Link to an image of this page [o1v p210]
Lascivia.
Wantonness
LXXI [=72] .
Delicias, & mollitiem mus creditur albus
Arguere, at ratio non sat aperta mihi est.[1]
An quòd ei natura salax, & multa libido est?
Ornat Romanas an quia pelle nurus?
Sarmaticum murem vocitant plerique zibellum,[2]
Et celebris suavi est unguine muscus Arabae.[3]
The white mouse is supposed to represent self-indulgence and licentiousness, but the reason is not very clear to me. Is it because it is highly sexed and has strong sexual appetities? Or because it adorns Roman women with its fur? Many people call the civet-cat the Sarmatian mouse, and famous for its sweet oil is the Arabian musk.
1. The white mouse was a proverbial example of the effeminate and the promiscuous. See the Suda s.v. mus, and Apostolius, Proverbs, 11,87, who also reports its sexual proclivities.
2. zibellum, ‘civet cat’, one source of musk, an ingredient in many perfumes. Sarmatia was the region north of the Black Sea.
3. murem...muscus, ‘mouse...musk’. The words ‘mouse’ and ‘musk’ (late Latin muscus) are connected, from the mouse-shaped sac of the male animals which produce musk. Some plants have a musky smell. Muscus also means ‘moss’ - Arabia was famous for plants which produced aromatic gums (e.g. incense and nard).
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- Rome (one of the four world empires) [23S14] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beasts of prey, predatory animals: ermine (+ skin, fleece, hide, fur, leather) [25F23(ERMINE)(+351)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beasts of prey, predatory animals: sable (+ movements of animal(s)) [25F23(SABLE)(+52)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- coat, cape [41D212] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Link to an image of this page [o1r p209]
Ira.
Rage.
LXIX [=70] .
Alceam veteres caudam dixere leonis.
Qua stimulante iras concipit ille graves.
Lutea cùm surgit bilis, crudescit & atro
Felle dolor, furias excitat indomitas.[1]
The ancients called the lion’s tail alcaea, for under its stimulus he takes on dreadful fury. When the yellow bile rises and his temper grows savage with the black gall, the tail incites his indomitable rage.
1. The Greek word ἀλκαία was supposedly derived from ἀλκή ‘strength’ (see emblem 286, n.3 [A56a286]). The Etymologicum Magnum, an ancient Greek lexicon, defines ἀλκαία as ‘properly the tail of the lion, because it urges him on to strength (ἀλκή)’. Pliny, Natural History, 8.16.49, describes how the lion’s tail lashes with increasing fury and spurs him on. See also Aelian, De natura animalium, 5.39.
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