αἰώνιον καὶ πρόσκαιρον → eternal and temporal

[loxymoxy]

I have this picture that I want to get a tattoo of but obviously I'd like to know what it says first. If anyone could help me out I'd very much appreciate it.

[billberg23]

This is ancient Greek, so should probably be transferred to the Ancient Greek→English board.
The upper-case motto surrounding the serpent-and-rose motif is ΑΙΩΝΙΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΟΣΚΑΙΡΟΝ, "ETERNAL AND TEMPORAL (temporary)."  The inscription below says "The soul is like a snake, eternal, but the rose is temporary, and they are both in one and the same mortal."  The last five words are uncertain;  either I'm not deciphering correctly, or it's just very bad Greek.

[loxymoxy]

Ah, sorry. Didn't realize it was ancient greek though as I found out looking up the source of this woodcut, it's from a book called Alciato's Emblems from the 16th century.
My bad -__-; but thank you for the translation! Very helpful.