Four Books on Human Proportion (1532) - Page 20

Apelles left behind few examples of his work, as is believable,

Which any harmful hour was able to destroy. original: quælibet hora nocens. The poet reflects on a common humanist trope: while the masterpieces of ancient Greece perished through fire, war, or decay, the invention of printing allows modern works to be preserved indefinitely.

We produce so many thousands in a short time, as no

Single hand could write throughout three Olympiads original: Olympiades. A period of four years. The poet calculates that the printing press produces more in moments than a scribe could copy by hand in twelve years..

This circumstance makes me certain in my hope that Dürer is able

To live through another thousand years;

Although monuments were already prepared for him by his own art,

Which, even without these books, were worthy enough not to perish.

For who was more skilled than he in the art of painting?

Who was more ready in both intellect and hand?

He was superior to everyone; he surpassed all others,

Both those who were his contemporaries and those who came before.

Just as the Funeral Poems original: Epicedia. From the Greek epikedeion, a song or poem mourning the dead. Hessus published a famous collection of these dirges following Dürer's death in 1528. I have written for him show,

Composed with true praises more fitting for such a great man.