Single Facsimile View | View Transcribed Page

Single Emblem View

Section: LES ARBRES. View all emblems in this section.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [R%r p265]

Le Morier.[1]

Le Morier sage, & en Grec mal nommé[2]
Ne fleurit point que L’hyver consommé.[3]

Consommé, & finy L’hyver, lors le
Morier, apres les aultres grandz arbres,
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [R5v p266] commence à jecter ses fleurs, & germes, hors
les dangiers des froidures, & gelées, Ainsi
faict le sage, qui ne s’advance point en tous
affaires, avant qu’il soit temps, & ne hazarde
rien, à dangier, mais au plus seur. Parquoy,
il est nommé en Grec Moros par sens cont-
raire, Car Μωρος en Grec est à dire fol: &
il est sage, qui ne gecte point sa fleur, & son
fruyct, que tout le peril d’hyver ne soit con
sommé.

Notes:

1.  The woodcut here is a fairly close, laterally inverted, copy of that used in the 1549 French edition.

2.  Reference to a supposed ‘etymology by opposites’: Latin morus ‘mulberry’ was equated with Greek μῶρος ‘fool’, but the tree was considered wise: see note 2.

3.  See Pliny, Natural History, 16.25.102: ‘the mulberry is the last of domesticated trees to shoot, and only does so when the frosts are over; for that reason it is called the wisest of trees’.



Iconclass Keywords

Relating to the image:

Relating to the text:

Hint: You can turn translations and name underlining on or off using the preferences page.

 

Back to top

Privacy notice
Terms and conditions