Sacrarum occiderant immensa uolumina legum, Proh scelus! et uanos damnabat menda labores, Tantus in ora hominum calamosque influxerat error. Nullus erat tantam auderet qui uincere molem, Et dubium nullus posset qui nauibus equor Scindere foelici cursu; nulli hec uia uiuo Insuetumne patebat iter; mortalia nondum. Ingenia aptarant scribendis legibus era. Ergo noua est primus celebrandus laude Ioannes Quem magni genuit preclara Colonia rheni: Elysiis certe dignus post funera campis Inuentas propter, iustus si est Iuppiter, artes. Hic uenetis primus leges impressit in oris Et canones, nostro grandis prouintia celo, Quodque hominum generi cunctis uel gentibus unum Sufficiebat opus: soli hec est palma Ioanni. Addidit et doctis multum censoribus aurum Solus matura ut liberarent omnia lance Peruigiles, magnum emptori et memorabile donum. Nam uia que erratis fuerat durissima quondam Nunc facilem cupidis monstrat discentibus arcem. Emptor habes careant omni qui crimine libri, Quos securus emas procul et quibus exulat error. Accipe et Auctori dentur sua premia laudes. The Volumes of the Sacred Law had died, So much were they by error damnified; Which had so deeply steeped each mouth and pen, To free them seemed too hard for mortal men; Nor was there one dared hope that he might be A happy pilot through that doubtful sea. No feet that unaccustomed road might pass; None yet for writing laws had moulded brass. John of Cologne on Rhine, to him we raise, Earnt by new merits, a new song of praise. Yes, his invention, if Jove justice yields, Shall win him when he’s dead Elysian Fields. To the great profit of our realm, his hands These laws first printed in Venetian lands; And from that work which served for all mankind ’Tis given to John alone glory to find. He, too, alone gave learned men much gold That they might free each text from errors old, And in the ready platter place such food That the blest buyer find there nought but good. Thus all the road, erst for men’s feet too hard, Right to the topmost height lies now unbarred. Buy, then, these flawless books with a light heart; And, buying, praise the printer for his art. With these lines, certainly more poetical than those of most verse colophons, we may bring this chapter to a close. [Illustration] [Illustration] IV PRINTERS’ COLOPHONS IN OTHER TOWNS