DISCOURSE

ON THE

POETIC BOOK

Theuerdanck.

The Theuerdanck (first published in 1517) is an epic poem commissioned by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. It tells a fictionalized, allegorical version of his own journey to marry Mary of Burgundy.

PREFACE.

Without the help of Poets, the great deeds of heroes are erased by eternal oblivion; this conviction has been held by men of all ages and all nations, and not without reason. For it is the unique property of the Poet’s songs to send the actions of brave men down through a long age, to wonderfully assist the permanence of glory earned through bravery, and to recommend it vigorously to posterity. HORACE teaches this best of all in Book IV of his works.

Odes, Book 4, Ode 9, where he sings:

Many brave men lived before Agamemnon
Agamemnon was the legendary Greek king who led the forces in the Trojan War.
Many: But all are unwept and hidden,
Overwhelmed by a long night,
Because they lack a sacred Bard.
original Latin: Vate sacro. In Roman culture, the vates was both a poet and a prophet, someone whose words had divine authority.
Virtue, when hidden, differs little
From buried Sloth. I shall not leave you
Unadorned in my papers,
Nor shall I, Lollius, silently suffer your many labors
To be snatched away with impunity
By envious Oblivion.
Marcus Lollius was a Roman general and consul to whom Horace addressed this ode to protect his reputation from being forgotten or slandered.

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PINDAR agrees with this in his Nemean Ode VII, asserting that strenuous labors are shrouded in much darkness if they lack hymns, and that the best reward for illustrious works is the sound of songs woven into poems. For this same reason, he believes that the Fame of Ulysses became greater than the things he actually endured through the sweet-tongued Homer, because beneath his fictions there lies a certain gravity in his falsehoods, and his skill deceives, leading the reader away from the truth by means of stories. Indeed, the people of the most remote antiquity did not lack the talent to preserve the memory of brave men and the enormous deeds they performed by other means as well, making them long-lasting; to this end, ambition, wealth, power, skill, and all the Arts brought their support. As we know—