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Oportunitas Amoris [21]


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Oportunitas Amoris.translation
XXI.
Hieron.
ALiquid operis facito vt te inueniat diabolus
occupatum; non enim facile capitur à diabo-
lo qui bono vacat exercitio.translation

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. translation

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. translation

Ouid.
Quæritur, Ægistus, qua re sit factus adulter?
In promptu causa est; desidiosus erat. translation

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. translation



In otio negotiatur. translation

Le coeur est bien tost captif
Quand Amour le trouue oisif.

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.

Pues que tiniendo enemigos,
Ie atreues alma à dormir:
Gana tienes de morir.

Soo treft der liefden dertel wicht/
Een ledich herte met sijn schicht.

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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.

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Literature


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    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

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