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V.8. Tempus

 

Parallels: For parallel versions, see Perry 530 .

 

Cursu uolucri, pendens in nouacula,

caluus, comosa fronte, nudo corpore,

quem si occuparis, teneas, elapsum semel

non ipse possit Iuppiter reprehendere,

occasionem rerum significat breuem.

Effectus impediret ne segnis mora,

finxere antiqui talem effigiem Temporis.

 

Here is the poem in a more prose-like word order for easy reading:

 

Not yet available.

 

Here is the poem with meter marks:

 

Not yet available.

 

Translation:

 

Opportunity (trans. C. Smart)

Bald, naked, of a human shape,

With fleet wings ready to escape,

Upon a razor's edge his toes,

And lock that on his forehead grows-

Him hold, when seized, for goodness' sake

For Jove himself cannot retake

The fugitive when once he's gone.

The picture that we here have drawn

Is Opportunity so brief.-

The ancients, in a bas-relief,

Thus made an effigy of Time,

That every one might use their prime;

Nor e'er impede, by dull delay,

Th' effectual business of to-day.

 

Illustration:

 

Not yet available.