Des épithètes homériques à l’usage de François I^er L’Odyssée latine de Francesco Florido (1545)

In 1545, F. Florido Sabino (1511-1547) – who lived in France for a long time in Farnèse’s service – offered François I the first eight songs of his Latin translation of the Odyssey : a superb Virgilian poem which remains respectful of the Greek. In his long dedication and postscript to the King – the importance of which has not yet been fully recognised – he explains the poetic principles which must be observed in the translation of Homeric epithets in a completely new way ; they were also applied in French by J. Peletier du Mans from 1547.