CIC. Now show me how I may be able for myself to consider the conditions
of these enthusiasts, through that which appears in the order of the
warfare here described.
TANS. Behold how they carry the ensign of their affections or fortunes.
Let us leave the consideration of their names and habits; enough that we
stand upon the meaning of the undertaking and the intelligibility of the
writing, alike that which is put for the form of the body of the figure,
as well as that which is mostly put as an elucidation of the
undertaking.
CIC. Thus will we do. Here then is the first, who carries a shield
divided into four colours, and in the crest is depicted a flame under
the head of bronze, from the holes in which, issue in great force a
smoky wind, and about it is written: "At regna senserunt tria."
TANS. For the explanation of this I would say: that the fire there is
that which heats the globe, inside of it is the water, and it happens
that this humid element, being rarefied and attenuated by virtue of the
heat, and thus resolved into vapour, it requires much greater space to
contain it, therefore if it does not find easy exit, it goes on with
extreme force, noise, and destruction to break the vessel; but if it
finds space and easy exit, so that it can evaporate, it goes out with
less violence, little by little, and, according as the water is resolved
into vapour, it is dissipated in puffs into the air. Here is signified
the heart of the enthusiast where, by a cleverly planned allurement
being caught by the amorous flame, it happens that some of the vital
substance sparkles with fire, while some in the form of tearful cries
rends the bosom, and some other by the expulsion of gusty sighs agitates
the air. Therefore he says: "At regna senserunt tria." Now this "at"
supposes a difference, or diversity, or opposite; as one might almost
say there exists something which might have the same sense, but has it
not, which is very well explained in the following rhymes:
25.
From these twin lights of me--a little earth--
My wonted tears stream freely to the sea.
The greedy air receives from out my breast
No niggard part of all that breast contains;
And from my heart the lightnings are unlocked
That rise to heaven, and yet diminish not.
Thus pay I to the air, the sea, the fire,
The tribute of my sighs, my tears, my zeal.
The sea, the air, the fire, accept a part of me,
But my divinity no favour shows.
Unkind she turns away. Near her
My tears find no response;
My voice she will not hear,
Nor pitifully will she turn to note my zeal.
Here the subject matter signified by "earth" is the substance of the
enthusiast, which is poured from the twin lights--that is, from the
eyes--in copious tears that flow to the sea; he sends forth from his
breast into the wide air sighs in a great multitude, and the lightnings
from his heart, not like a little spark or a weak flame, which, cooling
itself in the air, smokes, and transmigrates into other beings; but,
potent and vigorous--rather acquiring from others than losing of its
own--it joins its congenial sphere.