Emblem 11

Emblem 11

Two men clasping right hands in a landscapeAI-generated

Ne fais amy auant que l'esprouuer.

Do not make a friend before you have tested him.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut landscape scene. Two men stand in the open country clasping right hands. The man on the left, seen mostly from behind, wears a long cloak over hose and a soft rounded cap with a cloth band; the man on the right wears a feathered, plumed hat, a short doublet with puffed sleeves and slashed breeches, and holds a long spear or pike upright in his left hand. Behind them a river or shoreline runs toward distant hills with a town and a tower; at the right stand trees and a wall or rocky bank, with a rounded object (a stone or shield) lying on the ground near the spearman's feet.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 11 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

BAiller la main ne conuient à tout homme,Ne faire amy auant que le prouuer:Car lon s'en peult bien repentir en somme,Lors que le temps n'est de les reprouuer:Auant qu'on vueille hôme estrãge approuuer,Auoir il fault considerationSur son lignaige & sur sa nation,Quelz mœurs il ha, quelle façon de viure:Qui faict amy par folle affection,Sans grand danger ne s'en verra deliure.

TranslationAI-generated

To give one's hand is not fitting toward every man, nor to make a friend before testing him: for in the end one may well repent of it, when the time has passed for putting them to the test again. Before one wishes to approve a stranger, one must take into consideration his lineage and his nation, what manners he has, what way of living: he who makes a friend out of foolish affection will not see himself freed from it without great danger.

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.

33A12 shaking hands, 'dextrarum junctio'high

The correlate 'shaking hands, dextrarum junctio' directly matches the two men clasping right hands in the foreground.

45C11(SPEAR) casting weapons: spearmedium

The correlate designates the spear as a weapon type, matching the long spear/pike held upright by the man on the right.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.

II i 14 Nemini fidas, nisi cum quo prius modium salis absumpseris – thematic inventiohigh

The emblem's motto and subscriptio state exactly the lesson of this adage: trust/friendship must be withheld until a man's character has been tested over time ('one cannot tell what a man is really like until one has lived with him for some time'), especially before accepting a stranger.

I i 70 Homo homini lupus – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus explains this adage as a warning 'not to trust ourselves to an unknown person, but to beware of him as of a wolf'; the subscriptio similarly warns against approving an 'homme estrange' before examining his lineage, nation and manners.

II viii 81 Viri infortunati procul amici – thematic inventiomedium

The adage's essay supplies the maxim 'Κρίνει φίλους ὁ καιρὸς, ὡς χρυσὸν τὸ πῦρ' (circumstance tests friends as fire tests gold), the very idea of 'esprouver' a friend before trusting him that the emblem inculcates, with the hand-clasp of fair-weather friendship as its image.

III iii 55 Fiducia pecunias amisi – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus' comment that trusting everyone is foolish while trusting no one is inhuman, and that 'most men are taken in by trusting others', matches the emblem's warning that he who makes a friend 'par folle affection' will come to repentance and danger.

II i 72 Ama tanquam osurus, oderis tanquam amaturus – thematic inventiolow

Both concern prudence and reserve in contracting friendship, the Bias maxim being the classic locus for guarded affection; but the emblem urges prior testing rather than conditional loving, so the link is only general.

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

Subscriptio

TranscriptionAI-generated

TranslationAI-generated

Iconclass

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

Sources