The Book of Playing Cards

Hardly anything remains; whether because Mother Nature, formerly potent
in creating offspring in the time of our ancestors, is in our time
exhausted, and rendered sterile by her long-lasting labor;
Indeed, the new centuries yield to those that have passed away as much
as the Aventine Hill One of the seven hills of Rome, here used to represent something lesser. yields to Pindus A mountain in Greece sacred to the Muses., or the Palatine to Olympus;
No one will deny this, unless they were born with the gods against them,
and with an unlucky spirit, and despoiled of a noble mind.
Indeed, Sestus Likely referring to the Roman poet Sextus Propertius. predicted these lots of things, these times in our world
long ago, when he sang of the forests; he predicted there would be times,
times in which the world, turned upside down The Latin "transversus mundus" suggests a world out of its proper order. from its beautiful order,
will put on morals shaken from the hinge of virtues,
and will cultivate uncertainty, and will approve things hateful to what is right.
Certainly, there were once great Kings and great Monarchs,
Towns, kingdoms, and Leaders, who, through a love of virtue and art,
and being enriched by the illustrious gifts of a clear intellect,
whose one salvation and whose one and primary pleasure
was to follow the monuments of their ancestors, and through per The original contains a scribal abbreviation: a "p" with a horizontal bar through the descender, signifying "per". all
the immense borders of the world to become famous for their brave
deeds, and to send their achievements down to their descendants,
never to perish; they cherished the sacred Muses original: "Camœnas",
and joined their prayers to grand-sounding Minerva The goddess of wisdom and the arts.,
giving golden rewards to the divine Muses.
All of Greece once (if we believe the writings) echoed
through every grove and soil, through temples and towns, with pure
songs, and hallowed the honor of the poets original: "vatum".
Maecenas Caius Maecenas, the famous Roman patron of Virgil and Horace., born of Etruscan original: "Thuscis" ancestors and Kings,
certainly not unworthy of being placed in the rank of famous poets,
pursued these arts with wondrous love.
You also, Germanicus original: "Drusiade," meaning the son of Drusus., did not turn away
from the Muses; you yourself gave us no common work.
Alexander the Great, to be feared by the Moor and the Indian,
raising the Macedonian original: "Aemathiam" nation above the heavens by his deeds,