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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [n3r p197]

In nothos.

Bastards

XXVI.

Herculeos spurii semper celebretis honores:
Nam vestri princeps ordinis ille fuit.[1]
Nec prius esse deus potuit,[2] quàm sugeret infans
Lac, sibi quod fraudis nescia Iuno dabat.[3]

Bastards, you should always celebrate the honours of Hercules, for he was the chief of your line. He could not become a god until as a babe he sucked the milk which Juno was giving him, unaware that she was being tricked.

Notes:

1.  Hercules was fathered by Jupiter on Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon of Thebes, and became his father’s favourite. Juno, wife of Jupiter, in jealousy pursued Hercules with implacable hatred.

2.  After all his Labours (see previous emblem) and other exploits, Hercules, by the will of Jupiter, was received among the gods. See e.g. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 9.156ff; Cicero, De officiis, 3.25.

3.  For the story of Juno tricked by Jupiter into suckling the loathed Hercules see Pausanias, 9.25.2. This divine milk apparently counteracted Hercules’ illegitimate birth which otherwise disqualified him for heaven. See Erasmus, Adagia, 2070 (Ad Cynosarges).



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    Ilex.

    The holm-oak

    XXXVII.

    Duritie nimia[1] quòd sese rumperet ilex,
    Symbola civilis seditionis habet.

    Because the holm-oak splits spontaneously through excessive inflexibility, it provides symbols for civic discord.

    Notes:

    1.  Duritie nimia, ‘excessive inflexibility’. Cf. Pliny, Natural History, 16.73.186 (tota ossea est ilex, ‘the holm-oak is entirely bone-like’).



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