Emblem 3

Emblem 3

A father points at a snake pushing its head in a crevice: once its head is in the rest will follow; the message to his son is that the road to perdition starts with a first step in the wrong direction

Waer de Slanghe 'thooft in krijght, daer krijgtse 'tlijf inDutch

Where the snake gets its head in, there it gets its body in.AI-generated

Description of the imageAI-generated

Within a circular frame set in a square plate with decorative corner spandrels, two men stand at the left on a grassy bank: an older bearded man in a broad-brimmed hat and cloak, who holds the arm of a younger long-haired man in a wide hat and cloak with boots, pointing him toward the right. Behind them rises a large gnarled, flowering tree whose branches spread across the top of the roundel. At the right is a mass of rugged rocks and cliffs; a snake is climbing/winding into a crevice of the rock face. In the distance a low horizon with water, a flock of small birds in the sky, and clouds. At the bottom of the roundel an unrolled banderole bears a handwritten-style inscription. The engraver's and inventor's names appear in the lower corners of the plate.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page — Facsimile, page 1 of 2; click a thumbnail to change page; click the page to enlarge

Facsimile, page 1 of 2; click a thumbnail to change page; click the page to enlarge

TranscriptionAI-generated

De Vader spreeckt. KOom hier, mijn weerde kint, ick moet u heden leeren Hoe ghy u domme jeugt sult mogen over-heeren; Koom hier, stae nevens my, en let op dit geval, Dat ick u, tot bericht, voor oogen stellen sal. Siet waer de gladde slangh den kop weet in te wringen Daer weetse stracx het lijf ten vollen in te dringen; Let vry, let op het stuck, het hooft dat maeckt de baen, En waer dat ingangh krijgt daer is geen houwen aen. In alle slim bejagh, in alle quade saken, Daer moet een teere ziel den aenvang leeren staken; Weert, lieve, weert het wiet, en doot het bose kruyt, Eer dattet verder gae, en eer het wijder spruyt. De boom, die ons bedeckt, en nu begint te bloeijen, Was maer een enckel rijs, doen hy begon te groeijen; En noch soo wast hy voort, en soo hy langer staet Soo sult ghy vruchten sien, en in de vrucht het saet. Ghy dan, die zijt geneygt om in de tucht te leven, Wacht u van aen het quaet den eersten voet te geven; » Hy valt, eylaes! hy valt, tot inde vuylste lust, » Die van den eersten af haer voncken niet en blust.

TranslationAI-generated

The Father speaks. Come here, my dear child, today I must teach you how you may master your foolish youth; come here, stand beside me, and observe this case which I shall set before your eyes for your instruction. See where the smooth snake knows how to force its head in, there it straightway knows how to press its whole body in. Take good note, mark the point: the head makes the way, and where that gains entry there is no holding it back. In every evil pursuit, in all wicked matters, a tender soul must learn to stop the beginning; keep away, dear one, keep away the weeds, and kill the evil herb before it goes further and before it sprouts more widely. The tree that shelters us and now begins to blossom was only a single twig when it began to grow; and still it keeps on growing, and the longer it stands the more you shall see fruit, and in the fruit the seed. You then, who are inclined to live in discipline, beware of giving evil the first foothold; alas, he falls, he falls into the filthiest lust, who does not from the very first quench its sparks.

CommentaryAI-generated

11 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)

Franç. DV petit vient on au grand. Petite estincelle engendre grand feu.

French. From the small one comes to the great. A little spark begets a great fire.

Nederl. Van een voncke brant het huys. De Basiliscus moet int ey vertreden worden.

Dutch. From one spark the house burns. The basilisk must be trodden down while still in the egg.

Lat. Principijs obsta. Venienti occurrite morbo. Periculosum est canem intestina gustasse. Satius est initijs mederi quam post causam vulneratam remedium quærere. Flamma fumo proxima. De parvâ scintillâ, magnum sæpe incendium. Pravis assuescere sermonibus est via ad rem ipsam. Bovem tollet qui vitulum sustulerit.

Latin. Resist the beginnings. Meet the disease as it comes on. It is dangerous for a dog to have tasted entrails. It is better to heal at the outset than to seek a remedy after the cause has wounded. The flame is next to the smoke. From a small spark often a great fire. To grow accustomed to depraved talk is the road to the deed itself. He who has carried a calf will carry an ox.

Hoogd. Wen man den teuffel in die Kirchen läst kommen/ soo will er gar auff den altaer.

High German. If one lets the devil come into the church, he wants to get right onto the altar.

Ein iedes ding muss ein anfang haben. Mit den nesseln fehet man an zu spielen. Hoogd.

Every thing must have a beginning. One begins by playing with the nettles. (High German)

Plerumque quælibet res innocenti mente respicitur, sed in ipso aspectu animus concupiscentiæ gladio confoditur: non enim David Vriæ conjugê studiose respexit, quia concupierat sed potius concupivit quia incautè respexit. Gregorius. Lat.

For the most part any object is looked at with an innocent mind, but in the very act of looking the soul is pierced by the sword of desire: for David did not look eagerly at Uriah's wife because he had already desired her, but rather he desired her because he looked incautiously. Gregory. (Latin)

A scalione à scaglione si sale la scala. Ital.

Step by step one climbs the stair. (Italian)

Van sporte tot sporte raeckt men op te ladder. Nederl.

From rung to rung one gets up the ladder. (Dutch)

De bequenna centella gran hoguera. Spaens.

From a little spark a great bonfire. (Spanish)

Een nagel doet wel een hoef-ijser verliesen/ een hoef-ijser het peert/ twelck dan wel den ruyter doet sneuvelen. Nederd.

One nail may well cause the loss of a horseshoe, a horseshoe the horse, which then may well cause the rider to perish. (Low Dutch)

Fui devant le peché, comme devant un serpent, car si tu en approches ilte mordra. Franç. Syr. 21. 2.

Flee from sin as from a serpent, for if you come near it, it will bite you. (French; Sirach 21:2)

Iconclass

25F42(+33) snakes (+ head of an animal)

25F42(+521) snakes (+ forward movement of animal(s))

25G3 trees

25H1122(+0) ravine, chasm, abyss, canyon (+ variant)

25H1123 rock-formations

31A2512(+931) arm stretched forward (+ indicating, pointing at)

33A35 conversation, dialogue; conversation piece

42B111 father with son(s) (father-love)

52E3(+4) Counsel; 'Consiglio' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)

57AA6(+4) Viciousness, Naughtiness (+ emblematical representation of concept)

86(WAER DE SLANGHE 'THOOFT IN KRIJGHT, DAER KRIJGTSE 'TLIJF IN) proverbs, sayings, etc. (WAER DE SLANGHE 'THOOFT IN KRIJGHT, DAER KRIJGTSE 'TLIJF IN)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

71H7 David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12)low

The commentary's Gregory quotation explicitly invokes the story of David looking at Uriah's wife and desiring her, which falls under 'David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12)', though it is only a textual allusion and not depicted in the image.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

II iv 22 Periculosum est canem intestina gustasse – direct mottohigh

The emblem's Latin parallel-proverb list quotes the adage headword verbatim ('Periculosum est canem intestina gustasse'), and its point — that one who has once tasted forbidden pleasure cannot stop — is exactly the emblem's lesson that evil must be resisted before it gains its first foothold.

I ii 40 Satius est initiis mederi quam fini – direct mottohigh

The Latin commentary reproduces this adage ('Satius est initijs mederi quam post causam vulneratam remedium quærere') and also quotes Persius' 'Venienti occurrite morbo', the very line Erasmus cites in this adage's essay; Erasmus' gloss (remove evil at its beginning, shelter children from vice while tender) is the emblem's moral.

I v 20 Flamma fumo est proxima – direct mottomedium

The emblem's Latin list includes 'Flamma fumo proxima', Erasmus' adage from Plautus' Curculio, used precisely in the sense that small beginnings (smoke, a spark) lead straight to the great evil (flame) — matching the emblem's 'Van een voncke brant het huys'.

I ii 51 Taurum tollet, qui vitulum sustulerit – direct mottomedium

The Latin commentary's 'Bovem tollet qui vitulum sustulerit' is a variant of Erasmus' adage on Milo of Croton, teaching that habit built up from small beginnings grows to great things — the incremental-growth argument the subscriptio makes with the twig becoming a tree.