Loading your reading…

The Dance of Death: Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein — John Shaqi

History

The Dance of Death: Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein

Name: The Dance of Death: Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein
Author: Douce, Francis

Douce, Francis

Bible. Old Testament -- Illustrations; Dance of death

Quæstor ego, loculos suffersi arcasque capaces
  Est mihi prænitidis fundata pecunia villis.
  Hac dives redimam duræ discrimina mortis
  Te mors præripiet nullo exorabilis auro.


  NAUCLERUS.

  En ego nauclerus spaciosa per æquora vectus,
  Non timui maris aut venti discrimina mille.
  Cymba tamen mortis capiet te quæque vorantis.


  AGRICOLA.

  Agricola en ego sum, præduro sæpe labore,
  Et vigili exhaustus cura, sudore perenni,
  Victum prætenuem quærens, sine fraude doloque
  Omnia pertentans, miseram ut traducere possim
  Vitam, nec mundo me est infelicior alter.
  Mors tamen eduri fiet tibi meta laboris.


  ORATOR.

  Heroum interpres venio, fraudisque peritus,
  Bellorum strepitus compono, et bella reduco,
  Meque petunt reges, populus miratur adorans.
  Nulla abiget fraudi linguéve peritia mortem.


  PRINCEPS BELLI.

  Fulmen ego belli, reges et regna subegi,
  Victor ego ex omni præduro quamlibet ecce
  Marte fui, vitæ hinc timeo discrimina nulla.
  Te mors confodiet cauda Trigonis aquosi,
  Atque eris exanimis moriens uno ictu homo bulla.


  DIVES.

  Sum rerum felix, foecunda est prolis et uxor,
  Plena domus, lætum pecus, et cellaria plena
  Nil igitur metuo. Quid ais? Mors te impia tollet.


  PAUPER.

  Iro ego pauperior, Codroque tenuior omni,
  Despicior cunctis, nemo est qui sublevet heu heu.
  Hinc parcet veniens mors: nam nihil auferet à me,
  Non sic evades, ditem cum paupere tollit.


  FOENERATOR.

  Ut loculi intument auro, vi, fraude, doloque,
  Foenore nunc quæstum facio, furtoque rapinaque,
  Ut proles ditem, passim dicarque beatus,
  Per fas perque nefas corradens omnia quæro.
  Mors veniens furtim prædabitur, omnia tollens.


  ADOLESCENS.

  Sum juvenis, forma spectabilis, indole gaudens
  Maturusque ævi, nullus præstantior alter,
  Moribus egregiis populo laudatus ab omni.
  Pallida, difformis mors auferet omnia raptim.


  PUELLA.

  Ecce puellarum pulcherrima, mortis iniquæ
  Spicula nil meditor, juvenilibus et fruor annis,
  Meque proci expectant compti, facieque venusti.
  Stulta, quid in vana spe jactas? Mors metet omnes
  Difformes, pulchrosque simul cum paupere dices.


  NUNCIUS.

  Nuncius ecce ego sum, qui nuncia perfero pernix
  Sed retrospectans post terga, papæ audio quidnam?
  Me tuba terrificans mortis vocat. Heu moriendum est.


  PERORATIO.

  Mortales igitur memores modo vivite læti
  Instar venturi furis, discrimine nullo
  Cunctos rapturi passim ditesque inopesque.
  Stultus et insipiens vita qui sperat in ista,
  Instar quæ fumi perit et cito desinit esse.
  Fac igitur tota virtuti incumbito mente,
  Quæ nescit mortem, sed scandit ad ardua coeli.
  Quo nos à fatis ducat rex Juppiter, Amen.

  Plaudite nunc, animum cuncti retinete faventes.

  FINIS.

  Antwerpiæ apud Michaelem Hillenium M.D.XXXIIII. Mense Maio.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Dance of Death: Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein

No reviews yet