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Random findings II: Emblems
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 02:19 pmI found that are a variety of really pretty emblem sites out there today. There's a project they're doing in Glasgow. Why, why did I leave? There's also a really pretty educational site hosted by the project they're doing in Utrecht with explanations and quizzes in English and in Dutch, it's really good and worth a visit - it's a kind of introductory course on Dutch love emblems.
One project is hosted by Wolfenbüttel, which I will get to visit in May, then, there's the Munich emblem data base, and a site on the Memorial University of Newfoundland who have digitalised the emblems of Andrea Alciato (1492-1550), who is probably my favourite.
Here are a few examples:
It's a fascinating genre, and it's a pity it's been banalised so much. What was most interesting for me was reading the Dutch pages - I hardly know anything at all about the period in Netherlands, it was a fascinating read.
One project is hosted by Wolfenbüttel, which I will get to visit in May, then, there's the Munich emblem data base, and a site on the Memorial University of Newfoundland who have digitalised the emblems of Andrea Alciato (1492-1550), who is probably my favourite.
Here are a few examples:
Submovendam ignorantiam (Ignorance must be banished)
Quod monstrum id? Sphinx est. Cur candida virginis ora,
Et volucrum pennas, crura leonis habet?
Hanc faciem assumpsit rerum ignorantia: tanti
Scilicet est triplex caussa et origo mali.
Sunt quos ingenium leve, sunt quos blanda voluptas,
Sunt et quos faciunt corda superba rudes.
At quibus est notum, quid Delphica littera possit,
Praecipitis monstri guttura dira secant.
Namque vir ipse bipesque tripesque et quadrupes idem est,
Primaque prudentis laurea, nosse virum.
What monster is that? It is the Sphinx.
Why does it have the bright face of a virgin, the feathers of a bird, and the limbs of a lion?
Ignorance of things has taken on this appearance: which is to say that the root cause of so much evil is threefold. Some men are made ignorant by levity of mind, some by seductive pleasure, and some by arrogance of spirit. But they who know the power of the Delphic message slit the relentless monster's terrible throat. For man himself is also a two-footed, three-footed, four-footed thing, and the first victory of the prudent man is to know what man is.
Quod monstrum id? Sphinx est. Cur candida virginis ora,
Et volucrum pennas, crura leonis habet?
Hanc faciem assumpsit rerum ignorantia: tanti
Scilicet est triplex caussa et origo mali.
Sunt quos ingenium leve, sunt quos blanda voluptas,
Sunt et quos faciunt corda superba rudes.
At quibus est notum, quid Delphica littera possit,
Praecipitis monstri guttura dira secant.
Namque vir ipse bipesque tripesque et quadrupes idem est,
Primaque prudentis laurea, nosse virum.
What monster is that? It is the Sphinx.
Why does it have the bright face of a virgin, the feathers of a bird, and the limbs of a lion?
Ignorance of things has taken on this appearance: which is to say that the root cause of so much evil is threefold. Some men are made ignorant by levity of mind, some by seductive pleasure, and some by arrogance of spirit. But they who know the power of the Delphic message slit the relentless monster's terrible throat. For man himself is also a two-footed, three-footed, four-footed thing, and the first victory of the prudent man is to know what man is.
It's a fascinating genre, and it's a pity it's been banalised so much. What was most interesting for me was reading the Dutch pages - I hardly know anything at all about the period in Netherlands, it was a fascinating read.
