Saturday 20 January 2024

An Asinine Pun

Paullus a Gisbice (Pavel Litoměřický z Jizbice 1582-1607)
In alium.

Dum versus scribis, dum carmina mittis in orbem,
   cur tibi nullus honos? scilicet quod ὄνος.

While you go on writing verses, and while you are sending your poetry out into the world, why is it that no one honours you? Certainly it is because you are an ass.
Karel Hdina, Bohemia latina: litterarum latinarum ad gentem terramque bohemoslovenicam pertinentium nonnulla exempla selecta (Prague: sumptibus societatis philologorum bohemorum, 1931), p. 76. My Translation. honos and ὄνος are homonyms.