Musa Posthuma was published after Marchina's death. The book was dedicated to
Christina, Queen of Sweden. The collection was edited by
Francisco Macedo. (You instruct that the bad songs should be excised from such a book. / If you will have taken away the bad ones, what will have been left?) Given the content of the epigram, it is unlikely to have been an accidental placement but was instead the intentional placement by an editor. Her corpus of writing was well received for centuries after her death.
Contents The book includes several liminal elements, including an address to the Queen of Sweden written by Antonio Bulison. Although this letter is in Italian, the majority of the book is written in Latin. Other liminal elements include: an address to the reader calling Marchina a
Sappho (albeit a modern and religious one) and similar to
Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchii, Latin poetry by Cardinal Spada and anonymous poems in Marchina's honor, and letters between
Cardinal Bernardino Spada and his brother Virgilio Spada. Marchina's epigrams and odes are published and often grouped by similar topics. For example, three poems addressed to the
Virgin Mary where
Apollo and
Selene speak with the Virgin Mary are grouped together. After her final poem, a few of Marchina's letters are included to finish the book, including letters to Cardinal Bernardino Spada and her brother Joseph. These letters offer insight into the texts that Marchina had read and had access to as she references both Horace and
Plautus in them. They also reflect her willingness to criticize a man's writing as she offers several critiques on her brother's writing. == Selected Poems ==