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Ex pace ubertas.

Prosperity as the result of peace

Emblema clxxviii.

Bird building its nest from vines on a small rocky island
[Click on image to enlarge]

Grandibus ex spicis tenues contexe corollas,
Quas circum alterno palmite vitis eat.
His comptae Alcyones[1] tranquilli in marmoris unda
Nidificant, pullos involucrésque fovent.
Laetus erit Cereri, Baccho quoque[2] fertilis annus,
Aequorei si rex alitis instar[3] erit.

From fat ears of corn weave supple garlands, and let the vine encircle them with alternating stems. Decked out with these the halcyon birds build their nests on the wave of the glassy sea, and cherish their unfledged chicks. - The year will be rich for Ceres and fertile for Bacchus too, if the king is the image of the bird of the sea.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [Z3v f243v]

CArminis huius haustam video materiam, ni fal-
lor, ex Basilii Magni oratione 8, in hexaëmeron,
sed alo trahit Alciatus. Halcyones, aves marinae,
bruma foetum edunt, quo tempore mare solet esse
pacatum, hincque dies Halcyonides nominati. Sic
bonus princeps sese gerere debet, qui observet oc-
casiones, & opportunitatem quam maximè commo-
dam iudicabit, ut ubertatem suis optatissimam pariat.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [Z4r f244r]

De paix vient l’abondance de biens.

DE grands[4] espics espais fay moy une couronne,
Que le beau rameau verd de la vigne environne,
Et sur icelle en mer calme facent leurs nids
Les gentils Alcyons pour nourrir leurs petits:
Où ils sont eslevez avec toute asseurance
Aussi accompagnez de biens en abondance.
L’an se trouvera bon & en bleds & en vin,
Si le Prince resemble à cest oyseau marin.

L’Argument & sujet de cest embleme
est tiré, à mon advis de l’homelie 8. de
Basile le Grand sur l’oeuvre des six jours. Mais
Alciat l’accommode autrement: les Halcyons,
qui sont oyseaux marins, en coeur d’hyver,
couvent leurs petits, pendant lequel temps la
mer coustumierement est calme: & de là sont
nommez les jours Halcyonides Ainsi se doit
comporter le bon Prince, prenant garde bien
à point a la saison qu’il estimera propre à
fournir les siens de choses qui leurs sont ne-
cessaires.

Notes:

1.  ‘halcyon birds’. For these see Aelian, De natura animalium 1.36; 9.17; Pliny, Natural History. 10.47.89-91; and for the legend of their transformation, Ovid, Metamorphoses 11, 410ff, esp. 728ff. Halcyons were supposed to build a nest and launch it on the sea at a time of calm peaceful weather provided for them about the time of the winter solstice. See Erasmus, Adagia 1552, Halcedonia sunt apud forum.

2.  ‘for Ceres...and for Bacchus too’, i.e. rich with crops of corn and wine.

3.  ‘is the image of the bird of the sea’, i.e. diffusing peace, love and concord. Before their metamorphosis into seabirds, Alcyone and her husband were a deeply loving royal couple ruling a peaceful country. This love persisted after the change, symbolised by the calm weather associated with their nesting.

4.  Corrected from the Errata

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