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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [I5r p137]

Interdum requiescendum.

Sometimes all must rest.

Ad Petrum Ligorium.[1]

Two women in Roman women's dress with helmets and shields. They hold long poles and stand in front of a field of corn.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Est cunctis requies tribuenda, nec omnibus labores
Horis sunt repetendi, animus simul ocio levandus.
Sic pingues oleae sua pignora non ferunt quotannis,
Alternis sed, & arva novalia per vices quiescunt.
Nil durare potest sine commoditatibus remissis.
Arcum si nimium, subitoque velis, diuque tensum,
Frangetur, feret haud alias volucres, dein sagittas.
Laxes nec nimium tamen, ocia plurimum nocere
Quippe solent, faciuntque habiles minus usibus severis.
Ergo est optima temperies, mediumque utrinque ductum.

All must be granted rest, nor should they labour hour after hour forever: the soul must relax. So oily olive-trees do not bring forth their offspring every year, but in every other; and fallow fields rest each in turn. Nothing can last not allowed its ease. If you want your bow tensed too suddenly and long, it breaks: later it will bear no more arrows. Even so, let not it grow too slack, for swift things most often cause harm, and make us less fit to do sterner duty. So a temperate mean drawn from both extremes is best.

Notes:

1.  Pirro Ligorio: architect and antiquarian (d. 1583); known for designing gardens and a map of ancient Rome.

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