#  Gwalther (Zurich, 1549) 

 



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Translated from the Greek by Enrico Prodi, University College London (2023)

**To Florian Sousliga the Sarmatian,**  
**a man most eminent for his nobility and learning**   
**in all domains,**  
**little verses by Conrad Gessner.**

You have an excellent name, thrice longed-for to the hearing,  
 In full bloom, a bough of violets and purple-hued roses.  
It bears the name of spring’s flowers, and your noble parents  
 Did not call you so in vain at your birth:  
Indeed, Fate often fits a name accurately  
 To the deeds that are in the future.  
But the Pierian Muses, who take thought of elegies,  
 Urge me not to speak this name in the Romans’ tongue;  
Yet nothing prevents me from saying *Anthemios*,   
 The corresponding name in the Greek language, or *Euanthes*.  
Greetings, splendour of well-born men, bright flower  
 Of your native land, the soil of Sarmatia!  
Blessed are you, exceedingly loved by God: Christ granted you  
 The understanding of many noble things for the immortal life.  
I know that you are well versed in many tongues of men,  
 And one excels alone among all the others: Hebrew.  
Therefore Rudolf Gwalther dedicates to you now  
 This play, on account of your godly excellence –  
Gwalther, the glory of the Swiss, who surpassingly loves you –  
 Because of his devotion and his great learning.  
And many greetings to you too, Οὖλος![\[1\]](#_ftn1) May God give you prosperity  
 As you remember our friendship forever.

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[\[1\]](#_ftnref1) Comment by the translator E. Prodi: "I can’t fathom who this Οὖλος might be. The adjective means either ‘woolly’, ‘curly-haired’ or ‘cruel’, ‘destructive’. I wonder if it is a pun on the name of someone involved with the book."

   ![Gessner in Gwalter 1549 - Nabal, f. 4v](/sites/g/files/omnuum9491/files/styles/hwp_1_1__960x960_scale/public/gzp1565/files/gwalther1549-nabalf4v.jpg?itok=YLlIAjt3) 

 

Conrad Gessner, Poem to Florian Sousliga, in Rudolf Gwalther: NABAL. Zurich: Froschauer, 1549, f. 4v. Zentralbibliothek Zurich, Shelf Mark: 18.183,3; Persistent Link: <https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-1138> .

VD 16 entry:

**Gwalther, Rudolf:** NABAL.|| RODOLPHI GVAL||THERI TIGVRINI COMOEDIA || sacra, quę inscribitur Nabal, desumpta || ex I. Samuelis XXV. cap. nunc || primum conscripta || &amp; aedita.|| \[Zürich: Christoph Froschauer d.Ä. 1549\]. 51 Bl. : D. ; 8

\#Zurichpublisher #Gwalther #Froschauer #Nabal

\*\*Gessner manuscript letter with poem in Zurich manuscript collection. You can zoom in if you open the image in a new tab:

   ![img_20220518_113314_hdr.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum9491/files/styles/hwp_1_1__960x960_scale/public/gzp1565/files/img_20220518_113314_hdr.jpg?itok=HN7hY7is) 

 

Zentralbibliothek Zurich, MS A 140, 11: Rudolf Gwalther, Nabal, f. 133r-164v. Gessner's poem is on f. 134r.