Emblem 4

Emblem 4

An older woman points out to a young woman that a pig will lie down in a dunghill when it is scratched

Wan man die sauw kutzelt, so legt sie sich im dreckGerman

When one tickles the sow, she lies down in the muck.AI-generated

Description of the imageAI-generated

Within a thick dark oval frame set in a square with corner ornaments, a bearded peasant in a broad feathered hat, jerkin and heavy boots bends forward over a sow, resting one hand on the animal's back and scratching or tickling its neck while steadying his hat with the other hand; a knife and pouch hang from his belt. The pig stands in a muddy pool of water in the foreground, head lowered. At the left, in the middle distance, two women in long dresses and caps (one wearing a wreath or headdress) stand watching, hands folded. At the right is a rolling landscape with a thatched farmhouse, bare trees, distant figures near a fence, and birds in a cloudy sky. Below the oval a scroll-shaped banderole carries the handwritten-style motto.

Subscriptio

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

TranscriptionAI-generated

Met kinders, diemen heeft geteelt, En dient niet alle-tijt gespeelt, Want schoon men die ten hoogsten mint, En boven maten heeft gesint, Noch kan het efter niet bestaen Hen ongetucht te laten gaen, Want Ouders van te sachten mont Zijn voor de jonckheyt ongesont. Men houdt dat meest de kinders zijn Gelijck een mack en weelig swijn, Dat soo ment troetelt inden neck, Gaet leggen midden inden dreck; Dus soo ghy tracht nae deught en eer, En streelt u kinders niet te seer.

TranslationAI-generated

With children that one has begotten one should not always play; for although one loves them most highly and is beyond measure fond of them, still it cannot do to let them go undisciplined, for parents of too soft a mouth (too gentle speech) are unwholesome for the young. It is commonly held that children are for the most part like a tame and pampered pig, which, as soon as one strokes it on the neck, goes and lies down in the middle of the muck; so, if you strive after virtue and honour, do not caress your children too much.

CommentaryAI-generated

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

Lat. Blanda patrum segnes facit indulgentia natos.

Latin. The fond indulgence of fathers makes sons slothful.

Terent. Omnes deteriores sumus licentiâ.

Terence. We all become worse through licence.

Cicer. Monendi amici sæpe sunt, & objurgandi & hæc accipienda sunt amicè, cum benevolè fiat.

Cicero. Friends must often be admonished and rebuked, and these things are to be taken in a friendly spirit when they are done with goodwill.

Hoogd. Besser ein sawrsehender freind / denn ein lachender feind.

High German. Better a sour-looking friend than a laughing enemy.

Lat. Cicer. Sic habendum, nullam in amicitijs pestem esse majorê quam blanditias & assentationem.

Latin. Cicero. Thus it must be held that there is no greater plague in friendships than flattery and fawning agreement.

Nederl. Sachte meesters maecken stinckende wonden.

Dutch. Gentle masters make stinking wounds.

Hoogd. Danck heb die ruth / Sie macht die kinder guth.

High German. Thanks be to the rod: it makes the children good.

Franç. Mère trop piteuse, Faict fille tigneuse.

French. A too pitying mother makes a scabby daughter.

Lat. Plaut. Plerosque ego parentes vidi quibus amor nimius ne amarent causa extitit.

Latin. Plautus. I have seen very many parents in whom excessive love became the cause of their not loving.

Sed providè, & cum judicio castigandos liberos monet proverbium hispanicum.

But the Spanish proverb warns that children are to be chastised with foresight and with judgement.

Spaens. Il ninno & il mulo in culo.

Spanish. The child and the mule — on the backside.

Nunca hizo galardo con allegria, ni execution con colera.

Never give a reward in gladness, nor carry out a punishment in anger.

.i. Ne fais guerdon estant allaigre, ny chastie avec courroux.

That is: Do not give a reward when you are merry, nor chastise with wrath.

Franç. Syrac. 30. 8. 9. Comme un cheval qu'on ne domte point, devient fier; ainsi l'enfant auquel on laisse tout faire, devient rebelle.

French. Sirach 30:8-9. As a horse that is not broken in becomes wild, so the child who is allowed to do everything becomes rebellious.

Amignotte ton enfant, & il te donnera maint effroy: ioue toy avec luy & il te contristera: ne ri point avec luy de peur d'en estre marri, & de grincer les dents à la fin.

Pamper your child and he will give you many a fright; play with him and he will grieve you; do not laugh with him, lest you be sorry for it and gnash your teeth in the end.

Voyez Syrach. 30. 1. Prov: 13. 24. Item 23. 13.

See Sirach 30:1; Proverbs 13:24; likewise 23:13.

Iconclass

25D26 mud (soil type)

25F(+4591) animals (+ excrement, dung of animal(s))

25I3 farm or solitary house in landscape

31A234 squatting, crouching figure

31A2512(+934) arm stretched forward (+ reaching for somebody or something, seizing something, touching)

33A35 conversation, dialogue; conversation piece

34A1:47I212 friendship between man and animal; caressing, petting❧pig

42B122 mother with daughter(s) (mother-love)

42B8 correction of naughty children

46A14 farmers

47I212(+9536) pig (+ lying animal)

53A22(+4) Stability, Firmness; 'Fermezza', 'Stabilimento', 'Stabilità' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)

53C12(+4) Severity; 'Severità' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)

86(WAN MAN DIE SAUW KUTZELT, SO LEGT SIE SICH IM DRECK) proverbs, sayings, etc. (WAN MAN DIE SAUW KUTZELT, SO LEGT SIE SICH IM DRECK)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

47I2122 sowhigh

The correlate 'sow' matches the female pig standing in the mud that the peasant is scratching, the central image of the emblem.

86 proverbs, sayings, etc.high

The emblem is built around a motto on a banderole and a cluster of proverbs (Dutch, German, French, Spanish sayings about indulgence and chastisement), fitting 'proverbs, sayings, etc.'

57AA6121 Flattery; 'Adulatione' (Ripa)medium

The commentary explicitly cites Cicero that 'there is no greater plague in friendships than flattery and fawning agreement', and the scratching of the pig personifies flattering indulgence.

57A73 Indulgence, Clemency; 'Clemenza', 'Clemenza & Moderatione', 'Indulgenza' (Ripa)low

The theme of the piece is 'the fond indulgence of fathers' and over-lenient masters, matching the personification of Indulgence/Clemency, though no personification figure is actually depicted.

71Y1 the book of Proverbslow

The commentary refers the reader to the book of Proverbs (13:24; 23:13) on chastising children, though no Proverbs scene is depicted.

71Y4 the book of Ecclesiasticus, the wisdom of Jesus Sirachlow

The commentary quotes and cites Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 30:1, 8-9 on pampering children, though the book itself is not illustrated.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

IV iii 76 Praestat habere acerbos – thematic inventiomedium

The emblem's commentary quotes Cicero's De amicitia on admonishing friends and on flattery being the greatest plague in friendship — the very passage (Lael. 88-91) from which Erasmus takes Cato's saying that bitter enemies serve better than seemingly sweet friends; the German proverb 'Besser ein sauersehender Freund denn ein lachender Feind' is that adage in vernacular form.

III i 37 Demulcere caput – thematic inventiolow

The picture's central gesture — stroking/scratching the animal's neck — and the moral against 'streelt u kinders niet te seer' correspond to Erasmus's proverbial image of stroking (or scratching) the head as the gesture of harmful flattery, which the emblem's Ciceronian commentary on blanditiae also invokes.

IV i 35 Palpo percutere – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus derives 'piercing with a caress' from grooms patting an animal's neck (Virgil's 'plausae sonitum cervicis') and cites Horace's badly stroked horse that kicks back; the emblem likewise makes petting an animal's neck the figure for cajolery that spoils, reinforced by the Sirach simile of the unbroken horse.

II iv 20 Quo semel est imbuta – thematic inventiolow

The emblem stands under the running head 'Upbringing of Children' and argues that habits formed by indulgence in youth determine character, the same doctrine (Quintilian/Aristotle on early training) that Erasmus expounds under this adage.