The Semiotics of Fortune Telling

Habet Africanus miliens, tamen captat. Fortuna multis dat nimis, satis nulli. He fawns for more, though he is thousands touch: Fortune gives none enough, but some too much. Ricco è Africano, e ruba. La Fortuna Dà troppo a molti, ed a nessuno assai.

Martial, Epigrams, Book 12, X
English translation by William Hay
Italian translation by Giuseppe Lipparini

Paul Klee, Abenteuer eines Fräuleins (A Young Lady’s Adventure), 1922. Credit: Tate.