Note 108 — Chapter I
Reading edition
Sidonii Apollinaris Opera, ed. Sirmondi. 4to. Paris, 1652. Notes, p. 33. The words of this letter, which I have translated very freely, are as follows:
Sed dum hæc tacitus mecum revolvo, occurrit mihi quod in Bibliotheca studiosi sæcularium litterarum puer quondam, ut se ætatis illius curiositas habet, prætereundo legissem. Nam cum supra memoratæ ædis ordinator ac dominus, inter expressas lapillis aut ceris discoloribus, formatasque effigies vel Oratorum vel etiam Poetarum specialia singulorum autotypis epigrammata subdidisset; ubi ad præiudicati eloquii venit poetam, hoc modo orsus est.
The last three lines of the inscription are from the Æneid, Book I. 607. I owe the most important part of the translation of Rusticus to Lanciani, ut supra, p. 196: that of Virgil is by Professor Conington.