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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [O5r p217]

Insignia Poëtarum.

Insignia of poets

EMBLEMA CLXXXIII.

Shield showing a swan, hanging on a tree.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Gentiles clypeos sunt qui in Iovis alite gestant,
Sunt quibus aut serpens, aut leo, signa ferunt:
Dira sed haec vatum fugiant animalia ceras,
Doctaque sustineat stemmata pulcher Olor.
Hic Phoebo sacer[1], & nostrae regionis alumnus:
Rex olim[2], veteres servat adhuc titulos.

Some have a family crest distinguished by the bird of Jove, for others the serpent or the lion provides the sign. But let these dread beasts flee from poets’ images; let the lovely swan support their learned clan. This bird is sacred to Phoebus and is a nursling of my homeland. A king once, it still preserves its ancient titles.

Notes:

1.  ‘sacred to Phoebus’, i.e. to the god of music and poetry (Apollo).

2.  ‘a king once’. See Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.367ff. for the story of Cycnus, king of Liguria, turned into a swan and inhabiting the marshes and lakes of the plain of the Po (Alciato’s homeland).

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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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