Of his valour the traces are seen.”
Camerarius with the same motto and the like device testifies that this was the badge of Louis XI., king of France, to whose praise he also devotes a stanza,—
“Cominus ut pugnat jaculis, atq. eminus histrix,
Rex bonus esto armis consiliisque potens.”
i.e.
“As close at hand and far off the porcupine fights with its spines,
Let a good king be powerful in arms and in counsels.”
It was this Louis who laid claim to Milan, and carried Ludovic Sforza prisoner to France. He defeated the Genoese after their revolt, and by great personal bravery gained the victory of Agnadel over the Venetians in 1509. At the same time he made war on Spain, England, Rome, and Switzerland, and was in very deed the porcupine darting quills on every side.
The well known application in Hamlet (act. i. sc. 5, l. 13, vol. viii. p. 35) of the chief characteristic of this vexing creature is part of the declaration which the Ghost makes to the Prince of Denmark,—
“But that I am forbid