Festina Lente
Make haste, slowly...
Words to live by.
Festina lente is translated from the Latin as “make haste slowly.”
Festina lente is a well-known motto, but it’s new if you haven’t encountered it. There are many adages passed down over the generations that are meant to warn kids not to rush into things, to “look before you cross the street”. But telling people how to behave often falls on deaf ears. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Giving advice of any kind should come with a warning that there may be the occasional contradiction! Compare “look before you leap” to “hesitate and you’re lost”!
The adage of festina lente is not new.
Many great leaders have stood by this wisdom. They were educated, well-read, and likely heard many fables and folk tales growing up. Most of us have heard Aesop's Fables, a collection of stories credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Even today, the story of the tortoise and the hare touches all of us. Slow and steady wins the race…how many times have you heard it?
Suetonius, the Roman historian, records in De vita Caesarum that one of Augustus Caesar’s favorite sayings was Festina Lente. Augustus (63 BCE - 14 CE) thought that haste and rashness was “unbecoming of a well-trained leader,” and to help encourage this adage, Augustus minted gold coins with images of both a crab and a butterfly, inherent opposites.
In the mid-1590s, William Shakespeare alluded to the saying in his comedy Love’s Labor’s Lost by portraying the crab and butterfly imagery in two characters, whose names were Moth and Armado.
The appeal of the adage Festina Lente did not end with Augustus Caesar; many other individuals encouraged it and handed it down through the centuries. The Venetian Aldus Manutius (1449–1515), a Renaissance printer (Aldine Press), used an image of a dolphin (speed) and anchor (caution) to communicate the idea. We succeed when we hold to principle and focus on the goal.
Cosimo l de’ Medici (1519–1574), Grand Duke of Tuscany, illustrated the phrase with a sail-backed tortoise. Here are three examples of Renaissance references to the adage. Probably every artist had their own way of painting this concept.
At the University of Salamanca, founded in 1218, the motto in both Greek and Latin with the dolphin/anchor image are among the seven university emblems carved into the building facade. Σπεῦδε βραδέως or festina lente is phonetically spelled speûde bradéōs.
Thanks to Aesop’s observations of life in the 6th c. BCE, we have a thread from humanity’s earliest days that ties our lives together. Whether it’s a red, golden, or verbal cord is not important. The understanding is there. For over 2,500 years it has been a way of passing wisdom and experience of life to those relatively new at it. It taught that patience, skill, and clear focus would be a key to personal success and group endeavor.
Within our recent popular culture we often hear another motto, a 21st century coinage that could certainly be the polar opposite of Festina lente: “Move fast and break things.” It seems to be a momentary expression of chutzpah rather than a sincerely helpful life instruction. Those in the book arts must work out what they believe, and what is worth putting into print. “The written word remains.”
Thank you all for reading and enjoying my posts. It’s great to be here with you.
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