In Effigiei eius Sculptor

1645

Text:

John Milton, The Major Works,

ed. Stephen Orgel, Jonathan Goldberg,

Oxford University Press, 2003

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Engraving by William Marshall

In Effigiei eius Sculptor

Ἀμαβεῖ γεγράφθαι χειρὶ τήνδε μὲν εἰκόνα

Φαίηις τάχ' ἄν, πρὸς εἶδος αὐτοφυὲς βλέπων·

Τὸν δ'ἐκτυπωτὸν οὐκ ἐπιγνόντες φίλοι

Γελᾶτε φαύλου δυσμίμημα ζωγράφου.

On the Engraver of his Portrait

Viewing the original, you might say that this picture was done by an inept hand. Friends, since you cannot recognize the man depicted, laugh at the wretched picture of a wretched artist.