Page - 305 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 1

305Imperial Architect: Background 91 At least, Tanner—and probably Maximilian himself—thought it was Virgil (Chmel 1840– 1841, 2, p. 282), whereas nowadays it is ascribed to Asmenius (ca 400 ad) or Ausonius (ca 310–ca 394 ad). The full poem, Adeste Musae, maximi proles Iouis is given in H.W. Garrod, The Oxford book of Latin verse; from the earliest fragments to the end of the 5th century a.d., Oxford 1912, pp. 404–405. It was later set to music by Rudolf ii’s court composer Jacobus Gal- lus (or Handl). The contemporary translation is by Nicholas Grimald (1519–1562), quoted from The Oxford Anthology of English Literature, i: The Middle Ages through the Eighteenth Century, Oxford 1973, p. 610 (which oddly does not identify its precise Latin source). Flores nitescunt discolore gramine, Pinguntque terras gemmeis honoribus Behold, with lively hue, fair flowers that shine so bright: With riches, like the orient gems, they paint the mould in sight. <…> <…> Aves canoros garrulae fundunt sonos, Et semper aures cantibus mulcent suis. Birds chatter, and some chirp, and some sweet tunes do yield: All mirthfull, with their songs so blithe, they make both air and field. Much of his text reads as an extended paraphrase of a (pseudo-)Virgilian ode, De laudibus hortuli, from which he took these two quotations, and it is this po- etic, idyllic quality that is most striking in his description of Maximilian’s gar- den.91 Though we will never know for sure, it is quite possible that this poetic aspect of Tanner’s text best expresses the character of Maximilian’s fascina- tion with nature, and so explains his lifelong addiction to gardening. Tanner’s references to legendary precedents, such as the Gardens of Alcinous and the Garden of the Hesperides, indicate that this fascination was fed with other lit- erary concepts and conceits. Surely it is no coincidence that the Virgilian ode he quotes opens with an exhortation to the Muses: ADESTE MUSAE, maximi proles Jovis! Laudes feracis praedicemus hortuli. The issue of great Joue, draw near you Muses nine: Help us to praise the blisfull plott of garden ground so fine. Certainly Maximilian shared this fascination for a ‘learned’ or a ‘poetic’ sort of gardening with many of his contemporaries, witness not only the many gar- dens laid out in the sixteenth century, but also the importance of gardens and pastoral nature in the literature of the period. In fact one of the most famous ones, The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney, in its turn seems