268 Ulisse Aldrovandi

"We too are children who, as long as life remains, fight on the ground for filthy lucre."

Seneca also called us humans "always children," rather than "twice children" as the common saying goes. For just as children are gripped by a greed for nuts and pebbles, fighting fiercely among themselves for things of no value because they possess weak minds, so too do men sometimes undertake great wars for gold and silver. Yet these things are also worthless, for they flow away instantly and vanish in a moment. In the work of Cousteau, one sees a naked lad with a drawn sword as if about to strike, with the inscription: *Wisdom rarely comes before the first beard*. This is meant to denote the danger humans incur when public affairs are managed by the young. The whole idea is explained in this four-line verse:

"Stop, foolish boy, handling the dangerous axe; do you dare to stain weapons with such a soft hand? How poorly do they handle the secrets of the Conscript Fathers, they who have not yet left behind their childhood games."

If we move from small children to images of youths, we find in Alciato a figure of a young man lifting a winged left hand while his right hand is weighed down by a heavy stone. The inscription is: *Poverty hinders the greatest talents from advancing*. The verses are as follows:

"My right hand holds a stone, my other hand bears wings; just as the feathers lift me, the heavy weight sinks me down. With my talent, I could fly to the high citadels, if only envious poverty did not weigh me down."

Through this emblem, we understand that there are sometimes adolescents of such sharp intellect that they would make serious progress in the mastery of the sciences in a short time, were it not for a total lack of resources holding them back. Thus Juvenal sang with good reason:

"They do not easily emerge, those whose virtues are hampered by narrow circumstances at home."

One may also look at a winged youth falling from the sky in the work of Florentius, with the inscription: *To taste the heights is dangerous*. This image represents Icarus, who, having been equipped with wings and flying too high, was cast headlong down. Indeed, one should not inquire into what is not granted to be known, nor is it permitted to ask, nor is it pious to scrutinize. For it is holier and more reverent to believe in and marvel at the fact that God rules his kingdom without witnesses, rather than to pry into it. Therefore Horace sang to the point:

"God, prudent of the future, hides the outcome in misty night, and laughs if a mortal trembles beyond what is permitted."

In Alciato, there is a figure of a winged youth falling from heaven with the inscription: *Against Astrologers*. This image refers to Icarus, who, seeking the heights equipped with waxen wings, fell to the earth when the wax melted. Therefore, in the final couplet of his six-line poem, Alciato has this:

"Let the astrologer beware of predicting anything headlong; for the impostor falls while he flies above the stars."

Florentius also depicted a youth falling from the top of a tree to the ground, with the title: *You will go most safely in the middle*. This emblem seems consistent with the symbol of Bocchi mentioned earlier, in which a tightrope walker was depicted with the inscription: *To hold the middle is always a mark of wisdom*. By this emblem we are taught that one must walk step-by-step through the halls of Fortune, lest while we strive to reach the heights of prosperity, we fall down along with the branches. Reusner depicted the beautiful youth Narcissus gazing at his own reflection in the crystal-clear water of a spring, with the title: *Know Thyself*. And Florentius portrayed a sitting youth, with a figure of Virtue placed on his right and a figure of Pleasure on his left; the inscription is: *The slippery path of youth*. The image of this emblem refers to Hercules, who, though enticed by the charms of pleasure and urged by the exhortation of virtue, finally, by the help of virtue,