
Mentem, non formam plus pollere.
Intelligence matters, not beauty
Ingressa vulpes in Choragi pergulam,
Fabrè expolitum invenit humanum caput,
Sic eleganter fabricatum, ut spiritus
Solùm deesset, caeteris vivisceret:
Id illa cùm sumpsisset in manus, ait:
Hoc[1] quale caput est, sed cerebrum non habet.[2]
A fox, entering the store-room of a theatrical producer, found an actor’s mask, skilfully shaped, so finely fashioned that the spirit alone was missing, in all else it seemed alive. Taking it up, the fox addressed it - What a head is this, but it has no brain!

Le Sens plus requis que Beaulte.
Une teste faicte de marbre,
Fut ung jour de Regnart trouvee,
En passant par dessoubz ung arbre.
La quelle il eust tantost levee,
Voicy teste bien achevee,
Dist il, & dung art moult nouveau:
Mais elle est en ung poinct grevee,
Car elle na poinct de cerveau.
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Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- beasts of prey, predatory animals: fox (+ animal(s) holding something) [25F23(FOX)(+5245)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beasts of prey, predatory animals: fox (+ sitting animal) [25F23(FOX)(+535)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants and herbs [25G4] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head (human) [31A221] Search | Browse Iconclass
- loggia, verandah, porch [41A381] Search | Browse Iconclass
- fence, wall, paling [41A54] Search | Browse Iconclass
- table [41A711] Search | Browse Iconclass
- piece of sculpture, reproduction of a piece of sculpture [48C24] Search | Browse Iconclass
- stage costume [48C853] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- mask [41D283] Search | Browse Iconclass
- workbench [47A211] Search | Browse Iconclass
- actor, actress (non-work situations) [48C8322] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Beauty; 'Bellezza' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [51D4(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Intellect, Intelligence; 'Intelletto', 'Intelligenza' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52A1(+4):54B6(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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AMOR FILIORUM.
Love of one’s children
Ante diem vernam boreali cana palumbes,
Frigore nidificat, praecoqua & ova fovet.
Mollius & pulli ut iaceant sibi vellicat alas,
Queîs nuda hyberno deficit ipsa gelu.[1]
Ecquid Colchi pudet, vel te Procne improba mortem?
Cum volucris propriae prolis amore subit?[2]
Before the day of spring, the wood-pigeon, all white with winter snow, builds her nest and cherishes her premature eggs. To make her chicks lie more softly, she plucks her own wing-feathers, and stripped of them, she herself perishes from the wintry frost. Woman of Colchis, do you feel any shame? Or you, heartless Procne? - when a bird submits to death out of love for her own offspring.
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- nest, den, burrow ®® KEY (421) TO 25F animals [25F(+421)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- other birds (with NAME) (+ brooding, hatching) [25F39(RING-DOVE)(+412)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- other birds (with NAME) (+ nest, den, burrow) [25F39(RING-DOVE)(+421):25F39(RING-DOVE)(+352)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- stem, trunk [25G(+21)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- leaf [25G(+27)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants (in general) [25G1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees (+ bare plant) [25G3(+351)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- winter, 'Hyems'; 'Inverno' (Ripa) [23D41] Search | Browse Iconclass
- feathers [25F(+352)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- parental love [42B1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mother-love [42B120] Search | Browse Iconclass
- killing a child (absence of parental love) [42B290] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Shame [57A4] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Medea kills her two children; she flees from Corinth in a chariot drawn by winged dragons [94A74] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Procne kills Itys, her son by Tereus, in order to serve him up as food to her husband [95B(PHILOMELA & PROCNE)66] Search | Browse Iconclass
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