Emblem 22

Emblem 22

A lady peeling a pear, another lady carrying a bowl of pears

Pere é donne senza rumori Sono stimate gli melioriItalian

Pears and women without noise are reckoned the best.AI-generated

Description of the imageAI-generated

Within a large ornamental circular frame (a wreath-like band set in a square with decorative corner pieces) an interior scene: a richly dressed young woman with a high lace ruff and elaborate headdress sits on a low chair in the foreground, head bowed, working with a needle and thread on a piece of cloth spread over her wide skirt. Behind and above her hangs a heavy swagged curtain; at the left is a draped table on which stands a pear with a leaf and a covered vessel or pitcher. At the right a second woman, also in ruff and full skirt, stands and holds out a broad dish heaped with pears; behind her an open doorway shows columns and a staircase. Below the figures is a scroll-shaped banderole carrying the motto.

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

Indiender yemant is begeerich om te weten Wat peer, of ander vrucht, is nut te zijn gegeten; Die neme dit gemerck: Het freuyt dat niet en kraeckt Dat houdt men int gemeen dat alle monden smaeckt. Maer dit is niet alleen een preuve van de peeren, Het kan oock dienstigh zijn voor die een wijf begeeren; Men prees in ouden tijdt ( om wel te zijn gepaert ) Een maeght niet seer bekent, en van een stillen aert: Het is bedenckens weerdt, dat wijt-beroemde mannen Den openbaren lof van jonge vrouwen bannen, Sy stellen voor gewis dat, jae, een grooten naem Is voor een jonge maegt, is vrouwen onbequaem: Voor reden wort geseyt; dat veel te zijn gepresen Kan oock een deugdsaem wijf by wijlen hinder wesen; Wy vinden dees en geen hierom te zijn geschent, Vermits haer goede naem was al te seer bekent. Wel let dan, echte vrou, en alle jonge dieren, Hoe teer u wesen zy, en hoe het is te vieren, Denckt hoe ghy trachten moet om niet te zijn bevleckt, Nadien u deugden selfs zijn nut te zijn bedeckt.

TranslationAI-generated

If anyone is eager to know which pear, or other fruit, is good to eat, let him take this as a token: the fruit that does not crack is generally held to please every mouth. But this is not only a test of pears; it can also serve those who desire a wife. In olden times (so as to be well matched) men praised a maiden not much known and of a quiet nature. It is worth pondering that widely famous men banish the public praise of young women; they hold it for certain that, yes, a great name is unsuited to a young maid, unfitting for women. The reason given is that to be much praised can at times even harm a virtuous wife; we find this one and that one to have been ruined for this cause, because her good name was all too widely known. Take heed then, wedded wife, and all you young creatures, however tender your nature may be and however it deserves honouring: think how you must strive not to be stained, since even your virtues are best kept covered.

CommentaryAI-generated

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

En van een stillen aert, &c. Certaine nouvelle mariée, à la quelle le mary avoit reproché n'estre pas assez complaisante & cageoleuse, respondoit de bonne grace: Ie suis matrone, & femme de bien; ce que vous demandez, est le propre des filles de joye.

Thucytidis dictum. Optima uxor de cujus laude vel ignominia minimus sermo. Vide Richter. axiom. œconom. 244.

Valet hic illud Taciti: Nec minus periculum ex magnâ famâ, quam ex malâ.

Spaens. Muger placera, dize de todos, y todos della. .i. Femme qui va de place en place, parle de tous & tous d'elle.

Franç. Femme bonne est oiseau de cage.

Nederd. Een goede vrouwe en een quaedt been / Dienen thuys en alleen.

Gelt en schoone vrouwen Moetmen int duyster houwen.

Sijn peert / sijn sweert / sijn wijn en vrouw En prees noyt man als met berouw.

Franç. La femme à la maison & la jambe rompue.

Franç. Fille trop veüe, & robbe trop vestue, n'est chere tenue.

Femme en rue tost perdue, Femme ou fille fenestriere, Rarement bonne mesnagiere.

Ital. Chi fa una casa in piazza La fa troppò alta ò troppo bassa. .i. Qui edifie en publique place Faict maison trop haute ou trop basse.

Lat. Benè qui latuit, benè vixit.

Nulla est satis pudica, de quâ quæritur.

Ital. Nimas famosa muger que la que no tuvo fama. .i.

Franç. Il n'y à femme qui ait meilleure reputation, que celle dont on ne parle point.

Lat. Quod non vetat lex, id vetat fieri pudor.

Benè Plautus dixit, Non esse eam dotem, quæ dos dicitur, sed pudicitiam & pudorem, ac sedatam cupidinem.

Hinc Lodovicus XII. Gall. rex licet videret Annam reginam dominandi libidine flagrantem & multa quoque contra se molientem, & quamvis quidam monerent ut in tempore de eâ se vindicaret, Vxori, ait, pudicæ plurima sunt condonanda.

In pudore principatus virtutum muliebrium est.

Hinc Thomas Morus, Blanda, salax, petulans, audax, vaga, garrula virgo, Si virgo est, virgo est bis quoque quæ peperit.

Concludendo, ergo dicamus; Fœlix illa animi est, ipsisque simillima divis, Quam non mendaci resplendens gloria fuco Sollicitat, non fastosi mala gaudia luxus; Sed tacitos sinit ire dies, & paupere cultu Exigit innocuæ tranquilla silentia vitæ.

"And of a quiet nature, etc." A certain newly married woman, whom her husband had reproached for not being complaisant and coaxing enough, answered with good grace: I am a matron and an honest woman; what you ask for belongs to women of pleasure. — Saying of Thucydides: The best wife is she of whose praise or disgrace least is spoken. See Richter, Axiomata oeconomica 244. — Here that saying of Tacitus holds good: There is no less danger from a great reputation than from a bad one. — Spanish: A woman who strolls about speaks of everybody and everybody of her. — French: A good woman is a caged bird. — Dutch: A good wife and a bad leg are of use at home and alone. — Money and beautiful women must be kept in the dark. — His horse, his sword, his wine and his wife no man ever praised but with regret. — French: The woman at home and her leg broken. — French: A girl too much seen, and a dress too much worn, is not held dear. — A woman in the street is soon lost; a woman or girl who hangs at the window is rarely a good housekeeper. — Italian: He who builds a house on the public square builds it either too high or too low. — Latin: He has lived well who has lain well hidden. — No woman is chaste enough about whom questions are asked. — Spanish: No woman is more famous than she who had no fame. — French: There is no woman who has a better reputation than she of whom no one speaks at all. — Latin: What the law does not forbid, shame forbids to be done. — Plautus said well that that is not the true dowry which is called a dowry, but chastity and modesty and a calmed desire. — Hence Louis XII, king of France, although he saw Queen Anne burning with the lust to rule and plotting much against him, and although certain men advised him to take vengeance on her in good time, said: "To a chaste wife very much must be forgiven." — Modesty is the chief of women's virtues. — Hence Thomas More: A coaxing, lustful, wanton, bold, roaming, chattering maiden — if she is a maiden, then she too is twice a maiden who has given birth. — Concluding, therefore, let us say: Happy and most like the gods themselves is that soul whom glory glittering with lying paint does not entice, nor the evil joys of haughty luxury; but who lets the days pass in silence and in humble style lives out the tranquil quiet of an innocent life.

Iconclass

25G21(PEAR) fruits: pear

31D13 adolescent, young woman, maiden

31D15 adult woman

41A421 curtains

41A711 table

41C2612 cleaning fruit, e.g. peeling

41C345 bowl

41C653(PEAR) fruit (PEAR)

57A641(+4) Discretion, Modesty; 'Discretione', 'Modestia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)

57A643(+4) Timidity, Diffidence (+ emblematical representation of concept)

86(PERE É DONNE SENZA RUMORI SONO STIMATE GLI MELIORI) proverbs, sayings, etc. (PERE É DONNE SENZA RUMORI SONO STIMATE GLI MELIORI)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

41A421 curtainshigh

The correlate 'curtains' matches the heavy swagged curtain hanging behind and above the seated woman in the interior scene.

33C812 chastitymedium

The correlate 'chastity' matches the commentary's central theme that chastity and modesty are the true dowry and virtue of the good wife.

57A641 Discretion, Modesty; 'Discretione', 'Modestia' (Ripa)medium

The correlate 'Discretion, Modesty' fits the explicit statement that 'modesty is the chief of women's virtues', embodied by the quietly sewing, downcast-eyed woman.

42D3 marriage, married couple, 'matrimonium'low

The correlate 'marriage, married couple, matrimonium' relates to the commentary's repeated anecdotes and proverbs about the ideal wife and newly married woman, though no couple is shown.

33C81 chastity versus sensualitylow

The correlate 'chastity versus sensuality' echoes the anecdote contrasting the honest matron with 'women of pleasure', though no such opposition is pictured.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

III ix 39 Mulier pudica ne sola sit usquam – thematic inventiolow

Both concern the classical topos of the modest matron who must avoid public exposure; the emblem's subscriptio and its florilegium of proverbs ('Femme bonne est oiseau de cage', 'Femme en rue tost perdue') urge the same seclusion of the chaste wife, though no phrase of Erasmus' adage is quoted.

I vii 37 Apio mollior, aut mitior – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus' adage uses the soft, fully ripe pear as a figure of mildness of character, the same analogy the emblem draws between the pear 'that does not crack' and the woman of quiet, gentle nature; but there is no textual borrowing.