Henry Peacham, in his Minerva Britanna (1612) expresses Temperance by providing examples of human excesses that must be restrained while Cesare Ripa, in his Iconologia (1st English Publication, 1709) depicts examples of temperate objects and animals. Peacham depicts Temperance as a barefoot woman in a flowing dress. The woman, whose breast is exposed, is walking from right to left. In her right hand is a bridle and in her left hand is a gold cup. Behind the woman are two houses, a typical farmhouse in the back right and a more elaborate house with a sloped roof in the back left. The scene is set on a cloudy day with what appears to be a blustery wind. The verse beneath the illustration is as follows:
(Peacham 93).
As can be derived from the verse, the most important devices in Peacham's "Temperantia" are the bridle and the gold cup which respectively stand for maintaining control over one's actions and the excesses which Temperance warns can lead "Man to his ruine" (l. 9). The fact that Temperance's breast is exposed suggests that she is pure and unaffected by "all humane desires" that she so vehemently opposes. The verse and symbols in Peacham's emblem achieve a definition of Temperance by depicting temperate objects, such as the bridle, and symbols of overindulgence, like the gold cup.
Cesare Ripa's emblem includes only examples of temperate animals and objects to express his idea of Temperance. In Ripa 293, the illustration depicts a woman with a bridle and the stay of a clock in her hands. Behind the woman is an elephant that appears to be eating. The explanation that accompanies this picture is as follows:
(Ripa 293).
The clock stay symbolizes the moderation that it provides for clocks: controlling the movement of the wound clock in a set, uniform fashion. The elephant serves as an example of what was believed to be a temperate animal, restricting itself to eating only a certain amount everyday. The bridle is a unanimous symbol for temperance, as its real life application is to control and assuage the wild movements of horses. For this reason Peacham's emblem relies almost solely on the comparison of the bridle while Ripa took his emblem further by including the elephant and the clock stay. Peacham and Ripa are similar in their use of a woman with a bridle as the central allegory for temperance, though they depart from each other in the use of secondary symbols. The two emblem authors express Temperance in very different ways: Ripa providing examples of temperance and Peacham describing excessive human behaviors that must be constrained.
Peacham's representation of Temperance focuses on the antithesis of the Queen of Temperance and the vanity and excesses that she so despises. Ripa's emblem focuses on examples of temperance to serve as examples for his readers. Together, Ripa and Peacham offer opposing angles of the allegory of Temperance.
Works Cited
Peacham, Henry, 1576?-1643?. Emblem 93 Temperance. Minerva Britanna, or, A Garden Of Heroical Deuises, furnished, and adorned with Emblemes and Impresa's of sundry nature / Newly devised, moralized, and published, By Henry Peacham, Mr. of Artes. [London : Printed in Shoe-lane at the signe of the Faulcon by Wa: Dight., 1612]
Ripa, Cesare, fl. 1600. Emblem 293 Temperenza. Iconologia : overo descrittione d'imagini delle virtv', vitij, affetti, passioni humane, corpi celesti, mondo e sue parti : fatica necessaria ad oratori ... scultori, pittori ... per figurare con i suoi proprij simboli tutto quello, che può cadere in pensiero humano : di nouo in quest' vltima editione corretta diligentemente, & accrescuita di sessanta e più figure poste a luoghi loro: aggionteui copiosissime tauole per solleuamento del lettore / de Cesare Ripa. Padoua : P. P. Tozzi, 1611.
-Chris Gregg
