Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 59
Non se da tanto pane al cagnuolo quanto la sua coda dimandaItalian
One does not give the little dog as much bread as its tail asks for.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
Within a round medallion set in a rectangular frame with dark triangular corner-spandrels, a seated man in a broad-brimmed hat, doublet with slashed sleeves and a cloak over his knees sits outdoors on a low bank. In his raised right hand he holds a knife and a piece of bread, while with his left hand he offers a morsel to a small long-haired lapdog, clipped in lion fashion, which stands on its hind legs before him with one forepaw lifted, stretching its muzzle toward the food. Behind them is an open landscape: clouds, a flock of birds in the sky, a small sailing boat on water at the left, and at the right a distant tower and clump of trees. Grass, stones and a tuft of weeds fill the foreground. The engraver's monogram 'IS fe' appears at the lower edge of the medallion.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
AL quispelt Leeuwtje metten steert, Al troutelt Leeuwtje sijnen weert, Al jancktet met een luyde stem, Al looptet voor, en achter hem, Al sit het beesje geestigh op, Al draeyt het als een snellen top, Al biet het dickmael sijnen poot, Ten krijght niet altijt witte-broot; Want heeftet eerst sijn deel gehadt, Al isset niet ten vollen sat, Hoe wel het slecht en deerlick siet Ten krijght noch al sijn wille niet. Al schijnt dit slecht, gelijck het leyt, Het is noch efter wat geseyt, Ghy, weeghtet in de rechte schael, Het kan u dienen menighmael, Het kan u dienen tegen lust, Die noyt of selden is gerust; Het kan u dienen over al Waer datmen vreughde plegen sal: Men hoeft voorwaer het vveelich vleysch Niet staegh te geven sijnen eysch, Dus schoon yet somtijts mach bestaen, Het is al beter niet gedaen, En geeft een vrou, een vrient, een kint, Niet alles vvat haer breyn versint, En geeft u eygen sellefs niet Al vvat u vvelich hert gebiet, Ick mocht, en ick en dedet niet, En vvas in vreughde noyt verdriet; Wel schrijft dit vvoort in u gemoet Het is u aller vvegen goet.
TranslationAI-generated
Though the little lion-dog wags its tail, though the little lion-dog fawns on its master, though it whines with a loud voice, though it runs before and behind him, though the little beast sits up smartly, though it spins round like a fast top, though it often offers its paw, it does not always get white bread; For once it has first had its share, even if it is not entirely full, however poor and pitiful it looks, it still does not get all it wants. Though this seems a trifling matter as it stands, it is nevertheless something worth saying; weigh it in the right scales, it can serve you many a time, it can serve you against desire, which is never or seldom at rest; it can serve you everywhere where pleasure is customarily enjoyed: one need not, truly, always grant the wanton flesh its demand. Thus, however fair a thing may sometimes be, it is still better left undone; and do not give a wife, a friend, a child everything their brain devises, and do not give your own self all that your wanton heart commands. 'I could have, and I did not do it, and there was never sorrow in that joy'; well, write this word in your mind, it is good for you in every way.
CommentaryAI-generated
10 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Een lesse voor nieu-gehoude.
A lesson for the newly married.
Nederl. Men hoeft den hont geen broot te geven soo langh als hy wispelsteert.
Dutch. One need not give the dog bread as long as he wags his tail.
Spaens. Mucho pide el loco, mas loco as el que loda
Spanish. The fool asks much, but more foolish is he who gives it.
Franç. Le fol demande beaucoup, mais plus fol est celuy qui donne.
French. The fool asks much, but more foolish is he who gives.
Ital. Non se da tanto pane al cagnuolo quanto la sua coda dimanda.
Italian. One does not give the little dog as much bread as its tail asks for.
A foole demandeth muth but te more foole is he that giuet ith. Engels.
A fool demands much, but the greater fool is he that gives it. English.
Men geeft het hondeken niet soo veel broots / als sijn steertje wel eysschen sou. Nederl.
One does not give the little dog as much bread as its little tail would ask for. Dutch.
Een dwaes eyst veel / maer dwaser is hy die't hem geeft.
A fool asks much, but more foolish is he who gives it to him.
Menea la code el can no por ti si no por el pan. Spaens.
The dog wags its tail not for you but for the bread. Spanish.
Sævis
[catchword] 'Sævis' (to the cruel / with cruel ...)
Iconclass
86(NON SE DA TANTO PANE AL CAGNUOLO QUANTO LA SUA CODA DIMANDA)proverbs, sayings, etc. (NON SE DA TANTO PANE AL CAGNUOLO QUANTO LA SUA CODA DIMANDA)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
86proverbs, sayings, etc.highThe emblem is built around proverbs and sayings, with the multilingual mottoes about the dog's tail and the bread quoted in Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian and English.
86(...)proverbs, sayings, etc. (with TEXT)mediumThe specific proverb text ('One does not give the little dog as much bread as its tail asks for') can be supplied with the 'proverbs, sayings, etc. (with TEXT)' notation.
46C24sailing-ship, sailing-boathighA small sailing boat is explicitly depicted on the water at the left of the landscape background.
31B8fool, simpleton, numskullmediumThe accompanying maxims turn on the 'fool, simpleton' who asks much and the greater fool who gives, the moral core of the image.
57AA6121Flattery; 'Adulatione' (Ripa)lowThe theme of the dog wagging its tail only for the bread embodies flattery, though the image shows no Ripa-style personification of 'Adulatione'.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- IV i 32 Cauda blandiri – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus' adage describes those who fawn 'with the tail' in hope of food, quoting Aristophanes on the dog that wags its tail while watching the meal and then devours your food; the emblem's picture and Dutch/Spanish proverbs ('One need not give the dog bread as long as he wags his tail'; 'The dog wags its tail not for you but for the bread') embody exactly this image.
- I vi 96 Ne quid nimis – thematic inventiomedium
The subscriptio's moral — do not always grant the wanton flesh its demand, nor give wife, friend, child or yourself everything desired — is the classic doctrine of moderation that Erasmus expounds under 'Nothing to excess'.
- II iii 3 Ficut cupit – thematic inventiolow
Erasmus' adage is used of one who fawns and flatters purely in order to obtain some tidbit; this is precisely the lapdog's begging, sitting up, offering its paw and wagging its tail to get white bread, and the Spanish gloss that the dog wags 'not for you but for the bread'.
- II vii 37 Cercopissare – thematic inventiolow
Erasmus explains the word as flattery, the metaphor being taken from animals that coax by wagging the tail — the same tail-wagging flattery of the lapdog that the emblem makes its image of insatiable, importunate demand.
- III i 52 Manu serendum, non thylaco – thematic inventiolow
Erasmus applies this to the need to dispense one's generosity by measure rather than pour it out all at once; the emblem likewise teaches withholding full satisfaction from the begging dog (and from wife, friend, child and one's own appetite).
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem059
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem059
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288