qualis artifex pereo

klbkultur:

Title page of Niccolo Tartaglia’s Nova Scientia (1537)

The caption below the illustration reads, “The Mathematical sciences speak:  Who wishes to know the various causes of things, learn about us.  The way is open to all.”  The illustration itself depicts a walled compound, the compound of knowlege.  The high wall keeps out the man who attempts to scale it and enter improperly.  Entrance into the compound is through a single door opened by Euclid.  In the first courtyard, a crowd comprised of Tartaglia and the muses of the seven liberal arts watch a demonstration of Tartaglia’s new knowlege, a theory of trajectories.  Beyond the first courtyard is a second smaller, more exclusive and highly elevated one.  Its entrance is manned by Aristotle and Plato.  Plato holds a banner proclaiming, “No one can enter who does not know geometry.”  Enthroned at the rear of this compound, in the highest position of all, is philosophy.

(citation and image /via MathDL)