Book Title: Andreae Alciati emblematvm libellvs.

Author: Alciati, Andrea, 1492-1550

Image Title: On the Gifts of Enemies

Description: The pictura of this emblem by the Italian jurist and writer Andrea Alciati (1492 – 1550 CE) features the Greek heroes Hector and Ajax. The two enemies meet on the field of battle to exchange gifts after engaging each other in single combat, Hector receiving a sword-belt and Ajax a sword. The subscriptio notes the irony that each gift factored in the doom of its recipient, Ajax committing suicide by falling on the sword and Achilles using the sword belt to bind Hector’s corpse to his chariot, a detail absent from The Iliad’s account of Hector’s death.

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