In Praise of the Ace Champion Daphne, Faustus Sabaeus (1580)

In Praise of Daphne

Name: Faustus Sabaeus Date: 16th century CE   Region:  Brixia [Brescia, modern Italy] Citation:   Illustrated Myths of Ovid,  p. 16

To Daphne

O Daphne, chaste maiden,

There are those who criticize you

Because you rejected the love of a beautiful god.

But I’m not going to, for you became the glory of prophets,

Who loves those who triumph in their chastity.

If you can spurn both Apollo and even Love herself,

I’m not surprised that you can also expel evil spirits

And are immune from the bolts of Jupiter [1]

 

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[1] According to lore, laurel/bay trees repel lightning.

 

In Praise of Daphne

Ad Daphnen

Sunt qui te damnant, Daphne o castissima virgo:

quod tam formosum spernis amata Deum.

Arguo non ego te: quia facta es gloria vatum,

atque triumphantum virginitatis amans.

Nec miror, Phoebum si spreveris, atque Cytheren

Daemonas expellens, nec Jovis arma timens.

Faustus Sabaeus [16th century, modern Italy] was a librarian of the Vatican library who composed numerous poems on mythology-based themes.