
Amuletum Veneris.
A charm against love
Emblema lxxvii.
Inguina dente fero suffosum Cypris Adonin[1]
Lactucae foliis condidit exanimem.
Hinc genitali arvo tantum lactuca resistit,
Quantum eruca salax[2] vix stimulare potest.
The Cyprian goddess wrapped in lettuce leaves the lifeless Adonis, gored in the groin by the savage tusk. For this reason, lettuce deadens the procreative field even more than the aphrodisiac rocket can stimulate it.
VEnus fingitur mortuí Adonidis genitalia lactu-
cis recondidisse, ut moneamur libidinem, tur-
pémque voluptatem ciborum moderatorum usu
sopiendam & repremindam esse. Nihil enim ae-
que conducit ad motus illicitos cohibendos, quam
victus ratio temperata. Eruca calefacit, Venerém-
que incitat: Lactuca verò contra, herba frigidae qua-
litatis.

Contrepoison de Venus
IL advint qu’Adonis fut de la dent cruelle
Du sanglier furieux, navré mortellement,
Venus courant illec fit sepulture telle,
Ell’ mit ez genitaux laitues proprement.
De vray, la laitue est au fait d’amour contraire:
Et la Roquette chaude est propre à cest affaire.
ON feint que Venus ensevelit en des
laitues les parties genitales d’Adonis
mort, affin-que soyons advertis qu’il faut as-
sopir & reprimer la motion charnelle & vo-
lupté deshonneste par l’usage bien reglé des
viandes. Car il n’y a rien qui tant profite
pour appaiser ce furieux chatouillement, que
la raison du vivre temperé. La roquette es-
chauffe & provoque Venus: la laitue au con-
traire, d’autant qu’elle est de qualité froide.
1. For the story of Venus and Adonis and his fatal wounding by a wild boar, see Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10.529ff. and 705ff. Cyprus was one of the main centres of the worship of Venus, hence the name Cypris.
2. eruca salax, ‘the aphrodisiac rocket’. See Emblem 72 ([FALc072]), n.3. The effects of the plants rocket and lettuce are contrasted at Pliny, Natural History, 19.44.154.
Related Emblems
Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- (personifications and symbolic representations of) Love; 'Amore (secondo Seneca)' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [56F2(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- (story of) Cupid, Amor (Eros) [92D1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult woman [31D15] Search | Browse Iconclass
- amulet, talisman [13C31] Search | Browse Iconclass
- animals wings of an animal [25F(+342)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- archer's weapons (with NAME) [45C15(BOW AND ARROW)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards [31A2515] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards - AA - both arms or hands [31AA2515] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Cupid (with NAME) [92D18(BOW)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Cupid (with NAME) [92D18(QUIVER)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Venus (with NAME) [92C48(LETTUCE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- boulder, stone [25H1124] Search | Browse Iconclass
- boy (child between toddler and youth) (+ nude human being) [31D11221(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown (+ men's clothes) [41D211(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- finding of dead or dying person [31E23(+9)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- gear for legs and feet (+ men's clothes) [41D233(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head slanting to the right [31A246] Search | Browse Iconclass
- holding something [31B6(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hoofed animals: boar (+ movements of animal(s)) [25F24(BOAR)(+52)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- laying the hand on another person's shoulder [33A15] Search | Browse Iconclass
- looking downwards [31B6212] Search | Browse Iconclass
- lying figure [31A236] Search | Browse Iconclass
- lying on the back with uplifted upper part of the body [31A2361] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants and herbs: lettuce (+ plants used symbolically) [25G4(LETTUCE)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- quiver [45C23] Search | Browse Iconclass
- skirt (+ women's clothes) [41D232(+82)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- squatting, crouching figure [31A234] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees (+ stem, trunk) [25G3(+21)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Venus mourning Adonis [92C49151] Search | Browse Iconclass
- youth, adolescent [31D12] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- coitus, cohabiting, sexual intercourse [33C4] Search | Browse Iconclass
- male sexual organs [31A22361] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants and herbs: lettuce (+ plants used symbolically) [25G4(ROCKET)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Protection; 'Custodia', 'Difesa contra nimici, malefici & venefici', 'Difesa contra pericoli', 'Riparo da i tradimenti' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54E42(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- relations between the sexes [33C] Search | Browse Iconclass
- witchcraft, sorcery [13B] Search | Browse Iconclass
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