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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [G7r p109]

Mixtus status οὐκ ἄνευ ἄρχοντος πρώτου.

Mixed constitution not without a first magistrate

A woman sits on a chair and holds a stick in her hand. There are some bees in front of her and a laurel wreath rings an object on the wall.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Pour bien vivre en ce monde il faut suyvre l’avette,
Elle a un Duc, un Roy[1], & si a sentiment
De la divinité qui la faict prudemment
Guerroyer, & garder la loy que lon a faicte.
Le Prince & le Senat par conseil & prudence
Contregarde son oeuvre, en guerre il se conduit,
Il donne des honneurs à celuy qui le suit,
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [G7v p110]Et quant-et-quant aussi l’ignare il desvance.
Ainsi un Empereur qui veut estre autre chose
Qu’un homme sans profit, il empesche tousjours
Les perils du public, & premier donne cours
Aux statuts & aux loix que luy-mesme il propose.
Tu es tel, Ferdinand, qui nous donne esperance
D’une saincte police, & encor tel sera
Ton Maximilian,[2] qui point ne laissera
De ses divins ayeuls l’admirable prudence.

Notes:

1.  Sambucus is following the ancient idea that hives are ruled by kings, or at least simply following the poetic logic of the allegory. Cf. Vergil, Georgics, 4.

2.  It would appear from this comment that much of this book was prepared before Emperor Ferdinand died in 1564, and that the first emblem was then modified in its dedication to his son, who in that year succeeded as Maximilian II.

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