Plate 6

"The Noose of Wedlock"

Moriae Encomium

Illustrated by Hans Holbein the Younger

	Single Greeting Card (with matching Envelope) Code: H ME6 SGC Price: US$5.00
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Holbein's illustration shown in Plate 6 from Moriae Encomium is associated with the following text drawn from

John Wilson's 1668 translation:

And the Stoics too, that conceive themselves next to the gods, yet show me one

of them, nay the veriest bigot of the sect, and if he do not put off his beard, the badge of

wisdom, though yet it be no more than what is common with him and goats; yet at least he

must lay by his supercilious gravity, smooth his forehead, shake off his rigid principles, and for

some time commit an act of folly and dotage. In fine, that wise man whoever he be, if he

intends to have children, must have recourse to me. But tell me, I beseech you, what man is

that would submit his neck to the noose of wedlock, if, as wise men should, he did but first

truly weigh the inconvenience of the thing?

The associated French text from L'Eloge de la Folie (1728) follows:

Ne prenons que les Stoïciens: ces Philosophes font les petits Dieux ici-bas, & leur présomption

va jusques à s'infatuer qu'ils sont de tous les Mortels, ceux qui approchent le plus de la Divinité.

Mais donnex moi un de ces vénerables Disciples de Zenon, sùt-il mille fois Stoïciens; s'il ne

coupe jamais sa barbe, parce qu'elle est la marque, l'ornement essential de sa Sagesse, (ornement

néanmoins, dont les Boucs sont aussi parez) il ne laissemaniser, de mettre à part sa dure & de

faire quelquefois des sottises, sur le chapitre de la génération. En un mot comme en mille, un

homme, de quelque Sagesse qu'il fasse profession, veut-il devenir pere? c'est moi, oui c'est moi

qu'il doit appeller à son secours.