Handbook of Images of the Renowned

[promptuarium]

What is this project?

Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum, or Handbook of Images of the Renowned, is a 1553 book by Guillaume Rouillé, containing engraved illustrations and short biographies of more than 800 historical and mythical figures. (If you spend a lot of time on Wikipedia, you may have come across this work the same way I did - the engravings are used as the article photos for some more obscure figures.)

As far as I can tell, the book has never been translated into English. It struck me that translating the bite-sized entries would be a good way to practice my Latin, and that they might be of interest to English-speaking readers as an example of how Europeans of the Early Modern era thought about history.

I will be posting individual entries on this blog as I translate them. Each entry will be thoroughly tagged, and my hope is to eventually convert Rouillé's book into a fully searchable database.

The Latin text I'm working off is here at the Internet Archive.

[promptuarium]

The Delphic SIBYL, born at Delphi, known by her proper name Themis, is said to have lived before the destruction of Troy. They say that Homer included many of her verses in his work.

There are those, whoever, who sometimes believe that Sibyl was her proper name, which spread to the others, as I touched on above, on the Libyan Sibyl. See above on the Persian and Libyan Sibyls.

This prophecy is attributed to her:

Know him as your Lord, who is truly the son of God. Chrysippus also says that she prophesied this: A Prophet is born of a virgin, without his mother’s [matris] (or “her husband’s” [maris]) coitus.

[promptuarium]

The second line of prophecy was attributed to Chrysippus (whose work is lost) by Filippo Barbieri. The first line appears, although only attributed to "the Sibyl", in the work Against Five Heresies, which Rouillé would have believed was by Augustine, but is now thought to be by Augustine's student Quodvultdeus.

[promptuarium]

The Delphic SIBYL, born at Delphi, known by her proper name Themis, is said to have lived before the destruction of Troy. They say that Homer included many of her verses in his work.

There are those, whoever, who sometimes believe that Sibyl was her proper name, which spread to the others, as I touched on above, on the Libyan Sibyl. See above on the Persian and Libyan Sibyls.

This prophecy is attributed to her:

Know him as your Lord, who is truly the son of God. Chrysippus also says that she prophesied this: A Prophet is born of a virgin, without his mother’s [matris] (or “her husband’s” [maris]) coitus.

[promptuarium]

The Libyan SIBYL was said to be the second by Marcus Varro in his books of divine things. He says that the Sibylline Books did not come from one Sibyl only, but were called Sibylline because all female prophets were named Sibyl by the ancients - either because they revealed the advice of the Gods, according to the etymology, at least by the Aeolian way of speaking, for the Aeolians call God σιός [siós] and advice βυλήν [bylḗn]; or after the name of the one who was a Delphic priestess. See [the same sources] as above. 

This prophecy is attributed to this Sibyl:

Behold, a day will come, and the lord will illuminate the thick darkness, and the bonds with the synagogue will be dissolved, and the lips of men will cease when they see the king of the living, and the virgin will hold him in her bosom, the lady of the nations, and he will reign in mercy, and the womb of his mother will be the balance of everything. Then he will come into the hands of the unjust, and they will strike God with unclean hands; he will be miserable and disgraced, and he will offer hope to the miserable.

[promptuarium]

The only reason I can think that Rouillé would choose this entry to explain the nature of the name Sibyl, rather than the first Sibyl entry, is that otherwise he wouldn't have much to say about the Libyan Sibyl.

Varro's book is lost, but is cited by Lactantius. He was incorrect about the etymology. The Aeolian for "god" is θιός (σιός is Laconian), and "advice" is βόλλα.

The prophecy is the Barbieri version again. The line "Then he will ... unclean hands" is found in Lactantius, but only attributed to "the Sibyl".

[promptuarium]

The Persian SIBYL, also called the Chaldean or Hebrew Sibyl, or by her proper name Sambetha, was born at the Red Sea. Her father was Berossus and her mother was Erymanthe. She wrote 84 books, and prophesied of Christ countless times. The other Sibyls agreed with her, but everyone says she was the first.

Nicanor, who wrote the Deeds of Alexander the Great, recalled her. See Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, book 1, ch. 6; and Augustine, The City of God, book 18, ch. 23. This prophecy is attributed to this Sibyl:

Behold, O beast, you will be trampled, and a lord will be born on the earth, and the womb of a virgin will be the salvation of the nations, and her feet will be for the health of mankind, and the invisible word will be made plain.

[promptuarium]

Nicanor is quoted by Lactantius, but his actual book is lost.

The prophecy quoted here comes from a 15th-century tradition, the "Orsini Sibyls"; Rouillé is using the versions found in the work of Filippo Barbieri.

The line that I render as "Behold, O beast, you will be trampled," has been translated as "Behold the beast that will be trampled" (Dempsey) and "Lo you will trample on the beast" (Raybould), despite the fact that "you will be trampled" is more in line with the Latin as well as a contemporaneous German version. The line about the feet is widely agreed to be confusing.

[promptuarium]

The Libyan SIBYL was said to be the second by Marcus Varro in his books of divine things. He says that the Sibylline Books did not come from one Sibyl only, but were called Sibylline because all female prophets were named Sibyl by the ancients - either because they revealed the advice of the Gods, according to the etymology, at least by the Aeolian way of speaking, for the Aeolians call God σιός [siós] and advice βυλήν [bylḗn]; or after the name of the one who was a Delphic priestess. See [the same sources] as above. 

This prophecy is attributed to this Sibyl:

Behold, a day will come, and the lord will illuminate the thick darkness, and the bonds with the synagogue will be dissolved, and the lips of men will cease when they see the king of the living, and the virgin will hold him in her bosom, the lady of the nations, and he will reign in mercy, and the womb of his mother will be the balance of everything. Then he will come into the hands of the unjust, and they will strike God with unclean hands; he will be miserable and disgraced, and he will offer hope to the miserable.

[promptuarium]

The Persian SIBYL, also called the Chaldean or Hebrew Sibyl, or by her proper name Sambetha, was born at the Red Sea. Her father was Berossus and her mother was Erymanthe. She wrote 84 books, and prophesied of Christ countless times. The other Sibyls agreed with her, but everyone says she was the first.

Nicanor, who wrote the Deeds of Alexander the Great, recalled her. See Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, book 1, ch. 6; and Augustine, The City of God, book 18, ch. 23. This prophecy is attributed to this Sibyl:

Behold, O beast, you will be trampled, and a lord will be born on the earth, and the womb of a virgin will be the salvation of the nations, and her feet will be for the health of mankind, and the invisible word will be made plain.

[promptuarium]

DEIANIRA, daughter of king Oeneus of Calydon, was the wife of Hercules. Desiring to distract her husband from the love of others, she sent him a poisoned tunic, according to the advice of Nessus. In the end when she was made aware of the marital calamity, not knowing of the deception, she ended her life with a noose, as Diodorus writes, book 5.

[promptuarium]

HERCULES, the son (as it is said) of Jupiter and Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon, was born in the 2715th year of the world, the 1247th before Christ was born. He lived 52 years. He died by fire, and was the first of the great pirates, according to Manetho. About this Hercules whom the Greeks claim as their own, they declare many things, or rather tell many stories, which will not be detailed in this passage.

For this passage, the deeds they attribute to be outstanding among all Hercules’s other deeds, by their custom. His twelve labors, which are said to have been preeminent, are described in depth by Diodorus of Sicily, book 5. He went from Hispania to Italy 55 years before Aeneas. He slew Cacus, and gave the Italians laws. He seized Troy, and slew Laomedon because he did not pay his reward. He made Priam, son of the slain one, King of Troy. Eventually, as a cure for a burning sickness, he threw himself headlong into burning flames. Thus the strongest of all men suffered his fate.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, book 1, says that this greatest leader cleansed the world of tyranny. Diodorus, Herodotus, Vergil and Ovid each tell many things about Hercules in many passages.

[promptuarium]

MINOS, son of Jupiter Asterius and Europa, brought together a fleet and occupied the sea, in the 2710th year from the creation of the world and the 1252nd before Christ was born. He was the first lord of the Cyclades islands, and set up colonies in most of them when the Carians had been thrown out, and set his sons up as leaders, and he removed pirates from the sea. Thucydides, in the preface to his history.

He was held by universal consensus to be a just man, of an esteemed lifestyle, and is said to have first convinced them to use written laws, and to depict them as given by the command of Mercury, from the author Jupiter. Diodorus of Sicily, book 2 and 6. On his wisdom, see Dionysius of Halicarnassus, book 2, on the deeds of Numa.

Volaterranus, book 33, says this: Surely on account of his great justice, Minos was said after his death to be a judge among the souls of the dead, together with his brother Rhadamanthus.

[promptuarium]

The claim that Minos attributed his laws both to Mercury and Jupiter is a misreading of the source. Diodorus writes that "Mneves" (the Egyptian pharaoh Menes) attributed his laws to Hermes, and compares this to Minos attributing his laws to Zeus.

[promptuarium]

ANDROGEUS, son of Minos, a youth of splendid talent, was killed by the Athenians, whom he had beaten in athletics. This was the cause of war. Volaterranus, book 33.

[promptuarium]

MINOS, son of Jupiter Asterius and Europa, brought together a fleet and occupied the sea, in the 2710th year from the creation of the world and the 1252nd before Christ was born. He was the first lord of the Cyclades islands, and set up colonies in most of them when the Carians had been thrown out, and set his sons up as leaders, and he removed pirates from the sea. Thucydides, in the preface to his history.

He was held by universal consensus to be a just man, of an esteemed lifestyle, and is said to have first convinced them to use written laws, and to depict them as given by the command of Mercury, from the author Jupiter. Diodorus of Sicily, book 2 and 6. On his wisdom, see Dionysius of Halicarnassus, book 2, on the deeds of Numa.

Volaterranus, book 33, says this: Surely on account of his great justice, Minos was said after his death to be a judge among the souls of the dead, together with his brother Rhadamanthus.

[promptuarium]

EUROPA was the daughter of Agenor, king of the Phoenicians. Jupiter took the form of a bull to abduct her and carry her across the sea to Crete. He had three sons with her: Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon. See Diodorus of Sicily, book 5, and Ovid's Metamorphoses, book 2 around the end. Palaephatus interprets the story to be about a certain Cretan, whose name was Taurus, who took Europa captive.

It is said that a third part of the globe was named for this Europa, although Herodotus does not agree; he says that nobody has discovered whence the name of this third part of the globe was given. See Herodotus book 4.

[promptuarium]

JAIR the Gileadite was Judge of the people for 22 years after Tola. See [the same source] as above.

[promptuarium]

TOLA of the tribe of Issachar was Judge of the people for 23 years after Abimelech. Judges ch. 10.

[promptuarium]

ABIMELECH, son of Gideon and his concubine Droma, killed his seventy brothers, except for the youngest. He governed and Judged the people for three years, of which the first was the 2739th year of the world  and the 1223rd before Christ was born. He sacked the city of Shechem, and killed the residents, and destroyed their city, as he scattered the ground with salt.

And while he was sacking the tower of the city of Thebez, and tried to burn the door, he was attacked by a woman who threw a piece of millstone down on his head. So that it would not be said that he was slaughtered by a woman, he asked one of his soldiers to run him through with a sword, and he did it. Thus falls miserably he who, stained with the murder of his brothers, seized leadership by tyranny. See Judges ch. 9.

[promptuarium]

GIDEON, or Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, of the tribe of Manasseh, was Judge of the people for 40 years, of which the first was the 2699th year of the world and the 1263rd year before Christ was born.

Before he fought against the Midianites, he twice asked for a sign from God, so that he might be more certain that he was sent by Him. And it was confirmed by two miracles: the first was a burnt offering that was completely consumed by the fire, the latter was a fleece that was first wet, then dry.

Thus with his faith strengthened, he went down to battle, and killed Oreb and Zeeb, leaders of the Midianites, and also Zebee (or Zebah) and Zalmunah, and brought destruction, delivering the Israelite people to freedom, who had been brought under their yoke seven years ago. See the book of Judges ch. 6, 7, and 9; and Josephus’s Antiquities book 5 ch. 10.