Emblem 99

Emblem 99

Hercules with his club fighting the HydraAI-generated

Telcuyde estre à repos, à qui vient grand affaire.

Emblem 99. He who thinks himself at rest is the very one to whom great trouble comes.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A framed woodcut showing a rocky landscape with water in the background. At the right stands a nude, muscular male figure (Hercules) striding forward, a lion-skin or cloak draped over his shoulder and back, raising a club in both hands above his head. At the left, facing him, crouches a many-headed serpentine beast (the Hydra) with a dog- or lion-like body, clawed feet and a long coiled tail; numerous long snaky necks with open jaws and forked tongues rise and twist from its shoulders. One severed or drooping head lies near the ground between them.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 99 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

QVãd Hercules, apres plusieurs cõquestes,Cuydoit auoir repos de ses labeurs,Hydra suruint auecques ses sept testes:Renouuelant ses trauaulx & malheurs.Quand par vertu auons acquis honneurs,Pensant auoir tousiours paix assouuie,Quelque meschant suruiendra par enuie,Pour nous donner plus que deuant affaire:Tel trauail n'eut Hercules en sa vie,Ne tel danger, que pour Hydra deffaire.

TranslationAI-generated

When Hercules, after many conquests, thought he would have rest from his labours, the Hydra came upon him with its seven heads, renewing his toils and misfortunes. When by virtue we have won honours, thinking we have peace fully secured forever, some wicked person will come along out of envy to give us more trouble than before: Hercules had no such labour in his life, nor such danger, as in destroying the Hydra.

Iconclass

86(TELCUYDE ESTRE À REPOS, À QUI VIENT GRAND AFFAIRE) proverbs, sayings, etc. (TELCUYDE ESTRE À REPOS, À QUI VIENT GRAND AFFAIRE)

94L322 (2) the Hydra of Lerna is killed by Hercules

59B5 Merit; 'Merito' (Ripa)

59B31 Honour, Glory; 'Ampiezza della Gloria', 'Gloria', 'Gloria de prencipi', 'Gloria & Honore', 'Honore', 'Sublimatà della Gloria' (Ripa)

11N32 Envy; 'Invidia' (Ripa) ~ personification of one of the Seven Deadly Sins

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

94L322 (2) the Hydra of Lerna is killed by Herculeshigh

The scene depicts exactly 'the Hydra of Lerna is killed by Hercules': a club-wielding Hercules in lion-skin attacking a many-headed serpentine monster with a severed head on the ground.

94L8(CLUB) attributes of Hercules: clubmedium

Hercules is shown raising his characteristic attribute, the club, in both hands above his head.

25FF42 fabulous animals ~ snakes (aspic, dragon, hydrus, hydra, amphisbaena, horned snake, cerastes)low

The monster is a fabulous snake-like creature (hydra), fitting the general class of fabulous serpent animals, though the specific Hercules notation is more precise.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

I x 9 Hydram secas – thematic inventiohigh

The emblem's picture (Hercules clubbing the many-headed Lernaean Hydra, with one head already severed) and its moral — that trouble renews itself just when one expects rest — are exactly the matter of Erasmus's 'Hydram secas', which explains Hercules' struggle with the regrowing heads as the figure for removing one evil only to meet many more (loci: Malum conduplicatum aut renovatum).

III i 1 Herculei labores – thematic inventiomedium

The subscriptio's theme — that after virtuous labours and won honours some envious wretch brings fresh toil — echoes Erasmus's great essay on the Labours of Hercules, where he complains that those who undertake Herculean toils for the common good reap envy rather than rest or thanks.

IV iii 13 Post Marathonem pugna – thematic inventiolow

Shares the emblem's precise point that one hardship is immediately succeeded by a new one just when the struggle seemed over; no textual borrowing, only the common commonplace of 'malum conduplicatum aut renovatum'.