History of Monsters 276

let no day pass without a line being drawn to mark it.

Someone once painted a burning heart lowered from Heaven by a hand, placed between two men joining their right hands—perhaps to illustrate religion, which is established through friendship and concord. Similarly, Alciato depicted a man and a woman sitting beneath a fruit-bearing tree, clasping hands, accompanied by the image of a dog; the title is *On Wifely Fidelity*. Indeed, two qualities are most fitting for spouses: namely, fidelity and love. The dog is held to be the symbol of fidelity, while the fruit-bearing tree is the symbol of love, as it was once said to be sacred to Venus. This refers to the tree of the Golden Apples of the Hesperides dedicated to Venus, by whose benefit Hippomenes defeated Atalanta.

Next come those emblems in which figures of men in royal dignity are seen. For instance, Alciato represents a living man bound to a corpse in the presence of a King, to show the condition of daughters who are given in marriage by their parents to old or infirm men; thus, the emblem is inscribed: *Married to a Contagious Man*. Here, a girl laments her cruel father who gave her in marriage to a man defiled by the "French disease." Barthélemy Aneau seems to show the same thing when he depicts a father casting his son into a swift river; by this image, we understand not only daughters married to the elderly and the sick, but also children of both sexes who are dedicated to religious service while still under age. Indeed, this act seems very similar to the one once very familiar to Mezentius, the Tyrrhenian King and despiser of gods and men, who, moved by an unheard-of ferocity, ordered living bodies to be joined to dead ones, so that they might perish as their senses were overwhelmed by the stench.

In another work by Alciato, a man is depicted wearing a royal crown, with a scepter in his right hand and a spleen in his left, while a figure of a dropsical man is seen at his feet, with the title: *The Wealth of the Tyrant is the Poverty of the Subjects*. This argument seems to be drawn from the nature of the spleen, as physicians have observed that when the spleen swells, the other limbs become wasted. For this reason, the Treasury is rightly compared to the spleen; as it grows, the wasting and poverty of the other members—namely, the subjects—ensues. It is no wonder, then, that some Greeks called such rulers *demoboros*, as if they were "devourers of the people." Thus, it is said to be more kingly to give than to take, and Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, used to say it was more fitting for a King to make others rich than to be rich himself.

We find a similar sentiment in a subsequent emblem by Alciato, where a crowned man is painted holding a scepter in his left hand and a sponge full of water in his right, in the presence of several people looking at those hanging from a gallows. The inscription is: *What Christ Does Not Take, the Treasury Seizes*. The sponge in this context signifies those who, blinded by any means right or wrong, enrich themselves from public taxes, only to be condemned to the ultimate punishment by the Prince's command, their ill-gotten goods being added to the Treasury.

Likewise, in the same author's work, a blind man is portrayed holding a scepter in the midst of a group of men without hands, with the title: *On the Senate of a Good Prince*. The circle of men in this picture is without hands to indicate true judges, who must not accept gifts. The Prince's blindness suggests that he ought to judge cases by his ears alone, without personal bias. The theme of the emblem is taken from the history of the Thebans, who fashioned statues of magistrates without hands and statues of Princes with closed eyes, to proclaim that the nature of Justice must be incorruptible, yielding neither to bribes, nor prayers, nor any affection.

One may also see in the work of Florentius a crowned man in a gathering of women, holding a distaff and spindle, with the title: *It is a Wretched Slavery to Serve Pleasure*. This figure undoubtedly represents Sardanapalus, who is described in a four-line verse as follows:

"While you pluck threads with a weak finger, O Sardanapalus, among the female herds with your distaff, you are an infamous slave; for what is slavery if not that which foul lust weighs down with its commands?"

In the book *Painted Poetry*, there is an image of a man sitting on a throne surrounded by four servants, the first of whom offers flowers, the second fruit, the third ripe grapes, and the fourth clothing. At the doors of the house stands a beggar, with the inscription: *Every Time is Favorable for the Wealthy*. All this is explained by these verses