
IN MOMENTANEAM
foelicitatem.
Transitory success
Aëriam propter crevisse cucurbita pinum
Dicitur, & grandi luxuriasse coma
Cum ramos complexa, ipsumque egressa cacumen
Se praestare aliis credidit arboribus.
Cui pinus, nimium brevis est haec gloria, nam te
Protinus adveniet, quae male perdat[1] hyems.
A gourd, it is said, grew beside a lofty pine and flourished with abundant foliage. When it had enveloped the branches and grown taller than the tree-top, it then thought itself superior to the other trees. The pine said to it: This glory is exceedingly brief. For winter will shortly come which will utterly destroy you.
1. Textual variant: perdet.
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- trees: pine (+ stem, trunk) [25G3(PINE)(+21)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants and herbs (with NAME) (+ bearing fruit) [25G4(GOURD)(+34)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants and herbs (with NAME) (+ other characteristics of plant growth) [25G4(GOURD)(+39)(CLIMBING)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Fruitfulness, Fertility, Fecundity; 'Fecondit…' (Ripa) [58A3] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- winter, 'Hyems'; 'Inverno' (Ripa) [23D41] Search | Browse Iconclass
- leaf [25G(+27)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- flowers, blossom, blossoming [25G(+32)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Turn of Fate, Wheel of Fortune (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54F121(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Short Felicity; 'Felicità breve' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [56B22(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Honour, Glory; 'Ampiezza della Gloria', 'Gloria', 'Gloria de prencipi', 'Gloria & Honore', 'Honore', 'Sublimatà della Gloria' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [59B31(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Louange non louable.
Oultre esperance avoit Antiochus,[1]
A peu de gens les Galathes vincuz:
Ses elephans par leur trompe ayant mis
Tous les chevaux à mort, des ennemis.
Parquoy paignant
l’Elephant en trophée,
Nous estions mors (dit il à son armée)
Link to an image of this page [K5r p153]
Si ne nous heust saulvéz celle orde beste.
Victoire est bonne, & si n’est pas honneste.
Utilité bien souvent est preferée à hon-
nesteté, & le proffit à l’honneur, mesme
en fait de guerre, ou l’on ne regarde
sinon à obtenir victoire, soit par proues
se, ou par astuce, par vaillance, ou par machine.
1. For this incident, see Lucian, Zeuxis sive Antiochus 8-11. In 276 BC Antiochus I won against fearful odds by directing his sixteen elephants against the Galatian horsemen and scythed chariots. Not only did the horses turn in panic and cause chaos among their own infantry, but the elephants came on behind, tossing, goring and trampling. Although he had won an overwhelming victory, Antiochus did not consider it a matter for congratulation.
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- groups of birds (+ flying animal(s)) [25F31(+5262)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- groups of plants (herbs) [25G13] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees (+ stem, trunk) [25G3(+21)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hacking and thrusting weapons: sword [45C13(SWORD)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- helved weapons, polearms (for striking, hacking, thrusting): lance [45C14(LANCE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- extinct, 'historical' peoples (with NAME) [32B2(GALATIANS)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- cavalry, horsemen [45(+22)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Luck, Fortune, Lot; 'Fato', 'Fortuna', 'Fortuna aurea', 'Fortuna buona', 'Fortuna pacifica overo clemente', 'Sorte' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54F12(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- Ingloriousness (+ emblematical representation of concept) [59BB34(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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