A wealthy man sits high within a magnificent hall, Surrounded by four different servants; One holds the flowers of spring; another carries The fruits of summer, offering them from a horn of plenty; A third presents ripe grapes in a basket, And finally, a fourth holds a variety of garments. A wretched little beggar stands by the doors, In tattered clothes and with a pleading gesture, asking for bread. This serves as a sign that for the rich, who live safely in leisure, All seasons are favorable. But, by contrast, it shows that for beggars, The poor lack everything in every season.

Since crowns were mentioned just a moment ago, it would not be out of place to present an image from Alciati in which two men crown a third figure in their midst with wreaths woven from olive, while many others, adorned with olive branches, accompany them. In this emblem, Alciati teaches that the best citizen should be heaped with the highest honors by his country. The sketched image represents Thrasybulus, the Athenian citizen who liberated his homeland from the cruelty of tyranny and then, having established public trust, enacted a law to grant amnesty for past injuries. For this reason, he earned the civic crown amidst the applause of the entire city. This law seems to conform to the Christian doctrine of the forgiveness of wrongs.

Costalius also depicts a man on a royal throne with a lightning bolt in his right hand and an eagle, where an image of a woman armed with a scythe is also seen. These two figures represent Jupiter and Themis, teaching us that only just things should be sought from God; indeed, Themis is said to cut down the impious desires of men with her scythe. For the immortal God is not inclined toward the lusts and depraved desires of men; rather, it is a crime to think that the most excellent divinity would wish to satisfy a wicked desire or a criminal craving.

Similar to this was an emblem by Florentius, in which a crowned man appears sitting on a throne with a scepter, where a girl with a sword and scales is also visible, under the title: *Things Done by God are Done Justly*. Jupiter and Themis are likewise shown by this image, for the author suggests as much in this couplet:

"Why is Themis the companion of Jupiter? Because whatever The divine mind of God has determined must be considered just."

For the ancients joined the image of Themis to Jupiter to suggest that whatever was done by God was done justly. However, some have believed there are no gods, or have doubted their justice, because they have observed that in this world the impious are sometimes honored while the just are oppressed. Hence, Claudian sang in his work *Against Rufinus*:

"Often my thoughts have pulled my mind into doubt: Whether the Powers Above care for the earth, or if there is no Ruler, and mortal affairs flow by uncertain chance. For when I examined the laws of the ordered world, The prescribed limits of the sea, the paths of the year, And the alternations of light and night, then I believed All things were established by God’s counsel."

But shortly after, the same poet added:

"But when I saw human affairs rolled in such thick darkness, And the guilty flourishing far and wide for a long time While the pious were harassed, then my religion Began to fail and fall away."

Afterward, the poet, returning as if to a sounder mind and offering a solution to the difficulty, sang thus again:

"The punishment of Rufinus has finally removed this confusion And acquitted the gods; I no longer complain that the unjust Have risen to the heights of affairs; they are lifted on high Only so that they may fall with a heavier crash."

For avenging necessity accompanies God everywhere and always, destined to be the punisher of those who have departed from the sacred law.