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Oportunitas Amoris [21]
Oportunitas Amoris.
XXI.
Hieron.
ALiquid operis facito vt te inueniat diabolus
occupatum; non enim facile capitur à diabo-
lo qui bono vacat exercitio.
ALiquid operis facito vt te inueniat diabolus
occupatum; non enim facile capitur à diabo-
lo qui bono vacat exercitio.
Cat.
Fronde super viridi, radijs tepefactus eois
Otia dum serpens desidiosus agit;
Ex alto tenui se librat aranea filo,
Et colubrum paruâ cuspide fundit humi.
Otia virus habent, & habet sors læta venenum;
Delitijs, vitijs mentis aperta via est.
Cum vacat & molli colit otia pectus in vmbrâ,
Tum nostra occultè corda sagittat Amor.
Fronde super viridi, radijs tepefactus eois
Otia dum serpens desidiosus agit;
Ex alto tenui se librat aranea filo,
Et colubrum paruâ cuspide fundit humi.
Otia virus habent, & habet sors læta venenum;
Delitijs, vitijs mentis aperta via est.
Cum vacat & molli colit otia pectus in vmbrâ,
Tum nostra occultè corda sagittat Amor.
Laert.
Diogenes dixit Amorem otiosorum esse nego-
tium, quod hic affectus potissimum occupet otio
deditos; ita fit vt dum otio vacant in rem nego-
tiosissimam incidant.
Diogenes dixit Amorem otiosorum esse nego-
tium, quod hic affectus potissimum occupet otio
deditos; ita fit vt dum otio vacant in rem nego-
tiosissimam incidant.
Bernard.
Otium nugarum mater est, nouerca virtutum;
semper igitur aliquid honestæ rei agamus, ne aut
Deus cum nos inuisit, aut diabolus vbi nos ten-
tat, oscitantes & vacuos nos inueniant.
semper igitur aliquid honestæ rei agamus, ne aut
Deus cum nos inuisit, aut diabolus vbi nos ten-
tat, oscitantes & vacuos nos inueniant.
In otio negotiatur.
Saison de l'Amour.
XXI.
Lors que l'esprit humain se rend à la paresse,
Cet Amour sensuel, bande, tire, & adresse,
Trouuant le sein ouuert, & le cœur desarmé.
Ainsy celuy qui veut garder sa citadelle,
Et laisse neantmoins dormir la sentinelle,
Serat de cet Amour bien tost prins & charmé.
XXI.
Lors que l'esprit humain se rend à la paresse,
Cet Amour sensuel, bande, tire, & adresse,
Trouuant le sein ouuert, & le cœur desarmé.
Ainsy celuy qui veut garder sa citadelle,
Et laisse neantmoins dormir la sentinelle,
Serat de cet Amour bien tost prins & charmé.
Translations
|
Opportunity for love. |
|
Do some kind of work so that the Devil finds you occupied. Who makes time for good exercise is not easily caught by the Devil. |
|
While the serpent in the green foliage, warmed by the morning rays lies idle, High up the spider poises itself on its slender thread And with its small shield smites the snake to the ground. Leisure contains sickness, good fortune has its poison. For sensuality, for vice the road to the mind lies open. The love stealthily shoots its arrows into our hearts. |
|
Diogenes said that love is the affair of people of leisure, because this passion likes most to occupy those dedicated to idleness.
So it happens that while they have time for leisure they find themselves thrown into a most demanding affair. |
|
So the question is why Aegisthus became an adulterer? The answer is quite obvious: he was an idler. |
|
Idleness is the mother of silly nonsense, the stepmother of virtues. Let us therefore always be occupied with something honourable, lest when God casts his eyes on us, or the Devil tempts us, they find us idling and passive. |
|
In leisure there is business. |
Literature
Sources and parallels
-
Same copperplate, slightly altered, in: Ledigheid voed liefde [50] (in: Willem den Elger, Zinne-beelden der liefde (1703))
[Compare
![[compare]](/static/images/compare2.gif "Compare")
]
-
Spin, sleeping snake, in:Affluit incautis. [36] (in: Jacob Cats, Proteus (1618))
[Compare]
-
Porteman 1975, p. 211. Sleeping snake, spider, in: Affluit incautis. [37] (in: Jacob Cats, Sinne- en minnebeelden (1627))
[Compare]
References, across this site, to this page:
- Affluit incautis. [36] (in: Jacob Cats, Proteus (1618))
- Affluit incautis. [37] (in: Jacob Cats, Sinne- en minnebeelden (1627))
- Ledigheid voed liefde [50] (in: Willem den Elger, Zinne-beelden der liefde (1703))
Iconclass
A cupid is taking aim at a young woman who sleeps against a tree; behind the tree a spider is lowering himself towards a sleeping snake- sun represented as face, wheel, etc.
[24A6]
- snakes (+ sleeping animal(s))
[25F42(+46)]
- spiders (+ animals nesting; making nests, lodges, webs, etc.)
[25F713(+4712)]
- trees
[25G3]
- sleeping on the ground - BB - out of doors
[31BB13]
- adolescent, young woman, maiden
[31D13]
- archer's weapons: bow
[45C15(BOW)]
- quiver
[45C23]
- Sluggishness, Inertia; 'Dapocaggine', 'Pigritia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept)
[54AA11(+4)]
- proverbs, sayings, etc. (with TEXT)
[86(OPORTUNITAS AMORIS)]
- Cupid shooting a dart
[92D1521]
- attributes of Cupid (with NAME)
[92D18(BOW)]
- attributes of Cupid (with NAME)
[92D18(QUIVER)]