Ambitione (Ripa, 1603) - Giuseppe Cesari

1. Description:

A young woman, dressed in green, wearing a skimpy dress and barefoot; she will have wings on her shoulders, and with both hands she will show signs of confusedly placing various types of crowns on her head, and she will have her eyes blindfolded, and in her company there will be a lion with its head held high. Ambition, according to St. Thomas 2.2 q. 131. art. 2, is a disordered appetite to become great and to attain ranks, states, lordships, magistrates, and offices, by whatever means, just or unjust, virtuous or vicious. She is depicted as a young woman dressed in green, because young people are those who presume a great deal and hope for a great deal, this being their own vice, as Seneca says in Troades, because they cannot control the impetus of their souls, which is why they give wings to their shoulders, also demonstrating that they crave and boldly desire those things that do not suit them, that is, to fly above others and be superior to all. ..