154 Ulisse Aldrovandi

is considered as such because the eyebrows are located in a prominent place. Indeed, Pierius believes that a hieroglyphic of severity can be drawn from them, since a particular sternness is inherent in elderly men with heavy, bushy eyebrows. According to Aristotle, eyebrows grow as one ages because they are positioned over certain bony structures that loosen in old age, thereby providing more nourishment to the hair of the brows.

The nose, in Pierius’s view, constitutes a hieroglyphic of sagacity. Thus, Festus quite rightly dubbed the sagacious man *nasutus* (large-nosed), because he immediately sniffs out the essence of any matter. The same author declared an open ear to be a sign of obedience and a closed one a hieroglyphic of stubbornness. Clement of Alexandria noted that the Egyptians used ears and eyes crafted from precious materials to hieroglyphically indicate the supreme God, since God alone hears and sees everything.

The mouth and its parts are presented by Valeriano as a hieroglyphic of a house: the upper teeth represent domestic residents, while the lower teeth represent foreigners, since the upper jaw remains immobile and attached to the head while only the lower jaw moves.

Furthermore, they used to depict a tongue held by a hand to suggest eloquence. For they interpreted the tongue as simple speech (just as the Latins called the tongue *dingua*, from the verb *dico*, "to say"), and through the figure of the hand, they showed delivery; for speech aided by artifice transforms into eloquence. Likewise, a tongue depicted on an altar signified sleep. It was a common custom to burn tongues in sacrifice to Mercury when people wished to invite sleep, as they believed speech—whose instrument is the tongue—flowed from Mercury; once sleep arrives, the tongue remains silent and still.

Pierius adds that a severed tongue signifies silence. It is also well-established that when Egyptian priests wanted to indicate a delicate sense of taste, they depicted a tongue slightly protruding between the front teeth. However, to show a complete or absolute sense of taste, they depicted the primary parts of the throat connected to the root of the tongue, since, according to physicians, the perfection of taste is centered in these parts. Some proclaim the beard to be a hieroglyphic of virility, as Diogenes famously replied that he wore a beard only so long as it reminded him that he was a man.

Valeriano assigns the neck as a hieroglyphic of pride; for in the Psalmist, we read of the necks of the wicked being cut down to represent subdued pride. Pierius also calls the shoulders a hieroglyphic of strength, as they are used to carry heavy loads. Next is the back, the hieroglyphic of flight, since those who flee show their backs. Otherwise, the ancients used the figure of the spine to indicate the hieroglyphic of titillation, as they believed the seed of generation descended from the brain through this part. Indeed, because the kidneys and other vessels serving generation are attached to the loins, the Egyptians understood "Venus" (sexual desire) by depicting the loins.

Furthermore, certain internal parts are not excluded from hieroglyphics. For they would depict a heart suspended by a strap and hanging upon the chest to suggest the speech of men who are truly devoted to the truth: for those things uttered by the mouth ought to agree with those conceived in the heart—making them, in fact, truer than true. When the ancients displayed the figure of a heart on a grill placed over a fire, they were illustrating fury and indignation, since the Philosopher proclaimed that anger is the boiling of the blood around the heart. Pierius, however, thinks that the image of the heart explains life itself, since life depends on the soul, and the soul has its primary seat in the heart; hence some have called the heart the "belly of the soul."

Indeed, others favored the depiction of the heart to signify the human mind, as in the Holy Bible God is held to be the "searcher of hearts." What more? To signify Egypt, they used a heart depicted with a burning altar. Because of its southern orientation, they celebrated Egypt as hot and humid like a heart. Moreover, just as the tip of the heart inclines toward a person’s left side, so the Arctic regions are to the left of Egypt; from these regions flow infinite springs of water that later communicate life and fertility to Egypt. Finally, through the burning altar with sacrifices placed upon the fire, they suggested that the inhabitants were to be gladdened. But what is even more wonderful is that the Egyptian priests, when intending to designate the flooding of the Nile, used an image of a heart with