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Fortuna virtutem superans.
Fortune triumphant over virtue
EMBLEMA CXIX.
Caesareo postquąm superatus milite, vidit
Civili undantem sanguine Pharsaliam;
Iam iam stricturus moribunda in pectora ferrum,
Audaci hos Brutus protulit ore sonos:
Infelix Virtus; & solis provida verbis,
Fortunam in rebus cur sequeris dominam?[1]
Brutus, defeated by the Caesarean troops, saw Pharsalia flowing with citizen blood. As he was about to plunge the sword into his dying heart, he spoke these words with undaunted voice: ‘Unhappy virtue, prudent only in word - why do you in reality submit to dominating fortune?’
1. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cassius became the leaders of the Republican cause. The Caesarean troops, led by Mark Antony and Octavian, Caesar’s heir, defeated them in 42 BC in two battles at Philippi in Macedonia. (Pharsalus in Thessaly was the site of the battle in 48 BC in which Julius Caesar had defeated Pompey in a previous round of the Civil Wars. Pharsalia is here loosely used, as in the Roman poets, to refer to both sites of similar civil conflict.) For Brutus’ suicide after the defeat, see the end of Plutarch’s Life of Brutus.
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Hide related emblems- Declaracion magistral sobre las Emblemas de Andres Alciato (1615), Najera: FORTUNA VIRTUTEM SUPERANS. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1621), Padua: Fortuna virtutem superans. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum liber (28th February, 1531), Augsburg: FORTUNA VIRTUTEM superans. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum liber (6th April, 1531), Augsburg: FORTUNA VIRTUTEM superans. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum liber (1534), Augsburg: FORTUNA VIRTUTEM superans. | Open in other pane
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- Les Emblemes (1542), Paris: Fortuna virtutem superans. Fortune surmontant Vertu. | Open in other pane
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- Los Emblemas (1549), Lyon: Que a las vezes la fortaleza es vencida de la Fortuna. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1550), Lyon: Fortuna, Virtutem superans. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata (1551), Lyon: Fortuna, Virtutem superans. | Open in other pane
- Emblematum libri II (Stockhamer) (1556), Lyon: Fortuna virtutem superans. | Open in other pane
- Toutes les emblemes (1558), Lyon: Fortune surmontant Vertu. | Open in other pane
- Liber emblematum ... Kunstbuch (1567), Franckfurt am Main: Fortuna virtutem superans. Das Glück das die Tugend uberwindt. | Open in other pane
- Diverse imprese (1551), Lyon: La virtł vinta dalla fortuna. | Open in other pane
- Livret des emblemes (1536), Paris: Fortuna virtutem superans. Fortune surmontant Vertu. | Open in other pane
- Emblemes (1549), Lyons: Fortune surmontant Vertu. | Open in other pane
- Emblemata / Les emblemes (1584), Paris: Fortuna virtutem superans. Fortune surmontant vertu. | Open in other pane
- Les emblemes (1615), Geneva/Cologny: Fortune surmontant Vertu. | Open in other pane
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