History of Monsters. 262.

since several authors circulate these under the name of symbols, we will first review those featuring the image of a youth in this section, so that we may gradually proceed to the others. Bocchius depicts a youth attempting to pass an anchor cable through the eye of a needle, with the title: *A greedy rich man can never be blessed.* The theme seems to be drawn from the golden saying of the Gospel, which states that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven; however, this sentiment is to be understood as referring specifically to a greedy rich man.

The same author presents the image of a youth binding an old man within a cave; the inscription reads: *One truth to be seen in all things.* These two figures of the youth and the old man represent Aristaeus and Proteus, who signify that truth must be grasped only after mere opinions have been driven away; for these opinions are represented by the various animals stabled in the cave.

The same author depicted a youth offering his own head, severed from the neck, to a figure of Fortune. Fortune appears ready to attach a neck to the kneeling youth’s body, one marked with three heads—those of a lion, a serpent, and another beast. This denotes that a man who entrusts himself to fortune lacks his own head (that is, his own intellect) and seems to take on the nature of a beast. This symbol is inscribed: *He who decides to trust in blind fate becomes a beast.*

Likewise, Archduke Matthias of Austria displayed the image of a youth—specifically Perseus—liberating Andromeda, with the title: *Victory loves diligence.* For just as Perseus rescued the beautiful maiden Andromeda from a savage monster, so he himself was destined to liberate the beautiful region of Hungary from the Turkish yoke. Similarly, Bocchius represented a youth impaled on a stake and suffocated by smoke, with this title: *The ambitious man must be banished from the republic.* The theme of this symbol is derived from history: for the Emperor Alexander Severus once ordered a certain youth, burning with ambition, to be killed by smoke. We remember seeing on the frontispiece of a certain book the figure of a youth gazing at the Heavens, and the title was: *Blessed is the man whose hope is the Lord, and who has not looked upon vanities and false follies.*

Having come to the images of men, we shall first speak of those depicted with inanimate objects. Costalius once represented a man playing a lute in a desert, a figure representing Aspendius the lute-player, who did not wish to be heard even by his friends but played only for himself. This symbol refers to those friends who measure friendship by its utility; thus they are not called true and faithful friends, but unfaithful, flattering, and common. This follows the poem: *The common crowd judges friendships by their utility.*

Again, the same author depicted a man playing a lute before a vessel full of beans, and the symbol's inscription is: *The Doric Muse.* He wished to suggest to us that there are sometimes judges who look only for gifts and judge according to them; for votes are denoted by the beans. He who plays the lute is the "Doric Muse"—namely, judging provided that *dora* (that is, gifts) are present. He alludes to the word *doron*, which means a gift; hence he adds another inscription in these words: *Against the "Gift-Eating" Judges.*

The same Costalius explains the image of a man testing vessels by their sound, with the title: *A man's speech proves him, not his clothes.* He wished to warn that a man should be judged by his talk and not by his dress; for this reason Diogenes used to say, "Speak, so that I may see you."

The same author depicts a man approaching the water of a certain fountain with torches, and the inscription of the symbol is: *Against those who trust too much in themselves.* The author alludes to the Fountain of Dodona, in which extinguished torches were lit and lit ones were extinguished. Indeed, this fountain seems to be a symbol of divine justice, which extinguishes and casts down those who are too confident, but lifts up and ignites those who are extinguished—that is, the humble.

In the work of Gabriel Simeoni, one can see the figure of a man poking a fire with a sword, a spark from which leaps into the image's eye; the title is: *Fire should not be poked with a sword.* The theme is taken from a Pythagorean maxim, and the symbol is directed at litigious people, who are often harmed by those they provoke. Sigismondo Malatesta, Prince of Rimini, used as his symbol the figure of Mucius Scaevola with his right hand extended into the fire, and the inscription was: *Heavier things than these.* For he was prepared to expose not only his hand to the flames, like Mucius, but even his whole body