APPENDIX 115

PRUDENCE

“I do not find, in any of the representations of her, that her truly distinctive character, namely, forethought, is enough insisted upon: Giotto expresses her vigilance and just measurement or estimate of all things by painting her as Janus-headed,¹ and gazing into a convex mirror, with compasses in her right hand; the convex mirror showing her power of looking at many things in a small compass. But forethought or anticipation, by which, independently of greater or less natural capacities, one man becomes more prudent than another, is never enough considered or symbolized.”-Stones of Venice, vol. ii. ch. viii. § 84 (Vol. X. p. 398).

Lord Lindsay’s description adds little to this, except the suggestion that the second face is that of Socrates. He merely says:-

“Double-visaged, the head which looks backwared apparently that of Socrates; seated at a reading-desk, gazing into a mirror,-and holding in her right hand a pair of compasses,”-Christian Art (vol. ii. p. 197).

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FORTITUDE

“The idea of Fortitude, as given generally by Giotto and the Pisan sculptors ... (shows her) ... clothed with a lion’s skin, knotted about her neck, and falling to her feet in deep folds; drawing back her right hand, with the sword pointed towards her enemy;² and slightly retired behind her immovable shield,³ which, with Giotto, is square, and rested on the ground like a tower, covering her up to above the shoulders; bearing on it a lion, and with broken heads of javelins deeply infixed.”-Stones of Venice, vol. ii. ch. viii. § 79 (Vol. X. p. 394).

Lord Lindsay’s account is:-

“Robed in a lion’s skin, and half sheltered behind a shield bearing the device of a lion, and bristled with spear-heads and with a broken arrow,-but with sword in hand, watching her opportunity to strike.”-Christian Art (vol. ii. p. 197).

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TEMPERANCE

In the sculptures of the Ducal Palace at Venice this virtue appears as a figure “bearing a pitcher of water and a cup,” in which “somewhat

¹ [The second face is somewhat indistinct in the small reproduction, but quite clear in a large photograph of the fresco. The long panel at the foot of each of these frescoes has an inscription of four Latin lines, almost entirely illegible in every case. I do not know if any other record exists of these inscriptions.-ED. 1899. Such as are legible are now supplied in footnotes.-EDS. 1906.]

² [Both Ruskin and Lord Lindsay speak of this weapon as a sword, but this does not seem clear.-ED. 1899.]

³ [Compare Eagle’s Nest, § 230 (Vol. XXII. p. 278).]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]