Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI. From the Upsala-möte to the death of Charles XII. The Great Kings and the Great Bishops (1592—1718 A.D.)
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
6. SOME EMINENT LEADERS. 279
famous as a mathematician, a lawyer, a philologist, a
Platonist or Neo-platonist, as well as a poet. His quasi-
epic poem of Hercules is written in a really good style, in
well-turned hexameters, easy and flowing ;
and although it
requires a glossary, much as Chaucer does, it can be read
with great pleasure, and would repay translation into Eng
lish. In it the old fable of the choice of Hercules is retold
in an original way for the benefit of the young men of
Queen Christina s and Charles X. s court.28
The most prominent character, Pleasure (Fru Lusta),
has three daughters, Lattia, Kattia and Flattia, whose
allurements are described in a lively and sometimes comic
manner, which shows something of Chaucer s power of
local adaptation of an old theme. The praise of Virtue
rings out strong and genuine, but it is not so vividly and
dramatically expressed. Nevertheless her picture stands
out before us as a bright ideal of womanhood, bred in the
open air, according to the best traditions of Swedish home
life, and worthy of a good man s lasting love. She is
introduced as
a faithful generous goddess,
Modestly holding herself in gait, of worshipful presence,
Weighty of speech, of earnest mien and noble in aspect,
Brown under eyes and burnt with the sunshine, slight in her
body,
Pure in her dress, snow-white, all clad in glistering silver,
Plain and clean and serene in the old-world fashion of honour.
But though Messenius and Stiernhielm deserve notice
for their writings, Rudbeckius stands out above all his
contemporaries for strength of action. He first showed
Sweden what an active bishop who gave himself to his
diocese could be like. In earlier life he did good service in
the court and in the field, as Norlin shows in an excellent
sketch of his life, of which I have been only able to obtain a
28
It was printed apparently first in 1658, but had been read in
MS. in 1648, and was probably then five or six years older. See
/. S. L. H., i., p. 322. There is an excellent selection from
Stiernhielm : Valda Skrifter, ed. Fr. Tamm, Upsala, 1903,
with glossary.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
