Janus Secundus
'Johannes Secundus' (also 'Janus Secundus') (
15 November,
1511 –
25 September,
1536) was a
Renaissance Latin poet of
Dutch nationality.
Early life and education
Born 'Jan Everaerts' in
The Hague. His father, Nicolaes Everaerts was a famous jurist and friend of
Erasmus.
In 1528 his family moved to
Mechlin, where Secundus wrote his first book of
elegies.
In 1532 he went to
Bourges with his brother Marius to study law under
Alciati. He obtained his ''
licentia''.
Career
In 1533 he went to join his other brother Grudius at the Spanish court of
Charles V. There he spent two years working as secretary to the Archbishop of
Toledo. He returned to
Mechlin because of illness, and died at
Saint-Amand in September 1536 at the age of twenty-four.
Writings
Secundus was a prolific writer, and in his short life he produced several books of
elegies,
epigrams,
odes, verse epistles and
epithalamia, as well as some prose writings (epistles and itineraria).
His most famous work, though, was the 'Liber Basiorum' (''Book of Kisses'', first complete edition
1541), a short collection consisting of nineteen poems in various metres, in which the poet explores the theme of the
kiss. The 'Basia' are really extended imitations of
Catullus (in particular poems 5 and 7) and some poems from the
Anthologia Graeca; Secundus situates his poetry, stylistically as well as thematically, firmly with the
Neo-Catullan tradition. Variations on the central theme include: imagery of natural fertility; the 'arithmetic' of kissing; kisses as nourishment or cure; kisses that wound or bring death; and the exchange of souls through kissing. Secundus also introduces elements of
Neo-Platonism and
Petrarchism into his poems.
External links
★
Basia by Janus Secundus, at
The Latin Library
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