On a banner in a painting, there is a Latin phrase "Aeterne pungit cito volat et occidit". What's the English translation?
Question #16339. Asked by Magnus.
Last updated Jun 05 2021.
Calpurnia
Answer has 4 votes
Currently Best Answer
Calpurnia 23 year member
75 replies
Answer has 4 votes.
Currently voted the best answer.
I've had to resort to my Latin dictionary and the following site - italatin.com/multilingual.html (website no longer exists) - which offers online translation of Latin phrases as well as other languages.
The banner referred to appears in the painting, 'The Knight's Dream' by Antonio de Pereda (17th century Spanish artist), which is apparently all about symbols of vanity. http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/p/pereda/allegor.html
On this site the picture can be enlarged and it can then be seen that there is a bow and arrow in the middle of the banner. Given this extra clue, my stab at a translation is something like:
"Eternally it stings, swiftly it flies and it kills."
Response last updated by gtho4 on Jun 05 2021.
May 27 2003, 6:57 AM
Blackryder
Answer has 2 votes
Blackryder
Answer has 2 votes.
Everlasting it stings, quickly it flies and it falls down. It's a rough translation and may not be entirely accurate.