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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [n4v p200]

Laurus.

The laurel

XXXIII.

Praescia venturi laurus fert signa salutis,
Subdita pulvillo somnia vera facit.[1]
ALIUD.
Debetur Charolo superatis laurea Poenis: [2]
Victrices ornent talia serta comas.

The laurel that can tell what is to come provides omens of prosperity. Put under the pillow it brings true dreams.
Other:.
Now that the Poeni [i.e. North Africans / Tunisians] have been defeated, Charles deserves the laurel - let wreaths of laurel adorn the victor’s locks.

Notes:

1.  The laurel was sacred to Apollo, god of prophecy. The priestess of Apollo at Delphi induced a prophetic trance by chewing laurel leaves. Prophecies were sometimes written on laurel leaves. If laurel leaves crackle when thrown into the flames, happiness is portended.

2.  Emperor Charles V took Tunis in North Africa in 1535. Poeni (‘Phoenicians’) was an alternate name for the people of Carthage, where Tunis was later established.

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    • trees: laurel (+ plants used symbolically) [25G3(LAUREL)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • Africans [32B32] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • pillow [41A7632] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • crowning the victor with laurel [45I6110] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • Prediction, Prophecy; 'Augurio', 'Divinatione', 'Profetia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52E2(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • Protection; 'Custodia', 'Difesa contra nimici, malefici & venefici', 'Difesa contra pericoli', 'Riparo da i tradimenti' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54E42(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
    • historical person (with NAME) other representations to which the NAME of a historical person may be attached (with NAME of person) [61B2(CHARLES V [of Holy Roman Empire])3] Search | Browse Iconclass

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    Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [O7v p222]

    Dicta septem sapientum.[1]

    Sayings of the Seven Sages

    EMBLEMA CLXXXVI.

    A figure riding on a donkey with seven scrolls depicting names around him.
    [Click on image to enlarge]

    Haec habeas, septem sapientum effingere dicta,
    Atque ea picturis qui celebrare velis,
    Optimus in rebus modus est, Cleobulus ut inquit:
    Hoc trutinae examen, sive libella docet.
    Noscere se Chilon Spartanus quemque iubebat:
    Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [O8r p223]Hoc speculum in manibus, vitraque sumpta dabunt.
    Quod Periander ait, frena adde, Corinthius, irae:
    Pulegium[2] admotum naribus efficiet.
    Pittacus, at ne quid, dixit, nimis. haec eadem aiunt,
    Contracto qui gith[3] ore liquefaciunt.
    Respexisse Solon finem iubet.[4] ultimus agris
    Terminus[5] haud magno cesserit ipse Iovi.
    Heu quàm vera Bias, Est copia magna malorum:
    Musimoni insideat effice Sardus eques.[6]
    Ne praes esto,[7] Thales dixit; sic illita visco
    In laqueos sociam parra, meropsque trahit.

    If you wish to represent the sayings of the Seven Sages and celebrate them in picture, you may have the following suggestions. - ‘Moderation is best’, as Cleobulus said. This the balance teaches or the plumbline. - Chilon of Sparta bade each man know himself. A mirror or glass taken in the hand will represent this. - The saying of Periander of Corinth, ‘Rein in your wrath’, pennyroyal held to the nostrils will show. - Pittacus said, ‘Nothing in excess’. The same thing is said by those who suck cassia with wry mouth. - Solon bids us look to the end. Set at the field end is Terminus, who would not yield to mighty Jove. - How truly did Bias say, ‘There is great store of evil men’. Make a Sardinian rider sit upon a wild sheep. - ‘Do not stand surety’, said Thales. Even so, smeared with bird-lime, the lapwing or bee-eater draws its fellow-bird into the snare.

    Notes:

    1.  The list of the Seven Sages of the ancient Greek world was not fixed: various selections were made from up to seventeen names (though this one is the most common). Their utterances were variously reported and attributed now to one, now to the other. See Diogenes Laertius, De Clarorum philosophorum vitis, 1.40-42. The list here is derived from Anthologia Graeca, 9.366.

    2.  pulegium, ‘pennyroyal’. See Emblem 16, line 4 ([A91a016]).

    3.  gith, ‘cassia’ or ‘senna’. See Pliny, Natural History, 20.71.182ff. for its medicinal and culinary uses. It is so bitter that a little goes a long way.

    4.  Respexisse finem, ‘look to the end’, i.e.only when his life is over can a man be judged to have been happy. See the story of Solon and Croesus in Plutarch, Solon, 27-8.

    5.  Terminus, see Emblem 157 ([A91a157]).

    6.  Musmoni insideat effice Sardus eques, ‘make a Sardinian rider sit upon a wild sheep’, i.e. a worthless rider on a worthless beast. Cf. Erasmus, Adagia, 505 (Sardi venales, ‘Sardinians for sale’).

    7.  Ne praes esto, ‘Do not stand surety’. See Erasmus, Adagia, 597 (Sponde, noxa praesto est, ‘Stand surety and disaster is at hand’).

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