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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N5v f125v]

Ocni effigies, de iis qui meretricibus do-
nant, quod in bonos usus
verti debeat.[1]

A representation of Ocnus. On those who give to whores what should be turned to good use.

Emblema xci.

Man spinning rope. Ass eating rope.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Impiger haud cessat funem contexere sparto,
Humidaque artifici iungere fila manu.[2]
Sed quantum multis vix torquet strenuus horis,
Protinus ignavi ventris asella vorat.
Femina iners animal facili congesta marito
Lucra rapit, mundum prodigit ínque suum.

Ocnus never stops busily plaiting rope from broom, joining the damp fibres with skilful hand. But what he manages to spin with great effort in many hours the she-ass, a beast with greedy guts, continuously consumes. - Woman, an idle creature, grabs the accumulated savings from her complaisant husband and squanders it on her own adornment.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N6r f126r]

ID ex Pausaniae Phocicis. Ocnus texens è junco
restim vel funem, quem asella prope astans con-
festim voret, gnavum & industrium hominem no-
tat, qui uxorem habet quae statim dilapidet & ab-
sumat quicquid ille suo labore conquisierit: ut est
mulierum quoddam genus maximè sumptuosum
& prodigum.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N6v f126v]

L’effigie d’Ocnus: de ceux qui donnent aux
putains ce qui devoit estre converti
en bons usages.

UN cordier aspre à son ouvrage,
Le long du jour va travaillant:
Il file, il est tousjours veillant,
Mais non à proffit de mesnage.
Car une Asnesse mange tout
Ses chordes d’herbes jusqu’au bout:
Ainsi la femme despensiere
Consume bien souvent en vain
De son trop bon mary le gain,
Du reste ne s’en souci’ guiere.

CEcy est tiré des Phociques de Pausa-
nias. Ocnus tissant une chorde de jonc,
qu’une asnesse estant à costé devore inconti-
nent signifie un homme actif, & diligent, qui
ha une femme qui despense & consume aus-
si tost tout ce que le pauvre homme aura
gaigné à la sueur de son corps, comme c’est
la maniere de quelques femmes d’estre gran-
des despencieres & prodigues.

Notes:

1.  The painting by Polygnotus depicting this scene is described in Pausanias, Periegesis 29.2. See also Propertius, Elegies 4.3.21; Erasmus, Adagia 383, Contorquet piger funiculum. Ocnus, idleness personified, was a proverbial example of wasted effort.

2.  Variant reading: artificis ... manu, ‘with a craftman’s hand’.

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