This engraving depicts the allegorical figures of Fame, flying with trumpets, and History, who is seated beside a sacrificial goat. The composition is set among classical ruins, emphasizing the transience of human life and the endurance of deeds through recorded memory. The scene includes an hourglass with wings and an open book labeled 'HISTORIA' resting on an altar inscribed with Greek and Latin phrases.
The print explores the Renaissance preoccupation with the conflict between 'memento mori' (the brevity of life) and the potential for eternal life through virtuous action and historical record, a core theme in humanist philosophical treatises on fame and immortality.
HISTORIA
AKHPATOΣ H AΛKH
Omnia morte cadunt, perit moriens mea Virtus,
Solaq inexhausta Posteritate viget.
Vita hominum breuis est, bullae instar aquatilis exit,
Gloriaq illius ceu leuis vmbra fugit.
Indyta quin virtus, et fortia facta priorum
Merfa chao aeterno sub tenebrisq forent:
Scauola tu, Curtig, et Cocles, et alter Horati,
Effetis cineres, fumus, et aura, nihil.
Viuda Posteritas, et facti postera Fama
Ni ferat in lucem, et nocte latere vetet.
Te quog, virtutemq tuam, nomeng tuorum
Et decus, o Caesar, Teutonicosq Duces,
Enthya Posteritas, et praepete Fama volatu
Per teras omnes, aquora, et astra vehent:
Imperium iam tot quorum virtute per annos
Nullam aut cariem sentit, et vfiq viget:
Et Stirps Troiugenûm Germanos nacta nepotes
Inuicto priscos Marte tuetur auos.
MGoltzius fecit
A° 1586
F.Estius excud.
Translation
HISTORY
PURE STRENGTH
All things fall by death, my virtue dies as I die,
And lives only in inexhaustible Posterity.
The life of men is short, it departs like a bubble of water,
And its glory flees like a light shadow.
For otherwise virtue, and the brave deeds of those who came before,
Would be submerged in eternal chaos and darkness:
Scaevola, you, and Curtius, and Cocles, and another Horatius,
Would be ashes, smoke, and air, nothing.
Lively Posterity, and the subsequent Fame of the deed
If she did not bring it to light, and forbid it to hide in the night.
Posterity also [brings] you, and your virtue, and the name of your people
And honor, O Caesar, and the Teutonic Leaders,
And on winged Fame, she will carry [it] flying
Through all lands, the seas, and the stars:
Their empire, for so many years by whose virtue
It feels no decay, and is always vigorous:
And the Trojangen stock, having obtained German descendants,
Protects its ancient ancestors with invincible Mars.
Connected Texts
Petrarch
The print reflects Petrarchan themes of 'Triumphs' and the dialectic between temporal decay and the immortality of the soul/reputation.
