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NUNQAM PROCRASTI-
Nandum.

Never procrastinate.

Emblema. 3.

An elk holding a ribbon with the motto of the Alciato family in Greek.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Alciatae gentis insignia sustinet Alce,[1]
Unguibus & medem fert anaballomenos.
Constat Alexandrum sic respondisse roganti,
Qui tot obivisse [=obivisset] tempore gesta brevi.
Nunquam, inquit, differre volens,[2] quod & indicat Alce:
Fortior haec, dubites,[3] oeyor [=ocyor] anne 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.

Notes:

1.  An elk, representing the family name, is carved on Alciato’s tomb in Pavia.

2.  nunquam...differre volens, ‘By never wanting...to postpone’. The Latin words translate Alexander’s Greek motto ἀναβαλλόμενος, 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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