
Degeneres. Theca loquitur.[1]
Degenerates. The [lute]box speaks.
Nil habeo praeter formam testudinis aptae,
Atque sinu tueor fila canora meo.
Nulla mihi vox est, non chordae, nullus honosque,
Muta sed assimulor, credita dona tego.
Saltem aliqua ornasset miseram me voce Magister,
Ne rupta in flammas turpiter abiicerer.
Degeneres qui sunt, modo avitaque stemmata iactant,
Umbram maiorum nobilitate gerunt.
Nobilis ex virtute suos sectatur honores,
Et proprium factis quaerit habere decus.
Annulus effigie insignis, vultuque paterno
Detrahitur digito non malč scipiadis.[2]
I have nothing except the form of a lyre, and in my curved shape I guard the melodious strings. I have no voice, nor strings, nor honour; though I am mute, I am made to resemble [the lyre], and I protect the gifts entrusted to me. Poor me, if only some master/maestro could have beautified me with a voice, so that I should not be broken and thrown in disgrace on the fire. Those who are degenerate and can do nothing but boast of their noble family line, with their ancestors’ nobility carry only a shadow of their ancestors’ noble birth. A truly noble man pursues his own honours through virtue, and seeks to have his personal glory by his deeds. The ring brilliant with the graven image of a father’s face was rightly pulled from the finger of Scipio’s son.
1. The last two words added from the Errata.
2. Cf. Valerius Maximus Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings, 3.5.1 (Qui a parentibus claris degeneraverunt), in which Lucius (or Caius) Cornelius Scipio, son of the elder Africanus, has a ring with his father’s portrait removed from his finger by members of his family.
Related Emblems
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Relating to the image:
- adult man [31D14] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult woman [31D15] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards [31A2515] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm or hand held in front of the body - AA - both arms or hands (+ other neutral connotations) [31AA2516(+939)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched sidewards [31A2513] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beard [31A534] Search | Browse Iconclass
- chair [41A721] Search | Browse Iconclass
- communal rooms [41A22] Search | Browse Iconclass
- containers [41A77] Search | Browse Iconclass
- cover for table, etc. [41A713] Search | Browse Iconclass
- fire (one of the four elements) [21C] Search | Browse Iconclass
- flame [41B121] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hangings and drapery [41A422] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head turned to the left - AA - female human figure [31AA2421] Search | Browse Iconclass
- lute, and special forms of lute, e.g.: theorbo [48C7323] Search | Browse Iconclass
- one person playing string instrument (plucked) [48C7522] Search | Browse Iconclass
- open door [41A3211] Search | Browse Iconclass
- open hearth, fire-place [41B21] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting on an elevation [31A2352] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting or lying with one leg stretched forward and the other leg drawn up (+ sitting) [31A2626(+53)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- smoke [41B162] Search | Browse Iconclass
- table [41A711] Search | Browse Iconclass
- woman dancing alone [43C912] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- (story of) P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major [98B(SCIPIO AFRICANUS MAJOR)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Boast; 'Iattanza' (Ripa) [57AA645] Search | Browse Iconclass
- confinement, birth [42A2] Search | Browse Iconclass
- deaf-mute, deaf and dumb [31A4121] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Disgrace; 'Infamia', 'Scorno' (Ripa) [59BB31] Search | Browse Iconclass
- father (first degree family relationships) [42G2111] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Heredity (+ emblematical representation of concept) [58B5(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Honour, Glory; 'Ampiezza della Gloria', 'Gloria', 'Gloria de prencipi', 'Gloria & Honore', 'Honore', 'Sublimatą della Gloria' (Ripa) [59B31] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Mortality, Extinction of Life [58BB1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Nobility; 'Nobiltą' (Ripa) [57A68] Search | Browse Iconclass
- picture, painting [48C514] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Protection; 'Custodia', 'Difesa contra nimici, malefici & venefici', 'Difesa contra pericoli', 'Riparo da i tradimenti' (Ripa) [54E42] Search | Browse Iconclass
- ring [41D2664] Search | Browse Iconclass
- shadow [22C8] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Viciousness, Naughtiness (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA6(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Virtuousness; 'Amor di Virtł', 'Attione virtuosa', 'Guida sicura de' veri honori', 'Virtł', 'Virtł insuperabile' (Ripa) [57A6] Search | Browse Iconclass
- voice [31B62350] Search | Browse Iconclass
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