Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 91
Es is nit rath dass man narren uber eyer setzeGerman
It is not advisable to set fools over eggs.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
Within a square frame enclosing a large dark circular border, a landscape scene. In the right foreground a grotesque fool in a jester's hood with bells and ass-ears squats on the ground amid a nest of straw full of eggs; he holds a cracked egg in his left hand from which the contents run out onto the ground, where several broken eggshells lie, and he points downward with his right hand. In the left middle distance an old bearded man in a broad hat and cloak stands beside a veiled woman in a long dark gown who stretches out her arm and points toward the fool. Clouds with rays of light and a few birds fill the sky; on the right horizon are trees and the towers and spires of a town.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
Siet daer! ist nu niet wel gemaeckt? De nar is opten nest geraeckt, De nar, eylaes! ô lieve vrient, De nar is daer hy niet en dient; Men gaf hem eyers uyt te broen, En dat is door hem niet te doen, Hier diende toe een geestigh man Die teere dingen vieren kan, Die acht op alle saecken slaet, En in sijn doen wel seecker gaet; Maer dese quant is al te los, Hy vielder op gelijck een os, En satter op gelijck een koe, Dies siet hy nu 'ken weet niet hoe, Hy is begaet, bestruyft, bedot, Ey siet! dus vaertmen met een sot, Dus vaertmen alsmen gecken sent, Daer niet als wijsheyt dient ontrent. Wel soo daer yet door goet beleyt Dient af-gedaen of aen-geseyt, Ten moet noch geck noch rouwen gast, Ten moet geen plompaert zijn belast, Want schoon men hen al wel berecht Noch gaen de saecken wonder slecht, En waer het stuck sich wat verdraeyt, Daer isset al-te-mael bekaeyt. Ghy daerom, vrienden, tot besluyt, Sendt niet als wijse lieden uyt, Sendt niet als mannen van beleyt, » Een wijs gesandt, en niet geseyt.
TranslationAI-generated
Look there! isn't that nicely done now? The fool has got onto the nest, The fool, alas! O dear friend, The fool is where he is of no use; They gave him eggs to hatch out, And that is nothing he can do, For this a clever man was needed, One who knows how to handle delicate things, Who pays attention to all matters, And goes about his business securely; But this fellow is far too careless, He fell on them like an ox, And sat on them like a cow, So now he looks I know not how, He is bedaubed, besmeared, befouled, Ay, see! that is how one fares with a fool, That is how one fares when one sends idiots Where nothing but wisdom is required. Well then, when something by good management Must be settled or delivered, Neither a fool nor a coarse guest must do it, No blockhead must be charged with it, For however well one instructs them Still the matters go wonderfully badly, And if the affair takes any turn, There it is altogether bungled. Therefore you, friends, in conclusion, Send out none but wise people, Send out none but men of judgement, » A wise man sent, and nothing said.
CommentaryAI-generated
20 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Embia al sabio à la Embaxada, y no le digas nada.
Send the wise man on the embassy, and say nothing to him.
Envoyez le sage à l'ambassade & ne luy ditez rien.
Send the wise man on the embassy and tell him nothing.
Mitte sapientem & dic pauca.
Send a wise man, and say little.
Ach caveat ne quid rudibus committat asellis Qui benè curatas res volet esse suas.
Ah, let him beware of entrusting anything to crude little asses, whoever wishes his affairs to be well managed.
Die over 'tmolcken gaet / Moet weten wat de klocke slaet.
He who goes about the milking must know what the clock strikes.
Daer geschiet veel ramp / maer dwasen krijgent meest.
Much misfortune happens, but fools get the most of it.
Ne faictez messagers des fols.
Do not make messengers of fools.
Weet of rust.
Know, or keep still.
Steeckt gheen vinger in eens dwasens mont.
Put no finger in a fool's mouth.
Bien est fol qui à fol demande sens.
He is indeed a fool who asks sense of a fool.
Non ex omni ligno fit Mercurius.
Not out of every piece of wood is a Mercury made.
Magna negotia viris magnis committenda.
Great affairs are to be entrusted to great men.
'Tis beter te gaen tot smits / als tot smeetjens.
It is better to go to the smith than to the little smith (the apprentice).
Prov. 9. 17. Quel est le vinaigre aux dens la fumée, aux yeux tel est le paresseux à ceux qui l'envoye.
Prov. 9:17. As vinegar is to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.
Prov. 26. 6. Qui mande messages par un fol se coupe les pieds & voit la peine du tort qu'il c'est faict.
Prov. 26:6. He who sends messages by a fool cuts off his own feet and suffers the penalty of the harm he has done himself.
Syr. 22. 2. Le paresseux ressemble au fient d'un fumier quiconque le levera secourra sa main.
Sirach 22:2. The sluggard is like the dung of a dunghill; whoever picks it up will shake his hand.
Syr. 20. 21. Vn grave propos partant de la bouche d'un fol perd sa valeur car il ne la dict point en temps & lieu.
Sirach 20:21. A weighty saying coming from the mouth of a fool loses its worth, for he does not say it in due time and place.
Prov. 26. 6. Wie sijn saecke door een dwaesachtige bode uyt-recht / die is gelijck een die lam is aende voeten / ende neemt schade.
Prov. 26:6. He who carries out his business by a foolish messenger is like one who is lame in the feet, and suffers harm.
Richter. axiom. hist. 91. ubi exempla vide in utramque partem.
Richter, Historical Axioms 91, where you may see examples on both sides.
Magna negotia à magnis auctoribus volunt geri.
Great affairs wish to be carried out by great authors (agents).
Iconclass
86(ES IS NIT RATH DASS MAN NARREN UBER EYER SETZE)proverbs, sayings, etc. (ES IS NIT RATH DASS MAN NARREN UBER EYER SETZE)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
31B9wise men versus foolshighThe correlate 'wise men versus fools' matches the scene's contrast between the bearded old sage and veiled woman on one side and the bell-capped, ass-eared fool breaking eggs on the other, which the commentary develops as 'send the wise man... make no messengers of fools'.
31B7wise manmediumThe 'wise man' correlate corresponds to the old bearded man in hat and cloak who embodies the commentary's 'send the wise man on the embassy'.
52AA51Folly, Foolishness; 'Pazzia', 'Sciocchezza', 'Stoltitia' (Ripa)mediumThe grotesque jester with bells and ass-ears wasting eggs is a personification of Folly/Foolishness, the subject of the whole commentary on fools.
46E1messengermediumThe correlate 'messenger' matches the emblem's central argument that errands and embassies must not be entrusted to fools ('He who sends messages by a fool cuts off his own feet').
32A46sluggardlowThe 'sluggard' correlate is explicitly invoked by the quoted proverbs ('as vinegar to the teeth... so is the sluggard to those who send him'), though the picture shows a fool rather than a distinct sluggard figure.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- II v 47 Ne a quovis ligno Mercurius fiat – essay quotehigh
Among the emblem's marginal proverbs stands the verbatim Latin adage 'Non ex omni ligno fit Mercurius,' Erasmus' adage (II v 47) on the fact that not every material is suitable for a noble purpose — exactly the emblem's point that not every man is fit to be entrusted with a delicate task or an embassy.
- I vi 21 Cantherium in fossa – thematic inventiolow
Erasmus explains the proverb as applying 'whenever someone is obliged to do what he is quite incapable of,' which matches the emblem's fool set over eggs, who falls on them 'like an ox' because the task is beyond him; the accompanying distich about entrusting things to 'rudibus asellis' strengthens the donkey association.
- I vi 15 In dolio figularem artem discere – thematic inventiolow
Erasmus (citing Dicaearchus) uses the adage to urge that each task be handled by the man trained for it and that risky, valuable matters not be given to the unpractised — the moral of the fool who is given eggs to hatch and ruins them.
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem091
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem091
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288