Emblem 57

Emblem 57

Jupiter with his eagle in the clouds, pouring from a jarAI-generated

L'homme est ioyeux, puis soubdain deuient triste.

Emblem 57. Man is joyful, then suddenly becomes sad.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut in a rectangular frame showing a crowned, bearded male figure (Jupiter) seated amid billowing clouds. He holds a vessel or jar and appears to be pouring or tipping its contents downward. Below him, in the clouds, is a large bird with outspread wings (an eagle). Horizontal hatching fills the background sky beneath the clouds.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 57 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

Disoit iadis le bon poëte Homere,Que Iuppiter biens & maulx compesoitEsgallement, & la liqueur amere,Auec la doulce, ensemble dispensoit:Par ces propos, & tresbeaulx dictz pensoit,Grande douleur ne se pouuoir choysir,Qu'elle ne fust auec quelque plaisir,Ne grand plaisir, sans quelque fascherie.L'homme n'a pas tout selon son desir:Par foys gemit, & par foys fault qu'il rie.

TranslationAI-generated

The good poet Homer once said that Jupiter weighed out goods and evils equally, and dispensed the bitter liquor together with the sweet. By these words and most fine sayings he meant that no great sorrow could be found that was not accompanied by some pleasure, nor any great pleasure without some vexation. Man does not have everything according to his desire: sometimes he groans, and sometimes he must laugh.

Iconclass

86(L'HOMME EST IOYEUX, PUIS SOUBDAIN DEUIENT TRISTE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (L'HOMME EST IOYEUX, PUIS SOUBDAIN DEUIENT TRISTE)

92B15 non-aggressive, friendly or neutral activities and relationships of Jupiter

31A27631 sitting or standing on clouds

92B18(EAGLE) attributes of Jupiter: eagle

41A773 container of ceramics: jar, jug, pot, vase

41C263 mixing, combining (preparing food)

56B Joy and Sorrow

56B1 Pleasure, Enjoyment, Joy; 'Allegrezza', 'Allegrezza da le medaglie', 'Allegrezza, letitia e giubilo', 'Diletto', 'Piacere', 'Piacere honesto' (Ripa)

56BB1 Pain, Sorrow, Sadness; 'Dolore', 'Dolore di Zeusi' (Ripa)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

92B18(EAGLE) attributes of Jupiter: eaglehigh

The large eagle with outspread wings in the clouds beneath the enthroned god is precisely the eagle as attribute of Jupiter.

31A27631 sitting or standing on cloudshigh

The crowned bearded figure is shown seated amid billowing clouds, matching 'sitting or standing on clouds'.

26A cloudsmedium

Billowing clouds dominate the upper half of the woodcut, making 'clouds' a genuine pictorial element.

25F33(EAGLE) predatory birds: eaglemedium

A large predatory bird identified as an eagle is depicted with outspread wings.

92B17 specific aspects, allegorical aspects of Jupiter; Jupiter as patronlow

Jupiter pouring the contents of a vessel downward suggests a specific allegorical aspect of the god (e.g. Jupiter as dispenser of rain/gifts), though the exact aspect is not specified.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

III ix 72 Rerum omnium vicissitudo – essay quotehigh

Erasmus' essay cites the Homeric line 'Ἀτὰρ θεὸς ἄλλοτ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἄλλῳ, Ζεὺς ἀγαθόν τε κακόν τε διδοῖ' — 'Now to this one, now to that, Jupiter sends now joy, now grief' — which is precisely the Homeric commonplace of Zeus dispensing good and ill that the subscriptio paraphrases and the woodcut depicts.

III i 78 Cum Deo quisque gaudet et flet – thematic inventiohigh

The adage ('by God's will each man both laughs and weeps', with the Euripidean 'Gaudere atque dolere necesse est') matches the emblem's closing line 'Par foys gemit, & par foys fault qu'il rie' and its doctrine that joy and grief are divinely apportioned.

III i 87 Nihil est ab omni parte beatum – thematic inventiohigh

The subscriptio's claim that no great pleasure comes without some vexation ('L'homme n'a pas tout selon son desir') is the exact sense of Horace's proverbial 'Nought is at all points blessed' / 'No mortal is in all things blest'.

I viii 65 Nunc pluit et claro nunc Jupiter aethere fulget – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus' adage makes Jupiter the agent of alternating fair and foul — the same figure of a sky-god dispensing prosperity and adversity by turns that the emblem renders as Jupiter in the clouds pouring out his jars.

I viii 64 Ipsa dies quandoque parens, quandoque noverca – thematic inventiomedium

Hesiod's line that one day is a mother and another a stepmother expresses the emblem's point that things cannot go well every day, man being joyful then suddenly sad.

I vii 63 Omnium rerum vicissitudo est – thematic inventiomedium

The adage on the ebb and flow of human affairs, with Sophocles' 'what was sweet turns sour', underlies the emblem's moral that man passes suddenly from joy to sadness.

IV v 7 Bona nemini hora est – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus' comment that Fortune so tempers mortal affairs that joy for one brings pain is a lesser parallel to the emblem's mixing of sweet and bitter in the same cup.