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NIHIL IN AUSPICATO [=INAUSPICATO]
ADGREDIENDUM.[1]

DO NOTHING WITHOUT AN OMEN TO GUIDE YOU

Figure of a god standing before a temple with a greek inscription holding a bow and a musical instrument, soldiers worshipping him. Cow at one side.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Heptapylas Cadmus statuens iam condere Thebas:
Consulit oracli numen Apollinei.
Responsóque dato, sequitur (quae praevia facta est
Sponte) bovem: inqúe solo, quo stetit, aedificat
Námque autore Deo, duce Natura, fuit index
Buccula, praestantis fertilitate soli.
Huius ad exemplum, si suscipiatur agendum
quod foelix, faustum, perpetuumque siet.[2]
Sit Deus autor ad id: Naturáque libera Dux sit.
Quae constat Stoicis esse Pronoea Dei.

When Cadmus decides to found seven-gated Thebes he consults the power of the Apolline oracle. When he gets the reply, he follows the cow (she appears by herself before him) and in the place where she stopped, begins to build. For the little heifer was a sign, by God’s auspices and Nature’s guidance, of especially fertile soil. So if you take on any project MAY IT BE LUCKY, HAPPY, AND LASTING , follow THIS example; let God be your helper, and nature a freely given guide, whom the Stoics believe is Divine Foreknowledge (Pronoia).

Notes:

1.  This motto is paired with the same pictura as ‘Qui se non novit bellua est non homo’ ([FANa092]).

2.  The formula used by the Roman Senate in the preambles of laws.

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