EPIGRAM BY HENRICUS PANTALEON ON

HOMER SPEAKING LATIN IN GREEK PHRASES,

to the Reverend and illustrious man, Lord CASPAR,

Abbot of the most celebrated monastery of Saint Blaise.

Greece, cultivator of the Muses and proud in wars,
Bore magnanimous leaders, bright lights.
She brought forth Orators, Physicians, and celebrated Poets,
And as many as Pallas is accustomed to love.
She sent many bright ones in talent: but she sent one Homer,
Believe that he alone can equal a thousand:
All that the illustrious writings of the wise contain:
Thus the monuments of the grand-speaking Bard sing.
He is father, and fountain, and origin to all learned men:
And he gave sacred dogmas to the nations at the same time.
The Colophonian hero teaches one to pray in easy language:
Without whom, you may think what you know is nothing.
Through the Bard, resourceful Nature has spoken,
Which she forbids many to say, or to agitate.
He shows the paths of the heavens, of the sun, and the stars,
He shows very many kingdoms of an unheard-of region.
Here he explains more clearly than others the certain rewards of virtue,
And teaches the great gifts of the Gods.
He reveals what is beautiful, what is base, what is useful,
So that God may send us the greatest gifts.
Hence our Bard alone excelled the rest,
So that you might think his songs fell from heaven.
Whence, if any supreme glory can be given to him
Through any illustrious arts, supreme glory has been given.
Zoilus a Greek grammarian known for his harsh criticism of Homer will not be able to rend it with a clamorous tongue,
And I do not think there is need for a laudatory Cicero.
He is always present, from whom as from a perennial fountain
The mouths of the bards are moistened with Pierian waters:
The same divine Homer is always present:
Let him who likes that Poet know that he has progressed.
Therefore he is now celebrated in the whole world,
Although the heavy earth presses upon his empty body.
This man, Reverend Father, speaking Latin with a Greek mouth,
So that everyone may render word for word,
We offer with a grateful heart: I judge the labor useful to all
Who desire in their mind to touch the sought-after goal.
Now let the docile boys, the youths, and the trembling old age,
Read through the difficult books: Farewell, Abbot.