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EMBLEMA XLIIII.

A river scene. In the foreground a man is jumping into the river as a group of people look on. A boat is on the river with one man rowing and another reaching out towards the water. In the background a man is climbing out of the river. The the right a group surround a man hanging from gallows over a large fire.
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Vidi ego carnificis metuentem verbera saevi,
Qui medias sese Ligeris proiecit in undas,
Et quanvis sudore madens, expersque natandi
Fluminis evasit pede calcans ima profundi,
Quem mox non una poenas pro caede luentem
Vidimus impositum torreri viscera flammis.
Haec age dispicito rectae qui tramite vitae
Deserto, magis atque magis periturus oberras:
Nam qụ tardior est, gravior fit numinis ira.[1]

I see a man fearing the lashes of the savage executioner who throws himself right into the waves of the Loire and, although dripping with sweat and not knowing how to swim, walking on foot, escapes the depths of the deep river, a man whom soon we see suffering punishment for many a death, hung up, his entrails to be burnt. Come, see this: you who wander, having abandoned the path of a correct life, you are all the more destined to die: for the longer it is delayed, the more serious the anger of God becomes.

Notes:

1.  This emblem probably refers to a specific event in France related to the religious turmoils (thus far unidentifed), but might the depicted outcome be real, symbolic, or wishful thinking?

For further thought: maybe Henri III was pursued across the Loire after a battle? Maybe this is a French commander of the League (cr. by Henri de Guise in 1576)? Could Ligeris be a pun on La Ligue, not the Loire?
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