Link to an image of this page [N1v f121v]
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.
Link to an image of this page [N2r f122r]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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