260 Ulisse Aldrovandi

...fever, because it concerns only the spirits and empty things, like vainglory. Lust reflects a putrid fever, since it arises from corrupted humors and the pollution of the flesh. Finally, greed represents a hectic fever, as it yearns for solid things—namely gold and silver—with every wish. For the miser, no treasure is enough; nevertheless, once he is stripped of the spoils of human life, he becomes poorer than any beggar. Ausonius expressed this most elegantly in that epigram where he introduces King Croesus, once the wealthiest of kings, and Diogenes, the most destitute, speaking together in the underworld:

"Cynic Diogenes saw your image, King Croesus, wealthiest of kings, among the ghosts. He stood still, and suddenly shaken by a great laugh from afar, he said: 'What do your riches profit you now, O wealthiest king of kings, when you are alone just as I am—and even poorer than I? For whatever I possessed, I carry with me, while you, Croesus, bring nothing with you from such vast wealth.'"

Some liken venial sin to an ephemeral fever, as it is nothing other than an intemperance of the spirits of the human mind; therefore, like that kind of fever, it comes and goes easily. Indeed, just as an ephemeral fever sometimes degenerates into a putrid fever and occasionally into a hectic fever, in the same way, venial sin—unless it is overcome as soon as possible by penance—is converted into either a putrid or hectic fever, namely into some lethal crime. This is according to Gregory: "A sin that is not washed away through penance soon falls by its own weight into another."

At the conclusion of this section, we have decided that something must be said about poison. Poison is that which kills a person without a preceding illness, and it is drawn from three families: animals, vegetables, and minerals. Similarly, in moral teaching, a poison is found that infects the soul through temptations and kills it through evil consent. This poison is categorized into three types. The first poison is the bite of venomous creatures—namely demons and wicked people, such as flatterers and heretics—whose words poison the soul, according to the Psalmist: *The venom of asps is under their lips.* The second species of poison is drawn from vegetables; in moral teaching, these vegetables refer to the delights and pleasures by which the soul is overwhelmed by death. The third poison is extracted from minerals, namely from riches, for if these are used badly, they kill the soul by poisoning it. Furthermore, when poison is administered, because it is unpleasant, it is usually mixed with a sweet liquid. Similarly, because the poison of sin is by its nature horrifying to the soul, the Devil mixes into it the sweetness of some delight to deceive the will. Therefore, it will be safe to abstain from "sweets"—that is, from the delights of the world—lest it happen that the poison of sin lies hidden within them. Finally, a person infected by poison can infect others through contact; likewise, those who are poisoned by crimes and imbued with wicked habits can infect others with a similar poison through obscene words and bad examples.

SYMBOLS

We find that all the different types of symbols under discussion at present are derived either from the shape of human parts or from a complete image of a person of any age or gender. Regarding the former, one may see in Paradin the figure of a human head armed with a helmet, distinguished by the image of a raven, with the title: *UNEXPECTED HELP*. He assigns this symbol to Marcus Valerius Corvinus, who signified that unexpected aid often flows from Almighty God, the perennial source of protection. In the same author, there is an image of a human head with the ear pierced by an awl