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Literary notes about cornucopia (AI summary)

The term "cornucopia" has been employed in literature to evoke images of abundance and overflow, though its usage varies with context. In Thomas Carlyle’s historical narrative, for example, it metaphorically represents a "cornucopia of ready-money," implying a wealth of resources now at risk [1]. Meanwhile, Suetonius integrates it into the iconography of divine favor by depicting it as an attribute alongside a mural crown and sistrum, symbolizing prosperity [2]. Rabelais, too, uses the term to convey an exuberant abundance, describing life as a "true cornucopia of merriment and raillery" [3]. This symbolic richness is further confirmed by its association with religious and cultural imagery in numismatic representations, where deities like Demeter or Ceres are shown with the cornucopia to signify fertility and ample provision [4]. Even in encyclopedic entries, "cornucopia" functions as a descriptor, highlighting the idea of a plentiful source, thereby underlining the term’s lasting metaphorical and literal appeal across different literary traditions and contexts [5].
  1. But now if he have lost his cornucopia of ready-money, what else had he to lose?
    — from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle
  2. She was represented with a mural crown on her head, a cornucopia in one hand, and a sistrum (a musical instrument) in the other.]
    — from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius
  3. It is a true cornucopia of merriment and raillery.
    — from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
  4. 5, where Demeter or Ceres is thus depicted, with her cornucopia, from a bronze coin of Damascus.
    — from Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism by Thomas Inman and M.R.C.S.E. John Newton
  5. ALGAE 1, The very broad Ulva. 2, Cornucopia.
    — from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. A to Amide by Various

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