Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 26
A small and a large horse are pulling a chariot, moving through the mud with difficulty
Ongelijcke peerden trecken qualijckDutch
Unequal horses pull badly.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
A round medallion image set in a square frame with hatched corner triangles. On a muddy road a covered coach is stuck fast: its large spoked wheels sink in a deep pool of mire. The coach is drawn by two very unequal horses — a tall, powerful horse on the right that rears and strains forward, and a small, short horse beside it that has stumbled and plunged head-down into the mud. The coachman, wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a cloak, sits on the box with both arms raised in dismay, holding the reins and a long whip. Inside the coach a passenger (a woman with a mask or dark face-covering) looks out of the window, and another figure leans from the doorway. Behind the coach at the left a man on foot stands in the road by bushes; birds fly in the clouded sky at upper right. In the foreground two dogs run and lie beside the muddy track. Below the medallion a scroll banderole carries the handwritten motto 'Ongelijcke peerden trecken qualijck'.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
De koetsier spreeckt. Hier stae ick gants verstelt, onseker wat te maken, 'Ken weet niet uyt het slick, niet op het droog te raké: En 'tis van heden niet dat my dit onheyl quelt, Ick hebbet uytgestaen op menigh ander velt: Al waer ick maer en koom ontrent beslickte wegen, Daer ben ick over al van stonden aen verlegen; En vraegt ghy wat geval my brengt in desen noot? Mijn een peert is te kleyn, en 'tander al te groot; Dit ongelijck gespan veroorsaeckt dese plagen, Soo dat ick staende blijf in alle quade slagen: Maer ghy die met gemack wilt rijden op de baen, Spant staegh en over al gelijcke peerden aen: En sooder eenigh mensch is besigh om te trouwen, Die moet oock even daer op dese gronden bouwen. Dus wie ghy wesen meugt, 'tzy arrem ofte rijck, Doet wel, geminde vriendt, en paert met uws gelijck.
TranslationAI-generated
The coachman speaks. Here I stand quite astonished, uncertain what to do, I cannot get out of the mud, nor onto dry ground: And it is not only today that this misfortune plagues me, I have endured it in many another field: Wherever I come near muddy roads, There I am at once in trouble everywhere; And do you ask what mishap brings me into this distress? One of my horses is too small, and the other far too big; This unequal team causes these troubles, So that I stay stuck in every bad passage: But you who wish to ride comfortably on the road, Always and everywhere harness equal horses: And if there is any person busy getting married, He too must build upon just these grounds. So whoever you may be, whether poor or rich, Do well, beloved friend, and mate with your equal.
CommentaryAI-generated
1 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Syr. 25. 29. Wanneer de vrouwe den man rijck maeckt/ soo is daer enckel twist/ verachtinge en versmaetheyt.
Ovid. Tam male inæquales veniunt ad aratra juvenci, Quam premitur magno conjuge nupta minor.
Syr: 13.3. Wat sal de aerde pot by den metalen pot maken/ want soo sy aenden anderen stooten soo breeckt sy.
Syr. 25. 29. Si la femme nourit son mary elle est pleine de couroux de confusion & de reproche.
Deut. 22. 10. Ghy en sult niet gelijck ackeren met een Os en eenen Esel.
Hier van schijnt te komen het Nederlandts spreeckwoort.
Nederd. Een Os en een Esel en dienen niet aen eenen plough.
Franç. Qui se veut marier, doit regarder ou il se prend.
Lat. Etiam politié fœdera dissimilium sunt infœlicia. latè Richt. Axiom. hist. 14. & Polit. Axiom. 277.
Lat. Horrenda sæpe pericula ex dispari conjugio. Richt. Axiom. œcon. 61.
Syr. 25. 10. Wanneer eener een boos wijf heeft/ soo isset even als een ongelijck paer ossen/ die nevens den anderen trecken sullen.
Hoogd. Vberweibe dich nit.
Nederd. De pijp moet nae den bom zijn.
Maer hoe het gae in dese ende diergelijcke saecken, de volgende spreeckwoorden seggen de waerheyt:
Franç. De femme folle ne fit jammais homme son profit.
Il est bien apparenté qui à bonne femme.
Nederd. Aen mal vleys koopmen altijt te dieren koop.
Een goet wijf is een goet stuck huysraets.
Nederd. Een die een sot trout om sijn kot Verliest het kot en houdt den sot. Een die de vant trout om haer wandt Verliest de wandt en houdt de vant. Om wel te trouwen/ soete jeugt/ Trout om verstant en om de deugt.
Ital. Triste quelle case. Ove cantan le galline é il gallo tace.
Nederd. Het is gewis een groot verdriet Waer thinneke kraeyt en thaeneke niet.
DE ghelijckheyt dan van de personen, ende der selver gheleghentheyt wert int stuck van houwelijck by alle Wijse van den ouden ende nieuwen tijdt eenpaerlijck gepresen; maer desen evenwel onvermindert, soo gebeurtet by wijlen, dat een houwelijck, dat ten aensiene van de middelen ofte andersins in sich selven onghelijck schijnt te wesen; efter door andere gelegentheyt, als van adel, gheleertheyt, schoonheyt, kunsten, ofte dierghelijcke hoedanicheden, aen d'eene zijde, meer als aende andere wesende, tot gelijckmaticheyt wert ghebracht, ende alsoo noch tot een goet ende eenparich houwelijck wert uyt-ghemaeckt; ghelijck sulcx by de Rechts-gheleerden, en oock by Erasm. Tact. de Institut. Christ. matrim. fol. 108. wert aengewesen. Hier op schijnt insicht ghenomen te zijn by seker Engels Ridder een groot edel-man, maer van kleyne middelen, daer de Visconte van S. Alban Lo: Verulam in sijn Apophtegmes van gewaegt: Ghy sult desselfs edel-mans kamer-maeght (met een present van beulingen, by hem in ambassade ghesonden zijnde aen sekere rijcke Vrijster, woonende onder sijn gebuerte) hier (soo't u ghelieft) in neder-lants ghedicht tot de selve Vrijster hooren spreecken, ende den last van haren Ioncker op die ghelegentheyt hooren openen.
Sirach 25:29. When the wife makes the husband rich, then there is nothing but strife, contempt and reproach.
Ovid. Ill-matched bullocks come just as badly to the plough as a lesser bride weighed down by a great husband.
Sirach 13:3. What business has the earthen pot with the metal pot? For if they strike against one another, the earthen one breaks.
Sirach 25:29. If the woman supports her husband, she is full of anger, confusion and reproach.
Deut. 22:10. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.
From this the Dutch proverb seems to come.
Dutch. An ox and an ass do not serve at one plough.
French. He who wants to marry must look where he takes a wife.
Latin. Even in politics, alliances of unequals are unhappy. See at length Richter, Axiomata historica 14, and Axiomata politica 277.
Latin. Dreadful dangers often arise from an unequal marriage. Richter, Axiomata oeconomica 61.
Sirach 25:10. When a man has a wicked wife, it is just like an unequal pair of oxen that must pull beside one another.
German. Do not take a wife above your station.
Dutch. The bung must fit the barrel-hole.
But however it may go in these and similar matters, the following proverbs tell the truth:
French. A foolish woman never made a man's profit.
He is well connected who has a good wife.
Dutch. Bad meat is always bought too dear.
A good wife is a good piece of household furniture.
Dutch. He who marries a fool for his cottage loses the cottage and keeps the fool. He who marries the slut for her cloth loses the cloth and keeps the slut. To marry well, sweet youth: marry for sense and for virtue.
Italian. Sad is that house where the hens crow and the cock keeps silent.
Dutch. It is certainly a great sorrow where the hen crows and the cock does not.
THE equality, then, of the persons and of their condition is unanimously praised in the matter of marriage by all the Wise of ancient and modern times; yet, this notwithstanding, it sometimes happens that a marriage which, in respect of means or otherwise, seems in itself unequal, is nevertheless, through other circumstances — such as nobility, learning, beauty, accomplishments, or the like qualities being greater on the one side than on the other — brought to equality, and so still turns out a good and well-matched marriage; as is shown by the jurists, and also by Erasmus, Tract. de Institutione Christiani matrimonii, fol. 108. This seems to have been considered by a certain English Knight, a great nobleman but of small means, of whom the Viscount of St. Alban, Lord Verulam, speaks in his Apophthegms: you shall here (if you please) hear that nobleman's chambermaid (sent by him on an embassy with a present of sausages to a certain rich maiden living in his neighbourhood) speak in Dutch verse to that same maiden, and hear her open her master's charge on that occasion.
Iconclass
86(ONGELIJCKE PEERDEN TRECKEN QUALIJCK)proverbs, sayings, etc. (ONGELIJCKE PEERDEN TRECKEN QUALIJCK)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
34B11doghighThe correlate 'dog' matches the two dogs shown running and lying beside the muddy track in the foreground.
71Y4the book of Ecclesiasticus, the wisdom of Jesus SirachlowThe correlate 'the book of Ecclesiasticus, the wisdom of Jesus Sirach' corresponds to the repeated Sirach quotations (25:29, 13:3, 25:10) underpinning the emblem's lesson, though no biblical scene is actually depicted.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- I viii 1 Aequalem uxorem quaere – thematic inventiohigh
The emblem's explicit moral — 'Doet wel, geminde vriendt, en paert met uws gelijck' (mate with your equal) and the warning against a marriage where one party is too great and the other too small — is precisely Erasmus's adage Τὴν κατὰ σαυτὸν ἔλα, 'Marry a wife of your own sort', whose essay likewise warns that marrying above one's station yields masters, not kinsmen.
- I vi 8 Pari iugo – thematic inventiomedium
The picture and motto turn on a team yoked unequally ('ongelijck gespan'), the exact inverse of Erasmus's image of oxen 'drawing a wagon with equal force in the yoke'; the commentary's ox-and-ass plough proverbs (Deut. 22:10) and Sirach's 'ongelijck paer ossen' belong to the same yoke-metaphor family.
- I x 72 Dignum patella operculum – thematic inventiomedium
Cats's Dutch proverb in the commentary, 'De pijp moet nae den bom zijn' (the spigot must suit the bung-hole), is the vernacular equivalent of Erasmus's 'the cover is worthy of such a cup', used for the fit of like with like in a pairing.
- I ii 62 Cascus cascam ducit – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus's adage about an old man taking an old bride is explicitly about matching like with like in marriage, which is the governing lesson of the emblem's subscriptio on marrying one's equal.
- I ii 20 Aequalis aequalem delectat – thematic inventiolow
The emblem's general principle that equals go well together and unequals pull badly restates the proverbial commonplace that like is pleased by like, which Erasmus expounds with examples of equal partners.
- I ii 21 Simile gaudet simili – thematic inventiolow
The closing counsel 'paert met uws gelijck' echoes the classic 'like rejoices in like' topos, which Erasmus develops with pairings of equals (including marriage partners).
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem026
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem026
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288