Cardinal virtue of Wisdom/Prudence

le pendu

Allegory of Happiness

Here's a nice one with Prudence, "Happiness" with the cornicopia, Fortune with her wheel, and others


http://gallery.euroweb.hu/cgi-bin/g...html/b/bronzino/4/happines.html&find=prudence

Allegory of Happiness
1564
Oil on copper, 40 x 30 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

"This complex allegory represents Happiness (in the centre) with Cupid, flanked by Justice and Prudence. At her feet are Time and Fortune, with the wheel of destiny and the enemies of peace lying humiliated on the ground. Above the head of Happiness is Fame sounding a trumpet, and Glory holding a laurel garland.

robert
 

jmd

In a rare from of Freemasonry not practised in the major constitutions, one of the higher degrees had, as part of the ritual, for the candidate to look in a mirror, with words to the effect that Wisdom requires that one truely looks at oneself, reminiscent of the inscription at the Temple at Delphi:
  • Geothi Seauton -

    Know Thy Self!
When the mirror is used for Prudence, though the 'standard' scales are used for Justice, a broken pillar is usually utilised to represent Strength or fortitude (reminiscent of Samson).
 

lionette

Re: Allegory of Happiness

robertmealing said:
Here's a nice one with Prudence, "Happiness" with the cornicopia, Fortune with her wheel, and others [...]
robert

I clicked on the image and got a huge blowup that resizable (in Safari at least). What a beautiful painting! And I spy ...

- a Fool-like figure lying on the ground -- the head is at the foot of the youngster between Happiness and Prudence. There is clearly a hat with "ears", plus I see one leg w/bells!

- a serpent coiled up very near Fortune's wheel too?

- and the man in front of the Fool, pointing towards Happiness looks to be holding a dark blue orb -- maybe the moon?
 

jmd

I have been out all day, part of it looking through the centre which will host the 2005 Conference... sitting in the rooms, determining how many people and what type of workshop each could hold, etc...

But this is digressing.

On the way back, we stopped in one of those Melbourne streets lined with coffee shops and a few bookshops (and Charmaine's ice-cream - or for me, their sorbets!).

...and bye the bye, I again looked through one of those books I should have on my shelf but remains, unfortunately, missing (at this stage!): Frances Yates's The Art of Memory, in which she writes, in those first few pages in the Foreword, that the art of memory was considered an intrinsic part of that virtue we are here considering, ie, prudence.

If one considers the way in which the whole group of cards is very much a tool which includes the development and art of memory, then it of course makes sense that, perhaps, not any single card depicts that virtue, for Wisdom is by the mastery of the whole...

For the sake of adding a wonderful representation of the virtue, I have attached one from circa 1475 by Andrea della Robbia, from the Dartmouth site mentioning the four cardinal virtues, amidst its number symbolism discussion.

Of note is both the young woman looking into the mirror, but also the older hermit-like man's face as her own dual face, and the single snake (previously referred to).
 

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Yatima

Many interesting things surround the problem of the "missing virtue": Whether prudence is missing at all (some refer to the Plotinian three virtues, omitting prudence)? Whether it is hidden behind the face of one of the trumps (Popess, Hermit, Hanged Man and World have been suggested)? Whether prudence is the same as Wisdom (theology; e.g. Thomas Aquinas, does deny this)? Whether it clings together with providence (which is true)? I admit, I don't know for sure. But there are some considerations my reflecting on these problems has brought up:

1. If 'prudentia' is related to 'providentia', it does not just mean "foreseeing" in time, but, as the word (and its respective theology of the middle ages) does imply: "care" or "taking care of someone." It is a warm notion of God's healing presence, even if it means to die…This seems also to be related to the old myth of "Pro-Meteus" – "the one looking forward" "taking care of things in due and at the right time." As we know, he has stolen the fire to "taking care" of and in promoting humanity. If one does so, the God's will grow angry. Here is a parallel with Genesis's Tree of Knowledge and the wise serpent…

2. While in theological disputes 'prudentia' was considered as low, purely human virtue of "taking care of things at the right time and with foreseeing its consequences," Wisdom, 'sapiantia' (Sophia) was indeed too high to be considered a human virtue. On the contrary, it was seen as even higher than the three "theological virtues," which are named this way to indicate that they are given by God's grace alone. Wisdom, in Christian theology was, of cause, as in John 1, the Logos Himself or, as in Proverbia 8, Sophia Herself, an Trinitarian person or God's female nature and, hence, an essential expression of Godself.

3. Given these facts, it seems not unnatural not to depict Sophia herself, except at the extraordinary place that finalizes the whole journey of the trumps: the World. Indeed, in depicting the 'anima mundi' in the TdM, from a certain time on, this trump was the natural place of the Divine wisdom.

Indeed, Gareth Knight has pointed to the Charles VI-deck regarding the (exclusive) similarity of the three virtues and the World (their cloths, but especially their halo). Interestingly, he was not the first doing so. A year earlier, the book of John Sheppard on the Tarot (I haven't got it with me, so I can't give the title right now), I think it was published 1985, has pointed out this relation. Knight, however, goes a step further in relating these trumps not to the virtues alone but to the four elements and, hence, to a missing link to the four suits. He has done well, I think, in relating Justice's sword to Swords, Strength's column to Staves, Temperance's vessels to Cups, and the World's coin to Coins.

Two questions arise: 1. Is there also a relation of the four virtues to the four elements – I think of the four temperaments as mediator… 2. Does the Divine wisdom relate rightly to "World" or "New Jerusalem" or "anima mundi" or "Earth"?

To only add a further thought on the second question: If Earth is the highest manifestation of Wisdom in the Tarot, could that be related to the tenth sephirot – notably seen as (fallen) Sophia - or any similar Gnostic myth, especially in Basilidean lore? At least in Jewish (not just Kabbalistic) theology, man's journey ends in Wisdom…

Finally, if this difference between prudence and Wisdom holds: why – still – is prudence missing?

Cordially,
Yatima
 

jmd

I have often been told that participation in various threads in these sections is at times difficult, but that the contributions are highly appreciated...

...this and the additions to the thread on the Star, Moon and Sun sequence are two examples.

To what parts of the important statements made and taken as further assisting depth of reflection on myriad possibilities does one take and add comment to?

It is often also easier to take an aspect one possibly at the time of reading one disagrees with, rather than the much greater contribution made in the overall sense of the post.

So allow me to comment on three aspects.
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The first the difference between 'prudentia' and 'providentia'.

Though various people have commented in various places on the connection - both in terms of related concept and in proximity or similarity of word (a proximity which would have been considered of greater import than in our modern times) - I wonder if the depictions of the Atouts depict either both or either of these in 'clear' ways.

If I consider the concept of 'providentia', then the closest depiction seems to me to be the Wheel of Fortune: here providence is closely linked to the other mediaeval concepts linked to it, namely Fortum & Fortuna.

It could of course be that it is this very card (the Wheel of Fortune, with its three depicted humanoid animals (on the Marseille pattern), that represents Prudence/Wisdom, as the cardinal virtue was deemed to have been inclusive of 'intelligentia, memoria, and providentia'.
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With regards to the Hanged Man, it seems to me that here may also be depicted precisely the consequence to he whom Prudence or Wisdom was not observed. It could thus be that Prudence is thereby indicated in this rather inversed way - quite an appropriate reversal given the depiction - but am personally hesitant to accept that this was indeed to connotation.

For one, it seems more likely (but this does not imply correctness) that a virtue would be depicted by some kind of positive attribute, even if only by the need to expand on its theological or philosophical connotations. The World, the Hermit, or the Wheel here better fit.
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With regards to the possibility of the World being linked to Malkut, there is certainly some etymological connection.

Plato's description of Sophia in the Timeus also gives some cause for further making the connection.

If there is a Gnostic element in the depiction of the Marseille sequence, as possibly depicted by the ambiguity of gender in the World card, then this may indeed be further evidence that, as in the incorrectly named Charles VI deck, the aureole depicts this fourth virtue.

Within Platonic thought, of course, Wisdom is not the highest virtue, which is normally reserved for Justice. Still, having the multiple layers of interpretation as appropriate for symbols, this could refer to the descent or banishment of Wisdom as Sophia to either the depths of the Earth, and its possible redemption by the descent and re-ascent (triumphant resurrection) of the Christ.
 

Yatima

Yes, true, for Plato the virtues are ordered differently: While prudence, fortitude and temperance are related to the different aspects of the (human) soul, justice has no "place" within any of these aspects but is their overall order of harmony. On a deeper level, justice is meant as cosmic order (something the Toth Tarot seems somehow up to integrate). Otherwise, as in Heraclitus, this characteristic of cosmic harmony was related to the Logos that – in the Judaeo-Christian tradition was connect with Divine wisdom. So, the Platonic order could well have been a reason that the Charles VI-order and the Steel-order set Justice (always?) as highest virtue above Temperance and Fortitude.

While it is true for Plato that there seems to be no clear differentiation between prudence and wisdom, Aristotle related "phronesis" (prudence) to (human) virtues, but "sophia" was an expression of the harmony of the "eternal things." So, regarding the Tarot, I wonder whether this would be an argument in favor of the identification of the World with wisdom, but not with prudence, since we must be at least in the reign of the higher spheres (planets, stars and higher) to suffice eternity.

Also – just as a thought – couldn't the coincidence of the appearance of the TdM World-dancer (as Wisdom) with the dissemination of the kabbalistic tree about at the same time be a hint of an influence of the (possible) identification of Earth (malkut) with Wisdom?

Cordially, Yatima