An image for misers An ass eating thistles

marcus gheeraerts elder, original design de warachtighe fabulen der dieren, 1567

based on these, renaissance author andrea alciato created image misers in emblemata (1531). below picture of loaded donkey stooping eat thistle adds latin poem likening rich man ass that, though bears on costly victuals, s pauper feeds himself on brambles , tough reeds . english emblem-writer geoffrey whitney later use same illustration provided 12-line epigram based on alciato s in choice of emblemes (1586).

alciato s book influential on europe , fathered many similar works. 1 of these joost van den vondel s de vorstelijke warande der dieren (1617), raised aesop s fables emblematic status. among them, however, poem ass carrying food , first 4 lines of use same likeness before continuing longer consideration of human meanness. situation known in netherlands suggested engraver rafael sadeler s emblematic landscape ass eating thistle . dating 1598/9, based on earlier design matthijs bril. earlier still, flemish engraver marcus gheeraerts elder had been involved in illustrating similar emblem book based on fables, de warachtighe fabulen der dieren, 1567. of designs adapted son, religious refugee in england, rondels trenchers. included there picture of ass laden rich foods , cropping thistle, surrounding quatrain:

the asse dainty meates doth beare
and feedes on thistles yeare
is wretch hourds gold
and yet want doth suffer cold.








^ aesopica site
^ memorial university of newfoundland
^ emblem 86
^ emblem 18
^ poem 116
^ in collection of rijksmuseum, amsterdam
^ british museum