Quæ si cuncta uelim tenui percurrere uersu,
Ante alium reuehat Memnonis orta diem.
Postremus labor est, concretos discere succos,
Quos fert innumeris Teutons terra locis.
Quo sal, quo nitrum, quo pacto fiat alumen,
Vsibus artificis cum parat ilia manus:
Nec non chalcantum, sulfur, fluidumque bitumen,
Massaque quo uitri lenta dolanda modo.
Suscipit haec hominum mirandos cura labores,
Pauperiem usque adeo ferre famemque graue est,
Tantus amor uictum paruis extundere natis,
Et patriæ ciuem non dare uelle malum.
Nec manet in terræ fossoris mesta latebris
Mens, sed fert domino uota precesque Deo.
Munificæ expectat, spe plenus, munera dextræ,
Extollens animum lætus ad astra suum.
Diuitias christvs dat noticciamque fruendi,
Cui memori grates pectore semper agit.
Hoc quoque laudati quondam fecere Philippi,
Qui uirtutis habent cum pietate decus.
Huc oculos, huc flecte animum, suauissime Lector,
Auctoremque pia noscito mente Deum.
agricolae hinc optans operoso fausta labori,
Laudibus eximij candidus esto uiri.
Ille suum extollit patriæ cum nomine nomen,
Et uir in ore frequens posteritatis erit.
Cuncta cadunt letho, studij monumenta uigebunt,
Purpurei donec lumina solis erunt.
- Misenae m. d. li.
- eludo illustri.
- Misenae m. d. li.
For completeness" sake we reproduce in the original Latin the laudation of Agricola by his friend, Georgius Fabricius, a leading scholar of his time. It has but little intrinsic value for it is not poetry of a very high order, and to make it acceptable English would require certain improvements, for which only poets have license. A “free” translation of the last few lines indicates its complimentary character :
“He doth raise his country's fame with his own
And in the mouths of nations yet unborn
His praises shall be sung ; Death comes to all
But great achievements raise a monument
Which shall endure until the sun grows cold.”
