The manuscript of the epigram by Philip Melanchton from the collections of the Copernicus Library in Toruń

Abstract

The article addresses various issues connected with the manuscript of the epigram De monarchiis by Philip Melanchton and donated in 1607 by Michael Falck (1575–1624) to the gymnasium school library in Torun. The comparative research of the manuscript has proved that it is the original work by Melanchton. The author of the epigram made a substantial number of copies of the poem in the years 1556–1558, which he later gave to his family and friends. They differed in the number of verses: some of them included eight elegiac couplets, while others only seven. The differences between them were not limited only to the number of verses, but they also included varieties of the text in some passages. They were taken into account in the criticism of the edited text, which also included various editions of the epigram. The second part of the article discusses briefly the content of the epigram and its interpretation in the context of the political situation of the epoch when Melanchton lived. The author enclosed the isometric translations of the epigram prepared by Piotr Osiński, the PhD student at the Philological Faculty of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.