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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileA blindfolded Cupid, his head obscured by a large basket, leads a group of personified vices across a landscape. The procession includes figures labeled 'Meum' (Mine) and 'Tuum' (Thine), while 'Lis' (Strife) is depicted with a fox's head and 'Testamenta' (Wills) appears as a skeletal figure carrying legal documents. The engraving serves as a moralizing warning against greed and the destructive social nature of lawsuits.
This work reflects Northern Humanist concerns regarding civic morality and the corruptive power of material greed. By personifying abstract concepts like 'Opinion' and 'Strife,' Goltzius links the psychological state of the individual to broader social decay, a theme common in the moral philosophy of Erasmus and the Northern Renaissance 'Mirror for Fools' tradition.
Meum Tuum Lis Testamenta Cupido caecus Opinio HG. f. Waenrecht hartneckich, duister testament, myn en dyn -- 1. tim. 6. 3. -- met begeerte blint, halen Proces, eendrachts venyn. Radix enim omnium malorum est cupiditas: quā quiddā appetētes errauerūt a fide.. 1 tim. 6. Dan geyt ist ein wurtzel alles vbels: welcher hat etliche gelustet und find etc. Vnde bella et lites in vobis? nōne hinc: ex cōcupiscētijs vrīs quae militāt in mēbris vrīs Jac. 4. Wohār ist streit vnd krieg vnder euch? ist nit da hār auβ euweren wolluften, die etc. Vir iracundus prouocat rixas: qui patiens est mitigat suscitatas. Prouerb. 15. Der zornutig richtet zanck an: der dultmütig aber stillet den zanck vnd hader. Desideria multa inutilia. et nociua que mergūt homines in interitū et pditionē. 1. Tim. 6. Vil torechtie vnd schadliche lust welche versenckend die mēschē ins verderben.
Translation
Mine Thine Lawsuit Testaments Blind Cupid Opinion HG. f. Woe-right stubborn, dark testament, mine and thine -- 1 Tim. 6:3 -- with desire blind, fetching lawsuits, poison of concord. For the root of all evils is greed: which some coveting have strayed from the faith... 1 Tim 6. Then greed is a root of all evil: which some have lusted after and find, etc. Whence are wars and lawsuits among you? Are they not hence: from your desires which war in your members? James 4. Whence is strife and war among you? Is it not from thence, out of your lusts, which, etc. An irascible man provokes quarrels: he who is patient mitigates those aroused. Proverbs 15. The wrathful one stirs up quarrels: but the patient one quiets the quarrel and strife. Many useless and harmful desires which drown men in destruction and perdition. 1 Tim. 6. Many foolish and harmful desires which sink men into destruction.
Erasmus of Rotterdam
The allegorical critique of human folly and the social discord caused by material greed aligns with Erasmian ethics.
Sebastian Brant
The use of a procession to categorize social and moral vices follows the tradition established by Brant's 'Ship of Fools'.
Object
the digital and/or physical collections of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Engraving
allegory
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
This digital media file - and/or the physical objects depicted on it - originates from the digital and/or physical collections of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, national library of the Netherlands.
Public domain
1500 × 1364 px
991ae28c2c94d640551bff58c5e8799aff33327d
October 5, 2022
March 23, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.