
Prudentes.
The Wise.
EMBLEMA XVIII.
Iane bifrons, qui iam transacta futuraque calles,
Quique retro sannas, sicut & antè, vides:[1]
Tot te cur oculis, tot fingunt vultibus? an qụd
Circumspectum hominem forma fuisse docet?
Two-headed Janus, you know about what has already happened and what is yet to come, you see the jeering faces behind just as you see them in front. Why do they represent you with so many eyes, why with so many faces? Is it because this form tells us that you were a man of circumspection?
1. quique retro sannas, sicut et ante, vides, ‘you see the jeering faces behind just as you see them in front’, a line based on Persius, Satirae, 1.58-62.
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Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- groups of trees [25G11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- plants and herbs [25G4] Search | Browse Iconclass
- low hill country [25H114] Search | Browse Iconclass
- prospect of city, town panorama, silhouette of [25I12] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- floating in the air (+ variant) [31A2763(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- anthropomorphic beings with parts in greater number than normal (+ head, face) [31A442(+41)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beard [31A534] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Janus' head, two-faced head [96A128(JANUS' HEAD)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- Prudence, 'Prudentia'; 'Prudenza' (Ripa) ~ one of the Four Cardinal Virtues [11M41] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Precaution (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52A24(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Silence.
Fol se taisant, ne differe du sage:
De la follie est tesmoing le langage,
Doncq’ par le doigt la bouche close, & mue
En Harpocras Egyptien se mue.[1]
La parolle donne à cognoistre
la sagesse, ou la follie de l’hom-
me.
1. Harpocrates, also known as Horus, was the son of the Egyptian divinity Isis. He avenged the murder of his father Osiris by Set/Typhon. He is often represented as an infant with his finger held to his mouth as a sign of silence and economy of words. See Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 68.
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- clock [23U24] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting on an elevation [31A2352] Search | Browse Iconclass
- looking over the shoulder [31A247] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward (+ holding something) [31A2512(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hand(s) towards the mouth [31A2536] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting or lying with one leg stretched forward and the other leg drawn up (+ sitting) [31A2626(+53)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- putting a finger to the lips, 'Silentium'; 'Silentio' (Ripa) [31B623591] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult man [31D14] Search | Browse Iconclass
- study; 'studiolo'; library [41A251] Search | Browse Iconclass
- open door [41A3211] Search | Browse Iconclass
- table [41A711] Search | Browse Iconclass
- shelves, rack, sideboard [41A712] Search | Browse Iconclass
- cover for table, etc. [41A713] Search | Browse Iconclass
- armchair, seat [41A7212] Search | Browse Iconclass
- cushion [41A7221] Search | Browse Iconclass
- coat, cape (+ men's clothes) [41D212(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head-gear (+ men's clothes) [41D221(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- gear for legs and feet (+ men's clothes) [41D233(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- scholar in his study [49C32] Search | Browse Iconclass
- book [49M32] Search | Browse Iconclass
- book - MM - book open [49MM32] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Harpocrates [96A33] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- Wisdom; 'Sapienza', 'Sapienza humana', 'Sapienza vera' (Ripa) [52A51] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Ignorance; 'Ignoranza', 'Ignoranza di tutte le cose', 'Ignoranza in un ricco senza lettere' (Ripa) [52AA5] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Folly, Foolishness; 'Pazzia', 'Sciocchezza', 'Stoltitia' (Ripa) [52AA51] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Taciturnity; 'Secretezza', 'Secretezza overo TaciturnitĂ ' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52DD3(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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