266 Ulisse Aldrovandi

the Great, as a judge sitting on his tribunal, offered one ear to the accuser while closing the other with his finger. When asked about this, he replied that one ear was sufficient for the accuser, as the other must be saved for the defendant. From this, we should conclude that a just judge ought not to pass sentence until both parties have been heard.

Similarly, Cousteau depicts men sitting in the robes of a judge, with the image of a boy crowned with vine leaves in their midst. He intended to suggest that drunken judges cannot deliver a just sentence, following the common verse: "A mind well-taught is not found in much wine."

The same author also presents a picture of a man sitting on a tribunal with a beautiful maiden standing before him. This image represents Appius and Virginia, serving as a warning that judges who are in love cannot judge rightly.

In the same vein, the author portrays many men with images of wolves at their feet. This figure refers to the Neuri people, who were once believed to transform into wolves. By this, the author shows that praetors, judges, and magistrates in their governance and administration should not be rapacious like wolves, nor take pleasure in bribes. For this reason, men bringing gifts are shown entering through one door, while others who bring nothing are excluded through another in one of Sambucus’s symbols, illustrating the particular greed of our age—as Ovid wrote: "If you bring nothing, Homer, out you go."

Finally, the picture of a man showing a woman a hand squeezing a sponge and pouring out water refers to a symbol by Sambucus. He intended to show that the public treasury should not be transformed into a "birdlime" for greed.

Next come symbols featuring multiple human figures, which relate to friendship, peace, wealth, and mutual aid. Cousteau paints two crowned men joined in a mutual embrace, with two stars hanging over their heads representing Castor and Pollux; thus, the symbol of brotherly friendship is demonstrated. In the work of the same author, one can see images of two men exchanging weapons, with the inscription "Peace Purchased with Gold." It should be noted that in this image, one set of weapons is gold and the other iron; these figures refer to Diomedes and Glaucus. In this way, the author teaches that peace must sometimes be recovered with money.

He also portrays two men offering their right hands clenched into fists to each other while hiding their left hands under their cloaks. Indeed, he depicts two other men who offer bread to each other with their right hands but hide stones in their left. This is meant to show feigned friendship, for there are some who present themselves as friends in words while plotting treachery in their thoughts. For this reason, in the work of Gabriele Simeoni, there are two human figures, one of whom is masked; the other touches the forehead of the mask with a staff, under the title "No Injury is Done to a False Friend." This signifies that grudges should be set aside by flatterers. A masked man is said to be a symbol of a deceitful soul; therefore, the mask is struck with a rod so that the false face may finally be dropped.

In another instance, a man digging the earth and another handling coins in a chest was a symbol proposed by Sambucus to manifest kindness. For just as the earth is not diminished by being dug, so too the money we give away is not lost. As Ovid sang: "The only wealth you will always keep is that which you have given away."

Gabriele Simeoni presents a picture of a man lifting a beggar lying on the ground, with the title "He Gives Twice Who Gives Timely." This shows that an immortal benefit is provided when someone helps the needy quickly, in a moment of urgent necessity and without hope of reward. As Ausonius sang: "If you do something well, do it quickly; for a quick deed will be pleasing, while a slow favor makes it ungrateful."

The Pythagorean symbol seems relevant here: "Help a man lifting a burden, but not one laying it down." Though this later came to denote that honorable actions should be approved and those doing right should be supported. For by "man," reason and the mind are understood, while by the "burden," the senses and the passions of the body are designated. Therefore, those who raise their reason from earthly things to the sublime are said to lift the burden. But the symbol in which there are men burdens, and