< Page:A history of Bohemian literature.pdf
This page needs to be proofread.

BOHUSLAV OF LOBKOVIC

175

abject submission to the Church of Rome as we find in Southern Europe. Lobkovic admits, to a certain extent, the corruption of the Church of Rome, on which his countrymen laid so great stress, and his language when referring to Pope Alexander VI. is very outspoken. Though, in consequence of the Hussite wars, the humanist movement was late in reaching Bohemia, it had there a considerable influence, though of a rather indirect nature. No great original work can be attributed to the Bohemian humanists, and when they used their native language it was generally for the purpose of translations, by which, it is true, they greatly enriched and developed it. In no country had the humanist great sympathy with In Bohemia the early humanthe national language. ists, whose representative man is Bohuslav of Lobkovic, positively detested it. Lobkovic's often-quoted epigram on Gregory Gelenius,^ who had translated some of his Latin verses into Bohemian, clearly expresses his feeling on the matter. He wrote : " Into the national language has some one translated my verses. Now the people But I am indignant read them, the lords and nobles. at this work of the two-legged donkey,^ and I commend his wit and his muse to perdition." If the early humanists had little sympathy for Bohemia, the national or Utraquist party felt the strongest distrust of the " new learning." A movement that originated in Italy, the site of the Papal power, to which Bohemia refused allegiance, and reached the country through Germany, the ever-hostile neighbour-land, could not appeal to the Bohemians. It must, however, be re" " Irascor facto ' See later. bipedis vehementer aselli."

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.