The Chariot as Microcosm?

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The author of the Steele sermon defines the Chariot “Lo caro triumphale (vel mundus parvus)”: the triumphal chariot (or the little world). “Lo caro triumphale” is Italian, “mundus parvus” is Latin.

Letarot.it translates “mundus parvus” as “an ephemeral success, a small triumph”: I can't see how “mundus” can be translated as “success”.

“Mundus parvus” or “parvus mundus” is an obvious Latin translation for the Greek expression “microcosm”. This has been mentioned on ATF. I have searched for occurrences of these expressions, and they seem to always occur as references to the concept of “microcosm”, i.e. Man as a small-scale equivalent of the Universe.

Cusanus: “Humana vero natura est illa, quae est supra omnia dei opera elevata et paulo minus angelis minorata,
intellectualem et sensibilem naturam complicans ac universa intra se constringens, ut microcosmos aut parvus mundus a veteribus rationabiliter vocitetur.”
(Truly human nature is the higher work of god, only a little less worthy than angels, combining an intellectual and a sensing nature, including in itself everything, so that the ancients rightly called it “microcosmos” or “a little world”).

Albertus Magnus: “Rhetorice enim et per similitudinem loquendo animal et praecipue homo dicitur mundus parvus, quia in eo est motor primus sicut intellectus et sunt in ipso motores moti sicut phantasia et appetitus et virtutes.” (Speaking rhetorically and making use of a similitude, an animal and in particular man is called “a little world”, because in him there is a first mover, which is the intellect, as well as movers that are moved, such as imagination, desire and virtue).

I wonder why this particular card has been associated to microcosm, and what the preacher meant by this association.
Last edited by marco on 09 May 2010, 16:01, edited 2 times in total.

Re: The Chariot as Microcosm?

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I've thought about this - at least some time ago I did - and the only thing I could think is that the figure on the Chariot resembles the figure on the World, hence since the latter is the "macrocosm", the former is the "microcosm".

I didn't know letarot.it translated it that way - very bizarre indeed.

That's all I have for the moment, sorry!
Image

Re: The Chariot as Microcosm?

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Thank you Ross, this seems a good explanation. It is consistent with the fact that the preacher calls the World "God the Father" (Dio Padre).

Cusanus, in Opuscula theologica et mathematica: "forte concedi potest, quod triplex est mundus: parvus qui homo, maximus qui est deus, magnus qui universum dicitur; parvus est similitudo magni, magnus similitudo maximi." (probably we can admit that the world is threefold: a small one that is man, the greatest one that is God, a big one that is called the Universe; the small is similar to the big, the big is similar to the greatest).

Re: The Chariot as Microcosm?

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Caro Marco, bella questa cuestione...

Its only a hypothesis:

For most modern chariot (arround 1500), at least a monk can think in Plato's metaphor of the soul and the two horses.

***** Now in italian :)

Penso che, cuanto meno un monaco, a vedere sto carro trionfale -senza un motivo allegorico chiaro- possa pensare alla metafora di Platone dei due caballi che, come sai, parla delle due parti del ánima che debe guidare il auriga, l`essere humano, cioe, il mondo píccolo. Se la memoria non mi inganna, e nel Fedro, ma va assieme al Libro IV della Republica.
When a man has a theory // Can’t keep his mind on nothing else (By Ross)

Re: The Chariot as Microcosm?

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mmfilesi wrote: Its only a hypothesis:

For most modern chariot (arround 1500), at least a monk can think in Plato's metaphor of the soul and the two horses.
Hello Marcos,
thank you for the Italian :)

I know that this myth is often connected to the Chariot, but my knowledge of Plato is quite superficial. How does this metaphor relate to the Microcosm? Is the notion of Microcosm explicitly involved in the myth of the "chariot of the soul"?

Re: The Chariot as Microcosm?

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Yes (for a Monk arround 1500).

a) The microcosm is the human soul (and is a reflection of the Macrocosm (cioe "Dio Padre").

b) Plato (in Fedro) compares the human soul with a charioteer and two horses.

**********

In italian :)

Non so fino a ché punto questo monaco viene influsso dalle teorie neoplatoniche che sono tanto in voga verso il 1500, pero e da pensare (e ancora di piú se e fiorentino), che ci fossero, visto che, più o meno, tutto il pensiero va atraversato dai paradigmi neoplatonici.

Il concetto del alma platonica lo trovi nell libro IV della Reppublica, ma la metafora dei caballi e nell Fedro.

Allora, detto così un po alla svelta, secondo il neoplatonismo, il Macrocosmo -dio padre- sono i 7 pianeti e, sopra di loro, il Celo. Diciamo che e il Universo. Dio inserisce in questo Universo il movimento, l'anima cosmica, la cuale e come il concetto attuale del energia, cioe, e da tutte le parti, e universale, mai si perde, etc.

Le anime particolari son nell Celo e sono perfette. Ma poi sono inviate nella Terra, si rincarnano in un essere humano. In tanto partecipano della stessa materia che l'anima cosmica, formano un microcosmo che riflessa il macrocosmo, ma sonno imperfette, meglio detto, stanno ceche, perche sono in un involtorio materiale (il corpo, la "priggione del anima").

Allora, nell Fedro, Platone fa un paragone tra un carro con due caballi alati e l'anima humana (il microcosmo). Un caballo sono i desideri per le cose materiali, l'altro per la conoscenza delle cose inmateriali (le idee). Il auriga e quello che guida i cavalli, cioe, i cirivedro, che direbbe Catarella, il cervello razionale.

Non so se sono riuscito a spiegarlo.
When a man has a theory // Can’t keep his mind on nothing else (By Ross)

Re: The Chariot as Microcosm?

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Hi Marco,

The antonym for parvus is magnus. I wonder if the notion alludes to the insignificance, or smallness, of these conquest men achieve on the earthly plane. Victory and conquest, in the world of men, is a small aim, and nothing compared to the work of god.


Best,

EE
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