De eodem Tetrastichon (c.1592)

See introduction to d1_CraT_005. Metre: elegiac couplets.

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De eodem Tetrastichon

Ut tibi credamus quae scribis visa, fidemque
Romanae o fidicen ut mereare lyrae:
non fuit ille bibax docuit qui carmina Nymphas
rupibus in summis, noster Iacchus erat. 1

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A stanza on the same man

May we believe that you saw those things about which you write, and may you deserve, o strummer of the Roman lyre, our trust. For that person who taught poetry to the nymphs in our high mountains was not a drunken Bacchus, a he was our Jackus!

Notes:

Original

1: 'bibax...Iacchus' is a play on Jack's name and an alternative name for Bacchus, 'Iacchus', who is here metonymy for wine and drink. The adjective 'bibax' ('drinker') alludes to an aspect of Bacchus' character.

Translation

a: See note to Latin text.