Emblem 68

Emblem 68

Youth seated on a ball beside a table clockAI-generated

Les ieunes Gens n'ont soing de l'aduenir.

Emblem 68. Young people take no care for the future.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut in a rectangular frame. At the left, beneath a leafy tree, a young woman with elaborately dressed hair and a long full-skirted gown sits sideways on a large round ball or sphere, her hands folded in her lap. Beside her, in the centre of the scene, stands a round-topped table or pedestal on which rests a small domed clock with a visible dial. Behind and to the right is an open landscape with a curving stream or hillside, scattered stones in the foreground, and large billowing clouds in the sky.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 68 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

IEunesse estant sur vne boule ronde,Ne pense ailleurs, fors qu'a passer le temps:Son siege rond, muable comme l'onde,Monstre qu'elle ha ses vouloirs inconstantz.Les ieunes gens ne sont gueres contentzDe trauailler, sinon à leurs desirs:Leurs voluptez tournent à desplaisirs,Perte de temps, trop grande s'en ensuyt,Ieunesse tasche à tous mondains plaisirs,Sans aduiser, que Vieille la suyt.

TranslationAI-generated

Youth, being seated on a round ball, thinks of nothing else but passing the time: her round seat, changeable as the wave, shows that her wishes are inconstant. Young people are hardly content to labour, except at their own desires: their pleasures turn into displeasures, too great a loss of time follows from it; Youth strives after all worldly pleasures, without considering that Old Age follows her.

Iconclass

86(LES IEUNES GENS N'ONT SOING DE L'ADUENIR) proverbs, sayings, etc. (LES IEUNES GENS N'ONT SOING DE L'ADUENIR)

31D120 Youth, Adolescence, 'Iuventus'; 'Adolescenza', 'Gioventù' (Ripa)

31D15 adult woman

41C27(SIEVE) kitchen-utensils: sieve

23U24 clock

49D48 sphere, globe ~ stereometry

31D5 young versus old age; young and old

23A44 fugacity of Time

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

23U24 clockhigh

The correlate 'clock' directly matches the small domed clock with visible dial standing on the pedestal at the centre of the scene.

25A13 globelow

The correlate 'globe' could cover the large round ball/sphere on which the woman sits, though here it functions as a symbolic sphere rather than a geographical globe.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

IV i 83 Iuvenari – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus' essay explains that young people, 'because of ignorance and lack of control over their emotions', are 'more unstable', and quotes Basil's proverb that the immature 'go round in circles and vacillate' - exactly the emblem's point that Youth, seated on a rolling ball, has 'vouloirs inconstantz' and pursues pleasure thoughtlessly.

I ix 62 Euripus homo – thematic inventiolow

The subscriptio's image of a round seat 'muable comme l'onde' (changeable as the wave) matches the adage's tidal metaphor for human inconstancy, and the essay's citation 'Dii nos, quasi pilas, homines habent' (men are the gods' balls) echoes the figure perched on a ball.