Single Emblem View

« Previous EmblemNext Emblem »

Section: PERFIDIA (Treachery). View all emblems in this section.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [D7r p61]

In adulatores.

Flatterers

A Chameleon
[Click on image to enlarge]

Semper hiat, semper tenuem qua vescitur auram,
Reciprocat Chamaeleon[1],
Et mutat faciem, varios sumitque colores,
Praeter rubrum, vel candidum:[2]
Sic & Adulator populari vescitur aura,[3]
Hiansque cuncta devorat.
Et solùm mores imitatur principis atros,
Albi, & pudici nescius.

The Chameleon is always breathing in and out with open mouth the bodiless air on which it feeds; it changes its appearance and takes on various colours, except for red and white. - Even so the flatterer feeds on the wind of popular approval and gulps down all with open mouth. He imitates only the black features of the prince, knowing nothing of the white and pure.

Notes:

1.  This creature was supposed to feed only on air, keeping its mouth wide open to suck it in. See Pliny, Natural History 8.51.122. For the chameleon cf. Erasmus, Parabolae pp.144, 241, 252.

2.  ‘except for red and white’. See Pliny, ib.

3.  ‘the wind of popular approval’. This is a common metaphor in Latin, e.g. Horace, Odes 3.2.20, ‘at the behest of the wind of popular approval.’

« 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  [M2r f77r]

EMBLEMA CXVII.

In receptatores sicariorum.

Those who harbour cut-throats

Deer with a man's face being attacked by dogs
[Click on image to enlarge]

Latronum furumque manus tibi saeva[1] per urbem
It comes: & diris cincta cohors gladiis.
Atque ita te mentis generosum prodige censes,
Quod tua complures allicit olla malos,
En novus Actaeon, qui postquàm cornua sumpsit,
In praedam canibus se dedit ipse suis.[2]

A fierce band of ruffians and thieves accompanies you about the city, a gang of supporters armed with lethal swords. And so, you wastrel, you consider yourself a fine lordly fellow because your cooking pot draws in crowds of scoundrels. - Here’s a fresh Actaeon - he, after he grew his horns, became the prey of his own hunting dogs.

Das CXVII.

Wider die so sich zu der Landsknecht und
Buben Rott gesellen.

Dich Lurtsch, So du gehst durch dstat
Volget dir nach ein hauffen drat
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [M2v f77v] Der frechen und verwegnen Knecht
Mit gwerter hand ein unnütz Gschlecht
Und meinst also seystdu alsdann
Dester Edler im Gschlecht und Stamm
Dieweil du hast an dich gehengt
Ein Gottloß Rott, durch miet und schenck
Sich an ein neuwen Actean
Welcher da er die Hörner gewan
Wurd er von seinen eigen Wind [=Hind]
Zerrissen und gefressen gschwind.

Notes:

1.  Other editions read scaeva, ‘evil-minded’. The capital letter in some editions suggests that the Latin word could be taken as a proper name in the vocative case, i.e addressing one Scaeva.

2.  For the story of Actaeon turned into a stag and killed by his own hounds, see Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.138ff. Similarly, the hangers-on will destroy the one who has fed them.

« 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