Guillaume de La Perrièrre, Le Theatre Des Bons Engins (Lyon, 1545)
Emblem 8
A man eating his own heartAI-generated
On ne se doibt consumer par tristesse.
One ought not to consume oneself with sadness.AI-generated
Description of the woodcutAI-generated
A man eating his own heart
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
PYthagoras au surplus deffendoitA tout humain, son propre cueur manger,Par ce propos (ce dit on) entendoit,Que pour angoisse on ne doibt estrangerSoy de soymesme: ains soy vaincre & renger.Ou autrement ce luy est grand simplesse,De se vouloir consumer par tristesseEn lieu de mettre à soulas son estude:Car chose n'est qui plus tost nous oppresseQue uiure en soing, dueil & solicitude.
TranslationAI-generated
Pythagoras, moreover, forbade every human being to eat his own heart; by this saying (so it is said) he meant that because of anguish one must not estrange oneself from oneself, but rather conquer and order oneself. Otherwise it is great foolishness in him to be willing to consume himself with sadness instead of devoting his study to solace: for there is nothing that oppresses us sooner than to live in care, grief and anxiety.
Iconclass
86(ON NE SE DOIBT CONSUMER PAR TRISTESSE)proverbs, sayings, etc. (ON NE SE DOIBT CONSUMER PAR TRISTESSE)41A2interior of the house31D16old man31A2352sitting on an elevation41C11eating31A2221heart56BB1Pain, Sorrow, Sadness; 'Dolore', 'Dolore di Zeusi' (Ripa)31B6(+941)morphology of human expression (+ being sad, suffering, sorrowing)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
32A14melancholic temperamentmediumThe correlate 'melancholic temperament' matches the gaunt, haggard, brooding man consumed inwardly, and melancholy is named in the commentary.
56BB1Pain, Sorrow, Sadness; 'Dolore', 'Dolore di Zeusi' (Ripa)medium'Pain, Sorrow, Sadness' fits the emblem's theme of a man eating his own heart out of grief, as indicated by the commentary's sorrow.
11N32Envy; 'Invidia' (Ripa) ~ personification of one of the Seven Deadly SinsmediumRipa's 'Invidia' is conventionally shown devouring a heart, matching the figure gnawing his own heart and the commentary's reference to Envy.
98B(PYTHAGORAS)Pythagoras, the philosopherlow'Pythagoras, the philosopher' is relevant only as the source of the precept 'cor ne edito' (do not eat your heart) invoked in the commentary, not as the figure depicted.
56BB22Misery; 'Miseria mondana' (Ripa)low'Misery' ('Miseria mondana') suits the emaciated, half-naked wretched figure, though it is a secondary reading of the image.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- Cor ne edito (not identified) – essay quotehigh
The subscriptio explicitly rehearses the Pythagorean symbolum that Erasmus collects and glosses among the Pythagorae symbola ('Pythagoras... deffendoit a tout humain, son propre cueur manger'), and the motto 'On ne se doibt consumer par tristesse' translates Erasmus's own explanation of the precept, that it means not to wear out one's spirit with grief and anxiety; the woodcut literalizes the image of a man gnawing his own heart.
Sources
Record ID: embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem008
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem008
Page in the digital copy of the Herzog August Bibliothek: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/162-3-eth-b/start.htm?image=00021