ON THE HISTORY OF PLANTS

BY CHARLES CLUSIUS.

Past ages have produced various
Writers, nor have they been lacking in our own,
Who, renowned in languages, judgment, and erudition,
Have placed all their zeal into this study
(As the impulse of each man’s mind carried him
And an ardent love for arduous labor)
So that the "Sparta" A classical Greek proverb: "You have stepped into Sparta, now adorn her," meaning to do one's duty in the lot one has been given. which each had taken up
To cultivate for himself, they might render
Perfect and complete in every measure and mode.
While this has been practiced with the highest praise
In nearly every field of learning:
It is then especially visible in that discipline
Which teaches the powers, the form, and even
The very origins and differences
Of herbs (a study both useful and sweet)
And of fruits, shrubs, trees, and of all things
Upon which the life and health of man depend,
Which the earth pours forth from her rich bosom
Watered by fertile drops from heaven.
When this study was overgrown with the deepest barbarism
And with darkness more than Cimmerian The Cimmerians were a mythical people said to live in perpetual mist and darkness; here it refers to the "Dark Ages" of botanical knowledge. (it shames me to confess),
Leonicenus Niccolò Leoniceno (1428–1524), an Italian physician who corrected many errors in Pliny’s natural history. was the first in our fathers' age
To restore it to its proper splendor:
Whom Ruel Jean Ruel (1474–1537), a French physician and botanist who translated Dioscorides. followed, and soon after him
Many others followed, certainly not equal in labor,
But whom it is well known were equals
In genius, celebrity, and indeed in learning,
While they are all deservedly approved,
Each for his own gift: (for since all things are denied
To any one man, each has brought his own)
So that I would say it is not easy to judge
To whom the laurel wreath is rightfully owed:
Yet if no one would ever deny
That he has earned more praise and
Reward, who among the rugged and pathless
Crossroads first dared to set his foot,
And went before his future descendants,
(This, learned Leonicenus, is your praise:)
Who, I pray, Clusius, will dare to place you
Second to any other, if he knows your labors
And has seen your writings—
Seen your writings, which can never be praised enough?
Indeed, let those be worthy to carry back
Extraordinary praise (I will freely admit it);
But there was certainly one who went before
And gave a more explained path,
By writing, by counsel, or by reputation: