THE MELANCHOLY ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE IN THE MAGIC SQUARE ON DUERER'S MELENCOLIA I Tine Kurent In the numbers of Duerer's MELENCOLIA magic square is hidden the Aristotle's wonder: "How come, that all the people, excelling in philosophy or in politics or in poetry or in arts, are evidently melancholical..."1 The numbers on the diagonal starting on the upper right corner of the magic square are 13, 11 and 67.2 Their product is number 9581: 13 x 11 x 67 = 9581. 16 3 2 13 5 10 11 8 9 6 7 12 4 15 14 1 13 11 67 - 9581 The number 9581 equals to the sum of the number 9401, which is the gematrical equivalent to the Aristotle's question in Greek, and of the number 180, which is gematrically equal to signatures of APIETOTEAHE, C. AGRIPPA and ALBRECHT D.3 1 Aristotle, Problemata 30,1. 2 The adjacent numbers 6 and 7 combine in the same way as the numbers 15 and 14 make the year 1514. See my article Die Gematrie von Duerers "MELENCOLIA I". - Acta neophilologica, 1992. 3 In the deciphering of the Aristotle's Greek name zeros do not count, in the same way as in the case of MEAErXOAIA I. See my article Die Gematrie von Duerers "MELENCOLIA I". Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, the most famous magus in his time, is obviously the spiritual co-author of Duerer's MELENCOLIA I. 5 Aia tL TuavTe? ocrot TisptxTol yeyovaatv ¿cvSpec;, r) xaxa (piXoaocpiav, tcoXitixyjv, 7ro(r)aiv, TJ T¿xva?» cpaivovTaL txeXayxoXtxol ovto; . . . The quotation in Greek is gematrically equal to 9401: 15+310+636+350+875 =2186 392+360+8+322 =1082 1441+8+578+8 =2035 428+8+1156+992 =2584 889+625 =1514 9401 The question is signed by the three wise men: APIETOTEAHE 36 C. AGRIPPA 73 ALBRECHT D. _71 180 (The detailed translation of the quotation and of the three signatures into numbers see in the TABLE I and TABLE II.) "... it was only Humanists, and most likely even only some of them and with great difficulty, who were able to fathom the many layers of meaning, allusions and associations in works like MELENCOL1A I."4 4 Bialostocki J., Myth and Allegory on Duerer's Etchings and Engravings. - The Messages in ¡mages. IRSA, Vienna, 1988. 6 A 4 r 3 500 n 80 M 40 I 10 E 5 I 10 o 70 E 5 A 1 r 3 A 30 i 10 A 30 T 300 O 70 O 70 H 8 A 1 I 10 N 50 2 200 2 200 r 3 n 80 A 1 O 70 I 10 X 600 A 1 2 200 500 N 50 O 70 N 50 I 10 I 10 H 8 A 30 T 300 N 50 A 1 T 300 I 10 E 5 A 1 N 50 E 5 K 20 2 200 N 50 H 8 X 600 O 70 O 70 A 4 n 80 N 50 I 10 2 200 P 100 o 70 A 1 O 70 O 70 E 5 A 30 2 200 N 50 I 10 2 200 I 10 4» 500 T 300 n 80 H 8 T 300 A 1 E 5 E 5 K 20 I 10 I 10 2 200 P 100 A 1 K 20 N 50 I 10 T 300 H 8 O 70 9401 T 300 A 1 N 50 N 50 T 300 H 8 T 300 O 70 A 1 I 10 TABELA 1 I 10 API2TOTEAH2 = 36 C. AGRIPPA = 73 9401 ALBRECHT D. = 71 180 TABELA II 180 9581