Allegory of Human Nature

Beneficentia, the personification of charity, sits on a chair and is stabbed from behind by evil in the guise of a naked man. One knee of the man rests on a skull and a snake, which bites its own tail as a symbol of eternity, hangs around his right leg. To the right stands a coffin with the inscription: Mors Oblivio. With her left hand Beneficentia gives the sun to the naked man. She gives the moon to the woman in front of her. Between them lies a bound lion, which a dog licks. A mouse gnaws at its rope. In the background some obelisks. The image has an ornamental frame. To the left the personification of fertility gives birth to a child, which is awakened to life by the breath of Apollo as a symbol of the good. To the right a child is born who receives its breath from Evil. To the upper left a woman breastfeeds a child. To the upper right a woman feeds a child with a spoon. Below the image an eight-line Latin text and a cartouche with a five-line Latin text.