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QUAE SUPRA NOS
nihil ad nos.[1]
What lies above us is none of our business
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Caucasia aeternum pendens in rupe Prometheus[2]
Dirripitur sacri praepetis ungue iecus,
Et nollet fecisse hominem, figulosque perosus,
Accensa [=Accensam]
rapto damnat ab igne facem.
Roduntur variis prudentum pectora curis,
Qui coeli affectant scire deumque vices.
Suspended for ever from the Caucasian rock, Prometheus has his liver torn by the talons of the sacred bird. He could well wish he had not made man. Hating moulders of clay, he curses the torch lit from the stolen fire. - The hearts of the learned are gnawed by various cares, the learned who strive to know the vicissitudes of heaven and the gods.
1. See Erasmus, Adagia 569, Quae supra nos nihil ad nos.
2. The Titan Prometheus appears in myth as the champion of men against the ill-will of Zeus. According to one account, he moulded man out of clay (hence the reference to figuli, lit. ‘potters’, in l.3). Again, when Zeus withheld fire from mortals, Prometheus ascended to heaven and stole fire from the chariot of the sun for the benefit of men. As a perpetual punishment, Prometheus was put in chains and suspended from a rock in the Caucasus, where an eagle, the sacred bird of Zeus, in the day-time consumed his liver, which renewed itself every night. See Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.82ff; Hesiod, Theogony 561ff.
Related Emblems
Hide related emblems- Emblematum liber (28th February, 1531), Augsburg: QUAE SUPRA NOS NIhil ad nos.
- Emblematum liber (1534), Augsburg: QUAE SUPRA NOS, nihil ad nos.
- Emblematum libellus (1534), Paris: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos.
- Livret des emblemes (1536), Paris: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos. Rien toucher ce qui est sur nous.
- Les Emblemes (1539), Paris: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos. Rien toucher ce qui est sur nous.
- Les Emblemes (1542), Paris: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos. Rien toucher ce qui est sur nous.
- Emblematum libellus (1542), Paris: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos. Was ob unnß ist nit zu erforschen.
- Los Emblemas (1549), Lyon: Que con cuydado se acança la scineçia.
- Emblemes (1549), Lyons: Ce qu'est sur nous, est rien à nous.
- Emblemata (1550), Lyon: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos.
- Emblemata (1551), Lyon: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos.
- Diverse imprese (1551), Lyon: Che quel, chè; sopra di noi, non appartiene a noi.
- Emblematum libri II (Stockhamer) (1556), Lyon: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos.
- Toutes les emblemes (1558), Lyon: Ce quest sur nous, est rien à nous.
- Liber emblematum ... Kunstbuch (1567), Franckfurt am Main: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos. Was uber uns ist geht uns nicht an.
- Emblemata / Les emblemes (1584), Paris: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos. Ce qui est par sus nous, ne soit enquis de nous.
- Emblemata (1591), Leiden: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos.
- Declaracion magistral sobre las Emblemas de Andres Alciato (1615), Najera: QUAE SUPRA NOS, NIHIL ad nos.
- Les emblemes (1615), Geneva/Cologny: Rien toucher ce qui est sur nous.
- Emblemata (1621), Padua: Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos.
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Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- (showing oneself) undressed, quasi-nude [41D9] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult man (+ nude human being) [31D14(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- an eagle tears at Prometheus' liver [91E4611] Search | Browse Iconclass
- animals eating and drinking [34(+945)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- animals threatening man [34F1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Jupiter: eagle [92B18(EAGLE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- heart [31A2221] Search | Browse Iconclass
- predatory birds: eagle (+ animal with prey) [25F33(EAGLE)(+452)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- the corpse [31E3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees (+ bare plant) [25G3(+351)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees (+ stem, trunk) [25G3(+21)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- (symbolic) representations ~ creation, cosmos, cosmogony, universe, and life (in the broadest sense) [10] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Curiosity, Inquisitiveness, Desire of Knowledge; 'Curiosità' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52A12(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- fire (one of the four elements) [21C] Search | Browse Iconclass
- geographical names of countries, regions, mountains, rivers, etc. (names of cities and villages excepted) (with NAME) [61D(CAUCASUS)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Prometheus makes man out of clay, usually Minerva present [91E451] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Prometheus steals fire from the chariot of the sun [91E4521] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Punishment; 'Castigo', 'Pena', 'Punitione' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57BB13(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Things Unknown, the Unknown (+ emblematical representation of concept) [51AA8(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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