Emblem 74

Emblem 74

A man pouring water into a pot to test it for cracksAI-generated

Par vn secret leger, esprouue l'estranger.

By a trifling secret, test the stranger.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

Within a rectangular woodcut frame, a bearded man wearing a soft cap, doublet and hose stands bent forward, holding a large jug or ewer with both hands and pouring a stream of liquid into a round three-legged cauldron that stands on the ground before him. The scene is set at the edge of a building: a tall pillar and a section of patterned wall rise at the right, while at the left an open landscape with clouds, a ruined tower and buildings is visible in the background. The ground is indicated by horizontal hatching.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 74 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

POur essayer si le pot est fendu,Nous y versons de l'eaue à l'aduenture,Non pas du vin, car il seroit perdu,Si le vaisseau auoit quelque fracture.Cecy nous donne expresse coniecture,Que si voulons prouuer vn estranger:Nous luy dirons, quelque secret leger,Lors cognoistrons, s'il est sobre en langage:D'vn grand secret, serions trop en danger,S'il aduenoit, qu'en parler fust volage.

TranslationAI-generated

To test whether the pot is cracked, we pour water into it at random, not wine, for it would be lost if the vessel had some crack. This gives us a clear indication that if we wish to test a stranger, we will tell him some trifling secret; then we shall know whether he is sober in speech: with a great secret we would be in too much danger, should it happen that he were frivolous in speaking.

Iconclass

86(PAR VN SECRET LEGER, ESPROUUE L'ESTRANGER) proverbs, sayings, etc. (PAR VN SECRET LEGER, ESPROUUE L'ESTRANGER)

25I9 landscape with ruins

31D14 adult man

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

41C326 jar, jug (used as drinking-vessel)

41C122 pouring

56DD2 Distrust, Suspicion; 'Sospitione' (Ripa)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

41C27(CAULDRON) kitchen-utensils: cauldronhigh

The correlate 'kitchen-utensils: cauldron' matches the round three-legged cauldron standing on the ground into which the man pours liquid.

48C161 column, pillar ~ architecturemedium

The correlate 'column, pillar ~ architecture' matches the tall pillar rising at the right edge of the building in the scene.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

I vi 14 In care periculum – thematic inventiohigh

The emblem's lesson — try out the untested vessel (and the untested stranger) with something cheap, water rather than wine, a trifling secret rather than a great one — is precisely Erasmus's point that one should make the risky experiment on a person or thing of little value, 'so that if anything goes wrong, there will be no great loss to suffer.'

I vi 15 In dolio figularem artem discere – thematic inventiohigh

Erasmus explains that a potter does not begin with the great jar but with small pots 'which will not involve heavy loss if something goes wrong'; the emblem's pot/ewer imagery and its graduated test (water before wine, small secret before great) reproduce this ceramic-risk argument, which Erasmus himself links to In Care periculum.

II i 14 Nemini fidas, nisi cum quo prius modium salis absumpseris – thematic inventiomedium

The motto 'esprouue l'estranger' expresses exactly the adage's counsel that a man's character cannot be known, and he should not be trusted, until he has been tested; the emblem simply substitutes a trial secret for the peck of salt.

III iii 55 Fiducia pecunias amisi – thematic inventiolow

The warning that entrusting a great secret to an unproven man puts one 'trop en danger' echoes Theognis' 'by trust I lost my money, by mistrust I saved it' and Epicharmus' 'be sober and remember to distrust' — the subscriptio even asks whether the stranger is 'sobre en langage'.

I i 70 Homo homini lupus – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus glosses the adage as a warning 'not to trust ourselves to an unknown person' whose character we do not know, the same prudential distrust of the 'estranger' that the emblem recommends testing.