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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [P2v p228]

epitaphium generosi
adolescentis Georgii Bonae Transylvani,
& tanquam fratris, qui obiit M.D.LIX.
aetatis suae XX. VI. Septembris.[1]

Epitaph for the most noble youth Georgius Bona of Transylvania, almost a brother, who died in the twentieth year of his life on the 6th of September, 1559.

Round shield decorated with protruding horses head and eagle head, a fish an old mans face nad the face of a young boy. In front sit three female figures, the centure one holding a flower and wering a helmet. In the top left corner a figure from the clouds holds hands with a naked man.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Ὤλλεθ’ ἅπαση ἀρετη πᾶτρας λιπόκοσμος ὁ Βῶνα,
Θαῦμα χριστογενῶν τῶν φίλος ἔσκε Θεῶν.
Ἣρπασε τοῦτον πανδαμάτωρ μοῖρ’ οὐκ ἀέκοντος
Αὐτοῦ ἐπ’ ἀΐδιον, καὶ τριπόθητον ὄναρ.
Ὃν φίλοι, ὀρφανικὸς σὺν πᾶσιν ὀδύρεται οἶκος,
Ἡγητὴς κήπου φεῦξεν ὁδ’ αἰθερίου.
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [P3r p229]Τὴν σοφίαν μεγάλου, πραπίδας, καὶ τὰς μελεδῶνας
Ἡμῖν λυσιπόνῳ θυμὸς ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ.
Εὐσεβέων ἦν παῖς ἀγαθὸς, τῳ κρείσσον’ ὁπηδεῖ,
Αἐνάῳ συνέδρος νέκταρι, κἄμβροσίᾳ.
Νείοθι τῆς πέτρης τὸν ἀδωροδόκητον ἀκεστὴν
Προσδέκεται κριτὴν, τοῦ πλέον’ ὁσσ’ ἂν ἔφυ.

All virtue is dead in our people, for Bona has left the universe, a wonder and dear to the Christian Gods. All-conquering Doom ravished this man, though he was not unwilling, into an unseeing, thrice longed-for dream. He is mourned, friends, by the orphaned house and by all men, this leader of the heavenly garden has fled. The soul of a man great with regard to wisdom, intelligence and his concerns, is [now] in peace which releases one from toil. He was the good child of pious forbears, he attende on the mighty, he was present with everlasting nectar and ambrosia. Below the rock he awaits his Judge, the incorruptible healer, the one born greater than him.

De eodem.

On the same

Hoc spes in tumulo patriae iuvenilibus annis
Conditur, aeternùm sed valitura fides.
Hac pietas, Musae, virtus, & candor amicus
Mole subest, Christi dum mora cuncta tegit.
O quantum eripuit misero mors improba Regno
Et decus, & famam, quaeque dolenda tulit.
Sed tamen optata superest, semperque vigebit
Illi propitius quam dedit arce Deus.
Cumque tuba excivit redivivos, ante tribunal
Hostes qui certo iudice vincet, erit.
Sic fit mens propior caelo, quò longius imis
Tempore secedit, perpetiturque nihil.
Haec posuit charo Praesul monimenta nepoti
Strigonius, fletu prosequiturque locum.

This hope of the country is buried in adolescence, but love will last eternally. Piety, O Muses, virtue and honest friendship lies beneath this stone, as long as Christ’s delay covers all. O of how much has cruel death robbed this our kingdom, both glory and fame, and what she bore of fame. O of how much glory and fame has violent death robbed this sad kingdom; for which things she has now begun to grieve. But still he survives, and will flourish forever in the fortress God gave, propitious to him. And when the trumpet calls out the ones reborn, he will stand before the tribunal and defeat his enemies with a trusty judge. So the mind comes closer to the heavens, the longer it withdraws in the depths, and it risks nothing. This monument was made by the Commandant of Strigonium [the Archbishop of Esztergom] to his dear nephew, and he waters the place with his tears.

Iacobus Maniquet.[2]

Raptus es ante diem in caelum Bona, ne bona terris
Ulla superstaret virtus, néve amplius ullam
Pannonia infelix spem libertatis haberet.

Bona, you were taken before your time to Heaven, so that no goodness or virtue should survive on earth, nor unhappy Pannonia [Hungary] have any further hope of liberty.

Notes:

1.  Georg Bona: Sambucus’ pupil in Padua, nephew of Nicolaus Oláh (Olahus), Archbishop of Esztergom (who is mentioned in the last line of the text). Bona died in 1559.

2.  Jacques Maniquet, poet, wrote the epigram used here.

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