mjhurst
SAPIENTIAE LIBERTAS -- A Humanist Triumph
That was one of the more remarkable passages which Ross discovered and translated a few years ago. Gregoire was comparing the images of Tarot to an emblematic deck published by Wechel, (famous as the original publisher of Alciato's Emblemata a decade earlier), and contrasting such philosophical games ("mixed games") with all the rest, corrupted by gambling. Sylvia Mann described such a deck when it was auctioned in 1971.
Although not emblems per se, such epigrams were the basis for emblems. Other accretions, including motto, image, additional quotes, etc., were typical of most emblem books, (there were thousands), but the earlier epigrammatic tradition continued in some "naked" emblem books. More than a few writers have speculated vaguely about a relationship between Tarot and the emblematic tradition, but the passage by Gregoire was the first report of such an association being seen by a contemporaneous commentator.
One particular emblem, from a famous collection published a decade after Gregoire's comment, can support a more specific and detailed comparison the Tarot sequence. It is a Stoic-humanist emblem with direct parallels to the design of the Tarot trump cycle. It comes from Otto van Veen's Emblemata Horatiana (Emblems of Horace), first printed in 1607, shortly after the publication of Cesare Ripa's Iconologia (1593, illustrated 1603) and during the height of popularity of emblem books. Alciato had begun the fashionable genre with his 1531 Emblemata, which has seen about 150 editions.
Although approaches varied, the essence of an emblem was, 1) a pithy motto, (often paradoxical), 2) an impressive epigram, (often biblical or classical), and 3) an allegorical illustration, (often obscure or idiosyncratic). When combined, these elements illuminated some idea or relationship. Horatiana's emblem #38 is comprised of the motto Sapientiae Libertas (the wise are free), an epigram from Horace, and a complex allegorical illustration. (Explanatory verses, in several languages, were added in subsequent editions.) This emblem may be seen at the following sites.
Sapientiae Libertas Text
http://tinyurl.com/p6cfb
Sapientiae Libertas Illustration
http://tinyurl.com/nsk4q
38. Sapientiæ libertas
http://tinyurl.com/s7mcx
The idea that only the wise are free, (and every fool is a slave), is one of the so-called Stoic Paradoxes. These aphorisms, absurd when taken literally, are attention grabbing summaries of philosophical positions which require further explanation to make sense. By framing such ideas in a deliberately confounding manner, the Cynics and later the Stoics drew attention to the need for deeper reflection to get beyond "common sense". Cicero wrote a treatise, Paradoxa Stoicorum, explaining six of these puzzling aphorisms, including this one, with examples from daily life and Roman history. These paradoxes were well known in the era of emblem books and neo-Stoicism. The stimulus for this post today was the current ATS Newsletter, including a translation of Boiardo's Stoic-humanist revisioning of the Tarot deck, another example of the popularity of Stoic values, attitudes, and subject matter.
The Boiardo Poem (Tarotpedia translation)
http://association.tarotstudies.org/newsletters/news58.html
Yet among invented games are 'pages', in which, while being played, certain traces of learning are even found, as in Tarots, and in those which are printed together with the sentences of the sacred scriptures and philosophers, by the printer Wechel of Paris. Human desire squanders all the rest, along with those like them, where money comes in the middle, and that desire is going to be felt.
(Pierre Gregoire, Syntagma Juris Universi; Lyons, 1597;
Translated by Ross Caldwell.)
That was one of the more remarkable passages which Ross discovered and translated a few years ago. Gregoire was comparing the images of Tarot to an emblematic deck published by Wechel, (famous as the original publisher of Alciato's Emblemata a decade earlier), and contrasting such philosophical games ("mixed games") with all the rest, corrupted by gambling. Sylvia Mann described such a deck when it was auctioned in 1971.
An extremely interesting and, to me, previously unknown pack with fanciful suitmarks (Cupids, Goats, Harps and Millstones) made in 1544 by Christian Wechel of Paris, whose name is recorded in d'Allemagne as a maître cartier. The main body of the cards was filled with quotations in Latin from the works of Ovid, Seneca, Horace and Plautus.
("A Choice Collection of Playing-Cards", The Journal of the Playing-Card Society
http://i-p-c-s.org/journal/1-1.html)
Although not emblems per se, such epigrams were the basis for emblems. Other accretions, including motto, image, additional quotes, etc., were typical of most emblem books, (there were thousands), but the earlier epigrammatic tradition continued in some "naked" emblem books. More than a few writers have speculated vaguely about a relationship between Tarot and the emblematic tradition, but the passage by Gregoire was the first report of such an association being seen by a contemporaneous commentator.
One particular emblem, from a famous collection published a decade after Gregoire's comment, can support a more specific and detailed comparison the Tarot sequence. It is a Stoic-humanist emblem with direct parallels to the design of the Tarot trump cycle. It comes from Otto van Veen's Emblemata Horatiana (Emblems of Horace), first printed in 1607, shortly after the publication of Cesare Ripa's Iconologia (1593, illustrated 1603) and during the height of popularity of emblem books. Alciato had begun the fashionable genre with his 1531 Emblemata, which has seen about 150 editions.
Although approaches varied, the essence of an emblem was, 1) a pithy motto, (often paradoxical), 2) an impressive epigram, (often biblical or classical), and 3) an allegorical illustration, (often obscure or idiosyncratic). When combined, these elements illuminated some idea or relationship. Horatiana's emblem #38 is comprised of the motto Sapientiae Libertas (the wise are free), an epigram from Horace, and a complex allegorical illustration. (Explanatory verses, in several languages, were added in subsequent editions.) This emblem may be seen at the following sites.
Sapientiae Libertas Text
http://tinyurl.com/p6cfb
Sapientiae Libertas Illustration
http://tinyurl.com/nsk4q
38. Sapientiæ libertas
http://tinyurl.com/s7mcx
MOTTO:
SAPIENTIAE LIBERTAS
EPIGRAM:
Who then is free? The wise man, who is lord over himself, whom neither poverty nor death nor bonds affright, who bravely defies his passions, and scorns ambition, who in himself is a whole, smoothed and rounded, so that nothing from outside can rest on the polished surface, and against whom Fortune in her onset is ever maimed. (Horace, Satire 2.7)
The idea that only the wise are free, (and every fool is a slave), is one of the so-called Stoic Paradoxes. These aphorisms, absurd when taken literally, are attention grabbing summaries of philosophical positions which require further explanation to make sense. By framing such ideas in a deliberately confounding manner, the Cynics and later the Stoics drew attention to the need for deeper reflection to get beyond "common sense". Cicero wrote a treatise, Paradoxa Stoicorum, explaining six of these puzzling aphorisms, including this one, with examples from daily life and Roman history. These paradoxes were well known in the era of emblem books and neo-Stoicism. The stimulus for this post today was the current ATS Newsletter, including a translation of Boiardo's Stoic-humanist revisioning of the Tarot deck, another example of the popularity of Stoic values, attitudes, and subject matter.
The Boiardo Poem (Tarotpedia translation)
http://association.tarotstudies.org/newsletters/news58.html