Emblem 40

Emblem 40

An enthroned king squeezing a sponge; gallows and wheel in the backgroundAI-generated

Officiers larrons, fault mettre en roue.

Thieving officials must be broken on the wheel.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut in a rectangular frame. At the left, inside a draped, curtained chamber, a bearded king wearing a crown sits on a raised throne; he holds a scepter in his left hand and with his raised right hand squeezes a sponge, from which liquid drips down toward the floor, where a pool and a cloth or hide lie at the foot of the throne step. Behind him hangs a patterned curtain. At the right the chamber opens through an arch onto an outdoor landscape with a low wall or balustrade and a flight of steps; in the distance stand a gallows with two bodies hanging from the crossbeam and, beside it, an execution wheel mounted on a tall post.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 40 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

LE grand Larron tasche d'auoir office,A celle fin, que grandz & petis ronge:Tandis qu'il prend soubz couleur de IusticeDe le punir, le Prince pense & songe:Puis tout soubdain, vient à serrer l'espongeEn luy ostant le bien qu'il a pillé.Le Larron est du païs exilé,Decapité, ou, peult estre, pendu,Trop peu seroit, qu'il fut essorillé:Car sur la roue il doibt estre estendu.

TranslationAI-generated

The great thief seeks to obtain an office, to the end that he may gnaw at great and small alike: meanwhile, while under the colour of Justice he takes, the Prince thinks and ponders how to punish him: then all of a sudden he comes to squeeze the sponge, taking from him the goods he has plundered. The thief is banished from the country, beheaded, or perhaps hanged; it would be too little that he merely had his ears cropped: for he ought to be stretched out upon the wheel.

Iconclass

86(OFFICIERS LARRONS, FAULT METTRE EN ROUE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (OFFICIERS LARRONS, FAULT METTRE EN ROUE)

44B1212 throne

44B113 king

31A5462 brush, sponge, etc. (toilet articles)

41A541 balustrade

44G342(+34) on the scaffold or place of execution (+ instruments of execution)

31E2355 violent death by hanging

31E23531 violent death by breaking on the wheel

44B17 bad ruler

44B127 ruler and his subjects

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

98B(VESPASIAN) (story of) the emperor Vespasianhigh

The scene of a crowned emperor squeezing a sponge illustrates the well-known anecdote of Vespasian 'squeezing' his enriched officials, i.e. a scene from the story of the emperor Vespasian.

98B(VESPASIAN)5 non-aggressive activities of Emperor Vespasianmedium

The enthroned emperor wringing out the sponge is a non-military, civil/administrative act, fitting 'non-aggressive activities of Emperor Vespasian'.

44D21 tax collectionmedium

The sponge image refers to tax-collecting officials who soak up money and are then wrung out, matching 'tax collection'.

11N34 Covetousness; 'Avaritia' (Ripa) ~ personification of one of the Seven Deadly Sinslow

The moral point of the squeezed sponge concerns the covetousness/avarice of officials, though no personification of 'Avaritia' is actually depicted.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

I x 58 Sero Jupiter diphtheram inspexit – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus explicitly applies this adage to "princes who overlook offences for a long time and punish them in the end" — exactly the subscriptio's scenario in which the Prince long 'pense & songe' while the officer plunders, and then 'tout soubdain' squeezes the sponge and punishes him.

II viii 76 Utinam male, quemadmodum invienisti, eiicias – thematic inventiomedium

The adage is aimed at Cleon the embezzler of public funds and wishes that he may disgorge in disgrace what he gained by disgrace — precisely the emblem's image of the prince squeezing the sponge to force the thieving officer to give back 'le bien qu'il a pillé'.

I vii 82 Male parta male dilabuntur – thematic inventiomedium

The moral of the dizain — goods amassed under colour of office are suddenly stripped away again, and the thief is exiled, beheaded or broken on the wheel — is the standard 'ill gotten, ill spent' commonplace that Erasmus records here.

I ii 3 Longae regum manus – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus' essay notes that kings, even if they dissimulate for a long while, eventually exact punishment from those who have angered them, which matches the enthroned king who ponders and then suddenly strikes at the corrupt officer.

III ii 89 Exigit et a statuis farinas – thematic inventiolow

The adage targets officials and princes who squeeze revenue out of every possible source, the 'grand Larron' of the emblem who under colour of justice 'ronge grandz & petis'.