Alciato CLVIII: Terminus

Alciato CLVIII: Terminus



Quadratum infoditur firmissima tessera saxum,
Stat cirrata super pectore imago tenus,
Et sese nulli profitetur cedere: talis
Terminus est, homines qui scopus unus agit.
Est immota dies, praefixaque tempora fatis,
Deque ferunt primis ultima iudicium.

This image comes from a 1621 edition of the emblems (click on the image for a larger view), and you can also read an English translation online. For help with the Latin, here is the poem presented in an easier-to-read format, with the word order rearranged (the word order in poetry often serves the sound more than the sense), and with the phrase segments clearly marked:

Quadratum saxum,
firmissima tessera,
infoditur;
imago
stat super,
cirrata tenus pectore,
et profitetur
sese
nulli cedere:
talis
Terminus est,
unus scopus
qui
agit homines.
Dies
immota est,
et tempora
praefixa fatis,
et ultima
de primis
ferunt iudicium.

To learn more about the Roman god Terminus, see this article. Below you can see some more images from other editions of Alciato's Emblemata:

Emblematum libellus (1546), Venice

Los Emblemas (1549), Lyon


Declaracion magistral sobre las Emblemas de Andres Alciato (1615), Najera