288 Ulisse Aldrovandi

feet appears. He was depicted as an old man because he was the first of all the gods, and with an uncovered head because in the first age truth was manifest to all. His scythe denotes that all things are cut down and abolished by time; that same old man shown about to devour the object wrapped in cloths signifies that everything is consumed by the passage of time. Finally, the four boys denote the four elements. Others represented Saturn by painting a half-naked old man with the figure of a serpent forming a circle in his right hand and his head covered with a green cloth; this image appeared to walk with a slow pace. By the serpent they understood the year, by the green fleece Spring, by the gray hair of old age the snow and frost of winter, and by the slow pace the sluggish revolution of the sphere of Saturn. Others, following Cartari, painted Saturn with a serpent on his head, a boar's head in his right hand, and a lion's head in his left; for the figure of three heads signified past, present, and future time.

Turning to Jove, he was designated by the figure of a man naked on his upper half and covered with garments on his lower half, holding a scepter in his left hand and an eagle in his right. According to Cartari, the naked upper part of the image indicated that God manifests himself to higher intelligences, while the clothed lower part denoted that God can hardly be seen by humans living on earth. Alternatively, a man sitting on a judgment seat holding a lightning bolt in his right hand and a spear in his left represented Jupiter the Guardian; however, Cartari also exhibited this image in another way—namely, a man sitting upon two bulls. A naked man standing armed with a spear and lightning shows Jupiter the Stayer; indeed, holding a lightning bolt in both hands designates Jupiter the Avenger of crimes. Thus the Poet, reflecting on this, once sang: "If Jupiter sent his lightning as often as men sin, he would be unarmed in a very short time." In another version, Jove is shown as a naked man with a lightning bolt in his right hand and a goat skin in his left, representing Jupiter punishing according to merit, because all human actions were said to be inscribed upon that skin.

When the birth of Pallas is signified through an image of Jove, Cartari paints a man standing and using an axe to open the head of a half-naked man sitting upon a flowery hill; from the wound, an armed virgin emerges accompanied by an eagle. By the standing man he understood Vulcan; by the seated one, Jove; and by the virgin leaping from the wound in the head, Minerva. Sometimes a painting of a man holding a golden balance, tilting it now this way and now that, signified Jove, who (according to Cartari) imparts either good or evil to someone as he pleases. Alternatively, a man on the right and a woman on the left, offering their right hands to a youth in the middle, expresses "Faithful Jove"; for the man represents Honor, the woman Truth, and the boy Faith preserved—an image we mentioned shortly before.

Furthermore, it should be noted that Jove was designated in various ways among different nations. For the people of Elis, Cartari describes a representation of Jove made of gold and ivory, seated on a royal throne and crowned with olive wreaths, with Victory in his right hand and a scepter in his left, topped by an eagle. The statue’s cloak is gold, interwoven with various figures of animals and flowers. Among the Leontines, Jove was painted as a man with an eagle in his left hand and a javelin in his right. Indeed, Cartari shows Jove among the Arcadians as a naked youth crowned with vine leaves, holding a bowl in his left hand and a thyrsus in his right, the top of which is occupied by an eagle.

In Crete, there was once a human image without ears, said to be Jove, which served to warn those who would give laws to others that they should never listen to anyone in private, but should consult for everyone in public. Moreover, Cartari shows an image of a man endowed with four ears as the Lacedaemonian Jove; in this way they suggested the prudence of a Prince, who must patiently hear whatever the people say about him. Although others represented this image with three eyes to manifest the nature of any Prince—which should be such that he sees everything—it is more correct and satisfying to assert, following Cartari, that this image of Jove was figured with three eyes so that the three kingdoms of Heaven, Earth, and Sea might be known to all. Finally, among others, a painting of a man crowned with various flowers, with a bird in his right hand and a lightning bolt in his left, also represents Jove.