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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [O11r f143r]

In astrologos.

Against astrologers.

Emblema ciii.

Icarus falling from the sky into the sea.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Icare, per superos qui raptus & aëra, donec
In mare praecipitem cera liquata daret,[1]
Nunc te cera eadem, fervénsque resuscitat[2] ignis,[3]
Exemplo ut doceas dogmata certa tuo.
Astrologus caveat quicquam praedicere: praeceps
Nam cadet impostor, dum super astra volat.[4]

Icarus, you were carried through the heights of heaven and through the air, until the melted wax cast you headlong into the sea. Now the same wax and the burning fire raise you up again, so that by your example you may provide sure teaching. Let the astrologer beware of prediction. Headlong will the imposter fall, as he flies beyond the stars

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [O11v f143v]

ID ex Graeco Ιουλιανο῀υ convertitur in Astrologos
quosdam falsarios & impostores, qui supra huma-
num captum conantur aliquid, quaéque longissimè
absunt ab ingenio humano, vi mentis & fallacis artis
ope se consequi posse putant. quo sit ut detecta im-
postura, in ludibrium & miseram inopiam deci-
dant.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [O12r f144r]

Contre les Astrologues.

ICare, tu voulus par l’air voler si haut,
Asseuré seulement de tes plumes de cire,
Que fondues plustost que lon ne pourroit dire,
Dans les flots de la mer te donnerent le sault.
Mais de la cire mesme icy on t’a pourtrait
Par la force du feu, pour servir de memoire
A ceux, qui trop saisis de quelque vaine gloire,
Osent voller trop haut, & plus que lon ne doit.
Ainsi, que l’Astrologue arresté au plus seur
Ne pronostique rien de plus haut que nature:
Car faisant autrement, se verra l’imposture
Cause de sa ruyne, & danger, & malheur.

CEcy est du Grec de Julian, & s’accom-
mode contre quelques faulsaires & im-
posteurs Astrologues, qui s’efforcent par
dessus la capacité humaine, & pensent bien
pouvoir atteindre par la force de leur enten
dement, & à l’ayde de leur science pleine de
faulseté, les choses qui sont fort eslongnees
de l’esprit humain: de maniere que leur im-
posture estant descouverte, ils tombent en
moquerie & pauvreté.

Notes:

1.  Cf. Anthologia graeca 16.107, a poem on a bronze statue of Icarus, translated by Alciato at Selecta epigrammata (Cornarius, ed.) p.333. Icarus and his father Daedalus (see [FALc012], n.) escaped from King Minos of Crete on wings of feathers and wax. Icarus was over-bold and flew too near the sun; when his wings melted, he crashed into the Icarian Sea and was drowned. See Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.183ff. Icarus, like Phaethon (see [FALc056]) was a type of those who do not keep to their proper station.

2.  exuscitat in 1550

3.  ‘same wax...fire’: a reference to the cire perdue method of casting statues.

4.  Variant reading in 1550, super astra vehit, ‘rides beyond the stars’.

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