At the beginning of his On the Freedom of a Christian (Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen), or On Christian Freedom (De libertate Christiana), Luther offers a famous and thought-provoking paradox:[1]
Christianus homo omnium dominus est liberrimus, nulli subiectus.
Christianus homo omnium servus est officiosissimus, omnibus subjectus.
A Christian is the most free lord of all, subject to none.
A Christian is the most dutiful slave of all, subject to everyone.[2]
The statement has an almost epigrammatic form. So, as an exercise, I decided to versify this in both Latin and English. The Latin version is in elegiac couplets; the English is in alternating iambic tetramters and trimeters.
First, in Latin:
Quicumque in Christo pius est, liberrimus atque
subiectus nulli est; omnibus imperitat.
Quicumque in Christo pius est, est officiosus
servus et imprimis omnibus obsequitur.
And now in English:
The Christian is the lord of all,
most free, subject to none.
The Christian is the slave of all,
Subject to everyone.
