Guillaume de La Perrièrre, Le Theatre Des Bons Engins (Lyon, 1545)
Emblem 59
Two men playing chess while the house burns; a man rushes in to warn themAI-generated
Soys diligent au faict de ton mesnage.
Emblem 59. Be diligent in the affairs of your household.AI-generated
Description of the woodcutAI-generated
A woodcut set in a room. At a square table in the centre two men sit playing chess; the board with its pieces is shown from above. The player on the left wears a cap and doublet and leans forward over the board, one hand on the table. Behind and to the right a bearded man in a cloak rushes in, one arm raised and pointing upward and backward, turning toward the other figures. Flames and smoke billow from the wall behind at the left and from an opening at the upper right, where a tiled or shingled roof and an arched doorway or hearth with a vessel are visible. Floorboards and stools are drawn in simple lines; the scene is enclosed in a rectangular frame.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
IL n'est pas temps de iouer aux Eschez:Lors que le feu te brusle ta maison.Et quand noz cueurs de douleur sont tachez,Musicque & ieux ne sont pas de saison.Si nous auons negoces à foyson,Fault qu'aux plus grãdz venés à droicte luyte:Il n'est pas temps d'en faire la poursuyte,Quand est trop tard, par effectz euidens,Raison nous ha donné sens & conduicte,Pour obuier aux futurs accidens.
TranslationAI-generated
It is no time to play at chess when the fire is burning down your house. And when our hearts are stained with grief, music and games are out of season. If we have business in abundance, we must come to grips directly with the greatest matters: it is no time to pursue them when it is too late, as evident effects show. Reason has given us sense and guidance to forestall future mishaps.
Iconclass
86(SOYS DILIGENT AU FAICT DE TON MESNAGE)proverbs, sayings, etc. (SOYS DILIGENT AU FAICT DE TON MESNAGE)41A1civic architecture; edifices; dwellings41B4on fire, ablaze31D14adult man41A7211stool41A711table43C521chess57A1Good Behaviour54B12Opportunity, Opportuneness, Seasonableness
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
43C6group games, party gameslowThe correlate 'group games, party games' is the only candidate that covers the two men engaged in a board game (chess) at the table, though it does not specifically denote chess.
54AA2Negligence; 'Negligenza' (Ripa)lowThe emblem's evident moral — gamers absorbed in chess while the house burns and a man rushes in to warn them — matches the concept of Negligence, though the correlate denotes a Ripa personification that is not actually depicted here.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- I x 38 Vir fugiens haud moratur lyrae strepitum – essay quotehigh
Erasmus' essay quotes Seneca's letter: 'Nemo, qui ad incendium domus suae currit, tabulam latrunculariam perspicit' – no one running to his burning house stops to study the chessboard; the emblem's picture and subscriptio ('It is no time to play at chess when the fire is burning down your house') literalize exactly this image, and the adage's own headword about not stopping for the lyre matches the line 'music and games are out of season'.
- IV vii 60 In crastinum seria – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus' essay tells the Dutch story of a banqueter whose clothes catch fire while he refuses to hear 'serious things' until after the feast – the same conceit of amusement continued while fire consumes one's own property, which the emblem visualizes with the chess-players and the burning house.
- I ii 40 Satius est initiis mederi quam fini – thematic inventiolow
The subscriptio's moral – tackle the greatest business at once, not when it is too late, since reason was given 'pour obuier aux futurs accidens' – restates the adage's lesson that an evil must be cured at its beginning rather than when it has grown strong.
- III vi 17 Post bellum auxilium – thematic inventiolow
The emblem's closing complaint that pursuit of one's affairs 'quand est trop tard' is useless echoes this proverb about remedies brought after the crisis is over.
Sources
Record ID: embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem059
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embhab_162-3-eth-b_emblem059
Page in the digital copy of the Herzog August Bibliothek: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/162-3-eth-b/start.htm?image=00072