Emblem 73

Emblem 73

A double-fronted courtier offering a dish while turning awayAI-generated

Traistre & Flatteur disent l'vn & font l'autre.

Traitor and Flatterer say one thing and do another.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut set in a street or courtyard before a classical building with columns, an arched doorway and a pedimented porch. In the foreground a richly dressed man strides to the right: he wears a plumed cap, a slashed doublet, puffed breeches and a sword at his side, and he holds out a round flat dish or platter in his left hand while his right hand is raised near his chest. Immediately behind him, and seemingly joined to him, is a second cloaked figure facing the opposite direction, so that the pair appears as one body with two fronts. Clouds and hatched sky appear above the rooftops.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 73 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

FLateurs de court tiénét la paste aux mains,A tous venantz feront des seruiables:Iusques à tant, que par tours inhumains,Auront saoulez leurs cueurs insatiables,Pour se monstrer enuers tous amyables,Ont grand babil, auecques peu d'effect:Merueille n'est, si leur cueur contrefaict,Ha maintes gens reculez en arriere:Car tousiours ont, par leur vouloir infect,Langue deuant, & le cueur en arriere.

TranslationAI-generated

Court flatterers hold the dough in their hands; to all comers they will act obligingly, until, by inhuman tricks, they have glutted their insatiable hearts. To show themselves friendly toward everyone, they have much chatter with little effect; it is no wonder if their counterfeit heart has driven many people back, for always, through their infected will, they have the tongue in front and the heart behind.

Iconclass

86(TRAISTRE & FLATTEUR DISENT L'VN & FONT L'AUTRE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (TRAISTRE & FLATTEUR DISENT L'VN & FONT L'AUTRE)

31D14(+933) adult man (+ holding something)

31A22141 tongue

41C341 dish, plate, saucer

31A2221 heart

25I144 square, place, circus, etc.

41A1 civic architecture; edifices; dwellings

57AA6121 Flattery; 'Adulatione' (Ripa)

57AA6223 Ambuscade, Trap; 'Insidia' (Ripa)

44B152 royal household; courtiers, retinue, train

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

96A128(JANUS' HEAD) Janus' head, two-faced headhigh

The correlate 'Janus' head, two-faced head' matches the single body with two fronts facing opposite directions in the woodcut, and the commentary's reference to Janus.

57AA611 Dissimulation, Hypocrisy; 'Hippocresia', 'Simulatione' (Ripa)high

'Dissimulation, Hypocrisy' matches the emblem's two-faced figure and the commentary's explicit theme of dissimulation and hypocrisy.

57AA6121 Flattery; 'Adulatione' (Ripa)high

'Flattery; Adulatione (Ripa)' corresponds to the commentary's flatterer, personified by the finely dressed, double-faced courtier.

32A45 parasite, spongermedium

'Parasite, sponger' fits the commentary's parasite and the dish/platter the richly dressed man holds out.

57AA6122 Sponging, Parasitizingmedium

'Sponging, Parasitizing' personifies the parasitical flatterer named in the commentary and signalled by the proffered food platter.

57AA621 Cheat, Deceit; 'Fraude', 'Inganno' (Ripa)medium

'Cheat, Deceit; Fraude, Inganno (Ripa)' matches the commentary's theme of deceit embodied in the duplicitous figure.

57AA6131 Guile, Artfulness, Craftiness, Deceitfulnesslow

'Guile, Artfulness, Craftiness, Deceitfulness' echoes the commentary's deceitfulness, though it overlaps with the more specific dissimulation/flattery concepts.

41C342 serving-dish, plattermedium

'Serving-dish, platter' matches the round flat dish the man holds out in his left hand.

45C13(SWORD) hacking and thrusting weapons: swordmedium

'Hacking and thrusting weapons: sword' matches the sword worn at the richly dressed man's side.

53AA21 Inconstancy; 'Incostanza', 'Instabilità', 'Instabilità overo Incostanza' (Ripa)low

'Inconstancy (Ripa)' is suggested by the commentary's inconstancy and the figure facing two ways at once.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

I x 54 Χρηστολόγος – essay quotehigh

Erasmus defines χρηστολόγοι as those 'qui probe loquuntur, & improbe faciunt' — who speak well and act badly; the French motto 'Traistre & Flatteur disent l'vn & font l'autre' is virtually a translation of this gloss, and the subscriptio's 'grand babil, auecques peu d'effect' matches the adage's fair-speech-that-beguiles theme.

II ii 86 Lacon, alia asinus illius portat – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus says this adage was used 'in eos quorum oratio dissentiret à factis' — exactly the emblem's point that the traitor-flatterer says one thing and does another.

I viii 29 Altera manu fert lapidem, altera panem ostentat – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus applies it to those 'qui coràm blandiuntur, clàm obtrectantes, palàm amicos agunt, clanculum nocent,' which is the emblem's flatterer who seems obliging to all while secretly harming; the woodcut's figure likewise offers a dish with one hand while his other self faces away.

I viii 30 Ex eodem ore calidum et frigidum efflare – thematic inventiomedium

The adage targets the 'bilingues' who blow hot and cold from one mouth; the emblem's double-fronted figure with 'langue deuant, & le cueur en arriere' embodies the same duplicity of speech versus intent.

IV iv 74 Altera manu fert aquam, etc – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus explicitly applies it to one 'qui cum coram sit blandus, occulte noceat' and to the bilinguis who praises and reviles — the emblem's two-faced court flatterer whose outward service conceals an 'insatiable' and 'counterfeit' heart.

IV vi 58 Magadari – thematic inventiolow

The adage describes the 'bilingues' who from the same mouth utter praise and blame, flattery and abuse, which matches the emblem's figure that speaks one way and acts another; Erasmus himself cross-references it to 'Ex eodem ore calidum et frigidum efflare.'

IV ii 25 Benignior pellace vulpe – thematic inventiolow

Said of one 'qui commodi sui causa simulat benevolentiam' — exactly the court flatterer who 'feront des seruiables' to all comers only until his insatiable heart is satisfied.

I viii 57 Melle litus gladius – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus applies the honeyed sword to 'perniciosa adulatio' — sweet words hiding a wounding intent — which is the emblem's flatterer, pictured as a sword-wearing courtier proffering a dish while turned away behind.