I find the 'middle section' of the trumps to be the most intriguing, as it deals with the practical matters of human life. The 'social hierarchy' of the first section doesn't apply so much to our current social paradigm, and the eschatological nature of the last section, if one believes in the afterlife at all, is a direct result of how we handle the business of life itself (Trumps VI through XIII).
Recapping from before, with the virtues temporarily set aside, we are shown a simple and clear allegory:
LOVE/FAME.........TIME/FORTUNE...........DEFAMATION/DEATH
The series is 'bookended' by Love and Death. I proposed that the allegory of Love may have been seen as a more general allegory of the pleasures of Youth itself.
Of course the pairing of Love and Death is not unusual. Even Woody Allen understood the inherent polarity of these two forces.
Andrea Alciato wrote the first and most widely disseminated emblem book, the
Emblemata, published by Heinrich Steyner in 1531 in Augsburg. Though the emblem book tradition is a little late to be considered a source of the Tarot allegories, this earliest of the books may be useful in deducing some generalities of the pre-modern world view, which seems to be the biggest obstacle for modern people in understand the tarot.
Alciato, in emblems CLV and CLVI, presents Love and Death together as a pair:
Emblema CLV
De Morte et Amore
Errabat socio Mors iniuncta Cupidine: secum
Mors pharetras, parvus tela gerebat Amor.
Divertere simul, simul una et nocte cubarunt:
Caecus Amor, Mors hoc tempore caeca fuit.
Alter enim alterius male provida spicula sumpsit,
Mors aurata, tenet ossea tela puer
Debuit inde senex qui nunc Acheronticus esse,
Ecce amat, et capiti florea serta parat.
At ego mutato quia Amor me perculit arcu,
Deficio, iniiciunt et mihi fata manum.
Parce puer, Mors signa tenens victricia parce:
Fac ego amem, subeat fac Acheronta senex.
(Translation -
On Death and Love
Death was wandering, his arm in that of his companion Cupid: Death was carrying the quiver, little Love his arrows. They stopped at the same time, and at the same time lay down for the night. Love was blind, and Death became blind at this time. Each picked up the other's uncaring arrows, Death the golden ones, and the youth the weapons made of bone. Thus, an old man who should now be in Acheron lo and behold falls in love and prepares floral garlands for his head. And, because Love has struck me with the wrong arrow, I am dying and the fates lay their hand upon me. Spare me, o youth; and Death, holding the standards of victory, spare me: make sure that I am the one who loves, and that the old man goes down to Acheron.)
Emblema CLVI
In formosam fato praereptam
Cur puerum Mors ausa dolis es carpere Amorem,
Tela tua ut iaceret, dum propria esse putat?
(Translation -
On a beautiful maiden snatched away by fate
Why did you dare, o Death, to mislead the boy Love by guile, so that he would shoot your weapons thinking they were his?)
This tale of Death mischievously switching arrows with blind Cupid, was a popular one in various emblem books, and several versions exist.
Notice that Cupid is referred to as 'the youth', and 'youth'. One version of the emblem shows Cupid shooting not a young man, but a small child.
As an interesting side note - The earliest Tarot shows Cupid with only arrows, and no bow, and Death is shown with a bow, but no arrows.
RaH