John Owen, The Epigrammatist

Extract

No class of writers is more neglected than the men who wrote in Latin after the Renaissance. Medieval studies usually stop at that point, and thenceforth the attention of scholars is absorbed in the young literatures written in the vernacular languages of Europe. Classical scholars are chary of venturing even as far as St. Augustine or Ausonius, and the Middle Ages are to the majority a closed book. Yet these post-Renaissance authors, no less than the writers of the Middle Ages, are witnesses to the endurance of Latin culture. Fracastoro, no less than Dante or Augustine, is instructive as being under the influence of Virgil. Both Medievalists and Classicists can benefit from a study of such Late Latin poets as G. Buchanan, Joannes Secundus, and John Owen, to name only the more prominent. Even the historian can derive much interesting material from their work as signposts of opinion in an age of transition and symbols of the enduring value of the Latin tradition. For Owen in particular may be pleaded his enormous popularity in his lifetime, which suggests that his epigrams were more than academic exercises to charm the indolent at the court of James I. They were soon translated into French, German, and Spanish, and there were five English versions. His reputation was truly international and appealed beyond the circle of those who spoke Latin freely.