In the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford-upon-Avon there is a plaque commemorating the poet Shakespeare high up on the north-east wall. It was commissioned by persons unknown and placed at some time between 1616 and 1623, probably c.1620. The first two lines are in Latin, a language which only a small fraction of the population could read at the time.
The epitaph to Shakespeare in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon, c.1620
Those able to read may have been surprised to learn that inside this church dedicated to the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the miracle that is the very heart of Christian belief – the epitaph lists a trinity of pagan greats, a king, a philosopher and a poet: Nestor, king of the Pylians, Socrates, the greatest of philosophers, Plato’s mentor, and Publius Virgilius Maro, greatest of the Roman poets. The people mourn him, as we might expect, but why is the man, Shakspeare (sic), whose name is an ornament to his tomb, both buried in the earth and also on Olympus, home of the pagan gods?
This book holds the answer to that question.