Link to an image of this page [H7r p125]
In astrologos.
Against astrologers.
EMBLEMA CIII.
Icare, per superos qui raptus & aëra, donec
In mare praecipitem cera liquata daret,[1]
Nunc te cera eadem, fervensque resuscitat[2] ignis,[3]
Exemplo ut doceas dogmata certa tuo.
Astrologus caveat quicquam praedicere: praeceps
Nam cadet impostor dum super astra volat.[4]
Icarus, you were carried through the heights of heaven and through the air, until the melted wax cast you headlong into the sea. Now the same wax and the burning fire raise you up again, so that by your example you may provide sure teaching. Let the astrologer beware of prediction. Headlong will the imposter fall, as he flies beyond the stars
1. Cf. Anthologia graeca 16.107, a poem on a bronze statue of Icarus, translated by Alciato at Selecta epigrammata (Cornarius, ed.) p.333. Icarus and his father Daedalus (see [A91a012], n.) escaped from King Minos of Crete on wings of feathers and wax. Icarus was over-bold and flew too near the sun; when his wings melted, he crashed into the Icarian Sea and was drowned. See Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.183ff. Icarus, like Phaethon (see [A91a056]) was a type of those who do not keep to their proper station.
2. In other versions this read exuscitat.
3. ‘same wax...fire’: a reference to the cire perdue method of casting statues.
4. Variant reading, super astra vehit, ‘rides beyond the stars’.
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Related Emblems
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Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- animals (+ feathers) [25F(+352)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- death i.e. the fall of Icarus, without Daedalus [95A(ICARUS)681] Search | Browse Iconclass
- falling through the air [31A2764] Search | Browse Iconclass
- island [25H14] Search | Browse Iconclass
- nude with wings [5(+1211)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- prospect of city, town panorama, silhouette of city [25I12] Search | Browse Iconclass
- rocks [25H112] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sailing-ship, sailing-boat (+ under way, at sea (~ travelling)) [46CC24(+63)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sea (seascape) [25H23] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sun represented as face, wheel, etc. [24A6] Search | Browse Iconclass
- violent death by heat (boiling lead, burning coal, etc.) (+ variant) [31E2321(+0):31E225] Search | Browse Iconclass
- youth, adolescent (+ nude human being) [31D12(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- astrologer at work [14A0] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Folly, Foolishness; 'Pazzia', 'Sciocchezza', 'Stoltitia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52AA51(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Prediction, Prophecy; 'Augurio', 'Divinatione', 'Profetia' (Ripa) [52E2] Search | Browse Iconclass
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