Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 66
Als morsige lieden kuys worden, so schuerense de panne van achterenDutch
When dirty people become clean, they scour the pan on the outside.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
An oval frame, formed by a thick ribbon-like band with scrolled ends and a blank cartouche at the bottom, set within a rectangular border with dark corner spandrels. Inside is a kitchen interior. Two young women in aprons and caps stand on either side of a large wooden tub or barrel. The woman at left leans forward, scrubbing the underside of a frying pan whose long handle projects to the left; a cloth hangs over the edge of the tub. The woman at right holds up a round pan or basin with both hands, tilting it to clean its outer surface. Behind them on the left two more women in older-fashioned dress with ruffs stand talking. Along the back wall is a dresser with a shelf of pewter plates and a rack of hanging jugs, a hanging box or warming pan, a pair of tongs and a round object on the wall, and a latticed window and door. On a table behind stand flagons, a jug and a bowl. At the right is an open hearth with a blazing fire, a hanging pot-hook, and a wooden bucket on the floor. In the left foreground stand a large kettle and a pail; in the centre foreground lies a gridiron, and at the right foreground a shallow bowl. The engraver's marks appear in the lower corners.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
Besiet eens dese twee, die in voorleden jaren Gantsch vuyl in haer bedrijf, en rechte slonsen waren, Die zijn nu wonder net, en uytter-maten kuys, Sy boenen even selfs de gronden van het huys; De pannen aen den heert, die niemant van de bueren Oyt anders is gewoon als binnen in te schueren, Die kuyst dit aerdigh volck oock aen den uytter-kant, Al hangt die meesten tijt te midden in den brant. Dus gatet int gemeen, wanneer onwijse lieden Met al te dommen ernst haer oude rancken vlieden, Want mits sy bijster hardt, en sonder reden gaen, Soo koomt de tegen-feyl niet selden opte baen. Wort niet een quiste-goet, wanneer hy wil bedaren, Wel dickwils al te seer genegen om te sparen? Spilt niet eē gierich mensch (als hy nae miltheyt tracht) Wel dickmaels sonder maet, en boven sijne macht? 'Tis beyde sonder gront, en tegen goede zeden, 'Tis beyde sonder slot, en buyten alle reden. Wel, vrienden, weest beset, en houdt de rechte maet, Ten is geen ware deught die uyt den regel gaet.
TranslationAI-generated
Just look at these two, who in bygone years were utterly filthy in their work and real slatterns; they are now wonderfully neat and exceedingly clean, they even scrub the floors of the house; the pans at the hearth, which none of the neighbours is ever accustomed to scour otherwise than on the inside, those this fine folk also cleans on the outside, although it hangs most of the time in the middle of the fire. So it generally goes when foolish people with all too stupid earnestness flee their old tricks; for since they go terribly hard and without reason, the opposite fault not seldom comes upon the road. Does not a spendthrift, when he wants to settle down, very often become all too inclined to save? Does not a miserly person (when he strives after generosity) often squander without measure and beyond his means? Both are groundless and against good manners, both are without limit and outside all reason. Well, friends, be moderate, and keep the right measure: it is no true virtue that goes outside the rule.
CommentaryAI-generated
31 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Il mele si vol gustare con le punte della dita.
Honey should be tasted with the tips of the fingers.
Ogni cosa vuol mesura.
Everything requires measure.
Por medio y no caereys.
Go by the middle and you will not fall.
Allez par le milieu & vous ne tomberez.
Go by the middle and you will not fall.
Medio tutissimus ibis.
You will go most safely by the middle way.
Il n'y a banquet que de chiches.
There is no banquet like that of misers.
Zu wenig und zu viel / Verderbet alle spiel. Zu viel ist ungesund. Al zu scharff macht schärtig.
Too little and too much spoil every game. Too much is unhealthy. All too sharp makes notched (blunted).
Il molto è 'l poco Rompe lo givoco.
Too much and too little break the game.
Ni tan hermosa que mate, Ni tan fea que espante.
Neither so beautiful that she kills, nor so ugly that she frightens.
Ni tant belle, qu'elle tue Ni tant laide qu'ell' espouvente.
Neither so beautiful that she kills, nor so ugly that she frightens.
Noch p! noch sp.
Neither p! nor sp. (abbreviated proverbial phrase)
Ogni bel givoco vvol durar poco.
Every fine game should last but a short while.
Tien la strada di mezzo.
Keep to the middle road.
Perge viâ mediâ, medium tenuêre beati.
Go by the middle way; the blessed have kept the mean.
Qui commence à estre liberal devient prodigue.
He who begins to be liberal becomes prodigal.
Baullu curium etion vetra mensaran carnadu.
(Turkish proverb, as printed; meaning not given)
Ick mach wel boonen/ maer niet met backen vol.
I do like beans, but not by the tubful.
Men moet met handen/ en niet met manden saepen.
One must soap with hands and not with baskets.
Est modus in rebus, sunt certi denique fines, Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum.
There is a measure in things; there are, in short, fixed bounds, beyond and short of which right cannot stand.
Stulti dum vitant vitia, in contraria currunt.
Fools, while they avoid vices, run into their opposites.
Maet houdt staet.
Measure maintains estate.
Guardati d'aceto de vin dolce.
Beware of vinegar made from sweet wine.
Wanneer daer yemant maeckt asijn, En neemter toe den soetsten wijn, Die krijgter van het suerste vocht Dat oyt op tonge bijten mocht, Want als het soet sijn aert verlaet, Niet dat sijn suer te boven gaet; Onthoudt dit woort, geminde vrient, Vermits het alle vrienden dient.
Als vrienden uyt een mis-verstant Eens worden tegen een gekant; Als broeders, om, men weet niet wat, Door wrevel worden op-gevat; Of als de vader en het kint Sich tegen een ontsteken vint; Of dat twee lieven metter tijt Vervallen tot een wrangen spijt, Soo vindtmen dat haer fellen haet Gants boven alle peylen gaet; Want als sich vrientschap omme-went Soo isser onlust sonder ent: Ghy, daerom al die vrienden zijt, En geeft de gramschap geenen tijt, Maer isser yet dat qualick staet, Soo heeltet weder metter daet, En of ghy schoon een reysjen kijft Soo maeckt noch dat ghy vrienden blijft.
When someone makes vinegar and takes the sweetest wine for it, he gets from it the sourest liquid that ever bit on a tongue; for when the sweet abandons its nature, nothing surpasses its sourness. Remember this word, beloved friend, since it serves all friends. When friends through a misunderstanding once turn against one another; when brothers, over who knows what, are seized with spite; or when father and child find themselves inflamed against each other; or when two lovers in time fall into bitter resentment, then one finds that their fierce hatred goes wholly beyond all soundings; for when friendship turns about, there is discord without end. You, therefore, all who are friends, give anger no time; but if there is anything amiss, heal it again by deed, and though you quarrel once, still see to it that you remain friends.
Wie der wein je besser ist/ je schärffer essig drauß wird. Je neher blutfreundschaft / je bitterer feindschaft.
The better the wine is, the sharper the vinegar that comes of it. The closer the blood-kinship, the bitterer the enmity.
Vande soetste wijn De felste asijn. Broeders gekijf Koomt om ziel en lijf.
From the sweetest wine, the fiercest vinegar. Brothers' quarrelling costs soul and body.
Simultates inter parentes & liberos, amicos & consanguineos sunt gravissimæ. Cam. in oper. succes. cent. 1. 29. pag. 454. Richter. axiom. œcon. 105. 218. Bald. in l. cum oportet. C. de bon. quæ liber.
Feuds between parents and children, friends and blood-relations are the most grievous. Camerarius, in Operae successivae, cent. 1. 29, p. 454. Richter, Axiomata oeconomica 105, 218. Baldus, on the law 'cum oportet', Codex, de bonis quae liberis.
Mai non divento fiume grande, che non n'entrasse aqua turbida.
A river never became great without muddy water entering into it.
Noyt beeck en is in haest gegroeyt, Soo datse krachtich heenen vloeyt, Of dat haer stroom de landen deylt, En dat op haer een kage zeylt, Of wis sy heeft van onklaer nat Al vry wat veel in haer gevat. Als yemant wort in haesten rijck, Oock verre boven sijns gelijck, En datmen niet ter deegh en siet Waer uyt sijn aenwas is geschiet, Dat hieltmen eertijts voor een dingh Dat niet, gelijck het sou, en gingh; Men hieldt, dat snel en haestigh goet Al vry wat onklaer wesen moet; En schoon het slaet by wijlen mis, Men vintet daer het seecker is. Wat dient hier langer op gestaen? Hy, dien het raeckt, die trecket aen.
Never has a brook grown so fast that it flows powerfully along, or that its stream divides the lands and a barge sails on it, unless it has surely taken in a good deal of unclear water. When someone becomes rich in haste, and far above his equals, and one cannot properly see from what his increase has come, that was formerly held to be a thing that did not go as it should; it was held that swift and hasty goods must be rather unclean; and although it sometimes misses the mark, one finds it so where it is certain. Why dwell on this any longer? Let him whom it concerns take it to himself.
Serpens, nisi serpentem diglutiat, non fit draco.
A serpent does not become a dragon unless it swallows a serpent.
Wie hem snelt rijck te worden/ en sal niet ontschuldigh blijven. Syr. 28. 20.
He who hastens to become rich shall not remain guiltless. Sirach 28:20.
Het Nederlants spreeck-woort segt daerom wel: Lancksamen rijckdom/ is saligh.
The Dutch proverb therefore rightly says: Slow riches are blessed.
Iconclass
86(ALS MORSIGE LIEDEN KUYS WORDEN, SO SCHUERENSE DE PANNE VAN ACHTEREN)proverbs, sayings, etc. (ALS MORSIGE LIEDEN KUYS WORDEN, SO SCHUERENSE DE PANNE VAN ACHTEREN)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
41C211kitchen-interiorhighThe scene is explicitly a kitchen-interior with maids, dresser of pewter, hearth and utensils.
41B21open hearth, fire-placehighAn open hearth with a blazing fire and pot-hook is depicted at the right.
54A43Temperance, Moderation; 'Misura' (Ripa)highThe commentary is a sustained discourse on moderation and measure ('Everything requires measure', 'There is a measure in things').
54A431the Golden Mean; 'Mediocrità' (Ripa)highThe repeated 'Go by the middle and you will not fall / keep to the middle road' is precisely the Golden Mean (Mediocrità).
86proverbs, sayings, etc.mediumThe commentary consists largely of strung-together proverbs and sayings (Dutch, Latin, Turkish) on moderation.
51H421Excesslow'Too much is unhealthy' and 'too little and too much spoil every game' invoke excess as the vice opposed to the mean.
71Y4the book of Ecclesiasticus, the wisdom of Jesus SirachlowThe commentary cites Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 28:20 as a scriptural authority.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- I vi 96 Ne quid nimis – thematic inventiohigh
The whole emblem preaches the golden mean ('houdt de rechte maet', 'Ogni cosa vuol mesura', 'Medio tutissimus ibis', 'Est modus in rebus'), which is precisely the doctrine Erasmus expounds under 'Ne quid nimis', where he gathers the same classical commonplaces on moderation.
- I v 3 Ita fugias, ne praeter casam – thematic inventiohigh
Erasmus explains this adage as a warning 'not to avoid one fault in such a way that we imprudently fall into a worse one', and cites Demipho who in fleeing the name of miser became a fool — exactly the emblem's point that the spendthrift turns miser and the miser turns spendthrift.
- I v 5 Fumum fugiens, in ignem indici – essay quotemedium
The subscriptio's governing maxim, Horace's 'Stulti dum vitant vitia, in contraria currunt' / 'In vitium ducit culpae fuga', is quoted by Erasmus in this very essay ('Nam frustra vitium vitaveris illud... In vitium ducit culpae fuga, si caret arte'); the emblem's scouring women flee dirt straight into absurd excess.
- III iii 72 Ne cinerem vitans in prunas incidas – thematic inventiomedium
Same moral structure — fleeing one evil into a greater one — and the kitchen-hearth imagery of ashes and burning coals matches the emblem's pans hanging 'te midden in den brant'.
- I v 4 Evitata Charybdi in Scyllam indici – thematic inventiomedium
The classic Erasmian formula for running from one extreme into its opposite, which is the stated lesson of the subscriptio ('de tegen-feyl koomt niet selden opte baen').
- III iii 89 Cucurrit quispiam ne pluvia madesceret, et in foveam praefocatus est – thematic inventiolow
Another Erasmian proverb of the 'malum male vitatum' group: over-eager avoidance of a small inconvenience brings a greater harm, the moral of the over-zealous pan-scourers.
- I ix 95 Dimidium plus toto – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus presents this riddle as the commendation of the 'aurea mediocritas', matching the emblem's 'medium tenuere beati' and 'Tien la strada di mezzo'.
- III vii 4 Nihil minus expedit quam agrum optime colere – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus's essay (quoting Pliny's 'bene colere necessarium est, optime damnosum', Terence's 'dum nimium dici nos bonos studemus' and Horace's 'In vitium ducit culpae fuga') states exactly the emblem's thesis that excessive diligence in a good thing becomes a fault.
- I v 67 Funem abrumpere nimium tendendo – thematic inventiolow
Corresponds to the emblem's German tags 'Zu viel ist ungesund' and 'Al zu scharff macht schärtig': pressing anything beyond measure destroys it.
- IV v 77 Arcus tensus rumpitur – thematic inventiolow
Same proverbial image of excess defeating itself, answering the emblem's 'Too little and too much spoil every game'.
- I ii 50 Fratrum inter se irae sunt acerbissimae – thematic inventiomedium
The appended commentary on vinegar from the sweetest wine ('Je neher blutfreundschaft, je bitterer feindschaft'; 'Simultates inter parentes & liberos... gravissimae') is the Erasmian adage that quarrels between brothers and kin are the bitterest.
- III iii 61 Serpens ni edat serpentem, draco non fiet – direct mottomedium
The Latin commentary 'Serpens, nisi serpentem diglutiat, non fit draco' is a verbatim variant of this Erasmian adage, used here to illustrate that no one grows great (rich) without swallowing others / without muddy water.
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem066
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem066
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288