Novus ordo seclorum

He wrote that the phrase signified "the beginning of the New American Era" as of the date of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which was depicted in Roman numerals at the base of the pyramid on the seal.

[3] The fourth eclogue contains the passage (lines 4–10):[4][5] Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas: magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.

Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo, casta fave Lucina; tuus iam regnat Apollo.

Yet do thou at that boy's birth, in whom the iron age shall begin to cease, and the golden to arise over all the world, holy Lucina, be gracious; now thine own Apollo 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).