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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [m8r p191]

Antiquissima quaeque com-
mentitia.

The oldest things are all invented

VII.

Pellenaee senex, cui forma est histrica, Proteu, [1]
Qui modò membra viri fers, modò membra feri.
Dic agè quae species ratio te vertit in omnes,
Nulla sit ut vario certa figura tibi?
Signa vetustatis, primaevi & praefero secli: [2]
De quo quisque suo somniat arbitrio.

Proteus, old man of Pallene, whose outward appearance changes like an actor’s, assuming sometimes the body of a man, sometimes that of a beast, come, tell me, what is your reason for turning into all kinds of shapes, so that you have no permanent form as you constantly alter? I offer symbols of antiquity and the very first times, concerning which everyone dreams up what he will.

Notes:

1.  Proteus was ‘the Old Man of the Sea’, who evaded capture by constantly changing his shape. See e.g. Homer, Odyssey, 4.400ff.; Vergil, Georgics, 4. 405-10, 440-2; Erasmus, Adagia, 1174 (Proteo mutabilior). Vergil (Georgics, 4.391) describes him living near the headland of Pallene (on the Macedonian coast). The idea of Proteus as a gifted actor or mime-artist is taken from Lucian, Saltatio, 19.

2.  signa vetustatis primaevi et...secli, ‘symbols of antiquity and the very first times’. Pallene (see n.1.) suggested a connection with the Greek word παλαιός ‘ancient’, as the name Proteus was supposedly connected with πρώτιστος, ‘the very first’.

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    Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [L6v p172]

    Les Graces.

    VI.

    Trois Graces sont aupres de Venus, pour la suyvre,
    Luy donner du plaisir, & apprester son vivre.
    Euphrosyne recree, Aglaïe embellit,
    Pirhus par beau parler fait croire ce qu’ell’ dit.
    Mais pourquoy nues sont? pource que la beauté
    Ne se plaist qu’en candeur, & en simplicité.
    Leur bourse pourquoy vuide? est-ce que les ingrats
    Ne rendent jamais rien? ains rongent comme rats?
    Si que cil qui le sien donne trop volontier,
    En fin, nud, est contraint d’espouser un mestier?
    Pourquoy aisles aux pieds ont-elles? Promptement
    Qui donne, deux foix donne:[1] & qui tardivement
    Donne, n’est point prisé, & n’emporte aucun los.
    Pourquoy, s’entretenans, l’une tourne le dos
    Aux autres deux? d’autant qu’un bienfaict se perdant,
    Dieu en rend deux pour un, bien sur bien cumulant.
    Jupiter est leur pere, Eurynome la belle
    Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [L7r p173] Les fit pour les humains de semence immortelle.[2]

    Commentaires.

    Les Graces sont filles de Jupiter & d’Eurynome.
    On les peint nues, pource qu’il ne faut point que les
    biensfaicts soyent fardés. Elles sont vierges, & tous-
    jours jeunes, pource qu’il ne faut jamais qu’un bien-
    faict receu s’oublie, & vienne à s’esvanouïr. Elles
    sont comme attachees ensemble, pource que, comme dit
    Sophocle, une gratuïté ameine l’autre. Elles ont des
    aisles aux talons, pource qu’il faut estre prompt à fai-
    re plaisir, jamais tardif.

    Notes:

    1.  ‘He gives twice who gives quickly’. See Erasmus, Adagia, 791 (Bis dat qui cito dat).

    2.  Lines 9-12 express common sentiments, found e.g. in Seneca, De Beneficiis, passim. For the Graces especially, see Ibid., 1.3-4. See also Erasmus, Adagia, 1650 (Nudae Gratiae), where Erasmus associates the Graces with both friendship and ingratitude.

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