Alciato's Book of Emblems

Emblem 180

It is a sacrilege for scholars to malign scholars

O Procne, alas why do you savagely seize the chirping cicada,
and prepare for your young a ghastly meal?
Do you, prattler, hurt a prattler?
Do you, songster of spring, hurt a songster of spring?
Do you, a guest, hurt a guest?
And do you, winged and flying, hurt another just like you?
Then cast away your prey --
for musical souls, it is a most dreadful crime
that one should perish by the tooth of another.