
IN OCCASIONEM.
Opportunity
Emblema 120.
Lysippi[1] hoc opus est, Sicyon[2] cui patria. Tu quis?[3]
Cuncta domans capti temporis articulus.
Cur pinnis[4] stas? usque rotor, Talaria plantis
Cur retines? passim me levis aura rapit.
In dextra est tenuis dic unde novacula? Acutum
Omni acie hoc signum me magis esse docet.
Cur in fronte coma? Occurrens ut prendar. At heus tu
Dic cur pars calva est posterior capitis?
Link to an image of this page [Pp4v f300v as 299]
Me semel alipedem si quis permittat abire,
Ne possim apprenso postmodo crine capi.
Tali opifex nos arte tui causa, edidit hospes:
Utque omnes moneam, pergula aperta tenet.
This image is the work of Lysippus, whose home was Sicyon. - Who are you? - I am the moment of seized opportunity that governs all. - Why do you stand on points? - I am always whirling about. - Why do you have winged sandals on your feet? - The fickle breeze bears me in all directions. - Tell us, what is the reason for the sharp razor in your right hand? - This sign indicates that I am keener than any cutting edge. - Why is there a lock of hair on your brow? - So that I may be seized as I run towards you. - But come, tell us now, why ever is the back of your head bald? - So that if any person once lets me depart on my winged feet, I may not thereafter be caught by having my hair seized. It was for your sake, stranger, that the craftsman produced me with such art, and, so that I should warn all, it is an open portico that holds me.
1. Greek sculptor, 4th century BC.
2. A town west of Corinth.
3. This is a translation of Anthologia graeca 16.275. See also Erasmus, Adagia 670, Nosce tempus, where Erasmus too gives a verse translation of the Greek epigram.
4. ‘on points’. Alciato here agrees with Erasmus, who similarly translates the phrase ἐπ’ ἄκρα, ‘on tiptoe’, in the Greek original. Thomas More translates more obviously with summis digitis. See Selecta epigrammata (Cornarius, ed.) p. 372ff.
Related Emblems

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Relating to the image:
- animals (+ wings of an animal) [25F(+342):31A2255] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sea (seascape) [25H23] Search | Browse Iconclass
- wave [25H2311] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- winds [26C] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched sidewards (+ holding something) [31A2513(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched sidewards (+ holding a piece of drapery which blows out) [31A2513(+9331)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- razor [31A5351] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head bent forward; bowing - AA - female human figure [31AA244] Search | Browse Iconclass
- standing on one leg, the other leg backwards, bent - AA - female human figure [31AA26252] Search | Browse Iconclass
- floating (movement in water) - AA - female human figure [31AA2774] Search | Browse Iconclass
- looking downwards [31B6212] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult woman (+ nude human being) [31D15(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- drapery, draped garment, 'Gewandgebung' [41D27] Search | Browse Iconclass
- wheel (of vehicle) [46C19] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sailing-ship, sailing-boat (+ under way, at sea (~ travelling)) [46C24(+63)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- 'Occasio', 'Kairos'; 'Occasione' (Ripa) (+ abstract concept represented by female figure) [54B121(+11)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- 'Occasio', 'Kairos'; 'Occasione' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54B121(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Turn of Fate, Wheel of Fortune [54F121] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- baldness [31A5339] Search | Browse Iconclass
- male persons from classical history (with NAME) representations to which the NAME of a person from classical history may be attached [98B(LYSIPPUS)3] Search | Browse Iconclass
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