
QUI ALTA CONTEM-
plantur cadere.
Those who contemplate the heights come to grief
Dum Turdos visco, pedica dum fallit Alaudas,
Et iactam [=iacta]
altivolam figit harundo gruem
Dipsada non prudens auceps pede perculit ultrix,
Illa mala [=mali]
emissum virus ab ore iacit.
Sic obit extento qui sydera respicit arcu,
Securus fati quod iacit ante pedes.[1]
While he tricks thrushes with bird-lime, larks with snares, while his speeding shaft pierces the high-flying crane, the careless bird-hunter steps on a snake; avenging the injury, it spits the darting venom from its jaws. So he dies, a man who gazes at the stars with bow at the ready, oblivious of the mishap lying before his feet.
1. See Anthologia graeca 7.172 and Aesop, Fables 137.
Related Emblems

- Declaracion magistral sobre las Emblemas de Andres Alciato (1615), Najera: QUI ALTA CONTEMPLANTUR cadere. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1621), Padua: Qui alta contemplantur, cadere. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum liber (28th February, 1531), Augsburg: QUI ALTA CONTEMPLANtur cadere. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum liber (1534), Augsburg: QUI ALTA CONTEMPLANtur cadere. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libellus (1534), Paris: Qui alta contemplantur cadere. | Open in other pane
- Les Emblemes (1539), Paris: Qui alta contemplantur, cadere. Qui hault regarde, peult tumber. | Open in other pane
- Les Emblemes (1542), Paris: Qui alta contemplantur cadere. Qui hault regarde, peult tumber. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libellus (1542), Paris: Qui alta contemplantur cadere. Wer in die hoech siht, foelt gern. | Open in other pane
- Los Emblemas (1549), Lyon: Que à las vezes caen los que alto contemplan. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1550), Lyon: Qui alta contemplantur cadere. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1551), Lyon: Qui alta contemplantur cadere. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libri II (Stockhamer) (1556), Lyon: Qui alta contemplatur cadere. | Open in other pane
- Toutes les emblemes (1558), Lyon: Ceux qui tendent aulx choses hautaines, souvent tombent bas. | Open in other pane
- Liber emblematum ... Kunstbuch (1567), Franckfurt am Main: Qui alta contemplantur cadere. Wer zu hoch steigt der felt. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1591), Leiden: Qui alta contemplantur, cadere. | Open in other pane
- Livret des emblemes (1536), Paris: Qui alta contemplantur cadere. Qui hault regarde, peult tumber. | Open in other pane
- Emblemes (1549), Lyons: Ceulx qui tendent aulx choses haultaines, souvent tombent bas. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata / Les emblemes (1584), Paris: Qui alta contemplantur, cadere. Ceux qui visent hault, souvent tombent bien bas. | Open in other pane
- Les emblemes (1615), Geneva/Cologny: Qui haut regarde, peut tomber. | Open in other pane
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- arm stretched forward (+ holding something) [31A2512(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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