Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 88
l' Ignorance corre, la Prudenza lentamente segue il passoItalian
Ignorance runs, Prudence slowly follows at a walking pace.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
Inside a square plate with a thick circular dark band and four corner triangles, two figures stand on a grassy foreground before an open landscape with distant towers and a walled town. At the left a woman in a long flowing gown with loose curling hair walks sedately, looking left; she holds an open book in her right hand and a pointer or stylus in her left, and a long feathered plume rises behind her. At the right a grotesque figure strides forward with a large owl's head, broad outspread feathered wings, a tall feather in its cap, a ragged jester-like costume hung with little bells at the belt and ankles, and pointed slashed shoes; it raises a fool's sceptre (marotte) topped with a small capped head, around which a serpent twines, and carries a pouch or bagpipe-like bundle. At the bottom of the plate hangs an empty scroll-shaped banderole.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
Siet hoe Vrou dvvaesheyt rent, siet hoese komt getreden, Hoe los is haer gelaet! hoe ras sijn hare schreden! Sy loopt, sy ketst, sy swiert, soo datse niet en let Waer sy haer gangen stiert, of hare voeten set. Siet in het tegendeel, en weeght met rijpe sinnen, Hoe traegh de wijsheyt gaet, eer datse wil beginnen, Let hoese met bescheyt haer gantsche wegen meet, Hoe seker datse stapt, hoe sedigh datse treet; De dwaesheyt is gewoon in haesten uyt te springen; De wijsheyt is bedacht, en let op alle dingen; De dwaesheyt tijt te werck, en snelt haer tot de reys; De wijsheyt vordert niet als naer een diep gepeys: Dit wijst ons dese prent, en 'tstaet ons aen te mercken, Het zy wy met het lijf of met de sinnen wercken; Want die sijn dingen doet in haest en metter vlucht, Ten kan niet anders sijn als dat hy naemaels sucht. Beslapen raet heeft gront: het duyster en de nachten Zijn moeders van gepeys, en voedtsters van gedachten, Dus schoon ghy wonder seer tot yet genegen zijt, Ghy des al niet-te-min beveeltet aenden tijt.
TranslationAI-generated
See how Lady Folly runs, see how she comes striding, how loose is her bearing! how swift are her steps! She runs, she skips, she whirls, so that she pays no heed where she directs her going or sets her feet. See on the contrary, and weigh it with ripe senses, how slowly Wisdom goes before she will begin; note how discreetly she measures her whole way, how surely she steps, how soberly she treads. Folly is wont to spring out in haste; Wisdom is deliberate and attends to everything; Folly sets to work and hurries herself to the journey; Wisdom goes forward only after deep reflection. This the print shows us, and it is for us to observe, whether we work with the body or with the mind; for he who does his business in haste and on the fly, it cannot be otherwise than that he sighs for it afterwards. Counsel slept upon has ground beneath it: the dark and the night are mothers of reflection and nurses of thoughts; so, however wonderfully eager you may be for something, nonetheless commit it to time.
CommentaryAI-generated
42 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Het beeldt soude moghen zijn een voer-man op sijn wagen omsiende, ende een pack achter in de wege gevallen liggende.
The picture might be a carter on his wagon looking back, and a bundle lying fallen behind him in the road.
Ital. Caval corrente, sepulture aperta.
Italian: A running horse, an open grave.
Franç. Cheval courant, sepulture ouverte.
French: A running horse, an open grave.
Qui à la barbe grise doit estre des disciples de sainct Thomas.
He who has a grey beard ought to be one of the disciples of Saint Thomas.
Ital. Poco à poco van à lexos y corriendo à mal lugar.
Little by little they go far, and by running they go to a bad place.
Franç. Peu à peu va-on bien loing & en courrant en mauvaise place.
French: Little by little one goes very far, and by running into a bad place.
Qui est resolu est fol.
He who is (too quickly) resolved is a fool.
Ital. Che misura i suoi passi, camina sicuro.
Italian: He who measures his steps walks safely.
Lat. Celeritas infamis naufragijs: festinationis comes poenitentia.
Latin: Speed is notorious for shipwrecks: repentance is the companion of haste.
Ital. Il tiempo consiglia.
Italian: Time gives counsel.
Franç. Qui à un an veut estre riche à la moitié on le pend: à demande hastive, responce tardive.
French: He who wants to be rich within a year, at the half year he is hanged: to a hasty question, a slow answer.
Nederl. Een haestigh man moet op een esel rijden.
Dutch: A hasty man ought to ride on an ass.
Ital. Non istudia à voto chi conta ben ogni sua parola.
Italian: He does not study in vain who weighs well every one of his words.
Lat. Frequentior currentibus quam repentibus lapsus.
Latin: A fall is more frequent for those who run than for those who creep.
Nederl. Rijt voort maer siet om.
Dutch: Ride on, but look behind you.
Ital. La notte è madre dé consigli.
Italian: The night is the mother of counsels.
Hoogd. Schneller rath viel rewen had.
High German: Quick counsel has caused much regret.
Eyl mit weil.
Hasten with leisure.
Lat. Fungus est quod una nocte nascitur.
Latin: It is a mushroom, what is born in a single night.
Hoogd. Eile sehr / brach den hals.
High German: Hurry much, break your neck.
Ital. I secundi pensieri sono i migliori.
Italian: Second thoughts are the best.
Lat. Posteriores cogitationes sapientiores habentur at contra.
Latin: Later thoughts are held to be wiser, but also the contrary.
Quid rectè factum velis tempori trade.
Whatever you would have rightly done, entrust to time.
Nederl. Met goet ghemack raeckt men oock voort.
Dutch: With good ease one also gets ahead.
Men sal soo haest gaen als lopen.
One will get there as soon by walking as by running.
Nederl. Haest en is geen spoet.
Dutch: Haste is not speed.
Snelle raet selden baet.
Quick counsel seldom profits.
Snelle raet noyt goede daet.
Quick counsel, never a good deed.
Yl met wijl.
Hasten with leisure.
Hoogd. Die besten gedanken kommen allweg hinden nach.
High German: The best thoughts always come afterwards.
Nederl. Vecht koel / en een half uyr te langer.
Dutch: Fight coolly, and half an hour the longer.
Een goe wegh om / en is geen krom.
A good way round is no crooked way.
Sacht gaen / en verre sien.
Go gently, and see far.
Festina lentè. Lat.
Make haste slowly.
Per troppo speronar la fuga è tarda. Ital.
Through too much spurring the flight is slow.
Da spacium tenuemq; moram mala cuncta ministrat. Impetus. Lat.
Allow space and a slight delay: impulse supplies all evils.
Ἀμαθία μὲν θράσος, λογισμὸς δ' ὄκνον φέρει. Griecx.
Greek: Ignorance brings boldness, but calculation brings hesitation.
Inscitia fiduciam, prudentia cunctationem gignit. Thucyd. Lips. in not. polit.
Ignorance begets confidence, prudence begets delay. Thucydides; Lipsius in his notes on the Politics.
Peccat penè necessariò qui festinat. Lips. 5. Polit. cap. 15.
He who hastens errs almost of necessity. Lipsius, Politics book 5, chapter 15.
Animus vereri qui scit scit tutò aggredi. Mimus.
The mind that knows how to fear knows how to attack safely. (From the Mimes / Publilius Syrus.)
Oportet deliberare lentè. Aristot. lib. 6. Eth. cap. 9.
One ought to deliberate slowly. Aristotle, Ethics book 6, chapter 9.
Ceux qui vont bellement ne choppent pas volontiers. Il faut deliberer & resoudre à loisir & lentement. Pier. Math. l. 1. fol. 43. Franç.
French: Those who go gently do not readily stumble. One must deliberate and resolve at leisure and slowly. Pierre Matthieu, book 1, folio 43.
Iconclass
86(L'IGNORANCE CORRE, LA PRUDENZA LENTAMENTE SEGUE IL PASSO)proverbs, sayings, etc. (L'IGNORANCE CORRE, LA PRUDENZA LENTAMENTE SEGUE IL PASSO)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
51M12HastehighThe correlate 'Haste' is the central vice warned against throughout the commentary ('Hasten with leisure', 'Haste is not speed', 'repentance is the companion of haste').
52AA51Folly, Foolishness; 'Pazzia', 'Sciocchezza', 'Stoltitia' (Ripa)high'Folly, Foolishness' matches the owl-headed jester with bells, marotte and slashed shoes, embodying the maxim 'He who is (too quickly) resolved is a fool'.
52A2Forethought, Deliberation; 'Previdenza', 'Providenza' (Ripa)medium'Forethought, Deliberation' fits the sedately walking woman with book and stylus opposed to the fool, and the repeated advice to deliberate slowly and at leisure.
11M41Prudence, 'Prudentia'; 'Prudenza' (Ripa) ~ one of the Four Cardinal Virtuesmedium'Prudence' as a cardinal virtue personification suits the dignified female figure with book, counterpart to Folly, and the commentary's 'prudence begets delay'.
86proverbs, sayings, etc.medium'Proverbs, sayings, etc.' matches the commentary, which is a compilation of multilingual proverbs on haste and deliberation, paired with a (blank) banderole.
57A41Regretlow'Regret' is thematized in the commentary ('Quick counsel has caused much regret', 'repentance is the companion of haste') though not personified in the image.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- II i 1 Festina lente – direct mottohigh
The emblem's commentary explicitly lists "Festina lentè. Lat." alongside its German equivalents "Eyl mit weil" and Dutch "Yl met wijl"; the whole emblem (Folly running, Prudence walking) is an exposition of Erasmus' most famous adage on hastening slowly.
- III v 60 Qui nimium properat, serius absoluit – thematic inventiohigh
The Dutch proverbs collected in the commentary — "Haest en is geen spoet", "Men sal soo haest gaen als lopen", "Snelle raet selden baet" — are exactly the sense of Erasmus' adage that excessive haste finishes later, and the subscriptio's moral that hasty work brings later sighing restates it.
- II iii 70 Antequam incipias, consulta – essay quotehigh
The emblem's commentary cites "Oportet deliberare lentè. Aristot. lib. 6. Eth. cap. 9", which is precisely the Aristotelian dictum (βουλεύεσθαι δὲ βραδέως, deliberate slowly) that Erasmus quotes from Nicomachean Ethics 6 in this adage's essay, and which he there cross-references to Festina lente.
- II ii 43 In nocte consilium – direct mottomedium
The commentary gives "La notte è madre dé consigli" and the subscriptio "Beslapen raet heeft gront: het duyster en de nachten / Zijn moeders van gepeys" — a direct vernacular rendering of Erasmus' adage that night brings counsel.
- III i 53 A fronte atque a tergo – thematic inventiomedium
The second motto "Rijdt voort, maer siet om" (ride on, but look behind) with its carter looking backwards embodies the Homeric prudence of looking πρόσσω καὶ ὀπίσσω, forward and backward at once, which Erasmus glosses as careful comparison of past with present.
- II ii 35 Canis festinans caecos parit catulos – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus' adage that over-hasty production yields imperfect results matches the emblem's doctrine that what is done "in haest en metter vlucht" is afterwards regretted, and the related maxim quoted here, "Fungus est quod una nocte nascitur".
- V ii 28 In arduis contanter agendum – thematic inventiolow
Erasmus' point that one must not make hasty decisions in difficult enterprises corresponds to the emblem's Wisdom who "vordert niet als naer een diep gepeys" and to "Il faut deliberer & resoudre à loisir & lentement".
- IV vi 12 Timidi mater non flet – thematic inventiolow
The emblem's Publilius Syrus tag "Animus vereri qui scit scit tutò aggredi" expresses the same doctrine as Erasmus' adage that the cautious, fearful man avoids disaster while the reckless perish.
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem088
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem088
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288