Emblem 14

Emblem 14

A man and a woman watching dogs fighting over a bone, sparrows fighting over an ear of corn and ravens fighting on the branch of a tree; men duelling in the background

Ne Amor, ne signoria, Vuole compagniaItalian

Neither Love nor lordship wants company.AI-generated

Description of the imageAI-generated

A circular medallion set in a square frame with hatched triangular corner-pieces. In the foreground, on open ground, two birds (crow- or sparrow-like) face one another over a scattered ear of grain lying on the earth, one with wings half-raised as if about to strike. Behind them at the right rises a large gnarled tree whose bare branch carries two ravens grappling beak to beak. In the middle distance at the left an elegantly dressed couple walks together, the woman in a large ruff and long gown, the man in a tall hat, doublet and cloak, pointing forward; below them two small dogs snarl over a bone on the ground. To the right of centre two men with drawn swords and raised weapons confront each other in a duel. Birds fly in the cloudy sky. At the bottom of the medallion a scrolled banderole bears the motto in script: 'Ne Amor, ne signoria vuol compagnia'.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page — Facsimile, page 1 of 3; click a thumbnail to change page; click the page to enlarge

Facsimile, page 1 of 3; click a thumbnail to change page; click the page to enlarge

TranscriptionAI-generated

ICk kenner twee van een geslacht, Van joncks te samen op-gebracht, Die waren lestmael onder een Met hart en ziel in als gemeen, Iae schier als broeders ( soo het scheen ) En dit is naeu een maent geleen, En siet! haer vriendtschap is gedaen, Haer kennis is te niet gegaen; Sy komen noyt in een gelagh Daer rust of vrede blijven magh; Want d'een en spreeckt schier niet een woort Of d'ander isser om gestoort; Soo datmen siet een quaden gront Daer onlangs vaste liefde stont; Nu komt doch, vriendt, en opent my Wat dat hier van de reden sy.

TranslationAI-generated

I know two of one family, brought up together from childhood, who lately were so much at one, sharing heart and soul in everything, indeed almost like brothers (so it seemed); and it is barely a month ago, and see! their friendship is over, their acquaintance has come to nothing; they never come into one company where rest or peace can remain; for the one hardly speaks a word without the other being annoyed by it; so that one sees bad ground where lately firm love stood. Now come, friend, and disclose to me what the reason of this may be.

CommentaryAI-generated

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

Franç. Onques amour & signeurie Ne veulent compagnie. Hoogd. Zween hunde an einem beine Bleiben selten eines. Spaens. A dos pardales à una espiga Non à may ligua.

Inimicitiæ quam maximæ ex amatoria causa inter rivales. Richterus Axiom. œcon. 280. Nec regna socium ferre, nec tedæ sciunt. Seneca œdipo. ---- omnisque potestas Impatiens consortis erit. Iuvenal.

Lat. Inter rivales vetus atque antiqua simultas Vsque fuit, nec adhuc spes bona pacis adest. Propert. Rivalem possum non ego ferre Iovem. Lat. Dum canis os rodit, socium quem diligit odit. Lactant. Nulla vehementior discordiarum causa est, quàm unius fœminæ à multis appetitio. Nederd. 't Is te veel twee kassen in een kerck. Twee groote masten op een schip en voegen niet. Twee maters in een convent en dieuen niet. Lat. In amore servus nec dominum fert æmulum. Tacit. Semper suspectus invisusque dominantibus quisquis proximus destinatur. Spaens. Ni jamas vi dos señores Qui quietan juntos mandar. Franç. Ie ne vis jamais deux Seigneurs qui voulussent s'accorder à commander ensemble. Lat. Mons cum monte non miscetur. Nederd. Twee grote meesters konnen haer rijck niet deelen.

Lat. Vna domus non alit duos canes. Griecx. Μία λόχμη οὐ τρέφει δύο ἐριθάκους. Lat. Vnicum arbustum non alit duos erithacos. Vnum regnum non fert duos tyrannos. Vna respublica non fert duos expilatores. Franç. La terre ne scauroit estre esclairée de deux soleils, ny une seule ame de deux lumieres d'amour. Lat. Facit huc responsum Alexandri cum Darius innumera ipsi talenta obtulisset, & Asiam ex æquo dividere vellet, Neque terram duos soles, neque Asiam duos reges ferre posse. Hinc in rebus civilibus Lat. Segnius expediunt commissa negotia plures; More istius animalculi, quod, ob pedum multitudinē, Centipedam nuncupant; reptilium tamen omnium tardissimum esse tradunt. Ex hoc fonte An unus pluresve legati mittendi, & similia à Politicis moventur. Vid. Marselaer Legat. l. 2. disser. 7.

French: Never do love and lordship want company. — German: Two dogs at one bone seldom stay of one mind. — Spanish: Two sparrows at one ear of corn never get on. — The greatest enmities between rivals arise from an amorous cause (Richterus, Economic Axioms 280). — Neither kingdoms nor marriage-torches know how to bear a partner (Seneca, Oedipus). — And all power will be impatient of a partner (Juvenal). — Latin: Between rivals there has always been an old and ancient quarrel, and as yet there is no good hope of peace. — Propertius: I could not endure Jupiter himself as a rival. — Latin: While the dog gnaws the bone, he hates the companion he loves. — Lactantius: There is no more violent cause of discord than the desire of many men for one woman. — Dutch: Two cupboards in one church are too many. Two great masts do not suit one ship. Two mothers superior in one convent are no good. — Latin: In love a servant does not endure even his master as a rival. — Tacitus: Whoever is marked out as next in succession is always suspected and hated by rulers. — Spanish: I never saw two lords who were content to command together. — French: I never saw two lords who would agree to command together. — Latin: Mountain does not mingle with mountain. — Dutch: Two great masters cannot divide their realm. — Latin: One house does not feed two dogs. — Greek: One thicket does not feed two robins. — Latin: A single bush does not feed two robins. One kingdom does not bear two tyrants. One commonwealth does not bear two plunderers. — French: The earth could not be lit by two suns, nor a single soul by two lights of love. — Latin: Here belongs Alexander's answer, when Darius had offered him countless talents and wished to divide Asia equally with him: that the earth could not bear two suns, nor Asia two kings. — Hence in civil matters: several men dispatch entrusted business more slowly, after the manner of that little creature which, because of the multitude of its feet, they call the centipede, yet report to be the slowest of all creeping things. From this source arises the question whether one legate or several should be sent, and similar matters debated by the political writers (see Marselaer, On the Legate, bk. 2, diss. 7).

Hinc in rebus civilibus Segnius expediunt commissa negotia plures; More istius animalculi, quod, ob pedum multitudinē, Centipedam nuncupant; reptilium tamen omnium tardissimum esse tradunt.

Hence in civil affairs several men dispatch entrusted business more slowly, after the manner of that little creature which, because of the multitude of its feet, they call the centipede, yet which is said to be the slowest of all creeping things.

Iconclass

25F32(RAVEN)(+51) song-birds: raven (+ fighting animals; aggressive relations)

25F32(SPARROW)(+51):47I1111 song-birds: sparrow (+ fighting animals; aggressive relations)❧ears of corn

25H17 meadow, pasture

31D14 adult man

31D15 adult woman

33B2 duelling

33C321 rivalry of men for the love of a woman; trying to get the skirt; 'Rivalità' (Ripa)

34B112(+951) dog with bone (+ fighting animals; aggressive relations)

41D221(HAT) head-gear: hat

45C13(SWORD) hacking and thrusting weapons: sword

47I1111 ears of corn

54EE33(+4):56F2 Competition, Rivalry, Emulation; 'Emulatione' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)❧(personifications and symbolic representations of) Love; 'Amore (secondo Seneca)' (Ripa)

86(NE AMOR, NE SIGNORIA, VUOLE COMPAGNIA) proverbs, sayings, etc. (NE AMOR, NE SIGNORIA, VUOLE COMPAGNIA)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

54EE33 Competition, Rivalry, Emulation; 'Emulatione' (Ripa)high

The correlate 'Competition, Rivalry, Emulation' is precisely the emblem's theme — birds fighting over one grain, dogs over one bone, duellists and rivals in love, illustrating that neither love nor lordship tolerates a partner.

54EE31 Disagreement, Discord; 'Discordia' (Ripa)high

'Disagreement, Discord' matches the depicted quarrels (snarling dogs, grappling ravens, sword duel) and the commentary's 'no more violent cause of discord than the desire of many men for one woman'.

33C321 rivalry of men for the love of a woman; trying to get the skirt; 'Rivalità' (Ripa)medium

'Rivalry of men for the love of a woman' fits the duelling pair set beside the strolling couple and the commentary's insistence that the greatest enmities between rivals arise from an amorous cause.

57AA76 Jealousy; 'Gelosia', 'Rammarico del ben'altrui' (Ripa)low

'Jealousy' ('Gelosia') is implied by the commentary's rivals who hate the companion they love and rulers who suspect their successors, though jealousy is not personified in the image.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

II ii 24 Una domus non alit duos canes – essay quotehigh

Cats's Latin commentary cites the adage headword verbatim ('Vna domus non alit duos canes') and then reproduces two sentences straight from Erasmus's essay on it ('Sic idem regnum non fert duos tyrannos. Eadem respublica non fert duos expilatores' → 'Vnum regnum non fert duos tyrannos. Vna respublica non fert duos expilatores'); the picture's two dogs snarling over one bone is the same image.

II ii 22 Unicum arbustum haud alit duos erithacos – essay quotehigh

The commentary quotes the adage in both Erasmus's Greek form ('Μία λόχμη οὐ τρέφει δύο ἐριθάκους') and Latin ('Vnicum arbustum non alit duos erithacos'), and immediately afterwards gives Alexander's reply to Darius that the earth cannot bear two suns, which is precisely the comparison with which Erasmus closes this adage ('Mundum non capere duos soles').

I ii 25 Figulus figulo invidet, faber fabro – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus's Hesiodic adage on the envy that arises specifically between equals in the same pursuit underlies the emblem's argument that intimates and peers (two brothers, two princes, two suitors) fall out precisely because they contend for the same single good.

IV viii 59 Cognatio movet invidiam – thematic inventiolow

The subscriptio's case of two kinsmen raised together whose friendship collapses, with the moral 'hier baet noch vriendt, noch eygen bloet', matches Erasmus's point (from Aristotle) that resentment arises precisely among those who are near and related.