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Section: ARBORES (Trees). View all emblems in this section.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [P1r p225]

Laurus.

The laurel

Laurel Tree
[Click on image to enlarge]

Praescia venturi laurus fert signa salutis.
Subdita pulvillo somnia vera facit.[1]
alud [=Aliud] .
Debetur Carolo 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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  • 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  [N6v p204]

La lettre occit, mais l’esprit vivifie.[1]

XLV.

Lors qu’au champ Boeotic Cadme eut les dents semé
De son hideux serpent, une trouppe guerriere
Soudain de terre issit, qui d’une main meurtriere
S’entretuerent tous d’un courage animé:[2]

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N7r p205]

Battle scene. Man on cloud right; man with sword left.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Fors ceux qui par l’advis de Pallas s’appaiserent,
Mirent les armes bas, & en main se toucherent.
Cadme fut le premier qui inventa les lettres,[3]
Les maria ensemble, & incita les maistres
A les enseigner puis à disciples divers:
Qui furent la plus part bigearres & pervers,
Semans tousjours entreux contredits infinis,
Qui jamais ne seront que par Pallas finis.

Commentaires.

La fable de Cadmus se trouve au long dans Ovi-
de. Voyons en le sens moral. Cadme, fils d’Agenor,
fit un ingenieux & industrieux ouvrier, qui pre-
mier bailla les lettres aux Grecs. Ce qui se doit en-
tendre, ou des paroles & de l’oraison, qui nous sont Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N7v p206] representees par les lettres, ou bien des disputes &
contentions, qui sont ordinairement entre les hommes
lettrés. Par le dragon ou serpent est entendue la sa-
pience, & ceste encyclopedie, ou amas de toutes scien-
ces, que les lettres nous produisent. Les dents du dra-
gon furent semés. Le sermon (que nous pouvons ap-
peller discours) est ainsi nommé, à cause de plusieurs
mots semés & joincts ensemble. Les naturalistes di-
sent que le dragon a seize dents. Il y a aussi seize
consonantes, qui se perdent & se chassent l’une l’au-
tre, si elles ne sont aidees d’ailleurs. Mais si on leur
joint les voyelles, qui leur sont comme l’esprit est au
corps, alors les mots se forment, lesquels joincts en-
semble font le parler & l’oraison. Ces voyelles, ce
sont ces soldats qui demeurerent en vie par l’exhor-
tation de Pallas. Ceste bande de gents armés, issus des
dents du dragon, nous remarque aussi les disputes,
contentions, & altercations de certains escholiers,
qui portans envie aux labeurs d’autruy, se ruïnent
les uns les autres M. Barthelemi Aneau, jadis Prin-
cipal du college de la Trinité à Lyon, a appliqué ceste
fable aux libraires & imprimeurs.

Notes:

1.  II Corinthians 3:6.

2.  For the story of Cadmus, founder of Thebes (in Aonia, or less correctly in the French, in Thessaly), and the dragon’s teeth, see Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.99ff. Athena, goddess of wisdom - here called Tritonia, from the place of her birth in North Africa - brought the internecine struggle between the earth-born warriors to an end.

3.  Cadmus supposedly introduced writing to Greece. The scattering of the dragon’s teeth was interpreted as the invention of the alphabet.

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