Wednesday, January 25, 2012

In Tempore Munit

Here is today's emblem and distich by Joachim Camerarius, 3:7. Today's emblem is about the aetites, the 'eagle stone,' a legendary stone that could supposedly be found in the nests of eagles and which possesed magical and medicinal powers. In his essay accompanying the emblem, Camerarius invokes the account of Horapollo, who says that a hieroglyph of "an eagle conveying a stone" is a symbol of a man who dwells safely in a city. The eagle supposedly gathered up the stone and deposited it in his nest in order to keep the nest steady. Camerarius urges us to do the same thing with the nest of our minds, keeping it steady with "weighty" (serious) learning as a kind of rock to steady ourselves.

In Tempore Munit
Non bene firmum animum abripient vanissima rerum;
Quare hunc doctrina constabilito gravi.



Here is the vocabulary:

in - in, into
tempus - time
munio - strengthen, protect
non - not, no
bene - well
firmus - steady, staunch, true
animus - mind, soul
abripio - snatch away, grab
vanus - empty, pointless
res - thing
quare - therefore, for which reason
hic - this, this one
doctrina - teaching, instruction
constabilo - establish, confirm
gravis - heavy, serious, important