Emblem 10

Ulysses, tied to the mast of his ship, passes the Sirens

SirenesLatin

Sirens

Interpretation: Sirens and Ulysses (The Sirens)
Interpretation (German): Verführung

Description of the imageAI-generated

A woodcut in an elaborate ornamental foliate border. A seascape: at the right a sailing ship with a large billowing sail and a standing figure on deck moves over the waves; a smaller rowing boat lies behind it in the middle distance. In the water at the lower left three sirens/mermaids with women's upper bodies and coiled fish tails rise from the waves, two of them playing or holding instruments; another scaly sea creature swims toward the ship. At the left is a rocky outcrop or cliff topped by a tree; clouds and hatched sky fill the upper part.

Subscriptio

Facsimile page — Facsimile; click the page to enlarge

TranscriptionAI-generated

WITHE pleasaunte tunes, the SYRENES did allure Vlisses wise, to listen theire songe: But nothinge could his manlie harte procure, Hee sailde awaie, and scap'd their charming stronge, The face, he lik'de: the nether parte, did loathe: For womans shape, and fishes had they bothe. Which shewes to vs, when Bewtie seekes to snare The carelesse man, whoe dothe no daunger dreede, That he shoulde flie, and shoulde in time beware, And not on lookes, his fickle fancie feede: Suche Mairemaides liue, that promise onelie ioyes: But hee that yeldes, at lengthe him selfe distroies.

TranslationAI-generated

With pleasant tunes the Sirens did allure wise Ulysses to listen to their song: but nothing could win over his manly heart; he sailed away and escaped their strong enchantment. He liked the face, but loathed the lower part: for they had both a woman's shape and a fish's. Which shows to us, when Beauty seeks to snare the careless man who dreads no danger, that he should flee and should beware in time, and not feed his fickle fancy on looks: such mermaids live, who promise only joys, but he that yields at length destroys himself.

CommentaryAI-generated

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

Hæc Venus ad musas: Venerem exhorrescite Nimphæ, In vos armatus aut amor insiliet. Cui contrà musæ, verba hæc age dicito marti: Aliger huc ad nos non volat ille puer.

Thus Venus to the Muses: "Dread Venus, you Nymphs, or armed Love will leap upon you." To whom the Muses in reply: "Go, speak these words to Mars: that winged boy does not fly hither to us."

Virg. Aeneid. lib. 5 & Ouidius lib. 5. Metamorph.

Virgil, Aeneid, book 5, and Ovid, Metamorphoses, book 5.

Nic. Reusnerus. Illectos nautas dulci modulamine vocum, Mergebant auidæ fluctibus Lamiæ.

Nicolaus Reusnerus: "The greedy Lamiae, with the sweet modulation of their voices, drowned the enticed sailors in the waves."

Laërtij tetrasticon sic per Claud. Minoëm conuersum.

A four-line epigram of Laertius, thus translated by Claude Mignault.

Iconclass

25G13 groups of plants (herbs)

25H119 cave, grotto

25H131 rocky coast

25H23 sea (seascape)

26A clouds

31AA2512 arm stretched forward - AA - both arms or hands

31AA2512(+933) arm stretched forward - AA - both arms or hands (+ holding something)

31AA2517 arm or hand bent behind the body - AA - both arms or hands

31AA4561 merman - AA - mermaid, siren

31D14(+75) adult man (+ five persons)

41D221(+81) head-gear (+ men's clothes)

41D251(+81) underclothes (+ men's clothes)

44G3121 prisoner with hands bound

46C215(FIGURE-HEAD) parts of ship's exterior: figure-head

46C2323 oaring, sculling

46C24(+63) sailing-ship, sailing-boat (+ under way, at sea (~ travelling))

46C291 shipwreck

46C513 'en route', traveller under way

47D8(ROPE) tools, aids, implements ~ crafts and industries: rope

48CC7321(+372) lyre, cithara, psaltery - CC - out of doors (+ performing ~ music)

48CC7351(+372) flute, aulos, tibia - CC - out of doors (+ performing ~ music)

48CC7521 one person playing string instrument (bowed) - CC - out of doors

48CC7525 one person playing wind instrument - CC - out of doors

48CC755 vocal music, singing - CC - out of doors

52AA24(+4) Carelessness (+ emblematical representation of concept)

54C4(+4) Temptation; 'Tentatione' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)

86(SIRENES) proverbs, sayings, etc. (SIRENES)

92I73 Sirens (classical mythology)

94I181 Ulysses, tied to the mast of his ship, passes the Sirens

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

46C24 sailing-ship, sailing-boathigh

The correlate 'sailing-ship, sailing-boat' matches the ship with a large billowing sail moving over the waves at the right of the woodcut.

48C75 making music; musician with instrumentmedium

'Making music; musician with instrument' fits the sirens shown playing or holding instruments to lure the sailors.

48C73 musical instruments; group of musical instrumentslow

'Musical instruments; group of musical instruments' applies loosely to the several instruments held by the mermaids.

48CC73 musical instruments; group of musical instruments - CC - out of doorslow

The same group of musical instruments is shown out of doors, in an open seascape.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

II vii 62 Lotum gustavit – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus applies this Odyssean adage (Ulysses' companions among the Lotus-eaters) precisely to those who, having once tasted dishonourable pleasure, cannot return to their former pursuits — the same Homeric moral of voluptas that the Siren emblem draws, though there is no verbal borrowing.

II v 73 Inescare homines – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus' essay cites Plato's 'pleasure is the bait of evils,' men being hooked like fish — matching the emblem's point that Beauty 'seekes to snare the carelesse man' who feeds his fancy on looks and so destroys himself.