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← De Arca Noe Morali et Mystica (On the Moral and Mystical Ark of Noah)/Book 5 · De Arca Noe Mystica — Liber 5
Chapter 1ArcaN.5.1

De arcae igitur descriptione ut supra.

The Cubit's Foundation

The author describes laying out the central cubit of the ark, marking it with a golden cross, flame and sapphire colors, and the letters Alpha and Omega.

First, for the mystical description of Noah's ark, on the flat surface where I want to paint the ark, I look for the center, and once I've fixed a point there, I draw a small equilateral square around it, following the proportions of that cubit in which the ark was brought to completion. And around that square I trace another, slightly larger. So that the space between the outer and inner square appears as a kind of border belonging to the cubit. Once that's done, I paint a cross inside the inner square, so that its arms reach each side of the square, and I overlay it with gold.1 Then I color the spaces that remain on the surface of the square between the four corners of the cross and the square: the two upper ones in flame color, and the two lower ones in sapphire. So that one half of the cubit, in flame color, represents fire, and the other half, in sapphire color, represents cloud. After this, on the border of the cubit above the cross, I write α, which is the beginning. On the opposite side, beneath the cross, I write ω, which is the end.

Christ in the Crossbeams

The crossbeams are inscribed with Chi and Rho, the cubit is clothed in purple and green, and the lamb is placed at the center, revealing Christ as the beginning and end, bearer of both laws, and the sacrificed and exalted Savior.

On the right horn of the cross I write Χ, the first letter placed in the name of Christ, and it signifies the Decalogue of the law, which was first given to the ancient people, as it were, chosen and just, placed at the right hand. On the left horn, however, I place C, which is the last letter in this name of Christ, and it signifies, in the number one hundred, the perfection of grace, which was given to the Gentiles, who were at first cast off on account of their unbelief and seemed destined for the left side. Then I clothe the space of the border all around with purple and green coloring — purple on the outside and green on the inside — and in the middle of the golden cross I paint the one-year-old lamb standing, the one I had made. With this done, the cubit is complete. If you ask the reason for this matter, what else does this writing seem to say to you, except that Christ is the beginning and the end — the bearer [REDACTED] the Old Law and of the New?✦ And what does the picture show you other than this: that this same cubit signifies the people whom the pillar of fire and cloud protected — the one that went before the people of Israel in the desert, illuminating by fire and shading by cloud? The one who, to the earlier people, through the fire of divine majesty, was terrible in punishing sins — and to the later people, through the cloud of humanity, appeared gentle in forgiving sins — who was sacrificed on the cross for the sins of mortals like a gentle lamb not opening his mouth, and who, for the righteousness of mortals, was exalted in rising again and ascending above the heavens. He sets before all who come to him, through the purple of his blood, the example of his passion, and in the green color, the unfading reward of heavenly recompense.

The Lamb Who Stands

The purple and green colors are further interpreted as Christ's passion, judgment, damnation of the wicked, and liberation of the good, while the standing lamb embodies his perpetual vigilance and care for his city.

Or in the purple, it sanctifies the blood of Christ's passion, and in the green color, the water by which he once judged the world. Or in the purple, the damnation of the wicked, whom he justly rejected; in the green color, the liberation of the good, whom he will justly and mercifully save. He stands because he invites; he stands because he strengthens; he stands because he helps; he stands because he crowns; he stands because he watches, so that he may guard his city.✦

Drawing the Ark's Outline

The outer square of the ark is drawn according to biblical proportions, and two intersecting bands are marked through the middle of the length and width, forming a cross beneath the central cubit.

So, with the middle cubit completed, I draw another square far outside around the aforementioned center, and of such a size as the ark I wish to make — which square is six times as long as it is wide, because the ark had three hundred cubits in length and fifty in width, that is, six times as long as it is wide.✦ I, however, shortened it to nearly four times the length, for a more fitting shape in the picture. After this, through the middle of this square — that is, through the middle of the ark's floor — along the length, with two lines drawn, I enclose a space of such width as the inner square of the middle cubit. Similarly, through the middle of the width, from one wall to the other, with two lines stretched out, I mark a space of the same width. Thus these two bands — one stretching through the middle of the length, the other through the middle of the width — intersect each other from opposite sides in the manner of a cross beneath the middle cubit, and they correspond to its inner width, extending beyond its border only a little on this side and that.

The Nested Squares

The space between the central cubit and the outer boundary is divided into three nested squares, each intersecting the cross-shaped bands in sequence, with the outermost square enclosing all.

Once this is done, I divide the spaces between the middle center—or rather the middle cubit—and each of the individual corners of the ark into three equal parts by placing marker points, and with a ruler laid along two points and then two more adjacent points along the length and along the width, I draw a line from point to point all the way around; and so I make two other squares, six times as long as their own width, which stand apart from one another in such proportion that by how much the first surpasses the middle, by so much the middle surpasses the third. Among these, the third square, which is the smallest and is enclosed below the others according to the plane's layout, surrounds the middle cubit and cuts the two aforementioned zones in four directions—one of them measures the length, the other the width of the ark. One extends upward and downward. The other extends to the left and to the right. Then the second square embraces the third and similarly intersects the aforementioned zones. Then another square, which is outermost in the plane but lowest in height, encloses all the rest, and girding the four extreme corners of the two zones on each of their sides, holds them all together within itself.

The Central Column

The middle band is understood as a central column rising through the ark, formed by folding the zone upward, with the cubit at its summit serving as the roof's crowning rim.

Once this is done, if you want to know how this figure represents the shape of the ark, understand that from the band that stretches across the middle width of the ark, a square column of equal sides should be made, set upright in the middle of the ark, whose height is less than the width of the ark by as much as three is less than five, since the height of the ark was thirty cubits and the width fifty. If, however, you want to know by what method the column should be understood to be formed from the band itself, consider it in this way. Let that cubit which now lies fixed in the middle of the band according to the position of the plane be raised upward, so that it pulls the band itself upward along with it, as if folding it through the middle, and then let both halves of it, hanging downward, be joined flat against each other, so that an upright column becomes visible. At its top, let that cubit stand out which previously lay in the middle of it according to the position of the plane. And let the cubit itself be understood as nothing other than the upper cut of the column, and let the edge of the cubit be a certain rim or projection made at the top of the column to receive the beams rising up all around from the lowest point, which are fixed into the column itself beneath the same projection, under which the completion of the roof's summit is also situated, in the manner of a roof tile receiving the tops of the roofs. And although the height of the column does not appear to be greater than half the band, since it is made from the band itself doubled over, it should nevertheless be understood as being as much greater as thirty is greater than twenty-five, but this could not be represented on a flat plane. Again, since only half the band occupies the height of the column, the reason that both halves of it are depicted is this.

Read the original Latin

Primum ad mysticam arcae Noe descriptionem, in planitie ubi arcam depingere volo, medium centrum quaero, et ibi fixo puncto parvam quadraturam aequilateram ad similitudinem illius cubiti, in quo consummata est arca, ei circumduco. Itemque illi quadraturae aliam paulo majorem circumscribo. Ita ut id spatium, quod est inter exteriorem et interiorem quadraturam, quasi limbus cubiti esse videatur. Hoc facto in interiori quadratura crucem pingo, ita ut cornua ejus singula latera quadraturae attingant, eamque auro superdueo. Deinde spatia illa, quae in superficie quadraturae inter quatuor angulos crucis et quadraturae remanent, colore vestio, duo superiora flammeo, et duo inferiora sapphirino. Ita ut medietas una cubiti in flammeo colore ignem, et altera medietas in sapphirino colore nubem repraesentare videatur. Post haec in limbo cubiti supra crucem scribo α, quod est principium. Econtrario subter crucem scribo ω, quod est finis.

Ad dextrum cornu crucis scribo χ, quae littera prima ponitur in nomine Christi, et significat Decalogum legis quae antiquo populo primum quasi electo et justo ad dexteram collocato data est. Ad sinistrum autem cornu pono c, quae est ultima in hoc nomine Christi, et significat in centum perfectionem gratiae, quae data est gentilitati, quae primum propter infidelitatem abjecta, et ad sinistram collocanda videbatur. Deinde spatium limbi circumquaque purpureo, et viridi colore induo, exterius purpureo, et interius viridi, et in medio crucis aureae, quam feceram, agnum anniculum stantem pingo. Quo facto perfectus est cubitus. Cujus rei rationem si quaeris, quid aliud haec scriptura tibi dicere videtur, nisi quod principium et finis sit Christus lator Legis Veteris et Novae? Et pictura quid tibi ostendit aliud, quam si diceret, iste cubitus eumdem significat populum, quem columna ignis et nubis protegebat, quae populum Israel in deserto praecedebat, illuminans per ignem, et per nubem obumbrans. Et qui priori populo per ignem divinae majestatis terribilis fuit puniendo peccata, et posteriori populo per nubem humanitatis mitis apparuit, condonando peccata, qui pro peccatis hominum in cruce est immolatus quasi agnus mitis et non aperiens os suum, et pro justitia hominum resurgendo, et ascendendo super coelos est exaltatus. Qui undique ad se venientibus per purpuram sanguinis exemplum passionis suae proponit, et in viridi colore immarcescibile praemium supernae remunerationis.

Vel in purpura, sanguinem passionis Christi sanctificat, et in viridi colore aquam, qua mundum olim judicavit. Vel in purpura damnationem malorum, quos juste reprobavit, in viridi colore liberationem bonorum, quos juste et misericorditer salvabit. Qui stat quia invitat, stat quia confortat, stat quia adjuvat, stat quia coronat, stat quia vigilat ut custodiat civitatem suam. Ita medio cubito consummato aliam quadraturam circa praedictum centrum longe extra circumduco, et tantae magnitudinis, quantae magnitudinis arcam facere volo, quae quadratura sexies, tam longa sit quam lata, quia arca trecentos cubitos in longitudine habuit, quinquaginta in latitudine, hoc est sexies longa ad latitudinem. Ego tamen propter competentiorem formam in pictura usque ad quadruplam fere longitudinem breviavi. Post haec per mediam hanc quadraturam, id est per medium fundum arcae, secundum longitudinem duabus lineis ductis tantae latitudinis spatium includo, quantae est interior quadratura medii cubiti. Similiter per mediam latitudinem, ab uno pariete usque ad alterum duabus lineis protensis ejusdem latitudinis spatium signo. Ita ut hi duo cinguli, quorum alter per mediam longitudinem, alter per mediam latitudinem protenditur, altrinsecus sese intersecante in modum crucis sub medio cubito conveniant, et interiori latitudini ipsius respondeant, limbo ejus tantummodo hinc inde excedantur.

Hoc ita peracto, spatia quae inter medium centrum, vel potius medium cubitum, et singulos angulos arcae interjacent, unumquodque in tria aequalia positis punctis divido, et apposita regula binis ac binis punctis coadjacentibus secundum longitudinem, et latitudinem de puncto semper ad punctum circumquaque lineam traho; et ita duas alias quadratas sexies similiter longas ad latitudinem suam efficio, quae tali proportione a se distant, ut quantum prima vincit mediam, tantum media vincat tertiam. Inter quas tertia quadratura, quae minima est, et secundum positionem plani infra alias clauditur, medium cubitum ambit, et duos supradictos cingulos, quorum alter longitudinem, alter latitudinem arcae metitur, quadrifariam intercidit. Alterum sursum et deorsum. Alterum sinistrorsum et dextrorsum. Deinde secunda tertiam complectitur, et similiter supradictos cingulos intersecat. Deinde alia, quae in plano extrema est, in alto autem ima, caeteras omnes includit, et quatuor extrema cornua duarum zonarum singulis lateribus, accingens, totas eas intra se comprehendit.

Hoc facto, si nosse cupis quomodo haec figura formam arcae repraesentet, intellige quod de illa zona, quae per mediam latitudinem arcae protenditur, fiat columna quadrata aequilatera in medio arcae erecta, cujus altitudo tanto minor sit latitudine arcae, quanto minor est ternarius quinario, quia altitudo arcae erat triginta cubitorum, et latitudo quinquaginta. Si autem scire cupis qua ratione ex ipsa zona columnam fieri intelligendum sit, sic considera. Cubitus ille, qui nunc secundum positionem plani in medio ipsius zonae affixus jacet, sursum elevetur, sic ut ipsam zonam quasi per medium complicando secum sursum trahat, deinde ambae medietates ejus deorsum pendentes plano ad planum invicem compingantur ut columna erecta videatur. in cujus summitate emineat cubitus ille, qui secundum positionem plani prius in medio ejus jacebat. Nihilque aliud esse intelligatur cubitus ipse, quam columnae praecisio desuper, et limbus cubiti sit quaedam ora sive eminentia facta desuper in capite columnae ad excipienda tigna circumquaque ab imo surgentia, quae ipsi columnae infixa sunt sub eadem eminentia, sub qua etiam summitas tecti consummata est, ad similitudinem imbricis summitatem tectorum excipientis. Et quamvis altitudo columnae non videatur major esse medietate zonae, cum facta sit ex ipsa duplicata, intelligenda est tamen tanto major esse, quanto majora sunt triginta quam viginti quinque, sed hoc in plano repraesentari non potuit. Rursum cum medietas tantum zonae altitudinem columnae teneat, quare ambae medietates ejus depictae sint, haec est ratio.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rev.22.13 — I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
  2. ↩Ps.121.4 — Behold, the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
  3. ↩Gen.6.15 — And this is how you shall make it: three hundred cubits shall be the length of the ark, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩superdueo is a rare form (likely for superduco/induco); rendered as 'overlay' following sense of applying gold over the cross.

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