The title page consists of a copperplate engraving depicting a theatrical stage: on each side of the stage is a hand that, appearing from a cloud, draws, or withdraws, a curtain labeled with the Latin words, "Comoedia vetus" ("Old Comedy"), a reference to the old tradition of Greek comedy designed to satirize public persons and affairs. In this stage, a group of men is sitting at a council table. One of them is easily recognizable as the Stadholder Maurice, Prince of Orange, who holds a staff that another man, who wears a hat shaped like a miniature church, is trying to grab from him. Below are four boatmen, probably representing the common people, who show their amazement at their behavior. The engraved caption says: "Ey Maet, siet, is t'lant vol gecken? /Noom wil mijn Heer de stock onttrecken." In English: "Eh, mate, look, is the country full of madmen?/ The big shots want to take away the Prince's staff."
