Flying eagle and tree.

Text: DVRIS VT ILEX
Hard as an oak

Extract from Ode. 4.4.53-60
Gens, quae cremato fortis ab Ilio
Iactata Tuscis aequoribus sacra
Natosque maturosque patres
Pertulit Ausonias ad urbes,
duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus
nigrae feraci frondis in Algido,
per damna, per caedes ab ipso
ducit opes animumque ferro.

That race which, strong from Ilion's fires,
Its gods, on Tuscan waters tost,
Its sons, its venerable sires,
Bore to Ausonia's citied coast;
That race, like oak by axes shorn
On Algidus with dark leaves rife,
Laughs carnage, havoc, all to scorn,
And draws new spirit from the knife.

The quotation on the stamp does not make any grammatical sense, as the words are separated from their proper context.
"Duris", hard, is grammatically connected to "bipennibus", ax.

Michel 557, Sassone aerea 97, AFA 489.

Date of issue: 1936
Face value: 60 c.


Date created: 22/03/00 11:41:49