Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 49
A young woman warming herself at a fireplace with one leg resting high against the wall; with her fire-tongs she touches the "curious" cat
A chat lescheur bat on la gueleFrench
A licking (greedy) cat gets beaten on the muzzle.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
Inside an oval frame set in a rectangular border, a domestic interior: a young woman in a ruff, cap and full-skirted gown sits slumped asleep in a high-backed chair beside a hearth, a cloth or mantle draped over the chair-arm which ends in a carved animal (ram's) head. A fire blazes in the fireplace at the right. On the hearth stands a lidded pot or covered dish on a trivet; a striped cat has crept up and pushes its head into the vessel, its tail curled behind it. A long-handled ladle lies abandoned on the tiled floor in the foreground. Behind the woman hang heavy curtains, and a cupboard or chest stands at the left. A scroll at the bottom of the oval bears the motto. Below the image at left is the designer's signature and at right the engraver's signature.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
Ick vondt lest eenen vriendt, die in sijn groene jaren Met ons was uyt-gereyst, en over zee gevaren, Hy scheen in geenen deel gelijck hy eertijts plach, Nadien hy bijster vreemt, en wonder deerlijck sagh; Sijn hooft meest sonder hayr, sijn neuse was gesoncken, Sijn lippen sonder verf, sijn holle tanden stoncken, Sijn handen blaeuw gepleckt, sijn beenen sonder kuyt, En dan een leelick vocht quam hem ten oogen uyt; Ick stont een wijl en keeck, eer ick begon te spreken, De man, en sijn gelaet, was my geheel ontleken; Wel, seyd' ick op het lest, Hoe zijt ghy dus geschent? Heb ick u niet wel eer een ander man gekent? Waer is u wacker lijf, waer is u vroylick leven? Waer is u schoone blos, u rappe jeugt gebleven? Waer is u geestigh oogh, soo hel gelijck een vier? Ach van dit al-te-mael en vind' ick niet een sier! Hy stont een langen tijdt met neer-geslagen hoofde, Geprickelt inden geest, gelijck ick doen geloofde, Ten lesten quammer uyt: Ick bidde, vraeghtet niet Wie my de jeught benam, of waer het is geschiet, Al wat ick lijden moet dat sijn verdiende plagen, Een woort, en dat genoeg, waer toe naeu-keurigh vragen? De kat die over al den muyl in steken wilt Wort op het lest betrapt, en op den neus geknilt.
TranslationAI-generated
Lately I met a friend who in his green years had travelled out with us and sailed across the sea. He seemed in no way like what he used to be, since he looked exceedingly strange and wonderfully pitiable: his head mostly without hair, his nose had fallen in, his lips without colour, his hollow teeth stank, his hands blotched blue, his legs without calves, and an ugly fluid came out of his eyes. I stood a while and looked before I began to speak; the man and his countenance were quite unknown to me. "Well," said I at last, "how are you so disfigured? Did I not formerly know you as another man? Where is your lively body, where is your merry life? Where is your fair complexion, your nimble youth gone? Where is your spirited eye, so bright as a fire? Alas, of all this I do not find one jot!" He stood a long time with downcast head, pricked in his spirit, as I then believed. At last it came out: "I pray you, do not ask who took my youth from me, or where it happened. All that I must suffer is a deserved plague. One word, and that is enough: why ask so precisely? The cat that wants to stick its muzzle into everything is at last caught and rapped on the nose."
CommentaryAI-generated
15 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Lat. Intemperans juventus effœtum tradit corpus senectuti.
Latin. Intemperate youth hands over an exhausted body to old age.
Spaens. Vanse los amores Y quedan los dolores.
Spanish. The loves go away and the pains remain.
Nederl. Vroegh hengst / vroegh guyl.
Dutch. Early a stallion, early a nag.
'tGast-huys hangt de loopers achter aen.
The hospital hangs on behind the runners (gadabouts).
De vos die gaet soo lange ter jacht Tot hy der eens verliest sijn vacht.
The fox goes hunting so long until one day he loses his pelt there.
Ital. Tanto va la gatta al caccio che vi lascia la pelle.
Italian. The cat goes to the cheese so often that she leaves her skin there.
Tanto va innanzi è dietro la volpe che rimano al l'accio.
The fox goes back and forth so much that she remains in the snare.
Nederl. De mugge vliegt so lange om de keers tot datse eens haer vleugelen sengt.
Dutch. The gnat flies around the candle so long that one day it singes its wings.
Voluptatum usuræ morbi. Lat.
Diseases are the interest paid on pleasures. Latin.
Snoepende katten kniltmen opte neus. Nederl.
Pilfering cats get rapped on the nose. Dutch.
Bitsige honden krijgen hackelige oiren.
Snappish dogs get torn (notched) ears.
Tanto va la gatta al caccio che vi lascia la ciampa è il naso. Ital.
The cat goes to the cheese so often that she leaves her paw and her nose there. Italian.
Wijn en vrouwen verdwasen de wijse / ende die hoeren aenhangen die worden wilt / en krijghen motten en wormen ten loone / ende verdorren / den anderen tot een merckelijck exempel. Syr. 19. 2
Wine and women make the wise foolish, and those who cling to whores become wild, and get moths and worms for their wages, and wither away, as a notable example to others. Sirach 19:2
Mon fils garde entiere la vigeur de ton age, & ne donne point ta force aux estrangers. Syr. 26. 23
My son, keep the vigour of your age entire, and do not give your strength to strangers. Sirach 26:23
Sampsonem rigidis spoliavit crinibus uxor, Hoc nostra multæ tempore sunt Dalilæ. Audouenus.
A wife despoiled Samson of his stiff locks; in our time there are many Delilahs. Owen (Audoenus).
Iconclass
86(A CHAT LESCHEUR BAT ON LA GUELE)proverbs, sayings, etc. (A CHAT LESCHEUR BAT ON LA GUELE)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
41B21open hearth, fire-placehighThe scene shows a blazing fire in a fireplace with a pot on the hearth, matching 'open hearth, fire-place'.
41C27(LADLE)kitchen-utensils: ladlehighA long-handled ladle lies abandoned on the tiled floor, exactly the kitchen-utensil named in the correlate.
54AA43Intemperance, ImmoderationmediumThe Latin motto condemns 'intemperate youth' that wears out the body, matching the concept of Intemperance/Immoderation.
71Y4the book of Ecclesiasticus, the wisdom of Jesus SirachmediumThe commentary explicitly quotes Sirach 19:2 and 26:23, i.e. the book of Ecclesiasticus / wisdom of Jesus Sirach.
71F37story of Samson and Delilah (Judges 16:4-21)lowThe commentary invokes the story of Samson despoiled of his locks by Delilah as a moral parallel, though it is not depicted.
33C52whore, prostitutelowThe Italian commentary warns of those who cling to whores and wither away, referencing the prostitute, though none is shown in the image.
31A4624skin and venereal diseaseslowThe moral text implies the diseases ('moths and worms', diseases as interest on pleasures) contracted through whoring, i.e. venereal disease, but it is not visually represented.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- III iii 8 Pyraustae gaudes gaudium – thematic inventiomedium
The emblem's commentary cites the Dutch proverb 'De mugge vliegt so lange om de keers tot datse eens haer vleugelen sengt' (the gnat flies round the candle until it singes its wings), which is precisely Erasmus's pyrausta image of a fleeting, momentary pleasure paid for with destruction — the same moral as 'Voluptatum usurae morbi' and the greedy cat rapped on the nose.
- I v 18 Multa novit vulpes, verum echinus unum magnum – thematic inventiolow
The commentary's fox proverbs ('De vos die gaet soo lange ter jacht tot hy der eens verliest sijn vacht'; 'Tanto va innanzi è dietro la volpe che rimano al l'accio') echo Erasmus's observation in this essay that the fox defends itself with many wiles 'et tamen haud raro capitur' — the cunning creature is caught in the end.
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem049
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem049
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288