John Owen (epigrammatist)
Encyclopedia
John Owen was a Welsh
epigrammatist, most known for his Latin
epigrams, collected in his Epigrammata.
He is also cited by various Latinizations including Ioannes Owen, Joannes Oweni, Ovenus and Audoenus.
, near Snowdon
(or at Plas Dhu, Carnarvonshire, per 1911 Encyclopaedia?), and was educated at Winchester School under Dr Thomas Bilson
, and New College, Oxford
, from where he graduated as Bachelor of Civil Law in 1590.
He was a fellow of his college from 1584 to 1591, when he became a schoolmaster, first at Trelleck, near Monmouth, and then of The King's School
at Warwick around 1595. His salary was doubled to £20 per year in 1614. On his death in 1622, John Owen was buried in the old St Paul's Cathedral
, London, memorialized with a Latin epitaph, thanks to his countryman and relative, Bishop Williams of Lincoln, who is also said to have supported him in his later years.
, French
, German
, and Spanish
.
John Owen had started writing epigrams while at Winchester – indeed, education there was largely devoted to the production of them – and his were good enough by the time he reached 16 years of age to be used in a ceremony held when Queen Elizabeth I
paid a state visit to Sir Francis Drake
on his ship at Deptford
, on his return from sailing around the world.
John Owen started publishing his epigrams in 1606, whereupon they met with almost instant success throughout Europe, and the Continental scholars and wits of the day used to call him “the British Martial
”.
Book 11 is a collection of 128 moralizing epigrams, titled Monosticha Quaedam Ethica et Politica Veterum Sapientum, and are not due to Owen: they are from the Disticha de Moribus of Michel Verino.
Book 12 is a collection of fragments by Owen.
The original 4 volumes are:
The popularity of his Epigrammata means that this adage is at times attributed to him, and Joseph Haydn
likely nicknamed his Symphony No. 64
Tempora mutantur based on Epigrammata.
Translations into English, either in whole or in part, were made by Vicars (1619); by Thomas Pecke, in his Parnassi Puerperium (1659); and by Harvey in 1677, which is the most complete. La Torre, the Spanish epigrammatist, owed much to Owen, and translated his works into Spanish in 1674. French translations of the best of Owen’s epigrams were published by A. L. Lebrun (1709) and by Kerivalant (1819).
, which resulted in Epigrammata being placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
in 1654, and led a rich old uncle of the Roman Catholic communion to cut him out of his will.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
epigrammatist, most known for his Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
epigrams, collected in his Epigrammata.
He is also cited by various Latinizations including Ioannes Owen, Joannes Oweni, Ovenus and Audoenus.
Life, education, and career
He was born at Betws GarmonBetws Garmon
Betws Garmon is a community and small hamlet outside Waunfawr and near Beddgelert in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 216.The summit of Snowdon lies within the community boundaries. Bryn Gloch has the newly reopened narrow gauge Welsh Highland Railway passing alongside it.Over the road from...
, near Snowdon
Snowdon
Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales, at an altitude of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside Scotland. It is located in Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, and has been described as "probably the busiest mountain in Britain"...
(or at Plas Dhu, Carnarvonshire, per 1911 Encyclopaedia?), and was educated at Winchester School under Dr Thomas Bilson
Thomas Bilson
Thomas Bilson was an Anglican Bishop of Worcester and Bishop of Winchester. He, along with Miles Smith, oversaw the final edit and printing of the King James Bible. He is buried in Westminster Abbey in plot 232 between the tombs of Richard the Second and Edward the Third...
, and New College, Oxford
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...
, from where he graduated as Bachelor of Civil Law in 1590.
He was a fellow of his college from 1584 to 1591, when he became a schoolmaster, first at Trelleck, near Monmouth, and then of The King's School
Warwick School
Warwick School is an independent school with boarding facilities for boys in Warwick, England, and is reputed to be the third-oldest surviving school in the country after King's School, Canterbury and St Peter's School, York; and the oldest boy's school in England...
at Warwick around 1595. His salary was doubled to £20 per year in 1614. On his death in 1622, John Owen was buried in the old St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
, London, memorialized with a Latin epitaph, thanks to his countryman and relative, Bishop Williams of Lincoln, who is also said to have supported him in his later years.
Epigrams
He became distinguished for his perfect mastery of the Latin language, and for the humour, felicity and point of his epigrams. His Latin epigrams, which have both sense and wit in a high degree, gained him much applause, and were translated into EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
.
John Owen had started writing epigrams while at Winchester – indeed, education there was largely devoted to the production of them – and his were good enough by the time he reached 16 years of age to be used in a ceremony held when Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
paid a state visit to Sir Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
on his ship at Deptford
Deptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
, on his return from sailing around the world.
John Owen started publishing his epigrams in 1606, whereupon they met with almost instant success throughout Europe, and the Continental scholars and wits of the day used to call him “the British Martial
Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis , was a Latin poet from Hispania best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan...
”.
Epigrammata
Owen’s Epigrammata are divided into twelve books, of which the first four were published in 1606, and the rest at four different times. Owen frequently adapts and alters to his own purpose the lines of his predecessors in Latin verse. His epigrams proved popular for centuries after his death, appearing in numerous reprints, editions and translations.Books
The numbering of the books can be confusing. They were originally published as 10 books in 4 volumes, with books numbered from 1 in each volume. There are thus 4 books entitled "Book 1", distinguished by whom they were dedicated to. Later editions collected all volumes in one, numbering the books sequentially. Books 11 and 12 are later additions, in the 1620 Leipzig edition.Book 11 is a collection of 128 moralizing epigrams, titled Monosticha Quaedam Ethica et Politica Veterum Sapientum, and are not due to Owen: they are from the Disticha de Moribus of Michel Verino.
Book 12 is a collection of fragments by Owen.
The original 4 volumes are:
- Ioannis Audoeni Epigrammatum libri III, London, 1606 (dedicated to Lady Mary Neville, reprinted twice in 1607)
- Epigrammatum Ioannis Owen…liber singularis, London, 1607 (dedicated to Lady Arabella Stuart)
- Epigrammatum Ioannis Owen…Libri Tres, London, 1612 (the first two Books dedicated to Henry, Prince of Wales, the third Book dedicated to Charles, Duke of York)
- Epigrammatum Joannis Owen…libri Tres, London, 1613 (?) (three Books, dedicated respectively to Sir Edward Noel, Sir William Sedley, and Sir Roger Owen)
Tempora mutantur
The most popular of his epigrams is a variant of the traditional Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis. ("Times change, and we change with them.") Owen's version reads in full:The popularity of his Epigrammata means that this adage is at times attributed to him, and Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
likely nicknamed his Symphony No. 64
Symphony No. 64 (Haydn)
The Symphony No. 64 in A major is a symphony by Joseph Haydn dated between 1773 and 1775. The likely date of composition puts it at the tail end of the Sturm und Drang period that produced masterpieces such as symphonies 44 to 48. It is often known by the nickname Tempora mutantur.- Nickname ...
Tempora mutantur based on Epigrammata.
Editions and translations
There are editions of the Epigrammata by Elzevir and by Didot; the best is that edited by Renouard (2 vols., Paris, 1795).Translations into English, either in whole or in part, were made by Vicars (1619); by Thomas Pecke, in his Parnassi Puerperium (1659); and by Harvey in 1677, which is the most complete. La Torre, the Spanish epigrammatist, owed much to Owen, and translated his works into Spanish in 1674. French translations of the best of Owen’s epigrams were published by A. L. Lebrun (1709) and by Kerivalant (1819).
Conflict with the Roman Catholic Church
He was a staunch Protestant, and could not resist the temptation of turning his wit against the Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, which resulted in Epigrammata being placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
Index Librorum Prohibitorum
The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was a list of publications prohibited by the Catholic Church. A first version was promulgated by Pope Paul IV in 1559, and a revised and somewhat relaxed form was authorized at the Council of Trent...
in 1654, and led a rich old uncle of the Roman Catholic communion to cut him out of his will.
External links
- Hypertext critical edition of the Epigrammata of John Owen (Ioannis Audoenus) by Dana F. Sutton, The University of California, Irvine, 1999]
- John Owen’s Epigrams, in The Cambridge History of English and American LiteratureThe Cambridge History of English and American LiteratureThe Cambridge History of English and American Literature was originally published by Cambridge University Press in 1907–1921. The 18 volumes include 303 chapters and more than 11,000 pages edited and written by a worldwide panel of 171 leading scholars and thinkers of the early twentieth century...
, Volume IV, Prose and Poetry from Sir Thomas North to Michael Drayton. Chapter XIII. Robert Burton, John Barclay and John Owen, Section 9, John Owen’s Epigrams: by Edward Bensly, M.A., Trinity College; Professor of Latin, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth