Uxoriae virtutes.

Wifely virtues.

Testudo premitur pede; clavem dextra retentat;
Vacat obstruendo dentium septo altera.
Ne vaga discurset coniux, neu futilis esto;
Ipsamque cura opum tuendarum addecet.

A tortoise is trodden under her foot; safe in her right hand she holds a key; The other is free to cover the enclosure of her teeth. A wife should not go wandering abroad, nor be idle, And it befits her to have a care for her worldly goods that need looking after.

Complectitur istud emblema ter-
nas praecipuas uxoris dotes, nimirum residem do-
mi suae operam (cuius explicatio XXII. embl.
elucescit) deinde opum mariti industriae quaesita-
rum custodiam, postremò linguae continentiam.
Pingatur itaque recto corporis statu mulier, de-
xtra clavium fascem prae se tenens; laeva ori oppo-
sita, qua specie Angeronia Dea, silentii praesul,
praenexo obsignatoque ore figurabatur apud
priscos.[1]

This emblem embraces the three principal endowments of a wife, to wit: staying at home to take care of the household (on which Emblem XXII ([FJUb022]) sheds light); next, the guardianship of the wealth and goods accrued by the labours of her husband; and last, a control over her tongue. Therefore the picture should show a woman in an upright posture, holding before her in her right hand a bunch of keys; with her left hand pressed to her lips, in which appearance the goddess Angeronia, patroness of silence, was portrayed in antiquity, with her mouth bound and sealed up.