De Lupa Lustri Vaticani (Epigr. XXX)
The Defiance of the Wolf
The poet confronts the slanderous nature of the Vatican's influence, declaring readiness to navigate its dangers with truth.
Is there no shame, no limit to these slanders, and will you never stop, you wolf of the Vatican? Empty fears! We know how to sail past that Charybdis with equal caution, and we're ready with our darts for your Scylla—the British fox and the Roman wolf alike. We'll confirm the truth of this statement with an anagram.
Read the original Latin
Calumniarum nec pudor quis nec modus, Nec Vaticanae desines unquam lupae? Metus inanes! Nos pari praetervehi Illam Charybdim cautione novimus Vestramque Scyllam, aequis parati spiculis Britannicam in vulpem inque Romanam lupam. Dicti fidem firmabimus anagrammate.
The Latin Poems companion
Read all 57 of Herbert's Latin poems, one a day
Chosen Portion delivers a Herbert poem (or another royal-court devotional text) as your free daily reading on iOS
Herbert's short poems were written for meditative re-reading; Chosen Portion serves one per day, turning the two collections into a two-month devotional cycle
- All 57 Latin poems in modern English, roughly two months of daily readings
- One short poem a day, readable in under 5 minutes
- Includes the full Sub Rosa archive of 78 historic devotional works