Poliphilus' Dream of Love
Notes
These notes are by several authors. J. W. Appell is indicated by [JWA], notes by the translator by [RD], and those added by the Ex-Classics Project transcriber by [TN]
1. A un de ces prix qu'on n'avoue pas a sa menagère: "At a price one does not admit to one's wife." [TN]
2. Vile damnum: "A small loss." [TN]
3. Une chapelle de parfums et de cierges melancholiques: "A chapel of incense and melancholy candles." François Coppée, Prelude, l.18-19. [TN]
4. Poliam frater Franciscus Colonna, &c.: "Brother Francesco Colonna greatly loved Polia. He lived in Venice in [the monastery of] St. John & St. Paul." [TN]
6. Tereus, Tereus, eme ebiasato: "Tereus, Tereus, has forced me""[TN]
7. Babu English: Over-elaborate English, often containing comical malapropisms; used by music-hall comedians etc. as a racist stereotype of Indians. [TN]
8. Se sauve sur les planches: "It saves itself on the boards." [TN]
9. Traduttore, traditore: "Translator, traitor." [TN]
10. Rura, quae Liris quieta/Mordet aqua taciturnus amnis: "An estate which is gnawed by the Liris, that silent river." Horace, Odes. I.30 l.5-6. [TN]
11. Ripas radentia flumina rodunt: "The scraping rivers nibble at their banks." Lucretius, De Rerum Natura,V.256. [TN]
12. Impossibilium cupitor: "One who desires the impossible." [TN]
13. The art-historian Fiorillo, in his essay on the Hypnerotomachia, calls it "den architectouischen Roman."[The architectural romance."] (Kleine Schriften, Gottingen, 1803, vol. i. p. 153.) "C'est a bien parler le roman de l'architecture,"[It is well called the romance of architecture] says Eugène Piot. (Le Cabinet de l'Amateur, 1861-63, p. 362). [JWA]
14. In accordance with the French translators, we call it here—The Dream of Poliphilus. [JWA]
15. Poliphili Hypnerotomachia, ubi humana omnia non nisi somnium esse ostendit, atque obiter plurima scitu sane quam digna commemorate: "Poliphilus' Hypnerotomachia, where he shows that all human things are nothing but a dream, and by the way shows that most of them are as worthy [as a dream]." [TN]
16. Venetiis Mense Decembri. MID. In aedibus Aldi Manutii: "At Venice, December 1499. At the house of Aldus Manutius" [TN]
17. "Le fond du langage est un Italien Lombard. Mais l'auteur y mèle tant de mots écorchez, les uns du Grec, les autres du Latin, qu'il semble proprement, comme dit Antoine Augustin dans son DIALOGUE XI, Des Medailles Et Inscriptions, ne parler aucune langue connue. C'est sans exagération (?) un Italien plus étrange que n'est le Francois de l'écolier Limousin dans Rabelais." [The base of the language is Lombard Italian. But the author has mixed in many tortured words, some derived from Greek, others from Latin, which really resemble, as Antoine Augustin says in his Ninth Dialogue, On Medals and Inscriptions, no known language. Without exaggeration, it is a language stranger than the French of Rabelais' Limousin scholar.] La Monnoye, in the Ménagiana, Paris, 1715, vol. iv. p. 69. [JWA]
18. At a London sale in March 1889 an unmutilated copy of the first edition, bought by Mr. Quaritch at the rather high price of eighty pounds, was still described as being illustrated "with the woodcuts after designs by Carpaccio." [JWA]
19. "Le Maitre aux Dauphins." Le Cabinet de l'Amateur, par Eugène Piot, 1861-63, pp. 352-365.[JWA]
20. "Le Songe de Poliphile,"[The Dream of Poliphilus] by Benjamin Fillon, in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 2nd series, vol. xix. (1879), p. 539, et seq. This article has been re-issued, under the title—"Quelques mots sur le Songe de Poliphile,"["Some words about the Dream of Poliphilus"] Paris, 1879. 34 pp. in 4to.[JWA]
21. Passavant, Le Peintre-Graveur, vol. v. p. 205. [JWA]
22. "The Artist of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, 1499," by Mr. William B. Scott, in the Athenaeum of March 27th, 1880. See also an article, signed "P." in the Athenaeum of April 10th, same year. [JWA]
23. Ilg, Ueber den kunsthistorischen Werth der Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Wien, 1872, p. 94. [JWA]
24. La Hypnerotomachia di Poliphilo, cioè pugna d'amore in sogno. Dov' egli mostra, che tutte le cose humane non sono altro che sono: & doue narra molt' altre cose degne di cognitione. Ristampate di novo, et ricorretto con somma diligentia maggiar commode de i lettori. In Venetia, MDXXXXV: "Poliphilus' Hypnerotomachia, that is The Strife of Love in a Dream. Where he shows that all human things are nothing but a dream, and speaks of many other things worthy of consideration. Reprinted and corrected with great diligence, for the better advantage of the reader. At Venice, 1545." [TN]
25. In Venetia, nell' anno MDXLV. In casa de' figliuoli di Aldo.: "At Venice, 1595. At the house of the sons of Aldo." [TN]
26. Hypnerotomachie, ou Discours du songe de Poliphile, deduisant comme Amour le combat a l'occasion de Polia. Soubz la fiction de quay l'aucteur monstrant que toutes choses terrestres ne sent que vanité, traicte de plusieurs matieres profitables, & dignes de memoire. Nouuellement traduict de langage Italien en Francois. A Paris, Pour Jaques Keruer aux deux Cochetz, Rue S. Jaques. M.D.XLVI: "The Hypnerotomachia, or the Description of Poliphilius' Dream, describing the love of the author for Polia as a struggle. In which story the author shows that all earthly things are only vanity, and treats of many profitable things, worth remembering. Newly translated from Italian into French. At Paris, by Jacques Kerver at the Two Cocks. 1546." [TN]
27. Imprimé povr Jaques Kerver, marchant libraire iuré en l'universite de Paris, par Loys Cyaneus.: "Printed for Jacques Kerver, bookseller to the University of Paris, by Louis Cyaneus." [TN]
28. Un gentilhomme vertueux, et de bon savoir.: "A virtuous and learned gentleman." [TN]
29. Dibdin, Bibliotheca Spenceriana, vol. iv. p. 164. [JWA]
30. Le tableau des Riches Inventions couvertes du voile des feintes Amoureuses, qui sont représentées dans le Songe de Poliphile, desvoilées des ombres du Songe, et subtilement exposées par Beroalde. A Paris. Chez Matthieu Guillemot, au Palais, en la gallerie des prisonniers. . 1600: "The album of rich inventions covered in the silk of the deceits of Love, which are represented in the Dream of Poliphilus, uncovered from the shadows of the dream, and subtly exposed by Beroalde, at Paris, the house of Matthieu Guillemot, at the Palace, in the Prisoners' Gallery." [TN]
31. Je ne dois cependant pas laisser ignorer que Mirabeau, excellent juge en littérature,.en a fait un très court extrait dans ses Contes et Nouvelles, sous le même titre de Songe de Poliphile. "I cannot omit saying that Mirabeau, an excellent judge of literature, has published a very short extract in his Stories and Novels, under the same title of The Dream of Poliphilus," Le Grand, in the preface to his version, vol. I. p. 7. Mirabeau's "Recueil de Contes (et de Nouvelles)" was first published in 1780, 2 parts, in 8vo.[JWA]
32. Le Songe de Poliphile, ou Hypnérotomachie de Frère Francesco Colonna, littéralement traduit pour la première fois, avec une Introduction et des Notes, par Claudius Popelin. Figures sur bois gravées a nouveau par A. Prunaire. Paris, Isidore Liseux: "The Dream of Poliphilus, or Hypnerotomachia by Brother Francisco Colonna, literally translated for the first time, with an introduction and notes, by Claudius Popelin. New woodcuts engraved by A Prunaire. Paris, Isidore Lisiuex."[TN]
33. History of Fiction, 3rd edition, p. 398. [JWA]
34. Charles Nodier has taken the supposed love story of Francesco Colonna as the subject of the last novel which he wrote. This novel appeared in the Bulletin des Amis des Arts of 1843, and was reprinted in the following year, under the title—Franciscus Columna, dernière nouvelle de Charles Nodier, extraite du Bulletin des Amis des Arts, et précédée d'une notice par Jules Janin. "Francesco Columna, the last novel of Charles Nodier, Paris, taken from the Bulletin of the Friends of the Arts, with an introduction by Jules Janin." 1844, in 12mo. [JWA]
35. Poliam Frater Franciscvs Colvmna Peramavit: "Brother Francesco Columna greatly loved Polia" [TN]
36. Vite dei più celebri architetti e scultori Veneziani: "Lives of the most celebrated Venetian architects and sculptors."[TN]
37. Memorie Trevigiane sulle opere di disegno: "Trevisan memorials of works of design."[TN]
38. Memorie dei più insigni pittori, scultori e architetti Domenicani: "Memorials of the most noted Dominican painters, sculptors and architects."[TN]. English translation, by C. P Meehan, Dublin, 1852, vol. i. pp. 282-294.[JWA]
39. Memorie degli architetti antichi e moderni: "Memorials of ancient and Modern Architects." [TN] English translation, by Mrs. E. Cresy, London, 1826, vol. i. p. 201.[JWA]
40. Storia della Poesia, Italiana, ripubblicata da T. J. Mathias, Londra,[History of Italian Poetry, republished by T.J. Mathias] 1803, vol. ii. p. 277.[JWA]
41. "Le songe de Poliphile est une espèce de roman le plus ennuieux, et le plus extravagant, soit pour la conduite, soit pour le style, que l'on puisse imaginer."[The Dream of Poliphilus is the most tedious and the most extravagant romance that could be imagined, whether for the subject matter or the style.] La Monnoye, in the Ménagiana, vol. iv. p. 69.[JWA]
42. This is the abridged version of the poem as printed in the 1890 edition. The original 1499 edition continues:
Hic cum Vertumno pariter Pomona triumphat.
Lampsacio fiunt hic quoque sacra deo.
Hic templum est ingens omni perfectius arte
Sacrorum ritus multiplices veterum.
Mox aliud templum vitiatum dentibus aevi
Cernes, hicque animo plurima grata tuo
Tartareas sedes, epithaphia multa, ratemque,
Qua vehitur Veneris per freta vasta puer.
Exhibitosque illi summos reverenter honores
Omnibus a divis aequora quotquot habent.
Hic hortis, pratisque vide distincta Cythaera,
In cuius medio curva theatra patent.
Hicque Cupidineum poteris spectare triumphum.
Hinc fons, et paphiae forma verenda Deae est.
Quae circa tumulum celebrentur Adonis amati
Annua per Venerem, Naiadas que leges.
Haec rerum series contenta volumine primo
Haec nova divini somnia Poliphili.
Nata ubi sit, qua stirpe, quibusque parentibus orta
Polia, qui sequitur explicat inde liber.
Et quis condiderit Tarvisii moenia primus.
Hinc seriem longi totus amoris habet,
Postremo ornatus liber est appendice longa.
Quam legere ingratum non puto lector erit,
Plurima sunt etiam, piguit, sed cuncta referre.
Acccipe quod cornucopia larga dedit.
Ecce iuvat, prodestque liber, si temnis utrumque.
Non libri culpam crede, sed esse tuam.
"Pomona triumphs here equally with Vertumnus.
Here too are the rites of the Lampsacian God.*
Here is a temple, raised with every perfection of art, and
The many sacred rites of the ancient ones.
Soon in another temple, gnawed by the teeth of Time,
You will discern much that will greatly please your mind:
The seat of the Tartars, many epitaphs, and the boat
In which Venus's boy rides the great streams,
And the honours most reverently paid to him
By as many gods as there are in the sea.
See here Cytherea, divided into gardens and meadows,
In the centre of which a round theatre is seen,
Where you can see the triumph of Cupid,
The fountain and the sacred body of the Paphian goddess.**
You will read how Venus and her Naiads
Annually celebrate around the tomb of beloved Adonis.
This is the sequence of events contained in the first volume,
These are the new dreams of the divine Poliphilus.
In the following book, Polia tells
Of her birthplace, her family and the stock from which she sprung,
And who first founded the walls of Treviso.
This has the whole tale of a long love.
Lastly, the book is adorned with a long appendix
Which I do not think the reader will find unpleasant.
There are many other things, which would be wearisome to describe.
Receive what his great cornucopia has given you.
Behold a useful and profitable book. If you think otherwise,
Do not think it is the fault of the book, but of yourself."
* Priapus.
** Venus
[TN]
43. Phoebus the Sun.[RD]
44. Leucothea the morning.[RD]
45. Pyr & Eo, the horses of the Sun.[RD]
46. Horizon, a circle dividing the half sphere of the firmament from the other half which we do not see. [RD]
47. Hemisphere is half the compass of the visible heaven. [RD]
48. Hyperion the Sun. [RD]
49. Halcyon are certain birds which building near the shore upon the waves, there will be no storm until the young be hatched. [RD]
50. Leander, a young man of Abydos, who in swimming over Hellespont (a narrow sea by Byzantium, which parteth Europe from Asia) to Sestus, was in the sight of his lover Hero of Sestus drowned, which she seeing, threw herself down into the sea and died with him. [RD]
51. Minotaurus, a monster in Crete, born of Pasiphae, which being enclosed in the labyrinth fed on man's flesh, whom Theseus slew and got out of the labyrinth by a clue of thread given by Ariadne King Minos' daughter, after wife to Theseus, who did forsake her, and left her in a disinhabited isle, notwithstanding that she had saved his life. [RD]
52. Moly an herb greatly commended of Homer, and thought to be sovereign against enchantments; of modern authors altogether unknown. [RD]
53. Hypsipile was daughter to Thaos king of Lemnos, who alone when all women of that island had slain their husbands & kinsmen, saved her father; she also showed the Grecians the fountain Langia in the wood of Nemea in Achaia where Hercules slew a lion. [RD]
54. Dipsa a kind of snakes that Lucan mentioneth, whose biting procureth extreme dryness or thirst. [RD]
55. Genista beareth a cod [=seed-pod [TN]] and yellow flower, vines are bound therewith. Elaphium is like to Angelica, but not in smell, the hart thereon rubbeth his head when it is velvet. Aesculus is a tree bearing both greater fruit and broder leaves then the Oak.[RD] Aesculus = Horse Chestnut; Holm = Holly; Sugerchist = Lime; Oppies = Witch Hazel [TN]
56. Olympus a hill in Greece between Macedonia and Thessaly, so high, that of the poets it is sometime taken for heaven. [RD]
57. Caucasus a mighty hill in Asia which parteth India from Scythia. [RD]
58. Cyllenius a hill of Arcadia, where Jupiter begat Mercury upon Maia. [RD]
59. Paros is one of the 35 isles called Cyclades and Sporades, in the sea Aegean which divideth Europe from Asia. [RD]
60. Panglyphic be wholly carved from the head to the foot in all members, Hemiglyphic appear but half. [RD]
61. A furlong is 16 pole every pole being 16 foot.[RD] (= 256 feet. The modern statute furlong is considerably longer, 660 feet. [TN])
62. A column consisteth of his capital, that is the head; astragalus, that is the subject of the capital next the column; hypotrachelie, the shaft of the column; and hypothesis, that is the foot whereon the column standeth, exceeding the bigness of the column. [RD]
63. Perillus: Maker of a hollow brass bull for Phalaris, the tyrant of Akragas; it was used to execute prisoners who were locked inside and then a fire was lit under it and the victim roasted to death. Hiram: Bronze sculptor who made the decorations of the Jewish Temple (1 Kings 7:13–14). [TN]
64: DEIS AMBIGUIS DEDICATUS: "Dedicated to the changeable God" (i.e Proteus) EQUUS INFELICITATIS: "The horse of misfortune."[TN]
65. None live in this world in that pleasure, but they have also their sorrows in time. [RD]
66. Amissio: "Loss." Tempus: "Time." [TN]
67. Gift vainly bestowed, in time wantonly spent, is a great loss, and breedeth repentance. [RD]
68. Horse of Seian: "A possession which invariably brought ill luck with it. Hence the Latin proverb Ille homo habet equum Seianum. Cneius Seius had an Argive horse, of the breed of Diomed, of a bay colour and surpassing beauty, but it was fatal to its possessor. Seius was put to death by Mark Antony. Its next owner, Cornelius Dolabella, who bought it for 100,000 sesterces, was killed in Syria during the civil wars. Caius Cassius, who next took possession of it, perished after the battle of Philippi by the very sword which stabbed Caesar. Anthony had the horse next, and after the battle of Actium slew himself. Like the gold of Tolosa and Hermione's necklace, the Seian or Sejan horse was a fatal possession."
Source: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1894. [TN]
69. Verde-antique: Green serpentine marble
70. Cerebrum est in capite: "The brain is in the head." [TN]
71. Nudus essem, bestianime texisset, Quaere, et invenies. Me sinito: "I would be naked if the beast did not cover me. Seek, and you will find. Allow me. [TN]
72. Quisquis es, quantuncunque libuerit thesauri. Sume admoneo, aufer caput, corpus ne tangito. "Whoever you are, take away as much as you want of the treasure. I strongly warn you, take the head, do not touch the body." [TN]
73. Ex labore Deo naturae sacrifica liberaliter paulatim reduces animum deo subjectum. Firmam custodiam vitae tuae, misericorditer gubernando tenebit, incolumemque servabit: "Sacrifice freely from [the produce of] your labour. Gradually you will make your soul subject to God. He will guide your life firmly, governing you mercifully, and will keep you unharmed." [TN]
74. ΓΕΝΕΑ: (Genea) "Birth." [TN]
75. A knight of fierce countenance: Mars. [RD]
76. A young man of seemly countenance: Mercury. [RD]
77. Amor mi trova di tutto disarmato: "Love finds me completely disarmed" [RD]
78. Caduceus: The wand carried by Mercury as the messenger of the gods; usually represented with two serpents twined round it. [TN]
79. A woman with a helmet on her head: Pallas Athena or Minerva [TN]
80. Thores and Cymbies be the outward parts of a capital or head of a pillar sticking out further than the pillar, writhing and turning in, wrought with leaves, the work is called of carvers & painters drapery and celery. [RD]
81. The Eagle of Jupiter that carried Ganymede. [RD]
82. Remigial bones of the eagle's pinions: The bones next the back, in the wing, which in a hawk excelleth all proportions of other birds. [ED.]
83. Agate is a precious stone wherein are represented the figures of the nine Muses; of Venus and such like beautiful personages. [RD]
84. Diis Veneri et Filio amori, Bacchus, & Ceres de propriis, (S. substantiis) Matri pientissimae: "To the goddess Venus, the most pious mother, and her son, the god of Love, Bacchus and Ceres have given [this] from their own [substance]" [TN]
85. Clymene the mother of Phaeton. [RD]
86. A periment in corrupt English. [RD]
87. Jupiter. [RD]
88. Amalthea: Jupiter's nurse. [RD]
89. Melissa: The daughter of Melissus and Jupiter's nurse. [RD]
90. Anaglypts be cunning carvers and gravers. [RD]
91. ΔΙΟΣ ΑΙΓΙΟΧΙΟΝ: (dios aigiochion): "The God with the Aegis" (i.e Jupiter or Zeus) [TN]
92. Horix: A bird of slow flight and long living, in old monuments by augurs dedicated to Saturn. [RD] The original Italian is sorice, meaning a mouse. The word here is possibly a corruption of saurix which has the meaning given; perhaps influenced by hyrax, a small rabbit-like animal native to the Middle East and Africa. [TN]
93. The Dragon is that Abaddon and Apollyon, the enemy to mankind. [RD]
94. His molorchied and clubbed butt: The knobby club he was given by Molorchus. [TN]
95. The dark places is ignorance, and the wisdom of this world which is nothing else but mere folly. [RD]
96. Cosby for killing the L. Browgh. [RD] Arnold Cosby murdered Lord Brough or Burke and was hanged in 1592. See the contemporary account at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A19385.0001.001 (This seems to be irrelevant. There is nothing like it in the original Italian) [TN]
98. Canistius or Philonides: Two blockish lazy lubbers, one of Melite, another of Athens, that thought it a great labour to eat their own meat. [RD]
99. Capillata ministra.[ED] = "offered hair." The original Italian of the passage reads Fortuna, che alcuna fiata mi fia munifica & capillosa ministra delle cose prospere & fecunde. "Fortune, who had often offered me her hair as the generous dispenser of prosperity and good luck." (Translation by Joscelyn Godwin) [TN]
100. Patientia est ornamentum, custodia et protectio vitae: "Patience is the ornament, guardian and protector of life." [TN]
101. Semper festina tarde: "Always make haste slowly." [TN]
102. ΡΑΝΤΟΝ ΤΟ ΚΑΔΙ: (panton to kadi): "A water vessel for all." [TN]
103. These nymphs were his five senses. [RD]
104. ΑΣΑΜΙΝΘΟΣ (asaminthos): "Bath." [TN]
105. Tore moderator: The original Italian is Uno toro cum moderata tuberatione, "A gently swelling torus" [TN]
106. ΓΕΛΟΙΑΣΤΟΣ (geloiastos): "Trickster." [TN]
107. Unlawful concupiscence blindeth a man, and driveth his senses from him. [RD]
108. The Seven Planets: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. [TN]
109. Topiary, the feat of making images or arbours in trees. [RD]
110. "Eusebes is the stone, it is said, of which the seat was made in the Temple of Hercules at Tyrus, from which only the pious could raise themselves without difficulty" -- Pliny, The Natural History, c. 58. [TN]
111. Perimula: An old name for the city now called Malacca, in Malaysia. [TN]
112. Plaustraries: Which did draw in the cupboard. [RD]
113. Islands Orchades: The Orkneys. Though these are not famous for coral! [TN]
114. Biformed Scillules: Doubletailed Scyllas. (Like the Starbucks logo)[TN]
115. Wetting our hands and feet: So in the Lang edition. The Italian just has "wetting the hands". [TN]
116. Against the hair: A mistranslation of the original Italian versipelle, from Latin versipellis, "skin- or shape-changing." [TN]
117. Ο ΤΗΣ ΦΥΣΕΩΣ ΟΛΒΟΣ (o tes physeos olbos): "The happiness of nature." [TN]
118. Ars toparia is the way of cutting of trees in gardens or other places to proportions or shapes. [RD] Box here is not a container but the small-leaved bush Buxus sempervirens. [TN]
119. ΔΟXΑ ΚΟΖΜΙΚΗΩΣ ΠΟΜΦΟΛΥΣ (doxa kosmikeos pompholys): "The opinion of the world is a bubble." [TN]
120. ΘΕΣΠΙΟΝ (thespion): "Ineffable." [TN]
121. Medium tenuere beati: "Blessed [are they] who keep to the mean." [TN]
122. ΘΕΟNΛΥΚΟΣ ΔΥΣ ΑΛΓΗΤΟΣ (theonlykos dys algetos): "The wolf of the Gods is grievous."[TN]
123. ΔΥΣ ΑΛΩΤΟΣ: (dys alotos): "Difficult to grasp." [TN]
124. Divinae infinitaeque trinitati unius essentiae: "To the divine and infinite trinity of one essence." [TN]
125. ΑΔΙΗΓΗΤΟΣ (adiegetos) "Indescribable"; ΑΔΙΑΧΩΡΙΣΤΟΣ (adiachoristos) "Inseparable"; ΑΔΙΕΡΕΥΝΗΣ (adiereynes) "Inscrutable." [TN]
126. The crown of thorns upon Christ's head. [RD]
127. Gloria dei/ΘΕΟΔΟΞΙΑ (theodoxia): "The glory of God;" Gloria mundi/ΚΟΣΜΟΔΟΞΙΑ (cosmodoxia):"The glory of the world;" Mater amori/ΕΡΩΤΡΟΦΟΣ (erotrophos): "Mother of love." [TN]
128. Pilurania: "The Gate of the Heavens." [TN]
129. Mensunlone: A nonce-word, occurring only in the Lang edition. The original Italian has Mensalone, equally unidentifiable. The Judgement of Paris, referred to here, by tradition occurred on Mount Ida, in the ancient Troad area of Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Godwin has Mesaulon, the Greek word for a small courtyard. [TN]
130. Trees in the Lang edition, but is a misprint. The original Italian has ciglie, meaning "eyebrows." [TN]
131. In the original Italian there is a paragraph here which is missing from the Lang Edition. It goes roughly as follows:
"Reason lets us know that nothing is difficult to the gods above us, they are able to effect anything at will, in any place, and to any created thing. This is why they are called omnipotent. You may perhaps be astonished by the miraculous and most stupendous divine works I portray here. Art imitates natural things, as far as it can; but divine things cannot be copied by any created intellect, which cannot make or simulate them without their [the gods'] help. Therefore, let no-one be doubtful, but keep his soul calm and accept that such things are possible for them, as I saw for myself." [TN]
132. Table diamond: A diamond cut with a large flat upper surface surrounded by small facets. [TN]
133. Nemo: "No-one".[TN]
134. Uni gratum mare. Alterum gratunt mari: "One loves the sea. The sea loves the other." [TN]
135. Fine hair colour: So in the Lang edition. The original Italian has praenitento luteo, quale colore interno del flore del Apio Renino, "A more attractive yellow, than the inside of the celery flower." [TN]
136. ΣΥΜΟΙ ΓΛΥΚΥΣ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΡΙΚΡΟΣ (symoi glykys te kai pikros): "You are sweet and bitter to me." So in the Italian; but as can be seen the illustration has ΣΥΜΟΙ ΓΛΥΚΥΣ ΑΛΛΑ ΡΙΚΡΟΣ (symoi glykys alla pikros) "You are sweet but bitter." [TN]
137. Perfer scintillam qui coelum accendis & omnes: "You who have set fire to heaven and everything, can bear a spark." [TN]
138. Celso inimicus, Comiti gratiosus: Resistant to the chisel, valuable to the official." [TN]
139. This verse consisted of Strophe, Aristrophe, and Epodes.[RD]
140. The great Macedon: Homer. [RD]
141. Son of the nymph Liriope: Narcissus. Colonna seems here to mean purple water-lilies, not the flowers now called Narcissus which are of course not purple. [TN]
142. The weeping sister of the whited Phaeton: Poplar; The immortal Daphne: Laurel; The hairy pineapple with small and sharp leaves: spruce or fir. [TN]
143. Larix, is a tree having leaves like the pine, & good for building, it will neither rot, worm-eat nor burn to coals. Teda, is a tree out of the which issueth a liquor more thin than pitch. Oreades, be country nymphs. Lindens, or teile trees, in Latin Tilia, they bear a fruit as big as a bean, having within seeds like anise seeds. Dryades, be nymphs of the woods.[RD]
144. Feronia a goddess of the woods [RD]
145. Dabulam, a fertile place in Arabia. Scaenits, be a people in Arabia, that dwell altogether in tents. Sauromatans, be people of Sarmatia, which is a large country, reaching from Germany & the river Vistula to Hycaenia, and is divided into two parts Europea and Asiatica. Lynx is a beast spotted, but in shape like a wolf, being quick of sight. Hamadryades were nymphs of the wood and Symenides Vertumnus the God of fruits. [RD]
146. Clepsydra is sometimes taken for a dial measuring time by the running of water, but here for a pot to water a garden and young saplings in a nursery for an orchard. [RD]
147. INTEGERRIMAM CORPORIS VALETUDINEM & STABILE ROBUR CASTASQUE MENSARUM DELITIAS, & BEATAM ANIMI SECURITATEM CULTORIBUS ME OFFERO: "I offer to my followers wholeness of body, health, the strength of the oak-tree, the chaste delights of the table and blessed security of soul." [TN]
148. Florido veri: "To the Flowery Spring." [TN]
149. Flavae Messi: "To the Golden Harvest." [TN]
150. Mustulento Autumno: "To Vinous Autumn." [TN]
151. Hiemi Aeoliae: "To the Winds of Winter." [TN]
152. Thessaly is a region of Greece, having upon the one side Macedonia, and on the other Boeotia, reaching between Thermopylae, and the river Pineus, even to the sea side, it is the garden of Greece. [RD]
153. Heraclea, is the name of divers fair cities, one in the confines of Europe, another in Italy & in Pontus by the river Licus, also in Narbonne by Rodanus, also in Caria, Crete & Lydia, whereof the lodestone taketh his name. [RD]
154. Hesperides, were the 3 daughters of Atlas, Aegle, Arethusa and Hesperetusa, who had an orchard of golden apples, kept by a dragon whom Hercules slew & took away the apples. [RD]
155. Mausolea: A sepulchre built by Artemisia in the honour of her husband Mausolus king of Cania. [RD] It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
156. Trahit sua quemque voluptas: "Let each follow his own pleasure;" ΠΑΝ ΔΕΙ ΠΟIΕΙΝ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΦΥΣΙΝ (pan dei poiein kata ten autou physin): "Let each follow his own nature." [TN]
157. VITAE LETHIFER NUNTIUS: The messenger bearing death to life." [TN]
158. Amor vincit omnia: "Love conquers all" [TN]
159. Quis evadet: "Who shall escape?" [TN]
160. Nemo: "No-one."[TN]
161. ΠΑΝΤΑ ΒΑΙΟΒΙΟΥ (panta baiobiou): "All things [are] fleeting. "[TN]
162. ΥΜΕΝ: (hymen): "Marriage."[TN]
163. ΑΔΩΝΙΑ (adonia): "To Adonis." IMPURA SUAVITAS: "Impure sweetness." [TN]
164. Non lac saeve puer, lachrymas sed sugis amaras/Reddendas matri, carique; Adonis amore: "You suck not milk, cruel boy, but bitter tears, which you give back to your mother for the love of dear Adonis." [TN]
165. O spectaculo di incredibile acerbitate, & di crudelitate insigne, O inaudita & insolente calamitate, scena daspectare horrenda: "O what a scene of incredible horror, and of unequalled cruelty, O what an unheard-of and frightful calamity, a scene horrible to see."[TN]
166. Almost past the age for marriage: 28 (!) [TN]
