Guillaume de La Perrièrre, Le Theatre Des Bons Engins (Lyon, 1545)
Emblem 3
A man shearing a lion
Pour iouer cherche bille pareille.
To play, look for a ball of your own size (seek an equal playmate).AI-generated
Description of the woodcutAI-generated
Within a rectangular woodcut frame, an outdoor landscape: at the left a large leaning tree with foliage, in the background rolling hills, a walled town with a tall tower at the right, and birds in the sky. In the foreground a bearded man wearing a soft cap or turban and a long belted robe kneels/leans forward over a big maned lion that stands with its head lowered and mouth open; the man reaches with both hands onto the lion's back and neck, as if clipping or shearing its mane. Small stones lie on the ground in the foreground.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
TOy qui veulx viure au seruice des PrincesGarde toy bien de te iouer à eulx:Car pour petit, ou pour rien que les pincesTu trouueras leur ieu trop dangereux:Telz passetemps, sont en fin doulourenx,Et bien souuent grand malheur s'en reueille.Pour te iouer, cherche bille pareille,Par ce moyen seras hors de danger:Qui de touzer le Lyon s'appareille,Est en peril de se faire menger.
TranslationAI-generated
You who wish to live in the service of Princes, take good care not to play with them: for however little, or for nothing at all, that you pinch them, you will find their game too dangerous. Such pastimes are painful in the end, and very often great misfortune arises from them. To play, seek a ball of your own size; by this means you will be out of danger. He who prepares to shear the Lion is in peril of getting himself eaten.
Iconclass
86(POUR IOUER CHERCHE BILLE PAREILLE)proverbs, sayings, etc. (POUR IOUER CHERCHE BILLE PAREILLE)25G3trees25I5landscape with tower or castle25F23(LION)beasts of prey, predatory animals: lion31D14adult man31A5351razor54DD51Danger; 'Pericolo' (Ripa)53C11Authority, Power; 'Dominio', 'Giurisdittione' (Ripa)
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- II v 11 Leonem radere – essay quotehigh
The emblem's closing couplet, 'Qui de touzer le Lyon s'appareille / Est en peril de se faire menger,' and the woodcut of a man shearing a lion render exactly Erasmus's adage, whose essay glosses it with Socrates' words 'leonem ausit tondere' ('to shave/shear a lion') and explains it of those who make sport of the fierce and powerful at great risk to themselves — precisely the emblem's warning about playing with princes.
- I i 61 Leonem stimulas – thematic inventiomedium
The subscriptio's 'pour petit, ou pour rien que les pinces' (however little you pinch them) echoes Erasmus's gloss 'Leonem pungis, seu vellicas,' used of those who provoke the fierce and powerful 'in suum ipsius exitium' — the emblem's exact moral.
- III viii 38 Cavendum a potentiore – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus's adage counsels avoiding dealings with a far more powerful person who can do great harm; the emblem advises courtiers not to sport with princes and to 'seek a ball of your own size,' i.e. an equal.
- II iv 79 Ne caprea contra leonem – thematic inventiolow
The motto's call to look for a playmate of one's own size matches the adage's lesson 'ne longe inferior cum potentiore decertes,' and shares the lion as the emblem of the overwhelming adversary.
- III ix 69 Cum principe non pugnandum – thematic inventiolow
The subscriptio is addressed to those who serve princes and warns that contesting with them is perilous, which is the point of this adage ('it is hard for a private person to overcome a ruler').
Sources
Record ID: embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem003
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem003
Page in the digital copy of the Herzog August Bibliothek: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/162-3-eth-b/start.htm?image=00016