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Inconstantia Amoris [39]
Inconstantia Amoris.
XL.
AMor humanus mutatur pro varietate obie-
ctorum; semper fertur in aliquid noui, quod
sibi tamquam vtile & acceptabile propositum,
appetit. & quemadmodum ipsa obiecta in sese
habent maximas vicissitudines; ita & Amor ma-
xime inconstans est. amas honores? instabiles sunt.
appetis diuitias? fluxæ sunt. optas bonam famam,
fortunam? variabiles sunt. desideras sanitatem?
numquam homo in eodem statu permanet. pro-
caris puellam? amat domicillam? mutabilis est,
varium & mutabile semper fæmina1: & tu qui
procaris multo adhuc mutabilior es, audi Poë-
tam,
ctorum; semper fertur in aliquid noui, quod
sibi tamquam vtile & acceptabile propositum,
appetit. & quemadmodum ipsa obiecta in sese
habent maximas vicissitudines; ita & Amor ma-
xime inconstans est. amas honores? instabiles sunt.
appetis diuitias? fluxæ sunt. optas bonam famam,
fortunam? variabiles sunt. desideras sanitatem?
numquam homo in eodem statu permanet. pro-
caris puellam? amat domicillam? mutabilis est,
varium & mutabile semper fæmina1: & tu qui
procaris multo adhuc mutabilior es, audi Poë-
tam,
Cat.
Ad dominæ nutum leuis exagitatur amator,
Quoque puella solet vergere, vergit amans:
Non volucris summâ quæ vertitur ænea turre,
Promptius aërias itque, reditque vias.
Rideat illa, mouet tristi miser ore cachinnos;
Ploret, amans lætas proluit imbre genas.
Vos miseros! agimur vacuo ludibria cœlo,
Abripit aura vagos, aura redire iubet.
Ad dominæ nutum leuis exagitatur amator,
Quoque puella solet vergere, vergit amans:
Non volucris summâ quæ vertitur ænea turre,
Promptius aërias itque, reditque vias.
Rideat illa, mouet tristi miser ore cachinnos;
Ploret, amans lætas proluit imbre genas.
Vos miseros! agimur vacuo ludibria cœlo,
Abripit aura vagos, aura redire iubet.
Cicer.
Quam miserè seruit & agitatur cui mulier im-
perat, cui leges imponit, præscribit, iubet, vetat
quod videtur. qui nihil imperanti negare potest,
nihil recusare: poscit, dandum est: eijcit, abeun-
dum: vocat veniendum; minatur; extimescendum2.
Quam miserè seruit & agitatur cui mulier im-
perat, cui leges imponit, præscribit, iubet, vetat
quod videtur. qui nihil imperanti negare potest,
nihil recusare: poscit, dandum est: eijcit, abeun-
dum: vocat veniendum; minatur; extimescendum2.
Quo me vocat aura.
Inconstance de l'Amour.
XXXIX.
Ainsy le cœur humain, qu' vn fol Amour escroule,
Au gréde touts les vents incessament se roule,
Sans esperer iamais de rencontrer le nort;
Telle est la qualitédes choses sublunaires,
Que battant nos esprits de mouuemens contraires,
Le tiennēt dans la mer sans arriuer au port.
XXXIX.
Ainsy le cœur humain, qu' vn fol Amour escroule,
Au gréde touts les vents incessament se roule,
Sans esperer iamais de rencontrer le nort;
Telle est la qualitédes choses sublunaires,
Que battant nos esprits de mouuemens contraires,
Le tiennēt dans la mer sans arriuer au port.
Translations
|
Inconstancy of love. |
|
Human love changes depending on the various objects of that love. It always moves to something new, it strives after what
is to itself as it were a useful and acceptable plan. And as the objects themselves can have in themselves extreme changes
of fortune, so also love is the epitome of inconstancy. You love honours? They do not stay. Do you strive after riches? They
are of a fleeting nature. Do you want a good reputation, good fortune? They are subject to change. Do you wish for health?
No human remains in the same state. Do you want a girl? Does she like her little abode?3 Changeable, a fickle and changeable creature is woman. And you who ask are even more changeable, listen to the poet: |
|
Without weight the lover is driven along according to his mistress's whim. The direction the girl is wont to take, the lover takes too. Not the bronze bird at the top of the tower will more promptly take a direction high up in the air and then turn in its tracks again. If she laughs, the wretch cackles with a sad expression on his face; If she cries, the lover washes his cheerful cheeks with a flood of tears. You poor wretches! We are carried along as playthings in the empty air. The wind whisks us away, hither and thither, and the wind orders us to return. |
|
What a miserable servant and how much harassed is he, who is under the command of a woman, who receives laws from her, and
such rules, orders and prohibitions as she thinks fit, who when she commands can deny her nothing and dares refuse her noting.
she asks, he must give; she calls, he must come; she throws him out, he must go; she threatens, he must tremble4. |
|
To wherever the wind calls me. |
Literature
Sources and parallels
-
The only appearance of a female figure with a nimbus. Same copperplate, slightly altered, in: Liefde zoekt verandering [39] (in: Willem den Elger, Zinne-beelden der liefde (1703))
[Compare
![[compare]](/static/images/compare2.gif "Compare")
]
-
Weathercock, partly same motto underneath the pictura, in:Dominae, quo me vocat, aura. [28] (in: Jacob Cats, Proteus (1618))
[Compare]
-
Porteman 1975, p. 212. Weathercock, text in pictura same as motto in: Quod iuvat exiguum est. [19] (in: Jacob Cats, Sinne- en minnebeelden (1627))
[Compare]
References, across this site, to this page:
- Dominae, quo me vocat, aura. [28] (in: Jacob Cats, Proteus (1618))
- Dominae, quo me vocat, aura. [29] (in: Jacob Cats, Sinne- en minnebeelden (1627))
- Liefde zoekt verandering [39] (in: Willem den Elger, Zinne-beelden der liefde (1703))
Iconclass
A young woman grasps the shoulder of a young man pointing at the weathercock on a church tower; on one of the crosses on the church a cupid stands- church (exterior)
[11Q712]
- trees (+ stump, stub)
[25G3(+211)]
- clouds
[26A]
- winds
[26C]
- weathercock
[26C41]
- head (human)
[31A221]
- arm raised upward (+ indicating, pointing at)
[31A2511(+931)]
- gripping someone by the hand or the wrist; clasped hands
[31A2543]
- gripping someone by the shoulder
[31A2545]
- index finger forwards, pointing, indicating
[31A25552]
- cheeks rounded
[31B6241]
- youth, adolescent
[31D12]
- adolescent, young woman, maiden
[31D13]
- couple of lovers
[33C23]
- archer's weapons: arrow
[45C15(ARROW)]
- archer's weapons: bow
[45C15(BOW)]
- quiver
[45C23]
- Change (+ emblematical representation of concept)
[51K1(+4)]
- proverbs, sayings, etc. (with TEXT)
[86(INCONSTANTIA AMORIS)]
- (story of) Cupid, Amor (Eros)
[92D1]
- attributes of Cupid (with NAME)
[92D18(ARROW)]
- attributes of Cupid (with NAME)
[92D18(BOW)]
- attributes of Cupid (with NAME)
[92D18(QUIVER)]
Comments
commentaryNotes
Verg. Aen. IV, 569-570.
"cui mulier imperat ... extimescendum" Cic. Paradox. Stoic. 5, 36.
"Do you want a girl? Does she like her little abode?": it is difficult to make sense of these words, but that is what the
text says, i.e., either this or a 'he' is subject of 'amat'.
"who is under the command ... he must tremble", transl. Rackham in Loeb edition.