Section IV.EMBLEMS ILLUSTRATIVE OF FABLES.

“When you and those poor number saved with youHung on our driving boat, I saw your brother,Most provident in peril, bind himself,Courage and hope both teaching him the practice,To a strong mast that lived upon the sea;Where, like Arion on the dolphin’s back,I saw him hold acquaintance with the wavesSo long as I could see.”

“When you and those poor number saved with you

Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother,

Most provident in peril, bind himself,

Courage and hope both teaching him the practice,

To a strong mast that lived upon the sea;

Where, like Arion on the dolphin’s back,

I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves

So long as I could see.”

As examples of a sentiment directly opposite, we will briefly refer to Coustau’sPegma(p. 323, edition Lyons, 1555), where to the device of a Camel and his driver, the noble motto is recorded and exemplified from Plutarch,Homo homini Deus,—“Man is a God to man;” the reason being assigned,—

“As the world was created for sake of gods and men, so man was created for man’s sake;” and, “that the grace we receive from the immortal God is to be bestowed on man by man.”

Reusner, too, in hisEmblemata(p. 142, Francfort, 1581), though commenting on the contrary saying,Homo homini lupus, declares,—

“Aut homini Deus est homo; si bonus: aut lupus hercle,Si malus: ô quantum est esse hominem, atq. Deum.”

“Aut homini Deus est homo; si bonus: aut lupus hercle,

Si malus: ô quantum est esse hominem, atq. Deum.”

i.e.

“Or man to man is God; if good: or a wolf in truth,If bad: O how great it is to be man and God!”[139]

“Or man to man is God; if good: or a wolf in truth,

If bad: O how great it is to be man and God!”[139]

Was it in reference to these sentiments that Hamlet and Cerimon speak? The one says (Hamlet, act iv. sc. 4, l. 33. vol. viii. p. 127),—

“What is a man,If his chief good and market of his timeBe but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,Looking before and after, gave us notThat capability and god-like reasonTo fust in us unused.”

“What is a man,

If his chief good and market of his time

Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.

Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,

Looking before and after, gave us not

That capability and god-like reason

To fust in us unused.”

And again (act ii. sc. 2, l. 295, vol. viii. p. 63),—

“What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!”

So in thePericles(act iii. sc. 2, l. 26, vol. ix. p. 366), the fine thought is uttered,—

“I hold it ever,Virtue and cunning were endowments greaterThan nobleness and riches: careless heirsMay the two latter darken and expend,But immortality attends the former,Making a man a god.”

“I hold it ever,

Virtue and cunning were endowments greater

Than nobleness and riches: careless heirs

May the two latter darken and expend,

But immortality attends the former,

Making a man a god.”

The horses and chariot of Phœbus, and the presumptuous charioteer Phaëton, who attempted to drive them, are celebrated with great splendour of description in Ovid’sMetamorphoses(bk. ii. fab. 1), that rich storehouse of Mythology. The palace of the god has lofty columns bright with glittering gold; the roof is covered with pure shining ivory; and the double gates are of silver. Here Phœbus was throned, and clothed in purple;—the days and months and years,—the seasons and the ages were seated around him; Phaëton appears, claims to be his son, and demands for one day to guide the glorious steeds. At this point we take up the narrative which Alciat has written (Emb. 56), and inscribed, “To the rash.”[140]

Alciat, 1551.

“You behold Phaëton the driver of his father’s chariot,—Who dared to guide the fire breathing horses of the sun.After over the lands mightiest burnings he scattered,Wretched he fell from the chariot where rashly he sat.So many kings, whom youthful ambition excites,On the wheels of Fortune are borne to the stars.After great slaughter of the human race and their own,For all their crimes at last the penalties they pay.”

“You behold Phaëton the driver of his father’s chariot,—

Who dared to guide the fire breathing horses of the sun.

After over the lands mightiest burnings he scattered,

Wretched he fell from the chariot where rashly he sat.

So many kings, whom youthful ambition excites,

On the wheels of Fortune are borne to the stars.

After great slaughter of the human race and their own,

For all their crimes at last the penalties they pay.”

Shakespeare’s notices of the attempted feat and its failure are frequent. First, in theTwo Gentlemen of Verona(act iii. sc. 1, l. 153, vol. i. p. 121), the Duke of Milan discovers the letter addressed to his daughter Silvia, with the promise,—

“Silvia, this night will I enfranchise thee,”—

and with true classic force denounces the folly of the attempt,—

“Why, Phaethon,—for thou art Merops’ son,—Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car,And with thy daring folly burn the world?Wilt thou reach stars because they shine on thee?”

“Why, Phaethon,—for thou art Merops’ son,—

Wilt thou aspire to guide the heavenly car,

And with thy daring folly burn the world?

Wilt thou reach stars because they shine on thee?”

In her impatience for the meeting with Romeo (Romeo and Juliet, act iii. sc. 2, l. 1, vol. vii. p. 72), Juliet exclaims,—

“Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,Towards Phœbus’ lodging: such a waggonerAs Phaethon would whip you to the westAnd bring in cloudy night immediately.”

“Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,

Towards Phœbus’ lodging: such a waggoner

As Phaethon would whip you to the west

And bring in cloudy night immediately.”

The unfortunate Richard II. (act iii. sc. 3, l. 178, vol. iv. p. 179), when desired by Northumberland to meet Bolingbroke in the courtyard (“may’t please you to come down”), replies,—

“Down, down, I come; like glistering PhaetonWanting the manage of unruly jades.”

“Down, down, I come; like glistering Phaeton

Wanting the manage of unruly jades.”

And he too, in3 Henry VI.(act i. sc. 4, l. 16, vol. v. p. 244), Richard, Duke of York, whose son cried,—

“A crown, or else a glorious tomb!A sceptre or an earthly sepulchre!”—

“A crown, or else a glorious tomb!

A sceptre or an earthly sepulchre!”—

when urged by Northumberland (l. 30),—

“Yield to our mercy, proud Plantagenet;”

had this answer given for him by the faithful Clifford,—

“Ay, to such mercy, as his ruthless arm,With downright payment, shew’d unto my father.Now Phaethon hath tumbled from his car,And made an evening at the noontide prick.”

“Ay, to such mercy, as his ruthless arm,

With downright payment, shew’d unto my father.

Now Phaethon hath tumbled from his car,

And made an evening at the noontide prick.”

That same Clifford (act ii. sc. 6, l. 10, vol. v. p. 271), when wounded and about to die for the Lancastrian cause, makes use of the allusion,—

“And who shines now but Henry’s enemy?O Phœbus! hadst thou never given consentThat Phaëthon should check thy fiery steeds,Thy burning car had never scorch’d the earth!And, Henry, hadst thou sway’d as kings should do,Or as thy father and his father did,Giving no ground unto the house of York,They never then had sprung like summer flies;I and ten thousand in this luckless realmHad left no mourning widows for our death;And thou this day hadst kept thy chair in peace.”

“And who shines now but Henry’s enemy?

O Phœbus! hadst thou never given consent

That Phaëthon should check thy fiery steeds,

Thy burning car had never scorch’d the earth!

And, Henry, hadst thou sway’d as kings should do,

Or as thy father and his father did,

Giving no ground unto the house of York,

They never then had sprung like summer flies;

I and ten thousand in this luckless realm

Had left no mourning widows for our death;

And thou this day hadst kept thy chair in peace.”

In the early heroic age, when Minos reigned in Crete and Theseus at Athens, just as Mythology was ripening into history, the most celebrated for mechanical contrivance and for excellence in the arts of sculpture and architecture were Dædalus and his sons Talus and Icarus. To them is attributed the invention of the saw, the axe, the plumb-line, the auger, the gimlet, and glue; they contrived masts and sailyards for ships; and they discovered various methods of giving to statues expression and the appearance of life. Chiefly, however, are Dædalus and Icarus now known for fitting wings to the human arms, and for attempting to fly across the sea from Crete to the shore of Greece. Dædalus, hovering just above the waves, accomplished the aërial voyage in safety; but Icarus, too ambitiously soaring aloft, had his wings injured by the heat of the sun, and fell into the waters, which from his death there were named the Icarian sea.

From the edition of Alciat’sEmblems, 1581, we select a drawing which represents the fall of Icarus; it is dedicated “To Astrologers,” or fortune tellers. The warning in the last two lines is all we need to translate,—

“Let the Astrologer take heed what he foretells; for headlongThe impostor will fall though he fly the stars above.”

“Let the Astrologer take heed what he foretells; for headlong

The impostor will fall though he fly the stars above.”

In aſtrologos.Emblema ciii.Alciat, 1581.Icare,per ſuperos qui raptus & aëra, donecIn mare præcipitem cera liquata daret,Nunc te cera eadem, feruensq́₃quereſuſcitat ignis,Exemplo vt doceas dogmata certa tuo.Aſtrologus caueat quicquam prædicere: præcepsNam cadet impoſtor dum ſuper aſtra volat.

In aſtrologos.

Emblema ciii.

Alciat, 1581.

Icare,per ſuperos qui raptus & aëra, donecIn mare præcipitem cera liquata daret,Nunc te cera eadem, feruensq́₃quereſuſcitat ignis,Exemplo vt doceas dogmata certa tuo.Aſtrologus caueat quicquam prædicere: præcepsNam cadet impoſtor dum ſuper aſtra volat.

Icare,per ſuperos qui raptus & aëra, donec

In mare præcipitem cera liquata daret,

Nunc te cera eadem, feruensq́₃quereſuſcitat ignis,

Exemplo vt doceas dogmata certa tuo.

Aſtrologus caueat quicquam prædicere: præceps

Nam cadet impoſtor dum ſuper aſtra volat.

Whitney, however (p. 28), will supply the whole,—

“Heare, Icarvswith mountinge vp alofte,Came headlonge downe, and fell into the Sea:His waxed winges, the sonne did make so softe,They melted straighte, and feathers fell awaie:So, whilste he flewe, and of no dowbte did care,He moou’de his armes, but loe, the same were bare.Let suche beware, which paste theire reache doe mounte,Whoe seeke the thinges, to mortall men deny’de,And searche the Heauens, and all the starres accoumpte,And tell therebie, what after shall betyde:With blusshinge nowe, theire weakenesse rightlie weye,Least as they clime, they fall to theire decaye.”

“Heare, Icarvswith mountinge vp alofte,

Came headlonge downe, and fell into the Sea:

His waxed winges, the sonne did make so softe,

They melted straighte, and feathers fell awaie:

So, whilste he flewe, and of no dowbte did care,

He moou’de his armes, but loe, the same were bare.

Let suche beware, which paste theire reache doe mounte,Whoe seeke the thinges, to mortall men deny’de,And searche the Heauens, and all the starres accoumpte,And tell therebie, what after shall betyde:With blusshinge nowe, theire weakenesse rightlie weye,Least as they clime, they fall to theire decaye.”

Let suche beware, which paste theire reache doe mounte,

Whoe seeke the thinges, to mortall men deny’de,

And searche the Heauens, and all the starres accoumpte,

And tell therebie, what after shall betyde:

With blusshinge nowe, theire weakenesse rightlie weye,

Least as they clime, they fall to theire decaye.”

Corrozet, 1540.Fol Icarus que t’eſt il aduenu?Tu as treſmal le conſeil retenuDe Dedalus ton pere qui t’apprintL’art de voler, lequel il entreprintPour eſchapper de Minos la priſonOu vous eſtiez enfermez, pour raiſonQu’il auoit faict & baſty vne vacheD’ung boys leger ou Paſiphe ſe cache.Ce Dedalus nature ſurmontaA toy & luy des ælles adiouſtaAux bras & piedz, tant que pouiez volerEt en volant il ſe print à parlerA toy diſant: mon filz qui veulx pretendreDe te ſauluer, vng cas tu doibs entendreQue ſi tu veulx à bon port arriuerIl ne te fault vers le ciel eſleuer.Car le Soleil la cire fonderoit,Et par ainſi ta plume tomberoit,Sy tu vas bas l’humidité des eaulxTe priuera du pouoir des oyſeaulx,Mais ſi tu vas ne hault ne bas, adoncquesLa voyé̩[e/]̩ eſt ſeuré̩[e/]̩ & ſans dangers quelzconques:O pauure ſot le hault chemin tu prinsTrop hault pour toy car mal il t’en eſt prinsLa cire fond, & ton plumage tumbeEt toy auſſi preſt à mettre ſoubz tumbe.

Corrozet, 1540.

Fol Icarus que t’eſt il aduenu?Tu as treſmal le conſeil retenuDe Dedalus ton pere qui t’apprintL’art de voler, lequel il entreprintPour eſchapper de Minos la priſonOu vous eſtiez enfermez, pour raiſonQu’il auoit faict & baſty vne vacheD’ung boys leger ou Paſiphe ſe cache.Ce Dedalus nature ſurmontaA toy & luy des ælles adiouſtaAux bras & piedz, tant que pouiez volerEt en volant il ſe print à parlerA toy diſant: mon filz qui veulx pretendreDe te ſauluer, vng cas tu doibs entendreQue ſi tu veulx à bon port arriuerIl ne te fault vers le ciel eſleuer.Car le Soleil la cire fonderoit,Et par ainſi ta plume tomberoit,Sy tu vas bas l’humidité des eaulxTe priuera du pouoir des oyſeaulx,Mais ſi tu vas ne hault ne bas, adoncquesLa voyé̩[e/]̩ eſt ſeuré̩[e/]̩ & ſans dangers quelzconques:O pauure ſot le hault chemin tu prinsTrop hault pour toy car mal il t’en eſt prinsLa cire fond, & ton plumage tumbeEt toy auſſi preſt à mettre ſoubz tumbe.

Fol Icarus que t’eſt il aduenu?

Tu as treſmal le conſeil retenu

De Dedalus ton pere qui t’apprint

L’art de voler, lequel il entreprint

Pour eſchapper de Minos la priſon

Ou vous eſtiez enfermez, pour raiſon

Qu’il auoit faict & baſty vne vache

D’ung boys leger ou Paſiphe ſe cache.

Ce Dedalus nature ſurmonta

A toy & luy des ælles adiouſta

Aux bras & piedz, tant que pouiez voler

Et en volant il ſe print à parler

A toy diſant: mon filz qui veulx pretendre

De te ſauluer, vng cas tu doibs entendre

Que ſi tu veulx à bon port arriuer

Il ne te fault vers le ciel eſleuer.

Car le Soleil la cire fonderoit,

Et par ainſi ta plume tomberoit,

Sy tu vas bas l’humidité des eaulx

Te priuera du pouoir des oyſeaulx,

Mais ſi tu vas ne hault ne bas, adoncques

La voyé̩[e/]̩ eſt ſeuré̩[e/]̩ & ſans dangers quelzconques:

O pauure ſot le hault chemin tu prins

Trop hault pour toy car mal il t’en eſt prins

La cire fond, & ton plumage tumbe

Et toy auſſi preſt à mettre ſoubz tumbe.

We use this opportunity to present two consecutive pages of Corrozet’s“Hecatomgraphie”(Emb. 67), that the nature of his

devices, and of their explanations may be seen. There is a motto,—“To take the middle way,”—and these lines follow—

“Who too much exalts himself too much values himself,Who too much abases himself, he undervalues himself,But that man who wills to do well,He governs himself the medium way.”

“Who too much exalts himself too much values himself,

Who too much abases himself, he undervalues himself,

But that man who wills to do well,

He governs himself the medium way.”

In the page of metrical explanation subjoined, the usual mythic narrative is closely followed.

The full idea is carried out in3 Henry VI.(act v. sc. 6, l. 18, vol. v. p. 332), Gloucester and King Henry being the speakers,—

“Glou.Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete,That taught his son the office of a fowl!And yet for all his wings, the fool was drown’d.K. Hen.I, Dædalus; my poor boy, Icarus;Thy father, Minos, that denied our course;The sun that sear’d the wings of my sweet boyThy brother Edward, and thyself the seaWhose envious gulf did swallow up his life.Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words!My breast can better brook thy dagger’s pointThan can my ears that tragic history.”

“Glou.Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete,

That taught his son the office of a fowl!

And yet for all his wings, the fool was drown’d.

K. Hen.I, Dædalus; my poor boy, Icarus;

Thy father, Minos, that denied our course;

The sun that sear’d the wings of my sweet boy

Thy brother Edward, and thyself the sea

Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life.

Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words!

My breast can better brook thy dagger’s point

Than can my ears that tragic history.”

In the 1st part also of the same dramatic series (act iv. sc. 6, l. 46, vol. v. p. 78), John Talbot, the son, is hemmed about in the battle near Bourdeaux. Rescued by his father, he is urged to escape, but the young hero replies,—

“Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly,The coward horse that bears me fall and die!And like me to the peasant boys of France,To be shame’s scorn and subject of mischance!Surely, by all the glory you have won,An if I fly, I am not Talbot’s son:Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot;If son to Talbot, die at Talbot’s foot.Tal.Then follow thou thy desperate sire of Crete,Thou Icarus; thy life to me is sweet:If thou wilt fight, fight by thy father’s side;And, commendable proved, let’s die in pride.”

“Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly,

The coward horse that bears me fall and die!

And like me to the peasant boys of France,

To be shame’s scorn and subject of mischance!

Surely, by all the glory you have won,

An if I fly, I am not Talbot’s son:

Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot;

If son to Talbot, die at Talbot’s foot.

Tal.Then follow thou thy desperate sire of Crete,Thou Icarus; thy life to me is sweet:If thou wilt fight, fight by thy father’s side;And, commendable proved, let’s die in pride.”

Tal.Then follow thou thy desperate sire of Crete,

Thou Icarus; thy life to me is sweet:

If thou wilt fight, fight by thy father’s side;

And, commendable proved, let’s die in pride.”

The tearful tale of Niobe, who that has read Ovid’sMetamorphoses(bk. vi. fab. 5) could not weep over it! Seven stalwart sons and seven fair daughters clustered round the haughty dame, and she gloried in their attendance upon her; but at an evil hour she dared to match herself with Latona, and at a public festival in honour of the goddess to be the only one refusing to offer incense and prayers. The goddess called her own children to avenge the affront and the impiety; and Apollo and Diana, from the clouds, slew the seven sons as they wereexercising on the plain near Thebes. Yet the pride of Niobe did not abate, and Diana in like manner slew also the seven daughters. The mother’s heart was utterly broken; she wept herself to death, and was changed to stone. Yet, says the poet,Flet tamen,—“ Yet she weeps,”—

Liquitur, et lacrymas etiam nunc marmora manant,—

i.e.

“It melts, and even now the marble trickles down tears.”

Alciat adopts the tale as a warning;Pridehe names his 67th Emblem.

Superbia.Emblema lxviiAlciat, 1581Enſtatuæ ſtatua, & ductum de marmore marmor,Se conferre Deis auſa procax Niobe.Eſt vitium muliebre ſuperbia, & arguit orisDuritiem, ac ſenſus, qualis ineſt lapidi.

Superbia.Emblema lxvii

Superbia.

Emblema lxvii

Alciat, 1581

Enſtatuæ ſtatua, & ductum de marmore marmor,Se conferre Deis auſa procax Niobe.Eſt vitium muliebre ſuperbia, & arguit orisDuritiem, ac ſenſus, qualis ineſt lapidi.

Enſtatuæ ſtatua, & ductum de marmore marmor,

Se conferre Deis auſa procax Niobe.

Eſt vitium muliebre ſuperbia, & arguit oris

Duritiem, ac ſenſus, qualis ineſt lapidi.

As we look at the device we are sensible to a singular incongruity between the subject and the droll,Punch-like figures, which make up the border. The sentiment, too, is as incongruous, that “Pride is a woman’s vice and argues hardness of look and of feeling such as there is in stone.”

Making a slight change in the motto, Whitney (p. 13) writes.Superbiæ vltio,—“Vengeance upon pride,”—

“Of Niobe, behoulde the ruthefull plighte,Bicause shee did dispise the powers deuine:Her children all, weare slaine within her sighte,And, while her selfe with tricklinge teares did pine,Shee was transform’de, into a marble stone,Which, yet with teares, dothe seeme to waile, and mone.This tragedie, thoughe Poëtts first did frame,Yet maie it bee, to euerie one applide:That mortall men, shoulde thinke from whence they came,And not presume, nor puffe them vp with pride,Leste that the Lorde, whoe haughty hartes doth hate,Doth throwe them downe, when sure they thinke theyr state.”

“Of Niobe, behoulde the ruthefull plighte,

Bicause shee did dispise the powers deuine:

Her children all, weare slaine within her sighte,

And, while her selfe with tricklinge teares did pine,

Shee was transform’de, into a marble stone,

Which, yet with teares, dothe seeme to waile, and mone.

This tragedie, thoughe Poëtts first did frame,Yet maie it bee, to euerie one applide:That mortall men, shoulde thinke from whence they came,And not presume, nor puffe them vp with pride,Leste that the Lorde, whoe haughty hartes doth hate,Doth throwe them downe, when sure they thinke theyr state.”

This tragedie, thoughe Poëtts first did frame,

Yet maie it bee, to euerie one applide:

That mortall men, shoulde thinke from whence they came,

And not presume, nor puffe them vp with pride,

Leste that the Lorde, whoe haughty hartes doth hate,

Doth throwe them downe, when sure they thinke theyr state.”

Shakespeare’s notices of Niobe are little more than allusions; the mode in which Apollo and Diana executed the cruel vengeance may be glanced at inAll’s Well(act v. sc. 3, l. 5, vol. iii. p. 201), when the Countess of Rousillon pleads for her son to the King of France,—

“Count.’Tis past, my liege;And I beseech your majesty to make itNatural rebellion, done i’ the blaze of youth;When oil and fire, too strong for reason’s force,O’erbears it and burns on.King.My honour’d lady,I have forgiven and forgotten all;Though my revenges were high bent upon him,And watch’d the time to shoot.”

“Count.’Tis past, my liege;

And I beseech your majesty to make it

Natural rebellion, done i’ the blaze of youth;

When oil and fire, too strong for reason’s force,

O’erbears it and burns on.

King.My honour’d lady,

I have forgiven and forgotten all;

Though my revenges were high bent upon him,

And watch’d the time to shoot.”

Troilus (act v. sc. 10, l. 16, vol. vi. p. 261), anticipating Priam’s and Hecuba’s mighty grief over the slain Hector, speaks thus of the fact,—

“Let him that will a screech-owl aye be call’dGo into Troy, and say there, ‘Hector’s dead:’There is a word will Priam turn to stone,Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives,Cold statues of the youth, and in a word,Scare Troy out of itself.”

“Let him that will a screech-owl aye be call’d

Go into Troy, and say there, ‘Hector’s dead:’

There is a word will Priam turn to stone,

Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives,

Cold statues of the youth, and in a word,

Scare Troy out of itself.”

Hamlet, too (act i. sc. 2, l. 147, vol. viii. p. 17), in his bitter expressions respecting his mother’s marriage, speaks thus severely of the brevity of her widowhood,—

“A little month, or ere those shoes were oldWith which she follow’d my poor father’s body.Like Niobe, all tears:—why she, even she,—O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason.Would have mourn’d longer;—within a month;Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tearsHad left the flushing in her galled eyes,She married.”

“A little month, or ere those shoes were old

With which she follow’d my poor father’s body.

Like Niobe, all tears:—why she, even she,—

O God! a beast that wants discourse of reason.

Would have mourn’d longer;—within a month;

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears

Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,

She married.”

Tiresias, the blind soothsayer of Thebes, had foretold that the comely Narcissus would live as long as he could refrain from the sight of his own countenance,—

“But he, ignorant of his destiny,” says Claude Mignault, “grew so desperately in love with his own image seen in a fountain, that he miserably wasted away, and was changed into the flower of his own name, which is calledNarce, and means drowsiness or infatuation, because the smell of the Narcissus affects the head.”

However that may be, Alciatus, edition Antwerp, 1581, exhibits the youth surveying his features in a running stream; the flower is behind him, and in the distance is Tiresias pronouncing his doom. “Self love” is the motto.

ΦιλαυτίαEmblema lxix.Alciat, 1581.Qvodnimium tua forma tibi Narciſſe placebat,In florem, & noti eſt verſa ſtuporis olus.Ingenij eſt marcor, cladesq́₃que. Φιλαυτία, doctosQuæ peſſum plures datq́₃que, deditq́₃queviros:Qui veterum abiecta methodo, noua dogmata quærunt,Nilq́₃queſuas præter tradere phantaſias.

ΦιλαυτίαEmblema lxix.

Φιλαυτία

Emblema lxix.

Alciat, 1581.

Qvodnimium tua forma tibi Narciſſe placebat,In florem, & noti eſt verſa ſtuporis olus.Ingenij eſt marcor, cladesq́₃que. Φιλαυτία, doctosQuæ peſſum plures datq́₃que, deditq́₃queviros:Qui veterum abiecta methodo, noua dogmata quærunt,Nilq́₃queſuas præter tradere phantaſias.

Qvodnimium tua forma tibi Narciſſe placebat,

In florem, & noti eſt verſa ſtuporis olus.

Ingenij eſt marcor, cladesq́₃que. Φιλαυτία, doctos

Quæ peſſum plures datq́₃que, deditq́₃queviros:

Qui veterum abiecta methodo, noua dogmata quærunt,

Nilq́₃queſuas præter tradere phantaſias.

Anulus also, in the“Picta Poesis”(p. 48), mentions his foolish and vain passion,—

Contemnens alios, arsit amore sui,—

i.e.

“Despising others, inflamed he was with love of himself.”

From Alciat and Anulus, Whitney takes up the fable (p. 149), his printer Rapheleng using the same wood-block as Plantyn did in 1581. Of the three stanzas we subjoin one,—

“Narcissvs lou’de, and liked so his shape,He died at lengthe with gazinge there vppon:Which shewes selfe loue, from which there fewe can scape,A plague too rife: bewitcheth manie a one.The ritche, the pore, the learned, and the sotte,Offende therein: and yet they see it not.”

“Narcissvs lou’de, and liked so his shape,

He died at lengthe with gazinge there vppon:

Which shewes selfe loue, from which there fewe can scape,

A plague too rife: bewitcheth manie a one.

The ritche, the pore, the learned, and the sotte,

Offende therein: and yet they see it not.”

It is only in one instance,Antony and Cleopatra(act ii. sc. 5, l. 95, vol. ix. p. 48), and very briefly, that Shakespeare names Narcissus; he does this when the Messenger repeats to Cleopatra that Antony is married, and she replies,—

“The Gods confound thee!...... Go, get thee hence:Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face, to meThou wouldst appear most ugly.”

“The Gods confound thee!...

... Go, get thee hence:

Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face, to me

Thou wouldst appear most ugly.”

Aneau, 1551.Ille amat, hæc odit, fugit hæc: ſectatur at illeDúmque fugit: Laurus facta repentè ſtetit.Sic amat, & fruſtra, nec Apollo potitus amore eſt.Vltus Apollinis eſt, ſic Amor opprobrium.Haecinedoctorum ſors eſt inimica virorum,Vt iuuenes quamuis non redamentur ament?Exoſoſque habeat prudentes ſtulta iuuentusHis ne iungatur ſtipes vt eſſe velit.

Aneau, 1551.

Ille amat, hæc odit, fugit hæc: ſectatur at illeDúmque fugit: Laurus facta repentè ſtetit.Sic amat, & fruſtra, nec Apollo potitus amore eſt.Vltus Apollinis eſt, ſic Amor opprobrium.Haecinedoctorum ſors eſt inimica virorum,Vt iuuenes quamuis non redamentur ament?Exoſoſque habeat prudentes ſtulta iuuentusHis ne iungatur ſtipes vt eſſe velit.

Ille amat, hæc odit, fugit hæc: ſectatur at ille

Dúmque fugit: Laurus facta repentè ſtetit.

Sic amat, & fruſtra, nec Apollo potitus amore eſt.

Vltus Apollinis eſt, ſic Amor opprobrium.

Haecinedoctorum ſors eſt inimica virorum,

Vt iuuenes quamuis non redamentur ament?

Exoſoſque habeat prudentes ſtulta iuuentus

His ne iungatur ſtipes vt eſſe velit.

The most beautiful of the maidens of Thessaly, Daphne, the daughter of the river-god Peneus, was Apollo’s earliest love. He sought her in marriage, and being refused by her, prepared to force consent. The maiden fled, and was pursued, and, at the very moment of her need invoked her father’s aid, and was transformed into a laurel.

At this instant the device of Anulus represents her, in the“Picta Poesis”(P. 47).[141]

“He loves, she hates; she flees, but he pursues,And while she flees, stopped suddenly, to laurel changed.So loves Apollo, and in vain; nor enjoys his love.So love has avenged the reproach of Apollo.This very judgment of learned men is it not hostile,That youths should love though not again be loved?Hated should foolish youth account the wiseLest by these the log be not joined as it wishes to be.”

“He loves, she hates; she flees, but he pursues,

And while she flees, stopped suddenly, to laurel changed.

So loves Apollo, and in vain; nor enjoys his love.

So love has avenged the reproach of Apollo.

This very judgment of learned men is it not hostile,

That youths should love though not again be loved?

Hated should foolish youth account the wise

Lest by these the log be not joined as it wishes to be.”

TheMidsummer Night’s Dream(act ii. sc. 1, l. 227, vol. ii. p. 218) reverses the fable; Demetrius flees and Helena pursues,—

“Dem.I’ll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.Hel.The wildest hath not such a heart as you.Run when you will, the story shall be changed:Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase:The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hindMakes speed to catch the tiger; bootless speed,When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.”

“Dem.I’ll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,

And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

Hel.The wildest hath not such a heart as you.

Run when you will, the story shall be changed:

Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase:

The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind

Makes speed to catch the tiger; bootless speed,

When cowardice pursues, and valour flies.”

There is, too, the quotation already made for another purpose (p. 115) from theTaming of the Shrew(Introd. sc. 2, l. 55),—

“Or Daphne roaming through a thorny wood,Scratching her legs that one shall swear she bleeds,And at that sight shall sad Apollo weep,So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn.”

“Or Daphne roaming through a thorny wood,

Scratching her legs that one shall swear she bleeds,

And at that sight shall sad Apollo weep,

So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn.”

And Troilus (act i. sc. 1, l. 94, vol. vi. p. 130) makes the invocation,—

“Tell me, Apollo, for thy Daphne’s loveWhat Cressid is, what Pandar, and what we?”

“Tell me, Apollo, for thy Daphne’s love

What Cressid is, what Pandar, and what we?”

Among Mythological Characters we may rank Milo, “of force unparalleled;” to whom with crafty words of flattery Ulysses likened Diomed;Troilus and Cressida(act ii. sc. 3, l. 237),—

“But he that disciplined thine arms to fight,Let Mars divide eternity in twain,And give him half: and for thy vigour,Bull-bearing Milo his addition yieldTo sinewy Ajax.”

“But he that disciplined thine arms to fight,

Let Mars divide eternity in twain,

And give him half: and for thy vigour,

Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield

To sinewy Ajax.”

Milo’s prowess is the subject of a fine device by Gerard de Jode, in the “ΜΙΚΡΟΚΟΣΜΟΣ” (p. 61), first published in 1579, with Latin verses. Respecting Milo the French verses say,—

“La force de Milon a esté nompareille,Et de ses grands efforts on raconte merueille:S’il se tenoit debout, il ne se trouuoit pasHomme aucun qui le peust faire bouger d’un pas.A frapper il estoit si fort & si adestreQue d’un seul coup de poing il tua de sa dextreVn robuste taureau, & des ses membres fortsVne lieue le porta sans se greuer le corps.Mais se fiant par trop en ceste grande force,Il fut en fin saisi d’une mortelle entorce:Car il se vid manger des bestes, estant prisA l’arbre qu’il auoit de desioindre entrepris.Qui de sa force abuse en chase non faisableSe rend par son effort bien souuent miserable,Le fol entrepreneur tombe en confusionEt s’expose à chacun en grand derision.”

“La force de Milon a esté nompareille,Et de ses grands efforts on raconte merueille:S’il se tenoit debout, il ne se trouuoit pasHomme aucun qui le peust faire bouger d’un pas.

“La force de Milon a esté nompareille,

Et de ses grands efforts on raconte merueille:

S’il se tenoit debout, il ne se trouuoit pas

Homme aucun qui le peust faire bouger d’un pas.

A frapper il estoit si fort & si adestreQue d’un seul coup de poing il tua de sa dextreVn robuste taureau, & des ses membres fortsVne lieue le porta sans se greuer le corps.

A frapper il estoit si fort & si adestre

Que d’un seul coup de poing il tua de sa dextre

Vn robuste taureau, & des ses membres forts

Vne lieue le porta sans se greuer le corps.

Mais se fiant par trop en ceste grande force,Il fut en fin saisi d’une mortelle entorce:Car il se vid manger des bestes, estant prisA l’arbre qu’il auoit de desioindre entrepris.

Mais se fiant par trop en ceste grande force,

Il fut en fin saisi d’une mortelle entorce:

Car il se vid manger des bestes, estant pris

A l’arbre qu’il auoit de desioindre entrepris.

Qui de sa force abuse en chase non faisableSe rend par son effort bien souuent miserable,Le fol entrepreneur tombe en confusionEt s’expose à chacun en grand derision.”

Qui de sa force abuse en chase non faisable

Se rend par son effort bien souuent miserable,

Le fol entrepreneur tombe en confusion

Et s’expose à chacun en grand derision.”

The famous winged horse, Pegasus, heroic, though not a hero, has a right to close in our array of mythic characters. Sprung from the blood of Medusa when Perseus cut off her head, Pegasus is regarded sometimes as the thundering steed of Jove, at other times as the war-horse of Bellerophon; and in more modern times, under a third aspect, as the horse of the Muses. Already (at p. 142) we have spoken of some of the merits attributed to him, and have presented Emblems in which he is introduced. It will be sufficient now to bring forward the device and stanza of Alciat, in which he shows us how “by prudence and valour to overcome the Chimæra, that is, the stronger and those using stratagems.”

Conſilio & virtute Chimæram ſuperari, id est,fortiores & deceptores.Emblema xiiii.Alciat, 1581.Bellerophonut fortis eques ſuperare Chimæram,Et Lycij potuit ſternere monſtra ſoli:Sic tu Pegaſeis vectus petis æthera pennis,Conſilioq́₃queanimi monſtra ſuperba domas.i.e.“As the brave knight Bellerophon could conquer Chimæra,And the monsters of the Lycian shore stretch on the ground:So thou borne on the wings of Pegasus seekest the sky,And by prudence dost subdue proud monsters of the soul.”

Conſilio & virtute Chimæram ſuperari, id est,fortiores & deceptores.Emblema xiiii.

Conſilio & virtute Chimæram ſuperari, id est,

fortiores & deceptores.

Emblema xiiii.

Alciat, 1581.

Bellerophonut fortis eques ſuperare Chimæram,Et Lycij potuit ſternere monſtra ſoli:Sic tu Pegaſeis vectus petis æthera pennis,Conſilioq́₃queanimi monſtra ſuperba domas.

Bellerophonut fortis eques ſuperare Chimæram,

Et Lycij potuit ſternere monſtra ſoli:

Sic tu Pegaſeis vectus petis æthera pennis,

Conſilioq́₃queanimi monſtra ſuperba domas.

i.e.

“As the brave knight Bellerophon could conquer Chimæra,And the monsters of the Lycian shore stretch on the ground:So thou borne on the wings of Pegasus seekest the sky,And by prudence dost subdue proud monsters of the soul.”

“As the brave knight Bellerophon could conquer Chimæra,

And the monsters of the Lycian shore stretch on the ground:

So thou borne on the wings of Pegasus seekest the sky,

And by prudence dost subdue proud monsters of the soul.”

Shakespeare recognises neither Bellerophon nor the Chimæra, but Pegasus, the wonderful creature, and Perseus its owner.

The dauphin Lewis (see p. 141) likens his own horse to Pegasus, “with nostrils of fire,”—

It is a beast for Perseus: he is pure air and fire ... he is indeed a horse.

In the Grecian camp (seeTroilus and Cressida, act i. sc. 3, l. 33, vol. vi. p. 142), Nestor is urging the worth of dauntless valour, and uses the apt comparison,—

“In the reproof of chanceLies the true proof of men: the sea being smooth,How many shallow bauble boats dare sailUpon her patient breast, making their wayWith those of nobler bulk!But let the ruffian Boreas once enrageThe gentle Thetis, and anon beholdThe strong-ribb’d bark through liquid mountains cut,Bounding between the two moist elements,Like Perseus’ horse.”

“In the reproof of chance

Lies the true proof of men: the sea being smooth,

How many shallow bauble boats dare sail

Upon her patient breast, making their way

With those of nobler bulk!

But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage

The gentle Thetis, and anon behold

The strong-ribb’d bark through liquid mountains cut,

Bounding between the two moist elements,

Like Perseus’ horse.”

The last lines are descriptive of Alciat’s device, on p. 299.

It is the same Nestor (act iv. sc. 5, l. 183), who so freely and generously compliments Hector, though his enemy,—

“I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft,Labouring for destiny, make cruel wayThrough ranks of Greekish youth; and I have seen thee,As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,Despising many forfeits and subduements,When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i’ the air,Nor letting it decline on the declined,That I have said to some my standers by,‘Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!’”

“I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft,

Labouring for destiny, make cruel way

Through ranks of Greekish youth; and I have seen thee,

As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,

Despising many forfeits and subduements,

When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i’ the air,

Nor letting it decline on the declined,

That I have said to some my standers by,

‘Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!’”

Young Harry’s praise, too, in1 Henry IV., act iv. sc. 1. l. 109, vol. iv. p. 318, is thus celebrated by Vernon,—

“As if an angel dropp’d down from the cloudsTo turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,And witch the world with noble horsemanship.”

“As if an angel dropp’d down from the clouds

To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,

And witch the world with noble horsemanship.”

For nearly all the personages and the tales contained in this section, authority may be found in Ovid, and in the various pictorially illustrated editions of theMetamorphosesor of portions of them, which were numerous during the actively literary lifeof Shakespeare. It is, I confess, very questionable, whether for his classically mythic tales he was indeed indebted to the Emblematists; yet the many parallels in mythology between him and them justify the pleasant labour of setting both side by side, and, by this means, of facilitating to the reader the forming for himself an independent judgment.

David, ed. 1601.

Section IV.EMBLEMS ILLUSTRATIVE OF FABLES.

SIMILITUDES and, in cases not a few, identities have often been detected between the popular tales of widely distant nations, intimating either a common origin, or a common inventive power to work out like results. Fables have ever been a floating literature,—borne hither and thither on the current of Time,—used by any one, and properly belonging to no one. How they have circulated from land to land, and from age to age, we cannot tell; whence they first arose it is impossible to divine. There exist, we are told, fables collected by Bidpai in Sanscrit, by Lokman in Arabic, by Æsop in Greek, and by Phædrus in Latin; and they seem to have been interchanged and borrowed one from the other as if they were the property of the world,—handed down from the ancestorial times of a remote antiquity.

Shakespeare’s general estimation of fables, and of those of Æsop in particular, may be gathered from certain expressions in two of the plays,—in theMidsummer Night’s Dream(act v. sc. 1, l. 1, vol. ii. p. 258) and in3 Henry VI. (act v. sc. 5, l. 25, vol. v. p. 329). In theformerthe speakers are Hippolyta and Theseus,—

“Hip.’Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of.The.More strange than true: I never may believeThese antique fables, nor these fairy toys.Lovers and madmen have such seething brainsSuch shaping fantasies, that apprehendMore than cool reason ever comprehends.”

“Hip.’Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of.

The.More strange than true: I never may believe

These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend

More than cool reason ever comprehends.”

In thelatterQueen Margaret’s son in reproof of Gloucester, declares,—

“Let Æsop fable in a winter’s night;His currish riddles sort not with this place.”

“Let Æsop fable in a winter’s night;

His currish riddles sort not with this place.”

The year of Shakespeare’s birth, 1564, saw the publication, at Rome, of the Latin Fables of Gabriel Faerni; they had been written at the request of Pope Pius IV., and possess a high degree of excellence, both for their correct Latinity and for the power of invention which they display. Roscoe, in hisLife of Leo X.(Bohn’s ed. ii. p. 172), even avers that they “are written with such classical purity, as to have given rise to an opinion that he had discovered and fraudulently availed himself of some of the unpublished works of Phædrus.” This opinion, however, is without any foundation.

TheDialogues of Creatures moralisedpreceded, however, theFablesof Faerni by above eighty years. “In the Latin and Dutch only there were not less than fifteen known editions before 1511.”[142]An edition in Dutch is named as early as 1480, and one in French in 1482; and the English version appeared, it is likely, at nearly as early a date. These and other books of fables, though by a contested claim, are often regarded as books of Emblems. The best Emblem writers, even the purest, introduce fables and little tales of various kinds; asAlciat, Emb. 7, The Image of Isis, the Ass and the Driver; Emb. 15, The Cock, the Lion, and the Church; Emb. 59, The Blackamoor washed White, &c.:Hadrian Junius, Emb. 4, The caged Cat and the Rats; Emb. 19, The Crocodile and her Eggs:Perriere, Emb. 101, Diligence, Idleness, and the Ants. They all, in fact, adopted without scruple the illustrations which suitedtheir particular purpose; and Whitney, in one part of hisEmblemes, uses twelve of Faerni’s fables in succession.

Of the fables to which Shakespeare alludes some have been quoted in the former part of this work;—as The Fly and the Candle; The Sun, the Wind, and the Traveller; The Elephant and the undermined Tree; The Countryman and the Serpent. Of others we now proceed to give examples.

The Hares biting the dead Lion had, perhaps, one of its earliest applications, if not its origin, in the conduct of Achilles and his coward Greeks to the dead body of Hector, which Homer thus records (Iliad, xxii. 37),—

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