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Amuletum Veneris.
A charm against love
XXX.
Inguina dente fero suffosum Cypris Adonim[1]
Lactucae foliis condidit exanimem.
Hinc genitali arvo tantum lactuca resistit,
Quantum eruca salax[2] vix stimulare potest.
The Cyprian goddess wrapped in lettuce leaves the lifeless Adonis, gored in the groin by the savage tusk. For this reason, lettuce deadens the procreative field even more than the aphrodisiac rocket can stimulate it.
1. For the story of Venus and Adonis and his fatal wounding by a wild boar, see Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10.529ff. and 705ff. Cyprus was one of the main centres of the worship of Venus, hence the name Cypris.
2. eruca salax, ‘the aphrodisiac rocket’. See Emblem 261 ([A56a261]), n.3. The effects of the plants rocket and lettuce are contrasted at Pliny, Natural History, 19.44.154.
Related Emblems
Hide related emblems- Declaracion magistral sobre las Emblemas de Andres Alciato (1615), Najera: AMULETUM VENERIS. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1621), Padua: Amuletum Veneris. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libellus (1546), Venice: Amuletum Veneris. | Open in other pane
- Los Emblemas (1549), Lyon: Remedio contra luxuria. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1550), Lyon: Amuletum Veneris. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1551), Lyon: Amuletum Veneris. | Open in other pane
- Toutes les emblemes (1558), Lyon: Contrepoison de Venus. | Open in other pane
- Liber emblematum ... Kunstbuch (1567), Franckfurt am Main: Amuletum Veneris. Der liebe Brunst gegen Artzney und Theriacks. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1591), Leiden: Amuletum Veneris. | Open in other pane
- Diverse imprese (1551), Lyon: Difesa contra loffese di Venere. | Open in other pane
- Emblemes (1549), Lyons: Contrepoison de Venus. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata / Les emblemes (1584), Paris: Amuletum Veneris. Contrepoison de Venus | Open in other pane
- Les emblemes (1615), Geneva/Cologny: Preservatif contre la volupté. | Open in other pane
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Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
Relating to the text:
- witchcraft, sorcery [13B] Search | Browse Iconclass
- amulet, talisman [13C31] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants and herbs: lettuce (+ plants used symbolically) [25G4(LETTUCE)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants and herbs: lettuce (+ plants used symbolically) [25G4(ROCKET)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- male sexual organs [31A22361] Search | Browse Iconclass
- relations between the sexes [33C] Search | Browse Iconclass
- coitus, cohabiting, sexual intercourse [33C4] 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
- attributes of Venus (with NAME) [92C48(LETTUCE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Venus mourning Adonis [92C49151] Search | Browse Iconclass
- (story of) Cupid, Amor (Eros) [92D1] Search | Browse Iconclass
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