Emblem 5

Emblem 5

A swallow bringing a cricket to its chicks, waiting in the nest built in a ruin

Dissidia inter aequales, pessimaLatin

Dissension among equals are the worst.

Interpretation: Swallow and grasshopper (Disagreements between equals, the worst)
Interpretation (German): Gehässigkeit unter Gelehrten

Description of the imageAI-generated

Within an ornamental woodcut border, a scene of ruined classical buildings: broken columns, arches, fallen masonry and scattered stone blocks in the foreground, with tufts of vegetation growing on the ruins. In the upper left a swallow flies through the air carrying a grasshopper (cicada) in its beak; nests with birds appear in the ruined architecture.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page — Facsimile; click the page to enlarge

TranscriptionAI-generated

THE Swallowe swifte, dothe beare vnto her neste The Grasshopper, that did no daunger feare, For that shee thought, they loude togeather beste, Bycause they both, obserude one time of yeare, And bothe, did ioye theire iarringe notes to sounde, And neare the house they bothe, theire dwellings founde. Yet time, and tune, and neighbourhood forgotte, For perfect frende, a tyrant shee became, Which taxeth those, whome God dothe heare allotte Like gifts of grace, to winne a lasting name, Yet Enuie soe theire vertues doth deface, It makes them foes, to them theie should imbrace.

TranslationAI-generated

The swift swallow carries to her nest the grasshopper, which feared no danger, because she thought they both sang loudest together, since both observed the same season of the year, and both delighted to sound their jarring notes, and both found their dwellings near the house. Yet, forgetting season and song and neighbourhood, she became a tyrant instead of a perfect friend; which rebukes those to whom God allots like gifts of grace to win a lasting name, yet envy so defaces their virtues that it makes them foes to those whom they should embrace.

CommentaryAI-generated

2 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)

Alciatus. Stridula stridentem, vernans verna, hospita lædit Hospitam, & aligeram penniger ales auem?

Alciatus. Does the shrill one harm the shrilling one, the spring-dweller the spring-dweller, the guest the guest, and the feathered bird the winged bird?

Formicæ grata est formica, Cicada cicadæ Et doctis doctus gaudet Apollo choris. Nic. Reusnerus.

The ant is pleasing to the ant, the cicada to the cicada, and learned Apollo delights in learned choirs. Nicolaus Reusnerus.

Iconclass

11N32 Envy; 'Invidia' (Ripa) ~ personification of one of the Seven Deadly Sins

25F32(SWALLOW)(+42) song-birds: swallow (+ feeding and care of young)

25F32(SWALLOW)(+421) song-birds: swallow (+ nest, den, burrow)

25F32(SWALLOW)(+452) song-birds: swallow (+ animal with prey)

25F32(SWALLOW)(+53) song-birds: swallow (+ postures, positions of animal(s))

25F711(GRASSHOPPER)(+63) insects (GRASSHOPPER) (+ dying animal; death of animal; dead animal)

25G13 groups of plants (herbs)

33B10 'Lite' (Ripa)

48C149 ruin of a building ~ architecture

52B5112(+4) Bad, Evil, Wrong (+ emblematical representation of concept)

54EE31(+4):51B3(+4) Disagreement, Discord; 'Discordia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)❧Parity, Equality (+ emblematical representation of concept)

57AA76(+4) Jealousy; 'Gelosia', 'Rammarico del ben'altrui' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)

86(DISSIDIA INTER AEQUALES, PESSIMA) proverbs, sayings, etc. (DISSIDIA INTER AEQUALES, PESSIMA)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.

25F711(CICADA) insects: cicadahigh

The correlate 'insects: cicada' matches the cicada carried in the swallow's beak and the cicada repeatedly named in the commentary.

25F711(GRASS-HOPPER) insects: grass-hoppermedium

The correlate 'insects: grass-hopper' matches the insect explicitly described as a grasshopper (cicada) being carried by the swallow.

25F711(ANT) insects: antlow

The correlate 'insects: ant' corresponds only to the commentary's adage that 'the ant is pleasing to the ant', with no ant actually depicted.

92B3731 Apollo and the Muses, Apollo Musageteslow

The correlate 'Apollo and the Muses, Apollo Musagetes' loosely echoes the commentary's 'learned Apollo delights in learned choirs', though Apollo is not depicted.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.

I ii 24 Cicada cicadae cara, formicae formica – essay quotehigh

The emblem's second commentary verse, 'Formicæ grata est formica, Cicada cicadæ', reproduces verbatim Erasmus's Latin rendering of Theocritus Idyll 9 given in the essay of this adage ('Formicae grata est formica, cicada cicadae, / Accipiter placet accipitri'); the emblem inverts the adage's point by showing like harming like.

I ii 25 Figulus figulo invidet, faber fabro – thematic inventiohigh

The motto 'Dissidia inter æquales, pessima' and the subscriptio's complaint that envy makes foes of those with 'Like gifts of grace' restate exactly Erasmus's exception to I ii 24, namely Hesiod's doctrine that those in the same craft breed rivalry rather than goodwill (potter envies potter, singer envies singer, neighbour envies neighbour).

IV viii 59 Cognatio movet invidiam – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus's Aristotelian point that envy arises only between those who are near and alike ('Etenim invidere novit ipsa affinitas') is precisely the lesson of the swallow devouring the cicada, her fellow in season, song and dwelling.

III i 22 Inimicus et invidus vicinorum oculus – thematic inventiomedium

The subscriptio stresses that swallow and cicada 'neare the house ... theire dwellings founde' yet neighbourhood is 'forgotte'; this matches the adage's doctrine (with its Hesiodic citation) that envy is strongest between close neighbours and those one hopes to overtake.

IV viii 20 Invidus vicini oculus – thematic inventiolow

A doublet of III i 22, likewise invoking Hesiod on envy among neighbours and equals, which is the moral the emblem draws from the swallow preying on its neighbour the cicada.