Emblem 33

Emblem 33

A bird (swallow) flies to its young which sits in the nest on top of a statue of Medea, killing her children

Ei, qui semel sua prodegerit, aliena credi non oportereLatin

He who has once squandered his own ought not to be trusted with another.

Interpretation (German): Falsches Vertrauen

Description of the imageAI-generated

Within an elaborate woodcut border of foliage and floral ornament, a framed scene shows a classical architectural interior: a statue standing on a pedestal in an arched niche between columns. The statue is a woman in flowing drapery holding a raised dagger or sword in one hand and clutching a naked infant against her breast with the other. Above, near the top of the arch, a swallow flies toward a nest built on the cornice.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page — Facsimile; click the page to enlarge

TranscriptionAI-generated

MEDEA loe with infante in her arme, Whoe kil'de her babes, shee shoulde haue loued beste: The swallowe yet, whoe did suspect no harme, Hir Image likes, and hatch'd vppon her breste: And lefte her younge, vnto this tirauntes guide, Whoe, peecemeale did her proper fruicte deuide. Oh foolishe birde, think'ste thow, shee will haue care, Vppon thy yonge? Whoe hathe her owne destroy'de, And maie it bee, that shee thie birdes should spare? Whoe slue her owne, in whome shee shoulde haue ioy'd. Thow arte deceauide, and arte a warninge good, To put no truste, in them that hate theire blood.

TranslationAI-generated

Behold Medea with an infant in her arm, who killed her babes, whom she should have loved best. Yet the swallow, who suspected no harm, took a liking to her image and hatched upon her breast; and left her young in this tyrant's keeping, who tore her own offspring piecemeal apart. Oh foolish bird, do you think she will take care of your young? She who has destroyed her own? And can it be that she should spare your birds, who slew her own, in whom she should have rejoiced? You are deceived, and you are a good warning to put no trust in those that hate their own blood.

CommentaryAI-generated

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

MEDEÆ statua est: natos cui credis Hirundo? Fer aliò: viden' hæc mactet vt ipsa suos?

It is a statue of Medea: to whom do you entrust your young, Swallow? Carry them elsewhere: do you see how she herself slaughters her own?

Ouid. lib. 7. Metamorph.

Ovid, book 7 of the Metamorphoses.

Borbonius.

Borbonius (Nicolas Bourbon).

Iconclass

25F3(SWALLOW)(+4712)

25F3(SWALLOW)(+53)

31A222(+89) chest, bust (+ nude human being)

31A2511(+933) arm raised upward (+ holding something)

31AA2511 arm raised upward - AA - both arms or hands

31A2516(+933) arm or hand held in front of the body (+ holding something)

31AA26114(+51) standing, leaning, sitting or lying with legs apart - AA - female human figure (+ standing)

31D112(+89) child (+ nude human being)

31D15 adult woman

31E234631 violent death by sword

41A31 façade (of house or building)

41D2332(+82) shoes, sandals (+ women's clothes)

41D92 woman (showing herself) undressed, quasi-nude

42A3 mother and baby or young child

42B29 killing a child (absence of parental love)

45C13(SWORD) hacking and thrusting weapons: sword

48C161 column, pillar ~ architecture

48C168(NICHE) other architectural details (NICHE)

48C24 piece of sculpture, reproduction of a piece of sculpture

55C11(+4) Squandering, Extravagance, Prodigality, Waste; 'Prodigalità' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)

56D29(+4) Misplaced Trust, False Confidence, 'Pax Falsa'; 'Speranza fallace' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)

86(EI QUI SEMEL SUA PRODEGERIT, ALIENA CREDI NON OPORTERE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (EI QUI SEMEL SUA PRODEGERIT, ALIENA CREDI NON OPORTERE)

94A74(+0) Medea kills her two children; she flees from Corinth in a chariot drawn by winged dragons (+ variant)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

95B(MEDEA) Medeahigh

The correlate 'Medea' matches directly: the commentary identifies the statue as Medea, shown with raised dagger and child.

42B29 killing a child (absence of parental love)high

'Killing a child (absence of parental love)' fits the statue of Medea about to slay her own infant, the very point of the warning to the swallow.

83(OVID, Metamorphoses) (scenes from) specific works of literature: Ovid, Metamorphosesmedium

The commentary explicitly cites Ovid, Metamorphoses book 7 as the literary source of the depicted scene.

42A4 infant, babymedium

'Infant, baby' matches the naked infant clutched against the woman's breast in the statue.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

III viii 51 Cavendum ab eo, qui semel imposuit – thematic inventiolow

Both motto and adage turn on the logic of 'semel' — once a man has shown what he is (cheated once / squandered his own once), no further trust should be placed in him; the emblem's closing moral, 'put no truste in them that hate theire blood', is the same lesson of prudent distrust based on past conduct.

I ii 69 Festo die si quid prodegeris – thematic inventiolow

The motto's key verb 'prodegerit' echoes Erasmus' proverbial figure on wasteful squandering ('si quid prodegeris'), which he applies to those who dissipate their substance and must later suffer for it — the same figure of the prodigal unfit to be trusted.

I i 70 Homo homini lupus – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus glosses the adage as a warning 'not to trust ourselves to an unknown person, but to beware of him as of a wolf'; the swallow's fatal credulity before the murderous Medea dramatizes exactly this warning against misplaced trust in a cruel other.