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Statues in a courtyard of Hope (Spes), Love (Amor) and Happy Ending (Bonus Eventus).
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In simulachrum Spei.[1]

A picture of hope

Quae Dea tam laeto suspectans sydera vultu?
Cuius penniculis reddita imago fuit.
Elpidii[2] fecere manus, ego nominor illa,
Quae miseris promptam Spes bona praestat opem.
Cur viridis tibi Palla? quòd omnia me duce vernent.
Quid manibus mortis tela[3] refracta geris?
Quod vivos sperare decet, praecido sepultis.
Cur in dolioli tegmine pigra sedes?
Sola domi mansi volitantibus undique noxis,
Ascraei[4] ut docuit musa verenda senis.
Quae tibi adest volucris? Cornix fidissimus oscen,[5]
Est bene cùm nequeat dicere, dicit erit.
Qui comites? bonus Eventus[6], praecepsque Cupido,
Qui praeeunt, vigilum somnia vana vocant,
Quae tibi iuncta astat, scelerum Rhamnusia[7] vindex,
Scilicet ut speres nil nisi quod liceat.

What goddess is this, looking up to the stars with face so glad? By whose brush was this image depicted? - The hands of Elpidius made me. I am called Good Hope, the one who brings ready aid to the wretched. - Why is your garment green? - Because everything will spring green when I lead the way. - Why do you hold Death’s blunt arrows in your hands? - The hopes that the living may have, I cut short for the buried. - Why do you sit idle on the cover of a jar? - I alone stayed behind at home when evils fluttered all around, as the revered muse of the old poet of Ascra has told you. - What bird is at your side? - A crow, the faithful prophet. When it cannot say, ‘All’s well’, it says, ‘All shall be well’. - Who are your companions? - Happy Ending and Eager Desire. - Who go before you? - They call them the idle dreams of those who are awake. - Who stands close beside you? - Rhamnusia, the avenger of crimes, to make sure that you hope for nothing but what is allowed.

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Au simulachre de Esperance.

Quelz pinceaux ont portraict ceste gente deesse,
Que la face a riant, & monstre a tous liesse?
Elphidius me fist, Esperance on me nomme,
Prestant a coup mon bien a tout miserable homme.
Ma robe verte enscigne [=enseigne] que en joye jentretiens,
Et ce, jusque a la mort, dont le dard rompu tiens:
Ou quel temps, est casse tout le bien que donnoye:
Ainsi conduis les gens, a fin, sans grand monnoye.
Ce tonneau ou je seetz, faict rapport de lhistoire,
Dont Hesiode a fait excellente memoire.
Car lors que du tonneau vertus au ciel volerent:
Et que grands maulx urgens parmy le monde allerent:

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Seullete demouray, monstrant que je esperance
Suis la seulle vertu, plus prestant dassurance.
La Corneille est pres moy, en son chanter ayant
Reconfort du demain, qui est maint mal rayant.
Le compaignon prochain, se dit bonne adventure:
Qui avec Cupido faict souhaits sans mesure.
Mais Nemesis derriere attend ceulx qui font faulte,
Pour chacun corriger, desperance trop haulte.

Notes:

1.  Before the 1536 edition, Wechel editions used an earlier version of the woodcut in which Nemesis did not figure.

2.  Elpidius is an invented name derived from Greek elpis, ‘hope’.

3.  For Death’s arrows cf. [FALa065], [FALa066].

4.  ‘the old poet of Ascra’, i.e. Hesiod. See Hesiod, Opera et dies 90ff. for the story of Pandora’s box or jar.

5.  ‘a crow, the faithful prophet’. The crow was a bird of prophecy and an emblem of hope. Its caw was interpreted as cras, cras, ‘tomorrow, tomorrow’. Cf. the proverb, Quod hodie non est, cras erit: ‘What is not today shall be tomorrow.’

6.  Bonus Eventus or Bonne Aventure, cf. Evento Buono in Ripa, Iconologia; also called ‘Success’ or ‘Happy Ending’.

7.  Rhamnusia, i.e. Nemesis, who had a shrine at Rhamnus in Attica.

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