In 1528 his family moved to
Mechlin, where Secundus wrote his first book of
elegies. In 1532 he went to
Bourges with his brother Marius to study law under
Alciati. He obtained his licentia.
Career
In 1533 he went to join his other brother Grudius at the Spanish court of
Charles V. There he spent two years working as secretary to the Archbishop of
Toledo. He returned to Mechlin because of illness, and died at
Saint-Amand in September 1536 at the age of twenty-four.
Writings
Secundus was a prolific writer, and in his short life he produced several books of
elegies on his lovers Julia and Neaera,[2]epigrams,
odes, verse epistles and
epithalamia, as well as some prose writings (epistles and itineraria).
His most famous work, though, was the Liber Basiorum (Book of Kisses, first complete edition 1541), a short collection consisting of nineteen poems in various metres, in which the poet explores the theme of the
kiss in relation to his Spanish lover, Neaera.[3] The 'Basia' are really extended imitations of
Catullus (in particular poems 5 and 7) and some poems from the
Anthologia Graeca; Secundus situates his poetry, stylistically as well as thematically, firmly with the
Neo-Catullan tradition. Variations on the central theme include: imagery of natural fertility; the 'arithmetic' of kissing; kisses as nourishment or cure; kisses that wound or bring death; and the exchange of souls through kissing. Secundus also introduces elements of
Neo-Platonism and
Petrarchism into his poems.
Secundus, J. ''Oeuvres complètes, édition critique établie et annotée par Roland Guillot. Tome I Paris: Champion, 2005 (pour le tome I comme pour les suivants, il ne s'agit nullement d'une édition critique; traduction, commentaire et analyse sont extrêmement fautifs et indigents (l'édition fournit par ailleurs un grand nombre de poèmes français des imitateurs de Second). Il en va de même des Essais sur Jean Second publiés plus récemment chez Garnier, où les introductions de l'édition sont simplement reprises avec les mêmes manques et les mêmes erreurs. P. Galand).
Anne Rolet, Stéphane Rolet, "La quête d'Orphée, la naissance d'Athéna, les visions de la sophia divina : essai d'interprétation symbolique de la façade du palais de Maximilien Transsylvain à Bruxelles", Humanistica Lovaniensia, 50, 2011, pp. 161–193 [l'article porte en grande partie sur l'épigramme 1, 43 de Jean Second :In magnificas aedes quas Bruxellae struxit Maximilianus Transyluanus].
Secundus, J., Oeuvres complètes, dir. P. Galand, édition critique par W. Gelderblom (avec la collaboration de P. Tuynman), d'après le manuscrit Rawlinson G 154, Oxford, Bodleian Library, et l'édition de 1541 (Utrecht, Herman van Borculo) avec traduction, notes et études littéraires de G. A. Bergère, A. Bouscharain, K. Descoings, N. Catellani-Dufrêne, A. Laimé, P. Galand, L. Katz, S. Laburthe, S. Laigneau-Fontaine, V. Leroux, O. Pedeflous, C. Pezeret, S. Provini, A. Rolet, S. Rolet, E. Séris, A. Smeesters, L. van Kammen, à paraître à Genève, Editions Droz, 2022.