Jacob Cats, Spiegel (The Hague, 1632)
Emblem 124
Vanno piu pelli di volpi che d'asini in pelliciariaItalian
More skins of foxes than of asses go to the furrier's shop.AI-generated
Description of the imageAI-generated
Inside a furrier's shop, seen through an oval frame set in a rectangular border with hatched corner spandrels. From the beams and rails of the ceiling hang many long animal pelts (fox skins and tails) in rows; more furs lie on a chest or counter at the left and are stacked in a basket at the right. Behind the counter a young boy or apprentice in a cap leans out, holding something small in his hand. In the centre a bearded shopkeeper in a tall cap, apron and doublet stands leaning on a stick or rod; facing him at the right a customer in a broad-brimmed plumed hat, cloak and wide breeches holds out a skin or small fur, gesturing as they bargain. Over the edge of the table in the left foreground hangs a large hide with a donkey's head and long ears still attached, drooping down toward the floor. Below the oval, an empty ribbon-like scroll runs across the bottom of the plate.
Subscriptio
TranscriptionAI-generated
Lest daer ick stont en keeck ontrent een pelletier, Daer sach ick menigh bont vā menigh selsaem dier; Ick sacher boven al veel vosse-vellen hangen, Die waren metten strick, of opten jacht gevangen; Ick sacher evenwel maer eenen esels-vacht, Die by sijn meester selfs te koopen was gebracht; Niet dat het lastbaer dier was yewers doot geslagen, Neen, vrienden, 'thadt geleeft tot aen sijn leste dagen; En even doen ter tijdt soo was het trouwe beest Sijn heer (vermits het sterff) een droefheyt indé geest. Siet! hier op stont ick stil: ick sach de vosse-vellen In soo een grooten hoop, sy waren naeu te tellen, Ick sprack den meester aen, en seyde tot den man, Ey lieve! segh een reys, segh hier de reden van: Men set (dit sprack de vriendt) geen strické voor dé esel, Maer voor den loosen vos, of voor den slimmen wesel; De reden is bekent: wie doeter ymmer quaet Aen eenigh vreedtsaem beest, dat rechte wegen gaet? Maer al het boos gespuys, dat niet en is gebooren Als om sijn even dier met listen nae te spooren, Dat lijdt aen alle kant, dat lijdt den meesten last, En (schoon al isset ergh) het raeckt ten lesten vast. Ick hoorde, met vermaeck, het slot van dese reden, En hieltet voor een les, ons dienstigh inde zeden; En mits het nut verhael mijn herte wel beviel, Soo deed' ick dit gespreck tot mijn geminde ziel; Wat is den mensche best? een recht onnoosel leven, Dat kan hem ware rust en goede dagen geven; Wel aen dan, mijn gemoet, onthoudt u van bedrogh, Wāt schoó het sótijts luckt, het loót sijn meester noch.
TranslationAI-generated
Lately, as I stood looking about near a furrier's, there I saw many a fur of many a strange beast; above all I saw many fox-skins hanging there, which had been caught with the snare or in the hunt; yet I saw there only one ass's hide, which had been brought there for sale by its own master; not that the beast of burden had been struck dead somewhere — no, friends, it had lived to its last days; and even at that time the faithful beast was to its master (since it died) a grief in his spirit. See! at this I stood still: I saw the fox-skins in so great a heap that they were scarcely to be counted. I addressed the master and said to the man: "Pray, dear man! tell me once, tell me the reason for this." "One sets" (so said the friend) "no snares for the ass, but for the crafty fox or for the cunning weasel; the reason is well known: who ever does harm to any peaceable beast that goes in straight ways? But all the wicked rabble, that is born for nothing but to trail its fellow creature with tricks — that suffers on every side, that bears the heaviest burden, and (though it be bad enough) it is caught at last." I heard with pleasure the conclusion of this speech, and held it for a lesson useful to us in morals; and since the profitable tale pleased my heart well, I made this discourse to my beloved soul: What is best for man? a truly innocent life; that can give him true rest and good days. Up then, my mind, keep yourself from deceit, for however fairly it sometimes succeeds, it still pays back its master.
CommentaryAI-generated
19 passages · original left, translation right (click to fold)
Ital. Il consiglio cattivo Al suo autor è nocivo.
Italian. Evil counsel is harmful to its author.
Lat. Malum consilium consultori pessimum.
Latin. Bad counsel is worst for the counsellor.
Hoogd. Vntrew trifft ihren eignen Herrn.
High German. Disloyalty strikes its own master.
Lat. Improbo nemini bene est.
Latin. Things go well for no wicked man.
Ital. Chi si diletta di far frode altruy, non si de lamentar, s'altri l'inganna.
Italian. He who delights in defrauding others must not complain if others deceive him.
Non è inganno che non si vinca con inganno. Ital.
There is no deceit that is not overcome by deceit. Italian.
Hiley hile bosar. .i. Turcks.
Trickery destroys trickery, that is. Turkish.
Fraus fraudem destruit. Lat.
Fraud destroys fraud. Latin.
A carne de lobo, diente de perro. Spaens.
For wolf's flesh, a dog's tooth. Spanish.
Nil scire vita tutissima. Simplicitas digna favore fuit. Lat.
To know nothing is the safest life. Simplicity has been worthy of favour. Latin.
Bedrogh loont sijn meester. Nederl.
Deceit rewards its master. Dutch.
l'Inganno torna adosso all' ingannatore.
Deceit comes back upon the deceiver.
Tanto va il volpe alla caccia, che vi lascia la pelle, &c.
The fox goes so often to the hunt that he leaves his skin there, etc.
Qui ambulat innocenter Ambulat confidenter.
He who walks innocently walks confidently.
Horat.
Integer vitæ, scelerisque purus Non eget Mauri jaculis, nec arcu, Nec venenatis gravidâ sagittis, Fusce, pharetra.
Horace. The man upright of life and free of crime needs no Moorish javelins, nor bow, nor quiver heavy with poisoned arrows, Fuscus.
Iuvenal.
---- nunquam Sanguine causidici maduerunt rostra pusilli.
Juvenal. Never have the rostra been soaked with the blood of a petty pleader.
Huc forsan referri possunt quædam quæ Politici de Thucydidis dicto disserunt;
To this place may perhaps be referred certain things which the political writers discuss concerning the saying of Thucydides;
Hebetiores nimirum quam acutiores, ut plurimum, melius & tutius rempublicam administrare.
Namely, that duller men rather than sharper ones for the most part administer the commonwealth better and more safely.
Les subtilitez les plus aigues (disent ils) ne produisent pas les meilleures resolutions; & les entreprises qui sont plus fondees sur le sable des subtilitez que sur le rocher de raison, renversent par fois eux mesmes & leurs auteurs: Comme les horologues, qui ont les roües & ressorts plus subtils & delicats se desreglent fort aisement. Vid. Pierr. Math. lib. 5. fol. 181.
The sharpest subtleties (they say) do not produce the best resolutions; and enterprises that are founded more on the sand of subtleties than on the rock of reason sometimes overturn both themselves and their authors: just as clocks that have the most subtle and delicate wheels and springs go out of order very easily. See Pierre Matthieu, book 5, fol. 181.
Iconclass
86(VANNO PIU PELLI DI VOLPI CHE D'ASINI IN PELLICIARIA)proverbs, sayings, etc. (VANNO PIU PELLI DI VOLPI CHE D'ASINI IN PELLICIARIA)
Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated
Additional codes proposed for this emblem, not (yet) part of the indexing.
57AA621Cheat, Deceit; 'Fraude', 'Inganno' (Ripa)highThe correlate 'Cheat, Deceit; Fraude, Inganno' matches the emblem's central theme, repeated in every motto ('Deceit comes back upon the deceiver', 'Fraud destroys fraud').
57AA6131Guile, Artfulness, Craftiness, Deceitfulnessmedium'Guile, Artfulness, Craftiness, Deceitfulness' fits the commentary's condemnation of subtle trickery and cunning schemes that overturn their own authors.
57A642Simplicity; 'Simplicità' (Ripa)medium'Simplicity' (Ripa) corresponds directly to the commentary's praise 'Simplicity has been worthy of favour' and 'To know nothing is the safest life'.
57A631Innocence; 'Innocenza', 'Innocenza o purità' (Ripa)low'Innocence' (Ripa) echoes the maxim 'He who walks innocently walks confidently' cited in the commentary, though no personification is depicted.
25F23(FOX)beasts of prey, predatory animals: foxmediumThe correlate 'predatory animals: fox' is visually present as the rows of fox skins and tails hanging in the furrier's shop, and in the proverb about the fox leaving his skin at the hunt.
47E231apprentice ~ guildlow'Apprentice ~ guild' could cover the young shop-boy behind the counter of the furrier's workshop, though his status is not explicitly guild-related.
Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated
Suggested relationships between this emblem and adages in Erasmus’ Adagia.
- I ii 14 Malum consilium – direct mottohigh
The emblem's Latin commentary gives verbatim the adage's proverbial line 'Malum consilium consultori pessimum', with the Italian 'Il consiglio cattivo al suo autor è nocivo' as its equivalent; this supplies the emblem's whole moral that deceit rebounds on the deceiver.
- I i 53 Suo ipsius laqueo captus est – thematic inventiomedium
The subscriptio's point is that snares (stricken) are set only for the crafty fox and weasel, which are caught at last — exactly Erasmus's image of the trapper taken in the net he laid, under the locus 'Malum accersitum aut retortum'.
- I i 52 Indicit in foveam quam fecit – thematic inventiomedium
The emblem's repeated maxims ('Bedrogh loont sijn meester', 'l'Inganno torna adosso all'ingannatore') restate the biblical-proverbial idea of the schemer falling into his own pit that this adage expounds.
- I i 54 Hanc technam in teipsum struxisti – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus explains the adage as used 'when a trick intended for another rebounds on the head of its originator' — precisely the emblem's lesson that the fox's tricks end with his skin at the furrier's.
- I ii 28 Vulpinari cum vulpe – thematic inventiomedium
Several of the emblem's glosses ('Fraus fraudem destruit', 'Non è inganno che non si vinca con inganno', 'A carne de lobo, diente de perro') express the same fox-based idea of meeting cunning with cunning that Erasmus treats under 'Cum vulpe vulpinandum'.
- I x 16 In laqueos lupus – thematic inventiomedium
Erasmus applies this to the crafty beast that everyone applauds when it is finally snared; the subscriptio similarly rejoices that the cunning rabble 'is caught at last' while the innocent ass goes untrapped.
- IV i 93 Cautus enim metuit, etc. – thematic inventiolow
Erasmus's note that 'different traps are set for different animals' parallels the furrier's explanation that no snare is set for the ass but only for the fox and weasel.
- I vi 52 Nostris ipsorum alis capimur – thematic inventiolow
The adage of being shot with one's own feathers fits the emblem's commonplaces that deceit 'pays back its master' and that over-subtle schemes overturn their own authors.
- I x 17 Annosa vulpes haud capitur laqueo – thematic inventiolow
The emblem explicitly inverts this proverb: the heaps of fox pelts show that even the wily fox is finally taken 'metten strick', whereas the simple ass dies at home in peace.
Sources
Record ID: embstma_1288_emblem124
This emblem on the Iconclass site: https://iconclass.org/view/embstma_1288_emblem124
Copy: University Library, Glasgow, Stirling Maxwell 1288