This poem and the two that follow (d1_AytR_020 and d1_AytR_021) comprise a small epigram cycle, where Ayton attacks this text for its praise of Joan of Arc (1412-1431) and her role in defeating the English at the siege of Orléans (1429). The title would suggest that this poem is by a French Latinist; equally, Ayton may have penned it himself for rhetorical purposes. Metre: elegiac couplets.
Cuiusdam Galli in laudem Puellae Aurelianae (n.d.)
[p72]
Cuiusdam Galli in laudem Puellae Aurelianae
Rustica sum, sed plena Deo, sed pectore forti,
sed micat eximio regius ore decor.
Castra virum sed casta sequor, duce Virgine fatum
veritur, et cantant virginis arma viri.
Redditus hoc sceptris testabere Galle paternis,
tuque nec id pulsus saeve Britanne neges.
[p73]
Quod vici, pereo, flammas cur objicis Angle?
Et nos Herculea scandimus astra via.
[p72]
A poem by a certain Gaul in praise of the girl from Orleans
I am a country girl; but I am filled with God, but I am full of a brave heart, but a royal grace shines from my distinguished face. I attend the camps of men, but do so virtuously; with the virgin leading their fate is decided, and men sing of the arms of a virgin. Gaul, you will testify to this upon your return to your ancestral kingdoms; and fierce Briton, evicted from these kingdoms, you would not deny it. [p73]Alas, because I have won, I am undone; why do you throw me on the flames, Englishman? And I ascend to the stars by Hercules' path.
