Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T11:46:06.148Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A 1520 French Translation of the Moriae Encomium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

John G. Rechtien*
Affiliation:
St. Louis University

Extract

In August 1520, Pierre Vidoue printed at Paris, for Galliot du Pré, a French translation of Desiderius Erasmus’ Moriae Encomium: De la declamation des louenges de follie. Critical comment about this translation has been limited to identifying its author and citing Erasmus’ attitude towards it. Since no French translation contemporary to Erasmus other than that of 1520 is known, Vidoue's book has been attributed to Georges Haloin, whose translation is mentioned in four of Erasmus' letters written in 1517. Criticism of Haloin's translation seems inspired less by examination of his work than by these letters. Rachel Giese, for example, mentions the ‘lively interest’ which Erasmus had in the French version and his request for a copy—facts which are recorded in a letter from Erasmus to Haloin on August 29, 1517.

Type
Studies
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Listed as E894 in van der Haeghen, Ferdinand, Bibliotheca Belgica: Bibliographie générate des Pais-Bas, ed. Marie-Thérèse Langer (Bruxelles, 1964)Google Scholar, n, 894, 895, and as 90 h. 15 in the British Museum's General Catalogue of Printed Books (London, 1960), LXVII, col. 962.1 have used a microfilm of this copy in the British Museum. The signatures of most quotations from Haloin will be identified in parentheses in the body of the essay. I have silently expanded contractions and converted virgules to commas. The pages of the introductory gathering, which lacks a signature, were either falsely imposed or falsely bound, so that if correct numbers are assigned to the pages, they appear in the order of [1], [2], [7], [8], [3]. [4], [5], [6].

2 See Allen, P. S. and Allen, H. M., eds., Opvs Epistolarvm Des. Erasmi Roterodami (Oxford, 1913)Google Scholar, III, Ep. 597, 641, 660, 739. The translation is also attributed to Haloin by Van der Haeghen, n, 895, by van Even, Edward, ‘Notice sur la bibliothèque de Charles de Croy, due d'Aerschot,’ Bulletin du bibliophile beige ([Bruxelles], 1852)Google Scholar, 9, 384, n. 2, and by L. Roersch, ‘Halewyn (George de),’ Biographie nationale de Belgiaue (Bruxelles, 1884- 85), VIII, cols. 629, 630.

3 Giese, Rachel, ‘Erasmus’ Knowledge and Estimate of the Vernacular Languages,' Romanic Review, 28 (1938), 7 Google Scholar.

4 Allen, III, 63.

5 Ibid., p. 83.

6 Ibid., p. 169.

7 F. van der Haeghen, n, 869.

8 Allen, III, 4.

9 ‘Erasmus and Propaganda: A Study of the Translations of Erasmus in English and French,’ Modern Language Review, 37 (Jan. 1942), 4.

10 Allen, ra, 83.

11 Roersch, cols. 628-633, and van Even, 384, 385.

12 Ph. Renouard, ed., Bibliographie des impressions et des oeuvres dejosse Badius Ascensius, imprimeur et humaniste, 1462-1535 (Paris, 1908; rpt. New York, n.d.) n, 45, 393, 394; in, 4, 10-12, 84,183.

13 E846, E847 in van der Haeghen. All my quotations are from the facsimile of this edition issued by Heinrich A. Schmid (Basel, 1931). Ihave silently expanded contractions.

14 H. Miller, Clarence, ‘Some Unusual Printer's Copy Used for Early Sixteenth- Century Editions of Erasmus’ Encomium Moriae,’ in Studies in Bibliography (Charlottesville, 1972), 25 Google Scholar, 138, 139.

15 Compare especially the sidenotes which appear in Haloin on sigs. C7v, D1v, D2v, E5, and H3v with those which appear in Froben's 1515 edition on sigs. E2, E3, E4v, G2v, and M2v.

16 The first added passage in Erasmus is: Ttaque Ciceroni degenerem fuisse fUium constat, et sapiens ille Socrates liberos habuit, matri similiores quam patri, ut non omnino pessime scripsit quidam, idest stultos’ (sig. E4V). Haloin's translation is discussed below, p. 30. The second added passage in Erasmus is: ‘Et Gryllus ille non paulo plus sapuit, quam , qui maluerit in hara grunire, quam cum illo tot miseris obijci casibus (sig. H3). Haloin's translation changes the person, Gryllus, into a cricket: ‘Le grillon aussi est dune telle nature quil ayme mieulx grunir et braire dedans la grange que frequenter auecques les hommes pour leurs miseres’ (sig. F1V). 16 Compare especially the sidenotes which appear in Haloin on sigs. A8V, B4V, C2V, C4V, and c6 with those in Erasmus on sigs. C2V, D1V, D2V, D3V, and D4V.

17 Some of these passages in Haloin are discussed below, pp. 30-33.

18 The phrase, found in Froben's 1515 edition (E846, E847) on sig. X3V, but not in his 1516 edition (E848), is: ‘partim quod iam uelut in suo regno est.’ On sig. L7 V, Haloin translates this as ‘in partie comme sil estoit ou habitoit en son royaulme et prouince.' The other nine editions which appeared after Froben's 1515 edition and before August 1520 lack this passage or the commentary and sidenotes used by Haloin.

19 ‘Cestassauoir’ appears, for example, on each page of Haloin's tenth chapter, ‘De la volupte es conuiz et bancquets femenins,’ sigs. C5V, c6, and c6V.

20 For a discussion of estate literature, see Mohl, Ruth, The Three Estates in Medieval and Renaissance Literature (New York, 1933)Google Scholar.

21 In one striking example, Haloin retains a word related to ‘estate,’ ‘genus,’ and adds 'lestat.’ Erasmus writes: ‘Genus, educationem, et comites, audistis’ (sig. c i v ) . Haloin translates: ‘Vous auez ouy lestat de mon genre, de mon nourrissement et de mes compaignes' (sig. A8).

22 Haloin, p. [6] and sig. C7.

23 Ibid., sig. C7.

24 Ibid., sigs. BI, B4, J3V.

25 Ibid., sigs. A4, A8, BI (four times), C4V, C7V (twice), E2V, F1V, G4V, J3, K I , K2T, K3V, K4V, 14V.

26 Ibid., p. [4], sigs. B I , E2V, J3V, K I , K3V, K4T, L4V.

27 Ibid., p. [6] and sig. cj, sigs. C7V, G4V, K2V.

28 Ibid., sigs. A4, A8, BI (four times), B4, C4V, C7V, Fiv, J3.

29 According to the Catalogue général des livres imprimis de la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris, 1933), XLVII, col. 839, the woodcuts were taken from an edition of The Ship of Fools published at Paris in 1498 by G. de Marnef. De Marnef, in turn, reproduced the woodcuts from an edition published in 1497 by Bergman de Olpe at Basel.

30 Erasmus, sig. H3.

31 Compare Erasmus, sig. X4, with Haloin, sig. I7V.

32 ‘At ne quis iam a nobis expectet, ut iuxta uulgarium istorum Rhetorum consuetudinem, meipsam finitione explicem, porro ut diuidam, multo minus. Nam utrumque ominis est inauspicati, uel fine circumscribere earn cuius numen tarn late pateat, uel secare, in cuius cultum, omne rerum genus ita consentiat. Tametsi quorsum tandem attinet mei uelut umbram atque imaginem finitione repraesentare, cum ipsam me coram praesentes praesentem oculis intueamini?’ (Erasmus, sig. B3).

33 ‘Utcumque de me uulgo mortales loquuntur, (neque enim sum nescia, quam male audiat stultitia etiam apud stultissimos) tamen hanc esse, hanc inquam esse unam, quae meo numine deos atque homines exhilaro, uel illud abunde magnum est argumentum, quod simul atque in hunc coetum frequentissimum dictura prodij, sic repente omnium uultus noua quadam atque insolita hilaritate enituerunt, sic subito frontem exporrexistis, sic laeto quodam et amabili applausistis risu, ut mihi profecto quotquot undique praesentes intueor, pariter deorum Homericorum nectare, non sine Nepenthe temulenti esse uideamini, cum antea tristes ac solliciti sederitis, perinde quasi nuper Trophonij specu reuersi’ (Erasmus, sigs. B1, B1 V). See Kaiser's, Walter analysis of this sentence in Praisers of Folly: Erasmus, Rabelais, Shakespeare (Cambridge, 1963), pp. 41 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 42.

34 For discussions of the theory and practice of medieval and Renaissance translations, see Dolet, Estienne, La manière de bien traduire d'vne langve en avtreplvs Des Accents d'ycelle (Lyon, 1540)Google Scholar, pp. 13-19; Matthiessen, F. O., Translation: An Elizabethan Art (Cambridge, 1931)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, pp. 4, 32-34, 65-67, 136, 137, 185, 190, 195; Monfrin, Jacques, ‘Humanisme et traduction au Moyen Âge,’ in L'Humanisme médiéval dans les littératures romanes du XHe au XlVe siècle, ed. Anthime Founder (Paris, 1964), pp. 217246 Google Scholar; Workman, Samuel K., Fifteenth Century Translation as an Influence on English Prose (Princeton, 1940)Google Scholar, pp. 35-41; and von Stackelberg, Jürgen, ‘Übersetzung und Imitation in der französischen Renaissance,' Arcadia, 1 (1966), 167173 Google Scholar.

35 The passage about Pan and its commentary are found in Erasmus on sig. B2: 'Quasque olim Midas ille noster exhibuit Pani.’ The commentary adds: ‘Midas] Nota est fabula de Mida, qui Panem canentem Apollini praetulit. Allusit autem ad prouerbium, Midae Aures.'

36 The commentary, also on sig. E4V, states: ‘Socrates liberos.] Ita testatur Seneca. Nam uxorem habuit Socrates morosam, ac rixosam, ut testatur Gellius.'

37 Roersch, ‘Halewyn,’ col. 629.

38 The text to which the commentary refers, also on sig. D2V, is: ‘Quin et Vulcanus ipse in deorum conuiuijs agere consueuit, ac modo claudicatione, modo cauillis, modo ridiculis dictis exhilarare compotationem.'

39 See the commentary on sigs. KIV, K2.

40 The text in Erasmus, on sig. E4V, is: ‘Ad publicos ludos trahe, ipso uultu populi uoluptatibus obstabit, et cogetur e theatro migrare sapiens Cato quandoquidem supercJHum non potest ponere.’ The commentary, on the same signature, is: ‘Sapiens Cato] Est apud Martialem de Catone censorio, qui cum sederet in theatro, nee auderent agere, quae acturi erant floralia, in quibus mulieres nudae, et uiri turpiter saltabant, iussus est aut mutare uultum, aut exire, exiuit itaque.'

41 ‘Alibi uideas Pythagoricos quosdam, quibus usque adeo omnia uidentur esse communia, ut quicquid usquam incustoditum nacti fuerint, id uelut haereditat obuenerit, aequo animo tollant’ (Erasmus, sig. M3V).

42 ‘Alibi uideas Pythagoricos.] Iocatur in furaces, quia Pythagoras dixit, .. i. amicorum omnia esse communia. Id dogma requi uidentur, cum ab omnibus, uelut ab amicis, accipunt’ (The commentary, sig. M3V).

43 From the fifteenth line on sig. 02 of Froben's 1515 edition to the fourth line on sig. PIV. See Haloin, sigs. J6V to J7V.

44 From the fourteenth line on sig. P4V to the twenty-eighth line on sig. R, Haloin retains only lines seven to twenty-seven on sig. Q2 and lines eight on sig. Q4V to twelve on sig. R1. See Haloin, sigs. J8 and KI.

45 See the discussion of these passages on p. 30 above.

46 From line nine on sig. R4 to line four on sig. S2.

47 From the nineteenth line on sig. T2 to the eighteenth line on sig. V2V.

48 Italics indicate lowercase letters which I have capitalized.

49 See van Even, ‘Notice sur la bibliotheque de Charles de Croy, due d'Aerschot,' p. 445.

50 ‘Un Probleme d'influence d'Érasme en Espagne,’ in Actes du Congres Érasme, Rotterdam, Oct. 27-29, 1969 (Amsterdam and London, 1971), pp. 136-147.

51 The Praise of Folie, ed. Clarence H. Miller (London, 1965), p. 4. Also see p. 5.

52 See Genevieve Stenger,’ The Praise of Folly and Its Parerga,’ Medievalia et Humanistica: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Culture, NS, NO. 2 (1971), 97-117.

53 Allen, III, 63.

54 ‘Erasmus and the Tradition of Paradox,’ Studies in Philology, 61 (1964), 41-63.