Violentior Exit

Here is today's emblem by Joachim Camerarius, 3:99. This emblem plays on the comparison attributed to Anacharsis, the legendary wise man of Scythia who made such an impression on the ancient Greeks; he said that laws were like spider webs because they caught the little insects, but the big ones simply burst their way through - as in the title of this emblem, violentior exit, "the one with more power gets out." Here is how Valerius Maximus reports the words of Anacharsis in Latin: Quam porro subtiliter Anacharsis leges araneorum telis conparabat! nam ut illas infirmiora animalia retinere, valentiora transmittere, ita his humiles et pauperes constringi, divites et praepotentes non alligari.

Violentior Exit
Innodat culicem, sed vespae pervia tela est;
Sic rumpit leges vis, quibus haeret inops.

Vocabulary:

violens - violent, having power
exeo - go out
innodo - tie, fasten with a knot
culex - gnat, insect
sed - but
vespa - wasp
pervia - permeable, passable
tela - web
sum - be, exist
sic - thus, in this way
rumpo - break, burst
lex - law
vis - force, violence
qui - who, which, that
haereo - cling to
inops - poor, needy, without resources