TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS MAN,

ABRAHAM ORTELIUS

ROYAL GEOGRAPHER

ON HIS GEOGRAPHICAL TREASURY.

Ortelius, exceptional glory of men,
Whom Mother Nature, with a kind hand,
Strives to bless with many-fold fruit;
And the Graces rejoice to breathe
Their charms upon you, as Minerva does her character:
Shall I sing of you as a son of the earth, or the earth's
Parent? For who would deny to me
That you are more worthy than other mortals?
You who have bound the earth to yourself by your merits
And by a tighter law than even the earth herself
Could return in worthy thanks.

While Mars, the stranger, restless in a perverted war,
Shakes the earthly fields:
Nor suffering the proud ornaments of cities,
Or the ancient splendors of states
To survive, he fiercely attacks every soil:
You alone, quiet in your native city,
ORTELIUS, happy in talent and labor,
Restore to the WORLD its honors,
And you join old honors with new ones.
Am I mistaken? The earth is amazed that its beauties
Are seen better in your THEATER.
The word "Theater" refers to Ortelius's landmark atlas, the "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum", first published in 1570.
Whatever region lies under the weapons of Mars,
Rises more splendid in your MAPS.
But lest the names of places should then perish,
Which a better age once approved,
Or which our own age has reshaped by bad judgment,
You diligently restore those names to books.
Why do I call them books? For even a
TREASURY of the entire world is gathered by you:
A TREASURY of the LANDS, and likewise of all the SEAS,
Surviving through your study
Even as the ruin of the world draws closer.
Therefore, the earth shall live on, blessed
By these remains of a more blessed state,
And grateful Posterity, as your heir,
Will repay praise to you as to a devoted parent.

Balthasar Moretus (1574–1641) succeeded his father Jan Moretus as the head of the Plantin Press in Antwerp. He was a childhood friend of the painter Peter Paul Rubens and a close associate of Ortelius.