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BOUGEAREL Alain wrote: 1555 : edition of the Jeu divers of Ringhier
https://books.google.fr/books?id=q2xnXh ... il&f=false

No mention of Tarots.

But a correspondence - Emblems / Vertus /Hierachy of Honours

Coupes Temperance ... Roi [au-dessus de] Reyne
Colonnes Force ... Reyne [au-dessus de] Cheval
Epées Justice ... Cheval [au-dessus de] Faon
Miroirs Prudence Faon [au-dessus de] Dix
Re: Faon? The term used in the book (in both the French and Italian versions) is Fante, not Faon.

Marolle in his rules and his later ballet is the only one that uses the term Faon, as far as I know.

Italian edition 1553 (First published 1551). The King's Game is on p.100:
https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=Cy ... &q&f=false

Image
Last edited by SteveM on 28 Jul 2016, 05:23, edited 1 time in total.

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SteveM wrote:
BOUGEAREL Alain wrote: 1555 : edition of the Jeu divers of Ringhier
https://books.google.fr/books?id=q2xnXh ... il&f=false

No mention of Tarots.

But a correspondence - Emblems / Vertus /Hierachy of Honours

Coupes Temperance ... Roi [au-dessus de] Reyne
Colonnes Force ... Reyne [au-dessus de] Cheval
Epées Justice ... Cheval [au-dessus de] Faon
Miroirs Prudence FANTE [au-dessus de] Dix
Re: Faon? The term used in the book (in both the French and Italian versions) is Fante, not Faon.


Answer ! Yes, I copied too quick ...Thanks for correcting FANTE

Marolle in his rules and his later ballet is the only one that uses the term Faon, as far as I know.

Italian edition 1553 (First published 1551). Game of Kings is on p.100:
https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=Cy ... &q&f=false

Image
Last edited by BOUGEAREL Alain on 26 Jul 2016, 22:37, edited 3 times in total.
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

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[Mikeh

About pythagorean cards, I'd like to know more about this pythagoric correspondence.

"La répartition en enseignes (ou couleurs) existe dès l'abord, même si elle prend des formes différentes selon les pays. Elle s'inscrit dans une pensée occidentale qui, de façon récurrente, recourt à quatre catégories pour ordonner des notions : dans La signification de l'ancien jeu des chartes pythagorique, Jean Gosselin assimile en 1582 les quatre couleurs aux quatre éléments pythagoriciens (eau, air, terre, feu). "

En effet, en 1582, Jean Gosselin, libraire du Roi de France, assimilerait les quatre couleurs des cartes à jouer aux quatre éléments pythagoriciens [Eau, Air, Terre, Feu] dans "La Signification de l’ancien jeu des chartes pythagorique et la déclaration de deux doutes qui se trouvent en comptant au jeu de paume, lesquelles connaissances ont été longtemps cachées par cy devant : mais depuis peu de jours sont retrouvées et expliquées par I.J."
[Lhôte, "Histoire des jeux de Société", note 18 page 652, et 663., cité par Pratesi et porté à notre connaissance par Ross Caldwell : (Pythagorean cards and early elemental correspondences)]

Is pythagoric just noted as something sybiline or have we here really some pythagorean correspondence?

Thanks


https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Goss ... 3%A9caire)
La Significat., de l'ancien jeu des cartes pythagoriq., ib., 1582, in-8.
Jean Gosselin. La Signification de l'ancien jeu des chartes pythagorique... - Paris : s. n. [G. Corbin ?], 1582. - In-8.
[8 V 27 (2) inv 1997 Rés (p. 4)]

Notice - http://www-bsg.univ-paris1.fr/ExposVirt ... eignes.htm
"Jean Gosselin fut bibliothécaire du roi Henri III. Le terme " pythagorique " renvoie certes à l'ordonnancement du monde en quatre éléments. Il témoigne aussi de l'usage exacerbé du qualificatif au XVIe siècle : on l'accolait à tout objet en rapport avec les nombres ou la numération, afin de le colorer d'une fausse patine d'antiquité et de sagesse ; ainsi des cartes à jouer"


Image
http://www-bsg.univ-paris1.fr/ExposVirt ... T0171p.JPG
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

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:ymhug: I ve finaly found the book :

https://books.google.fr/books?id=65s9Vo ... ue&f=false

Reading it, it appears that it is truly a pythagorean lecture of the Four Colours and the Four Elements with an pythagorean harmonic proportion argumentation.

This evidence was overlooked I think no one read it entirely ....
Last edited by BOUGEAREL Alain on 27 Jul 2016, 21:09, edited 2 times in total.
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

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BOUGEAREL Alain wrote::ymhug: I ve finaly found the book :

https://books.google.fr/books?id=65s9Vo ... ue&f=false

Reading it, it appears that it is truly a pythagorean lecture of the Four Colours and the Four Elements with an pythagorean harmonic proportion argumentation about the suits : numerical and honours named.

I wonder if the Redactor of the Notice did read the text of J Gosselin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CQFD Notice - http://www-bsg.univ-paris1.fr/ExposVirt ... eignes.htm
"Jean Gosselin fut bibliothécaire du roi Henri III. Le terme " pythagorique " renvoie certes à l'ordonnancement du monde en quatre éléments. Il témoigne aussi de l'usage exacerbé du qualificatif au XVIe siècle : on l'accolait à tout objet en rapport avec les nombres ou la numération, afin de le colorer d'une fausse patine d'antiquité et de sagesse ; ainsi des cartes à jouer"
Last edited by BOUGEAREL Alain on 27 Jul 2016, 14:46, edited 1 time in total.
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

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If Jean Gosselin isn't making a pythagorean analysis of the Jeu de Chartes, I'll postulate to be a Redactor of Notice for Libraries! :D

With Google Play application : p1 - p 40

https://play.google.com/books/reader?id ... pg=GBS.PT7

CONTENU

A. EPISTRE : pp 1-10
Of interest as well the Introduction or EPISTRE : it exposes some pythagorean notions ...

B .PREFACE pp 11-16
About musical harmonics

C . Déclarer les Nombres et leur proportion dont dépend la signification du Jeu des Chartes : pp 17-21

D. Démontrer comment les Consonances et l(de) l 'Harmonie, naissent des proportions qui appartiennent à la Musique :
pp 21-30

E. Déclarer la signification des Images, ...des caractères du Jeu des Chartes : comment le dit jeu nous représente la composition de chaque chose naturelle
pp 30-40


Personnal speculation :



It could well be that the analysis of Gosselin 1582 was influenced by the "Rythmomachie : le très excellent et ancien jeu pythagorique" de Claude de Boissière 1556
https://books.google.fr/books?id=yVFfAA ... ES&f=false
Le trese xcellent et ancien jeu Pythagorique, dict Rythmomachie (etc.) - Paris, Guillaume Cavellat 1556


I would say a a Rythmomachical lecture of the Game of Chartes ... maybe

Anyway, the essays of Gosselin or De Boissiere demonstrate the implication of Pythagorean notions wirhin games such as : Rythmomachia or Cards
Last edited by BOUGEAREL Alain on 28 Jul 2016, 14:06, edited 7 times in total.
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

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If Alain provides a modern French translation of the book by Gosselin, I will certainly try to translate what I can. However if the translation of the so-called "tarotica" document by Guillaume D’Oncieu,1584 Savoy from Latin is any indication, there may be problems: three different translations have been made, by Girolomo Zorli, Marco Ponzi, and Andrea. But at least the Gosselin is not from one language to another, but the same language from one century to another.

Meanwhile, I want to devote say something about that D'Oncieu document, namely, that it is a specifically Pythagorean analysis of the game of tarot. This is one of the points Andrea made in his essay bringing it to the attention of the tarot community (http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=293&lng=ITA). I think that can be shown without knowing the precise translation of the Latin. First, I am going to copy out a couple of pages from Hopper's Medieval Number Theory, 1938. which is about Augustine's (mainly, but also a few other Church Fathers') appropriation of Pythagorean theory in the interpretation of the Bible. Then I will give my translation of Andrea's discussion of the "philosophical" aspect of the document, including his translation of the relevant part of the text. It is something I worked on a while back, but it was never posted on Andrea's site, because of unresolved issues in the translation, especially reconciling Andrea's with Girolimo's. But for our purposes here these issues, and the precise accuracy of my translation of Andrea, do not really matter. It is the overall language and perspective that makes it Pythagorean, in the Christian form developed by Augustine. In fact, it might even be that this background in Augustine is necessary in order to understand the philosophical point of the text.

First, here is Hopper. (I should say also that I have gone back and inserted this text into my first post after my translation of Alain's essay, at viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1102&p=16961#p16961:
The principal Christian innovation in number science was the identification of this spiritual-temporal dualty with the archetypal numbers, 3 and 4. Four, by the known analogues of the 4 winds, the 4 elements, the 4 seasons, and the 4 rivers, is specifically the number of the mundane sphere; and, as the first 3 days of creation foreshadow the Trinity, so the fourth is the "type of man." (56) Mystically, the fact that man in a tetrad is evidenced in the name, Adam, whose letters are the 4 winds (81) For this reason, knowledge of divine things is disseminated throughout the world by the 4 gospels, evangelists or beasts, emblemized by the 4 extremities of the cross (58), the 4-fold division of Christ's clothing, and the 4 virtues, or forms of love, as Augustine names them (59). "It is not possible," says Irenaeus, "that the gospels can be either more or fewer than they are." (60)

From the triune principle of God and the quadruple principle of man are produced the universal symbols, 7 and 12. The addition of 3 and 4, spiritual and temporal, produces 7, which is therefore the first number which implies totality (61). It is the number of the universe and of man, signifying the creature as opposed to the Creeator (62). Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit were derived from Isaiah XI: 1-3 (63) The Lord's Prayer was found to contain 7 petitionns (64). Similarly, the Beatitudes were found to be 7, and by the principle of contraries these septenaries were balanced by the 7 deadly sins ((66). Later, the addition of the 3 theological virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity) to the 4 cardinal virtues produced one of the best known heptads of Catholicism. The habit of presenting these spiritual entities in precise numerical groupings indicates that a relationship was felt between them, but it remained for Augustine to show the precise connection of the 7 petitions of the Lord's Prayer to the 7 beatitudes, whch in turn relate to the 7 gifts of the spirit or to the 7 steps to wisdom (67). Seven is the number of the Sabbath and Salvation, but it is also the number of sn (68). Necessarily the churches on earth are 7, forming a likeness of the universe (69).
____________
56. Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus; AN III, 82; also Ambrose, De fide II, Introduction; Augustine, On John, IX, 14.
57. Augustine, On John, IX, 14; see above, p. 31.
58. The cross was conceived to have 4 or 5 points--5 if the intersection was included. As the image of 4, it is encompassed man in the universe. As an emblem of 5, it coincided with the 4 wounds in providing the salvation of man, with his 5 senses, or of those living under the Old Dispensation of the Pentateuch.
59. Of the Morals of the Catholic Church, XV, 25.
60 Against Heresies, III, 11, 8.
The number 7 is that of the virtues, the vices, and many other things pertaining to the world of humans' and their choices for good or evil:
61. Augustine, Civ. Dei, XX, 5.
62. Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount, II, 10, 36; Letter LV, 15, 28.
63. Tertullian, Against Marcion, V, 8; Victorinus, On Creation.
64. Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer; Tertullian, On Prayer, II. 8.
65. Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount, II, 10-11.
66. Tertullian, Against Marcion, IV, 9; Augustine, Harmony of the Gospels, VI, 13.
67. On the Sermn on the Mount, II, 10-11. Contra Faustum, XII, 15; On Christian Doctrine, II, y, 9-11.
68. Augustine, Harmony of the Gospels, VI, 13.
69. Augustine, Letter LV, 5, 9.
And now here is my translation of the first half or so of Andrea's essay at http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=293&lng=ITA. I am leaving out the parts that go beyond his summary of the "philosophical" part and also the trsnalation by Zorli that he includes, which focuses on the ludic aspect of the document. Words in brackets are Andrea's, except if they are both in brackets and in italics; those are mine.
Tarotica - 1584
The Quaternity of the Tarot between Mysticism and Game


Guilielmus Onciacius (Guillaume D'Oncieu), born in Chambéry in 1560, died in 1630, was a doctor of law, scholar and President of the Senate under the Duke of Savoy. He was the author of several legal and philosophical works including Quaestiones academicae (1579), Quaestiones iuris philosophicae (1585), Traité des mainsmortes et conditions taillables (1608), Traité de l'amortissement et abol des mains mortes (1612), Colloquia mixta (1620), and Colloquia mixta in quibus variae juris quaestiones et philosophicae (1626).

Our interest in this author is addressed to the treatise Numeralium locorum decas, printed in Lyon in 1584, a work of extreme importance for the history of tarot in that, in the present state of research, it appears to be the first known document reporting information both on the game and its philosophical and mystical aspects (1). This is the full title of the book, dedicated to Carlo Emanuele, Duke of Savoy, with the place and year of publication: “Guilielmi Onciaci, Numeralium locorum decas: in omni ferè scientiarum genere mysticis referta propositionibus. Ad Serenissimum Carolum Emanuelem Sabaudiae Ducem, Lugduni, apud Carolym Pesnot, 1584”.

In the work, not without a certain artificiality of expression and some obscure passages, D'Oncieu conducts a discussion on the numbers from One to Ten, illustrated through propositions that list the literary places, events, personages, and mythological and religious elements inherent to each of them.

One of the extraordinary things that can be found in the work is the term TAROTICA, attributed by the author not so much to the game of tarot itself, but to everything that pertains to it. It would seem that for the first time we come across in a word, completely unknown until now, a sort of hapax legomenon, but at the time not otherwise known. The term feels to us very modern and consonant with other titles formulated for the purpose of grouping together various aspects of a given subject.

The analysis that the author makes of the Tarot is found in Chapter IV (2), where he deals with the Number Four. There are numerous propositions and figures, quadrilateral and triangular - explanations for which D'Oncieu cites Plato and Pythagoras - inserted to highlight the mathematical prerogatives of the four and its triplicity. Some propositions reported by the Author are these:

Quaternus fic binario suo medio cōgruit,
ut binario modo in se revolvatur
. [p. 238 in original Latin text, at http://books.google.it/books?id=6JJa8oe ... milarbooks]
The number four is a double binary number
in that it contains two identical binary parts.

Quaterna triplicitate divisum est saeculum [p. 239]
The order of the centuries is divided into four [four ages, four eras]

Quaterna triplicitas nominum Dei apud Hebraeos
[p. 240]
A triplicity in groups of four [quaternities] are the names of God among the Jews.

Quaterna Apostolorum [p. 241]
Four Apostles

Quaterna triplicitate distinctus seculi ordo: nēpe duodecim in coelo signis, seu quator signorum trigonis: quorum tria ignea Gemini, Cancer, Leo; tria aërea, Pisces, Aries, Taurus; tria aquea, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius; tria terrea, perhibētur, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio
. [p. 239]
The order of the centuries is divided into four groups of three: in fact there are twelve signs in the sky, four trigons of signs, of which three are of fire: Gemini, Cancer, Leo; three air: Pisces, Aries, Taurus; three water: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius; three earth: Virgo, Libra, Scorpio.

Quator item in virtutibus: prudentia, iustitia, fortitude, temperantia ...[p. 255]
Four equally in the virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance...

Quatuor metaphisica: Esse, essentia, virtute, actione
Four in metaphysics: being, essence, virtue, action

Quaternario quoq; inclusae divinationum species……geomantia, hydromantia, pyromanthia, aëromantia: à terra, aqua, igne, aëre. [p. 260]
Four also; included in the species of divination ...... geomancy, hydromancy, pyromancy, aeromancy: from earth, water, fire, air.

Quaternū aeternae Fontem naturae, animiq ', parentem ... Quaternū Aeternae fontem naturae, animiq’, parentem [p. 244]
The quaternity would be the source of eternal nature and of its generating soul

Quaternis trinum unumq’, Deum inesse percipi posset [p. 249]
The one God is perceived as three in the quaternity.

Quatuor quaternae numeri pares 2, 4, 6, 8 ac impares 1,3,5,7 [p. 244, paribus]
Four even 1,3,5,7 and odd 2,4,6,8 numbers of the quaternity.

Etc.

Below is the passage in the original work on the Tarot, whose division by four is considered by the author the most perfect and admirable that exists:

Since it is all in Latin, and Andrea repeats the Latin in what follows, sentence by sentence (but preceded by a summary of the whole), I omit his transcription of the whole here. It is in his essay for anyone interested. It is from pp. 261-265 of the printed Latin text.]

As we said above, the passage concerning the Tarot contains information of both a ludic and philosophical character. The ludic aspects, described in a somewhat obscure form, would be fully decipherable if the rules in force in section XVI were known.

The philosophical content has a better fate; we find that 78, the total number of cards, iis the same as "in the reckoning" of the universe, and that the number of sides (four) of the same cards, leads them to "enter" into the Universe (consider the four seasons, the four cardinal points, etc., concepts reported by the author in his propositions),

We find also that the division of the cards into the suits, 21 Triumphs, and the Fool card makes the quaternity [i.e. the group of four suits] triune, just as God is triune in the quaternity, the concept expressed in the proposition “Quaternis Trinum unumq', Deum Inesse percipi posset” (The one God is perceived as three in the quaternity), considering that "the quaternity is three due to the threefold nature of this quaternity," according to the philosophical thought that knows God as One and Triune, one God and three distinct persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

We find further that the seven (septenary), by which the 21 Triumphs are divided into three equal parts (as we have seen, the Fool is considered in its own right), expresses a value of completeness meaning "all", the sacred number to the Hebrews, who used it especially in their apocalyptic [writing] with its seven heavens, seven rivers, that of mountains, and in the liturgy with seven altars, seven sacred sources, seven branches of the candlestick, the seven anointings with oil, seven pairs of clean animals entering Noah’s ark, also a highly symbolic number for Christianity with its seven sacraments and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. And further, in the division by five of the quaternity, the quintenary brings almost a form of the Quinta Essentia to the triple and quadruple.

In short, the conformation of a tarot deck to numerology reflects the order of the universe in the total number of cards, in its division into four (the four suits, but also the entire deck, the number cards, the triumphs and the Fool), while the aspect of triplicity (suits, triumphs and Fool) connected to the quadruple (the entire deck) is to be related to the threefold nature of the Divine, which is triple in the quadruple as described above. Tarot cards become therefore the representation of a man who "lives his life in the theater of the world" while the numerological aspects that characterize the deck are to be interpreted according to a philosophical-mystical key, "the mutual correspondence of numbers being great", as we have repeatedly stressed in several of our essays (3).

Since the passage contains several obscure aspects, at this time we also provide a literal translation, reserving, through a more detailed analysis, to modify it according to a precise understanding of the different concepts:

Quadrata figura qua sors ludit in humanis Tessera dicta.
Quadrata quoque in cartis, inde cartae dictae: hoc idem quod
Quadruplici personarum distinctione constent, & in famosa earum trituratione quam primeriam vocant.

The four-sided figure with which fate plays among men is called the Tessera. [Tessera is the Greek name that in Latin means one of a pair of dice, one die].
Four-sided is also in cards, as these are called four-sided. The same thing is why there consists a fourfold distinction of persons [single cards] in the popular and destructive practice of those cards they call Premiera.

Quaternis paribus, quaternis imparibus, & quaternis sequacibus: quaterna autem haec omnia, terna.
Four in the even [para, also meaning “equal”], four in the odd [impara, also meaning “unequal’], and four in what remains: on the other hand all this quaternity is also a triad.

Quaterna distinctio perfectior imó mirabilior Tarotica: nam quadrata cum sit figura, tùm quaterna personarum distinctio in universum inest; & singularim quaternae cuilibet quaternum figurae genus. sed
However, the distinction by four is the most perfect, even the most admirable, in the Tarotica [i.e. what pertains to the Tarot]: from the moment that the figure is made four, the distinction by four of the figures [personae] enters into the universe, and singularly in any quaternity corresponds a fourfold typology of the figures.

Quaternum illud uniforme in suo quaterno duabus admixtis diversis partibus, scilicet altera, quae sit triumphorum. 21 postrema unius tātum figurae fatui sub effigie, videtur eo quaternum ternum: at quidem.

But this is uniform in its four elements with the addition of two different parts: namely the one that consists of 21 Triumphs and last only a single figure under the species of Fool; so the quaternity certainly seems trinitary.

Quaternum ternum à triplici quaterna rei natura, tum enim triplex cartarum est distinctio ut diximus, secundò terne extrà reponuntur, tertiò ternis lusoribus experiendum,
The quaternity is triple because of the threefold nature of this quaternity, then in fact the distinction of the cards is threefold as we have said, and second are given three by three, and thirdly, is experienced with three players.

Quartò à terna divisione quid lucri quídue dāni obtigerit cuiq’;, agnositur certò. atqui addendum quinaria distributione quina, velut quinta quadam essentia formam dari terno quaternoq’;, magna eorum numerorum inter se cohaerentia.
Fourth, from the division by three is known for certain what gain or loss happens to anyone, and there needs to be added the distributions by five, the quintinary as if bestowing a certain form of the Fifth Essence to the trinary and quaternary the mutual correspondence of the numbers being great.

Notes

1 - Some information about the aspects of the game were reported by Flavio Alberto Lollius and Vincenzo Imperiali in their works of the XVIth century. See the essay Tarot in Literature I.
2 – Pp. 261-265. [Three copies of the book are online, of which the easiest to read is at at http://books.google.it/books?id=6JJa8oe ... milarbooks.]
3 - Read the section entitled "Celestial Harmony" in the essay The History of Tarot
These are the sentences that seem to correspond to Andrea's summary of the "philosophical" part. The rest is more of the same, but is bound up with how the game is played, all of which is far from clear and unnecessary for my point.
I have written a summary, which may or may not be accurate:

The main philosophical point being made, it seems to me, is that the tarot deck, unlike a regular deck, reflects the world (universe, he calls it, the universe of the cards) that includes the divine, as opposed to the world of the merely human. The regular deck, as reflecting the quaternity of the mundane world (see quote from Hopper), deals with human society in its mundane aspects (professions, military structure, etc.); but adding the 21 and the Fool enfuse the eternal archetypes which impact our lives, and which are expressions of the Trinity, both because the 21 divides into three and because the 78 also divide into three: the 56, the 21, and the Fool. The regular deck, the quaternity, reflects the material world, while the tarot deck reflects as well the trinitarian God above and in that world.

However accurate this summary, what I want to emphasize is primarily the language. He is giving an Augustinian-Pythagorean account of the structure of the tarot deck.

Although there is no reason why two Pythagorean interpretations of the tarot should be consistent with each other, the characterization of the Fool in by D’Oncieu is not at variance with Alain's. Although not part of the series of 21, he always mentions it after the 21. And if the two parts of the universe are the mundane and divine worlds, the Fool is not part of the mundane.
Last edited by mikeh on 29 Jul 2016, 22:22, edited 2 times in total.

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mikeh wrote:If Alain provides a modern French translation of the book by Gosselin, I will certainly try to translate what I can. However if the translation of the so-called "tarotica" document by Guillaume D’Oncieu,1584 Savoy from Latin is any indication, there may be problems: three different translations have been made, by Girolomo Zorli, Marco Ponzi, and Andrea. But at least the Gosselin is not from one language to another, but the same language from one century to another.

Meanwhile, I want to devote say something about that D'Oncieu document, namely, that it is a specifically Pythagorean analysis of the game of tarot. This is one of the points Andrea made in his essay bringing it to the attention of the tarot community (http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=293&lng=ITA). I think that can be shown without knowing the precise translation of the Latin. First, I am going to copy out a couple of pages from Hopper's Medieval Number Theory, 1938. which is about Augustine's (mainly, but also a few other Church Fathers') appropriation of Pythagorean theory in the interpretation of the Bible. Then I will give my translation of Andrea's discussion of the "philosophical" aspect of the document, including his translation of the relevant part of the text. It is something I worked on a while back, but it was never posted on Andrea's site, because of unresolved issues in the translation, especially reconciling Andrea's with Girolimo's. But for our purposes here these issues, and the precise accuracy of my translation of Andrea, do not really matter. It is the overall language and perspective that makes it Pythagorean, in the Christian form developed by Augustine. In fact, it might even be that this background in Augustine is necessary in order to understand the philosophical point of the text.

First, here is Hopper. (I should say also that I have gone back and inserted this text into my first post after my translation of Alain's essay, at viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1102&p=16961#p16961:
The principal Christian innovation in number science was the identification of this spiritual-temporal dualty with the archetypal numbers, 3 and 4. Four, by the known analogues of the 4 winds, the 4 elements, the 4 seasons, and the 4 rivers, is specifically the number of the mundane sphere; and, as the first 3 days of creation foreshadow the Trinity, so the fourth is the "type of man." (56) Mystically, the fact that man in a tetrad is evidenced in the name, Adam, whose letters are the 4 winds (81) For this reason, knowledge of divine things is disseminated throughout the world by the 4 gospels, evangelists or beasts, emblemized by the 4 extremities of the cross (58), the 4-fold division of Christ's clothing, and the 4 virtues, or forms of love, as Augustine names them (59). "It is not possible," says Irenaeus, "that the gospels can be either more or fewer than they are." (60)

From the triune principle of God and the quadruple principle of man are produced the universal symbols, 7 and 12. The addition of 3 and 4, spiritual and temporal, produces 7, which is therefore the first number which implies totality (61). It is the number of the universe and of man, signifying the creature as opposed to the Creeator (62). Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit were derived from Isaiah XI: 1-3 (63) The Lord's Prayer was found to contain 7 petitionns (64). Similarly, the Beatitudes were found to be 7, and by the principle of contraries these septenaries were balanced by the 7 deadly sins ((66). Later, the addition of the 3 theological virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity) to the 4 cardinal virtues produced one of the best known heptads of Catholicism. The habit of presenting these spiritual entities in precise numerical groupings indicates that a relationship was felt between them, but it remained for Augustine to show the precise connection of the 7 petitions of the Lord's Prayer to the 7 beatitudes, whch in turn relate to the 7 gifts of the spirit or to the 7 steps to wisdom (67). Seven is the number of the Sabbath and Salvation, but it is also the number of sn (68). Necessarily the churches on earth are 7, forming a likeness of the universe (69).
____________
56. Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus; AN III, 82; also Ambrose, De fide II, Introduction; Augustine, On John, IX, 14.
57. Augustine, On John, IX, 14; see above, p. 31.
58. The cross was conceived to have 4 or 5 points--5 if the intersection was included. As the image of 4, it is encompassed man in the universe. As an emblem of 5, it coincided with the 4 wounds in providing the salvation of man, with his 5 senses, or of those living under the Old Dispensation of the Pentateuch.
59. Of the Morals of the Catholic Church, XV, 25.
60 Against Heresies, III, 11, 8.
The number 7 is that of the virtues, the vices, and many other things pertaining to the world of humans' and their choices for good or evil:
61. Augustine, Civ. Dei, XX, 5.
62. Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount, II, 10, 36; Letter LV, 15, 28.
63. Tertullian, Against Marcion, V, 8; Victorinus, On Creation.
64. Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer; Tertullian, On Prayer, II. 8.
65. Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount, II, 10-11.
66. Tertullian, Against Marcion, IV, 9; Augustine, Harmony of the Gospels, VI, 13.
67. On the Sermn on the Mount, II, 10-11. Contra Faustum, XII, 15; On Christian Doctrine, II, y, 9-11.
68. Augustine, Harmony of the Gospels, VI, 13.
69. Augustine, Letter LV, 5, 9.
And now here is my translation of the first half or so of Andrea's essay at http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=293&lng=ITA. I am leaving out the parts that go beyond his summary of the "philosophical" part and also the trsnalation by Zorli that he includes, which focuses on the ludic aspect of the document. Words in brackets are Andrea's, except if they are both in brackets and in italics; those are mine.
Tarotica - 1584
The Quaternity of the Tarot between Mysticism and Game


Guilielmus Onciacius (Guillaume D'Oncieu), born in Chambéry in 1560, died in 1630, was a doctor of law, scholar and President of the Senate under the Duke of Savoy. He was the author of several legal and philosophical works including Quaestiones academicae (1579), Quaestiones iuris philosophicae (1585), Traité des mainsmortes et conditions taillables (1608), Traité de l'amortissement et abol des mains mortes (1612), Colloquia mixta (1620), and Colloquia mixta in quibus variae juris quaestiones et philosophicae (1626).

Our interest in this author is addressed to the treatise Numeralium locorum decas, printed in Lyon in 1584, a work of extreme importance for the history of tarot in that, in the present state of research, it appears to be the first known document reporting information both on the game and its philosophical and mystical aspects (1). This is the full title of the book, dedicated to Carlo Emanuele, Duke of Savoy, with the place and year of publication: “Guilielmi Onciaci, Numeralium locorum decas: in omni ferè scientiarum genere mysticis referta propositionibus. Ad Serenissimum Carolum Emanuelem Sabaudiae Ducem, Lugduni, apud Carolym Pesnot, 1584”.

In the work, not without a certain artificiality of expression and some obscure passages, D'Oncieu conducts a discussion on the numbers from One to Ten, illustrated through propositions that list the literary places, events, personages, and mythological and religious elements inherent to each of them.

One of the extraordinary things that can be found in the work is the term TAROTICA, attributed by the author not so much to the game of tarot itself, but to everything that pertains to it. It would seem that for the first time we come across in a word, completely unknown until now, a sort of hapax legomenon, but at the time not otherwise known. The term feels to us very modern and consonant with other titles formulated for the purpose of grouping together various aspects of a given subject.

The analysis that the author makes of the Tarot is found in Chapter IV (2), where he deals with the Number Four. There are numerous propositions and figures, quadrilateral and triangular - explanations for which D'Oncieu cites Plato and Pythagoras - inserted to highlight the mathematical prerogatives of the four and its triplicity. Some propositions reported by the Author are these:

Quaternus fic binario suo medio cōgruit,
ut binario modo in se revolvatur
. [p. 238 in original Latin text, at http://books.google.it/books?id=6JJa8oe ... milarbooks]
The number four is a double binary number
in that it contains two identical binary parts.

Quaterna triplicitate divisum est saeculum [p. 239]
The order of the centuries is divided into four [four ages, four eras]

Quaterna triplicitas nominum Dei apud Hebraeos
[p. 240]
A triplicity in groups of four [quaternities] are the names of God among the Jews.

Quaterna Apostolorum [p. 241]
Four Apostles

Quaterna triplicitate distinctus seculi ordo: nēpe duodecim in coelo signis, seu quator signorum trigonis: quorum tria ignea Gemini, Cancer, Leo; tria aërea, Pisces, Aries, Taurus; tria aquea, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius; tria terrea, perhibētur, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio
. [p. 239]
The order of the centuries is divided into four groups of three: in fact there are twelve signs in the sky, four trigons of signs, of which three are of fire: Gemini, Cancer, Leo; three air: Pisces, Aries, Taurus; three water: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius; three earth: Virgo, Libra, Scorpio.

Quator item in virtutibus: prudentia, iustitia, fortitude, temperantia ...[p. 255]
Four equally in the virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance...

Quatuor metaphisica: Esse, essentia, virtute, actione
Four in metaphysics: being, essence, virtue, action

Quaternario quoq; inclusae divinationum species……geomantia, hydromantia, pyromanthia, aëromantia: à terra, aqua, igne, aëre. [p. 260]
Four also; included in the species of divination ...... geomancy, hydromancy, pyromancy, aeromancy: from earth, water, fire, air.

Quaternū aeternae Fontem naturae, animiq ', parentem ... Quaternū Aeternae fontem naturae, animiq’, parentem [p. 244]
The quaternity would be the source of eternal nature and of its generating soul

Quaternis trinum unumq’, Deum inesse percipi posset [p. 249]
The one God is perceived as three in the quaternity.

Quatuor quaternae numeri pares 2, 4, 6, 8 ac impares 1,3,5,7 [p. 244, paribus]
Four even 1,3,5,7 and odd 2,4,6,8 numbers of the quaternity.

Etc.

Below is the passage in the original work on the Tarot, whose division by four is considered by the author the most perfect and admirable that exists:

Since it is all in Latin, and Andrea repeats the Latin in what follows, sentence by sentence (but preceded by a summary of the whole), I omit his transcription of the whole here. It is in his essay for anyone interested. It is from pp. 261-265 of the printed Latin text.]

As we said above, the passage concerning the Tarot contains information of both a ludic and philosophical character. The ludic aspects, described in a somewhat obscure form, would be fully decipherable if the rules in force in section XVI were known.

The philosophical content has a better fate; we find that 78, the total number of cards, iis the same as "in the reckoning" of the universe, and that the number of sides (four) of the same cards, leads them to "enter" into the Universe (consider the four seasons, the four cardinal points, etc., concepts reported by the author in his propositions),

We find also that the division of the cards into the suits, 21 Triumphs, and the Fool card makes the quaternity [i.e. the group of four suits] triune, just as God is triune in the quaternity, the concept expressed in the proposition “Quaternis Trinum unumq', Deum Inesse percipi posset” (The one God is perceived as three in the quaternity), considering that "the quaternity is three due to the threefold nature of this quaternity," according to the philosophical thought that knows God as One and Triune, one God and three distinct persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

We find further that the seven (septenary), by which the 21 Triumphs are divided into three equal parts (as we have seen, the Fool is considered in its own right), expresses a value of completeness meaning "all", the sacred number to the Hebrews, who used it especially in their apocalyptic [writing] with its seven heavens, seven rivers, that of mountains, and in the liturgy with seven altars, seven sacred sources, seven branches of the candlestick, the seven anointings with oil, seven pairs of clean animals entering Noah’s ark, also a highly symbolic number for Christianity with its seven sacraments and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. And further, in the division by five of the quaternity, the quintenary brings almost a form of the Quinta Essentia to the triple and quadruple.

In short, the conformation of a tarot deck to numerology reflects the order of the universe in the total number of cards, in its division into four (the four suits, but also the entire deck, the number cards, the triumphs and the Fool), while the aspect of triplicity (suits, triumphs and Fool) connected to the quadruple (the entire deck) is to be related to the threefold nature of the Divine, which is triple in the quadruple as described above. Tarot cards become therefore the representation of a man who "lives his life in the theater of the world" while the numerological aspects that characterize the deck are to be interpreted according to a philosophical-mystical key, "the mutual correspondence of numbers being great", as we have repeatedly stressed in several of our essays (3).

Since the passage contains several obscure aspects, at this time we also provide a literal translation, reserving, through a more detailed analysis, to modify it according to a precise understanding of the different concepts:

Quadrata figura qua sors ludit in humanis Tessera dicta.
Quadrata quoque in cartis, inde cartae dictae: hoc idem quod
Quadruplici personarum distinctione constent, & in famosa earum trituratione quam primeriam vocant.

The four-sided figure with which fate plays among men is called the Tessera. [Tessera is the Greek name that in Latin means one of a pair of dice, one die].
Four-sided is also in cards, as these are called four-sided. The same thing is why there consists a fourfold distinction of persons [single cards] in the popular and destructive practice of those cards they call Premiera.

Quaternis paribus, quaternis imparibus, & quaternis sequacibus: quaterna autem haec omnia, terna.
Four in the even [para, also meaning “equal”], four in the odd [impara, also meaning “unequal’], and four in what remains: on the other hand all this quaternity is also a triad.

Quaterna distinctio perfectior imó mirabilior Tarotica: nam quadrata cum sit figura, tùm quaterna personarum distinctio in universum inest; & singularim quaternae cuilibet quaternum figurae genus. sed
However, the distinction by four is the most perfect, even the most admirable, in the Tarotica [i.e. what pertains to the Tarot]: from the moment that the figure is made four, the distinction by four of the figures [personae] enters into the universe, and singularly in any quaternity corresponds a fourfold typology of the figures.

Quaternum illud uniforme in suo quaterno duabus admixtis diversis partibus, scilicet altera, quae sit triumphorum. 21 postrema unius tātum figurae fatui sub effigie, videtur eo quaternum ternum: at quidem.

But this is uniform in its four elements with the addition of two different parts: namely the one that consists of 21 Triumphs and last only a single figure under the species of Fool; so the quaternity certainly seems trinitary.

Quaternum ternum à triplici quaterna rei natura, tum enim triplex cartarum est distinctio ut diximus, secundò terne extrà reponuntur, tertiò ternis lusoribus experiendum,
The quaternity is triple because of the threefold nature of this quaternity, then in fact the distinction of the cards is threefold as we have said, and second are given three by three, and thirdly, is experienced with three players.

Quartò à terna divisione quid lucri quídue dāni obtigerit cuiq’;, agnositur certò. atqui addendum quinaria distributione quina, velut quinta quadam essentia formam dari terno quaternoq’;, magna eorum numerorum inter se cohaerentia.
Fourth, from the division by three is known for certain what gain or loss happens to anyone, and there needs to be added the distributions by five, the quintinary as if bestowing a certain form of the Fifth Essence to the trinary and quaternary the mutual correspondence of the numbers being great.

Notes

1 - Some information about the aspects of the game were reported by Flavio Alberto Lollius and Vincenzo Imperiali in their works of the XVIth century. See the essay Tarot in Literature I.
2 – Pp. 261-265. [Three copies of the book are online, of which the easiest to read is at at http://books.google.it/books?id=6JJa8oe ... milarbooks.]
3 - Read the section entitled "Celestial Harmony" in the essay The History of Tarot
These are the sentences that seem to correspond to Andrea's summary of the "philosophical" part. The rest is more of the same, but is bound up with how the game is played, all of which is far from clear and unnecessary for my point.
I have written a summary, which may or may not be accurate:

The main philosophical point being made, it seems to me, is that the tarot deck, unlike a regular deck, reflects the world (universe, he calls it, the universe of the cards) that includes the divine, as opposed to the world of the merely human. The regular deck, as reflecting the quaternity of the mundane world (see quote from Hopper), deals with human society in its mundane aspects (professions, military structure, etc.); but adding the 21 and the Fool enfuse the eternal archetypes which impact our lives, and which are expressions of the Trinity, both because the 21 divides into three and because the 78 also divide into three: the 56, the 21, and the Fool. The regular deck, the quaternity, reflects the material world, while the tarot deck reflects as well the trinitarian God above and in that world.

However accurate this summary, what I want to emphasize is primarily the language. He is giving an Augustinian-Pythagorean account of the structure of the tarot deck.

Although there is no reason why two Pythagorean interpretations of the tarot should be consistent with each other, the characterization of the Fool in by D’Oncieu is not at variance with Alain's. Although not part of the series of 21, he always mentions it after the 21. And if the two parts of the universe are the mundane and divine worlds, the Fool is not part of the mundane.


Hi Mikeh

About Gosselin and the Pythagoric Chartes or the Game of Four Colours , I ll write a rough transcription of the main passges that seems to me relevant.

I am completely in agreement that D’Oncieu, 1584 Piedmont is " one of the best and clearest early examples of Pythagoreanism is in reference to the tarot" as you specified at viewtopic.php?f=11&t=767&p=14694&hilit=tarotica#p14694
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie