Cleomedis Meteora Graece et Latine (Balfour 1605)

How great a glory it was to be carried above the arduous
Halls of heaven, and by genius to know the laws of the world,
To the nascent boy for whom golden success smiled, a witness:
It is no less to hold a torch for those hastening there,
Whence hang the fates of men, and the rewards of virtues:
To know the turns of things, and as if from the summit of the sky
To know both the earth, and the unstable fortunes of the earth.
These are yours, BALFOUR, for no one more learned than you
Counts the standard-bearer, nor the stars which the golden axis carries,
Radiating with shining light in the sky.
These are yours, BALFOUR, for no one stronger than you
Bears the fortunes of men, nor is anyone nearer to the stars,
And he watches the world, and the fates born from the world.
If you doubt, look at the monuments, the honors of Cleomedes
Indicted in Latin, the eloquence of Latium clothes them.
If you doubt, look at the monuments: the errors of Cleomedes were departing,
Indicted, and dogmas believed in vain,
If BALFOUR had not put these shadows to flight with light.
Therefore come, take your path secure, and look at the light,
Which, like a high lighthouse, the commentaries reveal to you
Written by a hand, which neither the sky nor the stars deceive.