The Pig War

Document notes

Original title: Pugna Porcorum per Placentium Portium Poetam. Præterea Protestatio propter puncta peruerse posita A Neo-Latin mock-heroic verse satire of some 248 dactylic hexameters, accompanied by a cycle of prose paratexts (Prologus, Protestatio propter puncta peruerse posita, Propositiones Pugnæ, Pasquillus post prandium pontificis prælegens poema, Præcatiuncula, and Paraclesis pro potore), in which every single word begins with the letter P — a tautogram. Under the veil of a barnyard war between fat, sluggish prelate-pigs and lean, agile piglets, the poem satirises a corrupt aristocratic clergy who hoard the privileges of office; it includes a Catholic Counter-Reformation polemic branding a parish priest Pseudoeuangelicus and consigning him to death, a mock-legal defence of the poet's metrical liberties, a panegyric to the reigning pontiff, and a closing plea of the poet's poverty addressed to his patron. First printed at Antwerp at the charges of Cardinal Érard de la Marck, prince-bishop of Liège. 👉 Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here 📜 View the original source file This text was transcribed and translated as part of the ExLatinis project—an effort by Leo to make English translations of every published text in Latin in early modern Europe (between 1450 and 1750) available to the public for free online.

• Read our introductory primer, full report, and finding guide here
• View the original source file

Document excerpt

PVGNA PORCO- RVM PER PLA- CENTIVM POR- TIVM POETAM. Præterea Protestatio propter pun- cta peruerse posita. Postremo Pasquillus post prandium Pontificis prælegens Poema. PARACLESIS PRO POTORE. Perlege Porcorú pulcherrima prelia Potor, Potando poteris placidam proferre poesim. LONDINI. Anno. M. D. LXXXVI.