Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)

Elck weet waer hem de schoen wringtDutch
Everyone knows where his shoe pinches him.AI-generated
An oval medallion scene set in a richly curtained interior. A crowned king in furred and patterned robes sits on a throne on a dais, holding a sceptre or staff across his shoulder; he leans forward and points downward with his right hand while stretching out his bare left leg. A kneeling young page or servant in a short tunic grasps the king's foot and pulls off (or puts on) a shoe; a pair of discarded shoes lies on the carpeted floor in the foreground. Behind the throne stand several bearded, turbaned and robed courtiers or counsellors, with another half-hidden figure at the far left. At the right a tall bearded man in a plumed cap and a wide mantle gestures toward the king. Below the medallion is an empty banderole, and the whole is framed by a square border with triangular corner ornaments.

Ghy prijst, ô vrient, de nieuwe schoen, Die ghy siet aen mijn voeten doen, Ghy siet het leer is wonder net, En aerdigh nae den voet geset; Ghy siet een wonder schoonen naet Die geestich om de sole gaet; Ghy siet, in plaetse van een bant, Een roos geçiert met diamant; Ghy siet in als een meester-stuck, En stelt dit onder mijn geluck. Maer ghy, die dit van buyten siet En voelt het innigh prangen niet, Van buyten schijnt het moy te zijn, Maer binnen is een stille pijn, Een pijn die my geduerigh wringht, En mijn geheele vreught bedwinght. Men oordeelt dickmaels eenigh mensch Als of hy hadt sijn 'sherten wensch, En daerom wort ons eygen staet By ons mis-presen of gehaet; Maer soo men waerheyt spreken mach, Dit is voorwaer een quade slach; Want hy, dien ghy geluckich hiet, Heeft dickmael eenich stil verdriet, Heeft dickmael, ick en weet niet wat, Dat ghy van buyten niet en vat; Maer soo ghy eens ter degen saeght Hoe dat sijn herte leyt en jaeght, Hoe dat hy binnen is gestelt, En wat hem in den boesem quelt, Ghy soudt misschien u swaersten druck Verheffen boven sijn geluck. Gelooftet vry, al draegh' ick schoon Een prachtich kleet, een goude kroon, En boven dien een konings staff, Al dat en weert geen hooft-sweer aff; Ick ben, eylaes! ick ben gequelt, En dickmael wonder vreemt gestelt, Ick voele, jae een swaer verdriet Schoon dattet yder niet en siet, Ick voele dat my binnen wringht, »Ten is geen gout al watter blinckt.
You praise, O friend, the new shoe that you see put on my feet; you see the leather is wonderfully neat, and nicely fitted to the foot; you see a wonderfully fine seam that runs cleverly around the sole; you see, instead of a band, a rose adorned with a diamond; you see in all a masterpiece, and you count this among my good fortune. But you, who see this from the outside and do not feel the inward pinching: from outside it seems to be pretty, but within there is a silent pain, a pain that constantly wrings me and restrains all my joy. Often one judges some person as if he had his heart's desire, and therefore our own condition is misprized or hated by us; but if one may speak the truth, this is indeed a bad habit; for he whom you called fortunate often has some silent sorrow, often has — I know not what — something that you do not grasp from the outside; but if you once looked properly at how his heart lies racing, how he is disposed within, and what torments him in his bosom, you would perhaps exalt your heaviest affliction above his good fortune. Believe it freely: although I wear a splendid garment, a golden crown, and besides that a king's staff, all that does not ward off a headache; I am, alas! I am tormented, and often very strangely disposed; I feel, yes, a heavy grief, although not everyone sees it; I feel that something wrings me within. »It is not all gold that glitters.«
Franç. Chacun sent mieux son souluier.
French: Everyone feels his own shoe best.
Chacun sent mieux ce que à l'œil luy pend. Franç.
Everyone best feels what hangs before his own eye. French.
Lat. Nescis qua parte me calceus urgeat.
Latin: You do not know in what part the shoe pinches me.
La douleur travaille aussi bien les testes couronnés que celles qui sont nues.
Pain afflicts crowned heads just as much as those that are bare.
D. D. Rochus Honard. Thamara. ---- muricis sacri nitor Gemmæ rubentis munus augustum sali Suffulta cedro tecta, cedrus divite Auro revincta, fluctuantem pectoris Non sistit æstum. glissit ex lætis malum Et in beatos gravius insurgit dolor.
D. D. Rochus Honard, Thamara: ... the gleam of the sacred purple, the august gift of the reddening gem for the throne, roofs supported on cedar, cedar bound about with rich gold — these do not still the surging heat of the breast. Evil has slipped out of joyful things, and grief rises more heavily upon the blessed.
Pierre Mathieu. La tristesse & l'ennuy se mesle aussi bien parmy les honneurs & grandeurs, qu'aux basses conditions.
Pierre Mathieu: Sadness and vexation mingle just as much among honours and greatness as among low conditions.
Buchananus Jephte 5. Præclara dictu res, honor, victoria, Decus, triumphus, parta bello gloria At quæ videntur fronte prima suavia, Eadem intuere propius, & intelleges Condita fellis acri amaritudine. Fortuna nulli sic refulsit prospera Adversa ut illam lance non penset pari Tristia secundis, & secunda tristibus Vicissitudo acerba sortis temperat.
Buchanan, Jephthah 5: Splendid things to speak of — honour, victory, distinction, triumph, glory won in war; but the things that seem sweet at first sight, look at the same more closely and you will understand that they are seasoned with the sharp bitterness of gall. Prosperous fortune has shone upon no one in such a way that adversity does not weigh it in an equal balance; the bitter vicissitude of fate tempers sad things with happy and happy things with sad.
Horat. ----- neque lictor Dimovet mentis miseros tumultus.
Horace: ... nor does the lictor drive away the wretched tumults of the mind.
Idem. Post equitem sedet atra cura.
The same: Behind the horseman sits black care.
86(ELCK WEET WAER HEM DE SCHOEN WRINGT) proverbs, sayings, etc. (ELCK WEET WAER HEM DE SCHOEN WRINGT)Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
44B192 sceptre, staff (symbol of sovereignty)highThe enthroned crowned king holds a sceptre/staff across his shoulder, matching 'sceptre, staff (symbol of sovereignty)'.
44B152 royal household; courtiers, retinue, trainhighSeveral bearded, turbaned counsellors stand behind the throne and a courtier gestures at the right, matching 'royal household; courtiers, retinue, train'.
54F Fortune and MisfortunemediumThe commentary's theme that 'prosperous fortune has shone upon no one in such a way that adversity does not weigh it in an equal balance' corresponds to the personified concept 'Fortune and Misfortune'.
54FF Fortune and Misfortune (opposing concepts)lowThe text explicitly pairs happy and sad vicissitudes of fate, which could be rendered as the opposing concepts of Fortune and Misfortune, though neither is personified in the image.
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
Erasmus' adage quotes Plutarch's saying that 'a sandal does not cure gout, nor an expensive ring a hangnail, nor a diadem a headache'; Cats's king, while having his shoe put on, says precisely that a splendid robe, golden crown and royal staff 'does not ward off a headache' (al dat en weert geen hooft-sweer aff), i.e. that fortune's gifts do not remove pain. Both the shoe and the diadem/headache elements coincide.
The subscriptio closes with 'Ten is geen gout al watter blinckt' and dwells on a fine exterior concealing a different inner reality, which matches Erasmus' gold-plated copper as an image of 'openly displaying one attitude and concealing another within', though Cats applies it to hidden suffering rather than insincerity.
Erasmus' 'golden fetters' designate the splendid but constraining life of courts and kings; Cats's crowned speaker, surrounded by courtiers, complains that crown, robe and sceptre bring a constant inward pinching that 'restrains all my joy'.
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem099
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem099
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288