Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
By falsely claiming she has lost precious jewellery, a prostitue persuades her client to buy her some replacements from her friend the jeweller - who is in on the plot

Dum plorat, voratLatin
While she weeps, she devours.AI-generated
A richly furnished interior. At the left a leaded window and a draped table bearing a candlestick and a small domed casket; a heavy curtain hangs behind. Three principal figures sit close together on the right half of the room: at the left a bearded older man in a wide ruff-like lace collar and a long fur-lined robe, leaning his cheek on his hand; beside him a person in a broad plumed hat and slashed doublet with a lace collar, who holds a long string of pearls in one hand and a money-purse in the other; and on the right a standing man in a tall hat and cloak who holds open a flat jewel-casket filled with rings and trinkets. A servant looks on from behind the curtain in the background. On a bench at the right lie more jewels and a chain, and loose pearls, rings and small jewels are scattered over the tiled and carpeted floor. The whole scene is set inside a large engraved oval ring with hatched corner spandrels; a scroll banderole across the bottom reads 'Dum plorat, Vorat', with engravers' signatures in the lower corners.

Lest doen ick by mijn boeltjen quam, En acht op haer gedaente nam, Soo vondt ick datse treurigh sach, En vry al anders alsse plach; My docht wel dat haer wat ontbrack, Dies wast dat ick dus tot haer sprack. Wel, liefste kint, hoe dus ontstelt? Wat isset dat u sinnen quelt? Ick sie wel aen u droef gelaet Als dat het u niet wel en gaet. Sy sweegh daer op een langen tijt, Doch maeckte staegh een nieu gekrijt, En wat ick seyde, wat ick badt, Sy maeckte slechts haer oogen nat, Soo dat ick gants bekommert stont, En seyde met een droeven mont: Vriendinne, wat ick bidden magh, Ey laet eens af van dit geklagh; En segh een reys wat datter schort? En waerom dat ghy tranen stort? Op dat u vriendt ten minsten yet Mach doen tot troost van u verdriet. Sy greep my daer op inden erm; En seyde met een droef gekerm, Eylaes! de gront van mijnen druck Is vry een deerlick ongeluck, Want, soo ick gister treden gingh, Verloor ick mijnen besten ringh, Ick miste van mijn slincker hant Een tafel van een diamant, Een steen soo schoon, soo groot, soo rijck, 'kEn weet niet eenen sijns gelijck; En heden noch op dese vloer Daer brack eylaes! dit aerdigh snoer, Soo dat de perels al te mael Verstroyden lancks de ruyme sael; En schoon ick socht door al het stof, Ick misser acht of negen of, Al schoon, en uyter-maten ront, Het stuck dat kost my seven pont: Ey siet! doch wat een droeve spijt, Ick gae mijn beste dingen quijt; En schoon het my al seer verdriet, Hoe dat ick souck 'ken vinde niet. Als sy dees klachten hadt gedaen Soo gingh het huylen weder aen, Sy schreyde tranen wonder groot, Die vielen staegh in haren schoot. Ick stont verstelt in desen rou, Onseker wat ick seggen sou. Dan, t'wijl ick lett' op haer getier, Verneem ick daer een Iuwelier, Die, nae dat hy ons had gegroet, Verscheyde kassen open doet, En haelter uyt een grooten schat, En seyde, joncker, koopt toch wat, Want siet ick brengh hier aen den dagh Al wat een jufvrou dienen magh: Sy ('tscheen) ontsliep op dese stem, En keerd' haer wacker tegen hem, En greep voor eerst een diamant, Wel vry de schoonste diese vant, En seyd', Hier waer ick nu gedient, Had ick maer eenen milden vrient, Maer eenen die wat koopen wou, Dat waere troost voor mijnen rou; En daer op gafse my een soen, Dat was geseyt, ghy moetet doen. Ick, droevigh om haer treurigh sien, Began de kramer gelt te bien, En eer ick wist hoe dattet gingh Soo was ick kooper van den ringh; Wat meer? gesellen, tot besluyt, Ick schudde daer mijn beursjen uyt, En hier voor had ick anders niet, Als dat noch heden mijn verdriet; Oock soo verstondt ick naderhant Dat even die geslepe quant, Die my verkocht dat moye goet, Was van me-jufvrouws naeste bloet, Door haer voor seker op gemaeckt, En soo daer in het spel geraeckt, In voegen dat my seker docht Ick had haer eygen ringh gekocht. Wel aen, voor my ick heb geleert Terwijl ick met haer heb verkeert, Dat juyst wanneer een hoere schreyt Sy dan haer slimste lagen leyt; Maer offe krijt, of datse lacht, Siet dat ghy't beyde niet en acht; Want offe lacht, of datse weent, 'Tis veel-tijts beyde niet gemeent.
Lately, when I came to my sweetheart and took note of her looks, I found that she looked sorrowful, and quite otherwise than she used to be; it seemed to me that something ailed her, and so I spoke to her thus: Well, dearest child, why so upset? What is it that torments your mind? I see well by your sad face that things are not going well with you. — She kept silent at that a long time, but constantly began a new wailing, and whatever I said, whatever I begged, she only made her eyes wet, so that I stood wholly troubled, and said with a sorrowful mouth: My friend, I beg you, do leave off this lamenting; and say for once what is the matter, and why you shed tears? So that your friend may at least do something to comfort your grief. — She then seized me by the arm, and said with a sad moaning: Alas! the cause of my distress is indeed a pitiful misfortune, for yesterday as I went walking I lost my best ring, I missed from my left hand a table-cut diamond, a stone so fine, so large, so rich, I know of none like it; and this very day, here on this floor, alas, this pretty string broke, so that the pearls all scattered along the wide hall; and though I searched through all the dust, I am missing eight or nine of them, all fine and exceedingly round — the piece cost me seven pounds. Ah, see, what a sad vexation, I am losing my best things; and although it all grieves me much, however I search I cannot find them. — When she had made these complaints the weeping began again; she wept wondrous great tears, which kept falling in her lap. I stood astonished at this grief, unsure what I should say. — Then, while I was attending to her clamour, I notice a jeweller there, who, after he had greeted us, opens various cases and takes out of them a great treasure, and said: young sir, do buy something, for see, I bring here to light all that may serve a lady. — She (so it seemed) woke up at this voice, and turned briskly toward him, and first took hold of a diamond, quite the finest she could find, and said: Here I would now be served, if only I had one generous friend, one who would buy something — that would be comfort for my sorrow; and thereupon she gave me a kiss, which meant: you must do it. — I, sad at seeing her sorrowful, began to offer the pedlar money, and before I knew how it went I was the buyer of the ring; what more? Comrades, in short, I emptied my purse there, and for this I had nothing else but what grieves me still today; also I learned afterwards that the very cunning fellow who sold me that fine stuff was my lady's nearest kin, certainly put up to it by her, and so brought into the game, so that it certainly seemed to me I had bought her own ring. — Well then, for my part I have learned, while I kept company with her, that just when a whore weeps she is laying her craftiest snares; but whether she cries or whether she laughs, see that you heed neither; for whether she laughs or whether she weeps, most of the time neither is meant.
Hoogd. An der hunden hincken / Huren winken / Weyber weinen / Vnd der kramer schweren / Sol sich niemant kehren.
High German: At the limping of dogs, the beckoning of whores, the weeping of women, and the swearing of pedlars, let no one pay any heed.
Nederl. Van lacchende schouten / en schreyende hoeren En late niemant sich vervoeren.
Dutch: By laughing bailiffs and weeping whores let no one let himself be carried away.
Ital. Ni de lachrimas de puta, ni de fieros de rufian.
(Labelled 'Italian', but Spanish:) Neither of a whore's tears, nor of a pimp's bluster.
Franç. Ni des larmes de putain, ni de bravades de rufien.
French: Neither of a whore's tears, nor of a pimp's bravado.
Engels. When dogs fal a snarling / serpens a hissing / and women a weeping / The first wil bite / the second tho sting / and the third wil deceiue.
English: When dogs fall a-snarling, serpents a-hissing, and women a-weeping: the first will bite, the second will sting, and the third will deceive.
Lat. Vt flerent oculos erudière suos.
Latin: They have trained their eyes to weep (at will).
Meretrix dum suspirat, sperat; Dum plorat, vorat. Lat.
Latin: While the harlot sighs, she hopes; while she weeps, she devours.
Als een hont begint te knorren / de slange te hissen / een hoere te schreyen / d'eerst wil bijten / de tweede wil steecken / de derde bedriegen. Nederl.
Dutch: When a dog begins to growl, a serpent to hiss, a whore to weep: the first will bite, the second will sting, the third will deceive.
Women haue 3 sortes of theares: The first of grief. The second of impatience. The thirst of deceyt. Engels.
English: Women have three sorts of tears: the first of grief, the second of impatience, the third of deceit.
Vrouwen hebben drieerley tranen: van { Leet / Ongedult / Bedrogh. Nederl.
Dutch: Women have three kinds of tears: of sorrow, of impatience, of deceit.
Amata pellex liberis justis nocet. Lat.
Latin: A beloved concubine harms the lawful children.
Dit Sinne-beeldt is ontleent uyt het 7. capittel van de spreucken Salomons, alwaer de dwase jongelingh van de listige vrouwe overredet ende verleyt zijnde, haer wert geseyt te volgen, als een osse ter slacht-bancke, en als een vogel die te stricke hem snellet, en en weet niet dattet hem het leven gelt; de leser dan gelieve sich, in plaetse van een plate die hier nae-gelaten is, by inbeeldinghe voor te stellen een slagh, daermen in den herfst mede plagh te vincken, aen een boom hangende, ende inde selve een lock-meese, mitsgaders een vogel die van boven af plottelijck sich daer in geeft; ende in het verschiet een jongelingh die snellijck te peerde rijdende, gaet vinden eens anders man echte vrouwe, ergens int groene onder een boom sittende, die hem tijdt ende plaetse bescheyden heeft, en lese voorts tot breeder uyt-legginghe van desen het voorsz. 7. capittel vande by-spreucken Salomons.
This emblem is borrowed from the 7th chapter of the Proverbs of Solomon, where the foolish young man, being persuaded and seduced by the crafty woman, is said to follow her like an ox to the slaughter-bench, and like a bird that hastens to the snare and does not know that it costs him his life; let the reader therefore, in place of a plate which has here been omitted, picture to himself in imagination a bird-trap such as men used to catch finches with in autumn, hanging on a tree, and in it a decoy titmouse, together with a bird that suddenly throws itself into it from above; and in the distance a young man riding swiftly on horseback, going to meet another man's lawful wife, sitting somewhere in the greenery under a tree, who has appointed him the time and place; and let him further read, for a fuller exposition of this, the aforesaid 7th chapter of the Proverbs of Solomon.
Prov. 9. 13. & seqq.
Proverbs 9:13 and following.
La femme folle est bayante, elle s'assied à l'huis de sa maison pour appeller les passans, disant, les eaux desrobeés sont douces & pain pris en cachette est plaisat, & il ne cognoit point que la sont les trespassez, & que ceux qu'elle à conviez sont au fin fond du sepulchre.
The foolish woman is clamorous; she sits at the door of her house to call the passers-by, saying: stolen waters are sweet and bread taken in secret is pleasant; and he does not know that the dead are there, and that those whom she has invited are in the very depths of the grave.
Prov. 24. 30.
Proverbs 24:30.
Quasi bos ductus ad victimam, quasi agnus lasciviens & quasi avis ad laqueum. &c.
Like an ox led to the sacrifice, like a frisking lamb, and like a bird to the snare, etc.
Prov. cap. 7. 22.
Proverbs, chapter 7:22.
Comme le beuf à la tuerie.
Like the ox to the slaughter.
Vide Plautum in Asinaria ubi verbis lænæ egregiè hoc explicat.
See Plautus in the Asinaria, where he excellently explains this in the words of the bawd.
Vid. Mart. delrio part. 2. fol. 162. Adag. sacrorum.
See Martín Del Rio, part 2, fol. 162, Sacred Adages.
86(DUM PLORAT, VORAT) proverbs, sayings, etc. (DUM PLORAT, VORAT)Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
33C52 whore, prostitutehighThe correlate 'whore, prostitute' matches the emblem's core subject, the weeping harlot who 'while she weeps, devours' her lover's wealth.
33C521 courtesan, hetaeramedium'Courtesan, hetaera' fits the richly dressed woman receiving pearls, purse and a casket of jewels from her admirers in a luxurious interior.
33C5 prostitutionmediumThe general correlate 'prostitution' covers the scene's theme of a harlot and her suitors/pimp as set out in the multilingual mottoes and the Proverbs 7 commentary.
41D26611 pearl; pearl necklacehigh'Pearl; pearl necklace' corresponds directly to the long string of pearls held by the seated figure and the loose pearls scattered on the floor.
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
The emblem's whole point — 'Dum plorat, vorat', the harlot who weeps in order to devour her lover's purse — reproduces exactly Erasmus's explanation of crocodile tears: the creature sheds tears over the man it is about to devour, i.e. feigned grief masking destruction of the victim.
Erasmus's adage defines the proverbial type of 'making a great show of grief when you really are delighted'; Cats's weeping courtesan, whose tears are dutifully performed to extract a diamond, is the same dissimulated-sorrow topos ('the heir in mourning laughs behind a mask').
Erasmus explains 'Megarian tears' as tears that are fictitious and not the product of real grief (hired mourners who 'say and do more than those who really grieve'), the same hired/feigned weeping that the emblem's commentary sums up as 'women have three kinds of tears... the third of deceit'.
The companion emblem printed with this one ('Comme l'oiselet qui se haste vers les lacqs') turns on the adulterous woman catching the young man 'in het net' by cunning, the very image of cunningly closing the net so that there is no escape.
Erasmus derives this from fowlers who scatter bait inside cages to trap small birds; the adjoining emblem explicitly describes a finch-trap with a decoy titmouse into which the bird throws itself, an image of the young man lured by the woman's appointed time and place.
Erasmus glosses this 'of those who hurry to their own destruction' and compares βοῦς ἐπὶ σφαγήν, 'an ox to slaughter' — precisely the Proverbs 7:22 tag ('Quasi bos ductus ad victimam... quasi avis ad laqueum') quoted in the commentary of the accompanying emblem.
Erasmus explains the Terentian phrase as the pander's art of first luring young men with bait so as to swallow them whole afterwards; this is just what the emblem narrates (the bawd-like mistress and her kinsman-jeweller baiting and emptying the lover's purse), and Cats points to Plautus' Asinaria bawd for the same technique.
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem050
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem050
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288