Emblem 29

Emblem 29

Fortune emptying a vessel into the net of a sleeping manAI-generated

La fortune est ingrate aux bons espritz.

Fortune is ungrateful to good minds.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut in a rectangular frame. In an outdoor landscape with trees and foliage at the upper right, a nude standing figure at the left leans forward and tips a large round vessel or pot over a big diamond-meshed net that is spread across the middle of the scene; small objects appear to fall into the net. At the right a half-draped man wearing a hat reclines on the ground, propped on one elbow with his head resting on his hand, apparently asleep or drowsing beside the net.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 29 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

PLustost sera Fortune fauorable,A vn dormart: à vn roger bon temps,Qu'a vn esperit gentil & honorable,Qui trauaillé se sera cinquante ans.S'elle en ha faict iadis de mal contens,En cest estat, que sera desormais,Quand elle met (plus que ne feit iamais)Biens & honneurs aux filletz des dormans?Et si ne chasse (à present) pour tout mes,Que pour paillardz, idiotz, ou gourmans.

TranslationAI-generated

Fortune will sooner be favourable to a sleeper, to a good-time idler, than to a noble and honourable mind that has toiled for fifty years. If in the past she has made men discontented in this condition, what will it be henceforth, when she places (more than she ever did) goods and honours in the nets of sleepers? And indeed she now hunts, for all her prey, only for lechers, idiots, or gluttons.

Iconclass

86(LA FORTUNE EST INGRATE AUX BONS ESPRITZ) proverbs, sayings, etc. (LA FORTUNE EST INGRATE AUX BONS ESPRITZ)

54F12 Luck, Fortune, Lot; 'Fato', 'Fortuna', 'Fortuna aurea', 'Fortuna buona', 'Fortuna pacifica overo clemente', 'Sorte' (Ripa)

41A361 tower (of house or building)

48C1422 model ~ architecture

31D14 adult man

31BB13 sleeping on the ground - BB - out of doors

43C1(+415) sports, games ~ animals (+ net)

11P31131 insignia of bishop, e.g. mitre, crozier

55C2 Giving

59CC Justice and Injustice (opposing concepts)

56B2 Happiness, Felicity

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

51CC19 No Result, Lack of Result, Inefficacy, Futilityhigh

The correlate 'No Result, Inefficacy, Futility' matches the central motif of emptying a vessel into a net, where the contents fall straight through to no purpose.

57AA8 Ingratitude; 'Ingratitudine' (Ripa)medium

The personified 'Ingratitude' fits the commentary's theme that benefits bestowed on an ungrateful person are like pouring into a net or leaky vessel.

86 proverbs, sayings, etc.medium

'Proverbs, sayings, etc.' suits the emblem's proverbial image of pouring into a net.

54DD2 Idleness; 'Otio' (Ripa)medium

'Idleness' ('Otio') corresponds to the drowsing, half-draped man propped on his elbow beside the net.

32A46 sluggardmedium

'Sluggard' describes the reclining, sleeping figure resting his head on his hand while the pouring goes to waste.

11N37 Sloth, Indolence, 'Acedia', 'Desidia'; 'Accidia' (Ripa) ~ personification of one of the Seven Deadly Sinslow

The personification of Sloth/'Desidia' may underlie the idle sleeper, as suggested by the commentary's reference to sloth.

93E85 the Danaids pouring water into a perforated vessellow

'The Danaids pouring water into a perforated vessel' is the mythological parallel of futile pouring evoked by the commentary, though the scene itself shows a net rather than a leaky jar.

47K42 fishing netlow

'Fishing net' may apply to the large diamond-meshed net spread across the middle of the scene.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

I v 82 Dormienti rete trahit – direct mottohigh

The emblem's picture of Fortune emptying goods into a net beside a sleeping man, and the subscriptio's 'Quand elle met ... Biens & honneurs aux filletz des dormans', directly render Erasmus' Εὕδοντι κύρτος αἱρεῖ and the picture described in his essay of Fortune driving cities into Timotheus' net while he sleeps.

II viii 77 Ultro Deus subjicit bona – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus' adage on goods coming without any effort of ours expressly cross-refers to 'the sleeper's net'; the emblem's point that goods and honours fall to idlers rather than to the industrious is the same commonplace.

I iii 59 Sine sacris haereditas – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus explains that unearned gains seem 'given freely by Fortune, as it were to men asleep' (quasique dormientibus, a fortuna donari), which is precisely the emblem's image of Fortune filling the sleeper's net.

IV x 62 Fato metelli – thematic inventiolow

The adage mocks those raised to wealth and honour by Fortune's whim rather than merit, matching the emblem's complaint that Fortune bestows 'biens & honneurs' on idlers and fools while ignoring worthy toilers.

I viii 44 Atheniensium inconsulta temeritas – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus glosses it with the saying that a man is 'more lucky than wise', succeeding 'not through his own hard work but by the favour of fortune' — the same locus of fortunata stultitia that the emblem laments.