Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/478

 SZYMONOWICZ

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SZYMONOWICZ

also educated; after which (1614) he retired to the country, where he remained until his death. He was never married. Szymonowicz may be styled the last of the Polish Humanists, to whom indeed he belongs both by his erudition and by the character of his creations. He spent the greater part of his hfe writing Latin poems, once much appreciated through- out Kurope. The best of these are: "Flagellum Livoris", a collection of odes dedicated to Zamoyski; "iEUnopa^an", in honour of one of Zamoyski's vic- tories; ''Joel Propheta", a paraphrase of the Book of Joel, inscribed to Clement VIH, whom our poet had known personally as a legate in Poland; "Her- cules Prodiceus", written for his pupil, the young Thomas Zamoyski; and two dramas: "Penthesilea" and "Castus Joseph".

His first Polish verses were written in 1606, in favour of the rebellion of Zebrzydowski. He also wrote a few fugitive poems, but his fame mainly rests on his "Idyls", which appeared in 1614. They were the first and still remain the best poems of the kind in the Polish lansuage. They faithfully follow the old classical type, so often imitated by French and

Italian Humanists in the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- turies; but under this form there is a true national element, and the Polish landscape and peasantry are gracefully described. Like Virgil's "Eclogues", all are short; several were composed on special occasions. Not all are uniformly beautiful, indeed the finest are often marred by weak passages. But they have the merit of simplicity, not unfrequent depth of feeling or pleasant wit and humour, profound poUtical allu- sions, clarity of thought and a noble diction. His influence is visible in the writings of both the Zi- morowicz, and also in Gavinski's "Idyls". More recently he has been imitated by Naruszewicz, and at times by Kniaznin and Karpinski. In the nine- teenth century Mickiewicz appreciated him admir- ably in his course of lectures on Slavic Uterature, and, we may say, rediscovered him.

BiELOWSKi, Szymon Szymonowicz (Cracow, 1875) ; Tysztnski. Szymmiowicz i jegosielanki (Warsaw, 1.875); Weilewski, Sielnnki Szymona Szymonowicza (Kutno, 1S64) ; Kallenbach, Szymonowicza Dramal Castus Joseph (Warsaw, 1892) ; Ubanowicz, Zywot S. Szymonowiera (ZIoczow, 1894); Chrzanowski, Tra~ yedya S. Szymonowicza Castus Joseph (Warsaw. 1892); Hahn, Szymonowicz Jakz filo of (Lemberg, 1897).

St. Tarnowski.