Emblem 56

Emblem 56

A raven swallowing a snakeAI-generated

Par trop manger, plus meurent, que par glaiue.

Emblem 56. More people die from eating too much than by the sword.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut in a rectangular frame showing a large raven or crow standing on rocky ground in an open landscape, its wings raised and spread. It bends its head down toward a long coiled snake that lies on the ground before it, the serpent's body looped in several coils with its head raised toward the bird's beak. Behind, hills, a rocky outcrop with buildings or ruins, and clouds in the sky; small plants and leaves in the foreground.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 56 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

Quand le Corbeau degloutit le Serpent,Au goust luy semble vn succre, ou venaison:Mais puis apres grandement s'en repent:Car le bon goust, tost se tourne en poyson.Il fault manger & boyre par raison,Et soy garder de suffocquer nature:Car cil qui boyt & mange sans mesure,Va de sa fin tousiours en approchant:La Gueule faict plus de desconfiture,Que ne faict Mars de son glaiue trenchant.

TranslationAI-generated

When the Raven swallows the Serpent, to its taste it seems like sugar or venison: but afterwards it greatly repents of it, for the good taste soon turns into poison. One must eat and drink with reason, and keep oneself from stifling nature: for he who drinks and eats without measure is always drawing nearer to his end. The Gullet causes more destruction than Mars does with his cutting sword.

Iconclass

86(PAR TROP MANGER, PLUS MEURENT, QUE PAR GLAIUE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (PAR TROP MANGER, PLUS MEURENT, QUE PAR GLAIUE)

25I9 landscape with ruins

25F32(RAVEN)(+535) song-birds: raven (+ sitting animal)

25F32(RAVEN)(+452) song-birds: raven (+ animal with prey)

25F32(RAVEN)(+45) song-birds: raven (+ animals eating and drinking)

25F42 snakes

55CC11 Greed, Covetousness, Cupidity; 'Cupidità' (Ripa)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

25F32(RAVEN) song-birds: ravenhigh

The correlate 'song-birds: raven' matches the large raven standing with spread wings that dominates the woodcut.

25F32(CROW) song-birds: crowmedium

The correlate 'song-birds: crow' is an equally valid identification since the bird is described as a raven or crow.

25F42 snakeshigh

The correlate 'snakes' matches the long coiled serpent lying on the ground with its head raised toward the bird.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

IV i 79 Corvus serpentem – thematic inventiohigh

The woodcut and subscriptio depict exactly Erasmus's adage: the crow/raven seizing and swallowing a serpent and perishing from it. Erasmus himself turns the adage against 'hominem ob edacitatem periclitantem' (the man endangered by his gluttony), which is precisely the emblem's moral that more die from overeating than by the sword.

I i 58 Cornix scorpium – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus cites this crow-and-scorpion adage as the twin of 'Corvus serpentem': the bird snatches the venomous prey and dies of it, the same image of self-procured destruction through greedy snatching that the emblem's raven and snake illustrate.

I vi 96 Ne quid nimis – thematic inventiolow

The subscriptio's precept 'Il fault manger & boyre par raison... cil qui boyt & mange sans mesure va de sa fin tousiours en approchant' is a commonplace application of the 'nothing to excess' maxim, though without verbal quotation.