Hendrick Goltzius (circle) Tablet of Cebes

The scene unfolds across a tiered landscape where souls enter life through a portal at the lower right, receiving instructions from an elderly Genius. In the center, the goddess Fortune stands atop a rolling sphere, distributing worldly riches and vanities to a desperate crowd. The composition leads the viewer upward through successive walled enclosures representing vices and false sciences toward a radiant temple of True Learning and Happiness at the summit.

Based on a Greek text attributed to Cebes of Thebes, this visual mnemonic was central to Renaissance Neoplatonism and Stoicism as an 'Ars Vivendi' (Art of Living). It illustrates the philosophical ascent of the soul, moving from the delusions of the material world and 'False Learning' toward intellectual and moral purification.