JOHANN MATTHÄUS WACKHER

J. C.: Juris Consultus, a legal expert or doctor of laws OF CONSTANCE.

ORTELIUS, father of new worlds:
Of new ones? Indeed, also of the older ones,
Which you prepared as if new on a new anvil,
With wonderful art and tireless labor.
For such great merits, what shall the entire
World pay back to you? What? Or am I
Mistaken? Or perhaps for you the entire
World will establish a new monument,
Since future ages, to hallow your name,
Will call you with even prouder titles
As the molder, the potter, and the polisher,
Or, what is more true, the new Architect
Of worlds both new and old?

JANUS LERNUTIUS.

Ortelius and Phoebus: the Greek sun god Apollo, often used as a metaphor for light and knowledge are equals, for that one
Surveys the lands with his light, and this one with his own.
Indeed, Phoebus is unequal: boast, O greatest Scaldis: the River Scheldt, which flows through Ortelius's home city of Antwerp,
That you see a man equal to a god in his merits.

TO THE MOST FAMOUS MAN, MR. ABRAHAM

ORTELIUS, PRINCE OF GEOGRAPHERS,

An epigram based on an anagram of his name.

The original Latin anagram is ABRAAMVS ORTELIVS / MERA TVA LAVS, ORBIS. The letters of his name were rearranged to form this phrase of praise.

It exalts the craftsman if the work he finished
Is worthy of being praised by everyone.
But that labor of yours produces immortal praise
That surpasses all others.
Am I mistaken? Not at all. Learn the reason, learned Ortelius:
YOUR PRAISE IS PURE, it is the praise of the whole world.
For through you, it is possible to travel the world in charming maps,
Accessible to both the eyes and the hand.
A difficult work! Therefore this praise shall not perish in the world,
Unless the world itself should fall first.
Success to you, who can bring the world into a Theater;
You yourself, Ortelius, are a theater of virtue.
The "Theater" refers to Ortelius’s most famous work, the "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum" or "Theater of the World," the first modern atlas.