
99

99
tetrastichon.
Quid Libitina[1] facit? Quid ponderat illa bilance?
An iustum faciet pondus avara manus?
Pauperibus Reges, & sceptra ligonibus aequat,
Quos Fors distinguit, Mors facit esse pares.
What is Libitina doing? What is she weighing in her double scales? Will a miserly hand make an honest measure? She equates poor men and kings, and sceptres with mattocks: those whom Chance parts, Death makes into comrades.
quatrain.
Quand la mort tient en sa main la balance,
Les sceptres sont & les rateaux esgaux:
Pour demontrer, que quand la mort s’avance,
De mesme poix sont les Roys & vassaux.
1. Libitina: archaic Roman goddess of death (or synonymn for death itself).
Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- (human) skeleton [31A21] Search | Browse Iconclass
- agricultural implements [47I15] Search | Browse Iconclass
- agricultural implements (with NAME) [47I15(RAKE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- casting weapons (with NAME) [45C11(SPEAR)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- communal rooms [41A22] Search | Browse Iconclass
- crown (symbol of sovereignty) [44B191] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Death as skeleton [31F26] Search | Browse Iconclass
- grave, tomb [42E31] Search | Browse Iconclass
- other gods of the underworld (with NAME) [92N7(LIBITINA)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- other kinds of grave-markers, e.g. cross [42E3113] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Parity, Equality [51B3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- scales [46B3311] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sceptre, staff (symbol of sovereignty) [44B192] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- Luck, Fortune, Lot; 'Fato', 'Fortuna', 'Fortuna aurea', 'Fortuna buona', 'Fortuna pacifica overo clemente', 'Sorte' (Ripa) [54F12] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Mortality, Extinction of Life [58BB1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Poverty; 'Povertą', 'Povertą del doni', 'Povertą in uno ch'habbia bell'ingegno' (Ripa) [55BB1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- ruler and his subjects [44B127] Search | Browse Iconclass
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