Emblem 41

Emblem 41

Three men playing tennisAI-generated

Le mocqueur doibt endurer mocquerie.

The mocker must endure mockery.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut showing an indoor tennis (jeu de paume) court with a wooden gallery and penthouse roof. Three men with stringed rackets play ball: one at left strides forward swinging his racket, a second stands behind a low wall or net in the middle ground with racket raised, and a third at right, seen from behind in short breeches and hose, holds up a large racket ready to strike. The floor is rendered with hatched lines and a small ball or object lies at lower right.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 41 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

SI tu te metz à iouer à la paulme,En te voulant pour passe temps esbatre:Ne pense pas que ton compaignon choume:Car de sa part l'estœuf vouldra rabatre.Penser aussi doibt tout homme folastre,Que si par ieu quelque broquard prononce,Par ieu reçoit la semblable response,Ne pour cela se doibt fort trauailler:Car en bon poix on vend once pour once,Pire ieu n'est que mocquer, ou railler.

TranslationAI-generated

If you set yourself to play at tennis, wishing to amuse yourself as a pastime, do not think that your companion will stand idle: for his part he will want to strike the ball back. Likewise every playful man ought to consider that if in jest he utters some taunt, in jest he receives the like reply, and he should not trouble himself greatly about it: for with honest weight one sells ounce for ounce; there is no worse game than mocking or jeering.

Iconclass

86(LE MOCQUEUR DOIBT ENDURER MOCQUERIE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (LE MOCQUEUR DOIBT ENDURER MOCQUERIE)

43C8(+1) grounds, fields and accomodations for sports, games and physical performances (+ sportsman, player, etc.)

43C4151(+41) tennis, lawn-tennis (+ equipment, outfit (sports, games, etc.))

43C(+24) sports, games and physical performances (+ public (sports, games, etc.))

31D14 adult man

33B11 mocking, insulting; teasing

57BB2 Mockery, Derision, Irreverence; 'Derisione', 'Dispreggio della Virtù' (Ripa)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

43C415 ball games in which ball is hit with racket (or hand)high

The correlate 'ball games in which ball is hit with racket (or hand)' exactly matches the three men striking a ball with stringed rackets in a jeu de paume court.

43C41 ball gameshigh

The generic 'ball games' correlate covers the depicted tennis match as the parent category of the scene.

54F Fortune and Misfortunelow

'Fortune and Misfortune' may fit the emblem's moral, since the commentary apparently invokes fate and chance in connection with the game, but this cannot be confirmed from the supplied text.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

I i 27 Qui quae vult dicit, quae non vult audiet – thematic inventiohigh

The emblem's motto and subscriptio state exactly the adage's point: he who utters a taunt in jest must accept the like reply ('par ieu reçoit la semblable response'), i.e. whoever says what he likes will hear what he does not like (Terence, Jerome).

III vi 6 Caedimus inque vicem praebemus crura sagittis – thematic inventiohigh

Erasmus glosses this adage as 'ridemur et ridemus, mordemus et mordemur' (we mock and are mocked in turn) and illustrates it with Plutarch's image of a ball thrown back and forth — precisely the emblem's tennis simile of the companion striking back the ball in exchange for a jest.

III i 99 Sphaeram inter sese reddere – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus's proverb of returning the ball back and forth (cited by him at III vi 6 from Plutarch's De profectu in virtute) supplies the exact conceit of the emblem's picture and subscriptio: words, like the tennis ball, are volleyed back by one's partner.

III ii 21 Loripedem rectus derideat – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus's discussion of derision warns that it is folly to throw at another what can be thrown back at you ('stultissimum est in alium iacere, quod in ipsum possit retorqueri'), which matches the emblem's moral that the mocker must endure mockery, though without textual borrowing.