 | The Twin Brothers |  |
PREFACE.
The late Mr. Thornton, in his preface to the first volume of this translation, has been so explicit in his account of Plautus, and his manner of writing, that little is left for me to say on that subject. The loss of so good a scholar, so worthy a man, must ever be regretted by the publick in general, and by his friends in particular. Had he lived to have compleated his translation of all the Comedies of Plautus, I should never have entertained a thought of offering mine to the publick, as he has indeed with great truth mentioned in his preface.
In the second edition of his translation, I inserted an advertisement concerning my intended
Fixa pedum pono pressis vestigia signis,
Non ita certandi cupidus, quam propter amorem
Quod te imitari aveo. Quidenim contendat hirundo
Cygnis? aut quidnam tremulis facere artubus hœdi
Consimile in cursu possint, ac fortis equi vis—
I strictly trace, willing to imitate,
Not contradict!—For how can larks oppose
The vigorous swan? They are unequal foes.
Or how can tender kids with feeble force
Contend in racing with the noble horse?
It will be proper for me to acquaint the reader, from what sources I have drawn the notes; what assistances I have had from French translations, and from the favours of friends.— Besides what I have taken from the Delphin edition by M. De L'Oeuvre (whose text I have in general followed,) I have either extracted from, or else abridged the notes of Lambin, Taubman, and the Variorum, published by Gronovius. I have also had some assistance of the same sort from the notes of Marolles, Gueudeville, and Limiers, in their respective translations of this author into French. To the latter of whom I am obliged for the thought, and, in a great measure, for the execution of the analysis at the end of each act. To these I have added not a few notes of my own; and some that have been kindly communicated to me by particular friends; whose names, had I the liberty of mentioning, would add the greatest credit to the work.
One worthy friend indeed, I have liberty to bring the reader acquainted with; the editor of Rhazes de Variolis et Morbillis in Arabic and Latin. This gentleman has kindly undertaken that small part of the Punic in the fifth Act of
These two volumes are offered to the publick in general, and to the admirers of Plautus in particular, with the utmost deference to their judgement and candour. If they are so fortunate as to meet with their approbation, and the translator shall be judged not absolutely to have failed in so arduous an undertaking, the remaining Comedies, four in number (which, with the fragments, will compleat all that is left of the author) are in great forwardness for the press; and shall be laid before the publick with all convenient speed.
The advertisement, referred to, is, for the sake of the purchasers of the second edition, inserted here, by way of note; and is as follows:
At the time the late Mr. Thornton advertised, that he was preparing for the press a translation of the Comedies of Plautus, I had myself translated several Comedies of that author into prose. These were The Aulularia, Rudens, Epidicus, Cistellaria, Mostellaria, Stichus, almost the whole of The Trinummus, with a small part of the Menæchmi. I had also made no inconsiderable progress in the Captivi, in the same kind of familiar blank verse which Mr. Colman had adopted in his deservedly admired translation of Terence, and Mr. Thornton intended in his of Plautus. This I communicated to him; who, after I had compleated the translation in the same manner, accepted of the Captivi with the notes, and printed it with his own translations, and that of the Mercator by Mr. Colman, in the first edition of this work. Had he lived to have continued it, he intended to have inserted in his next publication, my translation of the Mostellaria, which for that purpose was new written by me in the same kind of familiar blank verse, and put into his hands not long before his death.
This second edition, in regard to the memory of my deceased friend, I have undertaken to revise and correct, the Mercator, by Mr. Colman, excepted. I have made no change in what Mr. Thornton had translated, a very few words only excepted, the alteration of which had been submitted to him, and approved of. I have also inserted in their proper places, the corrections mentioned in his table of Errata. In my own translation of the Captivi, some alterations have been made, I trust for the better; and some addition to the former notes, as well as some new ones, more fully to explain and illustrate the author.
Among the papers of the deceased translator, have been found the first and second acts of the Menæchmi, with the Prologue; and the whole first act, with the first scene, and somewhat more of the second act of the Epidicus. These are put into my hands. And as the admirers of Plautus, by the unhappy loss of a gentleman, who had shewn himself in all respects equal to so difficult an undertaking, have been deprived of a continuation of the work by so able a hand, they are desired to accept of it from one much inferior; which I therefore propose to give the publick, preserving all that Mr. Thornton had left, and adding notes.
RICHARD WARNER. Woodford Row, Essex, July 15, 1769. | The Twin Brothers | |