The epigrams and odes of the humanist Damjan Beneša (Damianus Benessa, 1476-1539) are the segment of his poetic oeuvre that affords the best prospect onto the literary stage of the Dubrovnik of his time as well as onto his personal intellectual universe. The picture that is constructed by the names of persons whom Beneša honoured with his poetical encomia correlates well with the conventional image of the literary historical canon of humanist Dubrovnik. And while the only unexpected thing in connection with Beneša’s verses addressed to well-known Dubrovnik humanists would be if they were by chance not found in his epigrams and odes, the fact that there are as many as six Beneša poems dedicated to a certain Caelius and his literary work is quite remarkable because it is not backed up by anything in the literary history data about the figures involved in Dubrovnik humanism in the early 16th century. The article reveals that Beneša is referring to a highly original Miho Gradić, son of Marin, and known as Caelius. To date he has been completely unknown and for unexplained reasons utterly forgotten. Miho was most probably born after 1465, certainly before 1472, and died on the island of Šipan in 1527, probably from the plague, for it was raging in the Dubrovnik area at that time. He acquired an outstanding education in Florence as pupil of the famed Demetrios Chalkokondyles (1423-1511), the editor of the first printed edition of the Iliad and the Odyssey in 1488. Ilija Crijević (Aelius Lampridius Cervinus) was correct in sensing that Caelius would be an ornament to his homeland. Giovanni Bembo mentioned his Latin translations of the orations of Demosthenes, which still have to be found, while in Berlin there is a manuscript of his translation of the Anabasis of Xenophon. This is the oldest of any of the preserved Latin versions of Anabasis, since two older manuscript translations have been lost, and the first printed edition derives from 1533. Finally, as Bembo and Beneša testify, Caelius did not only do translations but also wrote Latin verse; however, of the volume, content and fate of this body of work, for the moment, alas, there is nothing at all to be said.

Epigrami i ode humanista Damjana Beneše (1476-1539) onaj su segment njegova pjesničkog opusa iz kojeg se otvara najbolja perspektiva na književnu pozornicu onodobnog Dubrovnika i njegov osobni intelektualni univerzum. Slika koju pritom grade imena osoba kojima je Beneša svojim pjesničkim pohvalama odavao priznanje uglavnom je podudarna s konvencionalnom slikom književnopovijesnog kanona humanističkog Dubrovnika. I dok bi u svezi s Benešinim stihovima upućenima poznatim dubrovačkim humanistima jedino neočekivano bilo to da ih među njegovim epigramima i odama slučajno nema, podatak o postojanju čak šest Benešinih pjesama posvećenih izvjesnom Celiju i njegovu književnom radu začuđuje jer ne pronalazi baš nikakvo uporište u književnopovijesnim podatcima o akterima dubrovačkog humanizma na početku 16. st. Potonja je pak činjenica utoliko neobičnija jer je Celije u Benešinim epigramima i odama predstavljen kao njegov pjesnički uzor te nahvaljen kao upućen poznavatelj i tumač starine, koji humanistički svijet zadužuje prijevodima grčkih tekstova na latinski. Ipak, premda je jednom uspio »proletjeti ispod radara« dubrovačke književne historiografije, svojim je humanističkim angažmanom Celije ostavio za sobom dovoljno tragova koji omogućuju da mu se danas napokon utvrdi pravi identitet, atribuiraju djela i osigura davno zasluženo mjesto u kulturnoj povijesti Grada.