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EMBLEMA LXXVI.

In pudoris statuam.

A statue of Modesty

Penelope desponsa sequi cupiebat Ulyssem,
Ni secum Icarius mallet habere Pater.[1]
Ille Ithacam, hic offert Sparten, manet anxia virgo.
Hinc Pater, inde viri mutuus urget amor.
Ergò sedens velat vultus, obnubit ocellos,
Ista verecundi signa pudoris erant.
Queis sibi praelatum Icarius cognovit Ulyssem,
Hocque pudori aram schemate constituit.[2]

When Penelope was betrothed, she wished to go with Ulysses, except that her father Icarius would have preferred to keep her with him. Ulysses offers Ithaca, her father Sparta. The girl is distressed: on opposite sides her father and the mutual love between her and her man make their claims on her. So she sits and covers her face, veils her eyes - those were the signs of seemly modesty. By them Icarius knew that Ulysses was preferred to himself, and he set up an altar to Modesty in this form.

Das LXXVI.

Der zucht und scham Bildtnuß.

Penelope wolt gern die Braut
Nachziehn Ulyssi dems vertraut
War, wo lieber bey im nicht hat
Icarius ir Vatter ghat
Der bott ir an Sparten sein Reich
Jenr aber Itacam deßgleich
Zweiffelhafftig die Jungfrauw wart
Da sVatters, dort sManns lieb zwang hart
Derhalben sie sitzend ir gsicht
Und Augn bedeckt undersich richt
Das war ein zeichen zu der zeit
Der reinen züchtigen schamheit
Daran Icarius verstöndt
Daß sie Ulyssi bessers göndt
Und richtet auff der scham gar bäld
Ein Altar mit diesem Gemäld.

Notes:

1.  Some editions give a variant reading, Ni secus Icarius ..., ‘except that ... Icarius would have preferred to have it otherwise’.

2.  See Pausanias, Periegesis, 3.20.10, for this statue and the story behind it.

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    EMBLEMA LXXVII

    Pudicitia.

    Chastity

    Porphirio domini si incaestet in aedibus uxor
    Despondetque animum, praeque dolore perit.
    Abdita in arcanis naturae est causa, sit index
    Syncerae haec volucris certa pudicitiae.[1]

    If the wife in its master’s house is unfaithful, the moorhen despairs and dies of grief. The reason lies hidden in the secrets of nature. This bird may serve as a sure sign of untarnished chastity.

    Das LXXVII.

    Keuschheit.

    So die Frauw im hauß ir Ehr bricht
    Daß ir Mann nicht weist und nicht sicht
    Der purpur Vogel also schnell
    Vor leid er vergeth und stirbt grell
    Die ursach aber ist allein
    Verborgen in der Natur gheim
    Dieser Vogel ein gewiß zeichen geit
    Der rein unbefleckten keuschheit.

    Notes:

    1.  For this information about the porphyrio (purple gallinule, a kind of moorhen) see Aelian, De Natura animalium, 3.42; Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, 9,388C: the purple gallinule ... when it is domesticated, ... keeps a sharp eye on married women and is so affected if the wife commits adultery, that it ends its life by strangling and so gives warning to its master.

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