Johannes Secundus
Dutch poet
Johannes Secundus (also Janus Secundus; 15 November 1510 – 25 September 1536) was a Neo-Latin poet of Dutch nationality.
Quotes
editElegies
edit- (Nil tibi sit) cantare tui victricia Caesaris arma.
- You are not to sing of the victorious arms of your caesar.
- Elegies, I, 2, 91 — Tr. David Price (1996), p. 41
Basia (Kisses)
edit- Mensura rebus est sua dulcibus.
Ut quodque mentes suavius afficit,
fastidium sic triste secum
limite proximiore ducit.- The wary Lover learns by measure
To circumscribe his greatest joy;
Lest, what well-husbanded yeilds pleasure,
Might by the Repetition cloy. - Basium 9 [8], st. 2 — Tr. T. Stanley (1652), p. 61
- The wary Lover learns by measure
Occasional Poems
edit- Quae mala sint hominum rebus tria maxima scire
Quaeris? Habe paucis: femina, flamma, fretum.- Would'st know men's greatest dangers? They are three:
Woman the first, then fire, and then sea. - Tria Mala ("The Three Daughters) — Tr. F. A. Wright (1930), p. 193
- Would'st know men's greatest dangers? They are three:
- Mitte peregrinis opplere coloribus ora.
Nudus Amor nudae munera frontis amat.- Seek not in borrowed hues your cheeks to dress,
Naked is Love, and loveth nakedness. - In Lycoridem ("To a Lady who used Cosmetics") — Tr. F. A. Wright (1930), p. 193
- Seek not in borrowed hues your cheeks to dress,
External links
edit- Thomas Stanley, Poems (London: Humphrey Moseley, 1652)
- Kisses, being a poetical translation of the Basia, 2nd ed. (London: T. Davies, 1778)
- F. A. Wright, The Love Poems of Joannes Secundus (London: George Routledge & Sons Ltd., 1930)
- David Price, Janus Secundus (Tempe, AZ: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1996)