Emblem 20

Emblem 20

A man is climbing a mountain upon which snow lies that does not melt in the sun

Minuit praesentia famamLatin

Presence diminishes fame

Interpretation: Sun and hill of snow (Presence lessens fame)
Interpretation (German): Vorzüge des Abstands

Description of the imageAI-generated

A framed woodcut, set within a broad ornamental border of interlaced scrollwork, showing a landscape of steep hills or mountains whose slopes are covered with snow. The sun, a large disc with radiating beams, rises at the upper right among streaky clouds; birds fly in the sky at the left. In the lower left corner stands a small gabled cottage or farmhouse beside a path; on the hillside above and to the right are animals grazing, and a tiny figure appears on the crest of the hill.

Subscriptio

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TranscriptionAI-generated

REPORTE, did ringe the snowe did hide the hilles, And valleys lowe, there with alofte did rise: Which newes, with dowte the hartes of manie filles, And Cowardes made, for feare at home to friese: But those that went, the truthe hereof to knowe, When that they came, might safelie passe the snowe. For whie, the Sonne did make the same to waste, And all about, discouered had the grounde: So, thoughe ofte times the simple bee agaste, When that reportes, of this, or that, doe sounde, Yet if they firste, woulde seeke the truthe to knowe, They ofte shoulde finde, the matter nothing soe.

TranslationAI-generated

Report rang out that the snow had hidden the hills and the low valleys, and with that it rose aloft: which news filled the hearts of many with doubt, and made cowards freeze at home for fear. But those who went to learn the truth of it, when they came, might safely pass the snow. For the sun made the same to melt away, and had uncovered the ground all about: so, though often the simple are terrified when reports of this or that are sounded, yet if they would first seek to know the truth, they would often find the matter nothing so.

CommentaryAI-generated

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

Virg. lib. 4. Æneid. in descrip. famæ. Et Ouid. Metam. lib. 12. De domo famæ sic,

Mobilitate viget, viresq́; acquirit eundo, Parua metu primo, mox sese attollit in auras, &c.

Nocte dieq́; patet: tota est ex ære sonanti, Tota fremit, vocesq́; refert, iterátque quod audit, &c.

Virgil, Aeneid book 4, in the description of Fame. And Ovid, Metamorphoses book 12, on the house of Fame, thus:

She thrives by movement and gains strength by going; small at first through fear, she soon lifts herself into the air, etc.

Night and day it stands open: it is all of echoing bronze, it all resounds, repeats voices and echoes again what it hears, etc.

Iconclass

24A sun as celestial body

25F24(CHAMOIS) hoofed animals (CHAMOIS)

25F24(CHAMOIS)39:31A2721 ?❧jumping up

25F3(+53) birds (+ postures, positions of animal(s))

25G11 groups of trees

25G13 groups of plants (herbs)

25H111 mountain-range, snow peaks

25H1121 mountain-top, peak

25H12 dale, valley

25I3 farm or solitary house in landscape

26A clouds

26D1 snow

31A2512(+933) arm stretched forward (+ holding something)

31A2723 climbing

31D14 adult man

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

41D223(+81) clothing for the upper part of the body (+ men's clothes)

41D231(+81) trousers, breeches (+ men's clothes)

41D263 walking-stick, staff, cane

43B16 mountain climbing, mountaineering

54A3(+4) Competence (+ emblematical representation of concept)

54A8(+4) Courage, Bravery, Valiance, Manliness; 'Ardire magnanimo et generoso', 'Gagliardezza', 'Valore', 'Virtù heroica', 'Virtù dell'animo e del corpo' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)

59B32(+4) Fame; 'Fama', 'Fama buona', 'Fama chiara' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)

86(MINUIT PRAESENTIA FAMAM) proverbs, sayings, etc. (MINUIT PRAESENTIA FAMAM)

Suggested Iconclass codesAI-generated

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

59B32 Fame; 'Fama', 'Fama buona', 'Fama chiara' (Ripa)high

The commentary is entirely a meditation on Fama/Fame (Virgil's description of Fame and Ovid's House of Fame), matching the personification 'Fame; Fama'.

83(OVID, Metamorphoses XII:39-63) The House of Rumourhigh

The quoted passage about the ever-open, echoing house of bronze that repeats voices is precisely Ovid's House of Rumour (Met. XII 39-63).

52D5 Rumour; 'Rumore' (Ripa)medium

The emblem's theme of a small thing that swells as it travels and resounds everywhere corresponds to the personification of Rumour.

83(OVID, Metamorphoses XII) Rumour, Cycnus, Caeneus, Lapiths and Centaurs, Achillesmedium

The explicit citation 'Ovid, Metamorphoses book 12' matches this book-level reference whose first subject is Rumour.

96B323 Fama spreads the rumour of Dido's love-affairmedium

The commentary cites Aeneid book 4's description of Fame, which occurs in the episode of Fama spreading the rumour of Dido's love-affair.

96B3 the tragedy of Dido (Virgil, Aeneid IV)low

The reference to Aeneid IV places the quoted Fame passage within the tragedy of Dido, though the emblem does not depict Dido herself.

41A163 cottagehigh

A small gabled cottage/farmhouse stands in the lower left of the woodcut, directly matching 'cottage'.

Relationships to the Adagia of ErasmusAI-generated

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

II x 19 Multa in bellis inania – thematic inventiomedium

Erasmus's adage concerns baseless rumours and groundless panic (panikon) that circulate and terrify, exactly the emblem's point that 'REPORTE' of impassable snow filled hearts with doubt and froze cowards at home; both teach that the alarming report proves empty when tested.

II iii 80 Metum inanem metuisti – thematic inventiomedium

The emblem's moral is that the simple are terrified by reports and would find 'the matter nothing soe' if they sought the truth — i.e. they fear where there is nothing to fear, the sense of Erasmus's 'inanem metuisti metum.'

I vi 39 Utre territas – thematic inventiolow

Erasmus's adage is for one who conceives or inspires empty fear by mere noise; the emblem's Fama, 'all of echoing bronze', which 'ringes' and makes cowards freeze at home, is precisely terror produced by hollow sound.

III vii 3 Panicus casus – thematic inventiolow

The sudden, irrational, groundless mass terror described by Erasmus matches the emblem's picture of rumour spreading dread of the snowbound hills with 'no apparent sufficient cause.'

I v 65 Umbram suam metuere – thematic inventiolow

Proverbial type for those who 'tremble like children when there is no danger at all', the same cowardice the emblem rebukes in those who stay home for fear of a report that melts like the snow before the sun.