Emblem 23

Emblem 23

A woman points at the chicken looking at the egg in a nest - to her equality is a condition to 'lay one of her own'

De Hinne leydt geerne daerse een nest ey sietDutch

The hen likes to lay where she sees a nest-egg.AI-generated

Description of the imageAI-generated

Within a thick oval band framing a square plate, a barn interior is shown. A large hen stands on a wooden beam or stool at left, stretching her neck forward to look down at a woven basket lying on its side at right, filled with straw and feathers, in which a single white egg lies; a few grains are scattered on the floor. Above, on a horizontal rail of a wooden partition, sits an owl facing the viewer; through the slatted partition a distant town with a church spire and trees is visible. At upper left, through an open window or hatch, a young woman in a lace ruff leans on her elbow while a young man in a plumed broad-brimmed hat and ruff speaks and gestures toward her. At the bottom a ribbon banderole carries the motto in handwriting-style lettering.

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

Fop was een kale vinck, oock wist hy niet te winnen, Noch gingh hy evenwel de rijckste vrijsters minnen; En waer men eene vondt, door gelt of goet bekent, Daer was de loose vos van stonden aen ontrent; Daer gingh hy wonder breedt, daer wist hy veel te praten Waer hy sijn beste goet voor desen had gelaten, Wat hy door mal gebaer voor kueren oyt bedreef, En waer sijns vaders erf wel eer te pande bleef; Maer twijl de losse quant in alle plaetsen vrijde, Vondt hy een mondigh dier dat hem niet seer en mijde, Die seyd' hem over-luyt, en joffer uytten mont, Die seyde met bescheyt waer op de saecke stont: Die seyde, lieve Fop, ey wort ten lesten wijser, Tis al om niet geklopt, ghy smeet hier killigh yser; Ick bidde weest gerust, en quelt my vorder niet, Ons hin leyt maer alleen daer sy een nest-ey siet.

TranslationAI-generated

Fop was a penniless fellow, nor did he know how to earn anything, yet all the same he went courting the richest girls; and wherever one was found who was known for money or goods, there the sly fox was at once nearby; there he swaggered wonderfully, there he had much to say about where he had formerly left his best possessions, what tricks he had ever played through foolish behaviour, and where his father's inheritance had once been left in pawn. But while the loose fellow went courting in every place, he found a sharp-tongued creature who did not shy away from him much, who told him out loud, and like a lady straight from the mouth, who said with discernment how the matter stood: she said, dear Fop, do at last grow wiser; all this knocking is for nothing, you are forging cold iron here; I pray you, be at peace, and plague me no further: our hen lays only where she sees a nest-egg.

CommentaryAI-generated

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

Nederd. Die wil winnen of minnen moet by setten. Het pennincxke wil een broertken hebben. Met ydele handen is quaet havicken locken.

Dutch. He who wishes to win or to love must stake something. / The little penny wants a little brother. / With empty hands it is hard to lure hawks.

Franç. Un boiteux femme qui closche. Il pesche en vain, qui n'amorce son haim.

French. To a lame man a woman who limps. / He fishes in vain who does not bait his hook.

Il faut de l'argent, pour commencer le jeu. Mesme l'abeille ne peut rien, sans fleurs.

One needs money to begin the game. / Even the bee can do nothing without flowers.

Tis quaet slijpen sonder water. Tis niet te doen met hoogen rom/ Geen By maeckt honich sonder blom.

It is bad grinding without water. / It cannot be done with high boasting: no bee makes honey without a flower.

Latino proverbio dicitur, Vbi quid ex æquo moderatum significamus, Par Pari, Pari jugo, ἴσον, ἴσῳ. Neque enim quidquam non commune, ubi fortunarum æqualitas; neque dissensio, ubi idem animus; neque divortium, ubi coagmentatio duorum in unum. AEqualitate enim continetur concordia; inæqualitas autem discordiarum est mater.

By a Latin proverb it is said, when we mean something evenly balanced, 'Like to like', 'with an equal yoke', ἴσον, ἴσῳ (equal to equal). For nothing is not held in common where there is equality of fortunes; nor is there disagreement where the mind is the same; nor divorce, where there is a joining of two into one. For concord is maintained by equality; but inequality is the mother of discords.

Iconclass

25I241 village street

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

31A25552 index finger forwards, pointing, indicating

31D14 adult man

31D15 adult woman

33C219 unsuccessful love affair; seduction

34B232(+9421) fowl (cock, hen, chicken, etc.) (+ nest, den, burrow)

34B232(+9531) fowl (cock, hen, chicken, etc.) (+ standing animal)

34B232(+9535) fowl (cock, hen, chicken, etc.) (+ sitting animal)

34B232(+991) fowl (cock, hen, chicken, etc.) (+ egg)

34B2321 chicken house

41A7751 container made of plant material other than wood: basket

42D31(+0) unequal couple, ill-matched couple (+ variant)

56D32(+4) Commitment (+ emblematical representation of concept)

86(DE HINNE LEYDT GEERNE DAERSE EEN NEST EY SIET) proverbs, sayings, etc. (DE HINNE LEYDT GEERNE DAERSE EEN NEST EY SIET)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

34B232 fowl (cock, hen, chicken, etc.)high

The correlate 'fowl (cock, hen, chicken, etc.)' directly matches the large hen standing on a beam at the left of the barn interior.

25F34 owlshigh

The correlate 'owls' matches the owl perched frontally on the horizontal rail of the wooden partition.

86(...) proverbs, sayings, etc. (with TEXT)medium

The emblem's banderole carries a proverbial motto and the commentary strings together Dutch, French and Latin proverbs, fitting 'proverbs, sayings, etc. (with TEXT)'.

86 proverbs, sayings, etc.medium

The general correlate 'proverbs, sayings, etc.' fits an emblem whose entire commentary is a collection of proverbs about equality and giving to get.

41C642 eggs, egg-disheslow

The correlate 'eggs' corresponds to the single white egg lying in the straw-filled basket, though here it is an object of nature rather than a food dish.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

IV vi 67 ἴσον ἴσῳ – essay quotehigh

The Latin commentary reproduces Erasmus's opening gloss almost verbatim — 'Vbi quid ex æquo moderatum significamus ... ἴσον, ἴσῳ' against Erasmus's 'ἴσον ἴσῳ. i. par pari dicebant, ubi quid ex aequo moderatum significabant' — and the Greek fragment ἴσον ἴσῳ stands as a separate citation in the emblem.

I vi 8 Pari iugo – essay quotehigh

The commentary expressly names the Latin proverb 'Par Pari, Pari jugo' alongside ἴσον ἴσῳ as the learned authority for the emblem's lesson of matched partners, quoting Erasmus's adage headword I vi 8 ('matched in double harness' = equal partnership).

I viii 1 Aequalem uxorem quaere – thematic inventiomedium

The whole emblem (penniless Fop courting the richest girls, rebuffed by the maxim that the hen lays only where she sees a nest-egg) and its commentary on equality of fortunes as the basis of concord restate Erasmus's counsel to marry one of your own station, since unequal matches breed discord.

III ii 77 Candidum linum lucri causa ducis – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus's adage targets marrying for the sake of a dowry; Cats's Fop, who has nothing himself and seeks out whichever girl is 'known for money or goods', is exactly such a fortune-hunting suitor, here rebuked.

I ii 62 Cascus cascam ducit – thematic inventiolow

The emblem's French tag 'Un boiteux femme qui closche' (a limping wife for a lame man) is the same idea Erasmus expounds under Cascus cascam ducit — 'vetulus vetulam, deformis deformem' — like matching with like in marriage.

I ii 20 Aequalis aequalem delectat – thematic inventiolow

The commentary's claim that concord rests on equality and that inequality is the mother of discord echoes Erasmus's adage that like is drawn to like and equals pair most easily ('pares cum paribus facillime congregantur').