Soda

'Soda'

Fies nobilium Tu quoque fontium.—Horat. Od. jiiii. L. 3.
Fontium Qui celat origines.—Horat. Od. xiv. L. 4.

O Fons Salutis! Vita! Fides mea!
Tumultuosi qui mala pectoris
   Compescis, et morbi furores
      Attenuas, saliente lympha;

Musis sodali sub Camerario*
Praestes novellam Castaliam mihi;
   Salvumque dilectis amicis
      Restitues, animosque reddes:

Sparsim remotas condis origines
Arcana rerum subter, et abditus
   Nascentis ad terrae recessus,
      Primigenique elementa mundi:

Unde ausa in auras Te trahere, et leves
Miscere docta particulas manu
   Cohors Medentum, ut rivus orbi
      Mirifica fluat auctus arte.

Agnosce Patris munera! Quem Deum
Agnoscit, omni parte operis Sui,
   Ad Solis occasus et ortus,
      Terra, Mare, aethereumque Ceslum.

22nd August, 1842.

Fountain of health! and hope! and faith! and life!
That quell'st my tortured bosom's restless strife;
And, to relieve my agonising dreams,
Pour'st forth thy crystal, cool, bright, salient streams.
Under the hand of classic Chambers placed,
A new Castalia freshens to my taste:
Inspires new life, and spirit, and again,
Leads me revived to the gay haunts of men.
In nature's secrets hid, thy birth place lies,
Far scattered, deep, remote from human eyes,
Amid the germs that first gave nature birth,
And the primfieval elements of earth;
Whence dared to draw Thee to earth's airs, and blend
Thy lightsome texture in one glorious end
Machaon's Race; and spread thy wholesome streams
Where'er the Sun extends his living beams.
Acknowledge God's good gifts; whose bounteous hand
His works acknowledge all through main and land,
Where'er the sun sinks low, or rises high,
The Earth, the Sea, and the aethereal sky.

Richard Colley Wellesley, Primitiæ et reliquiæ (London: typis Gulielmi Nicol., 1841), [pp. 140-41].

Basium 3

Johannes Secundus (1511-1536), 'Basium 3'

Da mihi suaviolum, dicebam, blanda puella,
      Libasti labris mox mea labra tuis.
Inde, velut presso qui territus angue resultat,
      Ora repente meo vellis ab ore procul.
Non hoc suaviolum dare, Lux mea, sed dare tantum
      Est desiderium flebile suavioli.

‘Give me soft kisses, sweet girl’, I said,
      Soon she lashed my lips with hers.
Then as one startled by stepping on a snake
      Suddenly she plucks her mouth from mine.
My love, it is not a tender kiss she gives me,
      But only the tearful desire for a tender kiss.

Jean Second, Œuvres complètes, 5 vols (Paris: H. Champion, 2005-), I [Basiorum liber et odarum liber] (2005), p. 130. My translation. I published a few translations of Secondus' poems years ago, but for whatever reason, not this one.

A Catalogus Arborum

Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406), 'Conquestio Phillidis', 137-156:

gentibus optatam pacem sacra Palladis arbor
   nuntiet et populis omina leta ferat.
frondibus eternis Phebeia superbiat arbos,
   hacque triumphalis fronde sacretur honos;
altaque odoratis conis redimita cupressus
   perpetua fronde sidera celsa petat.
sacra Iovi quercus per secula multa superstes
   gaudeat aurata glande cibasse viros
luxurient Veneris myrtus in litore salso,
   atque comant semper fronde virente comas.
medica Caiete scopuloso in litore poma
   crescant. Iudeus balsama rara colat.
dactilus ex nudo procedat robore palme,
   ac humilem curvent grandia poma citrum.
Mura, nefas, pulcrum sub pectore servet Adona
   ac electra gemens det quasi parturiat.
flagret turifluis dives Pancaia virgis.
   pinus in Ydeis crescat amena iugis,
ac ebenum nulla lignum violabile flamma
   India producat, plurima monstra ferens.

The sacred tree of Pallas would announce the desired peace to the people and would bear deadly omens to the people. It would distain the Phoebeian trees with their everlasting greenery, and triumphant honour would be consecrated with this bough; and the tall cypress encircled with scented cones would seek the lofty stars with its everlasting foliage. Outliving the sacred oak of Jupiter through many ages, it would rejoice to have fed men with a gilded acorn, the myrtles of Venus would grow luxuriantly on the salty shore, and always adorn their tops with green foliage. The medicinal fruits of Gaëta would thrive on the rocky shore. Judea would cultivate rare balsam trees. The date of the palm-tree would appear on the naked oak, and massive fruits would bend the lowly lemon tree. The Mur (shocking!) would watch over the beauty inside its heart and the groaning Adona would bear forth amber as if in labour. Rich Pancaia would be inflamed with sweet-scented stalks. The delightful pine tree would thrive in peaks of Mount Ida. And India, which produces the greatest number of wonders, would produce ebony wood violable by no flame.

Richard C. Jensen, ‘Coluccio Salutati’s “Lament of Phyllis” ’, Studies in Philology, 65.2 (1968), 109-123, p. 120. My translation.

The Rape of the Lock in Latin Leonines

Thomas Parnell (1679-1718)
‘Part of the First Canto of the Rape of the Lock with a Translation in Leonine Verse, after the manner of the ancient monks.’

Et nunc dilectum speculum, pro more retectum,
Emicat in mensa, quae splendet pyxide densa:
Tum primum lympha, se purgat candida Nympha;
Jamque sine menda, coelestis imago videnda,
Nuda caput, bellos retinet, regit, implet ocellos.
Hac stupet explorans, seu cultus numen adorans:
Inferior claram Pythonissa apparet ad aram,
Fertque tibi caute, dicatque Superbia! laute,
Dona venusta; oris, quae cunctis, plena laboris,
Excerpta explorat, dominamque deamque decorat.
Pyxide devota, se pandit hic India tota,
Et tota ex ista transpirat Arabia cista;
Testudo hic flectit, dum se mea Lesbia pectit;
Atque elephas lente, te pectit Lesbia dente;
Hunc maculis noris, nivei jacet ille coloris.
Hic jacet et munde, mundus muliebrit abunde;
Spinula resplendens aeris longo ordine pendens,
Pulvis suavis odore, et epistola suavis amore.
Induit arma ergo, Veneris pulcherrima virgo;
Pulchrior in praesens tempus de tempore crescens;
Jam reparat rifus, jam furgit gratia visus,
Jam promit cultu, mirac[u]la latentia vultu;
Pigmina jam miscet, quo plus fua Purpura gliscet,
Et geminans bellis splendet mage fulgor ocellis.
Stant Lemures muti, Nymphae intentique saluti,
Hic figit Zonam, capiti locat ille Coronam,
Haec manicis formam, plicis dat et altera normam
Et tibi vel Betty, tibi vel nitidissima Letty!
Gloria factorum temere conceditur horum.

   And now, unveil’d, the Toilet stands display’d,
Each silver vase in mystic order laid.
First, rob’d in white, the nymph intent adores
With head uncover’d, the Cosmetic pow’rs.
A heav’nly image in the glass appears,
To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears;
Th’ inferior priestess, at her altar’s side,
Trembling, begins the sacred rites of pride.
Unnumber’d treasures ope at once, and here
The various off’rings of the world appear;
From each she nicely culls with curious toil,
And decks the Goddess with the glitt’ring spoil.
This casket India’s glowing gems unlocks,
And all Arabia breathes from yonder box.
The Tortoise here and Elephant unite,
Transform’d to combs, the speckled and the white.
Here files of pins extend their shining rows,
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux.
Now awful beauty puts on all its arms,
The fair each moment rises in her charms,
Repairs her smiles, awakens ev’ry grace,
And calls forth all the wonders of her face;
Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,
And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.
The busy Sylphs surround their darling care;
These set the head, and those divide the hair,
Some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the gown;
And Betty’s prais’d for labours not her own.

Thomas Parnell, The Works in Verse and Prose of Dr. Thomas Parnell (Glasgow: printed and sold by R. and A. Foulis, 1755), pp. 66-68.

An Egg-Shaped Poem

Pierio Valeriano (1477-1558)

      Danieli Barbaro.P.V. Ouum Dactylicum.
                           θεοκρατικῶς

                                  Sacrā
                                 Barbari
                              Thespiades
                           Cingite frontem
                          Floribus  omnibus
                        OEbaliis,      Paphiis,
                       Laurigerisque  coronis.
                   Nam ferit hic bene Barbyton
                  Suauisonis      modulaminibus:
                Egregius adeò  ,      vt data vobis
               Huic  rear  aurea plectra  sororibus:
                Aoniumve  dedit   puero   melos
                Et citharā bonus addit Apollo,
                  Indole   captus  ,  & ingenio,
                   Hunc hederis igitur sacris
                      Cingite protinus almæ
                           Pierides nouum
                                  Poëtam.

Pierio Valeriano, Hieroglyphica; [opuscula uaria] (Cologne: apud Ioannem Wilhemum Friessem, 1685), p. 123. My translation:

'To Daniel Barbaro, VenetianPatriarch: A Dactylic Egg (In a divine manner)'.

Thespiades, surround the barbarian’s sacred brow with all the flowers of Oebalia, Paphos and laurel-bearing crowns. For he strikes the barbiton well with sweet-sounding melodies. So eloquent, that I think golden picks were given to you by the sister Muses: Or good Apollo imparts Aeonian melodies and a lyre. Captive to genius and wit, surround this new poet, o nourishing Pierdes, with sacred ivy.

A Poem to Help One Remember the Muses

Guarino Veronese (1374-1460)
Carmina de Musis

Esse Iovis natas cecinere poemata Musas,
Nanque hominum rebus dextras deus obtulit artes.
Instruit historiis mortales vivere Clio.
Tempora plantandi docuit legesque Thalia.
Euterpe monstrat quas fundat tibia voces.
Melpomene exponit varios distinguere cantus.
Terpsichore oblectat dehinc lumina nostra choreis.
Conubiis Erato gratos moderatur amores.
Ostendit sulcos segetesque Polymnia vitae.
Urania polos docet et portenta polorum.
Calliope vates ornat vocesque serenat.

The poems they sang were Muses, Jupiter’s daughters,
For the god offered skillful arts for the affairs of men.
Clio teaches mortals to live on in histories.
Thalia taught the seasons and rules for planting.
Euterpe teaches the flute which notes to utter.
Melpomene explains how to distinguish different songs.
Thereupon, Terpsichore adds cheer to our lives with dances.
Erato navigates pleasing loves into marriages.
Polymnia reveals the furrows and fields of life.
Urania shows the heavens and celestial omens.
Calliope honours poets and brightens their voices.

Guarino Veronese, Guarini Veronensis carmina, ed. by Aldo Manetti (Bergamo: Istituto universitario di Bergamo, 1985), pp. 61-62. My translation.

Drinking and Reading

Giovanni Matteo Toscano
‘Petrus Alcionius XCVIII’

Quam vorax dapis heluo fuisti,
Quam meri bromii siticulosus,
Heluo Petre tam vorax librorum
Eras, Castaliae et sititor vndae:
Ut nunquam fueris satur bibendo,
Et nunquam fueris satur legendo:
Sic te Cynthius hinc et inde Bacchus
Suis annumerant, parumque certum est
Cui gratus fueris magis sacerdos.

Yes, you were a voracious glutton for a fine spread,
With quite a thirst, yes, for the riotous god’s own pure wine,
But, Peter, no less voracious a glutton were you
For books, and a thirster after Castalian water:
Just as you were never sated with imbibing,
You were also never sated with reading:
Thus Apollo on the one hand, and Bacchus on the other,
Count you amongst their own, and it is hardly clear
To which of the two you were the more gratifying priest.

Giovanni Matteo Toscano, Peplus italiae (Paris: ex officina Federic Morel, 1578), pp. 59-60. Cited and translated in George Hugo Tucker, Homo Viator: Itineraries of Exile, Displacement and Writing in Renaissance Europe (Geneva: Droz, 2003), p. 167.

Three Latin Nursery Rhymes

1. ‘CARMINA GYNACEI’ [Little Jack Horner]

In latebra sedit Horner (dixere) Johannem,
Parvus, edens natale, quietus! crustula christi,
Inseruit digitum—depromsit, callide! prunum,
Et laetus dixit—“Juvenis quam sum bonus ego.”

2. [Hey diddle diddle]

Nunc felem citharamque cano cum hei diddle diddle,
Lactiferam necnon vaccam qui saltat ad astra,
Atque canem parvum qui risit videre ludos,
Cochlear et patinam fugientem, horribile visu!

3. ‘Invocatio ad Mercurium et eius responsum.’ [Mary had a little lamb]

“Parvus, oves Bopeep infelix perdidit olim,
   Qua censes O Rex invenisset eas?”
“Permitte esse in eas ad ovilia mox redituras,
   Haud dubio caudas ducere pone suas.”

Anonymous, The Regrets of Memory (London: Henry Wix, 1840), pp. 101-103. Emended ‘inveniisset’. The first two are simple dactylic hexameters; the third has been rendered as an epigram in elegiac couplets,

I am the very pattern of a modern Major-General...

Legati specimen conspicuum Stanlius est noui;
quidquid terra creat, gramen alit, celat humus, sagax:
reges scit Latii, scit ueterum proelia temporum,
quo sint gesta die, seu Marathon, siue sit Actium.
uix artem numeri Pythagoras ipse magis sapit;
non problema fuit quin breuiter Stanlius explicet.
fullonum tabulas litterulis hic Babyloniis
scribit; nulla sagi praeterit hunc bulla Carataci.
picturaque catus, Parrhasium Zeuxide separat,
ranarumque chorus quos sonitus fuderit haud latet.
quod quaeris? segetes, bestiolas, resque metallicas,
dux exercituum Stanlius est ut specimen nouum.
et cum quid iaculum fundaue sit dicere quiuerit,
uestalique dolis callidior uirgine bellicis,
ipas militiae primitias coeperit adsequi,
uix haerebit equo dux melior—namque fateberis.

Translated by T.W. Melluish.

In the metre of Horace, Odes I.11: ‘– u – u u – || – u u – || – u u – u x’

H. H. Huxley, Carmina: MCMLXII an anthology of Latin verses in the metres of lyric, epigram and comedy (Shrewsbury: Wilding & Son Ltd., 1963)1, p. 44.

Cottleston Pie

A.A. Milne (1882-1956), Winnie Ille Pu, trans. by Alexander Lenard (London: sumptibus Methuen, 1994; 1958), pp. 52-53:

Crustulum, crustulum, crustulum cru
Cano aenigmata, canis ac tu?
Crustulum, crustulum, crustulum crum
Cerebrum meum est fatiga-tum.

Crustulum, crustulum, crustulum cru
Volitant aves, dic volitas tu?
Crustulum, crustulum, crustulum crum
Cerebrum meum est fatiga-tum.

Crustulum, crustulum, crustulum cru
Sibilo bene, dic sibilas tu?
Crustulum, crustulum, crustulum crum
Cerebrum meum est fatiga-tum.

A.A. Milne, 'Cottleston Pie'

Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie,
A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly.
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie.

Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie,
Why does a chicken? I don't know why.
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie.

Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie,
A fish can't whistle and neither can I.
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Cottleston Cottleston Cottleston Pie.

On the Fall of Constantinople

Gaspare Tribraco (1439-1493 c.)
Carmen de apparatu contra Turcum, 407-415

Ante meos iam pridem oculos moestissima flexis  
procubuit genibus lacrimis miseranda profusis
in vultum inque sinus, scopulos motura marinos  
agrestisque feras, templis eiecta Sophia,  
litora quae Tracum versu miranda colebat
marmoribus Pariis nec non aliunde petitis.  
Omnia quae nunc sunt misera prostrata ruina  
Turcigenum manibus foedis, ubi maxima Turco  
Constantinopolis cecidit captiva feroci.  
 
Long ago before my eyes, Sophia, full of sorrows, fell to bended knees. She was worthy of pity, for the tears running down her face and bosom, which could move even the stones of the sea and savage beasts. Sophia was ejected from her temples, she who used to cultivate in verse the Thracians’ wondrous shores, from the marbles from Paros or sought from other places. Everything is now overthrown into wretched ruins by the filthy hands of the Turks, where the greatest Constantinople, captured, has been cut down by the warlike Turk.

Giuseppe Venturini, Un umanista modenese nella Ferrara di Borso d’Este: Gaspare Tribraco (Ravenna: A. Longo, 1970), p. 88. My translation. This poem was completed by 1464.

Francesco Filelfo

Francesco Filelfo (1398-1481)
‘Ad Gasparum Mercatum Valentiae Comitem.’

Non venio, Gaspar, nam sudant inguina multo
   aestu, quo testes tres mihi bella movent.

I am not coming, Gaspar, for my groins sweat with so much
   heat that my three testicles make wars against me.

Carlo de’ Rosmini, Vita di Francesco Filelfo da Tolentino, 3 vols (Milan: Presso Luigi Mussi, 1808) I, p. 113. My translation. Filelfo had adopted the Greek nickname ‘τριόρχις’ (‘three testicles’).

On Unsolicited Gifts of Books

Pietro Odi da Montopoli (1425-1463)

IV AD JOANNEM TORTELLIUM
Corrige quos misi versus et fuste domato;
   Corrigat et stultos cornea virga pedes.

IV TO GIOVANNI TORTELLI
Correct those who send you their verses and beat them with a stick:
    Correct their foolish feet with a cornel switch.

Maria Teresa Graziosi Acquaro, ‘Petri Odi Montopolitani. Carmina nunc primum e libris manu scriptis edita’, Humanistica Lovaniensia, XIX (1970), 7-113, (p. 54). My translation.

Notes:
The verb corrigere can mean 'chastise' as well as 'correct' or 'improve', there is a playful ambiguity concerning whom is being set right: the solicitous  poets or their verses.

The Book Collector

De inutilibus libris

Primus in excelsa teneo quod nave rudentes
Stultivagosque sequor comites per flumina vasta
Non ratione vacat certa sensuque latenti.
Congestis etenim stultus confido libellis,
Spem quoque nec parvam collecta volumina praebent.
Calleo nec verbum, nec libri sentio mentem.
Attamen in magno per me servantur honore,
Pulueris et cariem plumatis tergo flabellis.
Ast ubi doctrinae certamen voluitur, inquam,
Aedibus in nostris librorum culta supellex
Eminet. et chartis vivo contentus opertis,
Quas video ignorans, iuvat et me copia sola.

On Useless Books

It is not without good reason and good sense, that I sit in the most conspicuous part of the ship [of fools], and follow my foolish braying companions across the wide oceans. For I am the fool who relies on owning heaps of books, even though possessing such an assembly of books does not in itself supply even a shred of hope. Yet these books are preserved by me in good condition. I wipe off the decay of dust with feather dusters. But when people go on about learning, I say that the collection of books in my house is preeminent. And I live context with the books stowed away where I can see them. Ignorant of their contents, merely possessing a large pile pleases me.

Nina Hartl, Die “Stultifera navis”: Jakob Lochers Übertragung von Sebastian Brants “Narrenschiff”, 2 vols (Münster: Waxmann, 2001), II. pp. 50. My translation.

Alliterative Poem for Spring

 Ianus Novák (Jan Novák 1921-1984)
‘Ionici quibus ver salvere iubetur’

Veniet ver violarum varia veste venustum
valide vivida vexilla vibrans ver violens
virginibus, vestra voluptas

Veniet ver veniet vivificans vos veluti
verbere virgae virides visite valles veteres
verrite vepres: veniet ver

Veniet ver: vigilate et Venerem versicolorem
vehementer venerantes valida voce vicissim
vocitate: eia ave ver!

Graceful spring will come in coloured blanket of violets, violent spring vigorously brandishing spirited flags for maidens, your pleasure.

Spring will come. It will come, reviving you as if by the lash of a rod. Go see green vales, sweep away old thorn-bushes, spring will come.

Spring will come. Vigorously be vigilant for varicoloured Venus, lasses again venerating with a strong voice, calling: ‘quick! hail spring!’

Carmina latina recentiora. Veterum tibiis canunt nepotes, 3rd edn, ed. by Rainardus Brune (Leichlingen: Domus editoria Rainardi Brune, 1986), p. 37. My translation.

Two Neo-Latin about Sleep

Marc-Antoine Muret (1526-1585)
‘Somnium’

Euge, an te teneo, mea lux, an somnia demens  
   Fingo mihi? Certè, lux mea, te teneo.  
Somnia non haec sunt. oculis nónne intuor hisce
   Flammeolósque oculos purpureásque genas  
Lacteolásque manus, et eburnae frontis honorem,
   Colláque non tacta candidiora niue?  
Dulcia collatis ineamus proelia signis,  
   Dum tuta alternis lusibus hora datur.
Me miserum! nusquam es. Fallax me lusit imago.  
   O dolor! ô animi gaudia vana mei!  
Quid queror? exacta si rem ratione putemus,  
   Vmbra est in misero quidquid amore boni est.  

'A Dream'

Oh! Am I holding you, my light, or am I mad,  
   Casting a dream? Surely, my light, I am holding you.
These are not dreams. Surely I stare into
   Your flaming eyes and ruddy cheeks and
Milk-white hands, and lovely ivory brow,
   And your neck whiter than snow?  
Allow us to enter pleasing battles with standards opposed,
   While a protected hour permits successive games.
Oh wretch that I am! You are nowhere. A false image tricked me.
   Oh sorrow! Oh my spirit’s hollow joys.
Why do I lament? If we think rationally about the matter,
   Whatever is good in wretched love is a shadow!

Marc-Antoine Muret, Juvenilia, ed. & French trans. Virginie Leroux (Genève: Droz 2009; 1552), p. 148.

Fidelis Raedle
‘Laus somni’

’Quantum tempus perdimus’,
clamas, ’dormiendo!’
Perditum non dixerim
tempus, si perpendo,
quam optata homini
illa res sit omni:
recreatio animi
et dulcedo somni.

Lecto mandant corporis
membra fatigata
Lethe poti homines
nec iam curant fata
dira. ita veterem
Adam ego verto:
novus fio iterum
dum ad mane sterto.

Totum refrigerio
huic est cor intentum;
iam accedet somnium,
somni ornamentum.
Mundi dum abicio
istius dolorem,
rerum formam video
plane pulchriorem.

'In Praise of Sleep' 

‘How much time we waste’, you shout, ‘while asleep!’ I would not say, properly considered, that it is time so much lost as spent in the way most welcome to a man. The thing for all is the refreshment of mind and the sweetness of sleep.

The body’s tired limbs entrust themselves to bed. Men who have drank from Lethe do not now worry about fearful calamities. Thus I overthrow old Adam: I become a new man again while I snore in the morning.

Completely at rest, for this is the heart’s desire. Now a dream, the ornament of sleep, approaches. While I cast away the sorrow of that world, I see clearly the more beautiful form of things.

Carmina latina recentiora. Veterum tibiis canunt nepotes, 3^rd edn, ed. by Rainardus Brune (Leichlingen: Domus editoria Rainardi Brune, 1986), p. 157.

My translations.

Winter Riddle

Pedro Ruiz de Moros (1515-1571), ‘Aenigma.’

Gentibus optatus media inter frigora nascor;
Ore parens patulo me concipit edit et alvo
Centum uteris distincta, alvusque illaesa superstat.
Non fert longa novem mater fastidia menses.
Angustis horae spatiis conceptus in auras
Prodeo sublimis, consurgensque undique pello
Vitae hostem; succedo loco reddoque salutem
Omnibus optatam et tenui solatia plebi.
Me populi patresque colunt, regesque superbi,
Plebs tenuis mihi se et natos debere fatetur.
Vita brevis; septem vivo longaevus in horas;
Est totum vixisse diem longissima vita.   

‘A Riddle.’

I am born in cold weather when all nations desire me;
With an mouth open, my parent conceives me and brings me forth from the womb,
I am divided for a hundred wombs and her womb stands uninjured,
My mother does not endure long nausea for nine months.
Conceived in the narrow space of an hour, I come forth
In lofty airs, and rising everywhere I banish
The enemy of life; I advance into the room and restore health,
Which is desired by all and I am a solace for humble people.
The people and their fathers and proud kings honour me,
Humble people acknowledge that they themselves and their children are indebted to me.
My life is brief: I am ancient if I live for seven hours;
To have lived through an entire day is the greatest extent of life for me.

Pedro Ruiz de Moros, Petri Royzii Maurei Alcagnicensis carmina, ed. by Bronisław Kruczkiewicz, 2 vols (Kraków: Sumptibus Academiae Litterarum Cracoviensis, 1903), II, p. 488. My translation.

[To see the answer, highlight the text below here.]
**Fornax vel fornacis calor [A furnace or the heat of a furnace].

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.

‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ in Latin

Mica, Mica, parva stella;
Miror quaenam sis tam bella!
Splendens eminus in illo,
Alba velut gemma, caelo.

Quando fervens sol discessit,
Nec calore prata pascit,
Mox ostendis lumen purum,
Micans, micans per obscurum.

Tibi, noctu qui vagatur,
Ob scintillulam gratatur;
Ni micares, tu non sciret,
Quas per vias errans iret.

Meum saepe thalamum luce
Specularis curiosa;
Neque carpseris soporem,
Donec venit sol per auram.

Carmina latina, ed. by Roy C. Flickinger (Chicago, Ill.: The University of Chicago Press, 1919), p. 11.

*Although the Latin is suited to the tune of the original nursery rhyme, the editor recommends instead singing the Latin to the tune of Annie F. Harrison’s ‘In the Gloaming’, resolving the half-note into two quarter notes at the end of every alternate line (bella, caelo, etc.) to provide the necessary extra syllable.

A Mnemonic Poem on the Seven Muses

Guarino Veronese (1374-1460)
Guarini carmina de Musis

Esse Iovis natas cecinere poemata Musas,
Nanque hominum rebus dextras deus obtulit artes.
Instruit historiis mortales vivere Clio.
Tempora plantandi docuit legesque Thalia.
Euterpe monstrat quas fundat tibia voces.
Melpomene exponit varios distinguere cantus.
Terpsichore oblectat dehinc lumina nostra choreis.
Conubiis Erato gratos moderatur amores.
Ostendit sulcos segetesque Polymnia vitae.
Urania polos docet et portenta polorum.
Calliope vates ornat vocesque serenat.

The poems they sang were Muses, Jupiter’s daughters,
For the god offered skilled arts for the affairs of men.
Clio teaches mortals to live on in histories.
Thalia taught the seasons and rules for planting.
Euterpe teaches the flute which notes to utter.
Melpomene explains how to distinguish different songs.
Thereupon, Terpsichore adds cheer to our lives with dances.
Erato guides pleasing loves into marriages.
Polymnia reveals the furrows and fields of life.
Urania shows the heavens and celestial omens.
Calliope honours poets and brightens their voices.

Guarino Veronese, Guarini Veronensis carmina, ed. by Aldo Manetti (Bergamo: Istituto universitario di Bergamo, 1985), pp. 61-62. My translation. Cf, Epistolario di Guarino Veronese, ed. by Remigio Sabbadini (Venince, 1916), II, p. 500.