Emblem 100

Emblem 100

Diligence with a cornucopia on a cart drawn by ants, Famine bound at her feetAI-generated

Gens paresseux iamais ne seront riches.

Emblem 100. Lazy people will never be rich.AI-generated

Description of the woodcutAI-generated

A woodcut in a rectangular frame. On a low two-wheeled cart rides a woman with a banded headdress, holding a large cornucopia spilling fruit in her left arm and raising a bundle of stalks or a sheaf in her right hand. Behind/beside her on the same cart crouches a second, barefoot woman with loose hair and bare breast, bound or tethered by a cord, huddled low over the cart bed. At the right the ground rises into a rocky, hilly landscape. A line of ants moves along the ground before the cart, apparently drawing it forward.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page of emblem 100 — Facsimile of the page (Herzog August Bibliothek); click to enlarge.

TranscriptionAI-generated

EN ce pourtraict on peult veoir Diligence,Tenant en main le Cornet de copie.Elle triumphe en grand' magnificence:Car de Paresse onc ne fut assoupie:Dessoubz ses piedz tient Famine accroupie,Et attachee en grand' captiuité:Puis les Formis par leur hastiueté,Diligemment tirent le tout ensemble:Pour demonstrer, qu'auec Oysiueté,Impossible est, que grandz biens lon assemble.

TranslationAI-generated

In this picture one may see Diligence, holding in her hand the horn of plenty. She triumphs in great magnificence, for she was never lulled to sleep by Sloth. Beneath her feet she holds Famine crouching, and bound in great captivity. Then the Ants, by their haste, diligently draw the whole thing along together: to show that with Idleness it is impossible for one to gather great wealth.

Iconclass

86(GENS PARESSEUX IAMAIS NE SERONT RICHES) proverbs, sayings, etc. (GENS PARESSEUX IAMAIS NE SERONT RICHES)

43A421 chariot, triumphal car

46C1444 four-wheeled vehicle drawn by more than three animals

25F711(ANT) insects: ant

54A2 Carefulness, Diligence; 'Diligenza' (Ripa)

92B11221 'Cornucopia', Horn of Plenty

47I1111 ears of corn

41C1190 personification of hunger, 'Fames'; 'Fame' (Ripa)

52A2 Forethought, Deliberation; 'Previdenza', 'Providenza' (Ripa)

54A11 Industriousness, Assiduity; 'Assiduità', 'Industria', 'Zelo' (Ripa)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

25F711(ANT) insects: anthigh

The correlate 'insects: ant' matches the line of ants on the ground that draw the cart forward.

92B11221 'Cornucopia', Horn of Plentyhigh

The woman carries a large 'Cornucopia', Horn of Plenty spilling fruit, exactly as the correlate describes.

46C145 (farm) wagon, freight wagon, cartmedium

The two-wheeled vehicle carrying the figures corresponds to the correlate '(farm) wagon, freight wagon, cart'.

71Y1(Prov. 6:6) 'go to the ants, O sluggard' ~ an ant-heap and a lazy personlow

The ants' industrious labour contrasted with the slumped, bound figure evokes the proverbial 'go to the ants, O sluggard', though no ant-heap as such is shown.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

I iii 32 Bonorum myrmecia – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus explains the 'ant-hill of good things' as a figure for vast wealth, grounded in the ant's innate industry in heaping up stores; the emblem makes exactly this link by having ants draw the chariot of Diligence with her cornucopia of 'grandz biens.'

IV iii 86 Non semper erit aestas – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus's essay turns on the fable of the industrious ants reproaching the idle cicada who must beg in winter — precisely the emblem's lesson that ants' diligence brings plenty while Sloth brings bound Famine.

II ix 88 Ni purges et molas, non comedes – thematic inventiolow

The adage states that no food comes without one's own industry, which matches the emblem's opposition of Diligence's cornucopia to the Famine that attends idleness.

III iii 59 Qui vitat molam, vitat farinam – thematic inventiolow

'He who flees the mill flees the meal' expresses the same maxim as the motto: those who shirk labour will never enjoy its profits.

III iii 65 Optimum obsonium labor senectuti – thematic inventiolow

The adage's point — work hard now or face a penniless, hungry old age — underlies the emblem's pairing of Diligence enthroned in plenty with Famine held captive beneath her.