Section: ASTROLOGIA (Studying the stars). View all emblems in this section.
Link to an image of this page [G8v p112]
Quae supra nos, nihil ad nos.[1]
What lies above us is none of our business
Caucasia aeternum pendens in rupe Prometheus[2]
Diripitur sacri praepetis ungue iecur.
Et nollet fecisse hominem: figulosque perosus
Accensam rapto damnat ab igne facem.
Roduntur variis prudentum pectora curis,
Qui coeli affectant scire, deûmque vices.
Suspended for ever from the Caucasian rock, Prometheus has his liver torn by the talons of the sacred bird. He could well wish he had not made man. Hating moulders of clay, he curses the torch lit from the stolen fire. - The hearts of the learned are gnawed by various cares, the learned who strive to know the vicissitudes of heaven and the gods.
1. See Erasmus, Adagia 569, Quae supra nos nihil ad nos.
2. The Titan Prometheus appears in myth as the champion of men against the ill-will of Zeus. According to one account, he moulded man out of clay (hence the reference to figuli, lit. ‘potters’, in l.3). Again, when Zeus withheld fire from mortals, Prometheus ascended to heaven and stole fire from the chariot of the sun for the benefit of men. As a perpetual punishment, Prometheus was put in chains and suspended from a rock in the Caucasus, where an eagle, the sacred bird of Zeus, in the day-time consumed his liver, which renewed itself every night. See Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.82ff; Hesiod, Theogony 561ff.
Related Emblems
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Relating to the image:
- adult man (+ nude human being) [31D14(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- an eagle tears at Prometheus' liver [91E4611] Search | Browse Iconclass
- animals threatening man [34F1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm raised upward [31A2511] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched sidewards [31A2513] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Jupiter: eagle [92B18(EAGLE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beard [31A534] Search | Browse Iconclass
- boulder, stone [25H1124] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- groups of birds (+ flying animal(s)) [25F31(+5262)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- groups of plants (herbs) [25G13] Search | Browse Iconclass
- landscape with tower or castle [25I5] Search | Browse Iconclass
- lying on the back with uplifted upper part of the body [31A2361] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mountains [25H11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- predatory birds: eagle (+ animal with forelegs raised upward) [25F33(EAGLE)(+551)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- predatory birds: eagle (+ animal with prey) [25F33(EAGLE)(+452)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- prisoner; in fetters [44G312] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sitting or lying with one leg stretched forward and the other leg drawn up (+ lying) [31A2626(+56)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- (symbolic) representations ~ creation, cosmos, cosmogony, universe, and life (in the broadest sense) [10] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Curiosity, Inquisitiveness, Desire of Knowledge; 'Curiosità ' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52A12(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- fire (one of the four elements) [21C] Search | Browse Iconclass
- geographical names of countries, regions, mountains, rivers, etc. (names of cities and villages excepted) (with NAME) [61D(CAUCASUS)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Prometheus makes man out of clay, usually Minerva present [91E451] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Prometheus steals fire from the chariot of the sun [91E4521] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Punishment; 'Castigo', 'Pena', 'Punitione' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57BB13(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Things Unknown, the Unknown (+ emblematical representation of concept) [51AA8(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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