We too celebrated our father, brave as he was unfortunate, in pastoral (129).
Under the title Senio we had written such a fabula, and sustained the tone with Batavian chime and with such novelty of invention as might suffice for seven Erasmuses, to say nothing of one (374).
As we wrote in the epitaph of those who fell at Vienna in the war against the Turks (426).
His longest quotation (VI. 781-784) is an entire poem of his own.
The seven books of this vast poetic in 310 chapters and 944 pages are as follows.
I. Historicus (57 chapters, 136 pages) presents poetic forms: pastoral, comedy, tragedy, mime, satira, dance, Greek games, Roman festivals, lyric.
II. Hyle (Materia, 42 chapters, 64 pages) is mainly devoted to verse-forms.
III. Idaea (127 chapters, 238 pages) discusses under the sophistic topics (sex, occupation, moral habit, fortune, endowments, etc.) the personae of the poet’s creation; sets forth the four poetic virtues (prudentia, efficacia, varietas, figura); and adds precepts for the several poetic forms.
IV. Parasceve (49 chapters, 98 pages) discusses the qualities of style, with additions on figures.
V. Criticus (17 chapters, 227 pages) is mainly a series of comparative parallels (comparationes), first by authors (Homer with Vergil, Vergil with Theocritus, etc.), then by topics (691-717).