
In receptatores sicariorum.
Those who harbour cut-throats
EMBLEMA LII.
Latronum, furumque manus tibi, Scaeva[1], per urbem
It comes, & diris cincta cohors gladiis:
Atque ita te mentis generosum prodige censes,
Quòd tua complures allicit olla malos.
En novus Actaeon, qui postquàm cornua sumpsit,
In praedam canibus se dedit ipse suis.[2]
An evil-minded band of ruffians and thieves accompanies you about the city, a gang of supporters armed with lethal swords. And so, you wastrel, you consider yourself a fine lordly fellow because your cooking pot draws in crowds of scoundrels. - Here’s a fresh Actaeon - he, after he grew his horns, became the prey of his own hunting dogs.
1. Scaeva, ‘evil-minded’. The capital letter suggests that the Latin word could be taken as a proper name in the vocative case, i.e addressing one Scaeva.
2. For the story of Actaeon turned into a stag and killed by his own hounds, see Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.138ff. Similarly, the hangers-on will destroy the one who has fed them.
Related Emblems

- Declaracion magistral sobre las Emblemas de Andres Alciato (1615), Najera: IN RECEPTATORES SIcariorum. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1621), Padua: In receptatores sicariorum. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum liber (28th February, 1531), Augsburg: IN RECEPTATORES siccariorum. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum liber (6th April, 1531), Augsburg: IN RECEPTATORES siccariorum. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum liber (1534), Augsburg: IN RECEPTATORES siccariorum. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libellus (1534), Paris: In receptatores sicariorum. | Open in other pane
- Les Emblemes (1539), Paris: In receptatores sicariorum. Receptateurs dhomicides. | Open in other pane
- Les Emblemes (1542), Paris: In receptatores sicariorum. Receptateurs d’homicides. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libellus (1542), Paris: In receptatores sicariorum. Wider auffenthalter der todschleger. | Open in other pane
- Los Emblemas (1549), Lyon: Contra los que se acompañan de rufianes. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1550), Lyon: In receptatores sicariorum. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1551), Lyon: In receptatores sicariorum. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libri II (Stockhamer) (1556), Lyon: In receptatores sicariorum. | Open in other pane
- Toutes les emblemes (1558), Lyon: Contre les retrayeurs de brigandz. | Open in other pane
- Liber emblematum ... Kunstbuch (1567), Franckfurt am Main: In receptatores sicariorum. Wider die so sich zu der Landsknecht und Buben Rott gesellen. | Open in other pane
- Diverse imprese (1551), Lyon: Contra quegli, che danno ricetto a huomini malvagi, e homicidiali. | Open in other pane
- Livret des emblemes (1536), Paris: In receptatores sicariorum. Receptateurs dhomicides. | Open in other pane
- Emblemes (1549), Lyons: Contre les Retrayeurs de brigandz. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata / Les emblemes (1584), Paris: IN RECEPTATORES sicariorum. Contre les recelateurs de brigans & volleurs. | Open in other pane
- Les emblemes (1615), Geneva/Cologny: Receptateurs d'homicides. | Open in other pane
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- groups of trees [25G11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- low hill country [25H114] Search | Browse Iconclass
- prospect of city, town panorama, silhouette of city [25I12] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head bent backwards [31A243] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward [31A2512] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards (+ holding something) [31A2515(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- crawling, going on all fours [31A2712] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monsters with animal head [31A4511] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monsters ~ hoofed animals (+ head or (parts of) face) [31A4524(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- hunting dogs [43C1147] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hunting horn [43C11482] Search | Browse Iconclass
- casting weapons: spear [45C11(SPEAR)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Actaeon changed into a stag: as punishment for seeing her bathe, Diana changes Actaeon, the hunter, into a stag (Ovid, Metamorphoses III 193) [97C1] Search | Browse Iconclass
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