Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 107
Elck vogelke singt soo 't gebekt isDutch
Every little bird sings according to the beak it has.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
Within a thick oval frame set in a rectangular plate (the corners filled with shaded triangular spandrels) is a landscape crowded with birds. At the left a large gnarled tree, its trunk split and its branches reaching over the top of the oval, is covered with perching birds: crows or ravens, a magpie, small songbirds, and birds among the leafy twigs at the upper right. In the middle ground stands a village: a tall stepped-gable brick house with smoking chimney, a lower house with a wooden door and barred windows, and behind them bare trees and a distant bridge and tower on the horizon. In front of the houses four small human figures stand and walk on the bank; one bends toward the water. At the right a river runs back into the distance with two swans swimming and several ducks, some upended with tails in the air. In the right foreground a large long-billed wading bird (stork or heron) stands at the water's edge with its beak lowered; near it are partridges or other ground birds in the grass and reeds. At the lower left, among the roots of the tree, sits an owl with other small birds. Engraved inscriptions at the bottom corners read 'A. Venne inv.' and 'Wil. hondius fec.'
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
De vogels singen in het velt Naer dat haer becken zijn gestelt, Dat is van over langh geseyt, En vry niet sonder goet bescheyt, Want soo ghy wandelt door het wout En daer u sinnen besigh hout, Ghy sult bevinden metter daet Als dat de spreucke seker gaet. Meest al dat kromme becken heeft Bevintmen dat van rooven leeft, En mits het daer alleen op siet Soo past het op het singen niet; Vint ghy een vogel plat gebeckt, Weet dat hy naer het water treckt, En mits hy inden modder wroet Soo is sijn stemme nimmer soet; Een lange beck die heeft een schijn Een harders fleuyt te mogen zijn, Maer daer en koomt niet anders uyt Als ick en weet niet wat geluyt, Ick segge daerom voor het lest De kleyne becken singen best. „ Godt geeft de kleynen nu en dan „ Dat noyt en had de grootste man. Besiet den soeten nachtegael, Besiet de vogels al-te-mael, „ Hoe grooter beck, hoe quader klangh, „ Hoe kleynder dier, hoe soeter sangh. 'Tis anders met den mensch gestelt Als met de vogels van het velt; De menschen hebben eenen mont, Maer die en heeft niet eenen gront: Want spreeckter een uyt sachten geest, Een ander brult gelijck een beest; Dus al wat onder ons geschiet En koomt ons van de monden niet, De mont is maer een buyten-lit, 'Tis 'therte daer de roerder sit; De mont die bidt, de mont die schelt, Al naer het binnen is gestelt. Dus ghy die vuyle dingen spreeckt, Of vinnigh met u tonge steeckt, Houdt vast dat ghy in u gemoet Een vuyl, een grousaem monster voet. „ Het oor dat wijst den esel uyt, „ Den oliphant sijn lange snuyt, „ Het water kentmen aen den gront, „ De menschen aen haer eygen mont.
TranslationAI-generated
The birds sing in the field according to how their beaks are formed; that was said long ago, and truly not without good reason, for if you walk through the wood and keep your senses busy there, you will find in fact that the saying holds true. Almost everything that has a crooked beak is found to live by robbing, and since it looks only to that, it is not suited to singing. If you find a bird with a flat beak, know that it makes for the water, and since it roots in the mud its voice is never sweet; a long beak has the appearance of being able to be a shepherd's flute, but nothing comes out of it except an I-know-not-what sound. Therefore I say, last of all: the small beaks sing best. "God now and then gives to the little ones what the greatest man never had." Look at the sweet nightingale, look at the birds all together: "the bigger the beak, the worse the sound; the smaller the creature, the sweeter the song." It is otherwise with man than with the birds of the field: men have one mouth, but it has not one ground; for if one speaks out of a gentle spirit, another bellows like a beast. So all that happens among us does not come to us from the mouths; the mouth is only an outer limb, it is the heart where the rudder sits; the mouth prays, the mouth rails, all according to how the inside is disposed. So you who speak filthy things, or stab fiercely with your tongue, hold fast that in your mind you feed a foul, a gruesome monster. "The ear reveals the ass, the elephant his long trunk; water is known by its bottom, men by their own mouth."
CommentaryAI-generated
34 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Hoogd. Den vogel kent man bey seinem gesang / Den hasen an seinem klang / Den esel bey den ohren / Den narren bey wort und zorn.
High German: One knows the bird by its song, the hare by its sound, the ass by its ears, the fool by his words and anger.
Franç. Personne ne peut cacher son humeur si l'on prend garde à ses discours.
French: No one can hide his disposition if one pays attention to his talk.
Spaens. Ni ay quien encubra su humor si se mira en su lenguaje.
Spanish: Nor is there anyone who can conceal his disposition if one looks at his speech.
Ni se conoce el que es necio siendo sufrido y callado.
Nor is he who is a fool known, if he is patient and silent.
Franç. L'on ne sçauroit recognoistre si un homme est sot, quand il est patient & parle peu.
French: One could not tell whether a man is a fool, when he is patient and speaks little.
Lat. Alia voce psittacus, alia coturnix loquitur.
Latin: The parrot speaks with one voice, the quail with another.
Nederl. Het vat geeft uyt dat het in heeft.
Dutch: The cask gives out what it has inside.
Lat. Ex abundantia cordis os loquitur.
Latin: Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Franç. Chacun oiseau gasouille comme il est enbecqué.
French: Every bird warbles according to the beak it has.
Chi ha fiel in bocca, non può sputar miele. Ital.
Italian: He who has gall in his mouth cannot spit honey.
Temisch den agatsi bilemur. .i. Turcks.
Turkish: (A tree is known by its fruit), that is:
Men kent den boom aen sijn vruchten. Nederl.
Dutch: One knows the tree by its fruits.
Ick sehe an dem nest wol / was vogels darin wohnet. Hoogd.
High German: I can see well from the nest what kind of bird lives in it.
Man siht an den federn wol / was vogels er ist.
One sees well from the feathers what kind of bird it is.
Die red verrath das hertz.
Speech betrays the heart.
Au chant cognoit on l'oiseau, Et au parler le bon cerveau. Franç.
French: By its song one knows the bird, and by speech the good brain.
Cada cuba huele al vino que tiene. Spaens.
Spanish: Every cask smells of the wine it holds.
Chaque tonneau sent son vin. Franç.
French: Every barrel smells of its wine.
Hy en kan geen honigh spouwen / die niet als galle in den mont heeft. Nederl.
Dutch: He cannot spew honey who has nothing but gall in his mouth.
Lat. E cantu dignoscitur avis.
Latin: The bird is recognized by its song.
Ital. Ogni uccel canta il suo verso.
Italian: Every bird sings its own note.
Lat. Sermo animi index.
Latin: Speech is the index of the mind.
Qualis vir, talis oratio.
As the man is, so is his speech.
Ital. La botta getta del vino che ella ha: si tu voi conoscere uno, fallo parlare: quatro cose fanno nota la persona, il parlare, il mangiare, il bere & l'habito.
Italian: The cask gives out of the wine it has: if you want to know someone, make him speak; four things make a person known: speaking, eating, drinking and dress.
Al suono si conosce la saldetza del vasa.
By the sound one knows the soundness of the vessel.
Was der man kan / Zeiget sijn red an. Hoogd.
High German: What a man can do, his speech shows.
Man hört an den worten wol / was kauffmanschaff er treibt.
One hears well from the words what trade he carries on.
Onreyne voghels kraeyen selden goet weder. Nederl.
Dutch: Unclean birds seldom croak good weather.
Een koeckoeck roept sijn eyghen naem uyt.
A cuckoo calls out its own name.
De koeckoeck en de sijs / En singen niet op eene wijs.
The cuckoo and the siskin do not sing in the same manner.
Es. c. 32. 6. Nabal nabala idaber. .i. Turcks.
Isaiah ch. 32, v. 6: 'The fool speaks folly', that is:
Stultus stulta loquitur. Lat.
Latin: The fool speaks foolish things.
Syrach. 37. 8. Aen de reden kentmen den man.
Sirach 37:8. By his speech one knows the man.
Terent. Mihi quale ingenium haberes, fuit indicio oratio.
Terence: Your speech was to me an indication of what sort of character you had.
Iconclass
86(ELCK VOGELKE SINGT SOO 'T GEBEKT IS)proverbs, sayings, etc. (ELCK VOGELKE SINGT SOO 'T GEBEKT IS)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
25F34owlshighThe correlate 'owls' matches the owl sitting among the tree roots at the lower left.
25F36(SWAN)water-birds: swanhighThe correlate 'water-birds: swan' matches the two swans swimming in the river at the right.
25F37(STORK)shore-birds and wading-birds: storkhighThe correlate 'shore-birds and wading-birds: stork' matches the large long-billed wading bird standing at the water's edge in the right foreground.
25F39(CUCKOO)other birds: cuckoolowThe correlate 'other birds: cuckoo' corresponds to the commentary's proverbs about the cuckoo calling its own name, though no cuckoo is clearly depicted.
25F35(PARROT)ornamental birds: parrotlowThe correlate 'ornamental birds: parrot' reflects the Latin motto cited in the commentary about the parrot speaking with one voice and the quail with another, though it is not visible in the scene.
52AA51Folly, Foolishness; 'Pazzia', 'Sciocchezza', 'Stoltitia' (Ripa)mediumThe correlate 'Folly, Foolishness' matches the emblem's central moral that the fool is recognized by his foolish words, as quoted from Isaiah.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- II v 59 Alia voce psittacus, alia coturnix loquitur – direct mottohigh
The emblem's Latin commentary gives this adage verbatim ('Lat. Alia voce psittacus, alia coturnix loquitur') as the Latin equivalent of the Dutch motto 'Elck vogelke singt soo't gebeckt is'.
- I vi 50 Qualis vir, talis oratio – direct mottohigh
Quoted word for word in the commentary ('Qualis vir, talis oratio'), alongside 'Sermo animi index'; Erasmus' essay on this adage (Seneca, Democritus, Persius on sounding vessels) also underlies the emblem's Dutch 'Het vat geeft uyt dat het in heeft' and Italian 'Al suono si conosce la saldetza del vaso'.
- I i 98 Stultus stulta loquitur – direct mottohigh
The commentary cites 'Lat. Stultus stulta loquitur' (with Isaiah 32:6), exactly Erasmus' headword; Erasmus' essay likewise connects it with 'Qualis vir, talis oratio' and 'man is known by his speech'.
- I ix 39 De fructu arborem cognosco – direct mottohigh
The Turkish and Dutch commentary proverb 'Men kent den boom aen sijn vruchten' ('One knows the tree by its fruits') is a vernacular rendering of this adage, which Erasmus glosses precisely as 'e factis hominem iudico'.
- III ii 74 Aliud noctua sonat, aliud cornix – essay quotehigh
The commentary's 'Lat. E cantu dignoscitur avis' reproduces a phrase from this adage's essay ('avem etiamsi non videas, tamen e cantu licet dignoscere'), and the adage's contrast of owl and raven voices matches the emblem's point that each bird's cry reveals its kind.
- II ix 10 Effoeminatorum etiam oratio effoeminata – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus' gloss 'Ut quisque est, ita et loquitur' and his cross-references to 'Stultus stulta loquitur' and 'Qualis vir, talis oratio' state exactly the emblem's thesis that speech betrays the inner man ('Die red verrath das hertz').
- II v 56 Citius elephantum sub ala celes – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus applies it to 'men who cannot conceal their defects of personality: some tell-tale mark always betrays them', which is the emblem's French/Spanish gloss 'No one can hide his disposition if one pays attention to his talk'; the emblem even uses the elephant's trunk as a tell-tale mark.
- III iv 91 Quanquam non dixeris, tamen apparet e pelle – thematic inventiolow
Both turn on the impossibility of concealing one's true nature, the outward sign (hide, beak, mouth) exposing the inner disposition.
- I ix 37 De gustu cognosco – thematic inventiolow
Erasmus' image of judging a whole cask of wine from a taste corresponds to the emblem's 'Cada cuba huele al vino que tiene' / 'Chaque tonneau sent son vin', used there for knowing a man by his speech.
- I ix 34 Leonem ex unguibus aestimare – thematic inventiolow
The emblem's closing list ('The ear reveals the ass, the elephant his long trunk, water by its bottom, men by their own mouth') follows the same inference-from-a-single-token topos that Erasmus groups under judging the lion from its claw.
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem107
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem107
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288