This woman: a great sign appeared in Heaven (Apocalypse 12:1) * The Holy Mother of God clothed with the sun (Apocalypse 12:1) * And with unharmed foot crushing the black horns of the moon (Apocalypse 12:1) and the serpent (Genesis 3:15) * Most beautifully crowned with twice-six (Apocalypse 12:1) * A garden [Tempe[15]] enclosed, sealed with a fountain [spring of water] (Song of Songs 4:12) * Like a cedar in Lebanon, and a cypress tree on Mount Zion; (Ecclesiasticus 24:17) * Mother of pure love and of holy hope: Beloved daughter of the Eternal Father, Mother of the Word, Spouse of the Holy Spirit: (Ecclesiasticus 24:24) * Surrounded with a diversity of grace and glory (Psalms 44:10).

Figure 14.—The bottom right corner of the dial plate, showing two noblemen contemplating an orb, with the inscription "Diligit Avdaces Trepidos Fortvna Repellet." (Fortune favors the daring and rejects the timid.) Figure 15.—The bottom left corner of the dial plate, showing the engraving of Atlas, with the inscription "Assidvo proni donant di cvncta labori." (The favorable gods willingly grant all things to the assiduous laborer.)

At the lower left corner below the figure of Atlas upholding the world is the phrase, Assidvo proni donant di cvncta labori. (The favorable gods willingly grant all things to the assiduous laborer.) The same phrase is quoted by Father Borghesi in the text of his second volume. The last inscription appears at the lower right corner under the figures of the two noblemen, Diligit avdaces trepidos fortvna repellet. (Fortune favors the daring and rejects the timid.) The last two inscriptions are in dactylic hexameter. They appear to be original compositions inasmuch as no classical prototypes have been identified.

CENTER DIAL INSCRIPTIONS

[Figure 16.]—Detail of frontispiece of the Borghesi clock, showing the apertures for calendar indicators and the details of the engraving.

In addition to the inscriptions previously noted on the outer dial plate, there are three major inscriptions in the central dial. The outermost states Circulus horarius Soli, Lunae, Fixis, Nodis, Aestuique marino communis (the hour circle, common to the sun, the moon, the fixed stars, the nodes and to the sea tide). This inscription is divided into four parts by the insertion of four divisions for the day into canonical hours: [Horae] Nocturnae (night hours); Matutinae (morning hours); Diurnae (daytime hours) and Vespertinae (evening hours).

The next section of the central dial is inscribed Intumescite—Detumescite (rise and fall of the tides) repeated at intervals of approximately every six hours. Within the next section is the following inscription, inscribed continuously around the ring:

Lege fluunt, refluunt, dormitant hac maris undae: Ad Phoebi et Phoebes concordia iussa moventur Aequora; discordi iussu suspensa quiescunt.