Note 593 — Chapter IX · GENERAL LATINISATION OF CULTURE.
S. G. C. (Samuel George Chetwynd) Middlemore translation
Paul Jov. Elogia, on Naugerius. Their ideal, he says, was: ‘Aliquid in stylo proprium, quod peculiarem ex certâ notâ mentis effigiem referret, ex naturae genio effinxisse.’ Politian, when in a hurry, objected to write his letters in Latin. Comp. Raph. Volat. Comment. urban. l. xxi. Politian to Cortesius (Epist. lib. viii. ep. 16): ‘Mihi vero longe honestior tauri facies, aut item leonis, quam simiae videtur;’ to which Cortesius replied: ‘Ego malo esse assecla et simia Ciceronis quam alumnus.’ For Pico’s opinion on the Latin language, see the letter quoted above, p. 202.