
In sordidos.
Disgusting people
Emblema lxxxvii.
Quae rostro, clystere velut, sibi proluit alvum
Ibis, Niliacis cognita littoribus,[1]
Transiit opprobrii in nomen: quo Publius hostem
Naso suum appellat, Battiadesque suum.[2]
The ibis, a bird familiar on the banks of the Nile, washes out its bowels using its beak like a syringe. ‘Ibis’ has become a term of insult. Publius Naso [Ovid] called his enemy Ibis; and the inhabitant of Battus’ town did the same.
UT Ibis, avis Aegyptia, rostri aduncitate per eam
se partem proluit, qua reddi ciborum onera ma-
ximè salubre est, ait Plinius lib. 8. cap. 27. Sic ple-
ríque, quod vulgo dici solet, podicem ex ore fa-
ciunt, qui nimia verborum licentia utuntur, quíque
putidè loquuntur, eáque etiam detegunt quae pro-
vida natura voluit esse tecta.

Contre les villains.
Ibis, oyseau d’Egypte, au Nil faisant repaire,
Et qui de son long bec faict comme d’un clystere,
Est marque d’un villain, qui n’a respect aucun,
A dire salles mots, & à blasmer quelqu’un.
Ovide & Callimach ont en leur poesie
Contre leurs mesdisans, ceste marque choisie.
COmme l’Ibis, oyseau d’Egypte, de son
long bec se purge par la partie salubre
& propre à rendre les grosses matieres di-
gerees, ainsi que dit Pline livre 8. chap. 27.
Ainsi aucuns, comme lon dit en termes vul-
gaires, font de leur bouche, cul, qui sont trop
desbordez à parler, qui parlent puamment,
& qui descouvrent ce que la sage nature a
voulu cacher.
1. For this information about the ibis, see Aelian, De natura animalium, 2.35; Cicero, De natura deorum, 2.126; Pliny, Natural History, 8.41.97.
2. Battiades, ‘the inhabitant of Battus’ town’, i.e. the poet Callimachus, a native of Cyrene, a town founded by Battus. Ovid refers to Callimachus’ invective (not now extant) in his own poem Ibis, 53ff.
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