Lines To The Memory Of Erasmus, By Oudaan, Inscribed On The Pedestal Of The Statue Raised In Honour Of The Former, In Rotterdam.

[The Original in Dutch.]


ORIGINAL.

Hier rees die groote zon, en ging te Bazel onder!
De Rykstad eer' en vier' dien Heilig in zyn grav;
Dit tweede leeven geevt, die't eerste leeven gav:
Maar 't ligt der taalen, 't zout der zeden, 't heerlyk wonder.

Waar met de Lievde, en Vreede, en Godgeleerdheid praald,
Word met geen grav gëerd nog met zeen beeld betaald:
Dies moet hier't lugtgewele Erasmus overdekken,
Nadien geen mind're plaats zyn tempel kan verstrekken!


TRANSLATION.

Erasmus, here, the eloquent and wise,
That Sun of Learning! rose, and spread his beam
O'er a benighted world, thro' low'ring skies,
And shed on Basil's tow'rs his parting gleam.

There his great relics lie: he bless'd the place:
No proud preserver of his fame shall prove
The Parian pile, tho' fraught with sculptur'd grace:
Reader! his mausoleum is above.