Emblem 28

Emblem 28

A tortoise untroubled by a swarm of fliesAI-generated

Contre Vertu Fortune n'a pouuoir.

Emblem 28. Against Virtue, Fortune has no power.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut in a rectangular frame showing a large tortoise with a heavily patterned, segmented shell standing on a mound of rocky ground, its head and clawed feet extended to the left. A swarm of about a dozen flies or winged insects hovers in the air above the tortoise. At the left edge of the scene are a bush and some spiky leafed plants; the ground is strewn with small stones and tufts of grass.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 28 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

IEu de Fortune est tant impetueuxQue les plus haultz souuent elle renuerse:Mais l'homme Saige, en ses faictz vertueux,N'est point subiect à sa fureur peruerse:Car nonobstant qu'elle soit trop diuerse,Contre Vertu n'a vigueur ne puissance.Par la Tortue en auons remonstrance,Qui sur son corps porte cocque si dure,Qu'elle ne craint des mousches l'insolence:Car pour sa cocque ont trop foyble poincture.

TranslationAI-generated

The game of Fortune is so violent that she often overturns the very highest; but the wise man, in his virtuous deeds, is not subject to her perverse fury: for notwithstanding that she is all too changeable, against Virtue she has neither force nor power. We have a demonstration of this in the Tortoise, which carries on its body a shell so hard that it does not fear the insolence of the flies: for against its shell their sting is too feeble.

Iconclass

86(CONTRE VERTU FORTUNE N'A POUUOIR) proverbs, sayings, etc. (CONTRE VERTU FORTUNE N'A POUUOIR)

25H1131 mound, verge

25F44 tortoises, turtles

25F711(FLY) insects: fly

54EE4 Attack

57A6 Virtuousness; 'Amor di Virtù', 'Attione virtuosa', 'Guida sicura de' veri honori', 'Virtù', 'Virtù insuperabile' (Ripa)

54A72 Invulnerability

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

25F44 tortoises, turtleshigh

The correlate 'tortoises, turtles' directly names the large shelled tortoise that dominates the woodcut.

54A72 Invulnerabilitymedium

'Invulnerability' matches the emblematic point that the swarming flies cannot harm the hard-shelled tortoise, a term flagged in the commentary.

33B13 slandermedium

'Slander' corresponds to the biting flies interpreted in the commentary as the attacks of detractors.

57BB25 Calumny, Detraction; 'Biasimo vitioso', 'Calunnia', 'Detrattione', 'Maledicenza' (Ripa)low

'Calumny, Detraction' is the personified counterpart of the slander theme the commentary attaches to the stinging insects, though no personification is depicted.

54A44 Patience; 'Patienza' (Ripa)medium

'Patience' fits the tortoise enduring the swarm unmoved, a virtue named in the commentary.

53A21 Constancy, Tenacity; 'Costanza', 'Tenacità' (Ripa)low

'Constancy, Tenacity' echoes the commentary's notion of steadfast endurance embodied by the unmoved tortoise.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

II viii 100 Quam curat testudo muscam – essay quotehigh

The emblem's image (tortoise ignoring a swarm of flies) and its moral reproduce Erasmus's own application of this adage: 'Animus virtute ac philosophia munitus, nihil plus timet fortunae incursum, quam testudo muscas' — a mind armed with virtue fears Fortune's assaults no more than a tortoise fears flies. The subscriptio even echoes the essay's explanation that flies cannot hurt the tortoise 'propter testam, qua munita est' ('cocque si dure... ont trop foyble poincture').

I ix 70 Elephantum non capit murem – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus cross-references the kindred saying 'Non curat culicem elephantus' within the tortoise-and-flies adage; the emblem's idea of a well-armoured greatness untroubled by petty assailants belongs to the same cluster, though no textual borrowing from this adage appears.