
In fidem uxoriam.
On faithfulness in a wife
Ecce puella viro quae dextra iungitur, ecce
Ut sedet, ut catulus lusitat ante pedes?
Haec fidei est species, Veneris quam si educat ardor,
Malorum in laeva non malè ramus erit.
Poma etenim Veneris sunt, sic Scheneida[1] vicit
Hippomanes, petiit sic Galathea[2] virum.
See here a girl, her right hand clasping her husband’s. See how she sits, how a puppy plays at her feet. This is a representation of faithfulness, and if Venus’s ardour nurtures it, a branch bearing apples may well be seen in on the left. For apples are Venus’s fruit; by them Hippomenes defeated Schoeneus’s daughter; with them Galatea sought her man.

Foy de femme.
Par le chien qui ayme en grand crainte,
Par lhomme & fille en main touchans,
La foy de mariage est paincte.
Pommes y sont ardeur couchans:
Car Venus aux amour [=amours]
cherchans
Donna par pommes du remede:
Galathee ainsi par les champs
De pomme en son amour mist ayde.
1. Scheneida, ‘Schoeneus’ daugher’, i.e. Atalanta. See Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560ff. for the story: Atalanta would marry none but the man who could beat her at running. Hippomenes tricked her into losing the vital race by throwing down in turn three golden apples given him by Venus.
2. Galatea, a girl who throws apples at the man she fancies: Vergil, Eclogues 3.64-5.
Related Emblems
Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- adult man [31D14] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult woman [31D15] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards (+ holding something) [31A2515(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm or hand held in front of the body [31A2516] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beard [31A534] Search | Browse Iconclass
- caressing, courting, making love [31B6(+918)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clothing for the upper part of the body (+ men's clothes) [41D223(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- coat, cape (+ men's clothes) [41D212(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- couple of lovers [33C23] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dog [34B11(+939):31A236] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dog (+ sleeping animal(s)) [34B11(+946)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dog (+ young animal) [34B11(+53)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown (+ women's clothes) [41D211(+82)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- gear for legs and feet (+ men's clothes) [41D233(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- gripping someone by the hand or the wrist; clasped hands [31A2543] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head turned to the right - AA - female human figure [31AA2422] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head-gear (+ women's clothes) [41D221(+82)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- marriage, married couple, 'matrimonium' [42D3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- one leg in front of the other (+ sitting) [31A2621(+53)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants and herbs [25G4] Search | Browse Iconclass
- rotating, twisting (movement of the human body) [31A2753] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting on an elevation [31A2352] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting on an elevation - AA - female human figure [31AA2352] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees [25G3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees: apple-tree (+ bearing fruit) [25G3(APPLE-TREE)(+34)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees: apple-tree (+ stem, trunk) [25G3(APPLE-TREE)(+21)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trellis [41A625] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trousers, breeches (+ men's clothes) [41D231(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- 'Castit� matrimoniale', 'Fede maritale', 'Matrimonio' (Ripa) [42D30:31A72] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Venus (with NAME) [92C48(APPLE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- during the foot-race Hippomenes drops the three golden apples; Atalante stops to pick them up, and is thus beaten (+ variant) [95B(ATALANTE)2111(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- love-affairs of Galatea (+ variant) [92I222(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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