
Ad Salamandram.
On the Salamander.
In milites.
On soldiers.
Imbrifer autumnus vitales addidit auras,
Temperies fecit te Salamandra mori.
Captat opes miles tunc cum furialis Enio
Evocat emeritos ad fera bella duces:
Quòd si percussa iurentur foedera porca,[1]
Pauper in exigua deficit ille domo.
Rainy autumn has redoubled its life-giving airs,
[But] the temperate climate makes you, Salamander, die.
The soldier gets rich at the time when Enyo the Fury
summons veteran leaders to savage war:
But if they conclude a treaty, swearing by a [sacrificial] sow,*
He [the soldier] is reduced to being a poor man in a humble abode.
* It was an ancient Roman custom to slaughter an animal in order to sanction a treaty. Percutio originally meant ‘I kill’ or ‘destroy by violence’ (referring to the pig), thus by a transferred epithet percutio foedera means ‘I conclude a treaty’. The epithet is in fact here twice transferred, and now refers back to the pig again, the literal meaning being ‘if they swear a treaty by a concluded [literally literally ‘slaughtered’] sow’.

NARRATIO PHILOSOPHICA.
SAlamadram inter caetera animantia duae
potissimum res mirabilem reddiderunt: una
eaque omnibus ferè nota, quòd contra naturae
ordinem in igne aliquo tempore sine iniuria de-
gat, & in mediis flammis spirabilem animum ducat.
Altera quòd nisi summa tempestate & maximis
imbribus in vitam ingrediatur: verni autem temporis
serenitate deficiat. Cui appositè silies videri pos-
sint ii, qui militiae sacramento obstricti sub ali-
quo imperatore stipendia faciunt. nam simul-
atque aliquis novus motus classicum canere coe-
pit, homines illi studio pugnae aut praedae ex um-
braculis suis in clamorem, in solem, in castra erum-
punt, atque in summa caeterorum calamitate &
turbulentissimis reipublicae temporibus, soli
rem, soli quaestum faciunt: & quasi ex longa ali-
qua aegritudine ad aspiciendam lucem evocati,
pristinam inediam solantur, ut propemodum so-
lis illis in patriae luctu & orbitate fortunatissi-
mis esse liceat. Fortunas curialium suorum diri-
piunt, patrimonia egentium evertunt, sibi vi-
vunt, agros depopulant, urbes incendio, ci-
ves caede, fundos lascivia infestant: & quod lon-
gè miserrimum est, maiore aliqunado homi-
nes suos quàm hostes damno afficiunt. Quòd
si confecto bello prospera aliqua fortuna otium
pacemque invixerit, videas homines se sibi pro-
pemodum immutatos in summa paupertate iace-
re, & quod caeteris uberrimos commodorum &
Link to an image of this page [G1r p97]quietis fructus affert, id illis & perniciosum, &
inimicum est. Neque tamen velim eorum utilitates
imminuere, qui pericula & hostium offensiones à
patriae cervicibus depellunt, & corporibus suis adi-
tum inimicis intercludunt, quosque maiorum me-
moria ius civile tot beneficiis honoravit. Sed mo-
nendi sunt polemarchi, & ii quos leges [=lege]
praeposi-
tos vocant, ut cohortes suas rapinis & vi prohi-
beant, neque eas in amicorum & sociorum agros
excurrere patiantur. Nam si tanta fuit apud vete-
res in re militari religio, ut cum hoste dimicare
fas esse non putarent, nisi prius Pater patratus bel-
lum indixisset: cum his iustum bellum susceptum
possit videri, qui & in fide sunt, quibusque nullum
bellum indixeris? nisi frustra in bellis cautiones aequi
tatis perscribuntur, quibus promulgatis, ut ait
Ennius,
Tollitur è medio sapientia, vigeritur res.
Related Emblems
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Relating to the image:
- landscape with bridge, viaduct or aqueduct [25I6] Search | Browse Iconclass
- landscape with ruins [25I9] Search | Browse Iconclass
- salamander (fabulous animal); salamander as spirit of fire [25FF412] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- autumn, fall, 'Autumnus'; 'Autunno' (Ripa) [23D44] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Bellona (Enyo) [92B491] Search | Browse Iconclass
- good weather [26F1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- peace [45A2] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Poverty; 'Povertà', 'Povertà del doni', 'Povertà in uno ch'habbia bell'ingegno' (Ripa) [55BB1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- rain [26B] Search | Browse Iconclass
- signing of peace treaty, concluding the peace [44B4211] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sow [47I2122] Search | Browse Iconclass
- war [45A1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Wealth, Opulence; 'Opulenza', 'Richezza' (Ripa) [55B1] Search | Browse Iconclass
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