Beschreibung:

JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784). Autograph Latin epigram, 'Nauta, quis hoc jacaet ne percontere sepulcro, Eveniat tantum mitior unda tibi'. [Sailor! Enquire not who lies in this sepulchre, Only may a kinder wave be your lot.] with Johnson's reference 'Br[odæus] 241', and date '84. Jan 28', marked with a cross, one page, 76 x 191mm . This is a Latin translation by Johnson of an anonymous epigram in the Greek Anthology , with the page reference to the edition by Brodæus published at Basle in 1549. In J.W. Croker's sale, 6 May 1858, one lot comprised 'Eight copies of small Latin verses' by Johnson. Nichol Smith and McAdam record four surviving examples, the present manuscript being unknown to them. Johnson mentioned these translations in a letter to Mrs. Thrale of 19 April 1784, 'When I lay sleepless, I used to drive the night along by turning Greek epigrams into Latin'. Boswell recorded the fact that Johnson gave these translations to his friend Bennet Langton who sold them to booksellers for a small sum to be given to Johnson's relations. Literature : David Nichol Smith and Edward L. McAdam, eds. The Poems of Samuel Johnson , 1974, pp.241-1, 244.