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'Lipsius, Dousa and Jan van Hout. Latin and the vernacular in Leiden in the 1570s and 1580s' (1997)

'Lipsius, Dousa and Jan van Hout. Latin and the vernacular in Leiden in the 1570s and 1580s'

(1997)–C.L. Heesakkers–rechtenstatus Auteursrechtelijk beschermd

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Lipsius, Dousa and Jan van Hout: Latin and the vernacular in Leiden in the 1570s and 1580s

Chris Heesakkers

Lipsius and the vernacular

Justus Lipsius has achieved wide acclaim as an outstanding expert in classical, and more particularly in Latin philology, as well as in Roman Antiquities, Stoic philosophy and political thought. Together with such heroes as Joseph Scaliger and Isaac Casaubon he formed what Nisard in the 19th century termed the ‘Triumvirat littéraire’. 1 However, the literature created by the three scholars, is Latin literature, which occupies itself with ancient classical literature and culture. Lipsius' reputation is, therefore, exclusively based on his Latin writings.

Nevertheless, it is worth noting that Lipsius has shown a certain professional interest for the vernacular, which seems to be connected in some way with his Leiden period. The very first evidence of his arrival in Leiden, in March 1578, is a hommage to the champion of contemporary Dutch literary life, the town and university secretary, Jan van Hout. Furthermore, after Lipsius had definitely left Leiden, his last letters addressed to the Dutch poet contained a transcription of a medieval Dutch text he had recently come across in his new neighbourhood near Spa. He begged Jan van Hout to also show the transcription to their common friend Janus Dousa, who had been the leading figure in Latin poetry in Leiden for two decades. 2 It seems worthwhile to investigate the connection between Lipsius as a Leiden professor and the two contemporary local celebrities in the field of Latin and vernacular literary life.

Lipsius' acquaintance with Dousa

Lipsius' friendship with Dousa dated from May 1571. Shortly before that date, Dousa had received a letter from his Flemish friend Victor Giselinus, informing him about Lipsius' recent return from Rome to Louvain. Lipsius had deeply impressed Giselinus during a walk by his outpouring philological emendations on several Latin texts. Giselinus had invited Dousa to come and see this marvel of philological skill in person and Dousa had immediately set off toLouvain. The acquaintance was

documented with a contribution of Lipsius in Dousa's Album amicorum. 3 Soon afterwards, the deteriorating political situation made contact between Dousa's Holland and Lipsius' Brabant rather difficult. Lipsius left his country for Vienna and afterwards went to Jena in Germany, where he accepted a professorship at the Lutheran university. Dousa moved from his residence in Noordwijkto the relative safety of Leiden, to become seriously involved in the two sieges of the town by the Spanish troops in 1573 and 1574.

During the second siege, May-October 1574, Dousa became more familiar with the town's secretary, Jan van Hout. Soon after the siege was lifted, Dousa and two other deputies of the States of Holland were charged to establish a university in their province. The first step was the decision that its site was to be the town of Leiden. It was there that the opening ceremony took place on 8 February, 1575. Only a few weeks after the opening, Dousa published his second collection of Latin poetry, his Nova Poemata, which was to become the prospectus of the newly founded university. 4 In the meantime, the three deputies were appointed to function as the board of the new institution, together with the four burgermasters of the town.

Probably in the autumn of that same year 1575, Dousa received a letter from a philologist he had met at Plantin's house some years before, Gerardus Falkenburgius. The letter, datedCologne 31 May, was a reaction to Falkenburgius' discovery of Dousa's Nova Poemata. A letter from Falkenburgius to Lipsius in July 1575 seems to confirm that he had already seen the Nova Poemata at this early date, for it mentions ‘the second volume of Dousa's poetry’. 5 In his letter to Dousa, Falkenburgius added a remark in passing, which struck his correspondent as both a surprise and a compliment: ‘When our Lipsius had his domicile in this town [i.e. Cologne] together with his wife, he frequently mentioned your name, exhibiting proofs of the utmost affection. Some months ago he returned to the Netherlands, where he lives on his paternal estate and cultivates his library’. 6 In his reply, printed in the second enlarged edition of the Nova Poemata, published in the next year, 1576, Dousa wrote to Falkenburgius that Lipsius' marriage was a complete surprise to him.

Nevertheless, he extended his belated good wishes for the marriage. He went on to admit that he was envious of Falkenburgius for his enjoyable conversations with the dear man:‘I do not so much compliment and congratulate you, as displease myself and lament, and, to speak frankly, not without a secret bite of envy. For you have got such a joyful and copious opportunity to enjoy the learned, by Jove, and all too gentle conversations with that person so dear and so charming, whose manners all contribute to engender elegance; that person, whom I have missed for already five full years uninterruptedly, to my deepest affliction, and with the disgrace of the civil wars. However, at least it makes me happy, that he more than once mentioned me in his conversations, most explicitly showing, as you write, his benevolence. If this be true, and I have no doubt at all that it is true, truly, I do triumph and live more happily than all the Kings. Thus I was amazed that my ears have been tingling for a long time thus seeming to prophesize good things for themselves in the world’.

His high opinion of Lipsius, Dousa goes on, quoting from his own elegy addressed to Lernutius and probably written soon after his stay in Louvain in 1571, 7 is confirmed by the last new publications of the exceptional scholar: his edition of Tacitus, two years before and his Antiquae lectiones one year before. The brilliance of these works made such a deep impression on Dousa, that he decided to stop his own efforts in this field of philological commentary, with the exception of his Plautine studies. 8

The long passage, written in Dousa's typical baroque style, spicing the exuberant prose with verses, reveals his joy of being remembered by the young man to whom he had paid a visit in Louvain five years earlier. It also shows that Dousa kept close watch on the publications of the emerging celebrity. The news about Lipsius' return to his native village and his retired scholarly life on his own estate may have already given an intriguing idea to the Curator of the university. Dousa, being the only scholar within the board of Curatores and Burgermasters, felt particularly responsible for the formation of a solid scholarly staff for the almost reckless ‘creatio ex nihilo’ of the new foundation. Is it not likely, that he immediately saw a possibility to make a good catch? The following year he would take the opportunity to pay his second visit to Lipsius and one year later Lipsius was welcomed in Leiden. Throughout his life, Dousa has repeatedly claimed it as his own personal merit to have attracted Lipsius for the new university. 9

As mentioned, it was Falkenburgius again, who reminded Lipsius about Dousa and his poetical activities in July 1575. It was Lipsius, who took the initiative for direct communication with the Leiden Curator. In October 1576 he wrote a letter to Dousa, informing him that he had been waiting for an opportunity to write to him ever since his return from Germany. He added that he had read Dousa's Satires (he refers to the Satires within the Nova Poemata) and proved the truth of this state-

ment by quoting a verse from Satyra III. He also revealed that he had given his opinion about Dousa's poetry in his Epistolicaequaestiones. This work would be published the following year. 10 In a following letter, April 1677, Lipsius announced his proposal to travel to Holland in the coming summer. 11 Surprisingly enough, he had not yet heard, that Dousa had stayed in Bruges in December 1576. When he was informed about this soon afterwards, he reproached Dousa in a letter to Lernutius for not coming to see him at Louvain: haste, he added, was no legitimate reason for it, and even six hundred lines of poetry would not atone for this unfriendly deed of a friend. 12 Three months later, however, Dousa travelled again to the Southern Netherlands, more precisely to Brussels, and this time he found the opportunity to continue on to Louvain. Was this the first occasion when the possibility of a Leiden professorship for Lipsius was discussed? In his subsequent letter to Dousa, from January 1578, Lipsius repeated his proposal to travel to Holland. Following this is an undated letter, written from Antwerp: Lipsius is on his way to Holland, where he was to arrive in March 1578. His appointment asprofessor historiarum et iuris took place on 5 April 1578. From now on, Lipsius and Dousa were fellow townsmen, both devoting themselvesto the development of the new university. 13

Lipsius' acquaintance with Jan van Hout

When Lipsius first saw Dousa's Nova poemata, the remarkable title-page 14 may have surprised and puzzled him in a similar way it still does the modern reader. Who was this Joannes Hautenus who had financed the book? And what was his relation to the author? Lipsius must soon have found the answer to both questions once he started reading. One of the Odae Lugdunenses, with which the Nova Poemata opens, was addressed ‘To Jan van Hout, secretary of the town of Leiden’. The first lines of the poem introduced Jan van Hout as the beloved of the Muses and the Graces. 15 This would imply that the poem is going to honour the Leiden

citizen as a poet. However Dousa soon turns to the recent shared experience that has caused their friendship: Jan van Hout had proved himself a fearless combatant side by side with Dousa, military commander of the town during the second siege in 1574. On another page of the Nova Poemata, Lipsius could read the epigrams Dousa made for the opening ceremony of the university on 8 February 1575. According to the inscription preceding the epigrams, the individuals symbolizing the scholarly disciplines or representing the ancient pioneers of the disciplines, were presented by Jan van Hout. 16

At their second encounter in Louvain, in September 1577, Dousa had asked Lipsius for a second contribution to his Album amicorum, which already contained the inscription of May 1571. If Dousa left his friend some time to leaf through the booklet, Lipsius may have come across the recent remarkable and colourful entry by Jan van Hout. Above this inscription he could see two figures energetically shaking hands: it is quite probable that the figures represent Dousa and Jan van Hout. Moreover, it seems unthinkable, that Dousa had not told Lipsius in extenso about the great events in his life of the recent years, the siege and release of his town and the foundation of the university, and about the part Jan van Hout had played in it. Jan van Hout's entry in his album enabled Dousa to illustrate his account, as it were, with the portrait of himself and his friend and with the Dutch text of the entry referring to the siege and the mutual friendship they struck up, during and as a consequence of the siege. 17

Therefore Lipsius had some impression of the striking personality of the Leiden secretary. Likewise, the latter must soon have gained an impression of the Louvain scholar. It is, as if a certain familiarity had already grown up between the two men even before they were to meet personally. This would explain why Jan van Hout dared to entrust Lipsius with the delivery of a letter to the Antwerp printer Willem Silvius, as we have read in Lipsius' undated letter to Dousa mentioned above. Lipsius informed Dousa that he had delivered Jan van Hout's letter to Silvius. The same letter proves that Dousa and Jan van Hout make use of Lipsius' services for the benefit of their university even before his arrival and appointment in Leiden. For the first time, Lipsius concluded his letter with greetings not only for Dousa's wife, but also for Jan van Hout. 18

This growing familiarity may also explain why Lipsius immediately accepted Jan van Hout's offer to take up residence within his house after his arrival in Leiden.

Lipsius' entry in Jan van Hout's Album amicorum

The oldest proof of Lipsius' presence in Leiden is dated 22 March 1578. Little more than a month before, Jan van Hout had acquired a blank volume to serve as his Album amicorum. The volume, containing yet only four entries and surprisingly still missing a contribution by Dousa, was placed in Lipsius' hands very shortly after his arrival in Leiden, possibly even on the day of his arrival and moving in with the Van Hout family. The Latin contribution reveals an author who feels overwhelmed by the cordiality of his new friend and host. The translation runs as follows:

‘For you, Jan van Hout, flourishing bloom of our century's poets and of our language, author of uncommon compositions in common language. Therefore I, Justus Lipsius, with good reason aspiring to something above the common realm, and as a testimony of the permanent and eternal friendship we formed in those days, not by chance, but by deliberate choice, have with great pleasure left here this memorial of my own hands, free of any deceit, at Leiden, on the 11th day before the Calendae of the month of Venus.
Unmetrical metra.
How rare are friends who bear this title in accordance with reality. Those who commit perjury, cameleons, two-faced people. They benignly offer their help with their tongue, their face, their words, but when the moment is there, they fail to take action. They flatter you to your face, but secretly they pour cold water upon you. Nowadays, these people spring up everywhere, like well-watered plants and all too frequently a friend becomes a poison. Such behaviour, I confess, is sickness and death to me. I will avoid these people. I will not boast any farther, but in loving being constant, free, simple, I myself call Reliance and the God of Reliance to witness’. 19

While the poem promises a faithful and reliable friendship, the address also celebrates Jan van Hout already at this early date as an ambitious pioneer of poetry in the vernacular. From where did Lipsius get his knowledge about the literary ambitions and activities of his new friend and host? He had seen the entry in Dousa's album, but this contains no more than a few lines. If he had read the second edition of the Nova Poemata, he may have noticed a few lines introducing Jan van Hout as a poet and translator, obviously from Latin into Dutch, bringing with him his last literary productions to a supper with Dousa. That must have been in 1575-1576. 20 Probably, however, it would have been Dousa during his stay in Louvain, who had informed Lipsius about Leiden literary life around Jan van Hout.

Unfortunately, Jan van Hout was never very concerned about the publication of his literary work. Obviously he had planned to publish a collection of poetry sometime around 1580. He asked the States of Holland for a privilege to publish

and also received permission to do so, after Dousa had given his opinion about it. 21 The plan never materialized. Consequently, only a few texts of Jan van Hout, both in prose and in verse have come down to us. Most of it has been preserved in manuscript and lacks a trustworthy dating. The Album amicorum is an exception thanks to the exactly dated entries, but these are, of course not the work of Jan van Hout. They only can give us an idea of the circle of his friends and of the esteem he enjoyed among them as a Dutch poet and defender of vernacular poetry. As far as Lipsius is concerned, he would repeat his private eulogy in the Album amicorum in a public statement in his much-read dialogue Saturnalia of 1582. As the first person narrator of the dialogue, Lipsius asks his fellow speaker Dousa in the beginning of the second book about their common friend: ‘But what have I forgotten to ask you yesterday: How is our Van Hout, that flower of poets? For we certainly must acclaim him as the only one among the Dutch who has seen the path to poetry in our own language. He is well, answered Dousa, and he loves you. You know, however, how his fame is overshadowed by the opinions of the common people. Of the common people, I replied, so what? Please, tell him on my behalf: he will overcome that jealousy caused by the novelty of his activities, and as in the case of certain trees, the slower his fame grows the longer it will last. It is good to revel in Manilius' proud statement: “I do not write poetry against the crowd, nor for the crowd”’. 22

Triumviri Amicitiae

An attractive tangible document about how the circle of the three friends was then completed, is found in a copy of an edition of Martialis, published by Hadrianus Junius in 1568. This edition was dedicated by Junius to Dousa, who had offered Junius his own annotations to the text of Martialis. Dousa had presented the copy to Jan van Hout at some time, as the inscription shows: Janus Duza Nordovix Jano Hauteno Suo Dono Dedit. After this inscription, however, we read, in the handwriting of Lipsius, et ipse Lipsio, and the latter, Jan van Hout, presented it in his turn to Lipsius. 23 The most lively description, however, of the literary atmosphere in which Lipsius landed in Leiden, is found in his dedicatory letter to Dousa and Jan van

Hout, which precedes his second book of the Electa, published in 1585. The intriguing and most informative text deserves to be quoted in extenso:

‘To the Nobleman Janus Dousa and to Jan van Hout, secretary of this town.
It will not take me much time to find reasons, Dousa and Van Hout, for dedicating this book to you, or to justify that. Both in my mind and in my eyes there is a staunch and trustworthy love, which I deservedly bestow upon you. For if I consider your affection: you esteem me, indeed, you love me. If I consider your good deeds and your services: they have been constant over the many years and still each day brings new ones. They are not only bounteous, but so full of ardour that it seems as if you receive what you actually bestow on me. My mind is never apart or absent from yours, for it is united and bound to you by some mysterious bond of Nature from the first moment we met each other. Dousa, I saw you first at Louvain and as soon as I saw you, I was, to say it in one word, on fire. Who would not, presented with such simplicity and openess of heart and charming ways? As for you, Van Hout, I had only just arrived in this town, when I moved into your house. For several months your hospitality was so kind and generous, that even a stay with Juppiter the Patron of the hosts, if I may say, could not have been more agreable to me. After that time, we lived separately as regards our houses, but not as far as our contact and minds were concerned. For our encounters, conversations and meals were as frequent as if we formed a Triumvirate of Friendship. All this, however, was within the limits of temperance and modesty, for we were after the delights of the mind, not those of the body, and our eating and drinking was our conversation rather than food and drink. Often a serious historical discussion graced our dishes, sometimes a more light-hearted story and very often your verses, Dousa, or those of you, Van Hout. We read them and forgot our public and private cares thanks to that twofold Muse. Just as on a vine where the most beautiful grapes are often hidden below the shadow of the leaves and the shoots, I have repeatedly found purple fruits of truth within the delights and, so to say, the young leaves of those tales. Both of you are, I dare to confer this title on you, the princes among poets, be it in different branches. You, Dousa, follow the old way and language, while you, Van Hout, prefer the new language of your mother tongue. The one is attracted by the Roman street, the other by the Dutch, and whenever he enters, he can rightly boast:

I traverse the haunts of the Pierides, never trodden before by the foot of man. 24

One was the first, or certainly among the first, to carry those nine goddesses from the Helicon and Mount Alba to these swamps of Tethys: the other was the first who dared to polish and recreate our mother tongue and to reveal the jewels of Beauty and Grace hidden in it - jewels we were amazed to see and would have sworn did not exist. The difference between you, however, is more a question of style and language than of excellence and capacity. Both of you are great, indeed, the greatest poets and I would say that your verses are not so much written with the favour of the Muses, as thanks to their dictating them to you. You choose to write elegies or comedies? You adorn them with ancient sweetness and refinement and the delivery is full of Attic honey and salt at the same time. You choose epigrams or satires? We admire your discernement in selecting the subject and your satirical sharpness. Or Odes? In this field you really shine, you have the poetical spirit and you ascend high into the sublime heavens, on fortunate, or should I rather say, daring wings. It was thought that Pindar's innate capacity and excellence suddenly became animated and intensified and produced what was not mortal from a mortal mouth: you do not so much strive after him as equal him. How often have your verses delighted the ears of the liste-
ners? Have unsettled them? The presence and vitality of you both alike, you are able to instill that two-sided emotion, the sweet and the disturbing, and particularly the last thanks to some sharply cutting words and sentences. Both of you are blessed with genius, but not with leisure, for public and serious responsibilities distract you often and tear you away from the mourning and complaining Muses. You are also competent in these serious matters and have learned alternatively to handle the rudder of the State and the plectrum of the lyre. Unfortunately it is more often than not the rudder (your dignity, Dousa, your function, Van Hout, demand it). I wish and pray that you may shortly handle the rudder on a more serene sea and that we, after such long lasting storm clouds and hostilities, may sing, together with you, a song of legitimate Peace in the sacred port of Serenity. Best wishes, my friends’. 25

Nothwithstanding the high-flown style so usual in humanistic panegyrics, one cannot but be impressed by Lipsius' obviously sincere admiration for the poetry of his friends. Most surprising in the pure latinist Lipsius is the total equation of the level of the two poets, which implies that the two languages they use are equally suitable vehicles for poetic expression in all the genres mentioned by Lipsius. It would also imply that not only Dousa, but also Jan van Hout had written elegies, comedies, satire, epigrams and odes. As for Dousa, we are aware of this thanks to his publications, but as for Jan van Hout, it sheds some light on the collection of poetry which he had asked and received the privilige of the States of Holland to publish, but which never has materialized, as we have mentioned above.

Lipsius not only enjoyed the declamatory performances of Jan van Hout's poetry in the vernacular, he must have also witnessed the zealousness of his friend. He testifies to this in a poem containing his confession to be unable to compose Dutch poetry. The wording of the poem reminds us in several places of the dedicatory letter, and here too, Lipsius' excuse to compose Dutch verses is turned into a panegyric on Van Hout's pioneering work in the field of the vernacular:

‘To Jan van Hout: why he is not suited to create Dutch poetry.
 
Poet Van Hout, translator of the sacred poet
 
and at the same time Prince of Dutch poetry,
 
to which remote regions do you drag me?
 
Which woods, what mountain do you command me to traverse,
 
where no poets' feet have trodden?
 
O have mercy, have mercy! This laurel should not be planted
 
on a profane mountain peak. This laurel has long since
 
been brought by Phoebus from Mount Parnassus itself to you,
 
you who first dared to touch the strings of the Dutch lyre
 
with the plectrum and to summon the nine deities
 
from the two-horned peak to the swamps of Thetis.
 
Both our century and those passed will be jealous.
 
Yours, oh, this glory is yours: what should I be
 
but the laughing-stock of sailors and inn-keepers?
 
Like once winged Icarus who fell because he rose
 
on deceptive wings: in vain, I know, we all would rival
 
the fame and the poetry of the new Pindar. 26

Nothwithstanding Jan van Hout's instigation and pressure, Lipsius did not allow to be enticed into trying his hand at Dutch poetry. At some time Jan van Hout probably had planned to publish a Dutch version of some work of Plautus, 27 Dousa's favourite author, as we have seen above. A poem by Lipsius, Ad Ianum Hautenum. De versione eius Plauti, may very well have been written as a liminary poem for such a publication. The poem highly praises the qualities of the translator. Its conclusion is a significant climax: ‘You want me to tell the truth, my friend? I will tell you: As long as you live, Dutch wits will live, and when you die, they will die together with you’. However, even in this praise of a publication in the vernacular, Lipsius used his more familiar language, the Latin. 28 Jan van Hout, who probably never tried his hand at Latin poetry, got his first chance to publish a poem in the vernacular thanks to Lipsius. When the Dutch translation of Lipsius' De constantia by Mourentorf was ready for the press, his poem enjoyed the honour, together with three Dutch sonnets by Janus Gruterus, of being included in the edition. 29

A triumvirate or a sodality?

Lipsius and Dousa were not the only Leiden literati who fell under the spell of Jan van Hout's poetical activities in the vernacular. The wording of the dedicatory letter seems to imply that there was an audience at the declamation of the Latin and Dutch poetry by Dousa and Jan van Hout: ‘How often have your verses delighted the ears of the listeners?’ (Quoties mulserunt animos audientium versus vestri?). It has been suggested a long time ago that something like a literary sodality or society, a ‘Gezelschap’ of Jan van Hout existed in Leiden at that time. The idea was inspired by an intriguing address in a manuscript containing a draft of Jan van Hout's preface to his Dutch translation of the satirical poem Franciscanus by the Scottish Neo-Latin poet George Buchanan. The address can be translated more or less as follows: ‘To the sodality and the gathering of those who are practising Latin or Dutch poetry in the new university of the town of Leiden and to all other persons

devoted to the Dutch language’. 30 Unfortunately, it seems difficult to prove that a real sodality existed which was not identical or limited to the triumvirate of Lipsius, Dousa and Jan van Hout mentioned in the dedicatory letter of the Electa. It has been suggested that a formal sodality with its own statutes, rules or at least customs may not have existed, but that professors and students living in Jan van Hout's house may have assisted from time to time at the declamations of Dousa and Jan van Hout and possibly other participants in the performances. In addition, other contributers to Jan van Hout's Album amicorum, who obviously regarded the Dutch poet as an inspiration, must have been interested in such semi-public activities. 31 As far as we know, however, none of these possible members of some kind of sodality has left any testimony of his participation in the activities mentioned, and therefore all suggestions remain mere supposition, based on speculation. However, as far as regards the triumvirate itself, some other Latin testimonies exist, which still seem to have been inadequately evaluated.

From the texts quoted above it can only be deduced that Dousa and Jan van Hout contributed to the sessions by presenting their own poetry. As regards the third triumvir, Lipsius, we saw his ingenious apology, arguing that he was unable to contribute with Dutch poetry. Did he make his contribution with Latin poetry? Here too, we come exclusively across apologies, although they are, so to speak, seasonal. One of these apologies is formulated in general terms. Its title is De se non vate. Ad Collegas ("To his colleagues [or to the members of the Collegium?]), arguing that he himself is not a poet." The contents, ten lines long, suggest that he is not a poet at all, or rather that he fits as badly within the circle of these colleagues as Faunus fitted in the choir of the gods of music. 32 Of more interest is a small poem, which is obviously addressed to his two fellow triumviri. Translated it runs as follows:

‘Coldness, enemy of Poets.
 
Wanting to write verses under the auspices of a double Janus,
 
yours, Dousa and yours, new Janus,
 
the Saturnian star resists my plans, and the whole
 
river and the whole earth is covered with crystals.
 
You, waters, have turned Helicon's daughters into ice. Go away, Poets,
 
no Castalian liquid will quench your thirst’. 33

So Lipsius wanted to try his hands at poetry, patronized by the two Johns. It is not clear, whether this would imply that he wanted to practize poetry in both Latin, like

Janus Dousa, and the vernacular, like Jan van Hout. Actually he practises neither of them, paralysed by the cold winter.

A similar excuse is used again in another poem, which indeed seems to imply that Lipsius used to contribute poetry at the meetings of a/the sodality or a/the Collegium. 34 The text can be translated as follows:

‘Excuse to his colleagues.
 
Witty fellows, practicioners
 
of both languages, whose heads are crowned
 
by both Muses with a garland of thriving leaves,
 
May I be allowed for once to transgress
 
the rules and not present twelve lines of genuine poetry.
 
The insensibility caused by the overcast heavens
 
forbids it and a lazy mind refuses to let the Apolline fire enter.
 
Add my illness to this, add my age,
 
which vexes me together with my illness.
 
You, have mercy. May the good Muses
 
be favourable to you age and may your poetry
 
endure for many years to come’. 35

 

The poem explicitly states that the author for once only, semel, had to default because of mental and physical illness and his age. This implies, that he normally contributed some poetry according to the rules. It is also said, that the colleagues or members of the sodality are poets in both languages, that is both Latin and the vernacular. If the word aetatem indicates the age of the members, this would imply that they are younger than Lipsius himself. This would not hold good for Dousa and Jan van Hout, who were both older than Lipsius, two and five years respectively, and consequently a younger generation must also have participated in the sessions.

It is tempting to speculate about the date of this poem in connection to Lipsius' mentioning his illness. In his De constantia (p. 162), Lipsius had included a poem entitled: Preces fusae in graui et diuturno meo morbo anno MDLXXIX. Aetatis meae XXXII, ‘Prayers said during my serious and long lasting illness in the year 1579, being in my 32nd year’. Is the poem quoted referring to this same illness? Lipsius complained about his bad health and the Dutch climate before his trip to Antwerp early in 1580 in a letter from March of that year. 36 If the poem quoted above, the poem inserted inDe constantia and the letter mentioned all refer to the same illness, the meeting of the Collegiumfor which Lipsius had to excuse himself, would have taken place at the end of 1579.

Two unpublished testimonies for Jan van Hout's Collegium poeticum

From what has been said so far, we might be inclined to assume that Lipsius was rather hesitant in presenting new poetry of his own. We know one case, however, in which he was asked to present the poetry of a fellow member of the Collegium, the constantly very expansive Janus Dousa. Dousa had dozens of blank pages added to the desk copy of his first publication, both before and at the back of the printed text. These pages contain the drafts of dozens of published and unpublished poems. The remarkable titles of two of these drafts immediately ask for our attention within the framework of this contribution: 37Ad Iustum Lipsium, reliquosque Collegij poetici apud Hautenum instituti iucundissimos Sodales, and Ad Collegas eosdem. The titles lead us to conclude that a Collegium poeticum existed and that this was established and situated in the house of Jan van Hout. The members are called Collegae or Sodales, and the termCollegium or Sodalicium may well have been the Latin equivalent of the Dutch word ‘Gezelschap’. Unfortunately, here again no names are mentioned apart from those of Lipsius and Jan van Hout.

The text of the poems contains several marginal or superscript corrections or alternatives. The following translation presents the text which can be considered Dousa's final version. The cancelled versions and the marginal or superscript alternatives will be mentioned in the notes to the transcription of the Latin original in Appendix I of this article.

‘To Justus Lipsius and the other members of the Collegium poeticum, situated at Jan van Hout's.
 
Until now you listened to my reading my foolish talk,
 
- Oh, both you and the group, may you not forget me -
 
once I had the time. But now the Spaarndammerdijk calls me,
 
it needs to be repaired with the help of me and my fellow administrators.
 
What remains to say: I send you my trifles,
 
items which will be of some use for us.
 
And I pray, that you, since I am not that Sosia of Plautus,
 
will not refuse to be my alter ego for the time.
 
I mean, that you will be willing to read these trifles while I am absent
 
for our mutual colleagues on my behalf.
 
They are of poor quality and do not deserve, I confess, such a great herald.
 
Why then, you ask, do you deliver them to me to recite?
 
I will tell you: although dull and undeserving of any applause,
 
yet they become of good quality, when they are recited by you’.

Notwithstanding the more extensive title, the content of the poem is obviously destined for Lipsius alone. In the second poem, however, Dousa explicitely addressed Lipsius, Jan van Hout and the other members together to inform them that he had found a stand-in for the presentation of his poetry and that he had missed a

couple of meetings. Unfortunately, once again no names of the ‘other members’ are given.

‘To the same Colleagues.
 
Eloquent Lipsius, and you, Jan van Hout,
 
prince of the Dutch lyre, and you, other Colleagues
 
in the art of the Muses: forgive your Colleague,
 
that I, being absent, two, yeah, three times have neglected
 
to comply with the indebted part of my labour:
 
I was forced by public authority
 
to travel twice to Amsterdam, twice back to Haarlem,
 
against my wishes. But the commands of the States
 
have to be obeyed. Therefore, I gave you Lipsius
 
as a substitute for my absence
 
a great aide, who is quite able to take
 
his own turn as well as ours in our absence
 
and perform the duties of two men.
 
I have given him to you as my substitute,
 
when I left for Spaarndammerdijk.
 
Now the dog-star stands above us,
 
and the Sun stands in the eighth house
 
of the Crab and prevents the days lengthening.
 
May the Muse rest a little while during the summer hours,
 
Lipsius, may we dispense with writing poetry,
 
and let us, reserving our strength for a cooler star,
 
have a holiday for the time being,
 
and let us look forward to the autumn, full of fruits.
 
In the summer, simply staying healthy, is writing poetry enough’.

Some details of the poems deserve our attention, since they may contain references indicating the date of the meeting or meetings Dousa was not able to attend and the frequency of the gatherings. The first poem seems to suggest, that Dousa will not participate in the forthcoming meeting for he has to go to the Spaarndammerdijk. This is the dyke that runs from Haarlem to Amsterdam. As a member of the States of Holland and of the ‘Hoogheemraadschap’, the board of the Rijnland water district he shared the responsability for the dykes in the province of Holland. The second poem seems to imply that Dousa had missed two or three meetings, or even, as the cancelled marginal alternative tells us, ter quaterque, three or four. This probably happened between the meeting after the trip to Spaarndammerdijk mentioned in the first poem, and mid-summer, a time Dousa considered, according to the second poem, inconvenient for poetical social activities. In this period, Dousa had travelled twice to or between Amsterdam and Haarlem, the towns which were joined through the Spaarndammerdijk, and had therefore missed two or three meetings of the Collegium poeticum.

Now the point is, whether it is possible to identify the repair of the Spaarndammerdijk meant by Dousa, or not. To find this out, I resorted to the archivists of the Rijnland water district in Leiden. One of them, Mr. R.A. van Iterson, was kind enough to do some research in the archives and dug up a most interesting docu-

ment. This was the account of the expenses made by the treasurer of the water district, Jan van Broukhoven, covering the years 1577-1578. It mentions several journeys to Spaarndam from September 1577 onwards, in company with one or more members of the board of the Rijnland district. 38 It is on register that ‘de Heer van Noordwijk’, that is, Dousa, in 1577 took part in a journey to Spaarndam, which started on 7 September 1577 and lasted five days, and one to Haarlem and Spaarndam on 14 October, lasting 5 days. The following year 1578, the journeys to Spaarndammerdijk started after Lipsius had arrived in Leiden and after he had been appointed a professor at the university (on 5 April). Van Brouchoven registered a journey in the company of Dousa to Haarlem and Spaarndam on 14 May, lasting 5 days, one on 15 June, lasting six days, one on 24 July, lasting five days, and a last one, to Haarlem and Spaardam and then continuing on to Amsterdam, on 27 September. From then onwards, it seems that the Rijnland district finally had the regulation of the water in the region of Haarlem and Amsterdam well in hand. The repair of the Spaarndammer Dyke seems to have been completed in the autumn of 1578. It had required two journeys in 1577 and four more in 1578, in which Dousa had participated.

It is tempting to conclude a certain similarity, if not an obvious parallel, between Dousa's activities as registered by Van Broukhoven and the information contained in Dousa's poems. If the wording of the poems imply that Dousa had found a substitute for a forthcoming meeting and that he had to apologize for missing two or three meetings, the following reconstruction seems to be possible. The forthcoming meeting referred to in the first poem was to take place during Dousa's trip to Spaarndam in May 1578. During his second trip to Spaarndam, 15 June and following days, another meeting of Jan van Hout's Collegium had taken place, and after his return Dousa realized that he had missed two meetings. Therefore he wrote his second poem, addressed to the members of the Collegium. Obviously he knew already about the third, upcoming trip of 24 July, but this fell in the period of the Dog Days, a period of poetical recess.

If this reconstruction is roughly correct, this would imply that Dousa's poems were written in 1578 and that Jan van Hout's Collegium poeticum was already at its zenith shortly after Lipsius' arrival in Leiden early in the same year. The date of the poems seems to find a corroboration in a poem which follows them in Dousa's annotated copy and which carries the title In cladem Lusitanorum a Barbaris in Mauretania acceptam Anno 1578, ‘On the crushing defeat of the Portuguese by the Barbarians in Mauretania in 1578’. If the three poems were written in chronological order and if the poem on the defeat of the Portugese was written soon after the battle had taken place, then the preceding poems were also written in 1578. As we

have seen, it was also in 1578 that Jan van Hout had started his Album amicorum, containing so many laudatory testimonies for his literary activities in Leiden.

This would imply that on his arrival in Leiden Lipsius met an already florishing literary life, concentrated around the person and in the house of his landlord Jan van Hout. Dousa's second poem would prove that Lipsius soon took an active role in the Collegium where he not only recited poems written by Dousa, but also presented his own poetical contributions: he ‘is quite able to take his own turn as well as ours in our absence’. It also implies that the meetings of the Collegium were held regularly, maybe once every month.

The finale

If the preceding hypothesis is right, the Collegium poeticum held its regular meetings in 1578. Earlier in this article we have suggested that Lipsius' poem in De constantia, bearing the year 1579, could be connected with the illness that forced him to excuse himself for his absence in a meeting of the Collegium in 1579. Other passages in Lipsius' correspondence which might allude to the Collegium poeticum, are very rare and moreover very vague. In an undated letter to Lipsius, probably from the end of October 1580, Dousa called himself Collegii nostri sacris initiatum, initiated in the rituals of our Collegium, but this does non necessarily indicate theCollegium poeticum. 39 In a letter to Jan de Groot, the father of the famous Hugo Grotius, probably from 2 August 1586, Lipsius refers to the marriage of the addressee, which had taken place in January 1582. This meant that Jan de Groot had to leave Leiden and this fact contributed to the decline of the Collegium: ‘You write, as if you also write to the Collegium. You do not know, that its life has departed, it has died with your departure. The funeral torches have been kindled for the Muses and all the Muses' servants by the torches of your marriage. To tell you the truth: that union has since long been dissolved’. 40 If Lipsius' complaint truly refers to the Collegium poeticum, this letter informs us pointblank about the extinction of it at the end of 1581 or the beginning of 1582. We have seen that Lipsius' dedicatory letter of his ElectaII referred to presentations of poetry at Jan van Hout's house, but it is not clear in which period these took place and moreover Dousa and Jan van Hout seem to have been the only poets involved. I am inclined to assume, that the Collegium poeticum flourished in 1578, but declined in the following years, until it faded away in 1581 or 1582.

In the meantime more students had arrived in Leiden. This implied more work for Lipsius. Dousa in his turn would soon become increasingly involved in diplomatic life in Holland and stayed abroad for a long period in 1584 and 1585. And it is

quite probable that Jan van Hout also saw his leisure reduced by his duties as a secretary of the expansive town and of the Board of the expanding university. The Triumviri Amicitiae had all become busy men.

As far as I know, there is hardly any proof of a lasting interest from Lipsius' side in the development of Dutch literature or language in his further Leiden years. That it had not completely disappeared, especially in his relationship with Dousa and Jan van Hout, may be deduced from his letters to the Leiden friends after his definite departure from the university. Lipsius had left Leiden in March 1591 for Spa in the Southern Netherlands. From there he officially asked to be dismissed from his Leiden professorate in June 1591. Once the disappointment among his friends about his unexpected and unannounced decision not to return had lost its sharpness, Lipsius started a lively correspondence with his former friends, which lasted for only a short time, but which is nevertheless interesting from our point of view. In a letter from 2 August 1591 to Dousa, Lipsius wrote about a discovery he had made: ‘We have seen here an old Latin psalter, which contains a Saxon translation written between the lines. Therein a lot of secrets of our ancient language are to be found’. 41 The information proves not only Lipsius' lasting interest in the history of his mother tongue, but also his wish to discuss it with his two former colleagues in the Triumvirate and the Collegium poeticum. This becomes even more evident in a letter to Jan van Hout of the following month: ‘We send you and our Dousa (I want him to see it too), as a specimen and a foretaste, Psalm XVIII, which I have verbatim and faithfully transcribed. I know that you will enjoy the antiquity of our language. You never have seen the like of it. In the work, there are many novelties worthy of attention. I will take care to have the work completed and then we will decide what will be best for the common good’. 42 Obviously, Lipsius waited eagerly but in vain for a quick reaction from Jan van Hout, as he declared in another letter, sent to Jan van Hout one month later: ‘Recently, I sent you as a foretaste, a Psalm written in our ancient language. I hope that you have enjoyed seeing it. I am waiting for your opinion about it. Why don't you ask me for more such sweets? I can provide them and I have a large part of the book transcribed with me’. Lipsius goes on to express his wish that the three of them have a reunion at Spa the following

year. 43 Unfortunately, once again, Jan van Hout seems not to have sent any reply and there appears to be no evidence that the three friends ever met again.

Lipsius sent a few more letters to Jan van Hout, but obviously never received any reply and thus the correspondence soon faded away completely. 44 The contacts between Lipsius and Dousa were kept alive partly thanks to Dousa's oldest son. Neither in the last letters to Jan van Hout, nor in those exchanged with the Dousa family, 45 is any further word said about Psalm XVIII, part of what nowadays is called the Wachtendonk Psalter. Only in 1598 did Lipsius return to the subject, this time in a letter to the Antwerp town secretary, Hendricus Schottus. Since Lipsius added a glossary of ‘Old Low Franconian’ words to this letter and published both the letter and the glossary in his Epistolarum centuria tertia ad Belgas, this letter has become an important document in the field of Germanic Studies. 46 As to the copy of Psalm XVIII, sent by Lipsius to Jan van Hout, nothing seems to be known, and it is supposed that it went astray, just like all the other manuscripts of Jan van Hout, to the great regret of the historians of Dutch literature. There remains, however, one intriguing fact to be discussed. In 1612, Abraham Mylius (vander Milii, or vander Mijle), who had studied in Leiden in the early 1580s and had certainly heard Lipsius and later even exchanged a few letters with him, 47 published his Lingua Belgica. Speaking about the Wachtendonk Psalter, he added: ‘Here you have a part of that same psalter, psalm XIX, made from an abstract done by Lipsius and handed over to me by a learned man, who had the greatest interest in that kind

of literature and also great knowledge of it’. 48 As a good protestant, Mylius used the Hebrew numbering of the psalms, and not that of the Vulgate, and his psalm XIX is identical to Lipsius' psalm XVIII. If we speculate about the specialist who had given him the copy of Lipsius' transcription, we could think of the Leiden professors Bonaventura Vulcanius (1538-1614) or Paulus Merula (1558-1607), both outstanding scholars of ‘Old Germanic Studies’. However, whoever may have made a copy of Lipsius' transcription, it seems a natural conclusion that it happened after Lipsius had sent the transcription to Jan van Hout and Dousa in September 1591. On the one hand Jan van Hout seemed not very willing to maintain his contacts with Lipsius after the latter had turned his back on Leiden university. However, he may have carefully preserved the last proof of their common interest in the history and development of their mother tongue by putting the copy of Lipsius' transcription at the disposal of those Leiden scholars who had a professional interest in it. 49



illustratie
UB Leiden Lib. annot. 765 F 17 (p.246)


Appendix I: Two unpublished poems by Janus Dousa Pater

1. Dousa to Lipsius

(Leiden, UB, lib. annot. 765 F 17, Dousa, Epigrammatum libri II..., Antwerp 1569, added handwritten pagination p. 246)(Fig. 5)

Ad Iustum Lipsium, reliquosque Collegij poetici apud Hautenum instituti iucundissimos Sodales
1
Hactenus audistis memet mea scruta 1 legentem,
2
O vtinam memores ipse cohorsque mei;
3
Dum licuit 3: nunc me Sparedamum 3 ad se vocat Agger:
4
Ille mea et socium 4refficiendus ope.
5
Quod reliquum est igitur, pro me tibi ludicra 5 mitto,
6
Pignora quae nostrae sedulitatis erunt.
7
Teque oro, vt quoniam Plautinus Sosia 7 non sum,
8
Alter ego interea ne fieri ipse neges.
9
Scilicet absentis nostro communibus illa
10
Nomine Collegis vt recitare velis.
11
Sunt mala nec tanto fateor tibicine digna 11.
12
Cur ergo ista, rogas, das recitanda mihi 12?
13
Dicam: vt inepta licet, nullosque merentia plausus
 
Illa tamen fiant, te recitante, bona 14.


illustratie
UB Leiden Lib. annot. 765 F 17 (p. 247)


2. Dousa to his Colleagues

(Leiden, UB, lib. annot. 765 F 17, Dousa, Epigrammatum libri II ..., Antwerp 1569, added handwritten pagination p. 247)(Fig. 6)

Ad Collegas eosdem
 
Facunde Lipsi, tuque Belgici plectri
 
Hautene princeps. caeterique Collegae
 
Musaea in arte; condonate Collegae
 
Vestro, quod absens bisque terque 4 neglexi
5
Iustam laboris persequi mei partem:
 
Coactus hinc cum publica potestate
 
Bis Amstrodamum 7, bis recurrere Harlemum,
 
Inuitus; at gerundus Ordinum iussis
 
Mos fuit: eoque Lipsium pro me
10
Absente succidaneum dedi vobis,
 
Magnum Optionem, qui suam vicem et nostram 11
 
Probe secundas ferre possit absentis,
 
Hominumque solus fungier duum 13 munus.
 
Hunc 14 pro me 14 succidaneum dedi vobis
15
Nuper profectus Aggerem ad Sparedamum
 
At nunc Caniculare sydus impendet 16
 
Nobis, Cancrique parte Sol in octaua
 
Sistit: dierumque auctibus facit pausam.
 
Paulisper horis Musa cesset aestiuis,
20
Lipsi, remisso exercitu poetandi
 
Validosque porro syderi reseruantes
 
Nos alsiori 22, feriemur ad tempus
 
Foetumque pomis praestolemur Autumnum.
 
Aestate si valemus, sat poetamur.

Appendix II: Other texts and fragments quoted in translation in the article

1. J. Dousa, Letter to Gerartus Falkenburgius

(J. Dousa, Novorum Poematum secunda Lugdunensis editio, Leiden 1576, [V viij r-v])

 

Sed quid ais? Lipsiumne nostrum Coloniae apud vos fuisse, atque istic aliquandiu cum vxore sua commoratum, tandem aliquando postliminio in Belgium suum reuorsionem fecisse, ibique nunc in suo praedio, vt solet, bibliothecam suam tractare. Peream, mi dulcissime Falkenburgi, quod si vnquam nuptias ab eo factas sciuerim: neque enim, quod ad me attinet, inhonoratus vnquam aut sine Epithalamio discessisset. Itaque nunc etiam Lipsio nostro, quod possum, gaudeo, et (si sera gratulatio, praesertim quae nulla negligentia commissa est, reprehendi non meretur) gratulor illi hunc iactum ex animi sui sententia, et venerium et basilicum cecidisse: et, quod felix faustum vtrisque ac salutare siet: Deum Opt. Max. rogo, quaesoque, vti sit volens propitius, vtique hanc rem ipsis bene fortunare velit: vt in illos aptius, quam in Acmen et Septimium conuenire possit illud Catulli:

 
Mutuis animis amant, amantur.
 
Quis vllos homines beatiores
 
Vidit? quis Venerem auspicatiorem?

Tibi vero non tam plaudo et gratulor, quam mihi ipsi displiceo, ac doleo, neque id sine inuidiolae, vt libere loquar, morsu tacito, quod tibi tam cari et lepidi capitis, et cuius hercle mores omnes ad venustatem valent, Doctis, Iuppiter, et nimis facetis colloquijs perfruendi adeo festiua copia ac facultas euenit, cuius ego iam quinquennium totum continuum summo cum dolore meo, et ciuilium discordiarum flagitio inopiam sum passus. sed hoc beat saltem, quod idem apud se de Douza suo, non semel sermones habuerit, idque cum summa, vt scribis, beneuolentiae significatione. Quae si vera sunt, vt ego sane esse non dubito, nae ego hercle triumpho, viuoque omnibus Regibus beatior.

 
Ergo mirabar, quod iam diu aures tinnibant mihi
 
Ariolatae quae videntur esse sibi in mundo bonum.

Vt vt est, opto mihi tres homines (vt apud poetam meum familiare est auro contra caros dari cum istis moribus, videorque mihi non temere hercle, neque insipienter Lipsij nomen multo lepidissimum in Cupidinibus meis cum eiusmodi Elogio posuisse.

Antistans nostris Lipsius ingenijs.

quod iudicium meum et C. Tacitus ante biennium ab eo in lucem emissus, et, quae ratio maxima est, Antiquarum Lectionum ipsius commentarius anno superiore publicatus reipsa clarissime approbat atque confirmat. Neque ego vnquam hercle me ablectiores Observationes aut Coniectanea vidisse censeo. Quid quaeris? Speculo claras clarorem merum. Scito me itaque posthac porro omnes spes, curas, ac cogitationes meas de hoc rei antiquariae nostrae studio penitus abiecisse, totamque hanc prouinciam Lipsio meo ac tibi, vestrique similibus cupientissimo animo tradere. De Lectionibus meis Plautinis tamen animum bonum habere te iubeo.

 

2. Lipsius' entry in Jan van Hout's Album amicorum

(Leiden, Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, inv. nr. 3385, f. 8)

 
TIBI
 
IANE HAVTENE
 
Poëtarum nostri aeui, nostrae linguae
 
exorte flos:
 
vulgato sermone nihil vulgatum
 
spirans, et ideo aliquid supra
 
vulgum merito sperans:
 
Testandae amicitiae, per hos dies,
 
non fortuitu, sed iudicio
 
initae, constantis et aeternae.
 
 
 
IVST. LIPSIUS
 
Hoc manus meae monumentum
 
cui D.M. abest
 
Libens posui.
 
Lugduni Bat. M.D.LXXIIX
 
a.d. XI. Kal. Veneris.
 
 
 
Numeri, innumeri.
 
Quam pauci amici pro re nomen possident ?
 
Periuri, versipelles, duplices viri.
 
Benigni lingua; fronte et verbis adiuuant;
 
Ad rem cum ventum est, factis hidem deiuuant.
 
In os adulant; clam suffundunt frigidam.
 
Hi nunc, quasi herba irrigua, vbique pullulant,
 
Et spisso nimium amicus virus euenit.
 
Hi mores, fateor, morbo et morti sunt mihi.
 
Hos ego vitabo. nec vltra de me glorior
 
In amore constans, liber, simplex, sane ego
 
Tester Fidem, et Fidium.

3. Lipsius' dedicatory letter to Janus Dousa and Jan van Hout

(J. Lipsius,Electorum liber II, Antwerp 1585, fol. *2-*3; ILE II, 85 01 02)

 

Ad Ianum Dousam V. N. et Ianum Hautenum huic urbi a secretis.

Non diu quaerendae aut reddendae mihi caussae sunt, Iane Dousa et Hautene, libri huius inscripti vobis. Una mihi in mente et oculis, fidus honestusque amor, quo prosequor vos iure. Adfectum enim vestrum intueor? diligitis me, imo amatis. Beneficia et officia? vetera ea in me constant, et cumulatis cottidie, ita non libenter solum sed ardenter, ut accipere videamini cum in me confertis. Nec discedit aut dissidet a vestro meus animus, qui iunctus adstrictusque vobis, iaminde ab eo tempore, quo novimus inter nos, arcano quodam Naturae nexu. Te Dousa Lovanii vidi primum et ut vidi, (uno verbo dicam) arsi. Quis enim non in hoc tam nivei pectoris candore et morum hilari suavitate? At te Hautene, in hac urbe in quam vix pedem penetravi, quin una in tuam domum; quae aliquot menses ita benigne et comiter me habuit, ut melius mihi esse non potuerit (liceat ita loqui) apud Iovem ipsum hospitalem. Et ab eo tempore seiuncti aedibis fuimus non usu, non animis, cum crebri inter nos velut Amicitiae Triumviros, conventus essent, colloquia, convivia: sed ea tamen intra temperantiae modestiaeque fines. Animorum enim in his oblectamentis quaerebamus, non corporum et sermones alternos edere ac bibere quam cibos sive potus. Saepe gravior historia fercula nobis distinxit, interdum amoenior fabula, saepissime tui Dousa, tui Hautene versus. Legebamus enim eos et curas publicas privatasque iucunde fallebamus duplici ista Musa. Atque ut in vite sub foliorum palmitumque umbris pulcherrimae saepe uvae occultantur, sic sub istis fabellarum delectamentis et, ut sic dicam, pampinis reperti mihi crebro purpurei rerum fructus. Uterque autem vestrum inter poetas (audacter hunc titulum tribuo) principes, sed in diverso tamen genere, cum tu Dousa via et lingua veteri insistas; tu Hautene novitia magis et nostra. Romana semita illi placita; huic Belgica, quam quoties calcat, gloriari iure potest

Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante trita solo

Primus enim, aut certe inter primos, ab Heliconio et Albano monte deduxit ad haec stagna Tethyos, novem illas deas; primus polire et fingere linguam nostram ausus in eaque latentes Veneres et Gratias ostendere, ad quas stupemus et quas cadere in eam posse iurati negabamus. Sed tamen stili et linguae hoc potius discrimen inter vos quam virtutum aut virium. Uterque magnus, imo summus poeta; et quos versus scribere adseverem non tam propitiis quam dictantibus Musis. Elegi vobis aut Comoediae placent? mollitiem et urbanitatem priscam refertis, et pulpita vobis madent Attico simul melle et sale. Epigrammata aut Satyrae? acumen vestrum in materie miramur et dentem in morsu. Odae? hic vero insurgitis et inspiratis, et in altum sublimemque aethera scanditis, felice magis nescio an audace penna. Pindari vis et virtus illa propria putabatur conciari subito et attolli, et ex ore humano proferre aliquid non humanum: vos non aemulari eum dicam, potius imitari. Quoties mulserunt animos audientium versus vestri? quoties moverunt? ita praesens uterque vestrum et potens duplices istos adfectus indere, sive suaves sive turbidos, et hos magis, acri quodam verborum sententiarumque ictu. Felices ambo ingenii, sed non otii! quos publicae gravioresque curae abducunt saepe et abstrahunt a querulis et

plorantibus Musis. Sed vos et ad seria haec apti iidemque, alternante dextra, et reipublicae clavum tenere docti et lyrae plectrum. Clavum tamen saepius (ita tua Dousa dignitas, tuum Hautene munus postulant) quem opto voveoque ut tranquilliori aliquando mari tractetis et nos post tam diuturnos bellorum nimbos legitimae Pacis carmen vobiscum canamus in Quietis sacro portu. Valete amici. Lugduni, Kalend[is] Febr[uariis] Anno MDLXXXV.

4. Lipsius to Jan van Hout.

(J. Lipsius, Musae errantes, Antwerp 1610, p. 44-45; also in Ranutius Gherus (=Janus Gruterus), Delitiae C poetarum Belgicorum, Frankfort 1614, III, p. 305 and in J.A. van Dorsten, Poets, Patrons, and Professors. Sir Philip Sidney, Daniel Rogers and the Leiden Humanists, Leiden-London 1962, p. 204).

Ad I. Hautenum, Non esse aptum se Belgicae Musae.
 
Hautene Vates, vatis interpres sacri
 
Idemque iure Belgicae Princeps lyrae,
 
Quo me remotos abripis tecum in locos?
 
Quae nemora, quod lustrare me iubes iugum?
5
Qua nulla Vatum trita semita est solo.
 
O parce, parce. non profano vertici
 
Debetur ista laurus; hanc olim tibi
 
Parnassi ab ipso detulit Phoebus iugo.
 
Qui primus ausus fila Belgicae chelys
10
Mouere plectro, et a bicorni vertice
 
Nouem citare, ad stagna Thetyos, Deas.
 
Quod inuidebunt haec et illa saecula.
 
Tua, o tua istaec laus: ego quid nisi iocum
 
Risumque nautis debeam et cauponibus?
15
Fallace ut olim cecidit ales Icarus
 
Penna leuatus: frustra sic famam noui
 
Et carmen omnes aemulemur Pindari.

5. On cold, the enemy of the Poets

(Lipsius, Musae errantes, Antwerp 1610, p. 38; also in Ranutius Gherus (=Janus Gruterus), Delitiae C poetarum Belgicorum, Frankfort 1614, III, p. 318)

De frigore inimico Poetis.
 
Auspicijs Iani duplicis dum scribere versus
 
Cogito, Douza tuis, et noue Iane tuis:
 
Obstitit incoeptis Saturni sidus, et omnis
 
Crystallo tegitur amnis, et omnis humus.
5
Conglaciastis aquae Heliconidas. ite Poetae,
 
Nulla leuat vestram Castalis vnda sitim.

6. Excuse to his Colleagues

(J. Lipsius, Musae errantes, Antwerp 1610, p. 50-51; also in Ranutius Gherus (=Janus Gruterus), Delitiae C poetarum Belgicorum, Frankfort 1614, III, p. 332-333)

Ad Collegas suos Excusatio.
 
Sodales lepidi, vtriusque linguae
 
Cultores, quibus haec et illa Musa
 
Frontem non moriente fronde cingit:
 
Sit vestras mihi fas semel migrasse
5
Leges, nec solidos dedisse versus
 
Bis senos. vetat hoc stupente caelo
 
Obortus stupor, et negat calorem
 
Mens admittere lenta Apollinarem.
 
Morbum huc addite, et addite huc veternum
10
Cum morbo simitus mihi molestum.
 
At vos parcite: sic bonae Camoenae
 
Aetatem faueant, Perennitasque
 
Vestras perpetuet volens Camoenas.

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