Guillaume de La Perrièrre, Le Theatre Des Bons Engins (Lyon, 1545)
Emblem 30
A man plucking a rose from a thorny bushAI-generated
Grand bien n'auons, sans quelque desplaisir.
We have no great good without some displeasure.AI-generated
Description of the woodcutAI-generated
A woodcut in a rectangular frame. At left a large rose bush or briar with leafy branches and blossoms grows from the ground. At right a bearded man in a cap and loose belted tunic kneels/crouches on one knee, reaching out with both hands toward the bush to pluck a flower; his face is turned up and his body leans forward. Behind him is an open landscape with a hill, a shoreline or water, and a cloudy sky.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
Qvi veult la rose au verd buysson saisir,Esmerueiller ne se doibt s'il se poingt.Grand bien n'auons, sans quelque desplaisir:Plaisir ne vient sans douleur si apoinct.Tout est meslé, briefuement c'est le poinct,Qu'apres douleur, on ha plaisir souuent:Beau temps se void, tost apres le grand vent,Grand bien suruient apres quelque malheur.Parquoy penser doibt tout homme sçauant,Que volupté n'est iamais sans douleur.
TranslationAI-generated
Whoever wants to seize the rose in the green bush must not be astonished if he pricks himself. We have no great good without some displeasure: pleasure does not come without pain so exactly. Everything is mixed, in short that is the point, that after pain one often has pleasure: fair weather is seen soon after the great wind, great good comes after some misfortune. Therefore every wise man ought to consider that delight is never without pain.
Iconclass
86(GRAND BIEN N'AUONS, SANS QUELQUE DESPLAISIR)proverbs, sayings, etc. (GRAND BIEN N'AUONS, SANS QUELQUE DESPLAISIR)31D14adult man25G31(ROSE-BUSH)shrubs: rose-bush43B144picking flowers56B1Pleasure, Enjoyment, Joy; 'Allegrezza', 'Allegrezza da le medaglie', 'Allegrezza, letitia e giubilo', 'Diletto', 'Piacere', 'Piacere honesto' (Ripa)56BB1Pain, Sorrow, Sadness; 'Dolore', 'Dolore di Zeusi' (Ripa)56BJoy and Sorrow
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
25G31(ROSE-BUSH)shrubs: rose-bushhighThe correlate 'shrubs: rose-bush' directly matches the large flowering rose bush/briar depicted at the left of the woodcut from which the man plucks a blossom.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- III i 87 Nihil est ab omni parte beatum – thematic inventiohigh
The emblem's motto 'Grand bien n'auons, sans quelque desplaisir' and the closing 'volupté n'est iamais sans douleur' restate exactly Erasmus' adage that nothing is blessed at every point and that life and sorrow are kin; the loci 'Mixta' matches the subscriptio's 'Tout est meslé'.
- Ubi uber, ibi tuber (not identified) – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus' adage (from Apuleius) that wherever there is rich growth there is also a swelling/blemish is the classic proverbial formulation of 'no great good without some displeasure' — precisely the rose-and-thorn lesson of the picture and motto.
- I viii 65 Nunc pluit et claro nunc Jupiter aethere fulget – thematic inventiomedium
The subscriptio's 'Beau temps se void, tost apres le grand vent' uses the same weather image Erasmus expounds (Jove now rains, now shines) for the alternation of adversity and prosperity.
- I vii 63 Omnium rerum vicissitudo est – thematic inventiomedium
The poem's claim that 'apres douleur, on ha plaisir souvent' and 'grand bien suruient apres quelque malheur' is the commonplace of universal vicissitude that Erasmus treats under this adage.
- I viii 64 Ipsa dies quandoque parens, quandoque noverca – thematic inventiolow
Erasmus glosses this as 'things cannot go well every day; one day well, another badly', the same alternation of pleasure and pain asserted in the subscriptio.
- III ix 72 Rerum omnium vicissitudo – thematic inventiolow
The cited verse 'Now to this one, now to that, Jupiter sends now joy, now grief' parallels the emblem's doctrine that joy and sorrow come mixed and in turn.
Sources
Record ID: embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem030
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem030
Page in the digital copy of the Herzog August Bibliothek: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/162-3-eth-b/start.htm?image=00043