Folio 67v - the viper, continued. De aspide; Of the asp.
If you are severe by nature, you should moderate your manner in consideration of your married state and set aside your harshness out of regard for your relationship.
There is another issue. Do not, O men, seek out someone else's bed, do not plot another liaison. Adultery is a serious sin; it does harm to nature. In the beginning God made two beings, Adam and Eve, that is, man and wife; and he made the woman from the man, that is, from Adam's rib; and he ordered them both to exist in one body and to live in one spirit. Why separate the single body, why divide the single spirit?
Adultery happens in nature. The eager embrace of the lamprey and the viper makes the point: it takes place not according to the law of the species but from the heat of lust.
Learn, O men, that he who seeks to seduce another man's wife is to be compared with that snake with whom he seeks a relationship. Let him hurry off to the viper, which slithers into his bosom, not by the honest way of truth but the slimy route of inconstant love. He hurries to a woman who recovers her poison as the viper does. For they say that after the task of mating is over, the viper sucks up the poison that it had spat out beforehand.
Of the asp
The asp, aspis, is so called because it injects poisons with its bite, spreading them throughout the body. For the Greek word for poison is ios, and from this comes the word aspis, because
- Commentary
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Commentary
Text
The asp has a poisonous bite.
Illustration
The asp is avoiding the sound of a snake charmer by putting one ear to the ground and putting his tail in the other ear. The snake charmer is protecting himself with a shield and stick.
Comment
One annotation in margin: 'as' with stress marks above, referring to the initial for Aspis. The charmer's foot overlaps the frame and the initial, type 2.
Folio Attributes
- Transcription and Translation
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Transcription
Si habes naturalem rigorem, debes temperare eum contempla\tione coniugii, et reverentia coniunctionis deponere animi\ feritatem. Potest et sic accipi. Nolite querere viri thorum alie\num, nolite insidiari alie copule. Grave est adulterium, nature\ iniuria est. Duos primum deus fecit Adam et Evam, hoc est vi\rum et uxorem, et uxorem de viro hoc est de costa Ade et iussit\ ambos esse in uno corpore, et in uno spiritu vivere. Quid unum\ separas corpus, quid unum dividis spiritum? Nature adulterium est.\ Sed hoc docet murene et vipere non iure generis, sed ardore\ libidinis expetitus amplexus. Discite o viri quia [qui] alienam permol\lire querit uxorem. Cuius serpentis sibi asciscere cupiat contuber\nium, cui etiam comparandus ipse serpenti sit. Festinet ad\ viperam, que se in gremium ubi non directo tramite veritatis\ sed lubrico devii amoris infundit. Festinat ad eam que vene\num suum resumit ut vipera. Que fertur peracto coniunctionis\ munere, venenum quod vomuerat rursus haurire. \ De aspide \ Aspis vocata quod morsu venena immittit et spargit. Ios\ enim Greci venenum dicunt, et inde aspis quod morsu\Translation
If you are severe by nature, you should moderate your manner in consideration of your married state and set aside your harshness out of regard for your relationship. There is another issue. Do not, O men, seek out someone else's bed, do not plot another liaison. Adultery is a serious sin; it does harm to nature. In the beginning God made two beings, Adam and Eve, that is, man and wife; and he made the woman from the man, that is, from Adam's rib; and he ordered them both to exist in one body and to live in one spirit. Why separate the single body, why divide the single spirit? Adultery happens in nature. The eager embrace of the lamprey and the viper makes the point: it takes place not according to the law of the species but from the heat of lust. Learn, O men, that he who seeks to seduce another man's wife is to be compared with that snake with whom he seeks a relationship. Let him hurry off to the viper, which slithers into his bosom, not by the honest way of truth but the slimy route of inconstant love. He hurries to a woman who recovers her poison as the viper does. For they say that after the task of mating is over, the viper sucks up the poison that it had spat out beforehand. Of the asp The asp, aspis, is so called because it injects poisons with its bite, spreading them throughout the body. For the Greek word for poison is ios, and from this comes the word aspis, because
