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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E3r]

AERE QUANDOQUE SALU
tem redimendam.

Sometimes money must be spent to purchase safety

Beaver biting off its own testicles which are eaten by hunting dogs.
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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E3v]

Et pedibus segnis, tumida & propendulus alvo,
Hac tamen insidias effugit arte fiber.
Mordicus ipse sibi medicata virilia vellit,
Atque abiicit sese gnarus ob illa peti,
Huius ab exemplo disces non parcere rebus,
Et vitam ut redimas hostibus aera dare.[1]

Though slow of foot and with swollen belly hanging down, the beaver nonetheless escapes the ambush by this trick: it tears off with its teeth its testicles, which are full of a medicinal substance, and throws them aside, knowing that it is hunted for their sake. - From this creature’s example you will learn not to spare material things, and to give money to the enemy to buy your life.

Notes:

1.  This is based on Aesop, Fables 153, where the same moral is drawn. For the information about the beaver, see Pliny, Natural History 8.47.109; Isidore, Etymologiae (Origines) 12.2.21.

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Section: PAIX. View all emblems in this section.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [P1r p225]

De Paix vient richesse.

Apostrophe.

Bird feeding her young in a nest on a rocky island in the sea.
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De grandz espicz ordonne une coronne:
Et de rameaux de vigne l’environne.
En ung tel nid les Halcyons[1] gentilz
Sur calme mer, nourrissent leurs petitz.
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [P1v p226] L’an sera bien fertile en bled, & vin,
Si le Prince est tel que l’oyseau marin.[2]

Les Halcions sont oyseaulx marins, faisans
leur nid fort, & indissoluble de pampes de
vigne, & d’espicz de bled: au mylieu de la
mer, Et couvent leurs oeufz sept jours avant la
brume, & sept jours apres les esclouent,
durans lesquelz quatorze jours: la mer par
occult miracle de Nature, se tient coye &
calme, & seure aux navigans. Ainsi quand
le bon Prince entretient ses petitz subjectz
en lieu seur, & garny de vivres, tranquilli-
té est en son regne.

Notes:

1.   ‘halcyon birds’. For these see Aelian, De natura animalium 1.36; 9.17; Pliny, Natural History. 10.47.89-91; and for the legend of their transformation, Ovid, Metamorphoses 11, 410ff, esp. 728ff. Halcyons were supposed to build a nest and launch it on the sea at a time of calm peaceful weather provided for them about the time of the winter solstice. See Erasmus, Adagia 1552, Halcedonia sunt apud forum.

2.  ‘is the image of the bird of the sea’, i.e. diffusing peace, love and concord. Before their metamorphosis into seabirds, Alcyone and her husband were a deeply loving royal couple ruling a peaceful country. This love persisted after the change, symbolised by the calm weather associated with their nesting.

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