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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [K2v f61v]

EMBLEMA XCVI.

In[1] statuam Amoris.

A statue of love

Quis sit Amor plures olim cecinere Poëtae,
Eius qui vario nomine gesta ferunt.
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [K3r f62r]Convenit hoc, quòd veste caret, quòd corpore parvus,
Tela alasque ferens, lumina nulla tenet:
Haec ora, hic habitusque Dei est: sed dicere tantos
Si licet in vates falsa subesse reor,
Ec cur nudus agat? Divo quasi pallia desint,
Qui cunctas domiti possidet orbis opes.
Aut qui quaeso nives Boreamque evadere nudus
Alpinum potuit, strictaque prata gelu?[2]
Si puer est, puerumne vocas qui Nestora[3] vincit?
An nostri [=nosti] Ascraei carmina docta senis?[4]
Inconstans puer, hic obdurans,[5] pectora quae iam
Trans adiit, nunquam linquere sponte potest.
At pharetras & tela gerit, quid inutile pondus?
An curvare infans cornua dura valet?
Alas curve tenet, quas nescit in aethera ferre?
Inscius in volucrum flectere tela iecur.[6]
Serpit humi, semperque virûm mortalia corda
Laedit:[7] & haud alas saxeus inde movet.
Si caecus vitamque gerit, quid taenia caeco
Utilis est? ideo num minus ille videt?
Quisve sagittiferum credat, qui lumine captus,
Hic certa, ast caeci spicula vana movet [=movent] .
Igneus est aiunt, versatque in pectore flammas:
Cur agè vivit adhuc? omnia flamma vorat.
Quin etiam tumidis cur non extinguitur undis,
Naiadum quoties mollia corda subit?[8]
At tu ne tantis capiare erroribis audi,
Verus quid sit Amor, carmina nostra ferent.
Iucundus labor est, lasciva per ocia signum
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [K3v f62v]Illius est, nigro punica glans[9] clypeo.

Many poets in the past have told us who Love is, recording his deeds under many a name. This they agree on - he has no clothes and is small in stature, carries arrows, wears wings, but has no eyes. This is the appearance, the bearing of the god. But if one may contradict such mighty bards, there is falsehood lurking here, I think. Why ever should he be naked? As if garments would be lacking for a god who possesses all the resources of a conquered world. Or how could he, if naked, survive the snows and North wind blowing from the Alps, the fields stiff with frost? - If he is a boy, do you call a boy one who is older than Nestor? Maybe you know the learned poem of the old man of Ascra? A child is changeable, but he is stubborn - the hearts he has once pierced he can never leave of his own volition. He bears quivers and arrows - why this useless burden? Has an infant strength to flex the stiff bow? - Or why does he have wings, when he does not know how to take to the air with them? He has no skill to direct his arrows at the liver of birds, but steals along the ground and always hurts the mortal hearts of men. Hard as stone, he never stirs his wings from there. - If he is blind and also wears a bandage, what does a blindfold do for a blind person? Surely he doesn’t see any less because of it? Or who would believe that anyone carries arrows when he is deprived of sight Love shoots straight, the blind shoot arrows at a venture. - He is fiery, they say, and has flames leaping in his breast. Then why is he still in existence? Flame consumes everything. Indeed, why is he not quenched by the swelling waves whenever he steals into the tender hearts of the Water Nymphs? In order not to be deceived by such great errors, do you listen and our poem will tell what Love truly is. It is a work of delight, the frivolous occupation of leisure hours. Its sign is a Punic fruit on a black shield.

Das XCVI.

Abconterfeyhung der Lieb.

Vil Poeten haben geticht
Vor zeiten was sey doch dLieb schlicht
Die mit vil namen wirt genannt
Und sein thaten werden erkannt
Mit dem stimmen sie uberein
Daß er sey nackt und ein Knab klein
Hab Flügel und ein Bogen trag
Sein Augen im das gsicht versag
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [K4r f63r] Diß ist das ansehn und die gstalt
Deß Gotts, also ist er gemalt:
So man aber wider solch Leut
Darff redn, sag ich das falsch bedeut
Dann warumb solt dieser Gott seyn
Nackend, als hett er der Röck kein?
So er doch der gantzen welt Gut
Innen hat und besitzen thut?
Oder lieber wie solt er bloß
Die kalte Schnee und die Wind groß
Auff dem Gebirg erleiden thon?
Und das gfrorn Eyß und kelt außstohn?
Sol der seyn und heissen ein Kind
Der an dem alter uberwind
Den alten Nestor, und hast nicht
Gelesen deß Ascrei gticht
Solt der seyn ein unbstendig Kind
Der so hartneck die Hertzen bindt
Die auch so er eynnimmet hie
Durchdringt, nimmer verlassen thut sie.
Warumb tregt er die Pfeil und Koch?
Was sol im die unnütz bürd noch
Oder vermag ein kleines Kind
Ein hürnin Bogen spannen gschwind?
Warumb tregt er die Flügel doch
Der nit kan fliegen in Himmel hoch?
Und der nit mit sein Pfeilen kan
Der Vogel Hertz verwunden than?
Bleibt er doch niden auff der Erd
Allzeit, und nur der Hertzen gert
Der Menschen, und schwingt ubersich
Wie ein Felß empor sein Fettich
So er ist an sein Augen blind
Was darff er dann der Binden lind?
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [K4v f63v]Oder wirts im darumb angstrickt
Daß er wenger kündt gsehn ein blick?
Wer wil aber gelauben diß
Das ein Blinder sey eins schutz gwiß
Und daß er seine Pfeil richt frey
Daß sie nah träffen dem zweck bey
Ist er nur feuwrig wie man sagt?
Und die hertzen mit Feuwerflam plagt?
Wie kan er aber leben noch?
Dieweil das Feuwer alls verzert doch?
Wie kompts daß er mit dem Wasser
Nit wirt außgelescht? So er doch sehr
Die weichen Hertzen rüren thut
Der Wasser und Brunnen freuwlin gut,
Aber du solt dich lassen nit
Dieses thun irren umb ein trit
Dann was die rechte liebe sey
Soltn von mir recht lehrnen frey:
So ist ein lieblich süß arbeit
Die durch müssiggang wirt gemeit
Sein Wappen ist ein schwartzer Plan
Drinn ein Myrabolan sol stahn.

Notes:

1.  ‘In statuam...’: established from other editions. There is a hole in the leaf in this copy.

2.  ‘snows and North wind...fields stiff with frost’. These are traditional hardships endured by the hopeful lover who finds the door shut against him. See e.g. Horace, Odes 3.10.

3.  Nestor, king of Pylos, who had outlived three generations of men, was a proverbial example of extreme old age.

4.  ‘the old man of Ascra’, i.e. the poet Hesiod who, at Theogony 120, describes Love as a primeval cosmic force.

5.  Other versions read ‘pervicax’.

6.  The liver was held to be the seat of the affections.

7.  ‘hurts the mortal hearts of men’. Cf. Anthologia graeca 5.10, where Love attacks men, not animals.

8.  ‘the...hearts of the Water Nymphs’: a reference to the many legends of water nymphs and other water spirits succumbing to love.

9.  ‘Punic fruit’, i.e. the pomegranate. Possibly the connection here is the rough aftertaste it leaves and the likelihood of it being bad under its smooth skin. The pomegranate is a symbol of Aphrodite, the goddess of love.


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