De eodem sepulchro

Aliud

Quae gelidas potuit flammis succendere terras       Tybridis in medio conditur urna sinu. Quid mediis undis mirer ni extinguitur ignis?       Mirum est, ni flammis ardeat unda minor.

In the title: In Musa Posthuma the previous poem is titled “De Sepulchro S. Bartholomæi Apostoli”. Both poems relate to Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, for whom a church was dedicated on Tiber Island in Rome. The church, which may have housed the ashes of St. Bartholomew, was badly damaged in a flood in 1557, and certain items, including an urn, were likely washed away in the flood waters.