Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 43
A woman holding an infant with one arm shows a letter to the man who is leaving her while in the foreground the wind blows away the feathers of a damaged pillow lying on an altar
Le serment faict sur l'autel de plumes s'en va au ventFrench
The oath sworn on the altar of feathers goes off with the wind.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
Within a circular frame set in a rectangular border with hatched corner spandrels, a large stone altar or tomb-like block stands in an open landscape. On top of it lies a heap of bedding — a feather bed, pillows and a rumpled sheet — from which a cloud of loose feathers is being blown up into the air towards the right. At the upper left a bearded wind-head in a cloud blows a stream of air across the scene. At the upper right a banderole floating in the sky bears the words 'In dextra fides'. At the left, on a grassy bank, a young man in a plumed hat, cloak and slashed breeches turns away while a young woman in a long gown reaches out and takes his hand. In the right background there is a low hill with a town or castle. Beneath the circular image a scroll carries the inscription 'Serments faicts sur l'autel de plumes s'en volent'.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
De Vrijster spreeckt: Hoe dan! soudt ghy my verlaten, Die ghy eertijts hebt bemint? Hoe! soudt ghy my konnen haten, Die tot u soo ben gesint: Neen, ick kan het niet geloven, Ick en kan het niet verstaen, Dat ghy soudt mijn eere roven, En dan elders minnen gaen. Hebt ghy my niet meenigh werven, Even met een rijp beleyt, Op u leven, op u sterven, Vaste liefde toe-geseyt? Hebt ghy my niet trouw gesworen, Hooger als ick seggen kan? Heb ick u niet uytverkoren Even tot mijn echte man? Hebt ghy my niet schrift gegeven, Dat ick als u weerde vrou, Dat ick al mijn gantsche leven Aen u zijde slapen sou? Godt en wil het niet gehengen Dat ghy soudt meyn-eedigh zijn, Dat ghy my soudt willen brengen Vande blyschap in de pijn: Maer voor al moet u bewegen Dese vrucht, u eygen kint, Dat heb ick van u gekregen Doen ghy tot my waert gesint, Dat heb ick van u ontfangen, V ter liefde, beste vrient, Doen ghy, met een groot verlangen, Van mijn maeghdom waert gedient; Doen ghy my eens pleegt te stellen By de schoonste van het landt, Doen ghy my eens pleegt te quellen Om dit eygen minne-pandt; Siet doch eens sijn geestigh wesen, Siet eens hoe het op u kijckt, Siet! ghy zijter in te lesen, Siet eens hoe het u gelijckt: Wel dan, mach ick yet verwerven, Eert, die ghy eens hebt gemint, Anders moet ick hoere sterven, En u vrucht een hoere-kint.
TranslationAI-generated
The Sweetheart speaks: How then! would you forsake me, whom you once loved? How! could you hate me, who am so disposed towards you? No, I cannot believe it, I cannot understand it, that you should rob me of my honour and then go loving elsewhere. Have you not, many a time, and with mature deliberation, pledged me steadfast love, by your life, by your death? Have you not sworn me faith, more highly than I can say? Have I not chosen you to be my lawful husband? Have you not given me in writing that I, as your worthy wife, should sleep all my whole life at your side? God forbid that you should be perjured, that you should wish to bring me out of joy into pain. But above all, this fruit, your own child, must move you: I got it from you when you were well inclined towards me; I received it from you, for love of you, dearest friend, when you, with great longing, were served with my maidenhood; when you once used to set me beside the fairest in the land; when you once used to torment me for this very pledge of love. Do but look at its lively countenance, see how it looks at you; see! you are to be read in it, see how it resembles you. Well then, may I obtain anything? Honour her whom you once loved; otherwise I must die a whore, and your offspring be a whore's child.
CommentaryAI-generated
29 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Eeden van schippers / en beloften van vryers / en zijn maer wint als de noot over is.
Oaths of skippers and promises of suitors are but wind once the need is past.
Brieven van lieven zijn met boter besegelt.
Letters from lovers are sealed with butter.
Vryers eeden en minne klachten En moetmen niet als grillen achten.
Suitors' oaths and love-laments one must reckon as nothing but whims.
Ἀφροδίσιος ὅρκος ἐκ ἐμποίνιμος.
An oath of love is not punishable.
Venereum jusjurandum non punitur. Id dicunt, & putant venerei nepotes.
An oath sworn in love is not punished. So say, and so believe, the grandsons of Venus (the wanton).
Yemant met beloften asen Is een Hemel voor de dwasen.
To bait someone with promises is a heaven for fools.
Dal detto al fatto E un grand tratto.
From the saying to the deed is a long stretch.
Du dict au faict c'est un grand traict.
From the saying to the deed is a great distance.
Gereden vnd halten ist zweijerley.
Speaking and keeping (one's word) are two different things.
Schöne wort fullen den sack nicht.
Fine words do not fill the sack.
Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest.
Anyone can be rich in promises.
De slechte sloor Sy meynde te winnen / en sy verloor.
The simple slattern: she thought to win, and she lost.
Paroles de soir sont de coustume Aussi legers comme la plume.
Evening words are customarily as light as a feather.
--- Amans si quid cupido promittit amanti In vento & rapidâ scribere oportet aquâ.
If a lover promises anything to an eager lover, one ought to write it in the wind and in rushing water.
Eedt van die mint Is niet als wint.
The oath of one who loves is nothing but wind.
Propos de soir le vent emporte.
Evening talk the wind carries away.
Een vryers eet Is maer een gril / Want 'tis hem leet / Krijgt hy sijn wil.
A suitor's oath is but a whim, for he regrets it once he gets his will.
Les serments qui se font sur l'autel de plumes s'en volent avec le vent.
The oaths that are made on the altar of feathers fly away with the wind.
Il est bien pauvre qui n'a que promettre.
He is very poor who has nothing but promises to give.
Promettre non è dare Ma per matti contentare.
To promise is not to give, but to content fools.
Promettre sans donner Est fols reconforter.
To promise without giving is to comfort fools.
Viel geloben / en weynig geben / Macht die narren in freuwden leben.
To promise much and give little makes fools live in joy.
Beaucoup promettre & rien tenir Faict fols en esperance tenir.
To promise much and keep nothing keeps fools in hope.
Wat Venus voeght dat scheydt de klippel.
What Venus joins, the cudgel parts.
Seggen en doen zijn twee.
Saying and doing are two things.
Horatius de tali juramento.
Ridet hoc, inquam, Venus ipsa, rident simplices nymphæ.
Horace on such an oath. At this, I say, Venus herself laughs, the artless nymphs laugh.
Tibull. Perjuria ridet amantum Iuppiter & ventos irrita ferre jubet.
Tibullus. Jupiter laughs at the perjuries of lovers, and bids the winds carry them away as void.
Callimachus. Iuravit, verum vulgò dicunt in amore Quod juras aures non penetrare Deûm
Callimachus. He swore; but people commonly say that what you swear in love does not reach the ears of the gods.
Ovidius. Iuppiter ex alto perjuria ridet amantum Et jubet æolios in freta ferre nothos.
Ovid. Jupiter from on high laughs at the perjuries of lovers, and bids the Aeolian south winds carry them out to sea.
Iconclass
86(LE SERMENT FAICT SUR L'AUTEL DE PLUMES S'EN VA AU VENT)proverbs, sayings, etc. (LE SERMENT FAICT SUR L'AUTEL DE PLUMES S'EN VA AU VENT)86(IN DEXTRA FIDESQUE)proverbs, sayings, etc. (IN DEXTRA FIDESQUE)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
53AA21Inconstancy; 'Incostanza', 'Instabilità', 'Instabilità overo Incostanza' (Ripa)mediumThe correlate 'Inconstancy' matches the emblem's core theme that lovers' oaths and suitors' promises are fickle and blow away like feathers in the wind.
57A6142OathmediumThe correlate 'Oath' as an abstract concept matches the emblem's subject of sworn oaths ('In dextra fides', 'oaths made on the altar of feathers') and their worthlessness.
11Q7141altarlowThe correlate 'altar' matches the large stone altar block central to the image and named in the motto, though the Iconclass context is liturgical rather than this emblematic/allegorical altar.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- II vi 84 Charetis pollicitationes – essay quotehigh
The emblem's Latin commentary 'Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest' is the Ovidian line (Ars am. 1.444) that Erasmus quotes in the body of this adage's essay on men who promise lavishly and perform nothing — exactly the suitor's behaviour in the subscriptio.
- I iv 56 In aqua scribis – essay quotemedium
The commentary's distich 'Amans si quid cupido promittit amanti / In vento & rapidâ scribere oportet aquâ' is the Catullan couplet (c.70) that Erasmus cites in his essay on writing in water, used precisely of a lover's worthless promises; the emblem's wind-blown feathers visualise the same idea.
- II v 41 Lingua juravit – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus explains 'Ἡ γλῶσσ᾽ ὄμωσεν, ἡ δὲ φρὴν ἀνώμοτος' as applying to one who does not keep his promise or does not promise from the heart; the suitor's reply ('If the pen has written something, the heart has not felt it') and the whole emblem of oaths that fly away embody the same proverbial point.
- IV x 96 Verbis conceptis pejerare – thematic inventiolow
Erasmus' essay on solemn perjury dwells on swearing while grasping an altar and on oaths no one should believe; the emblem literally pictures an altar — made of feathers — on which the lover's perjured oath is sworn and blown away.
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem043
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem043
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288