“A burning torch that’s turned upside down; The word, _Quod me alit, me extinguit._ Which shows, that beauty hath this power and will, Which can as well inflame as it can kill.” Act ii. sc. 2, lines 32–35. Thus presented in Symeoni’s “TETRASTICHI MORALI,” edition Lyons, 1561, p. 35,— _SIGNOR DI S._ VALIER. [Illustration: _Symeoni, 1561_ (_diminished copy_).] An Italian stanza explains the device,— “_Nutriſce il fuoco à lui la cera intorno, Et la cera l’eſtingue. ò quanti ſono, Che dopo vn riceuuto & largo dono, Dal donator riceuon danno & ſcorno._” “Qui me alit, me extinguit.” The sense of which we now endeavour to give,— “The wax here within nourishes the flames And the wax stifles them; how many names Who after a large gift and kindness shown, Get from the giver harm and scorn alone.” “Who nourishes me, extinguishes me.” Symeoni (from edition Lyons, 1574, p. 200) adds this little piece of history:— “In the battle of the Swiss, routed near Milan by King Francis, M. de Saint Valier, the old man, father of Madame the Duchess de Valentinois,[97] and captain of a hundred gentlemen of the king’s house, bore a standard, whereon was painted a lighted torch with the head downward, on which flowed so much wax as would extinguish it, with this motto ‘QVI ME ALIT, ME EXTINGVIT,’ imitating the emblem of the king his master; that is, ‘NVTRISCO ET EXTINGVO.’ It is the nature of the wax, which is the cause of the torch burning when held upright, that with the head downward it should be extinguished. Thus he wished to signify, that as the beauty of a lady whom he loved nourished all his thoughts, so she put him in peril of his life. See still this standard in the church of the Celestins at Lyons.”[98] Paradin, who confessedly copies from Symeoni, agrees very nearly with this account, but gives the name of the Duchess “Diane de Poitiers,” and omits mentioning “the emblem of the king.” _Qui me alit, me extinguit._ [Illustration: _Paradin, 1562._]