
ΦΙΛΑΥΤΙΑ
SELF-LOVE
Narcissus liquidis formam speculatus in undis,
Contemnens alios, arsit amore sui.
Tabuit: & sensim venienti in membra stupore:
Ipse sui factus flos Hiacynthus amans.[1]
Hinc fugite (ô iuvenes) fons iste Philautia[2] seipsum
Stultus ubi (cům se non bene norit) amat.
Mirrored in clear water, NARCISSUS despises others and burns with love for himself. He fell sick, and as a numbness spread through his limbs he was transformed into a Hyacinth, a self-loving flower. Flee this place, young men, where this fountain Philautia is stupidly enamoured of itself - a thing it hardly knows.
1. In varying versions of this tale (Ovid or Pausanias), Narcissus either dies from drowning or is turned into a flower - but it is the narcissus flower, not the hyacinth, which is from a different story (Hyacinthus, the beautiful boy loved by Apollo).
2. Philautia: Greek ‘love of self’ personified.
Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- brook [25H212] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- flowers [25G41] Search | Browse Iconclass
- landscape with ruins [25I9] Search | Browse Iconclass
- looking in the mirror; contemplation of own beauty [31A5111] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Narcissus changed into a narcissus: when Narcissus is pining away for the love of his image reflected from the water, he is changed into a narcissus (Ovid, Metamorphoses III 510) [97B6] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Narcissus, gazing in a fountain, falls in love with his own reflection; possibly the nymph Echo peeps at the scene [95A(NARCISSUS)21] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees (with NAME) [25G3(WILLOW)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- waterfall [25H216] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- metamorphoses of male persons into plants and flowers [97B] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Self-love; 'Amor di se stesso' (Ripa) [56F24] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Youth, Adolescence, 'Iuventus'; 'Adolescenza', 'Gioventů' (Ripa) [31D120] Search | Browse Iconclass
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