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Erasmus in his Second Epistle defends Valla in his attacks upon the clergy, and asks, "Did he speak falsely, because he spoke the truth too severely?" Valla died at Naples in 1465. The following epigram testifies to the correctness of his Latinity and the severity of his criticisms: Nunc postquam manes defunctus Valla petivit, Non audet Pluto verba latina loqui.
While no man is much to be envied for his lot, there are countless numbers whose fate is to be deplored. Life is a task to be done. It is a fine thing to say defunctus est; it means that the man has done his task. If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist?
At this side is a feathered angel. The original inscription, cut into stone and fixed above the effigy, remains uninjured: "Carolus Booth, episcopus Herefordensis cum 18 annos, 5 menses et totidem dies Ecclesiæ huic cum laude prefuisset, quinto die Maii 1535 defunctus sub hoc tumulo sepultus jacet."
And as the Christian dormit or quiescit, sleeps or rests in death, so the heathen is described as abreptus, or defunctus, snatched away or departed from life. Again, the contrast between the inscriptions is marked, and in a sadder way, by the difference of the expressions of mourning and grief.
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