Emblem 75

Emblem 75

Queen Money (Pecunia) weighing coins at a table which is surrounded by a variety of people, anxious to receive some of the money

Aetgaia hernesne mute edunTurkish

Pecuniae obediunt omniaLatin

All things obey money. (Turkish proverb)AI-generated

Description of the imageAI-generated

Within a thick oval (letter-O shaped) band set in a rectangular frame with corner spandrels, an interior scene: at the right a crowned woman in rich embroidered robes and jewels sits enthroned beneath a fringed canopy with a heavy drawn curtain; she stretches out her right hand holding a coin (or small purse) over a table, while her left hand rests on coins in her lap. Before the throne stands a large open iron-bound strongbox heaped with coins, and at her feet lie bulging money-bags and a dish piled with coins. On a draped table in the centre lie scattered coins, a pair of small scales, an open ledger or counting-box. Pressing toward the table from the left is a crowd of men of various nations and ranks: turbaned figures, men in plumed and fur caps, a soldier in a tall feathered headdress shouldering a halberd, and a young woman seated at the table among them. In the left foreground an older workman in a plain smock and sandals kneels on one knee, holding a long staff or tool, bowing toward the enthroned woman. Behind, architectural elements, an arch and a sculpted or painted figure are visible. An empty scrolled banderole runs along the bottom of the frame.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page — Facsimile, page 1 of 3; click a thumbnail to change page; click the page to enlarge

Facsimile, page 1 of 3; click a thumbnail to change page; click the page to enlarge

TranscriptionAI-generated

Siet hoe me-vrou, genaemt het Gelt, Hier alle menschen wetten stelt; Een yder stuypt, een yder nijgt, Een yder swicht, een yder swijgt, Een yder knielt op haer gebiet, Als sy maer eens op yemant siet, Het schijnt sy voert de hoogste macht, Soo dat een yder op haer wacht. Siet hier een rouwen ambachts-man, Hy roert de leden wat hy kan, Hy laet sijn hant geduerich gaen, En al om wel met haer te staen. Siet daer een schipper, jaren lanck Besloten in een holle planck, Die vreest geen baren van de zee, Geen wilde kust, geen woeste ree, En al op dat me-weerde-vrou Op hem haer oogen neygen sou. De krijgs-man gaet noch harder aen, Want die en vreest hem niet te gaen Daer vier en vlam de lucht bedeckt, En duysent menschen heenen treckt, Hy dreygt, hy doet, hy lijdt gewelt, En al maer om het lieve Gelt. Maer 'tvreemste dat ick oyt vernam, Of ymmer in mijn sinnen quam, Is dat (ô schand'!) een jonge maegt De bloem van haren maegdom waegt, De bloem van haren maegdom geeft Aen die geen recht daer aen en heeft, ( Een blom die nimmer weder keert Soo haest die eenmael is onteert ) Niet uyt de drift van soete min, Maer om dees gulde koningin; Ick sie dan dat het lieve gelt Aen al de werelt wetten stelt.

TranslationAI-generated

See how my lady, named Money, here lays down laws for all people; everyone bows, everyone curtsies, everyone yields, everyone falls silent, everyone kneels at her command, as soon as she but once looks at someone. It seems she wields the highest power, so that everyone waits upon her. See here a rough craftsman: he stirs his limbs as hard as he can, he lets his hand go ceaselessly, and all in order to stand well with her. See there a skipper, for years shut up in a hollow plank, who fears no waves of the sea, no wild coast, no desolate roadstead — and all so that my worthy lady should incline her eyes upon him. The soldier goes at it even harder, for he is not afraid to go where fire and flame cover the sky and carry off a thousand men; he threatens, he acts, he suffers violence — and all only for the dear Money. But the strangest thing I ever heard of, or that ever came into my mind, is that (O shame!) a young maiden stakes the flower of her maidenhood, gives the flower of her maidenhood to one who has no right to it (a flower that never returns once it has been dishonoured) — not from the urge of sweet love, but for this golden queen. I see then that the dear money lays down laws for the whole world.

CommentaryAI-generated

34 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)

Nederl. Gelt dat stom is / Maeckt recht dat krom is.

Dutch: Money, which is dumb, makes straight what is crooked.

Penninckx reden klinckt best.

The penny's argument sounds best.

Hoogd. Gelt ist ein gute wahr / sie gilt sommer und winter.

High German: Money is a good commodity; it is valid summer and winter.

Was kan das liebe gelt nicht thun?

What can dear money not do?

Ital. Non trovo amico piu fidaro & caro / Che mi souvenga, com' il mio denaro.

Italian: I find no friend more trusty and dear, that comes to my aid, than my money.

Hoogd. Bar gelt is die losungh.

High German: Cash is the watchword.

Schimlich gelt macht edel.

Mouldy money makes a man noble.

Turcks. Aetgaja hernesne mute edun.

Turkish: All things obey money.

Lat. .i. Pecuniæ obediunt omnia.

Latin: that is, all things obey money.

Franç. Amour faict mout argent faict tout.

French: Love does much, money does everything.

Turcks. Mahaslat malsis olmas.

Turkish: Without money nothing is done.

Lat. .i. sine pecunia nihil fit.

Latin: that is, without money nothing is done.

Hoogd. Es ist alles nur umb das liebe gelt zu thun.

High German: It is all only a matter of the dear money.

Franç. Qui à argent il à bien faire.

French: He who has money has the means to do well.

Ital. Val più una uncia di sorte, che una libra di senno.

Italian: An ounce of luck is worth more than a pound of sense.

Hoogd. Bistu hur oder dieb / Hastu gelt so bistu lieb.

High German: Be you whore or thief, if you have money you are beloved.

Gelt im beutel dutzt den wirt.

Money in the purse addresses the innkeeper familiarly (says 'thou' to the host).

Franç. Il n'est plus d'amys qu'en la bourse.

French: There are no more friends than those in the purse.

Quant argent faut tout faut.

When money fails, everything fails.

Il martel d'argento spezza le porte di ferro.

The silver hammer breaks down doors of iron.

Quei que hanno ducati / Signori sont chiamati.

Those who have ducats are called lords.

Lat. Pecunia si uti scias, ancilla, est si nescis domina.

Latin: Money, if you know how to use it, is a servant; if you do not, it is a mistress.

Nescis quid valeat nummus.

You do not know what a coin is worth.

Ital. Denari fanno correr i cavalli.

Italian: Money makes the horses run.

Denari fanno la guerra.

Money makes war.

Lat. Pecunia nervus belli.

Latin: Money is the sinew of war.

Hoogd. Wenn geldt redt soo schweight alle welt still.

High German: When money speaks, all the world keeps silent.

Griecx. Χρυσοῦ λαλοῦντος, πᾶς ἀπρακτείτω λόγος.

Greek: When gold speaks, let every word be powerless.

Lat. Auro loquênte nil prodest quævis oratio.

Latin: When gold speaks, no speech whatever is of any use.

Ital. Quando l'ora parla la lingua non ha forza.

Italian: When gold speaks, the tongue has no force.

Lat. Aurea nunc verè sunt sæcula plurimus auro. &c.

Latin: Now truly the age is golden: by gold most things (are obtained), etc.

In precio precium &c.

There is value in price (money), etc.

Cicer. Ort. 5. in rem. Nihil tam sanctum quod non violari Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit.

Cicero, Oration 5, to the point: Nothing is so sacred that it cannot be violated, nothing so fortified that it cannot be stormed, by money.

Ioh. Secundus Hagiens. Hæc est illa cui famulatur maximus orbis Diva potens rerum, domitrixque Pecunia fati Telluris magnæ Plutique sacerrima proles, Cujus adorati petierunt sæpè Tyranni Fœdera, sæpè suas spes damnavêre repulsi.

Johannes Secundus of The Hague: This is she whom the greatest world serves, the goddess mighty over things, Money, tamer of fate, most accursed offspring of great Earth and of Plutus, whose adored alliance tyrants have often sought, and often, repulsed, have condemned their own hopes.

Iconclass

31A233 kneeling figure

31AA25161 arm or hand held in front of the chest - AA - both arms or hands

31D13 adolescent, young woman, maiden

31D130 Maidenhood

41A4231 canopy, baldachin

41A777 container of textile material: bag, sack, net

41D267 purse, money-bag

44B1212 throne

44B1511 queen, empress, etc. (wife of a ruler)

44BB113 king - BB - female ruler

44BB191 crown (symbol of sovereignty) - BB - female ruler

45B the soldier; the soldier's life

45C14(AXE) helved weapons, polearms (for striking, hacking, thrusting) (AXE)

46A1632 money-chest, treasure-chest, money-box

46B310 'Pecunia' (Ripa)

46B311 coin

46B321(+0) book-keeping, accountant (+ variant)

46B3311 scales

46B332 weighing gold or money

46C2711 seaman

47D8(HAMMER) tools, aids, implements ~ crafts and industries: hammer

47G(+21) building activities (+ men (labourers))

49MM32 book - MM - book open

53B5 Obedience; 'Obedienza' (Ripa)

53C11 Authority, Power; 'Dominio', 'Giurisdittione' (Ripa)

86(AETGAIA HERNESNE MUTE EDUN) proverbs, sayings, etc. (AETGAIA HERNESNE MUTE EDUN)

86(PECUNIAE OBEDIUNT OMNIA) proverbs, sayings, etc. (PECUNIAE OBEDIUNT OMNIA)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.

46B31 moneyhigh

The entire emblem is about money — heaps of coins, a strongbox, money-bags and the commentary's proverbs that 'all things obey money' — matching the correlate 'money'.

46A1632 money-chest, treasure-chest, money-boxhigh

The large open iron-bound strongbox heaped with coins before the throne is exactly a 'money-chest, treasure-chest, money-box'.

41D267 purse, money-baghigh

Bulging money-bags lie at the enthroned woman's feet and she holds a small purse, matching 'purse, money-bag' (echoed by the proverbs about money in the purse).

46B3311 scaleshigh

A pair of small scales lies on the draped table among the scattered coins, matching the correlate 'scales'.

46B332 weighing gold or moneymedium

The scales set among coins on the counting table imply the weighing of gold or money.

11N34 Covetousness; 'Avaritia' (Ripa) ~ personification of one of the Seven Deadly Sinslow

The enthroned figure amassing coins and the crowd grasping for money evoke Covetousness/'Avaritia', though she is presented as the goddess Pecunia rather than explicitly as the deadly sin.

46B911 briberylow

The commentary's Ciceronian claim that nothing is so sacred it cannot be violated by money, and that whore or thief is loved if moneyed, touches on 'bribery', though no bribe-giving act is clearly depicted.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.

I iii 87 Pecuniae obediunt omnia – direct mottohigh

The emblem's Latin motto is verbatim 'Pecuniæ obediunt omnia' (glossing the Turkish proverb), which is exactly Erasmus's headword I iii 87; the subscriptio's picture of Money as a queen to whom craftsman, skipper, soldier and maiden all submit expounds precisely Erasmus's point that everything, good or bad, is done for money.

III iii 16 Auro loquente nihil pollet quaevis oratio – direct mottohigh

The commentary quotes the adage verbatim in both languages: 'Χρυσοῦ λαλοῦντος, πᾶς ἀπρακτείτω λόγος' and 'Auro loquênte nil prodest quævis oratio', i.e. Erasmus III iii 16, together with its Italian and German equivalents ('Quando l'oro parla...', 'Wenn geldt redt soo schweight alle welt still').

II vii 43 Argenteis hastis pugnare – essay quotehigh

The emblem's commentary cites Cicero: 'Nihil tam sanctum quod non violari, nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit' — the very Ciceronian sentence Erasmus quotes in the essay to II vii 43 to prove that nothing is so hard that money cannot accomplish it.

II viii 35 Pecuniae vir – thematic inventiomedium

The emblem's collected proverbs ('Quei che hanno ducati, Signori sont chiamati', 'Schimlich gelt macht edel', 'Bistu hur oder dieb, hastu gelt so bistu lieb') restate Erasmus's point that a man is valued at exactly what he possesses.

II iv 87 Virtutem et sapientiam vincunt testudines – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus's riddling adage teaches that coin (the Peloponnesian 'turtle') prevails over virtue and wisdom — the same moral as the emblem's enthroned Lady Money before whom even honour and chastity give way.

IV viii 29 Pecuniosus damnari non potest – thematic inventiolow

The Dutch commentary 'Gelt dat stom is maeckt recht dat krom is' and 'Penninckx reden klinckt best' echo Erasmus's theme (from Cicero against Verres) that money bends judgment and law.