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Filed under “Amusing Diversion”

Working through a manuscript I came across this folio with a large diagram of the zodiac in the center.

A folio from a 14th-c. astrological manuscript, with a large diagram of the signs in the middle.

What caught my attention was the drawing in the upper right corner. The scribe seems to have thrown his arms up in confusion (?), exasperation (?), or simply resignation. Either that, or he’s being held up at spearpoint. I don’t know what prompted the scribe to draw this figure, but I am amusing myself thinking through different scenarios.

I sympathize with his plight (ok, not the being held up at spearpoint bit).