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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [o1r p209]

Gula.

Gluttony

LXVI.

Curculione gruis tumida vir pingitur alvo,
Qui laurum, aut manibus gestet onocrotalum[1].
Talis forma fuit Dionysi[2], & talis Apici,[3]
Et gula quos celebres deliciosa facit.

We have here painted a man with a crane’s long gullet and a swollen belly, holding in his hands a gull or pelican. Such was the form of Dionysius, such the form of Apicius, and all those whom gourmet taste makes famous.

Notes:

1.  These birds were symbols of ravenous greed. The pelican is called inexplebile animal, ‘insatiable creature’, by Pliny, Natural History, 10.66.131; cf. Emblem 283 ([A56a283]). For the gull, see Erasmus, Adagia, 1133 (Larus: the gull will also fit food-suppliers because it is a bird with an appetite for fish).

2.  Dionysius II, Tyrant of Syracuse. After his deposition, he lived in Corinth, and many anecdotes were told of his indulgent way of life there, including the story that he died of being overweight.

3.  Apicius was a famous gourmet of the time of the Emperor Tiberius. See Seneca, De consolatione, 10.8-9 and Martial, Epigrams, 3.22: he spent a hundred million sesterces on food items and committed suicide for fear of starvation on discovering that he had only one million left. He composed two cookery books, but the one which has come down to us under his name is a fourth- to fifth-century compilation drawing on his works and several others (ed. princ. Le Signerre, Milan 1498).

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    • Gluttony, Intemperance, 'Gula'; 'Gola', 'Ingordigia', 'Ingordigia overo Avidità ', 'Voracità ' (Ripa) ~ personification of one of the Seven Deadly Sins [11N35] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • water-birds: pelican [25F36(PELICAN)] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • shore-birds and wading-birds: gull [25F37(GULL)] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • holding something «« KEY (933) TO 31A the (nude) human figure; 'Corpo humano' (Ripa) [31A(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • anthropomorphic beings with parts of abnormal shape (+ abdomen, belly) [31A444(+13)] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • anthropomorphic beings with parts of abnormal shape (+ neck) [31A444(+615)] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • anthropomorphic beings with parts of abnormal shape (+ neck) [31A444(+615):25F37(CRANE)(+3)] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • Intemperance, Immoderation (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54AA43(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • specific aspects, allegorical aspects of Bacchus; Bacchus as patron [92L17] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • male persons from classical history (with NAME) representations to which the NAME of a person from classical history may be attached [98B(APICIUS, Marcus Gavius)3] Search | Browse Iconclass

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    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.

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