Yes, but that is all in the context of flattering Filippo and perhaps propaganda for his "bon droit" to rule. It doesn't touch the point of my argument: that these are falsely divinized heroes, even for Marziano and certainly so for Marcello, who serves a man whose principal justification for ruling is in his true "right reason", i.e, practical wisdom, and does not depend on his family tree, even if he does happen to be married to the duke's daughter. None of these "gods", not even Jupiter, are "divine things" in the context of Marcello's letter. But the other game does deal with such "divine things".From the Marcello copy of Marziano - the description of Jupiter not as the Christian God (although the examples of that equation are too numerous to note) but certainly in a context of a bon droit and rulership:http://trionfi.com/martiano-da-tortona- ... -16-heroumFour stars appearing above, attend him [Jupiter], while by the right part a splendour of right reason of the conduct of humanity, in which customs he instructed ingnorant men, the first leaders of the state.
Filippo's dynastic line descends from those first leaders of state (Troy), clearly borne out by Michelino's genealogy miniature.
Phaeded
Even though I think Marcello is talking about "divine things" in the context of the ordinary game, there is a sense in which Marziano's game, too, deals with "divine things". Here is what Marziano says, in Pratesi's Italian (which is an abridgement) and Ross's English translation of that Italian (http://trionfi.com/marcello-martiano-da-tortona ; the full translation, as you gave, is at http://trionfi.com/martiano-da-tortona- ... -16-heroum ; I do not know where the full Latin is:
As Ross's commentary says, this "giusta ragione" is an allusion to a quality of the Christian God (although "great architect" seems to me a stretch, given the additional context which Pratesi omitted):1. Giove: Seduto in trono è provvisto di quattro insegne celesti: a destra in alto lo splendore della giusta ragione; a sinistra in alto la luce con cui fondò le leggi; in basso a destra la stella lucente simile a Marte che brilla nei salvatori dello stato; in basso a sinistro il fulmine.
I. Jupiter: Sitting on a throne, surrounded and provided with 4 heavenly signs in the corners. Above right is the splendour of wisdom and above left the light, with which laws are given, at the right bottom is a bright star like Mars, which shines in those who preserve the state; in the left bottom the thunderbolt.
But is clear in Marziano's sentence that "recto rationis" means practical wisdom in giving just laws. In what preceded this sentence, Marziano told of how Jupiter did away with barbarous superstitions and replaced them with institutions for the betterment of the citizens, i.e. matrimony. That is not lineal descent in a family tree. Your fuller quote makes that clear: "right reason of the conduct of humanity, in which customs he instructed ignorant men, the first leaders of the state". It is this justification that Francesco Sforza may now claim.Note: Pratesi has translated Marziano’s latin “rectae rationis” as “giusta ragione”, and has suggested the English translation be Wisdom. I believe it carries the sense of “Just measurement”, of God as the Great Architect. I do not know what a Splendor of it would look like – perhaps a banner with the words. It is interesting to note that the Italian phrase “a giusta ragione” (with good right) is translated by the French “à bon droit”, in a trilingual legal document.
“A BON DROYT” is of course the Visconti family motto recommended to Gian Galeazzo by Petrarch.
In a sense both games deal with divine things: however since Marziano's game deals with falsely divinized heroes, it is only "celestial" and less explicitly divine than the ordinary game, which has "divine", i.e. Christian, subjects (an argument that even then the game looked more like the CY extant cards than the PMB's). Both games may be used for propagandist purposes, and neither is just a game, in the sense, say, of Poker or Bridge as played today.
Marziano's description of the four corners, with Jupiter in the center, of course brings to mind the "Mantegna" Jupiter card (http://trionfi.com/mantegna/e/e-mantegn ... chi/46.jpg) and the Sforza Castle World card, with its evangelists in the corner and perhaps Jesus in the center (http://www.rosscaldwell.com/images/mondo/mnd9marco.jpg). That might be an example of turning a celestial card into a card concerned with divine things.