Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 100
'T is geneughelick te sien regen als men in 't drooge staetDutch
It is pleasant to watch the rain when one stands in the dry.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
A circular emblem image set in a square frame with a blank banderole beneath. At the right, under the arcade/gallery of a house with a column, a woman in a large ruff and a bearded man in a hat lean out over a balustrade, looking out at the scene, sheltered and dry. Outside, rain pours down in slanting streaks from heavy clouds. In the foreground a woman carrying a yoke with pails has slipped and fallen on her back in a puddle, her skirts spread around her, her pail and barrels rolling away. Behind her several figures hurry through the downpour, one slipping and falling backwards with arms in the air, others covering their heads with cloaks. In the middle distance a stormy sea with a ship tossing among the waves, and on a hill at the left a figure with raised arms beside a wind-blown tree.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
Het is een aengename saeck, En dient veel menschen tot vermaeck, Te sien hoe wint en hagel slaet Wanneer men in het drooge staet, Te sien hoe dat een dicke wolck Komt neder-storten op het volck, En het driftich hemels-nat Maeckt al de paden glibber-glat, Te sien hoe sich een yder mijt, En efter noch ter eerden glijt. 'Tis lustigh van een stille ree Te sien een ongetoomde zee, Te sien haer wonder groot gebaer, Te sien eens anders groot gevaer, Te sien hoe dat een machtich schip Rijst boven aen een hooge klip, En weder in een korten stont Wort af-gedreven nae den gront, En weder met een snelle vlucht Koomt op-gestegen inde lucht. Voorwaer het is dan licht geseyt De lieden hebben geen beleyt, De schipper, of de man te roer, Dat is voorwaer een rechte loer; Wis soo ick stier-man wesen mocht Ick stierd' het schip in geenen bocht, Ick stierd' het schip in geenen kolck, Soo hield' ick 'tschip, en al het volck. Siet dus soo gaetet over al Wanneer men komt in ongeval, Want die gesonde leden heeft, En van de kortse niet en beeft, Weet veeltijts wonder goeden raet, En duysent kruyden voor het quaet; Maer komt hy sellefs int verdriet Soo staet hy daer wel slecht en siet, En kucht dan meer als ymant plach Die oyt van korts te bedde lach; » Want als de noot gaet aen de man » Dan sietmen wat de meester kan.
TranslationAI-generated
It is a pleasant thing, and serves many people as amusement, to see how wind and hail beat down when one stands in the dry; to see how a thick cloud comes pouring down upon the people, and how the driving heavenly wet makes all the paths slippery-smooth; to see how everyone tries to avoid it, and yet still slides to the ground. It is delightful, from a quiet roadstead, to watch an unbridled sea, to see its wondrous great commotion, to see another's great danger, to see how a mighty ship rises up on top of a high crest, and again in a short moment is driven down toward the bottom, and again with a swift flight comes mounting up into the air. Truly it is easy then to say: these people have no skill; the skipper, or the man at the helm, is truly a real dolt; surely, if I might be helmsman, I would steer the ship into no bend, I would steer the ship into no whirlpool, so I would save the ship and all the crew. See, thus it goes everywhere when one meets with misfortune; for he who has healthy limbs and does not shiver with fever knows very often wondrously good advice and a thousand herbs against the evil; but if he himself comes into trouble, then he stands there quite helpless and stares, and coughs then more than anyone ever did who lay in bed with fever; "for when need comes upon the man, then one sees what the master can do."
CommentaryAI-generated
4 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Lat. Facile cum valemus ægris consulimus. Iucunda navigatio juxta terram, ambulatio juxta mare.
Latin. It is easy for us, when we are well, to give advice to the sick. A voyage near the land is pleasant, a walk beside the sea.
Nederl. De beste stuer-luyden zijn aen landt.
Dutch. The best helmsmen are ashore.
Franç. Iammais ne peut manquer la consolation au mal d'autruy.
French. Consolation can never be lacking for another's misfortune.
Voor wint en stroom is goet stieren.
[Marginal note:] Een schipper op de strande, ofte aen de zee-kant staende, sprekende met sijns gelijcke, wijsende op een schip, voor den wint af-komende.
Ey kom, en segh ons, lieve maet Die hier ontrent den oever staet, Hoe gaetet dus met onsen Ian? Hy schijnt nu vry een dapper man, En 'twas maer dees voorlede weeck Dat hy ellendigh stont en keeck; Hy quam met onweer voor de Maes, Daer sat hy doen gelijck een dwaes, De Neer die dreef hem aen den gront, Dies stont de broeck hem dapper ront, Hy badt, hy schreyd', hy riep, hy kreet, Als een die van geen stieren weet; En siet! hy quam doe noch te recht Door by-stant van sijn buer-mans knecht: Maer nu sit hy en koeckeloert Als een die bruylofts gasten voert; Hy schijnt nu meester van den stroom, En leyt het schip al metten toom, Hy maeckt voor al een bly geluyt, En al de wimpels waeyen uyt; Ick bidde daerom goede man, Ey segh ons hier de reden van?
Antwoorde.
Als wint en ty van achter koomt Dan is de schipper onbeschroomt, Dan leyt hy spelen sijn gepeys, Hy singt, hy quinckt, hy drinckt een reys, Hy is te wonder wel gesint, O 'tis goet stieren voor den wint, » Maer als de noot gaet aenden man » Dan sietmen wie het ambacht kan.
Before wind and current it is good steering.
[Marginal note:] A skipper standing on the beach, or on the seashore, speaking with his equal, pointing at a ship coming down before the wind.
Hey, come and tell us, dear mate, who stands here near the shore, how is it going with our Jan? He now seems quite a bold man, and it was only this past week that he stood looking wretched; he came in bad weather off the Maas, and there he sat like a fool; the ebb-current drove him onto the bottom, so that his breeches stood out stiff with fright; he prayed, he wept, he called, he cried, like one who knows nothing of steering; and look! he came off all right after all through the help of his neighbour's servant. But now he sits and gazes about like one who is carrying wedding guests; he now seems master of the current and leads the ship as with a bridle, he makes a merry noise above all, and all the pennants are flying out; I beg you therefore, good man, hey, tell us the reason for this.
Answer.
When wind and tide come from behind, then the skipper is undaunted; then he sits playing with his thoughts, he sings, he chirps, he drinks a round, he is wonderfully well disposed — oh, it is good steering before the wind; "but when need comes upon the man, then one sees who knows the trade."
Iconclass
86('T IS GENEUGHELICK TE SIEN REGEN ALS MEN IN 'T DROOGE STAET)proverbs, sayings, etc. ('T IS GENEUGHELICK TE SIEN REGEN ALS MEN IN 'T DROOGE STAET)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
26BrainhighThe correlate 'rain' directly matches the central weather event of the emblem, with rain pouring down on all the figures outdoors.
26B4downpour, rain showerhighThe correlate 'downpour, rain shower' fits the depicted heavy slanting rain that drives people to run, slip and cover their heads with cloaks.
26A32nimbus, i.e. rain cloudsmediumThe correlate 'nimbus, i.e. rain clouds' matches the heavy clouds from which the rain is shown falling in the scene.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- I vi 68 Facile, cum valemus, recta consilia aegrotius damus – direct mottohigh
The emblem's Latin commentary gives as its equivalent proverb 'Facile cum valemus ægris consulimus', i.e. the Terentian adage recorded by Erasmus; the subscriptio elaborates exactly this point (the healthy man knows a thousand remedies until he himself falls ill).
- III ii 93 Quid Achivos a turre judicatis? – thematic inventiohigh
Erasmus explains this adage as applying to 'those who, placed in safety themselves, pass judgment on those who are in a post of danger... who sit idly on a tower or wall and watch others fighting, finding in many a lack of courage or skill' — precisely the emblem's sheltered spectators who declare the skipper a 'rechte loer' and claim they could steer better.
- I i 46 In portu navigare – thematic inventiomedium
The subscriptio's central image — watching the 'ongetoomde zee' and the ship tossing on the waves from a 'stille ree' (quiet roadstead), mirrored in the picture's storm-tossed ship seen from a dry gallery — is the very metaphor Erasmus expounds for being safe in harbour while others are at the mercy of winds and waves ('Ego in portu navigo').
- II ix 71 Innocuus alium aspiciam meum habentem malum – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus's gloss ('I shall learn from other men's misfortunes... Happy is he who learns wisdom at another's cost') matches the emblem's pleasure in beholding 'eens anders groot gevaer' from a position of safety.
- II v 38 Aliorum medicus, ipse ulceribus scates – thematic inventiomedium
The closing moral — the healthy man has 'duysent kruyden voor het quaet' but is helpless when fever strikes him — is the adage's point about those who physic and correct others while full of sores themselves; Erasmus treats it under the same locus 'Aliis sapere'.
- III viii 64 Extra periculum ferox – thematic inventiomedium
The emblem's boastful onlooker who would steer the ship through any whirlpool, and the skipper who is 'onbeschroomt' only when wind and tide are behind him, illustrate bravery that lasts only while danger is far off.
- II ii 88 De alieno ludis corio – thematic inventiolow
The dry spectators judge and advise freely because the risk is wholly another's; Erasmus classes this adage under 'Alieno periculo', the locus governing the emblem's moral.
- I ii 81 Extra lutum pedes habes – thematic inventiolow
The picture literally contrasts those slipping in the rain-soaked, muddy street with the couple standing dry under the arcade — Erasmus's image of having one's feet out of the mire, i.e. safely out of danger, taken from travellers.
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem100
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem100
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288