Instituti Epigrammatici Ratio (Epigr. I)
The Humble Offering
The poet acknowledges the heavy burdens of the ruler and offers only modest, brief verses as a sign of respect.
Since it's clear that a thousand concerns press upon your mind, and the world depends on your help, I'll offer you mere scraps instead of a substantial poem, Caesar, so I don't seem to weary you with long-winded verses. For when you crush the Cathars with your face and your books, the leftovers from your table are welcome to me.
Read the original Latin
Cum millena tuam pulsare negotia mentem Constet, et ex illa pendeat orbis ope; Ne te productis videar lassare camoenis, Pro solido, Caesar, carmine frusta dabo. Cum tu contundens, Catharos, vultuque librisque, Grata mihi mensae sunt analecta tuae.
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