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Emblems Divine, Moral, Natural and Historical

Expressed in Sculpture, and Applied to the several Ages, Occasions, and Conditions of the Life of Man. By a person of Quality

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EMBLEM XXXIV. The Sayings of the seven Sages.
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EMBLEM XXXIV. The Sayings of the seven Sages.

Wisdom excelleth folly Eccl: 2. 13.

The Sages seven of Greece, which heretofore
So fam'd for wisdom were, as none were more,
Each one of them a Golden Sentence had,
Which Alciat thus in picture open laid.
Keep still the Mean, Cleobulus adviseth;
Which by a Balance Alciat advertiseth.
Chilon bids Know thy self: the which to do,
A Mirrour is at hand, thy self to view.
Restrain thy Wrath, says Periander. Here
An herb expelling Choler does appear.
Nothing too much, doth Pittacus exhort:
And loe a plant, too much whereof doth hurt.
Remember still thy End, was Solon's word;
Till which time, nothing can true joy afford.
A Statue falling here we see presented;
To shew, the force of death can't be prevented.
Of Wicked men the number doth exceed,
Would Bias say. And 'cause in very deed
Sardinia vile a place most wicked was,
He sets one of its people on an Ass.
Says Thales, last of all, Flee Suretiship,
Lest thou thereby be scourg'd with thine own whip.
And here a subtil Bird sits on the Net,
The which the Fowler with all's lures can't get.