:

      Relating to the text:

      Hint: You can turn translations and name underlining on or off using the preferences page.

       

      Back to top