Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)

Emblem 104

Subscriptio

CommentaryAI-generated

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

Nederl. Wijt gapen en bijt niet / Veel blasen en snijt niet. Sy en bijten niet al / die haer tanden laten sien. Op sijn spaens / braef aen komen / maer soetjens vertrecken. Hy wilse sieden en braden / en alster op aen komt soo bijt hy als een gans. Franç. Chat miauleur, ne fut onques bon chasseur, non plus qu'homme sage caquetteur. Spaens. A mucha parola, obra poco. Ital. Can che baja, non vuol nocer. Hoogd. Hüner die viel gaßen / legen wenig eyer. Ital. Dove è manco cor, quivi è piu lingua. Franç. De grands vanteurs, Petits faiseurs. Hoogd. Wenn die wort seite schlügen / so wer er ein dapffer mann. Lat. Vasa inania plurimum tinniunt. Nederl. Dreygers vechten niet. Leelick sien bijt niet. Het dreyghen is der ghedreygden geweer. Bloode honden bassen veel. Een gedreygt man leeft seve jaer. Die van dreyghen sterft salmen met veesten beluyen. Schurfde schapen bleeten meest. Hoogd. Die kühe die sehr prüllen / geben wenig milch. Hunde die sehr bellen / beissen nicht. Hoogd. Stille wasser sind gerne tieff. Franç. A drap meschant Belle monstre devant. Lat. Iam senectus mundi est quæ est garrula. Magis metuendi taciturni & lenes, quam feroces & clamatores. Nederl. De luppende katten halen 't vleys uytten pot. Franç. La langue longue, signe de main courte. Lat. Minarum strepitus Asinorum crepitus. Validior vox operis, quam oris. Nederl. Hoe meerder liefde / hoe minder spraeck. Lat. Parturient montes nascetur ridiculus mus. Lat. Quid dignum tanto dabit hic promissor hiatu? Nederl. Veel vlaggen luttel boters. Hoogh gheheven / maer in't leste een broeck vol wints. Ital. La più guasta rota del carro fa sempre major strepito. Dove è manco cuor, quivi è piu lingua. Assai rumor, è poca lana. Hoogd. Grosse wort und nichts dar hinder. Lat. Lingua quam manu promptior. Ital. Le parole non bastano. Nederl. De volle koren-hairen hangen laegst. Tacit. Ignavissimus quisque & in periculo minimum ausurus nimijs verbis linguæ feroces. Idem. Vt quisque ignavus animo, procax ore. Curt. Canis timidus vehementius latrat quam mordet. Ovid. Quid verbis opus est: spectemur agendo. Richt. Axiom. œcon. 221. Multa verba, modica fides.

Dutch: Gaping wide and not biting / much blowing and not cutting. — Not all bite who show their teeth. — In the Spanish manner: coming on bravely, but retreating softly. — He wants to boil and roast them, and when it comes to the point he bites like a goose. French: A mewing cat was never a good hunter, no more than a chattering man is wise. Spanish: Much talk, little work. Italian: A dog that barks will not hurt. German: Hens that cackle much lay few eggs. Italian: Where there is least heart, there is most tongue. French: Great boasters, small doers. German: If words struck blows, he would be a brave man. Latin: Empty vessels make the most noise. Dutch: Threateners do not fight. — Looking ugly does not bite. — Threatening is the weapon of the threatened. — Cowardly dogs bark much. — A threatened man lives seven years. — He who dies of threats shall be tolled to his grave with farts. — Scabby sheep bleat most. German: Cows that bellow much give little milk. — Dogs that bark much do not bite. German: Still waters are usually deep. French: Bad cloth makes a fine show in front. Latin: It is now the old age of the world, which is talkative. — The silent and gentle are more to be feared than the fierce and the shouters. Dutch: The lapping cats get the meat out of the pot. French: A long tongue, a sign of a short hand. Latin: The noise of threats is the braying of asses. — Stronger is the voice of deed than of mouth. Dutch: The more love, the less talk. Latin: The mountains will be in labour, a ridiculous mouse will be born. Latin: What will this promiser produce worthy of so great a gaping mouth? Dutch: Many flags, little butter. — Raised high, but in the end a pair of breeches full of wind. Italian: The most worn-out wheel of the cart always makes the greatest noise. — Where there is least heart, there is most tongue. — Much noise and little wool. German: Big words and nothing behind them. Latin: Readier with the tongue than with the hand. Italian: Words are not enough. Dutch: The fullest ears of corn hang lowest. Tacitus: The most cowardly, who would dare least in danger, are fierce with excessive words of the tongue. The same: The more cowardly a man is in spirit, the more insolent in speech. Curtius: A timid dog barks more fiercely than it bites. Ovid: What need of words? Let us be judged by our deeds. Richter, Axiomata oeconomica 221: Many words, little faith.

Iconclass

• 86(DE GANS BLAEST WEL, MAER EN BIJT NIET) proverbs, sayings, etc. (DE GANS BLAEST WEL, MAER EN BIJT NIET)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

• 34B2332 geese (domestic waterbirds)high

  The correlate 'geese (domestic waterbirds)' matches the flock of five or six hissing geese with outstretched necks that dominates the right of the scene.

• 25I41 windmill in landscapehigh

  'Windmill in landscape' matches the large post windmill set in the flat landscape with trees, water and a town skyline.

• 47D31 windmillmedium

  'Windmill' applies to the prominently depicted post windmill with its sails as a structure in the background.

• 45C13(RAPIER) hacking and thrusting weapons: rapiermedium

  'Hacking and thrusting weapons: rapier' matches the thin rapier carried by the richly dressed man.

• 57AA645 Boast; 'Iattanza' (Ripa)high

  'Boast; Iattanza (Ripa)' captures the emblem's core theme of the swaggering braggart whose 'great boasts' amount to 'small doings'.

• 54AA8 Cowardicehigh

  'Cowardice' matches the moral of the many proverbs quoted (threateners do not fight; the greatest coward is fiercest with his tongue) and the man fleeing from geese.

• 32A42 cowardmedium

  'Coward' fits the depicted finely dressed man who, despite his rapier, recoils in fright from hissing geese.

• 57AA644 Arrogance; 'Arroganza' (Ripa)low

  'Arrogance' is a secondary fit for the strutting, 'Spanish-fashion' swaggerer with big words and nothing behind them.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

• I ix 14 Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus – direct mottohigh

  The accompanying subscriptio is headed exactly "Parturiunt montes." and narrates the whole fable of the pregnant mountains bringing forth a mouse; the commentary also cites "Parturient montes nascetur ridiculus mus" verbatim as a Latin parallel to the goose-motto.

• III vii 100 Canes timidi vehementius latrant – essay quotehigh

  The commentary quotes "Curt. Canis timidus vehementius latrat quam mordet" — precisely the Curtius sentence in the form in which Erasmus gives it in this adage's essay, and the adage's point (Thrasones threaten loudly but act little; the deepest rivers run quietest) matches both the motto and the Dutch/German parallels "Bloode honden bassen veel / Hunde die sehr bellen beissen nicht / Stille wasser sind gerne tieff."

• I x 88 Complurium thriorum ego strepitum audivi – thematic inventiomedium

  Erasmus explains this adage as expressing contempt for threats and empty bluster — a crackling noise frightening only those who have not heard it before — exactly the structure of the emblem, where the goose's hiss terrifies at first and proves to be "al maer enckel wint."

• I vi 40 Leonem larva terres – thematic inventiomedium

  Erasmus glosses it as applicable "to empty threats and bugbears that are merely laughable" (minis inanibus ac terriculis deridendis), the moral of the hissing but toothless goose and of the speaker's self-mockery ("Wat ben ick voor een geck!").

• I vi 39 Utre territas – thematic inventiomedium

  The adage concerns frightening people by the mere noise of empty vessels — groundless terror — which matches both the emblem's hissing goose and the commentary's "Vasa inania plurimum tinniunt."

• II iii 80 Metum inanem metuisti – thematic inventiomedium

  The subscriptio dramatizes exactly this: the speaker stands "gelijck bevreest," imagining bear, lion or dragon, when there is nothing at all to fear — fearing a fear that has no cause.

• IV i 60 Leonis vestigia quaeris – thematic inventiolow

  Erasmus defines it as a sarcasm "against someone who speaks bravely and acts timidly," which is the burden of the emblem's Dutch parallels ("Dreygers vechten niet," "De grands vanteurs, petits faiseurs").

• IV v 80 In pace leones – thematic inventiolow

  The adage mocks those who are 'lions at home, foxes in battle' — fierce where there is no need, cowardly when manliness is required — the same figure as the Tacitus quotations cited in the commentary about cowards being fierce in words.

• III i 20 Murem ostendit pro leone – thematic inventiolow

  Used of one who promises huge and brave things and delivers something tiny; the emblem pair ends with a mouse creeping out of the roaring mountain and with a 'dragon' turning out to be a flat-beaked goose.

• II ii 34 Cepphus parturit – thematic inventiolow

  Erasmus explicitly links this bird-adage (all feathers and loud cries, little flesh) to 'Parturiunt montes,' which is the companion subscriptio here, and it fits the hissing goose that is 'all mere wind.'

• III iv 38 Ψευδόπυρα. – thematic inventiolow

  Erasmus applies 'false fires' to deterrents and scarecrows, 'people who use a smokescreen of words to frighten someone' — the mechanism of the hissing goose and of the boastful threateners catalogued in the commentary.

Sources

Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem104
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem104
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288