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BONIS A DIVITIBUS NIHIL
timendum.
The good have nothing to fear from the rich
Iunctus contiguo Marius mihi parîete, nec non,
Subbardus[1] nostri nomina nota fori.[2]
Aedificant bene nummati, sattaguntque vel ultro,
Obstruere heu nostris undique luminibus.
Me miserum geminae, quem tanquam phinea restant [=raptant]
Harpyae,[3] ut propriis sedibus eiiciant.
Integritas vestra [=nostra]
, atque animus quesitor honesti,[4]
His nisi sunt [=sint]
Zetes, his nisi sint Calais.
Marius is joined to me by a connecting wall, and so is Subbardus, names well-known in our little community. Having plenty of cash, they are building, and what’s more, busily doing their best, without any provocation on my part, to block my windows, alas, on every side. What a plight I am in - I am like Phineus, attacked by two Harpies, trying to throw me out of my own home, unless my integrity, my mind that is a seeker of the right, act as my Zetes and my Calais against them.
1. Marius, the typical self-made man (referring to humble origins of Gaius Marius, the consul and general). Subbardus, possibly ‘Mr. Thick’.
2. nostri...fori, ‘in our little community’, probably a reference to the forum in any Roman town as a centre of commercial and legal activities. So these are businessmen or lawyers, possibly the second, as they are acting illegally on several counts.
3. The Harpies, symbols of injustice, were carrying off or soiling Phineus’ food so that he could not eat. He was delivered by Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the North Wind and Oreithyia. See e.g. Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.711-7.4.
4. Integritas...quaesitor. These words (‘integrity’, ‘seeker’) are probably a punning reference to supposed etymologies of Calais and Zetes as if derived from Greek kalos ‘beautiful, good’ and zetein ‘to seek’. For the sentiment of lines 7 - 8, cf. Horace, Odes 1.22.1-2: he whose life is blameless and who knows no sin has no need of Moorish weapons.
Related Emblems
Hide related emblems- Declaracion magistral sobre las Emblemas de Andres Alciato (1615), Najera: BONIS A DIVITIBUS NONtimendum. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1621), Padua: Bonis à divitibus nihil timendum. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum liber (28th February, 1531), Augsburg: BONIS A DIVITIBUS nihil timendum. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum liber (6th April, 1531), Augsburg: BONIS A DIVITIBUS nihil timendum. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libellus (1534), Paris: Bonis à divitibus nihil timendum. | Open in other pane
- Les Emblemes (1539), Paris: Bonis à divitibus nihil timendum. Bons ne doibvent craindre les riches. | Open in other pane
- Les Emblemes (1542), Paris: Bonis à divitibus nihil timendum. Bons ne doibvent craindre les riches. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libellus (1542), Paris: Bonis à divitibus nihil timendum. Den frummen ist nicht zu furchten von den reichen. | Open in other pane
- Los Emblemas (1549), Lyon: Que los buenos no tienen porque temer à los ricos. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1550), Lyon: Bonis à divitibus, nihil timendum. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1551), Lyon: Bonis à divitibus, nihil timendum. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libri II (Stockhamer) (1556), Lyon: Bonis à divitibus nihil timendum. | Open in other pane
- Toutes les emblemes (1558), Lyon: Les Riches ne sont à craindre aulx bons. | Open in other pane
- Liber emblematum ... Kunstbuch (1567), Franckfurt am Main: Bonis à divitibus nihil timendum. Die Reichen können den Frommen nit schaden. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1591), Leiden: Bonis à divitibus nihil timendum. | Open in other pane
- Diverse imprese (1551), Lyon: Che i buoni non debbono temer le fraudi de ricchi. | Open in other pane
- Livret des emblemes (1536), Paris: Bonis à divitibus nihil timendum. Bons ne doivent craindre les riches. | Open in other pane
- Emblemes (1549), Lyons: Les Riches ne sont a craindre aulx bons. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata / Les emblemes (1584), Paris: Bonis à divitibus nihil timendum. A gens de bien, riches ne sont à craindre. | Open in other pane
- Les emblemes (1615), Geneva/Cologny: Bons ne doyvent craindre les riches. | Open in other pane
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- animals (+ wings of an animal) [25F(+342)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward [31A2512] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monsters ~ birds - AA - female (+ legs, wings, etc.) [31AA453(+3)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- boy (child between toddler and youth) (+ nude human being) [31D11221(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- cupids fighting fabulous animals [92D19163] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Harpies (classical mythology) [92I76] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Calais and Zetes chase away the Harpies that plagued Phineus [94A351] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- shadow [22C8] Search | Browse Iconclass
- neighbour [33A7] Search | Browse Iconclass
- fence, wall, paling [41A54] Search | Browse Iconclass
- the rich [46A160] Search | Browse Iconclass
- building activities [47G] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Badness (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54AA5(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- Honesty; 'Honestà' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57A61(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Integrity (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57A613(+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(MARIUS)3] 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(SUBBARDUS)3] Search | Browse Iconclass
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