Complete Works of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, Volume 3

That another, namely Carlo Aretino, was requested for that task by the Florentine Republic through the letters of the same Pope, I have been made certain by the letters themselves, which have very recently come into my hands from the public archives of the Florentines. Good God! I exclaim again, considering Nicholas V performing so many and such great tasks to obtain a translation of the Homeric Poems, and not considering them alien to the Majesty of the Pontifical Divinity (and this while the Turkish sword, after the capture of Constantinople, threatened Italy, which was shaken everywhere by internal movements of wars)—what do we suppose he would have done if that fate had fallen to him which the times of BENEDICT XIV now enjoy through the many volumes of the Works of Saint Ephrem already published in Rome, with all foreign nations congratulating the Vatican Library—which that same Nicholas had most studiously caused to be searched for manuscript Codices throughout all Europe in order to expand it—on the long-desired Edition?

You will grant pardon, I hope, MOST BLESSED FATHER, if in setting forth these things to YOUR HOLINESS I have perhaps burned more ardently than the manner usually observed in Dedicatory Epistles would allow. For a certain tide of pleasure carried me away while comparing the pagan mythologist of Greece, summoned by Nicholas V with the most generous stipends offered to the translator, with the wisest teacher, or rather Prophet, of the Oriental Church, Saint Ephrem, brought to light in this age.