
Mulieris famam, non formam, vul-
gatam esse oportere.
A woman’s reputation, not her beauty, should be known to the world.
Emblema cxcv.
Alma Venus, quaenam haec facies? quid denotat illa
Testudo molli quam pede Diva premis?
Me sic effinxit Phidias,[1] sexúmque referri
Foemineum nostra iussit ab effigie:
Quódque manere domi, & tacitas decet esse puellas,
Supposuit pedibus talia signa meis.
Kindly Venus, what form is this, what does that tortoise mean, on which, o goddess, your soft feet rest? Phidias fashioned me like this. He intended the female sex to be represented by this image of me. Girls should stay at home and keep silence, and so he put such symbols under my feet.

PHidias Veneris statuam effinxit, quae pede testu-
dinem premeret, ut significaret duabus maximè
rebus commendari honestam matrem familias, silen-
tio & familiae procuratione. Ut enim nullum vitium
citiùs foeminam dedecorat quàm loquacitas: sic hae
probro solent affici quae hac illácque cursitant.

Que le bon renom de la femme doibt estre
publié non la beauté.
POurquoy, dame Venus, estes vous peinte ainsi,
Et soubs voz tendres pieds est la Tortue aussi?
Taillee j’ay esté avec tel equipage
Par Phidias, afin que toute femme sage
Apprint de ce pourtrait une belle leçon.
Peu parler elle doit, & en nulle façon
Ne doit çà là trotter, car il n’est pas honneste,
Si c’est pourquoy il mit soubs mes pieds ceste beste.
PHidias fit une statue de Venus, qui te-
noit le pied sus une tortue, pour donner
à entendre que la sage mere de famille se
rendoit louable pour deux choses princi-
pallement, assavoir pour le silence, & le soing
de sa maison. Car comme il n’y a point de
vice qui plus descrie la femme que trop ba-
biller: aussi celles qui ne font que courir çà
& là, se donnent un mauvais bruit.
1. Phidias’ statue of Aphrodite with one foot on a tortoise, set up at Elis, is mentioned by Pausanias, Periegesis 6.25.1. The tortoise is a symbol of ideal female domesticity, as it keeps silent and never leaves its house see Plutarch Coniugalia praecepta 32 (Mor. 142).
Related Emblems
Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- (story of) Venus (Aphrodite) [92C4] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult woman [31D15] Search | Browse Iconclass
- animals (+ wings of an animal) [25F(+342)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards [31A2515] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward (+ indicating, pointing at) [31A2512(+931)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Venus: turtle [92C48(TURTLE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- bed [41A761] Search | Browse Iconclass
- bedroom [41A23] Search | Browse Iconclass
- bent legs extended forwards or backwards, with knee or foot placed on an elevation - AA - female human figure (+ sitting) [31AA2622(+53)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- boy (child between toddler and youth) (+ nude human being) [31D11221(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown [41D211] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hangings and drapery [41A422] Search | Browse Iconclass
- housewife [42F10] Search | Browse Iconclass
- other non-aggressive activities of Cupid [92D156] Search | Browse Iconclass
- other specific aspects of Venus (with NAME) [92C473(DOMESTICA)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- piece of sculpture, reproduction of a piece of sculpture [48C24] Search | Browse Iconclass
- pillow [41A7632] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting on an elevation [31A2352] Search | Browse Iconclass
- tortoises, turtles (+ animal(s) being wounded) [25F44(+62)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- tortoises, turtles (+ animals used symbolically) [25F44(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trampling, treading, stamping on someone or something - AA - female human figure [31AA2726] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- Beauty; 'Bellezza' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [51D4(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Fame; 'Fama', 'Fama buona', 'Fama chiara' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [59B32(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Good Behaviour (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57A1(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- historical person (with NAME) [61B2(PHIDIAS)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Taciturnity; 'Secretezza', 'Secretezza overo Taciturnità' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52DD3(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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