Switch to Dual Emblem Display

« Previous EmblemNext Emblem »
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [L1v p82]

PLUS PAR VERTU QUE
par armes.

L’Estat du Prince bon plus fermement se fonde
Dessus le pilotis de clemence, & bonté.
Que si plus sourcilleux son sceptre il eut monté
De force & de rigueur sur la base profonde.

Le Roy qui est benin mesprise guet, & ronde:
Le repos sans celà, clost son oeil en seurté.
Au contraire, du jour la plus belle clarté
Effroyable, au [=aux] Tyrans, mille terreurs desbonde.

Ainsi, bien que la force arma de toutes pars
Le Throne de Denis, de mille armez soudars,
La crainte bourreloit sa palle conscience.

Et vuyde d’asseurance, il aymoit mieux fier
La façon de son poil au charbon, qu’au barbier.[1]
Tant l’injustice au coeur ente de meffiance.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [L2r p83]

Ad Basilium Charondam Albanum.[2]

Plus virtute quàm armis.

More by virtue than by arms

Figure sitting on stone plinth with greek inscription smoking. Pot of fire on low table beside him. Naked army with spears at entrance.
[Click on image to enlarge]

PLus Princeps bonitate suâ, quàm robore pollet:
Poscunt regna fidem, tela tyrannis amat.
At Rex securis premit alta cubilia somnis:
Quod metuat mediâ luce tyrannus habet.

The prince is strong more on account of his goodness than his physical strength. Ruling demands reliability; it is tyranny that loves weapons. A king presses his high bed with secure sleep; the tyrant has something to fear in broad daylight.

Notes:

1.  Dionysius I, Tyrant of Syracuse, was an archetypal tyrant of antiquity (roughly 4th century BC), who feared assassination so much that he could never entrust himself even to a barber.

2.  Basilius Charondas, from Albania (or more correctly, from Epirus, now split between modern Albania and Greece), a poet and friend of Boissard’s who died in the plague of Padua of 1576.

« Previous EmblemNext Emblem »

Iconclass Keywords

Relating to the image:

Relating to the text:

Hint: You can turn translations and name underlining on or off using the preferences page.

 

Back to top