not so inimitable a piece to them, as this library will be to all posterity.
—Solvetur litera dives?
Et poterunt spectare oculi, nec parcere honori
Flamma suo; dignumque operis servare decorem?
Noster Apollo veta! Musae prohibete Latinae!
Sed legum est servanda fides, suprema voluntas
Quod mandat fierique jubet, parere necesse est,
Frangatur potiùs legum veneranda potestas,
Quam tot congestos noctésque diésque labores,
Hauserit una dies, supremaque jussa senatús.
Must such a rich and learned work be dissolv'd,
Can eyes with patience see 't in flames involv'd?
Methinks the flames should spare it, sure the fire
(More merciful than men) will sav't intire.
Ah, sweet Apollo, hinder! Muses, stay
Their violence! And what though fond men say
"It is decreed; the ordinance is made;
The will of supreme power must be obey'd"?
Rather let laws be broke, let reverend power
Lie prostrate, ere't be said, that in one hour,
A work so toil'd for many years, was late
Quite ruin'd by commandment from the state.
GABRIEL NAUDAEUS, A PARISIAN
