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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [I5v p138]

Nullum malum solum: vel,
Uno bono sublato, mille existunt.[1]

Nothing is purely bad: or, if we take one good thing away, a thousand spring up to replace it.

Large naked man beating a many-headed monster with a club.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Herculeis quanquam manibus fortissima quaeque
Monstra, truces, domitae atque occubuêre ferae:
Nil tamen invictum toties vexavit ut hydra,
Cuius ab abscisso vertice crevit opus.
Quoque magis pestem iugulat, capita undique collo
Aucta renascuntur, caedeque monstra valent.
Haud secus indignè quos iactant fata, malorum
Augescit numerus, vim cumulatque dies.
Uno si expediant miseri se, mille recurrunt
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [I6r p139]Damna, labore novo pristinus estque minor.
De illis hoc quoque dic, quos invida sustulit aetas:
Uno omnes cupiunt pro Cicerone loqui.
Vel quos exercent lites, ac iudicis ira:
Una ubi finita est caussa, decem redeunt.

Although the mightiest monsters and the most violent domestic animals challenged the hands of Hercules, still nothing annoyed him (indomitable as he was) more than than the Hydra, from whose truncated head labours grew. And the more he hacked its many throats, the more the heads grew back on all sides, from every neck, and death only strengthened the fiends. In the same way, if people are tortured undeservingly by fate, the evils grow in number, and their strength grows day by day. And if poor mortals free themselves from one, a thousand more injuries come running, and the old annoyance is smaller than the new. But speak this too of those brought up in an envious age. All wish to speak in place of Cicero, even those racked by trials and the wrath of judges. When one case is finished, ten more follow!

Notes:

1.  For a similar treatment of the Hydra theme, compare Corrozet: Hecatomgraphie: [FCGa065].

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