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EMBLEMA LXXVI.

In pudoris statuam.

A statue of Modesty

Penelope desponsa sequi cupiebat Ulyssem,
Ni secum Icarius mallet habere Pater.[1]
Ille Ithacam, hic offert Sparten, manet anxia virgo.
Hinc Pater, inde viri mutuus urget amor.
Ergò sedens velat vultus, obnubit ocellos,
Ista verecundi signa pudoris erant.
Queis sibi praelatum Icarius cognovit Ulyssem,
Hocque pudori aram schemate constituit.[2]

When Penelope was betrothed, she wished to go with Ulysses, except that her father Icarius would have preferred to keep her with him. Ulysses offers Ithaca, her father Sparta. The girl is distressed: on opposite sides her father and the mutual love between her and her man make their claims on her. So she sits and covers her face, veils her eyes - those were the signs of seemly modesty. By them Icarius knew that Ulysses was preferred to himself, and he set up an altar to Modesty in this form.

Das LXXVI.

Der zucht und scham Bildtnuß.

Penelope wolt gern die Braut
Nachziehn Ulyssi dems vertraut
War, wo lieber bey im nicht hat
Icarius ir Vatter ghat
Der bott ir an Sparten sein Reich
Jenr aber Itacam deßgleich
Zweiffelhafftig die Jungfrauw wart
Da sVatters, dort sManns lieb zwang hart
Derhalben sie sitzend ir gsicht
Und Augn bedeckt undersich richt
Das war ein zeichen zu der zeit
Der reinen züchtigen schamheit
Daran Icarius verstöndt
Daß sie Ulyssi bessers göndt
Und richtet auff der scham gar bäld
Ein Altar mit diesem Gemäld.

Notes:

1.  Some editions give a variant reading, Ni secus Icarius ..., ‘except that ... Icarius would have preferred to have it otherwise’.

2.  See Pausanias, Periegesis, 3.20.10, for this statue and the story behind it.

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    EMBLEMA LXXVIII.

    Mulieris famam non formam vulgatam
    esse oportere.

    A woman’s reputation, not her beauty, should be known to the world.

    DIALOGISMUS.

    A Dialogue.

    Alma Venus quaenam haec facies, quid denotat illa
    Testudo, molli quam pede Diva premis?
    Me sic effinxit Phidias,[1] sexumque referri
    Foemineum, nostra iussit ab effigie
    Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [I1v f52v]Quodque manere domi, & tacitas decet esse puellas
    Supposuit pedibus talia signa meis.

    Kindly Venus, what form is this, what does that tortoise mean, on which, o goddess, your soft feet rest? Phidias fashioned me like this. He intended the female sex to be represented by this image of me. Girls should stay at home and keep silence, and so he put such symbols under my feet.

    Das LXXVIII.

    Es sol einer [=eines] Weibs Zucht und Tugent be-
    kannter seyn, dann ir schöne und gestalt,
    In frag und antwort.

    Venus and Cupid standing beside a man carving a reclining statue.
    [Click on image to enlarge]

    Liebe Venus was wil die gstalt
    Und was bedeut der Schneck so gmalt
    Den du hast under deim Fuß zart
    Und trittest in zu boden hart?
    Also hat mich Phidias gbild
    Das ich wer und geb ein fürbild
    Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [I2r f53r]Dem Weiblichen Geschlecht und Art
    Das sie von mir nemen zur fahrt
    Ein lehr das sie in irem Hauß
    Stets blieben und nit reihten auß
    Darzu verschwiegen seyn und still
    Der Schneck under mein Füssen wil.

    Notes:

    1.  Phidias’ statue of Aphrodite with one foot on a tortoise, set up at Elis, is mentioned by Pausanias, Periegesis 6.25.1. The tortoise is a symbol of ideal female domesticity, as it keeps silent and never leaves its house see Plutarch Coniugalia praecepta 32 (Mor. 142).

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