Plate 6
"The Noose of Wedlock"
Moriae Encomium
Illustrated by Hans Holbein the Younger
Single Greeting Card (with matching Envelope)
Code: H ME6 SGC |
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Reproduction on 8x12" sheet
Code: H ME6 8x12 |
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Reproduction on 12x18" sheet
Code: H ME6 12x18 |
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.