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The phraseNovus ordo seclorum (English:/ˈnoʊvəsˈɔːrdoʊsɛˈklɔːrəm/,Latin:[ˈnɔwʊsˈoːrdoːseːˈkloːrũː]; "New order of the ages") is one of twoLatinmottos on the reverse side of theGreat Seal of the United States. The other motto isAnnuit cœptis. The mottos were coined byCharles Thomson, the secretary of theCongress of the Confederation.[1][2]
Thomson derived the phraseNovus ordo seclorum from a poem by theRoman poetVirgil. He wrote that the phrase signified "the beginning of the New American Era" as of the date of theDeclaration of Independence in 1776, which was depicted inRoman numerals at the base of the pyramid on the seal.[1][2]
The phrase derives from thefourth poem of theEclogues by the Latin poetVirgil.[3] The fourtheclogue contains the passage (lines 4–10):[4][5]
Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas:
magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
Iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna:
iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.
Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum
desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo,
casta fave Lucina; tuus iam regnat Apollo.
Now is come the last age of theCumaean prophecy:
the greatcycle of ages is born anew.
Now returns theMaid, returns the reign ofSaturn:
now from high heaven a new generation comes down.
Yet do thou at that boy's birth, in whom theiron age shall begin to cease,
andthe golden to arise over all the world,
holyLucina, be gracious; now thine ownApollo reigns.
The motto is specifically a rephrasing of the second line: "Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo" (The great cycle of ages is born anew).[3]
The formssaecla,saeclorum etc. were normal alternatives to the more commonsaecula etc. throughout the history of Latin poetry and prose. The formsaeculorum is impossible inhexameter verse: theae ando are long, theu shortby position.
The wordseclorum does not mean "secular", but is thegenitive (possessive) plural form of the wordsaeculum, meaning (in this context) generation, century, or age.Saeculum did come to mean "age, world" in late, Christian Latin, and "secular" is derived from it, throughsecularis. However, the adjective "secularis," meaning "worldly," is not equivalent to the genitive plural "seclorum," meaning "of the ages."[6]
The mottoNovus ordo seclorum was translated and added to the seal byCharles Thomson, a Latin expert who was involved in the design of the Great Seal, as "A new order of the ages." Thomson said it was to signify "the beginning of the new American Era" as of the date of theDeclaration of Independence in 1776, which was depicted inRoman numerals at the base of the pyramid on the seal.[1][2]
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