Link to an image of this page [X8v p336]
Cavendum à meretricibus.
Beware of whores
EMBLEMA LXXVI.
Sole satae Circes tam magna potentia fertur,
Verterit ut multos in nova monstra viros.
Testis equum domitor Picus,[1] tum Scylla biformis,[2]
Atque Ithaci postquàm vina bibere sues.[3]
Indicat illustri meretricem nomine Circe;[4]
Et rationem animi perdere, quisquis amat.
So great, we are told, was the power of Circe, daughter of the Sun, that she turned many persons into new monstrous shapes. A witness to this is Picus, tamer of horses, and Scylla with her double form, and the Ithacans who became pigs after drinking the wine. Circe with her famous name indicates a whore and shows that any man who loves such a one loses his reason.
1. Picus, an Italian king, a breeder of horses, turned into a woodpecker by Circe. See Ovid, Metamorphoses, 14.320ff.
2. Scylla was transformed into a figure that was half girl, half barking dogs. See Ovid, Metamorphoses, 14.51ff. Cf. Emblem 68 ([A21a068]).
3. Ithacans: See Homer, Odyssey, 10.229ff. for the story of Ulysses’ sailors (from the island of Ithaca), who were turned into pigs by Circe with a magic potion of wine.
4. Indicat...meretricem: ‘indicates a whore’. See Anthologia Graeca, 10.50 for this rationalisation of the Circe story.
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Related Emblems
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Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- adult man (+ three persons) [31D14(+73)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult woman [31D15] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm or hand held in front of the body (+ holding something) [31A2516(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- coast [25H13] Search | Browse Iconclass
- drapery, draped garment, 'Gewandgebung' [41D27] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown [41D211] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown (+ women's clothes) [41D211(+82)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head-gear [41D221] Search | Browse Iconclass
- looking downwards [31B6212] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mug, beaker, goblet [41C322] Search | Browse Iconclass
- prospect of city, town panorama, silhouette of city [25I12] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sailing-ship, sailing-boat [46C24] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sea (seascape) [25H23] Search | Browse Iconclass
- ships, boats on land, beached [46C2237] Search | Browse Iconclass
- snakes [25F42] Search | Browse Iconclass
- standing figure [31A231] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Ulysses' companions are changed into all kinds of animals (+ variant) [97C81(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- courtesan, hetaera [33C521] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Danger; 'Pericolo' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54DD51(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mis-shapen animals; monsters [25F9] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monsters of mixed human and animal shape; 'Mostri' (Ripa) [31A45] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Picus changed into a woodpecker: Circe changes Picus into a woodpecker because, faithful to his wife Canens, he spurns the love of the goddess (Ovid, Metamorphoses XIV 386) (+ variant) [97D28(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Reason versus Amorous Lust; 'Combattimento della ragione con l'appetito' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52B513(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Scylla changed into a sea-monster: Circe, to whom Glaucus has applied for aid in his love suit, changes Scylla the sea-nymph into a sea-monster (Ovid, Metamorphoses XIV 59) (+ variant) [97EE3(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- whore, prostitute [33C520] Search | Browse Iconclass
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