...with flowers, May brings the stars of Gemini; June carries the summer solstice upon the axis of Cancer; July burns with the scorching fire of Leo; with August, the golden Virgin brings the harvest; September balances the nights with the scales of Libra; pugnacious Scorpio commands a menacing October; the Archer displays his signs in the middle of November; and you, Capricorn, bring the winter solstice in December. In the middle of rainy January stands the sign of Aquarius, and the twin Fishes proceed toward the season of February.

In his *Iconologia*, Cesare Ripa always uses the figures of youths when representing the individual months. This is not without reason, as time is distributed into hours, days, months, and years. Quite rightly, the hours should be assigned to childhood, days to adolescence, months to youth, years to manhood, and finally, time itself to old age. The division of time is as follows:

The year completes its course in twelve months; one month encompasses four weeks; the week is further divided into seven days; and each day consists of twenty-four hours. Yet the year is not measured in whole parts alone. it is finished in three hundred and sixty-five days; however, if you add six hours on top of that, an entire day is formed every fourth year. From this, the leap year is born.

Since this division aligns with the actual truth, we should not be surprised that the learned Ripa painted so many elegant youths to represent the months.

Furthermore, if we ever encounter an image of a naked old man stretched out on the ground with flowing hair, a long beard, and horns, leaning against a large urn from which an abundance of water gushes, we shall declare it to be the icon of a river. For this reason, when Cartari depicts the Tiber, he paints an old man crowned with leaves and fruit, lying on the ground with a reed in his hand. In this way, he demonstrates the fertile fields irrigated by the Tiber—notably because the farmers of those regions do not use manure, but rather cast every kind of waste into the river.

Similarly, the figure of a naked, horned old man lying on the ground, leaning his arm on an urn pouring water, designates the River Po. By the horns, the winding banks of the rivers are signified; or, as others would have it, they denote the murmur of the waters, which is often likened to the lowing of oxen.

Finally, an old man sitting atop a crocodile or a hippopotamus, leaning his arms on an urn emitting water, where sixteen small boys are seen wandering around the statue, denotes the River Nile. Through the figures of the sixteen boys, they signify that the rising of the river should not exceed sixteen cubits.

Having understood these matters regarding rivers, we shall hurry on to examine other various images. Indeed, Cartari signifies marriage by painting a man with a yoke and shackles.

The figure of a man riding an elephant demonstrates eternity; for this reason, the Ancients used to paint the Emperor in a chariot drawn by elephants, to suggest to all that he had been enrolled in the number of the Gods.

When they depicted two small boys playing together on a bed, they believed they were expressing the happiness of the age.

The painting of a youth adorned in elegant clothing, with a sacrificial bowl in his right hand and an ear of grain as well as a poppy in his left, signified success, according to Cartari’s mind. Similarly, the figure of a blind, winged youth with his feet braced upon a wheel denoted favor.

Likewise, a small boy dressed in purple and crowned with a laurel wreath, led by Cupid to the Goddess Virtue, suggests the image of Honor.

Quiet, however, was designated by the image of a man placing one foot over the other; for this reason, this kind of image is carved into the stone of tombs to signify rest—though some think that such a figure sometimes demonstrates idleness and sometimes meditation. Finally, when the icon of a woman is seen joining the right hands of two men, we shall judge it to be the image of Piety.