On mythological epigrams.
Untruth, then, is a considerable fault, one that is quite widespread and one that embraces many sub-divisions. Under this category falls especially the use of mythological propositions, the common vehicle of poets when they have nothing to say. We have rejected many epigrams that are faulty in this kind, as, for example, Grotius on the Emperor Rudolph, which is too crowded with myths:
Not Mars alone has favored you, Invincible,
At whom as enemy barbarian standards shake,
But the Divine Community with gifts adore you,
And with this in especial from the wife of Zephyr:
She to the Dutch Apelles did perpetual spring
Ordain, and meadows living by the painter's hand.
Alcinous' charm is annual, and Adonis' gardens,
Nor do the Pharian roses bloom long in that air;
Antique Pomona of Semiramis has boasted,
And yet deep winter climbs the summit of her roof.
How shall your honors fail? The garlands that you wear
Beseem Imperial triumph, which time may not touch.[10]
I know there are other things to be censured in this epigram, but I note here only that one fault which it was quoted to illustrate.