Guillaume de La Perrièrre, Le Theatre Des Bons Engins (Lyon, 1545)
Emblem 35
A circular labyrinth with a figure at its centreAI-generated
Difficile est delaisser volupté.
Emblem 35. It is difficult to abandon pleasure.AI-generated
Description of the woodcutAI-generated
A woodcut in a rectangular frame showing a large circular labyrinth drawn in concentric rings, seen from above, with a single straight path cutting across it. At the centre of the labyrinth stands a small draped human figure holding a long rod or staff that extends out across the rings. Around the labyrinth is a landscape: rocky outcrops and trees at the upper left, hills or water at the upper right, and wavy lines suggesting water or ground at the lower left and right corners.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
EN volupté facilement on entre:Mais on en sort à grand' difficulté.Par trop vouloir obeir à son ventre,L'on en est pire en toute faculté.Ce beau propos auons pour resulté,Du Labyrinthe auquel facilementL'on peult entrer: mais si parfondementOn est dedans, l'yssue est difficile.En vain plaisir aussi semblablementL'on entre tost: mais sortir n'est facile.
TranslationAI-generated
Into pleasure one enters easily: but one gets out of it with great difficulty. By wishing too much to obey one's belly, one becomes the worse for it in every faculty. We have drawn this fine saying from the Labyrinth, which one can easily enter: but once one is so deeply inside, the way out is difficult. Likewise into vain pleasure one enters quickly: but to get out is not easy.
Iconclass
86(DIFFICILE EST DELAISSER VOLUPTÉ)proverbs, sayings, etc. (DIFFICILE EST DELAISSER VOLUPTÉ)13C24labyrinth, maze ~ magic mathematical figures31D14adult man11N1Vice, Evil, Sin; 'Peccato' (Ripa)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
13C24labyrinth, maze ~ magic mathematical figuresmediumThe correlate 'labyrinth, maze ~ magic mathematical figures' matches the emblem's dominant motif: a schematic labyrinth drawn as concentric rings seen from above, rendered as a diagram rather than an architectural structure.
95A(DAEDALUS)52Daedalus builds the Labyrinth for Minosmedium'Daedalus builds the Labyrinth for Minos' fits the lone draped figure standing at the centre of the maze holding a long rod (a measuring/building instrument), with Daedalus named in the commentary.
94M35Theseus, with the ball of thread, finds his way into the Labyrinthlow'Theseus, with the ball of thread, finds his way into the Labyrinth' could account for the single straight path cutting across the rings toward the central figure, and Theseus is named in the commentary.
95A(MINOTAUR)(story of) the MinotaurlowThe general '(story of) the Minotaur' is evoked by the labyrinth image together with the commentary's mention of the Minotaur, though no bull-man is depicted.
95A(DAEDALUS)(story of) DaedaluslowThe general '(story of) Daedalus' covers the commentary's reference to Daedalus as the labyrinth's maker, the subject illustrated here.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- II vii 62 Lotum gustavit – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus explicitly glosses this adage as applying to 'men who, having once tasted dishonourable pleasures, cannot be recalled to their original pursuits' — exactly the emblem's point that one enters pleasure easily but cannot get out again.
- II iv 22 Periculosum est canem intestina gustasse – thematic inventiomedium
The adage's lesson — that it is not easy to keep clear of wrongdoing once one has savoured its attractions (as a dog that has tasted guts or leather will not stop) — matches the emblem's moral of pleasure, especially gluttony ('obeir à son ventre'), being easy to enter and hard to abandon.
- IV v 32 Omnes laqueos effugere – thematic inventiolow
The image of a trap whose exits are all blocked so that the quarry cannot escape parallels the labyrinth of pleasure in which one is easily caught but from which 'l'yssue est difficile', though there is no verbal borrowing.
Sources
Record ID: embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem035
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem035
Page in the digital copy of the Herzog August Bibliothek: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/162-3-eth-b/start.htm?image=00048