limbed upon by three
children.[145] And not only so, but the number and nature of the virtues
differ considerably in the statements of different poets and painters,
according to their own views of religion, or to the manner of life they
had it in mind to illustrate. Giotto, for instance, arranges his system
altogether differently at Assisi, where he is setting forth the monkish
life, and in the Arena Chapel, where he treats of that of mankind in
general, and where, therefore, he gives only the so-called theological
and cardinal virtues; while, at Assisi, the three principal virtues are
those which are reported to have appeared in vision to St. Francis,
Chastity, Obedience, and Poverty: Chastity being attended by Fortitude,
Purity, and Penance; Obedience by Prudence and Humility; Poverty by Hope
and Charity. The systems vary with almost every writer, and in almost
every important work of art which embodies them, being more or less
spiritual according to the power of intellect by which they were
conceived. The most noble in literature are, I suppose, those of Dante
and Spenser: and with these we may compare five of the most interesting
series in the early art of Italy; namely, those of Orcagna, Giotto, and
Simon Memmi, at Florence and Padua, and those of St. Mark's and the
Ducal Palace at Venice. Of course, in the richest of these series, the
vices are personified together with the virtues, as in the Ducal Palace;
and by the form or name of opposed vice, we may often ascertain, with
much greater accuracy than would otherwise be possible, the particular
idea of the contrary virtue in the mind of the writer or painter. Thus,
when opposed to Prudence, or Prudentia, on the one side, we find Folly,
or Stultitia, on the other, it shows that the virtue understood by
Prudence, is not the mere guiding or cardinal virtue, but the Heavenly
Wisdom,[146] opposed to that folly which "hath said in its heart, there
is no God;" and of which it is said, "the thought of foolishness is
sin;" and again, "Such as be foolish shall not stand in thy sight." This
folly is personified, in early painting and illumination, by a
half-naked man, greedily eating an apple or other fruit, and brandishing
a club; showing that sensuality and violence are the two principal
characteristics of Foolishness, and lead into atheism. The figure, in
early Psalters, always forms the letter D, which commences the
fifty-third Psalm, "_Dixit insipiens_."

Sec. LVII. In