Emblem 108

Emblem 108

A man is thrown into a pigsty

Als yder seyt ick ben een vercken, soo moet ick in 't kotDutch

If everybody says I am a pig, then I must go into the sty.AI-generated

Description of the imageAI-generated

Within an oval ribbon-like frame set into a square plate with dark corner spandrels, a violent scene takes place in front of a wooden barn. At the left an old bearded man in a smock pulls open a heavy plank door of the barn/sty, bracing himself against the door-post. In the centre three or four peasant men wrestle with a resisting man, pushing and dragging him toward the open door; one burly fellow in a flat cap grips him from behind around the chest, another seizes his arm, and the victim throws his head back with mouth open and arms flailing, his hat knocked off and lying on the ground in the foreground along with a shoe. The men's clothing is rumpled and their legs are braced in struggle. At the right, beside the barn wall, a pig stands with its snout in a wooden feeding trough. Beyond the barn, at the right in the background, a small group of onlookers - a woman in a white apron, a man and a child - stand on a road in open country with a leafless tree overhanging the roof and a bird perched on the gable.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page — Facsimile, page 1 of 2; click a thumbnail to change page; click the page to enlarge

Facsimile, page 1 of 2; click a thumbnail to change page; click the page to enlarge

TranscriptionAI-generated

Siet doch eens wat vreemde grillen ! Siet eens wat een selsaem stuck ! Schoon ick yder meyn te stillen, Noch soo blijf ick inden druck; Of ick drage menschen leden, En voor al een rappen geest, Of ick toone goede zeden, Yder houdt my voor een beest: Yder koomt geduerich seggen, Yder roept, ick ben een swijn, En al kan ick't weder-leggen, 'tMoet noch al gelogen zijn. Sooder yemant komt te vragen Wat my let, en watter schort, Siet ! ick wil het hem gewagen, Want men doet my veel te kort: Siet ! ick heb de werelt tegen, En ben yder tot een spot, Niemant is tot my genegen, Daerom moet ick in het kot; Hier en baet geen tegen-spreken, Yder houdt sijn eerste waen, Yder houdt sijn oude streken, Wat ick doe ick moeter aen. Wat is dat my kan genesen ? Hier en baet geen wijs beleydt, Yder is en moetet wesen Dat de werelt van hem seyt.

TranslationAI-generated

Just look once at what strange whims! Look once at what a curious affair! Though I mean to quiet everyone, still I remain in distress; whether I bear human limbs and above all a nimble spirit, or whether I show good manners, everyone takes me for a beast: everyone keeps coming to say, everyone cries out, that I am a swine, and even though I can refute it, it must still all be a lie. If someone comes to ask what ails me and what is the matter, look! I will tell him, for people do me far too much wrong: look! I have the world against me, and am a mockery to everybody, no one is well disposed towards me, therefore I must go into the sty; contradicting helps nothing here, everybody keeps his first opinion, everybody keeps his old tricks, whatever I do I must submit to it. What is it that can cure me? No wise policy helps here: everyone is, and must be, what the world says of him.

CommentaryAI-generated

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

De man diemen int kot wil steken spreeckt

The man whom they want to shove into the sty speaks

Spaens. A hora mala nasce quien mala fama cobra.

Spanish. In an evil hour is he born who acquires a bad reputation.

Franç. A la male heure naist qui mauvaise renomée acquiert.

French. In an evil hour is he born who acquires a bad reputation.

Spaens. Quando todos te dixeren que eres asno, rebuzna.

Spanish. When everybody tells you that you are an ass, bray.

Franç. Si tous te disent que tu es asné, brais.

French. If all tell you that you are an ass, bray.

Spaens. Que quiera que digan las gétes A ti mismo para mientes.

Spanish. Whatever people may say, pay heed to yourself.

Franç. Quoy que disent les gens A toy mesme garde prens.

French. Whatever people say, take heed to yourself.

Lat. Non est remedium adversus Sycophantæ morsum.

Latin. There is no remedy against the bite of a slanderer.

Ital. Chi è reo è buono è tenuto, Può fare il male è non è creduto.

Italian. He who is wicked but is held to be good can do evil and is not believed [to have done it].

Nederl. Laet vry al de werelt rasen / Ghy / doet maer een yder recht / Die meest krijten zijn de dwasen / Best eenvoudich ende slecht.

Dutch. Just let the whole world rage; you, only do right by everyone; those who shout most are the fools; simple and plain is best.

Wie kan een hont sijn blaffen verbieden?

Who can forbid a dog its barking?

Distelen en doornen steken seer / Maer quade tongen noch veel meer.

Thistles and thorns prick sorely, but evil tongues far more.

Die quaet spreeckt eer hy quaet siet / Al sweegh hy stil / hy verbeurde niet.

He who speaks evil before he sees evil - had he kept silent, he would have forfeited nothing.

Veel honden over-bassen eenen.

Many dogs out-bark a single one.

Franç. Il à beau dormir tard, qui à le bruit de se lever matin.

French. He may well sleep late who has the reputation of rising early.

Iconclass

31A2748 pushing something

31B62351(+928) crying, shouting (+ having pleasure in the misfortune of others)

34E3(+0) animals tied up (+ variant)

47I212(+945) pig (+ animals eating and drinking)

47I2271 stall, stable

57BB13 Punishment; 'Castigo', 'Pena', 'Punitione' (Ripa)

57BB25 Calumny, Detraction; 'Biasimo vitioso', 'Calunnia', 'Detrattione', 'Maledicenza' (Ripa)

59B32(+2) Fame; 'Fama', 'Fama buona', 'Fama chiara' (Ripa) (+ allegorical scene, i.e. two or more personifications involved in an action)

86(WIE EEN VARKEN IS, MOET IN HET KOT) proverbs, sayings, etc. (WIE EEN VARKEN IS, MOET IN HET KOT)

86(ALS YDER SEYT ICK BEN EEN VERCKEN, SOO MOET ICK IN 'T KOT) proverbs, sayings, etc. (ALS YDER SEYT ICK BEN EEN VERCKEN, SOO MOET ICK IN 'T KOT)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

33B13 slanderhigh

The commentary is entirely about slander and bad reputation ('there is no remedy against the bite of a slanderer', 'evil tongues prick far more'), which matches the correlate 'slander'.

57BB25 Calumny, Detraction; 'Biasimo vitioso', 'Calunnia', 'Detrattione', 'Maledicenza' (Ripa)medium

The theme of Calumny/Detraction/Maledicenza personified corresponds to the emblem's moral about slanderous tongues and unjustly acquired bad reputation.

86 proverbs, sayings, etc.high

The commentary consists of a string of Spanish, French, Latin, Italian and Dutch proverbs, matching 'proverbs, sayings, etc.'

52C111 Public Opinion; 'Opinione' (Ripa)medium

The emblem's point — that what everyone says ('when everybody tells you that you are an ass, bray') can force a man's fate regardless of truth — illustrates Public Opinion.

52A53 Self-knowledgelow

The maxim 'whatever people may say, pay heed to yourself' invokes the ideal of knowing and minding oneself rather than the crowd.

31B8 fool, simpleton, numskulllow

The Dutch verses call those who shout most 'the fools', linking the scene to the notion of the fool/simpleton.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

II vi 29 Non inest remedium adversus sycophantae morsum – direct mottohigh

The emblem's Latin commentary gives verbatim the proverb 'Lat. Non est remedium adversus Sycophantæ morsum', i.e. Erasmus' adage II vi 29, as the learned Latin equivalent of the Dutch motto; it matches the subscriptio's point that no refutation or 'wijs beleydt' helps against slander.

III v 100 Nec aures habeo, nec tango – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus' essay explains the proverb (from Jerome) as 'with everyone disputing and denying, I believe I have no ears' — exactly the emblem's situation in which, since all the world cries that he is a swine, the man must accept the verdict and go into the sty; both are classed under 'Cedendum multitudini'.

III ix 60 Cedendum multitudini – thematic inventiomedium

The whole emblem dramatizes yielding to numbers ('Yder is en moetet wesen dat de werelt van hem seyt'; 'Veel honden over-bassen eenen'), the very lesson of Erasmus' adage that one man cannot fight against many.

IV iii 44 Plurium calculus vincit – thematic inventiolow

The moral that the majority's opinion, however wrong, determines what one is held to be ('votes are counted, not weighed') underlies the man's forced submission to the general verdict that he is a pig.