Two Dyaloges (c. 1549)

Two Dyaloges (c. 1549)

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Title: Two Dyaloges (c. 1549)
Author: Desiderius Erasmus
Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14500]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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DYALOGES (C. 1549) ***

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[Transcriber's note: The original text has no page numbers. Page breaks
have been marked with double lines || like this. Three apparent
typographic errors were corrected and are listed at the end of this text.
All other spelling and punctuation are as in the original.]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
[C]Two dyaloges wrytten in laten by the famous clerke. D. Eras- mus
of Roterodame/ one called Polyphemus or the gospeller/ the other
dysposyng of thynges and names/ translated in to Englyshe by
Edmonde Becke. And prynted at Cantorbury in saynt Paules paryshe by
Johñ Mychell. [+]

* * * * *
The preface to the Reader.
Lucius Anneus Seneca amonge many other pratie saienges (gentle reder)
hathe this also, whiche in my iudgement is as trew as it is wittie.
Rogãdo cogit qui rogat superior. And in effecte is thus moch to say, yf
a mãnes superior or his better desyre any thige, he might aswell cõmãde
it by authoritie as ones to desyre it.
A gentleman a nere cosyn of myne, but moch nerer in fryndshyp,
eftesones dyd instant and moue me to translate these two dyaloges
folowynge, to whose getlenes I am so moch obliged, indetted and
bounde, that he myght well haue cõmaunded me to this and more
paynes: to whome I do not onely owe seruyce, but my selfe also. And
in accõplysshynge of his most honest request (partly by cause I wolde
not the moost inhumane fawte of Ingratitude shuld wor||thely be
imputed to me, & that I might in this thynge also (accordynge to my
bounden dutie) gratifie my frende) I haue hassard my selfe in these
daungerous dayes, where many are so capcyous, some prone and redy
to malygne & depraue, and fewe whose eares are not so festidious,
tendre, and redy to please, that in very tryfles & thynges of small
importaunce, yet exacte dylygence and exquisite iudgement is loked for
and requyred, of them whiche at this present wyll attempte to translate
any boke be it that the matter be neuer so base. But what diligence I
have enployed in the translaciõ hereof I referre it to the iudgement of
the lerned sort, whiche cõferynge my translacion with the laten
dyaloges, I dowte not wyl condone and pardone my boldnesse, in that
that I chalenge the semblable lybertie whiche the translatours of this
tyme iustlie chalenge. For some heretofore submytting them selfe to
seruytude, haue lytle ||respecte to the obseruaciõ of the thyng which in
translacyõ is of all other most necessary and requisite, that is to saye, to
rendre the sence & the very meanyng of the author, not so relygyouslie
addicte to translate worde for worde, for so the sence of the author is
oftentimes corrupted & depraued, and neyther the grace of the one
tonge nor yet of the other is truely observed or aptlie expressed. The
lerned knoweth that euery tonge hathe his peculyer proprietie, phrase,
maner of locucion, enargies and vehemêcie, which so aptlie in any
other tõg can not be expressed. Yf I shal perceyue this my symple
doinge to be thankefully taken, and in good parte accepted, it shall

encorage me hereafter to attempte the translaciõ of some bokes
dysposing of matters bothe delectable, frutefull, & expedient to be
knowen, by the grace of God, who gyuynge me quyetnes of mynde,
lybertie, and abylytie, shall not desyste to communicat the frute of my
||spare howers, to such as are not lerned in the laten tonge: to whome I
dedycat the fyrste frutes of this my symple translacyon.
* * * * *
A declaracion of the names.
Poliphemus sygnifieth, valyant or noble, and in an other sygnifi- cacion,
talcatyfe or clybbe of tong. The name of a Gyant called Cyclops, ha-
uynge but one eye in his forhed, of a huge stature and a myghtie
personage. And is aplyed here to sygnifie a great freke or a lubber, as
this Poliphemus was, whiche beynge a man of warre or a courtyer, had
a newe testament in his hande, and loked buselie for some sentence or
text of scrypture