Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 115
A barbe de fol apprent on à raireFrench
On learns to shave on a fool's beard.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
Within a thick circular frame (with triangular ornaments in the four corners of the rectangular plate) a farmyard scene is engraved. At the left a peasant in a broad hat strides forward, his right arm raised high with a long stick or whip, his left arm stretched out, about to strike at two small piglets that run squealing in front of him. Around them lie overturned household vessels: tubs, a wooden barrel on its side, buckets, a large copper or brass jug spilling its contents, a pail and a shallow dish lying in a puddle in the foreground. Behind the man are a brick wall, a thatched farmhouse with a chimney and a tall thatched stack, and a leafy tree. In the middle distance a large sow trots away to the right past a small barrel and a standing figure, with a village church tower and bushes on the horizon and birds in the cloudy sky.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
Het is een oude spreuck; Wie net wil leeren scheren, Die moet voor eerst een geck tot sijn kalant begeren; Vraegt yemant, waerom dat? wel hoort de reden aen, Wie malle koppen scheert heeft selden haest gedaen; By-naest op yder hayr dient raedt te zijn genomen, En schier op yder knip soo moet de spiegel komen; Dan isser yet te langh, dan weder yet te kort, Dan yet dat aenden kuyf of aenden knevel schort; Hier dient de baert gerecht, en daer het hooft gewreven, En ginder noch een schrap ontrent het oir gegeven; Want daer leyt hem de key. Een hooft te bijster net Heeft ick en weet niet wat, dat hem van binnen let.
TranslationAI-generated
It is an old saying: whoever wants to learn to shave neatly must first wish for a fool as his customer; if anyone asks why that is, well, listen to the reason: whoever shaves foolish heads is seldom quickly finished; for nearly every single hair advice must be taken, and at almost every snip the mirror must be brought; then something is too long, then again something too short, then something is wrong with the forelock or with the moustache; here the beard must be set straight, and there the head rubbed, and over yonder another scrape given about the ear; for that is where his madness lies. A head that is too excessively neat has — I do not know what — something inside that ails it.
CommentaryAI-generated
9 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Nederl. By moeyelicke heeren Is veel te leeren. 't Moet een wijse hant zijn die een sotten kop wel scheeren sal. Wat let dat leert.
Dutch. From troublesome masters there is much to learn. It must be a wise hand that will shave a fool's head well. What hinders, teaches.
Lat. Vexatio dat intellectum. Homine imperito nil quidquam injustius.
Latin. Vexation gives understanding. Nothing whatever is more unjust than an ignorant man.
Nederl. Men heeft groote kunst van doen Om de narren te vol-doen.
Dutch. One needs great skill to satisfy fools.
Het beelt soude konnen vvesen een reysende man met een meersche ofte ander pack, vvillende steunen op een bouvalligen muer, ende daer van over-stort zijnde, klaegt als volgt:
The picture could be a travelling man with a basket or some other pack, wishing to lean upon a dilapidated wall, and, having been buried by it, he complains as follows:
Nederl. Twee naeckten en konnen malkanderen niet kleeden.
Dutch. Two naked people cannot clothe one another.
Lucan. ---- fatis accede deisque, Et cole felices, miseros fuge. ---
Lucan. — side with the fates and the gods, and cultivate the fortunate, flee the wretched. —
Nulla fides unquam miseros elegit amicos.
No loyalty ever chose wretched men for friends.
Aristotel. Socios legi suadeam qui potentia valeant & in proximo habitent.
Aristotle. I would advise that allies be chosen who are strong in power and who live nearby.
Esaye. 30 13. Pourtant ceste iniquité vous sera comme une crevasse d'une muraille qui s'en va tomber, laquelle faict ventre jusques au plus haut de la muraille, de la quelle le debris vient soudain & en un moment.
Isaiah 30:13. Therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a crack in a wall that is about to fall, which bulges out up to the very top of the wall, whose collapse comes suddenly and in an instant.
Iconclass
31A5111looking in the mirror; (possibly: contemplation of own beauty)31A535barber, barbershop86(A BARBE DE FOL APPRENT ON À RAIRE)proverbs, sayings, etc. (A BARBE DE FOL APPRENT ON À RAIRE)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
31A511mirrorhighThe correlate 'mirror' matches the hand-mirror the barber holds up and the small mirror on the cloth-covered table.
25A13globehighThe correlate 'globe' matches the large globe standing on the table at the left of the barber's shop.
31B8fool, simpleton, numskullmediumThe correlate 'fool, simpleton, numskull' matches the motto's subject, the fool whose head is being shaved, identified with the seated man.
31B9wise men versus foolsmediumThe correlate 'wise men versus fools' matches the commentary's contrast between the wise, skilful hand of the barber and the fool he must satisfy.
52AA51Folly, Foolishness; 'Pazzia', 'Sciocchezza', 'Stoltitia' (Ripa)lowThe correlate 'Folly, Foolishness' corresponds to the abstract theme of folly invoked by the motto, though no personification is actually depicted.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- II vi 69 In caducum parietem inclinare – direct mottohigh
The emblem's Latin motto 'In caducam parietem ne inclina' is this adage turned into a prohibition, and the whole pictura/subscriptio (a weary traveller leaning on an old wall which collapses on him) literalizes Erasmus's metaphor of relying on something unstable; the accompanying maxims on choosing powerful rather than wretched supports echo his gloss on trusting what cannot bear weight.
- II vi 70 Scipioni arundineo inniti – thematic inventiohigh
The closing couplet — 'he who calls a reed-stick the foundation of his standing breaks the tender growth and wounds his own hand' — reproduces precisely Erasmus's explanation that the reed staff not only fails to support the leaner but pierces and wounds his hand; this adage immediately follows 'In caducum parietem inclinare' in the Adagia and shares its Isaiah context, cited here as Isaiah 30:13.
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem115
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem115
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288