Faithfully to reëcho the discords of the original is above the present translator’s skill.
As money troubles thickened about him, Wendelin’s colophons became less buoyant and interesting; but in 1473, when the transfer of his business to John of Cologne and Manthen of Gerresheim was impending, we find these verses in one of the huge law-books in which the early printers were so bold in investing their money—the “Lectura Bartoli de Saxoferrato super secunda parte Digesti Veteris”:
Finis. M. cccc. lxxiii.
Non satis est Spire: gratissima carmina Phoebo,
Musarum cantus, historiasque premi.
Omnis habet sua vota liber. Non cessat ab arte.
Has pressit leges, Iustiniane, tuas.
Spira tua est virtus Italas iam nota per urbes,
Ore tuum nomen posteritatis erit.
1473.