Link to an image of this page [B1v p18]
Nunquam procrastinandum.
Never procrastinate.
EMBLEMA III.
Alciatae gentis insignia sustinet Alce,[1]
Unguibus & μηδὲν fert ἀναβαλλόμενος.
Constat Alexandrum sic respondisse roganti,
Quî tot obivisset tempore gesta brevi?
Nunquam, inquit, differre volens,[2] quod & indicat Alce:
Fortior haec, dubites,[3] ocyor ánne siet.[4]
An elk bears the insignia of the family Alciato - between its hooves it carries (the motto) “Postponing nothing”. Alexander, as is well known, thus answered one who asked him how he had performed so many exploits in a short time: “By never wanting”, he said, “to postpone”. ‘Elk’ in fact indicates this - you may well ask whether it is strong or fast.
1. An elk, representing the family name, is carved on Alciato’s tomb in Pavia.
2. numquam...differre volens, ‘By never wanting...to postpone’. The Latin words translate Alexander’s Greek motto, quoted in line 2. See Erasmus, Adagia, 3400 (Nunc tuum ferrum in igne est, ‘Strike while the iron is hot’), where Alexander’s saying is quoted.
3. Corrected on the basis of Betty Knott’s edition.
4. Alce, ‘Elk’. The Greek word ἀλκή means not only ‘elk’ but ‘strength’. The animal ‘elk’ was famed for its speed: see Pliny, Natural History, 8.16.39.
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- hoofed animals: elk (+ animal(s) holding something) [25F24(ELK)(+5245)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hoofed animals: elk (+ animal with forelegs stretched foreward) [25F24(ELK)(+552)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- obelisk, needle [25I153] Search | Browse Iconclass
- landscape with ruins [25I9] Search | Browse Iconclass
- armorial bearing, heraldry (with NAME of family) device, motto [46A122(ALCIATUS)3] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- proverbs, sayings, etc. (with TEXT) [86(MHDEN ANABALLOMENOS)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- Delay [51FF521] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Swiftness, Speed; 'Agilità §¬ 'Celerità §¬ 'Velocità § (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [51M11(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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