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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29684-8.txt b/29684-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1e43d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/29684-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2616 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Prefaces to Terence's Comedies and +Plautus's Comedies (1694), by Lawrence Echard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Prefaces to Terence's Comedies and Plautus's Comedies (1694) + +Author: Lawrence Echard + +Commentator: John Barnard + +Release Date: August 13, 2009 [EBook #29684] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TERENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner, Dave Morgan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[This e-text comes in two forms: Latin-1 and ASCII-7. Use the one that +works best on your text reader. + + --In the Latin-1 version, French words like "comédie" have accents, + and "æ" is a single letter. If you see any garbage in this paragraph + and can't get it to display properly, try: + --In the ASCII-7 version, French accents and cedillas are missing, + and "ae" is two letters. + +Both Prefaces were printed in italic type, with roman used for emphasis, +names and quotations. Emphasis within quotations was again italicized. +In these passages, the overall italics are not marked; Roman type is +shown between +marks+.] + + + + + The Augustan Reprint Society + + + Lawrence Echard + + _PREFACES_ + + _To Terence's_ + + COMEDIES + + _And Plautus's_ + + COMEDIES + + (1694) + + + _Introduction by_ + JOHN BARNARD + + + Publication Number 129 + WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY + University of California, Los Angeles + 1968 + + + + +GENERAL EDITORS + + George Robert Guffey, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Maximillian E. Novak, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Robert Vosper, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + + +ADVISORY EDITORS + + Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_ + James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_ + Ralph Cohen, _University of Virginia_ + Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_ + Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_ + Earl Miner, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_ + Everett T. Moore, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Lawrence Clark Powell, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + James Sutherland, _University College, London_ + H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + +CORRESPONDING SECRETARY + + Edna C. Davis, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Perhaps no higher praise can be paid a translator than posterity's +acceptance of his work. Laurence Echard's _Terence's Comedies_, first +printed in 1694 in the dress and phraseology of Restoration comedy, has +received this accolade through the mediation of no less a modern +translator than Robert Graves. In 1963 Graves edited a translation of +three of Terence's plays. His Foreword points to the extreme difficulty +of translating Terence, and admits his own failure-- "It is regrettable +that the very terseness of his Latin makes an accurate English rendering +read drily and flatly; as I have found to my disappointment." Graves's +answer was typically idiosyncratic. "A revival of Terence in English, +must, I believe, be based on the translation made . . . . with +fascinating vigour, by a young Cambridge student Laurence Echard +. . . ."[1] + +The Prefaces to Echard's _Terence's Comedies: Made English_ . . . . +(1694) and to his _Plautus's Comedies, Amphitryon, Epidicus, and Rudens_ +(1694) are of interest for several reasons. Both of them outline the +intentions and rationale which lie behind the translations. They also +throw light upon the sense of literary rivalry with French achievements +which existed in some quarters in late seventeenth-century England, make +comments on the contemporary stage, and are valuable both as examples of +seventeenth-century attitudes to two Classical dramatists, and as +statements of neoclassical dramatic theory. Finally, they are, to some +extent, polemical pieces, aiming at the instruction of contemporary +dramatists. + +Laurence Echard, or Eachard (1670?-1730), was a minor cleric, a prolific +hack, and an historian, a typical enough confusion of functions for the +time. It suggests that Echard had energy, ability, and political +commitment, but lacked a generous patron or good fortune to take the +place of private means. Within the Church his success was modest: he was +installed prebendary of Louth in 1697, but had to wait until 1712 before +becoming Archdeacon of Stow. Echard achieved the little fame by which he +is remembered as an historical writer. Perhaps he is more accurately +described as a compiler rather than as an historian. His major works +were _The Roman History, from the Building of the City, to the Perfect +Settlement of the Empire by Augustus Caesar_ . . . (1695-98), the +equally comprehensive _A General Ecclesiastical History from the +Nativity of Our Blessed Saviour to the First Establishment of +Christianity_ . . . (1702), his all-inclusive _The History of England +from the first Entrance of Julius Caesar . . . to the Conclusion of the +Reign of King James the Second_ . . . (1707-18), and the more detailed +but equally long work, _The History of the Revolution, and the +Establishment of England in . . . 1688_ (1725). + +Echard's career as a publisher's jack-of-all-trades ran concurrently +with his life's work on history, and showed a similar taste for the +voluminously encyclopedic. In 1691 he graduated B.A. at Christ's +College, Cambridge, and published four works under the imprint of Thomas +Salusbury: _A Most Complete Compendium of Geography; General and +Special; Describing all the Empires, Kingdoms, and Dominions in the +Whole World_, _An Exact Description of Ireland . . ._, _A Description of +Flanders . . ._, and the _Duke of Savoy's Dominions most accurately +described_.[2] These were followed in 1692 by _The Gazetteer's or +Newsman's Interpreter: being a Geographical Index_ . . . . Two years +later the translations of Plautus and Terence were published. + +All of this work was clearly irrelevant to his main interests: in 1695 +he had been urged to undertake his _General Ecclesiastical History_, and +by that time he was already at work upon his _Roman History_ +(1695-98).[3] Into the bargain, he was in residence at Cambridge until +1695, for he did not gain his M.A. until that year. Despite the apparent +success of his publisher's enterprises (_A Most Complete Compendium_ was +in its eighth edition by 1713, and _The Gazetteer's or Newsman's +Interpreter_ reached a twelfth in 1724), little of the profit reached +the penurious Echard. In 1717 Archbishop Wake wrote to Addison that "His +circumstances are so much worse than I thought, that if we cannot get +somewhat pretty considerable for Him, I doubt He will sink under the +weight of his debts . . . ."[4] + +The sheer quantity of work which Echard accomplished in these early +years is astonishing: it is no wonder that in the Preface to the +_Plautus_ he explained that "business" had prevented him from +translating more than three of the comedies, remarking, ". . . I have +taken somewhat less time than was necessary for the translating such an +extraordinary difficult Author; for this requires more than double the +time of an _Historian_ or the like, which was as much as I cou'd allow +my self" (sig. b3). + +In all of his work Echard sought and acknowledged the help of a whole +series of unnamed encouragers and authorities. For the _Plautus_ he "had +the Advantage of another's doing their [i.e., "these"?] Plays before me; +from whose Translation I had very considerable Helps . . ." (sig. b4). +Apart from that aid, the _Plautus_, on the evidence offered by the +title-page and the Preface, was all Echard's own. This is not the case +with the _Terence_, which was translated by a symposium, with the +Preface being written by Echard on the group's behalf. As a result, its +Preface uses "we" throughout where the _Plautus_ uses "I." When the +first edition of the _Terence_ appeared it gave the authorship as "By +Several Hands," but later editions are more detailed, and specify that +the work was done "By Mr. Laurence Echard, and others. Revis'd and +Corrected by Dr. Echard and Sir R. L'Estrange." The fourth edition also +stated firmly in 1716, "The PREFACE, Written by Mr. _Laurence Echard_" +(p. i). + +The only discrepancy which might seem to deny Echard's authorship of the +Preface to the _Terence_ is the fact that the two Prefaces contradict +one another over the way in which scenes should be marked. The Preface +to the _Terence_ simply says that exits and entrances within the acts +are a sufficient indication that the scene has changed without numbering +them, "for the _Ancients_ never had any other [method] that we know of" +(p. xxii). The _Plautus_ on the other hand, numbers the scenes, and the +Preface comments, "I have all the way divided the _Acts_ and _Scenes_ +according to the true Rules of the Stage . . ." (sig. b2v). Since this +was an open question, however, in neoclassical dramatic theory, the +simplest explanation is that Echard was free to do as he believed in the +_Plautus_, which was all his own, but was, in the Preface to the +_Terence_, expressing the views of the whole group of translators. + +The two volumes are a testimony to Echard's remarkable industry and +abilities. They were published the year before he took his M.A., when he +was only twenty-four. In the years between coming up to Cambridge in +1687 and 1695, he found time not only to satisfy his university, and to +do the very considerable amount of hack work which appeared in 1691 and +1692, as well as embarking upon his large historical works, but also +translated two difficult Roman authors with great verve. + +It would be interesting to know why, in the years between 1691 and 1694, +Echard turned his attentions to the art of translation. The venture is a +curious deviation from his otherwise single-minded devotion to history +and to journalistic enterprises (the only other translation he is known +to have done is the brief "Auction of the Philosophers" in _The Works of +Lucian_ [1710-11]). The connection of Dr. John Eachard and Sir Roger +L'Estrange may offer a slight clue. Echard was closely related to Dr. +Eachard (1636?-1697), Master of Catharine Hall, Cambridge, and author of +the lively dialogue, _Mr. Hobbs's State of Nature Consider'd_ (1672).[5] +With a family connection such as this, Echard might well have hoped for +a successful career centered on his stay at Cambridge. The dedication of +his _A Most Complete Compendium_ in 1691 to the Master of his own +college, Dr. John Covel, suggests that he was looking in this direction. +L'Estrange is important not only for his intimate knowledge of the +publishing trade, but also because he was a translator in his own right. +His _Æsop_ appeared in 1692, and he had early put out translations of +Quevedo (1673), Cicero (1680), and Erasmus (1680), and was to go on to +translate Flavius Josephus (1702). Since L'Estrange had also been a +student at Cambridge, there is some possibility that the translation of +Terence was carried out at the instigation of a Cambridge based group. +The translation might also be connected with the resurgence of interest +in translation and in "correctness" which can be discerned in the +1690's.[6] + +The two Prefaces differ somewhat in character. It seems clear from +remarks made in the Preface to the _Plautus_ that it was written after +the _Terence_ had already reached the public and after Echard's copy for +the text of Plautus's three comedies was in the printer's hands. Not +surprisingly the later Preface is hurried, and at times almost casual. +The Preface to the _Terence_ is more ambitious, more carefully written, +and more wide-ranging, though giving fewer examples of the kinds of +translations made by Echard. Both Prefaces lay claim to substantially +the same audience. That to the _Terence_ explains that the translation +was undertaken in the first place because of the literary value of +Terence's comedy. In consequence, its benefits would apply to "most +sorts of People, but especially for the Service it may do our _Dramatick +Poets_." Secondly, the work was undertaken for "the Honour of our own +_Language_, into which all good Books ought to be Translated, since +_'tis now become so Elegant, Sweet and Copious_ . . . ." Thirdly, it +might rival the translations done in other countries, particularly those +in France. The audience envisaged ranged from schoolboys, who would find +the translation less Latinate and the notes more pointed than those of +Bernard or Hoole, to "Men of Sense and Learning," who ought to be +pleased to see Terence in "modern Dress." As for the dramatists, Terence +might serve as an exemplar, especially since the translation could "be +read with less Trouble than the Original . . ." (pp. xvii-xix). The +_Plautus_ Preface is far less detailed, but refers back to these +reasons, while stressing the function of the translation for the +schoolboy. Judging by the number of editions, the _Terence_ found its +market, for where the _Plautus_ ran to only two editions, the first and +that of 1716, the _Terence_ appeared in a seventh edition in 1729. Nor +was Echard's audience merely made up of students. If one of his main +targets was contemporary dramatists, he would have been elated to learn +that William Congreve owned a copy of the first edition of both +translations.[7] + +The Prefaces are perhaps a little disingenuous in acknowledging Echard's +and his collaborators' debt to the contemporary French classical scholar +and translator, Anne Dacier. On both occasions Echard paid her some +tribute. What he does not mention is that the two volumes seem to be +modelled on her example. The _Terence_ translates the plays which had +appeared in her _Les comédies de Térence_ (Paris, 1688), and it is +significant that despite his claims that he wished to translate more +than three of Plautus' comedies, he in fact translated only those three +which Mme. Dacier had already done in her _Les comédies de Plaute_ +(Paris, 1683). Moreover, the notes and to some extent the Prefaces, are +modelled on the French scholar's work: Echard's notes are often directly +dependent upon Mme. Dacier's and are exactly described by her account of +her own volume as being "avec de remarques et un examen de chaque +comédie selon les règles du theatre." + +The views on translation put forward by the Prefaces are an intelligent +exposition of progressive contemporary notions of the art. The belief in +literal translation which characterizes Jonson and Marvell in the +earlier years of the century had been displaced by the more liberal +concept of "imitation." Roscommon is a representative of this freer +attitude, while Dryden's more severe theory of "paraphrase," whatever +his practice may have been, stands somewhere between the two positions. +Like Ozell and Gildon, and later Pope, Echard's aim, whether translating +by himself or collectively, was to imitate the spirit of his author in +English. "A meer _Verbal Translation_ is not to be expected, that wou'd +sound so horribly, and be more obscure than the Original . . . . We +couldn't have kept closer . . . without too much treading upon the +Author's Heels, and destroying our Design of giving it an easie, _Comick +Style_, most agreeable to our present Times" (_Terence's Comedies_, +p. xx). To this end it was necessary to tone down the "familiarity and +bluntness in [Terence's] Discourse" which were "not so agreeable with +the Manners and Gallantry of our Times." This was intended to bring +Terence up to the level of gentility for which he was credited by +compensating for the barbarity of Roman social manners. But the +translation was willing to go further than this: it added to the Roman +comedy what Echard thought English comedy excelled in, "humour"-- "In +some places we have had somewhat more of _Humour_ than the Original, to +make it still more agreeable to our Age . . . ." (_ibid._, p. xxii). +When speaking for himself alone in the Preface to the _Plautus_, +Echard's claims were less grandiose. Here the translation seems much +more specifically aimed at schoolboys, and Echard made firm claims for +his literalness (sig. b1-2v). On the other hand, he went out of his way +to praise Dryden's _Amphitryon_ (1690) for the freedom it had taken with +the original, which, said Echard, "may serve for one Instance of what +Improvements our Modern Poets have made on the Ancients, when they built +upon their Foundations" (sig. b3v-4). + +The praise of Dryden is to some extent double-edged since it is an +implicit assertion of the point made in both Prefaces, that English +writers had much to learn from the Roman dramatists. Echard uses the +Prefaces to assess and compare Plautus and Terence, but he also uses +them as a springboard for a critique of the state of English comedy. +Like much neoclassical criticism it is, of course, derivative. The stock +comparison of Plautus and Terence comes from Anne Dacier,[8] and +Echard's footprints can be tracked in the snows of Cicero, Scaliger, +Rapin, André Dacier, the Abbé D'Aubignac, and Dryden. Having set the +Ancients against the Moderns, Echard is able to attack the looseness of +English double plots by pointing to Terence's success within a similar +structure. He is also able to praise Terence's genteel style. Against +this, Echard admits, along with his precursors, Plautus' superiority in +point of _vis comica_, which he defines, interestingly, as "_Liveliness +of Intreague_" (sig. a8). Echard is thus able to claim, with +considerable conviction, the superiority of English comedy in several +areas, especially in its variety, its humour, "in some Delicacies of +_Conversation_," and "above all in _Repartée_" (_Terence's Comedies_, +p. xi). + +What the English had to learn, in Echard's view, was "regularity," that +is, the discipline imposed upon a dramatist by observing the Unities, +and obeying the other "rules of the drama" (such as the _liaisons_), in +pursuit of verisimilitude and tautness of structure. Echard's main hope +was that his translation and notes would correct his contemporaries' +habit of ignoring the Roman dramatists' "_essential_ Beauties," and +"contenting themselves with considering the _superficial_ ones, such as +the _Stile_, _Language_, _Expression_, and the like, without taking much +notice of the Contrivance and Management, of the _Plots, Characters, +etc._" (_Plautus_, sig. a1). The remarkable fact about Echard's +discussion of these matters, despite his dependence at times upon that +arch-pedant, the Abbé D'Aubignac,[9] is the critical intelligence with +which he puts forward his argument. Unlike many neoclassical critics, +Echard keeps his eyes fixed firmly on the strengths and weaknesses of +Restoration comedy within the context of previous English comedy and the +Restoration stage itself. A sign of this is his attention to practical +details, which take the form of one or two valuable notes on the theatre +of his day. We learn, for instance, that actors were in the "custom of +looking . . . full upon the Spectators," and that some members of the +Restoration audience took printed copies into the playhouse in order to +be able to follow the play on the stage.[10] It is a real loss to the +historian of drama and to the critic that these two volumes were +Laurence Echard's solitary adventure into the criticism and translation +of drama. + +University of Leeds + + +NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION + + 1. _The Comedies of Terence: Echard's Translations Edited with a + Foreword by Robert Graves_ (London, 1963), pp. viii-ix. Graves + (p. ix) says that Echard's translation of Terence was made in + 1689, when he was only nineteen. I have been unable to find any + evidence in support of this statement. + + 2. No copy of the _Duke of Savoy's Dominions_ appears to be + extant. It is not recorded in Wing, but appears in _The Term + Catalogues, 1688-1709_ . . ., ed. Edward Arber (1903-1906), II, + 380. This must have been much smaller than Echard's other + publications in this year: it cost only 3d. against the first + two's 1s. 6d. + + 3. _A General Ecclesiastical History_ . . . . (London, 1702), + sig. b1. + + 4. _The Letters of Joseph Addison_, ed. Walter Graham (Oxford, + 1941), p. 504. + + 5. Recently republished with an introduction by Peter Ure as No. + XIV (1958) in the University of Liverpool Reprints. + + 6. "Dryden, Tonson, and Subscriptions for the 1697 _Virgil_," + _PBSA_, LVII (1963), 147-48. Raymond Havens makes a rather + different emphasis in his "Changing Taste in the Eighteenth + Century," _PMLA_, XLIV (1929), 501-18. + + 7. Items 450 and 595 in _The Library of William Congreve_, ed. + John C. Hodges (New York, 1955). [[Project Gutenberg e-text 27606]] + + 8. _Les comédies de Plaute_, ed. and trans. Anne Dacier (Paris, + 1683). For a further statement of her views, see _Les comédies de + Térence_ (Paris, 1688). + + 9. In particular, see his discussion of the _liaisons_ which is + derived from François Hédelin, Abbé D'Aubignac, _La practique du + théâtre_ . . . . (Paris, 1669), pp. 117-19, 315-20. D'Aubignac's + work was translated into English as _The Whole Art of the Stage_ + . . . . (1684). + +10. _Plautus's Comedies_, sig. a8v; _Terence's Comedies_, p. xiii. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The texts of this edition are reproduced from copies in the Brotherton +Library, University of Leeds. + + + + + _TERENCE_'s + + COMEDIES: + + + Made _ENGLISH_. + + with his + + LIFE; + + and some + + REMARKS at the End. + + + By Several HANDS. + + + _LONDON:_ + + Printed for _A. Swall_ and _T. Childe_, at the + _Unicorn_, at the West-End of St. _Paul_'s + Church-yard. 1694. + + + + +THE + +PREFACE. + + +Since long +Prefaces+ are lately much in Fashion upon this and the +like Occasions, why may not we be allow'd some tolerable Liberty in +this kind; provided we keep close to our Author, and our own +Translation of him. As for our Author, wherever Learning, Wit or +Judgment have flourish'd, this Poet has always had an extraordinary +Reputation. To mention all his Excellencies and Perfections were a +Task too difficult for us, and perhaps for the greatest Criticks +alive; so very few there are that perfectly understand all of 'em; +yet we shall venture at some of the most Remarkable. + +To begin with him in general. He was certainly the most Exact, the +most Elaborate, and withal the most Natural of all +Dramatick+ +Poets; His +Stile+ so neat and pure, his +Characters+ so true and +perfect, his +Plots+ so regular and probable, and almost every thing +so absolutely just and agreeable, that he may well seem to merit +that Praise which several have given him, +That he was the most +correct Author in the World.+ To compare him with +Plautus+, the +other great +Latin Comedian+, we may observe that +Plautus+ had more +Wit and Spirit, but +Terence+ more Sense and Judgment; the former's +Stile was rich and glaring, the latter's more close and even: ++Plautus+ had the most dazelling out-side, and the most lively +Colours, but +Terence+ drew the finest Figures and Postures, and had +the best Design; the one pleas'd the Vulgar, but our Author the +Better sort of people; the former wou'd usually set his Spectators +into a loud Laughter, but the latter steal 'em into a sweet Smile +that shou'd continue from the beginning to the end of the +Representation: in short, +Plautus+ was more lively and vigorous, +and so fitter for +Action+; and +Terence+ more grave and serious, +and so fitter for +Reading+. Tho' +Plautus+'s Beauties were very +extraordinary, yet he had his Faults and Indecorums very frequent; +but +Terence+'s Excellencies (tho' possibly inferior to some of the +others) were more general, better dispers'd, and closer continu'd; +and his Faults so inconsiderable, and so very few, that +Scaliger+ +said, +There were not three to be found throughout the Six Plays.+ +So that our Author seems to want nothing to make him absolutely +compleat, but only that same +Vis Comica+ that +Cæsar+ wishes he +had, and which +Plautus+ was Master of in such a high degree. We +shall determine nothing between 'em, but leave 'em good Friends as +we found 'em. + +This may be sufficient for our Author's Excellencies in general; for +his particular ones, we shall begin with his Stile, a thing he has +been admir'd for in all Ages, and truly he deserves it; for +certainly no one was ever more accurate, natural, and clear in his +Expressions than he. But to be a little more particular in this +Matter, we shall give you some few of our Author's Excellencies in +this kind under three or four different Heads. + +And first, We may observe of his +Words+, that they are generally +nicely chosen, extreamly proper and significant; and many of 'em +carry so much Life and Force in 'em, that they can hardly be +express'd in any other Language without great disadvantage to the +Original. To instance in these following. +Qui cum ingeniis +_conflictatur_ ejusmodi.+ +Ut animus in spe atque in timore usque +ante hac _attentus_ fuit.+ +Nisi me lactasses amantem, & falsa spe +_produceres_.+ +_Pam._ Mi Pater. _Si._ Quid mi Pater? Quasi tu +_hujus indigeas_ Patris.+ +Tandem ego non illâ caream, si sit opus, +vel totum triduum. _Par._ Hui? _Universum triduum._+ +Quam _elegans_ +formarum spectator siem.+ +Hunc comedendum & deridendum vobis +_propino_.+ + +We shall next take notice of one or two Instances of the Shortness +and Clearness of his Narrations; as that which +Tully+ mentions. ++Funus interim procedit sequimur, ad Sepulchrum venimus, in ignem +posita est, Fletur.+ Another may be that in +Phormio+. +Persuasum +est homini, factum est, ventum est, vincimur, duxit.+ + +Another remarkable Beauty of his Stile appears in his Climaxes; +where every Word is Emphatical, heightens the Sense, and adds +considerably to what went before. As, +Hæc verba Mehercule una falsa +Lachrymula, quam oculos terendo miserè vix vi expresserit, +restinguet.+ +Quod ille unciatim vix de demenso suo, suum defraudans +genium, comparsit miser.+ + +The last thing we shall give any instance of, is the Softness and +Delicacy of his Turns; of which many might be produced; but we think +these few may be sufficient for our purpose. +Eheu me miseram! Cur +non aut isthæc mihi ætas & forma est, aut tibi hæc sententia.+ +Nam +si ego digna hac contumelia sum maxime, at tu indignus qui faceres +tamen.+ +Nam dum abs te absum, omnes mihi labores fuere, quos cepi, +leves, præterquam tui carendum quod erat.+ +Palam beatus, ni unum +desit, animus qui modeste isthæc ferat.+ +Aliis, quia defit quod +amant, ægre est, tibi, quod super est, dolet.+ And as for the Purity +of his Language in general; we find it very much commended even by ++Tully+ himself. And +One+ of the Moderns is not at all out of the +way when he tells us: That the +Latin+ Tongue will never be lost, as +long as +Terence+ may be had. + +Our Author's Excellent +Latin+ is now the greatest Cause of his +Esteem, and makes him so much read in the World; but for certain, he +that reads him purely for his +Latin+ sake, does but a quarter read +him; for 'tis his +Characters+ and +Plots+ have so far rais'd him up +above the rest of the Poets, and have gain'd him so much Honour +among the Criticks in all Ages. His +Stile+, tho' so very +extraordinary, in a great measure may be learnt by Industry, long +Custom, and continual Usage, and has been imitated to a high degree +by several; and indeed this was but as rich Attire, and outward +Ornaments to set off a more beautiful Body. But in his +Characters+ +and +Manners+ there it is that he triumphs without a Rival; and not +only +Dramatick+, but all other Poets must yield to him in that +Point. For these are drawn exactly to the Life, perfectly just, +truly proportionably, and fully kept up to the last; and as for +their being natural, +Rapin+ says, +That no Man living had a greater +insight into Nature than he.+ The more a Man looks into 'em, the +more he must admire 'em; he'll find there not only such Beauty in +his +Images+, but also such excellent Precepts of +Morality+, such +solid Sense in each Line, such depth of Reasoning in each Period, +and such close arguing between each Party, that he must needs +perceive him to be a Person of strong Sense and Judgment. His ++Deliberations+ are most compleat, where all the several Accidents, +Events, Dangers, Casualties, good and bad Consequences are fully +summed up and clearly urg'd; so are the +Answers+ of each Person as +perfect, where every thing is so well fitted, so home, and so +natural, that if one shou'd study upon 'em never so long, he cou'd +scarce find any thing more to the purpose. He had a peculiar +Happiness at pleasing and amusing an Audience, perpetually keeping +'em in a most even, pleasant, smiling Temper; and this is the most +distinguishing part of his Character from the rest of the World; his +Pleasantries were somewhat Manly, and such as reach'd beyond the +Fancy and Imagination, even to the Heart and Soul of the Audience; +and what is more remarkable yet, one single Scene shall please a +whole day together; a Secret which few or no other Poet ever found +out. + +And as we have scarce found one Man in the World that equals him in +his Characters, so we find but very few that cou'd come up to him in +the Management (we mean his Art and Contrivance) of his +Plots+. We +are sensible that many have been so foolish as to count his Plays a ++bare Bundle of Dialogues dress'd up in a neat Stile+, and there all +his Excellency to consist, or at least that they are very ordinary +and mean; but such senseless Suppositions will soon vanish upon +giving an Account of the Nature and Perfection of 'em. He well +understood the Rules of the Stage, or rather those of +Nature+; was +perfectly +Regular+, wonderful exact and careful in ordering each ++Protasis+ or Entrance, +Epitasis+ or working up, +Catastasis+ or +heighth, and +Catastrophe+ or unravelling the Plot; which last he +was famous for making it spring necessarily from the Incidents, and +neatly and dextrously untying the Knot, whilst others of a grosser +make, would either tear, or cut it in pieces. In short (setting +aside some few things which we shall mention by and by) +Terence+ +may serve for the best and most perfect +Model+ for our +Dramatick+ +Poets to imitate, provided they exactly observe the different +Customs and Manners of the +Roman+ and +English+ People; and upon +the same account we beg leave to be a little more particular in this +Matter, which dispos'd us very much to this Translation. + +The Nature of his +Plots+ was for the most part grave and solid, +and sometimes passionate a little, resembling our Modern ++Tragy-Comedies+; only the Comical parts were seldom so merry; +the Thinness and clearness of 'em somewhat resembling our Modern ++Tragedies+, only more perfect in the latter, and not crouded +with too many Incidents. They were all double except the +Hecyra+, +or +Mother-in-Law+, yet so contriv'd that one was always an ++Under-plot+ to the other: So that he still kept perfectly to the +first great Rule of the Stage, the +Unity of Action+. As for the +second great Rule the +Unity of Time+ (that is, for the whole Action +to be perform'd in the compass of a Day) he was as exact in that as +possible, for the longest Action of any of his Plays reaches not +Eleven hours. He was no less careful in the third Rule, +The Unity +of Place+, for 'tis plain he never shifts his Scene in any one of +his Plays, but keeps constantly to the same place from the beginning +to the end. Then for the +Continuance in the Action+, he never fails +in any one place, but every Instrument is perpetually at work in +carrying on their several Designs, and in them the design of the +whole; so that the Stage never grows cold till all is finish'd: And +to do this the more handsomely and dextrously, he scarce ever brings +an +Actor+ upon the Stage, but you presently know his Name and +Quality, what part of the Intrigue he's to promote, why he came +there, from whence he came, why just at that time, why he goes off, +where he's a going, and also what he is or ought to be doing or +contriving all the time he's away. His +Scenes+ are always unbroken, +so that the Stage is never perfectly clear but between the Acts; but +are continually joyn'd by one of the four Unions. Which according to ++Mon. Hedelin+ are these; +Presence+, +Seeking+, +Noise+, or +Time+; +and when the Action ceaseth (that is, upon the Stage) and the Stage +is clear'd, an +Act+ is then finish'd. Then for +Incidents+, and the +due Preparation of 'em, +Terence+ was admirable: And the true and +exact Management of +these+ is one of the most difficult parts of ++Dramatick Poetry+. He contrives every thing in such a manner so as +to fall out most probably and naturally, and when they are over they +seem almost necessary; yet by his excellent Skill he so cunningly +conceals the Events of things from his Audience, till due time, that +they can never foresee 'em; by this means they are so amus'd with +the +Actors+ Designs, that the +Poets+ is unknown to 'em, till at +last, being all along in the dark, they are surpriz'd most agreeably +by something they never look'd for: And this is the most taking and +the most delightful part of a Play. We might insist much more +largely upon each of these Particulars, and upon several others, but +at present we shall content our selves with saying that these ++Plots+ are all so very +clear+, and +natural+, that they might very +well go for a Representation of a thing that had really happen'd; +and not the meer Invention of the +Poet+. + +There are two or three remarkable Objections against our Author +which we can't but take notice of. First, 'tis said, +That he has +not kept to the Unity of Time in his Heautontimoreumenos, or +Self-Tormenter; which contains the space of two days. Then, between +the second and third Acts, there's an absolute failure of the +Continuance of the Action.+ These are generally believ'd by several +Men, and such as are famous too; and some to vindicate +Terence+ the +better have added another Mistake, +That the Play was always acted +two several times, the two first Acts one, and the three last +another.+ But 'tis plain from all Circumstances, that the +Action+ +began very late in the Evening, and ended betimes in the Morning (of +which we have said something in our +Remarks+ at the end) so that +the whole cou'dn't contain above Eleven hours; but as for that of +the +Cessation of the Action+, 'tis answer'd two ways, either by the +necessity of Sleep at that Interval, and consequently no ++Cessation+, or (which is more probable) by the Persons being busie +at the Treat at +Chremes+'s House, that being a necessary part of +the main +Action+. The two following are Mr. +Dryden+'s Exceptions; +where first he lays an Error to our Author's Charge in matter of ++Time+. +In the Eunuch+ (says he) +when _Laches_ enters _Thais_'s +House by mistake, between his _Exit_ and the Entrance of _Pythias_, +who comes to give ample Relation of the Disorder he has rais'd +within, _Parmeno_ who is left upon the Stage has not above five +Lines to speak.+ In answer to this, +Pythias+ makes no such +ample +Relation+, but rather tells him what +Disorders+ such a foolish Act +of his was like to raise; and in truth it is not probable she shou'd +stay above five or six Lines speaking, since after she saw her Cheat +had taken, she cou'dn't keep her countenance within Doors, and was +so eager to revenge her self by laughing at the Fool without. +Besides here's an excellent Artifice of the Poets, for had she +tarry'd longer, +Parmeno+ might ha' been gone, and her Mirth +qualified when she saw the good Fortune +Chærea+ had met withal. His +other Exception is, that our Author's +Scenes+ are several times +broken. He instances in the same Play, +That _Antipho_ enters singly +in the midst of the third Act, after _Chremes_ and _Pythias_ were +gone off+. As for this, 'tis to be consider'd that +Scenes+ are +united by +Time+ as well as +Presence+; and this is a perfect +Union +of Time+, apparent to all who understand the +Art of the Stage+. A +little farther he says, +That _Dorias_ begins the fourth Act +alone;---- She quits the Stage, and _Phedria_ enters next.+ Here ++Dorias+ does not quit the Stage till three +Scenes+ after, as +appears by +Pythias+, bidding her carry in such things as she had +brought with her from the Captain's Entertainment; but if she did, +there wou'd be an +Union of Time+ nevertheless, as there is in all +other places, where the +Scenes+ seem broken. Some make this +Objection; that in the beginning of many Scenes, two +Actors+ enter +upon the Stage, and talk to themselves a considerable time before +they see or know one another; +Which+ (they say) +is neither +probable nor natural+. Those that object this don't consider the +great Difference between our little scanty Stage, and the large +magnificent +Roman Theatres+. Their Stage was sixty Yards wide in +the Front, their Scenes so many Streets meeting together, with all +By-Lanes, Rows and Allies; so two +Actors+ coming down two different +Streets or Lanes cou'dn't be seen by each other, tho' the ++Spectators+ might see both, and sometimes if they did see each +other they cou'dn't well distinguish Faces at sixty Yards distances. +Besides upon several accounts it might well be suppos'd when an ++Actor+ enters upon the Stage out of some House, he might take a +turn or two under the +Portico's+, +Cloysters+, or the like (that +were usual at that time) about his Door, and take no notice of an ++Actor+'s being on the other side the Stage. + +But since we propose our Master as the best +Model+ for +Dramatick +Poets+ to follow, we ought in Justice to mention such things wherein +he was any ways faulty, or at least where he ought not to be +imitated. The first is, He makes his +Actors+ in some places speak +directly, and immediately to the +Audience+ (of which that ++Monologue+ of +Mysis+ in the first Act of the first Play is an +instance) which is contrary to the Rules of +Dramatick Poetry+, or +rather indeed of +Nature+; and this is the only real Fault that ++Terence+ was guilty of, as his want of +Vis Comica+ was the only +real Defect. His +Plots+ were not always the best for Story, tho' +for Contrivance, and wanted somewhat of Length and Variety, fully +and compleatly to satisfie an Audience. Take 'em all together, they +were too much alike to have always their deserv'd Effect of +surprizing; which also gave a mighty Limitation to the Variety of +his +Characters+; a great pity for a Man that had such an admirable +Knack of drawing them to the Life. It were also to be wish'd that +his +Monologues+ or Discourses by single Persons, were less +frequent, and sometimes shorter too; for tho' they are all of 'em +full of excellent Sence, sound Reasoning, ingenious +Deliberations+, +and serv'd truly to carry on the main Design; yet several parts of +'em, especially all +Narrations+, wou'd ha' been more natural as +well as Artificial, if told by Persons of the +Drama+ to one +another. Then his +Aparts+ or +Asides+ (that is when one +Actor+ +speaks something which another that is present is suppos'd to not +hear, tho' the Audience do) are sometimes too long to be perfectly +natural. Whether he has not sometimes too much Elevation of Passion, +or Borders too nigh upon +Tragedy+ for such inferior Persons, we +leave to others. These are the main things to be taken notice of by +all that make use of him for a +Model+, besides all such as belong +purely to the various Customs of Countries, and to the difference of ++Theatres+; but those are obvious enough to all. + +But there's still one great Objection against these +Plays+ in +general; that is, +If _Terence_'s Plays are so good as is pretended, +why doesn't some Poet or other translate one or more of 'em for the +Stage, so save himself the trouble of racking his Brain for new +Matter+. We own they wouldn't take upon our Stage; but to clear all, +we shall give these two Reasons: First, The Difference between the ++Romans+ and our selves in +Customs+, +Humors+, +Manners+ and ++Theatres+ is such, that it is impossible to adapt their Plays to +our Stages. The +Roman+ Plots were often founded upon the exposing +of Children, and their unexpected Delivery, on buying of Misses and +Musick-Girls; they were chiefly pleas'd to see a covetous old Father +neatly bubbled by his Slave of a round Sum of Money; to find the +young Spark his Son (miserably in want of Cash) joyn with the Slave +in the Intrigue, that he may get somewhat to stop his Mistress's +Mouth, whom he keeps unknown to his Father; to see a bragging +Coxcomb wheadled and abus'd by some cunning +Parasite+; to hear a +Glutton talk of nothing but his Belly, and the like. Our +Plots+ go +chiefly upon variety of Love-Intrigues, Ladies Cuckolding their +Husbands most dextrously; Gallants danger upon the same account, +with their escape either by witty Fetches, or hiding themselves in +dark Holes, Closets, Beds, &c. We are all for Humour, Gallantry, +Conversation, and Courtship, and shou'dn't endure the chief Lady in +the Play a Mute, or to say very little, as 'twas agreeable to them: +Our amorous Sparks love to hear the pretty Rogues prate, snap up +their Gallants, and Repartée upon 'em on all sides. We shou'dn't +like to have a Lady marry'd without knowing whether she gives her +consent or no, (a Custom among the +Romans+) but wou'd be for +hearing all the Courtship, all the rare and fine things that Lovers +can say to each other. The second Reason of their not taking upon +the Stage is this, tho' +Terence+'s Plays are far more +exact+, ++natural+, +regular+, and clear than ours, and his Persons speak +more like themselves than generally ours do; yet (to speak +impartially) our Plays do plainly excel his in some Particulars. +First, in the great Variety of the +Matter+ and +Incidents+ of our ++Plots+; the Intrigues thicker and finer; the +Stories+ better, +longer, and more curious for the most part than his: And tho' +there's much confusion, huddle and precipitation in the generality +of 'em; yet the great variety and number of +Incidents+ tho' ill +manag'd, will have several Charms, and be mighty diverting, +especially to a vulgar Audience, like the Sight of a large City at a +distance, where there is little of Regularity or Uniformity to be +discern'd just by. Next, we do much excel +Terence+ in that which we +call +Humour+, that is in our +Comical Characters+, in which we have +shewn and expos'd the several Humours, Dispositions, Natures, +Inclinations, Fancies, Irregularities, Maggots, Passions, Whims, +Follies, Extravagancies, &c. of Men under all sorts of +Circumstances, of all sorts of +Ranks+ and +Qualities+, of all ++Professions+ and +Trades+, and of all +Nations+ and +Countries+, so +admirably, and so lively, that in this no Nation among the Ancients +or Moderns were ever comparable to us. Lastly, Our +Comedies+ excel +his in some Delicacies of +Conversation+; particularly in the +Refinedness of our +Railery+ and +Satyr+, and above all in ++Repartée+. Some of these things (especially when mix'd with ++Humour+) have made many an ordinary +Plot+ take and come off well; +and without a pretty quantity of some of 'em, our Plays wou'd go +down very heavily. + +Since we are accidentally fall'n into the Excellencies of our ++Comedies+, we hope it may be pardonable if we mention also some +principal Faults in 'em, which seem to need a Regulation. And first, +Our +Poets+ seldom or never observe any of the three great +Unities +of Action+, +Time+ and +Place+, which are great Errors; For what +breeds more Confusion than to have five or six main +Plots+ in a +Play, when the Audience can never attend to 'em? What more +extravagant than to fancy the Actions of Weeks, Months, and Years +represented in the Space of three or four Hours? Or what more +unnatural than for the Spectators to suppose themselves now in a +Street, then in a Garden, by and by in a Chamber, immediately in the +Fields, then in a Street again, and never move out of their place? +Wou'dn't one swear there was Conjuration in the Case; that the +Theatres were a sort of +Fairy Land+ where all is Inchantment, +Juggle and Delusion? Next, our Plays are too often over-power'd with ++Incidents+ and +Under-plots+, and our Stage as much crowded with +such +Actors+, as there's little or no occasion for; especially at +one time. Then the +Matter+, and Discourse of our Plays is very +often incoherent and impertinent as to the main Design; nothing +being more common than to meet with two or three whole Scenes in a +Play, which wou'd have fitted any other part of the Play ev'n as +well as that; and perhaps any Play else. Thus some appear to swear +out a Scene or two, others to talk bawdy a little, without any +manner of dependance upon the rest of the Action. But besides this +(which is another great Error) when the +Matter+ and +Discourse+ do +serve to carry on the main Design, commonly Persons are brought on +to the Stage without any sort of Art, Probability, Reason or +Necessity for their coming there; and when they have no such +Business as one that comes in to give you a Song or a Jigg. They +come there to serve the Poets Design a little, then off they go with +as little Reason as they came on; and that only to make way for +other Actors, who (as they did) come only to tell the Audience +something the Poet has a mind to have 'em know; and that's all their +business: And truly that's little enough. This we see frequently in +the chief Actor of the Play, who comes on and goes off, and the +Spectators all the time stand staring and wondring at what they know +not what. Another great Fault common to many of our Plays is, that +an Actor's +Name+, +Quality+ or +Business+ is scarce ever known till +a good while after his appearance; which must needs make the +Audience at a great Loss, and the Play hard to be understood, +forcing 'em to carry Books with 'em to the +Play-house+ to know who +comes in, and who goes out. + +The Ancients were guilty of none of these Absurdities, and more +especially our Author; and indeed the Non-observance of +Rules+ has +occasion'd the great Miscarriages of so many excellent Genius's of +ours, particularly that of the immortal +Shakespear+. Since these +are such apparent Faults and Absurdities, and still our Beauties are +so admirable as to cover, and almost to out-weigh our Errors (else +our Plays were not to be endur'd) undoubtedly our +Dramatick Poets+ +by the Observance of this Author's Ways and Rules might out-do all +the +Ancients+ and +Moderns+ too, both at +Tragedy+ and at +Comedy+; +for no Nation ever had greater +Genius+'s than ours for Dramatick +Poetry. These ha' been but little observ'd as yet, so that all our +fine +Imitations of Nature+ may often be call'd +Lucky hits+, and +more by Accident than by Art. We very much need a Reformation in +this Case, and our Plays can never arrive to any great Perfection +without it; therefore the nigher they come up to this Standard, the +more they will be admir'd and lov'd by all Judicious Persons, +provided they still keep to those Excellencies before-mention'd. +Besides, these are as easily practicable upon ours as upon the ++Greek+ and +Roman+ Theatres; and by a strict Observance of the ++Unity of Place+, the Stage may be made far more handsome and +magnificent with less Charge; and by that of the +Unity of Action+ +(especially by the help of an Under-plot or so) the Story may be +made far more fine and clear with less trouble. + +But our Nation by long Custom, and the Success of Irregular Pieces, +seems naturally averse to all Rules; and take it very ill to have +their Thoughts confin'd and shackled, and tied to the Observance of +such Niceties: Therefore in the first place they tell us, That Poets +of all Men in the World are perfectly freely, and by no means ought +to confine their Noble Fancies to dull pedantick Rules; +For this+ +(say they) +is like taking of Bees, cutting off their Wings, and +laying such Flowers before 'em to make Honey as they please+. A ++Poet+ indeed shou'd be free, and unconfin'd as Air, as to his +Though, Fancy and Contrivance, but then his +Poetica Licentia+ +shou'dn't transport him to Madness and Extravagancy, making him +phrensically transgress the Rules of +Reason+ and +Nature+, as well +as +Poetry+. These that we mention are not any Man's Arbitrary ++Rules+, but pure Nature only Methodiz'd: They never hamper a ++Poet+'s Fancy or clip his Wings, but adorn their Thoughts, and +regulate their Flights so as to give 'em a clearer insight into ++Nature+, +Probability+ and +Decency+, without something of which it +is impossible to please. And these are no more a +Confinement+ to a ++Poet+'s Fancy, than the true Proportion of Pillars, the Regularity +and Uniformity of Windows are to an Architect; or the exact +Imitation of Nature to a Painter: As if there could be half so much +Beauty in Grotesque and irregular Whims, as in the due Observation +of the Rules of Prospect, Shadows and Proportion. + +Another Objection is, +That our Nation will never bear Rules, but +are much better pleas'd with the ways now in practice.+ 'Tis true, +several of our most irregular Plays have come off with a great deal +of Applause, but certainly never the more for their Irregularity; +but because most of the Audience knew no better, being often dazzled +by the Greatness of the Author's Genius, and the Actor's +Performances; and those that did, were willing to pardon the Faults +for the sake of some choice +Master-stroaks+ they had; and upon the +same account a couple of good +Scenes+ have many times carry'd off a +very indifferent Play: 'Tis plain that want of Use and Knowledge +have been the only Cause of these ways seeming so unpracticable; and +if the middle sort of Persons were once truly brought to a Sight of +the Excellencies of this, and the Deformities of the other way (as +the well reading of these Plays wou'd in a great measure do, being +chiefly design'd for them) they wou'd esteem of it far more than +now; and certainly they cou'd never pardon those many +Indecencies+, ++Improbabilities+, +Absurdities+ that are so frequent in our Plays. +'Tis true, there has been a considerable Regulation among many of +'em since the Days of +Shakespear+, but not to bring things half to +perfection. And thus Regulation has made hope for a further, as the +Age will be brought to bear it. + +The last Objection is more particular: They say, +That the Unities +of Action, Time and Place must needs take off from the great Variety +of the Plot, and a fine Story by this means will be quite murder'd.+ +'Tis true, all +Stories+ whatsoever are not fit for a +Dramatick +Poem+; yet there may be an excellent +Plot+ without crowding +together Intrigues (little depending upon one another) of half a +dozen couple, suppose, in one Play; without hurrying over the +Business of three Months in three Hours time, or perhaps without +skipping from Gardens to Mountains, from thence to Groves, and then +to Town in an Act or two: But our prying, curious Sparks can't rest +here, but must be for peeping into Chambers, Closets, and +Withdrawing-Rooms, ay, and into Beds too (sometimes with the Ladies +in 'em) and have all things brought openly upon the Stage, tho' +never so improper, and indecent. But this Objection may yet be +better answer'd by Instances; and first for the +Unity of Time+, we +may mention the Play call'd, +The Adventures of Five Hours+, the +whole +Action+ lasting no longer (much less a day, the extent +allow'd for a +Dramatick Poem+) yet this is one of the pleasantest ++Stories+ that ever appear'd upon our Stage, and has as much Variety +of +Plots+ and +Intrigues+, without any thing being precipitated, +improbable or unnatural as to the main +Action+; so by this it +appears that this Rule is no Spoiler or Murderer of a finer +Story+. +Then for the +Unity of Time+ and Action too, +Ben. Johnson's Silent +Woman+ is a remarkable Instance; an excellent +Comedy+ indeed, where +the +Action+ is perfectly single, and the utmost extent of the ++Time+ exceeds not three Hours and a half (the shortest we ever +find) yet still the +Plot+, +Intrigues+, and above all the ++Incidents+ are very fine, and no ways unnatural. Lastly, For all +three +Unities+, Mr. +Dryden's All for Love+ (tho' a +Tragedy+, and +somewhat foreign to our business) is worthy to be taken notice of, +that being perfectly +Regular+ according to the Rules of the Stage, +the Scenes unbroken, the +Incidents+ exactly and duly prepar'd, and +all things noble and beautiful, just and proportionable. This we +reckon one of the best +Tragedies+ of our Nation. Now can any Man +justly think that these Plays we now mention'd were ever the worse +for that +Regularity+ they had; or indeed have we many better in the +Nation for +Plot+; or many that have better pleas'd the generality +of Persons than these; If so this sufficiently shows the Truth of +what we offered; and withal commends our Master's great Judgment in +this Point: Who, in our Opinion (besides the Excellency of his ++Characters+) plainly deserves a greater Name for his +Plots+, than +he does for his +Language+. + +Come we next then to our own Vindication, in which we shall briefly +shew the +Reasons+ why we did it, and likewise what our Performances +have been in this Version. + +The main +Reasons+ why we undertook it were these. First, For the +Excellency and Usefulness of this Author in general: And +consequently for the benefit (as we shall shew by and by) of most +sorts of People, but especially for the Service it may do our ++Dramatick Poets+. Next, for the Honour of our own +Language+, into +which all good Books ought to be Translated, since +'tis now become +so Elegant, Sweet and Copious+: And indeed nothing refines, or gives +Foreigners a greater Opinion of any Language than its number of good +Translations; of which the +French+ is a great Instance. Thirdly, +Because most of our Neighbours have got it in their +Language+, +particularly the +French+, who have done it with good Success; and +we have no reason for our being out-done by any of our Neighbours, +since we have a +Language+ we dare set against any in the World. +Lastly, Since the Author is so excellent, we undertook it because no +other Persons wou'd. 'Tis strange that none of our great Wits wou'd +undertake it before, but let us Persons of Obscurity, take their +Works out of their Hands; when we can perceive by our little +Performances that our +Language+ will do it to a very high degree, +undoubtedly better than the +French+. + +The most considerable Objections that have been made against our +Translation are these. First, +What real Use or Advantage can this +Translation be to the Publick? As for school-Boys and Learners, +_Bernard_'s and _Hool_'s Translations, the great number of Notes, +a School-Master, or their own Industry will well enough teach 'em to +construe it. Men of Sense and Learning, they read it wholly for the +Latin sake; therefore a Translation is of no use to them.+ Lastly, ++They won't fit our Stage; and consequently they are impertinent at +best.+ To these we answer; First, As to +School-Boys+ and ++Learners+; +Bernard+'s and +Hool+'s Translations are very often +false, mostly so obsolete, flat and unpleasant, that a Man can +scarce read half a Page without sleeping; the latter is full of ++Latinisms+, and both are often more obscure than the Original. The ++Notes+ sometimes don't express the Author's Sense; and often very +obscurely: In some things they are too short, in others too long and +tedious: And most of them have the slight of running very nimbly +over those Places which they are afraid they shou'd stick in. ++School-Masters+ often want time, and now and then Judgment and +Learning to explain things as they ought; then to leave Boys by +themselves to pick out the Sense of such a difficult Author as this, +is very inconvenient; which besides the Discouragement sometimes of +not being able to do it, will often lead 'em into such Errors and +Mistakes, as perhaps they'll ne're get clear of. So that this will +be of great use even to +School-Boys+ and +Learners+: Beside the +great Advantage of teaching 'em, perhaps not the worst +English+; +and something of the Idiom of our Tongue. + +As for the second part of the Objection, +That Men of Sense and +Learning read it only for the Latin sake+; This is or ought to be +look'd upon as a great Mistake: Since +Terence+ has other and +greater Excellencies than his Style, as we have before shewn. But +however ingenious Persons must needs receive some pleasure in seeing +such excellent Latin now speak tolerable good +English+; and +likewise in seeing somewhat of the Conversation, Humour and Customs +of the old +Greeks+ and +Romans+ put into a modern Dress; and +perhaps not quite out of the Fashion. Besides, since many of these +do sometimes upon an occasion make use of +Notes+, 'twill be of +equal use (in that respect) to them as to all +Learners+. And that +they have often need of such, will appear from the several difficult +places (especially as to the Plot) and some obscure dubious Passages +in this Author, which the utmost Skill in the +Latin+ Tongue will +not teach to explain; since there is as great a necessity for the +understanding of the +Roman+ Customs and Theatres in this Case, and +of the Art of the Stage, as of the +Latin+ Tongue. How extraordinary +useful a Translation can be in perfectly +clearing an Author+, ++Roscommon+'s Translation of +Horace+'s +Art of Poetry+ is an +apparent Instance; which shews the Sense, Meaning, Design, &c. of ++Horace+ better and easier than all the +Paraphrases+ and +Notes+ in +the World. + +Thirdly, Tho' our +Translation+ will never fit our Stage, yet it may +be of considerable use to some of the +Dramatick Poets+; which we +had some respect to, when we did it; they will serve 'em (as was +said before) for +Models+; and tho' many of our Poets do very well +understand the Original, yet 'tis plain that some of 'em do not +understand it over much. But however, it may not be wholly useless +to those that do, and more proper for their business, being ready +explain'd to their hands: And upon some accounts to be read with +less trouble than the Original: For that is in many places very +obscure by reason of corrupted Copies, wrong Points, false Division +of whole +Acts+ as well as +Scenes+ and the like: Further, if these +Plays come to be frequently read by the more ordinary sort of +People, they will by little and little grow more in love with, and +more clearly see the true Excellencies of these Rules, and these +lively +Imitations of Nature+, which will be the greatest +Encouragement our Poets can have to follow 'em. And besides, the +common People by these +Plays+ may plainly perceive that ++Obscenities+ and +Debaucheries+ are no ways necessary to make a +good +Comedy+; and the Poets themselves will be the more ready to +blush when they see +Heathens+ so plainly out-do us +Christians+ in +their +Morals+; for their principal Vices in their Plays, were +chiefly from the Ignorance of the Times, but we have no such +pretence. This alone might ha' been a sufficient reason for our +undertaking this Design. + +But to come now to what we have done; 'tis not to be expected we +shou'd wholly reach the Air of the Original; that being so peculiar, +and the Language so different; We have imitated our Author as well +and as nigh as the +English+ Tongue and our small Abilities wou'd +permit; each of us joyning and consulting about every Line, not only +for the doing of it better, but also for the making of it all of a +piece. We follow'd no one +Latin+ Copy by it self, because of the +great Disagreements among 'em, but have taken any that seem'd +truest. We look'd over all the +Notes+, sometimes they would help us +a little, and often not; some hints we had from the +French+, but +not very many; besides we had considerable helps from other Persons +far above our selves, for whose Care and Pains we shall ever +acknowledge our Gratitude. A meer +Verbal Translation+ is not to be +expected, that wou'd sound so horribly, and be more obscure than the +Original; but we have been faithful Observers of his Sence, and even +of his Words too, not slipping any of consequence without something +to answer it; nay farther, where two Words seem to be much the same, +and perhaps not intended to be very different by the Author, we were +commonly so nice as to do them too; such as +Segnitia+ and ++Socordia+, +Scire+ and +Noscere+, and the like, which is more exact +than most, if not all, our modern Versions. We cou'dn't have kept +closer (especially in this Author, which several ingenious Persons +told us, +Is the hardest in the World to translate+;) without too +much treading upon the Author's Heels, and destroying our Design of +giving it an easie, +Comick Style+, most agreeable to our present +Times. If we have been guilty of any Fault of this nature, it seems +to be that of keeping too close. + +But still to be more particular; we did all we cou'd to prevent any +of the Meaning and Grace of the best +Words+ to be lost; so that we +were often forc'd to search and study some time for those most +proper, and oftentimes to express 'em by two, and sometimes by a ++Circumlocution+: Which Madam +Dacier+ her self, as accurate as she +is accompted, has often neglected: And thereby has wholly lost the +Force and Beauty of many Emphatical Words. +Terence+ had some Words +taken in a great many several Sences, such as +Contumelia+ and ++Injuria+, +Odiosus+, +Tristis+, &c. these we have been very careful +about; but where he plays upon Words (tho' never so prettily) he +ought not in some places to be imitated at all, because the Fineness +is more lost that way, than the other; yet we try'd at several when +they were Natural and tolerable in +English+. As for his +Allusions+ +and the like, many of them perhaps are quite lost to us. However +they are commonly lost in our Language. On such places (as well as +some others) we made +Remarks+ or +Notes+ at the latter end; some of +which we are oblig'd to the +French+ Lady for; these serving to shew +our Author's fine Stroaks, as well as to vindicate our Translation. +For his +Sense+ and +Meaning+, we have taken more than ordinary care +about, and weigh'd all Circumstances before we fix'd. Several of the +Passages are done contrary to the general Opinion, and some few +differently from all, both as to the +Person that speaks+ as well as +the +Meaning+, but not without good Grounds; and if any be so nice +in censuring, we desire that Person to shew us three +Terences+ that +exactly agree with one another, either in Points or Words, for two +Acts together. Of those Passages that were absolutely doubtful, we +always took the best, and that, which seem'd to us, the most +probable Way and Meaning; and all such as were difficult, knotty or +obscure in the Original, we made as plain and clear as we cou'd; +and we presume to phansie there are very few Passages in ours, +unintelligible to the meanest Capacity. In his +Jests+ and ++Repartees+ (except they were +Allusions+ or the like) we hope that +the force of 'em is seldom lost. For making every Person speak so +exactly like themselves (a thing that our Author was so famous for) +is much more difficult in +English+ by reason of its greater variety +of +Idioms+ and +Phrases+ than in the +Latin+; and to suit these +always right, requires a greater +Genius+ than we can pretend to. ++Terence+, tho' reckon'd very genteel in his Days, seems in some +place to have a sort of familiarity and bluntness in his Discourse, +not so agreeable with the Manners and Gallantry of our Times; which +we have mollify'd as well as we cou'd, still making the +Servants+ +sawcy enough upon occasion. In some places we have had somewhat more +of +Humour+ than the Original, to make it still more agreeable to +our Age; but all the while have kept so nigh our Author's +Sence+ +and +Design+, that we hope it can never be justly call'd a Fault. We +can't certainly tell whither +William+ the Conqueror, the +Grand +Seignior+ (and the like) may pass with some: They may possibly +take 'em for Blunders in time: which are now become Proverbial +Expressions; the first signifying only a great while ago, and +t'other a great Man. + +As for the Division of the +Acts+ and +Scenes+, all the common ++Terences+ are most notoriously false: The +Acts+ are often wrong, +but the +Scenes+ oftener; and these have bred some obscurity in our +Author's +Rules+. Madam +Dacier+ has been more exact in this than +all others before her; yet, still she's once mistaken in her +Acts+, +and very often in her +Scenes+. We have follow'd her as to her ++Acts+, except one in the +Phormio+; but we have not divided the ++Scenes+ at all by Figures, because they are of no such use; only +the Reader may take notice that whenever any particular +Actor+ +enters upon the Stage, or goes off, that makes a different +Scene+; +for the +Ancients+ never had any other that we know of. The ++Prologues+, by the Advice of several Judicious Persons, are left +out, as being the Meanest, the fullest of Quibbles, and the least +Intelligible of any thing he wrote: They relating chiefly to private +Squabbles between our +Author+ and the +Poets+ of his time: The +Particulars of which 'tis impossible for us to understand now, and +we need not be much concern'd that we don't. Besides, in the main, +they are so much beneath the +Author+, that 'tis much question'd +whether they are his or no, especially the Third. The +Arguments+ +are certainly none of his, and so far from being useful, that they +only serve to forestall the +Plots+, and take away the Pleasure of +surprizing. + +Lastly, That there might be nothing wanting that might make this +Translation as intire and clear as possible; we've all the way +intermix'd +Notes of Explanation+, such as, +Enter+, +Exit+, ++Asides+, and all other things of +Action+, necessary to be known, +and constantly practis'd among our Modern +Dramatick Poets+. These +serve extreamly to the clearing of the +Plots+ which wou'd be +obscure without 'em; especially since their Theatres were so +different from ours. And as this sort of +Notes+ are the +shortest+, +that are generally us'd, so they are most +compleat+, +useful+ and ++clear+, by the help of which any Child almost may apprehend every +thing. Perhaps we might have omitted some of 'em, but we have better +offend this way than the other. + +Thus have we said as much as we thought requisite in Vindication of +our Master's Honour, and of our own Undertaking. And if we had said +ten times as much; and ne're so much to the purpose, People will +still think, and talk what they please, and we can't help it. + + + + + PLAUTUS's + + COMEDIES, + + _AMPHITRYON_, + _EPIDICUS_, and + _RUDENS_, + + Made English: + + With + + +Critical Remarks+ + + Upon Each PLAY. + + + ---- _Non ego paucis_ + _Offendar maculis: quas aut incuria fudit_ + _Aut humana parum cavit natura:_ ---- + + Horat. Art. Poet. + + + _LONDON:_ + + Printed for _Abel Swalle_ and _T. Child_ at the _Unicorn_ + at the West-End of _S. Paul's_ Churchyard, 1694. + + + + +THE + +PREFACE. + +This Nations Excellencies in +Dramatick Poetry+ have been so +extraordinary, and our Performance both in +Tragedy+ and +Comedy+ +have discover'd such strange +Genius+'s, that we have some reason to +believe, that we have not only surpass'd our Neighbours the Moderns, +but likewise have excell'd our Masters the Ancients. But the want of +Knowledge of the Ancients has been one great Reason for our setting +our selves so very much above 'em; for tho' we have many Beauties +which they wanted, yet it must be own'd, that they have more which +we have not, except that it may be some very few of our Pieces. But +then their Excellencies are far less known to us than ours; for the +Common People are unacquainted with their Languages, and the more +Learned sort, for want of due Observance and Penetration, have been +ignorant enough of their essential Beauties; they, for the most +part, contenting themselves with considering the +superficial+ ones, +such as the +Stile+, +Language+, +Expression+, and the like, without +taking much notice of the Contrivance and Management, of the ++Plots+, +Characters+, &c. + +But a considerable Discovery of these Excellencies has been made by +means of a late Version of +Terence+, especially by the help of the ++Preface+ and +Remarks+: And this has made me hope, that two or +three Plays of +Plautus+'s cou'd not be very unacceptable after +them; and since the principal Fault of the +Remarks+ in that Version +was their being too short, I have made these somewhat longer and +clearer, hoping they will prove the principal means of recommending +this Book to the World, even tho' the Translation had been brought +to the utmost Perfection it was capable of: a Thing which I dare +never pretend to. I made Choice of the same three which Madam ++Dacier+ had done before me; those being, in many respects, fitter +for my purpose. But before I come to Particulars in those Things, +I shall give some Character and Account of my Author. + ++Plautus+, if consider'd as a +Dramatick Poet+, may justly enough be +stil'd the Prince of the +Latin Comedians+, for tho' most of 'em are +lost, and consequently little capable of being judg'd of, yet, from +all Circumstances, we have good reason to presume that they never +came up to +Plautus+; so that there is no one to stand in +competition with him but +Terence+: But if +Comedy+ consists more in ++Action+ than +Discourse+, then +Terence+ himself must be oblig'd to +give place to our Author; and as +Terence+ ought to be esteem'd as a +Man who spoke admirably, +Plautus+ is to be admir'd as a ++Comick-Poet+. The principal Differences of these two Poets have +been touch'd upon in the Preface to the English +Terence+; and from +thence it will appear, that +Plautus+ had the vaster +Genius+, and ++Terence+ the more exquisite Judgment; and, considering what Persons +they copied, as the later was call'd the +Half Menander+, so the +former may be stil'd the +Half Aristophanes+. + ++Terence+'s Stile was generally more refin'd and pure, and withal +more elaborate than this Poet's; yet undoubtedly, +Plautus+ was a +most absolute Master of his Tongue, and in many Places there appear +such a Sharpness and Liveliness of Expression, nay and such a +Neatness and Politeness too, that is scarce to be found in ++Terence+; and this, perhaps, may have occasion'd +Varro+ to say, ++That if the Muses were to speak Latin, they wou'd certainly make +use of his very Stile+; and +Tanaquill Faber+ to call +Plautus+, ++The very Fountain of pure Latin+. As to +Wit+ and +Raillery+, ++Terence+ might by no means be compared to him; then he is not +always so happy, but often degenerates to a Meanness that +Terence+ +wou'd never have been guilty of; and tho' his +Jests+ and ++Repartees+ were sometimes admirable, and often far above ++Terence+'s, yet they were many times as much below him, and by +their Trifling and Quibbling, appear to have been calculated for the +Mob. This, probably, made +Rapin+ observe, +That he says the best +Things in the World, and yet very often he says the most wretched.+ +A little before he says, +_Plautus_ is ingenious in his Designs, +happy in his Imaginations, fruitful in his Invention; yet, that +there are some insipid Jests that escape from him in the Taste of +_Horace_; and his good Sayings that make the People laugh, make +sometimes the honester sort to pity him.+ The most remarkable Thing +in his Stile, is the natural and unaffected +Easiness+ of it, I mean +in opposition to +Stiffness+, which with the true +Elegance+ and ++Propriety+ of the +Latin+ Tongue in +Common Discourse+, seems +almost its distinguishing Character, and sets him above any other ++Roman+ Author in that respect. 'Tis true, +Terence+ has all these +Excellencies, and perhaps is more exact in +Propriety of Terms+, and +in his Choice of +Words+, yet his extream Closeness and great +Elaborateness, I presume, has made it somewhat less +Free+ and ++Familiar+, or at least it wou'd be so if any other Man of less +Judgment had managed it. So that what I mean is, that +Plautus+'s +Stile ought rather to be imitated for +Common Discourse+ than ++Terence+'s. +Plautus+ had the Misfortune of living in a worser Age +than +Terence+, therefore there must be a larger Allowance for his ++Obsolete Words+, his +Puns+, and +Quibbles+, as well as those Words +that were peculiar to the Theatre and his Subjects, which, if once +transplanted, wou'd never thrive elsewhere. + +Next, may be consider'd our Authors +Characters+; and in that point +indeed, +Terence+ triumphs without a Rival, as was observ'd in the ++Preface+ to that Author; and for a just and close Observance of ++Nature+, perhaps no Man living ever excell'd him. It ought to be +observ'd, that +Plautus+ was somewhat poor, and made it his +principal Aim to please and tickle the Common People; and since they +were almost always delighted with something new, strange, and +unusual, the better to humour them, he was not only frequently +extravagant in his +Expressions+, but likewise in his +Characters+ +too, and drew Men often more Vicious, more Covetous, more Foolish, +&c. than generally they were; and this to set the People a gazing +and wondering. With these sort of +Characters+ many of our modern ++Comedies+ abound, which makes 'em too much degenerate into +Farce+, +which seldom fail of pleasing the Mob. But our Author had not many +of these; for a great part of 'em were very true and natural, and +such as may stand the Test of the severest Judges. His two most +remarkable +Characters+, are his +Miser+, and his +Bragadocio+; and +that the Reader may the more clearly understand the nature of these ++Characters+, their Resemblance to some of ours, and their +Unlikeness to those of +Terence+, I shall give a Translation of some +part of 'em. First then, take the First Act of his Third Comedy +call'd +Aulularia+, which begins with the Old Covetous Fellow and +his Maid. + + + _+Euclio+ and +Staphila+._ + +_Euc._ Out-a-doors, I say: Come out. I'll fetch ye out with a +Horse-pox, for a damnable, prying, nine-ey'd Witch. + +_Sta._ Why do you misuse a poor Rogue at this rate? + +_Euc._ To make ye a poor Rogue as long as you live, like a Jade +as you are. + +_Sta._ But why, Sir, am I thrust out-a-doors now? + +_Euc._ Must I give you an account, you hempen Bitch?---- Get you +from the Door:-- that way:-- See how the Jade moves.---- Observe +what you'll meet with. If I take a good Cudgel or a Whip, 'sbud, +I shall soon put you out o' your Snails pace. + +_Sta. softly:_] Wou'd I were hang'd out o' the way, rather than +be bound to serve such an old Rogue. + +_Euc._ How the Jipsey mutters to her self!---- Faith, I shall +spoil those damn'd eyes, then look what I'm doing if you can.-- +Huzzy, go further off:-- Further still:-- Further still:---- +Still, I say.---- So! stand there.---- Now, you Baggage, stir +one step, move a hairs breadth, or look back i' the least till I +speak, and by Cocks-nowns, I'll hang y' up in an instant.-- [_To +himself, going off._] I ne're met with a more subtle old Hag +than this i' my days: I'm cursedly afraid this Witch shou'd trap +me in my discourse, and discover the place where I've hid my +Gold: Troth, I believe the consuming Jade has Eyes in her +Breech.---- Now for my Gold, that has cost me such a woful deal +of trouble, I'll go see whether that be safe as I hid it. + + _Exit +Euclio+._ + + _+Staphila+ alone._ + +As I live, I can't devise or imagine what Evil Genius or Madness +has possess'd my Master; he uses me so inhumanely; and kicks me +out a doors ten times a day. Troth, it puzzles me strangely to +find out the meaning of his crazy Whims: He watches whole Nights +together; and sits all day long within doors, like a lame Cobler +upon his Stall.---- Well, considering these Plagues, and the +difficulty of concealing my young Mistresses Labour, now at +hand, I find no way but making a short cut, and hanging my self. + + _Re-enter +Euclio+._ + +_Euc._ Now I've found all well within doors, my mind's a little +at ease.---- Now come in, and keep House. + +_Sta._ What, for fear it shou'd be stolen away? There's no +Plunder for Thieves; there's nothing but Emptiness and Cobwebs. + +_Euc._ I'll warrant ye, I must keep a House like an Emperor for +your sake, you old Sorceress? Huzzy, I'll have every Cobweb +taken care of, and preserv'd. + +I'm very poor, I confess; but I patiently bear what the Gods lay +upon me.---- Get ye in, and make fast the door; I'll be back +presently. Take a special care you don't let e're a Soul come +within the doors; and that they mightn't pretend an Excuse to +borrow Fire, I'll ha' ye put it all out: If there be any now, +out with't in an instant. If they want Water, tell 'em the Pump +is dry; if they wou'd borrow a Knife, an Axe, a Mortar, or a +Pestil, as Neighbours us'd to do, tell 'em the House was robb'd, +and they're all stolen. 'Sbud, I'll ha' no body set a step +within my House when I'm gone; therefore if _Good-luck_ her self +shou'd come, I charge ye keep her out. + +_Sta._ Troth, you needn't fear her coming; for were she at the +Threshold, she'd ne're come in. + +_Euc._ Hold your prating Tongue, and get ye in. + +_Sta._ To please you, I'll do both. + +_Euc._ And besure you secure the Door with two great Bolts: I'll +be here instantly. + + _Exit +Staphila+._ + + _+Euclio+ alone._ + +O, I'm wretchedly perplex'd that I'm forc'd to go out a doors +now; and troth, it goes sore against my mind; however, 'tis upon +sure grounds. For now's the time for our Officer to distribute +the Money to the Poor: Now if I shou'd be negligent, and not be +among the Beggars, I'm afraid the World wou'd presently +conclude, that I had got Gold at home. For 'tis n't likely such +a poor Fellow as I pretend to be, shou'd so little value Money, +as not to be there. Notwithstanding my restless care of +concealing this Gold, it strangely runs in my Head, that all the +World knows of it, and every body seems to be more obliging, and +to complement me more than ever. They meet me, stay me, embrace +me, enquire after my Health, my Welfare, and every thing.---- +Well, I'll go, and be back again as soon as possibly. + + _Exit._ + + +Here we see a considerable deal of the strange Nature of this old +miserable Fellow; and this +Character+ he has carry'd through the +whole Play: But to see his Humour a little more perfectly, take part +of the fourth Scene of the second Act; where the Servant +Strobulus+ +and the two Cooks are discoursing about this Miser. + + + _+Strobulus+ and +Congrio+._ + +_Stro._ A Pumice-stone is not half so dry as that old Huncks. + +_Con._ Say ye so, introth? + +_Stro._ Take this from me. If the least Smoke shou'd chance to +fly out of his House, he strait allarms the Town, exclaims +against Heaven and Earth, that he's undone, and ruin'd for +ever!---- I'll tell ye: whene're he goes to Bed he tyes a +Bladder at his Nose. + +_Con._ What for? + +_Stro._ For fear of losing part of his Soul when he's asleep. + +_Con._ And doesn't he plug up his lower Bung-hole too, lest any +shou'd steal out that way? + +_Stro._ 'Tis civil to believe me, since I do you. + +_Con._ Why, truly, I do believe ye. + +_Stro._ Did you never hear, how it goes to the Soul of him to +pour out the Water he has once wash'd his hands in? + +_Con._ Do'st think, Boy, we shall be able to squeeze out a +swinging sum of Money of this old Gripes, to purchase our +Freedom with? + +_Stro._ Troth, shou'd ye beg Hunger it self of him, the Wretch +wou'd deny ye. Nay more; whenever he gets his Nails to be cut, +he carefully scrapes up all the Parings, and saves 'em. + +_Con._ Why, faith, this is the most miserable Cur upon the face +of the Earth.---- But is he really such a pinching Wretch as you +say? + +_Stro._ Why t'other day a Kite chanc'd to steal a bit of +something from him; this poor Devil goes strait to my _Lord +Chief Justice_'s, crying, roaring, and houling for his Warrant +to apprehend it.---- O, I cou'd tell ye a thousand of these +Stories, if I had leisure. + + +This is stretching of a +Character+ a degree above Nature and +Probability; yet these sort, at first sight, will glare and dazle a +common Audience, and sometimes give a superficial Pleasure to a more +judicious one; but are carefully to be avoided by any correct +Writer. + +His +Miles Gloriosus+, or +Braggadocio+, is as remarkable a ++Character+ as this, and there you may see another too in the same +place, one who wheadles as much as the other boasts, and plays the +Knave as much as the other does the Fool. For the Reader's +Satisfaction, here follows a Translation of the first Act of the ++Miles Gloriosus+, which begins between that Blockhead and his +Buffoon. + + + _+Pyrgopolinices+, with his Servant +Artotrogus+, and his Soldiers._ + +_Pyr. to his Soldiers._] Take care to have my Buckler out-shine +the resplendent Sun, when the Heavens are serene; so that in the +midst o' the Battel, I may dazle the Eyes of my Enemies, and +confound every man of 'em.---- In the mean time, I'll comfort my +bold _Bilbo_, that he might n't be dull and melancholly for want +of use this long time; for the poor Rogue is damnably eager to +slice all my Foes, and make a Hash of 'em.---- But where's +_Artotrogus_? + +_Art._ Here, an't like your Honour, ready to wait upon a Man o' +the greatest Fortitude and Fortune i' th' Universe, and o' the +most majestick Air; then for personal Valour, Lord, _Mars_ +himself dare n't pretend to measure Swords with you. + +_Pyr._ You mean him in the spatious _Gurgustidonian_ Plains, the +mighty Generalissimo, _Bombomachides-- Cluninstaridy-- +Sarchides_, great _Neptune_'s Grand-child?---- + +_Art._ ----The same, Sir. Him with the golden Armour, whose +whole Army you blew away with a single Puff, like Leaves before +the Wind, and Feathers in a Storm. + +_Pyr._ By _Hercules_, 'twas nothing. + +_Art._ No, faith, Sir, nothing at all to what I can relate,---- +[_Aside_] but the Devil a bit of Truth's in't. If any Man can +shew me a greater Lyer, or a more bragging Coxcomb than this +Blunderbuss, he shall take me, make me his Slave, and starve me +with Whey and Butter-milk-- Well, Sir? + +_Pyr._ Where are you? + +_Art._ Here, Sir:---- Wonderful! how you broke the great +_Indian_ Elephants Arm with your single Fist? + +_Pyr._ What Arm? + +_Art._ I wou'd ha' said Thigh. + +_Pyr._ Pshaw, I did that with ease. + +_Art._ By _Jove_, Sir, had you us'd your full Strength, you'd +ha' flead, gutted, and bon'd the huge Beast at once. + +_Pyr._ I wou'd not ha' ye relate all my Acts at this time. + +_Art._ Really, Sir, 'tis impossible to innumerate all your noble +Acts that I have been Spectator of.---- [_Aside._] 'Tis this +Belly of mine creates me all this Plagues. My Ears must bear +this Burden, for fear my Teeth shou'd want Work; and to every +Lye he tells, I must swear to. + +_Pyr._ What was I going to say?------ + +_Art._ O, Sir, I know your meaning.---- 'Twas a noble Exploit; +I remember't very well. + +_Pyr._ What was't? + +_Art._ Whatever you perform'd, was so. + +_Pyr._ Ha' ye a Table-Book here? + +_Art._ D'ye want one, Sir?---- Here's a Pencil too. + +_Pyr._ Thou'st ingeniously accommodated thy Sentiments to mine. + +_Art._ O, 'tis my Duty to adapt my Manners to your Nod, and +always keep 'em within the compass of your Commands. + +_Pyr._ Well, how many can you remember? + +_Art._ I remember a hundred and fifty _Cilicians_, a hundred +_Sycolatronideans_, thirty _Sardeans_, and threescore +_Macedonians_, you slew in one day. + +_Pyr._ And how many are there in all? + +_Art._ Seven thousand. + +_Pyr._ That's right. You're an excellent Arithmetician. + +_Art._ I have 'em _in capite_, tho' not in black and white. + +_Pyr._ Truly, a prodigious Memory! + +_Art._ That's owing to your Table. + +_Pyr._ As long as you proclaim my Honour, you shall never want +eating: my Table shall be always free to receive ye. + +_Art._ Then in _Cappadocia_, Sir, where you wou'd ha' certainly +cut off five hundred Men, had not your Sword been a little +blunt; and those but the Relicts of the Infantry you had just +defeated,---- [_Aside_] if there were any such in being.---- But +why shou'd I mention these things, when the whole World knows +how much the mighty _Pyrgopolinices_ excels the rest of Mortals +in Valour, Beauty, and Renown'd Exploits. All the Ladies in Town +are ready to run mad for ye; troth, and all the reason i'the +World for't, since you've so charming a Countenance. As +yesterday, some of 'em catch'd me by the Cloak, and---- + +_Pyr._ Prithee, what did they say o' me? [_Smiling._ + +_Art._ They fell to questioning: _Prithee_, says one, _is n't +this the stout +Achillis?+ His Brother indeed_, quoth I. _Let me +dye_, says another, _if he be n't a wonderful handsome Man, how +nobly he looks, and how gracefully he wears his Hair! What a +prodigious Happiness 'tis to be his Bed-fellow!_ + +_Pyr._ Said she so, i' faith? [_Laughing._ + +_Art._ And more than that, begg'd of me, for God's sake, to get +ye to pass that way, that they might see how triumphantly you +march'd along. + +_Pyr._ This same extraordinary Beauty brings a Man to +extraordinary Inconveniencies. + +_Art._ Well, strangely importunate they were, they nothing but +begg'd, pray'd, and conjur'd me to bless 'em with a sight of ye; +nay, they sent for me so often, that I was sometimes forc'd to +neglect your Business. + +_Pyr._ I think 'tis high time to be marching to the Piazza, and +pay off the Soldiers I listed yesterday; for the King was very +earnest with me to do him the favour of raising him some new +Levies. This day have I appointed to pay him a Visit. + +_Art._ Let's be marching then. + +_Pyr._ Guards, follow your Leader. + + _Exeunt omnes._ + + +I need not make many Reflections upon this Scene; but for the +clearer perceiving of it, let us bring it to the Touch-stone of +Nature, that is, compare it with Terence, and shew how modestly he +has manag'd the same +Subject+ and +Characters+, to wit, his ++Thraso+ and +Gnatho+, in the beginning of the third Act of his ++Eunuch+. + + + _+Thraso+ and +Gnatho+._ + +_Thra._ Was the Lady so extremely thankful? + +_Gna._ O, vastly, Sir. + +_Thra._ And wonderfully pleas'd, say ye? + +_Gna._ Really, Sir, not so much for the present as the honorable +Person who bestow'd it; and for that, Sir, she triumphs above +measure. + +_Thra._ Truly, 'tis my peculiar Fortune, to have every thing I +do most gratefully receiv'd. + +_Gna._ Faith, Sir, I've observ'd as much. + +_Thra._ Why the King of _Persia_, whenever I did him a Kindness, +was extremely sensible of it: He was n't so to others. + +_Gna._ A smart Tongue so well hung as yours, Sir, can obtain +that Glory with Ease which cost others so much Toil and Labour. + +_Thra._ Right. + +_Gna._ The Monarch has you in his Eye then? + +_Thra._ Right again. + +_Gna._ And wears you next his heart? + +_Thra._ Very true: And trusts all his Army and Secrets to my +Discretion. + +_Gna._ Prodigious! + +_Thra._ Then if he happen'd to be tir'd with Company, or +fateagu'd with Business, and was desirous of Ease,---- as +tho',---- you know what I mean. + +_Gna._ Yes, Sir:------ As tho, when he had a mind to clear his +Stomach, as a Man may say, of all Concerns,------ + +_Thra._ Right: Then was I his only Companion hand to fist. + +_Gna._ Ay marry Sir! This is a Monarch indeed. + +_Thra._ Oh! he's a Man of a thousand. + +_Gna._ Yes, one of a million, if he chose you for his Companion. + +_Thra._ All the Officers envy'd me, and grumbl'd at me behind my +back; but I valued it not: They envy'd me intolerably: But above +all, one who had the Charge o' the vast _Indian_ Elephants. One +day, this Fellow being more turbulent than the rest, I snap'd +him up; _Prithee Strato_, said I, _why art thou so fierce? Is't +because you're Lord o' the wild beasts?_ + +_Gna._ Neatly said, as I hope to live; and shrewdly. Bless me! +you overthrow Man and Beast.---- What said he, Sir? + +_Thra._ Not a word. + +_Gna._ Nay, I can't tell how he shou'd. + +_Thra._ But, _Gnatho_, did I never tell you how sharp I was upon +a young _Rhodian_ Spark at a Feast? + +_Gna._ Never, Sir; let's hear't, by all means.-- He has told it +me a thousand times. [_Aside._ + +_Thra._ Why this _Rhodian_ Spark I told ye of, was with me at a +Feast, where I happen'd to have a small Girl: This Stripling +began to be sweet upon her, and waggish upon me too. _How now, +you impudent Saucebox_, said I; _you're Man's meat your self, +and yet have a mind to a Tid-bit._ + +_Gna._ Ha, ha, he. + +_Thra._ What's the matter, hah? + +_Gna._ Very fine, sharp, and delicate; that cou'd not be mended. +But pray, Sir, was this your own? I took it for an old Jest. + +_Thra._ Did you ever hear't before? + +_Gna._ Often, Sir; and it takes to a miracle. + +_Thra._ They're oblig'd to me for't. + +_Gna._ I'm sorry tho', you were so sharp upon the foolish young +Gentleman. But pray, Sir, what did he say then? + +_Thra._ He was quite dash'd out of Countenance; and the whole +Company ready to dye with laughing. After that, every body stood +in great awe of me. + +_Gna._ And truly they had reason. + + +Here may be seen +Bragging+ and +Wheadling+ sufficiently, but still +Nature closely observ'd, and all its due proportions; whereas the +other has too much out-gone Probability, and strain'd his ++Characters+ to an extravagant pitch. I shall not criticise upon the +Particulars, but leave the Reader to judge their Differences; but +only I may observe, that when +Characters+ are carry'd too high, as +many of ours are, they may probably make an Audience laugh very +heartily, but can give 'em but small Pleasure; whereas others will +give 'em great Delight, tho' less Laughter. + +I am afraid I have dwelt too long upon this Subject, therefore I +pass on to our Author's +Plots+. In that respect, he had not often +that +Art+ and +Management+ that +Terence+ had, nor in all his Plays +was so +regular+ as he; tho' in several he was, particularly in +those I have chosen. But then his Scenes were commonly less +languishing, his +Incidents+ more surprizing, and his +Surprizes+ +more admirable; undoubtedly he had more of the +Vis comica+, which I +may translate +Liveliness of Intreague+, than +Terence+. His ++Subjects+ were all more +Simple+ than the other's, but I am apt to +believe, that will be reckon'd but a very small Commendation in our +Nation, who are but little Lovers of such thin Dyet, as they call +it. His +Narrations+ are more lively and sharp than those of ++Terence+'s, and, I think, every whit as natural and as well brought +in: I'm sure in some of 'em he can never be out-done as to his way +of bringing of 'em in. As for the General Rules of the Stage, +I refer the Reader to the Preface to +Terence+. + +Our Author's principal Fault was, his mixing the +Representation+ +with the +Theatral Action+ in many places, where he often makes his +Actors speak immediately and directly to the Spectators; a Fault +that +Terence+ was not wholly free from. This our modern Plays, +I think, are never guilty of; only in our +Monologues+ and +Asides+, +our Actors have got a custom of looking so full upon the Spectators, +that it seems but one degree better. But our Author is not guilty of +this in these three Plays, except in +Amphitryon+, and that by way +of +Prologue+, or of any other Faults but what, I believe, I have +shewn in my +Remarks+. And these that I have here chosen, are no +ways inferior to +Terence+'s in matters of +Plot+ and +Intreague+, +but in some respects superior, tho' not so elaborately wrought up, +or always with that Niceness; so that these may undoubtedly prove +excellent Models for our Poets Imitation, provided they observe +Differences of Tastes, Humours, Ages, and Persons, and keep to those +principal Beauties they already possess, some of which are +undoubtedly above the Ancients. Only +Terence+ will teach 'em one +thing that +Plautus+ does not, to wit, the great Cunning of working +in +Under-Plots+, and still preserving the +Unity of Action+; for ++Plautus+ has none of them. As for the Necessity of Rules, the +Objections against 'em, and the wonderful Perfection our Plays might +arrive to by a more close Observance of 'em, I must once more refer +my Reader to the Preface to +Terence+. It was principally upon the +Poets Account, and for all such as are desirous of understanding and +judging the Excellencies of Dramatick Poetry, that I translated +these Plays. If it be objected, that the Poets, Criticks, and +Lovers, as well as Judges of Dramatick Poetry, do most of 'em +understand the Original; I must deny the Truth of it, tho' several +of 'em do: But if they did, these will be much more proper for their +Design, especially by means of the +Notes+ and +Remarks+; and the +Reasons I urg'd for the translation of +Terence+, bear a greater +force in this Author, for here is a greater Obscurity, by reason of +corrupted Copies, wrong Points, false Divisions of whole Acts as +well as Scenes, besides a greater number of knotty and obscure +Passages, than in +Terence+. + +Tho' this was my principal, it was not my only Design of translating +this Author, for I had all the way an Eye to School boys, and +Learners of the +Latin+ Tongue: Therefore, upon that account, I have +not only kept perfectly close to his Sence, but almost always to his +Words too; a thing not only extream difficult in an Author so +frequently verbose, but oftentimes dangerous too: And for an +Instance, I need not go any further than the very first Sentence of +the +Prologue+ to +Amphitryon+, which if I had made shorter, I cou'd +have made better. I can't forbear mentioning a Passage in the third +Act of the same Play, which just now comes to my remembrance: + + Nam certo si sis sanus, aut sapias satis, + Quam tu impudicam esse arbitrare, & prædicas, + Cum ea tu sermonem nec joco, nec serio + Tibi habeas, nisi sis stultior stultissimo. + +Which I have translated, perhaps, too closely thus; +I'm sure, had +ye either Wit, or Discretion, or weren't the greatest Fool in +Nature, you'd ne'er hold Discourse, either in Mirth or Earnest, with +the Woman you believe and declare a Strumpet.+ I'm confident many +other Translators wou'd not have been so scrupulously nice, but have +made shorter work of it. But I have not only been so scrupulous in +this Case, but I have likewise imitated all his Faults and +Imperfections, whenever I cou'd do it without extream Injury to the +Translation; I speak of his +Puns+, +Quibbles+, +Rhimes+, +Gingles+, +and his several ways of playing upon words; which indeed were the +Faults of his Age, as it was of ours in +Shakespear+'s and ++Johnson+'s days, and of which +Terence+, as correct as he is, is +not perfectly clear. Our Author's playing upon words are of that +various nature, and so frequent too, I need not go far for a single +Instance, which shall be in the fore part of the Prologue to ++Amphitryon+: + + Justam rem & facilem esse oratum à vobis volo. + Nam juste ab justis sum orator datus. + Nam injusta ab justis impetrare non decet: + Justa autem ab injustis petere, insipientia 'st: + Quippe illi iniqui jus ignorant, neque tenent. + +Which I have translated thus: +I desire nothing but what's +reasonable, and feasible; for 'tis a reasonable God requires Reason +from a reasonable People; but to require Roguery from reasonable +People, is base; and to expect Reason from Rascals, is nonsence; +since such People neither know Reason nor observe it.+ Our Author's +Wit did many times consist in his playing upon Words; a great pity +indeed, for a person who was so well able to writ after a more +substantial way, of which we have many remarkable Instances. Besides +his Quibbling, partly from his Carelesness and Necessities, he hath +sometimes a vein of +Trifling+, which was but very indifferent; and +on those places the Reader must make some allowance for the +translation, and not expect more than the Matter will well bear. As +for our Author's +Jests+ and +Repartees+, for what we know of 'em, +I took a particular care in preserving their Force; and for the most +part, I presume, I have done it in a great measure, sometimes by a +lucky hit; or a peculiar happiness of our Tongue, other times by a +little Liberty taken, and when all have fail'd, the +Remarks+ have +generally supply'd the Defect, a way I was forc'd to content my self +withal in many places; the worse they were, they were frequently +more difficult to preserve, therefore I thought it as well to slur +over some few of the meaner sort. Several of his +Jests+ and bits of ++Satyr+ are undoubtedly lost to us, not only in respect of our +Language, but also our Knowledge, and this sometimes makes his ++Sence+ a little obscure. And as the +Sence+ of an Author ought to +be his Translator's chiefest Care, so it has been mine; and tho' +I cannot affirm, that I have kept to it in every passage, yet I +believe I have often done it where a common Reader will think I have +not; and I think it no commendation to my self to say I have hit it +on many places where the Common Interpreters have missed. + +After all, I dare not pretend to say, that this Translation equals +the Original, for there is such a peculiar Air in this Author as +well as +Terence+, that our Tongue seems uncapable of, or at least +it does so to me. Yet still if 'twere always read with the Original, +it wou'd make far more for me than otherwise. In short, the Reader +ought to look upon this as a Translation of an Author who had +several Faults, and such places, as the +English+ must of necessity +appear mean, being little better in the Original; and likewise as an +Author of Antiquity, some of whose Customs and Manners will appear a +little uncouth and unsightly, in spight of all a Translator's Care. +I endeavour'd to be as like my Author as I cou'd, especially in that +which I reckon his distinguishing Character, to wit, the natural and +unaffected easiness of his Stile, and as this seems the most capable +of imitation, so I believe I have been more successful in this +Particular than in any other: and that is the main Reason I have had +so many Abbreviations, to make it appear still more like common +Discourse, and the usual way of speaking. Perhaps I may be thought +to have been too bold in that point, because I have had some that +are not usual in Prose; therefore I don't set this way as a Copy for +any one to follow me in, nor shall I use it myself in any other +Piece. I have all the way divided the +Acts+ and +Scenes+ according +to the true Rules of the Stage, which are extreamly false in all the +Editions of this Author, especially the +Scenes+. + +To make this Translation the most useful that I cou'd, I have made ++Remarks+ upon each Play, and those are of two sorts, tho' equally +intermix'd: The first, to shew the Author's chief Excellencies as to +his Contrivance and Management of his +Plots+ and +Incidents+; the +second, to discover several Beauties of +Stile+ and +Wit+, +principally such as are not very clear, or cannot well be preserv'd +in our Tongue; and those are likewise to vindicate my Translation. +Several of these I must own my self oblig'd to Madam +Dacier+ for, +or at least the hint, tho' some of 'em I cou'd not have miss'd of in +the prosecution of those Designs I aim'd at. I have borrow'd little +or nothing from any other, for her's are far the best +Notes+ I ever +met with, tho' many of 'em were done more to shew her Parts and +Reading than for any real use, a thing which I shall never aim at. +I have been forc'd in most of 'em to be extream nice and curious in +penetrating into the bottom of the Author, for I find it far more +difficult to discover a Beauty than a Fault. I might have enlarg'd +upon 'em, and have made several more, with good grounds, but I +thought it dangerous to say all that cou'd be said; but instead of +that I was forc'd, much against my will, to dash out several of +those upon +Amphitryon+ upon the account of the Printer, but the +rest are more full and compleat. + +If business wou'd have permitted me, I shou'd have ventur'd upon +three more of our Authors Plays; and upon that Account, I have taken +somewhat less time than was necessary for the translating such an +extraordinary difficult Author; for this requires more than double +the time of a +Historian+ or the like, which was as much as I cou'd +allow my self. I made choice of these three Plays as well for their ++Modesty+ as +Regularity+, for above all things I wou'd by no means +give the least Encouragement to Lewdness or Obscenity, which grow +too fast of themselves; and therefore I thought I cou'd not chuse +better than after a Lady. +Amphitryon+ had the Name, and never +fail'd of a general Approbation; +Epidicus+ was our Author's +Favourite, and truly there is much Art in it, tho' it is a little +heavy; and +Rudens+ is in several respects a better Play than any of ++Plautus+'s or +Terence+'s. I'm afraid +Amphitryon+ will bear the +worse in our Tongue, upon the Account of Mr. +Dryden+'s, whose +Improvements are very extraordinary; but considering Mr. +Dryden+'s +Management is of such a different Nature, this will still be as +useful and as proper for my +Design+, or at least to School-boys and +Learners. I must do that great Man the Justice in saying, that he +has not only much improved the +Humour+, +Wit+, and +Design+ in many +places, but likewise the +Thoughts+. I'll mention one, which just +now comes into my mind. +Alcmena+ in the Second Act complains thus: ++How poor and short are this Life's Pleasures, if once compar'd with +the Sorrows we endure? 'Tis Man's Destiny, and Heaven's Pleasure, to +mix our Joys with bitter Potions; and for some few Hours of +Satisfaction, we meet with Ages of Ills and Troubles.+ Mr. +Dryden+, +by the help of Blank Verse, and a little more room, has better'd it +extreamly. + + Ye niggard Gods! you make our Lives too long: + You fill 'em with Diseases, Wants, and Woes, + And only dash 'em with a little Love; + Sprinkled by Fits, and with a sparing Hand. + Count all our Joys, from Childhood ev'n to Age, + They wou'd but make a Day of ev'ry Year: + +And to carry it on further yet, and to make it appear more fine and +clear, he says, + + Take back your Sev'nty Years, (the stint of Life) + Or else be kind, and cram the Quintessence + Of Sev'nty Years into sweet Sev'nty Days: + For all the rest is flat, insipid Being. + +I mention this the rather, because it may serve for one Instance of +what Improvements our Modern Poets have made on the Ancients, when +they built upon their Foundations. For we find that many of the fine +things of the Ancients are like Seeds, that, when planted on ++English+ Ground by a Skilful Poet's Hand, thrive, and produce +excellent Fruit. + +But I'm afraid this +Preface+ has been too long and tedious for this +small Piece; but the Press stays, and the hast I'm in will not +permit me to make it shorter, or so much as review it; yet before I +conclude, I must inform the Reader, that I had the Advantage of +another's doing their +P+lays before me; from whose Translation I +had very considerable Helps, especially in the +Jests+ and ++Quibbles+. + + + + +The Augustan Reprint Society + + + WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK + MEMORIAL LIBRARY + UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES + + +PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT + +[Decoration] + + [Where available, Project Gutenberg e-text numbers are given in + brackets.] + + +1948-1949 + +16. Henry Nevil Payne, _The Fatal Jealousie_ (1673). [16916] + +18. Anonymous, "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10 +(1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface to The Creation (1720). [15870] + + +1949-1950 + +19. Susanna Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709). [16740] + +20. Lewis Theobald, _Preface to the Works of Shakespeare_ (1734). +[16346] + +22. Samuel Johnson, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and two +_Rambler_ papers (1750). [13350] + +23. John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681). [15074] + + +1950-1951 + +26. Charles Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1792). [14463] + + +1951-1952 + +31. Thomas Gray, _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard_ (1751), and +_The Eton College Manuscript_. [15409] + + +1952-1953 + +41. Bernard Mandeville, _A Letter to Dion_ (1732). [29478] + + +1962-1963 + +98. _Select Hymns Taken Out of Mr. Herbert's Temple_ (1697). + + +1963-1964 + +104. Thomas D'Urfey, _Wonders in the Sun_; or, _The Kingdom of the +Birds_ (1706). + + +1964-1965 + +110. John Tutchin, _Selected Poems_ (1685-1700). [_In Preparation_] + +111. Anonymous, _Political Justice_ (1736). + +112. Robert Dodsley, _An Essay on Fable_ (1764). + +113. T. R., _An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning_ (1698). + +114. _Two Poems Against Pope_: Leonard Welsted, _One Epistle to Mr. A. +Pope_ (1730), and Anonymous, _The Blatant Beast_ (1742). [21499] + + +1965-1966 + +115. Daniel Defoe and others, _Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal_. + +116. Charles Macklin, _The Covent Garden Theatre_ (1752). [_In +Preparation_] + +117. Sir George L'Estrange, _Citt and Bumpkin_ (1680). [_In Preparation_] + +118. Henry More, _Enthusiasmus Triumphatus_ (1662). + +119. Thomas Traherne, _Meditations on the Six Days of the Creation_ +(1717). + +120. Bernard Mandeville, _Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables_ +(1704). [_In Preparation_] + + +1966-1967 + +122. James MacPherson, _Fragments of Ancient Poetry_ (1760). [8161] + +123. Edmond Malone, _Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to +Mr. Thomas Rowley_ (1782). [29116] + +124. Anonymous, _The Female Wits_ (1704). [_In Preparation_] + +125. Anonymous, _The Scribleriad_ (1742). Lord Hervey, _The Difference +Between Verbal and Practical Virtue_ (1742). [_In Preparation_] + +126. _Le Lutrin: an Heroick Poem, Written Originally in French by +Monsieur Boileau: Made English by N. O._ (1682). + + +Subsequent publications may be checked in the annual prospectus. + +Publications #1 through 90, of the first fifteen years of Augustan +Reprint Society, are available in bound units at $14.00 per unit of six +from: + + KRAUS REPRINT CORPORATION + 16 East 46th Street + New York, N.Y. 10017 + +Publications in print are available at the regular membership rate of +$5.00 yearly. Prices of single issues may be obtained upon request. + + + + + William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: + University of California, Los Angeles + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + + _General Editors_: George Robert Guffey, University of California, + Los Angeles; Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los + Angeles; Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. + _Corresponding Secretary_: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark + Memorial Library. + + +The Society's purpose is to publish reprints (usually facsimile +reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works. All +income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and +mailing. + +Correspondence concerning memberships in the United States and Canada +should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 +Cimarron St., Los Angeles, California. Correspondence concerning +editorial matters may be addressed to any of the general editors at the +same address. Manuscripts of introductions should conform to the +recommendations of the MLA _Style Sheet_. The membership fee is $5.00 a +year in the United States and Canada and 30 -- in Great Britain and +Europe. British and European prospective members should address B. H. +Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. Copies of back issues in print +may be obtained from the Corresponding Secretary. + + +PUBLICATIONS FOR 1967-1968 + +127-128. Charles Macklin, _A Will and No Will, or a Bone for the +Lawyers_ (1746). _The New Play Criticiz'd, or The Plague of Envy_ +(1747). Introduction by Jean B. Kern. [_In Preparation_] + +129. Lawrence Echard, Prefaces to _Terence's Comedies_ (1694) and +_Plautus's Comedies_ (1694). Introduction by John Barnard. +[_Present Text_] + +130. Henry More, _Democritus Platonissans_ (1646). Introduction by P. G. +Stanwood. [_In Preparation_] + +131. John Evelyn, _The History of . . . Sabatai Sevi . . . The Suppos'd +Messiah of the Jews_ (1669). Introduction by Christopher W. Grose. +[_In Preparation_] + +132. Walter Harte, _An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad_ +(1730). Introduction by Thomas B. Gilmore. [29237] + + +ANNOUNCEMENTS: + +Next in the series of special publications by the Society will be a +volume including Elkanah Settle's _The Empress of Morocco_ (1673) with +six plates; _Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco_ (1674) +by John Dryden, John Crowne and Thomas Shadwell; _Notes and Observations +on the Empress of Morocco Revised_ (1674) by Elkanah Settle: and +_The Empress of Morocco. A Farce_ (1674) by Thomas Duffet, with an +Introduction by Maximillian E. Novak. Already published in this series +are reprints of John Ogilby's _The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse_ +(1668) with an Introduction by Earl Miner and John Gay's _Fables_ (1727, +1738), with an Introduction by Vinton A. Dearing. Publication is +assisted by funds from the Chancellor of the University of California, +Los Angeles. Price to members of the Society, $2.50 for the first copy +and $3.25 for additional copies. Price to non-members, $4.00. + + +THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + +William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + +2520 Cimarron Street at West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, California +90018 + +Make check or money order payable to THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF +CALIFORNIA. + + * * * * * + * * * * + +Errata (noted by transcriber) + +_In the Prefaces, errors were corrected only if a later edition showed +the same correction._ + +_Editor's Introduction_ + + under the imprint of Thomas Salusbury [_spelling is correct_] + another's doing their [i.e., "these"?] Plays before me + [_this and following bracketed notes are in the original_] + +_Preface to Terence_ + + vix de demenso suo, suum defraudans genium + [demcuso ... defrudans] + Eheu me miseram! [Ehen] + ni unum desit [de sit] + perfectly just, truly proportionably [. for,] + he never fails in any one place, but [. for,] + why he goes off, where he's a going [goes of] + the whole cou'dn't contain above Eleven hours [about Eleven hours] + for such inferior Persons, we leave to others. [. invisible] + or to say very little, as 'twas agreeable to them + [_s in "as" invisible_] + In some things they are too short, in others too long [. for,] + _School-Masters_ often want time, and now and then Judgment + [time. and now then and] + some hints we had from the _French_, but [. for,] + _Odiosus_, _Tristis_, &c. these we + [_missing ; or : after "&c.", OR error for "These"_] + They may possibly take 'em for Blunders [' missing or invisible] + but we have better offend this way than the other [beeter] + +_Preface to Plautus_ + + due Observance and Penetration [Penitration] + Exit +Euclio+. [Eudio] + And besure you secure the Door [_spacing as shown_] + For the Reader's Satisfaction, here follows [he follows] + +_Augustan Reprints_ + + UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES [. for,] + and 30 -- in Great Britain and Europe [_unchanged_] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Prefaces to Terence's Comedies and +Plautus's Comedies (1694), by Lawrence Echard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TERENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 29684-8.txt or 29684-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/8/29684/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner, Dave Morgan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Prefaces to Terence's Comedies and Plautus's Comedies (1694) + +Author: Lawrence Echard + +Commentator: John Barnard + +Release Date: August 13, 2009 [EBook #29684] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TERENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner, Dave Morgan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class = "mynote"> + +<p><a name = "start" id = "start">This text</a> uses UTF-8 (Unicode) +file encoding. If the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph +appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable +fonts. First, make sure that your browser’s “character set†or “file +encoding†is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change the +default font.</p> + +<p class = "center"> +<a href = "#intro">Editor’s Introduction</a><br> +<a href = "#terence">Preface to Terence</a><br> +<a href = "#plautus">Preface to Plautus</a><br> +<a href = "#augustan">Augustan Reprints</a><br> +<a href = "#endnote">Note on Pagination</a></p> + +<p>Typographical errors are shown in the text with <ins class = +"correction" title = "like this">mouse-hover popups</ins>. In the +Prefaces, errors were corrected only if a later edition showed +the same correction. All brackets are in the original.</p> +</div> + + +<div class = "titlepage"> + +<h4 class = "smallcaps">The Augustan Reprint Society</h4> + +<p> <br> </p> + +<h4>LAWRENCE ECHARD</h4> + +<h1 class = "extended"><i>PREFACES</i></h1> + +<h1 class = "extended"> +<span class = "subhead">TO TERENCE’S</span><br> +COMEDIES</h1> + +<h1 class = "extended"> +<span class = "subhead">AND PLAUTUS’S</span><br> +COMEDIES</h1> + +<h4>(1694)</h4> + +<hr> + +<h5><i>Introduction by</i><br> +<span class = "smallcaps extended">John Barnard</span></h5> + +<hr> + +<h6><span class = "smaller">PUBLICATION NUMBER 129</span><br> +WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY<br> +<span class = "smallcaps">University of California, Los +Angeles</span></h6> + +<h5>1968</h5> + +<!-- png 02 --> + +</div> + +<hr> + +<div class = "center"> + +<p> </p> + +<h5>GENERAL EDITORS</h5> + +<p>George Robert Guffey, <i>University of California, Los +Angeles</i></p> + +<p>Maximillian E. Novak, <i>University of California, Los +Angeles</i></p> + +<p>Robert Vosper, <i>William Andrews Clark Memorial Library</i></p> + +<p> </p> + +<h5>ADVISORY EDITORS</h5> + +<p>Richard C. Boys, <i>University of Michigan</i></p> + +<p>James L. Clifford, <i>Columbia University</i></p> + +<p>Ralph Cohen, <i>University of Virginia</i></p> + +<p>Vinton A. Dearing, <i>University of California, Los Angeles</i></p> + +<p>Arthur Friedman, <i>University of Chicago</i></p> + +<p>Louis A. Landa, <i>Princeton University</i></p> + +<p>Earl Miner, <i>University of California, Los Angeles</i></p> + +<p>Samuel H. Monk, <i>University of Minnesota</i></p> + +<p>Everett T. Moore, <i>University of California, Los Angeles</i></p> + +<p>Lawrence Clark Powell, <i>William Andrews Clark Memorial +Library</i></p> + +<p>James Sutherland, <i>University College, London</i></p> + +<p>H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., <i>University of California, Los +Angeles</i></p> + +<p> </p> + +<h5>CORRESPONDING SECRETARY</h5> + +<p>Edna C. Davis, <i>William Andrews Clark Memorial Library</i></p> + +</div> + +<div class = "intro"> + +<span class = "pagenum">i</span> +<!-- png 03 --> +<h3><a name = "intro" id = "intro">INTRODUCTION</a></h3> + + +<p>Perhaps no higher praise can be paid a translator than posterity’s +acceptance of his work. Laurence Echard’s <i>Terence’s Comedies</i>, +first printed in 1694 in the dress and phraseology of Restoration +comedy, has received this accolade through the mediation of no less a +modern translator than Robert Graves. In 1963 Graves edited a +translation of three of Terence’s plays. His Foreword points to the +extreme difficulty of translating Terence, and admits his own +failure— “It is regrettable that the very terseness of his Latin +makes an accurate English rendering read drily and flatly; as I have +found to my disappointment.†Graves’s answer was typically +idiosyncratic. “A revival of Terence in English, must, +I believe, be based on the translation made . . . . +with fascinating vigour, by a young Cambridge student Laurence Echard +. . . .â€<a class = "tag" name = "tag1" id = "tag1" href = +"#note1">1</a></p> + +<p>The Prefaces to Echard’s <i>Terence’s Comedies: Made English</i> +. . . . (1694) and to his <i>Plautus’s Comedies, +Amphitryon, Epidicus, and Rudens</i> (1694) are of interest for several +reasons. Both of them outline the intentions and rationale which lie +behind the translations. They also throw light upon the sense of +literary rivalry with French achievements which existed in some quarters +in late seventeenth-century England, make comments on the contemporary +stage, and are valuable both as examples of seventeenth-century +attitudes to two Classical dramatists, and as statements of neoclassical +dramatic theory. Finally, they are, to some extent, polemical pieces, +aiming at the instruction of contemporary dramatists.</p> + +<p>Laurence Echard, or Eachard (1670?-1730), was a minor cleric, +a prolific hack, and an historian, a typical enough confusion +of functions for the time. It suggests that Echard had energy, ability, +and political commitment, but lacked a generous patron or good fortune +to take the place of private means. Within the Church his success was +modest: he was installed prebendary +<span class = "pagenum">ii</span> +<!-- png 04 --> +of Louth in 1697, but had to wait until 1712 before becoming Archdeacon +of Stow. Echard achieved the little fame by which he is remembered as an +historical writer. Perhaps he is more accurately described as a compiler +rather than as an historian. His major works were <i>The Roman History, +from the Building of the City, to the Perfect Settlement of the Empire +by Augustus Caesar</i> . . . (1695-98), the equally +comprehensive <i>A General Ecclesiastical History from the Nativity of +Our Blessed Saviour to the First Establishment of Christianity</i> +. . . (1702), his all-inclusive <i>The History of England from +the first Entrance of Julius Caesar . . . to the Conclusion of +the Reign of King James the Second</i> . . . (1707-18), and +the more detailed but equally long work, <i>The History of the +Revolution, and the Establishment of England in . . . 1688</i> +(1725).</p> + +<p>Echard’s career as a publisher’s jack-of-all-trades ran concurrently +with his life’s work on history, and showed a similar taste for the +voluminously encyclopedic. In 1691 he graduated B.A. at Christ’s +College, Cambridge, and published four works under the imprint of Thomas +<ins class = "correction" title = "correct spelling">Salusbury</ins>: +<i>A Most Complete Compendium of Geography; General and Special; +Describing all the Empires, Kingdoms, and Dominions in the Whole +World</i>, <i>An Exact Description of Ireland . . .</i>, <i>A +Description of Flanders . . .</i>, and the <i>Duke of Savoy’s +Dominions most accurately described</i>.<a class = "tag" name = "tag2" +id = "tag2" href = "#note2">2</a> These were followed in 1692 by <i>The +Gazetteer’s or Newsman’s Interpreter: being a Geographical Index</i> +. . . . Two years later the translations of Plautus and +Terence were published.</p> + +<p>All of this work was clearly irrelevant to his main interests: in +1695 he had been urged to undertake his <i>General Ecclesiastical +History</i>, and by that time he was already at work upon his <i>Roman +History</i> (1695-98).<a class = "tag" name = "tag3" id = "tag3" href = +"#note3">3</a> Into the bargain, he was in residence at Cambridge until +1695, for he did not gain his M.A. until that year. Despite the apparent +success of his publisher’s enterprises (<i>A Most Complete +Compendium</i> was in its eighth edition by 1713, and <i>The Gazetteer’s +or Newsman’s Interpreter</i> reached a twelfth in 1724), little of the +profit reached the penurious Echard. In 1717 Archbishop Wake wrote to +Addison that +<span class = "pagenum">iii</span> +<!-- png 05 --> +“His circumstances are so much worse than I thought, that if we cannot +get somewhat pretty considerable for Him, I doubt He will sink +under the weight of his debts . . . .â€<a class = "tag" +name = "tag4" id = "tag4" href = "#note4">4</a></p> + +<p>The sheer quantity of work which Echard accomplished in these early +years is astonishing: it is no wonder that in the Preface to the +<i>Plautus</i> he explained that “business†had prevented him from +translating more than three of the comedies, remarking, “. . . +I have taken somewhat less time than was necessary for the translating +such an extraordinary difficult Author; for this requires more than +double the time of an <i>Historian</i> or the like, which was as much as +I cou’d allow my self†(sig. b3).</p> + +<p>In all of his work Echard sought and acknowledged the help of a whole +series of unnamed encouragers and authorities. For the <i>Plautus</i> he +“had the Advantage of another’s doing their <ins class = "correction" +title = "all bracketed notes are in the original">[i.e., â€these“?]</ins> +Plays before me; from whose Translation I had very considerable Helps +. . .†(sig. b4). Apart from that aid, the <i>Plautus</i>, on +the evidence offered by the title-page and the Preface, was all Echard’s +own. This is not the case with the <i>Terence</i>, which was translated +by a symposium, with the Preface being written by Echard on the group’s +behalf. As a result, its Preface uses “we†throughout where the +<i>Plautus</i> uses “I.†When the first edition of the <i>Terence</i> +appeared it gave the authorship as “By Several Hands,†but later +editions are more detailed, and specify that the work was done “By Mr. +Laurence Echard, and others. Revis’d and Corrected by Dr. Echard and Sir +R. L’Estrange.†The fourth edition also stated firmly in 1716, “The +PREFACE, Written by Mr. <i>Laurence Echard</i>†(p. i).</p> + +<p>The only discrepancy which might seem to deny Echard’s authorship of +the Preface to the <i>Terence</i> is the fact that the two Prefaces +contradict one another over the way in which scenes should be marked. +The Preface to the <i>Terence</i> simply says that exits and entrances +within the acts are a sufficient indication that the scene has changed +without numbering them, “for the <i>Ancients</i> never had any other +[method] that we know of†(p. xxii). The <i>Plautus</i> on the +other hand, numbers the scenes, and the Preface comments, “I have +all the way divided the <i>Acts</i> and +<span class = "pagenum">iv</span> +<!-- png 06 --> +<i>Scenes</i> according to the true Rules of the Stage . . .†+(sig. b2<sup>v</sup>). Since this was an open question, however, in +neoclassical dramatic theory, the simplest explanation is that Echard +was free to do as he believed in the <i>Plautus</i>, which was all his +own, but was, in the Preface to the <i>Terence</i>, expressing the views +of the whole group of translators.</p> + +<p>The two volumes are a testimony to Echard’s remarkable industry and +abilities. They were published the year before he took his M.A., when he +was only twenty-four. In the years between coming up to Cambridge in +1687 and 1695, he found time not only to satisfy his university, and to +do the very considerable amount of hack work which appeared in 1691 and +1692, as well as embarking upon his large historical works, but also +translated two difficult Roman authors with great verve.</p> + +<p>It would be interesting to know why, in the years between 1691 and +1694, Echard turned his attentions to the art of translation. The +venture is a curious deviation from his otherwise single-minded devotion +to history and to journalistic enterprises (the only other translation +he is known to have done is the brief “Auction of the Philosophers†in +<i>The Works of Lucian</i> [1710-11]). The connection of Dr. John +Eachard and Sir Roger L’Estrange may offer a slight clue. Echard was +closely related to Dr. Eachard (1636?-1697), Master of Catharine Hall, +Cambridge, and author of the lively dialogue, <i>Mr. Hobbs’s State of +Nature Consider’d</i> (1672).<a class = "tag" name = "tag5" id = "tag5" +href = "#note5">5</a> With a family connection such as this, Echard +might well have hoped for a successful career centered on his stay at +Cambridge. The dedication of his <i>A Most Complete Compendium</i> in +1691 to the Master of his own college, Dr. John Covel, suggests that he +was looking in this direction. L’Estrange is important not only for his +intimate knowledge of the publishing trade, but also because he was a +translator in his own right. His <i>Æsop</i> appeared in 1692, and he +had early put out translations of Quevedo (1673), Cicero (1680), and +Erasmus (1680), and was to go on to translate Flavius Josephus (1702). +Since L’Estrange had also been a student at Cambridge, there is some +possibility that the +<span class = "pagenum">v</span> +<!-- png 07 --> +translation of Terence was carried out at the instigation of a Cambridge +based group. The translation might also be connected with the resurgence +of interest in translation and in “correctness†which can be discerned +in the 1690’s.<a class = "tag" name = "tag6" id = "tag6" href = +"#note6">6</a></p> + +<p>The two Prefaces differ somewhat in character. It seems clear from +remarks made in the Preface to the <i>Plautus</i> that it was written +after the <i>Terence</i> had already reached the public and after +Echard’s copy for the text of Plautus’s three comedies was in the +printer’s hands. Not surprisingly the later Preface is hurried, and at +times almost casual. The Preface to the <i>Terence</i> is more +ambitious, more carefully written, and more wide-ranging, though giving +fewer examples of the kinds of translations made by Echard. Both +Prefaces lay claim to substantially the same audience. That to the +<i>Terence</i> explains that the translation was undertaken in the first +place because of the literary value of Terence’s comedy. In consequence, +its benefits would apply to “most sorts of People, but especially for +the Service it may do our <i>Dramatick Poets</i>.†Secondly, the work +was undertaken for “the Honour of our own <i>Language</i>, into which +all good Books ought to be Translated, since <i>’tis now become so +Elegant, Sweet and Copious</i> . . . .†Thirdly, it might +rival the translations done in other countries, particularly those in +France. The audience envisaged ranged from schoolboys, who would find +the translation less Latinate and the notes more pointed than those of +Bernard or Hoole, to “Men of Sense and Learning,†who ought to be +pleased to see Terence in “modern Dress.†As for the dramatists, Terence +might serve as an exemplar, especially since the translation could “be +read with less Trouble than the Original . . .†(pp. +xvii-xix). The <i>Plautus</i> Preface is far less detailed, but refers +back to these reasons, while stressing the function of the translation +for the schoolboy. Judging by the number of editions, the <i>Terence</i> +found its market, for where the <i>Plautus</i> ran to only two editions, +the first and that of 1716, the <i>Terence</i> appeared in a seventh +edition in 1729. Nor was Echard’s audience merely made up of students. +If one of his main targets was contemporary dramatists, he would have +<span class = "pagenum">vi</span> +<!-- png 08 --> +been elated to learn that William Congreve owned a copy of the first +edition of both translations.<a class = "tag" name = "tag7" id = "tag7" +href = "#note7">7</a></p> + +<p>The Prefaces are perhaps a little disingenuous in acknowledging +Echard’s and his collaborators’ debt to the contemporary French +classical scholar and translator, Anne Dacier. On both occasions Echard +paid her some tribute. What he does not mention is that the two volumes +seem to be modelled on her example. The <i>Terence</i> translates the +plays which had appeared in her <i>Les comédies de Térence</i> (Paris, +1688), and it is significant that despite his claims that he wished to +translate more than three of Plautus’ comedies, he in fact translated +only those three which Mme. Dacier had already done in her <i>Les +comédies de Plaute</i> (Paris, 1683). Moreover, the notes and to some +extent the Prefaces, are modelled on the French scholar’s work: Echard’s +notes are often directly dependent upon Mme. Dacier’s and are exactly +described by her account of her own volume as being “avec de remarques +et un examen de chaque comédie selon les règles du theatre.â€</p> + +<p>The views on translation put forward by the Prefaces are an +intelligent exposition of progressive contemporary notions of the art. +The belief in literal translation which characterizes Jonson and Marvell +in the earlier years of the century had been displaced by the more +liberal concept of “imitation.†Roscommon is a representative of this +freer attitude, while Dryden’s more severe theory of “paraphrase,†+whatever his practice may have been, stands somewhere between the two +positions. Like Ozell and Gildon, and later Pope, Echard’s aim, whether +translating by himself or collectively, was to imitate the spirit of his +author in English. “A meer <i>Verbal Translation</i> is not to be +expected, that wou’d sound so horribly, and be more obscure than the +Original . . . . We couldn’t have kept closer +. . . without too much treading upon the Author’s Heels, and +destroying our Design of giving it an easie, <i>Comick Style</i>, most +agreeable to our present Times†(<i>Terence’s Comedies</i>, p. xx). +To this end it was necessary to tone down the “familiarity and bluntness +in [Terence’s] Discourse†which were “not so agreeable with the Manners +and +<span class = "pagenum">vii</span> +<!-- png 09 --> +Gallantry of our Times.†This was intended to bring Terence up to the +level of gentility for which he was credited by compensating for the +barbarity of Roman social manners. But the translation was willing to go +further than this: it added to the Roman comedy what Echard thought +English comedy excelled in, “humour‗ “In some places we have had +somewhat more of <i>Humour</i> than the Original, to make it still more +agreeable to our Age . . . .†(<i>ibid.</i>, +p. xxii). When speaking for himself alone in the Preface to the +<i>Plautus</i>, Echard’s claims were less grandiose. Here the +translation seems much more specifically aimed at schoolboys, and Echard +made firm claims for his literalness (sig. b1-2<sup>v</sup>). On the +other hand, he went out of his way to praise Dryden’s <i>Amphitryon</i> +(1690) for the freedom it had taken with the original, which, said +Echard, “may serve for one Instance of what Improvements our Modern +Poets have made on the Ancients, when they built upon their Foundations†+(sig. b3<sup>v</sup>-4).</p> + +<p>The praise of Dryden is to some extent double-edged since it is an +implicit assertion of the point made in both Prefaces, that English +writers had much to learn from the Roman dramatists. Echard uses the +Prefaces to assess and compare Plautus and Terence, but he also uses +them as a springboard for a critique of the state of English comedy. +Like much neoclassical criticism it is, of course, derivative. The stock +comparison of Plautus and Terence comes from Anne Dacier,<a class = +"tag" name = "tag8" id = "tag8" href = "#note8">8</a> and Echard’s +footprints can be tracked in the snows of Cicero, Scaliger, Rapin, André +Dacier, the Abbé D’Aubignac, and Dryden. Having set the Ancients against +the Moderns, Echard is able to attack the looseness of English double +plots by pointing to Terence’s success within a similar structure. He is +also able to praise Terence’s genteel style. Against this, Echard +admits, along with his precursors, Plautus’ superiority in point of +<i>vis comica</i>, which he defines, interestingly, as “<i>Liveliness of +Intreague</i>†(sig. a8). Echard is thus able to claim, with +considerable conviction, the superiority of English comedy in several +areas, especially in its variety, its humour, “in some Delicacies of +<i>Conversation</i>,†and “above all in <i>Repartée</i>†(<i>Terence’s +Comedies</i>, p. xi).</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">viii</span> +<!-- png 10 --> +<p>What the English had to learn, in Echard’s view, was “regularity,†+that is, the discipline imposed upon a dramatist by observing the +Unities, and obeying the other “rules of the drama†(such as the +<i>liaisons</i>), in pursuit of verisimilitude and tautness of +structure. Echard’s main hope was that his translation and notes would +correct his contemporaries’ habit of ignoring the Roman dramatists’ +“<i>essential</i> Beauties,†and “contenting themselves with considering +the <i>superficial</i> ones, such as the <i>Stile</i>, <i>Language</i>, +<i>Expression</i>, and the like, without taking much notice of the +Contrivance and Management, of the <i>Plots, Characters, etc.</i>†+(<i>Plautus</i>, sig. a1). The remarkable fact about Echard’s discussion +of these matters, despite his dependence at times upon that arch-pedant, +the Abbé D’Aubignac,<a class = "tag" name = "tag9" id = "tag9" href = +"#note9">9</a> is the critical intelligence with which he puts forward +his argument. Unlike many neoclassical critics, Echard keeps his eyes +fixed firmly on the strengths and weaknesses of Restoration comedy +within the context of previous English comedy and the Restoration stage +itself. A sign of this is his attention to practical details, which +take the form of one or two valuable notes on the theatre of his day. We +learn, for instance, that actors were in the “custom of looking +. . . full upon the Spectators,†and that some members of the +Restoration audience took printed copies into the playhouse in order to +be able to follow the play on the stage.<a class = "tag" name = "tag10" +id = "tag10" href = "#note10">10</a> It is a real loss to the historian +of drama and to the critic that these two volumes were Laurence Echard’s +solitary adventure into the criticism and translation of drama.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>University of Leeds</p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">ix</span> +<!-- png 11 --> + +<h4><a name = "intro_notes" id = "intro_notes"> +NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION</a></h4> + +<div class = "footnote"> + +<p><a name = "note1" id = "note1" href = "#tag1">1.</a> +<i>The Comedies of Terence: Echard’s Translations Edited with a Foreword +by Robert Graves</i> (London, 1963), pp. viii-ix. Graves (p. ix) +says that Echard’s translation of Terence was made in 1689, when he was +only nineteen. I have been unable to find any evidence in support +of this statement.</p> + +<p><a name = "note2" id = "note2" href = "#tag2">2.</a> +No copy of the <i>Duke of Savoy’s Dominions</i> appears to be extant. It +is not recorded in Wing, but appears in <i>The Term Catalogues, +1688-1709</i> . . ., ed. Edward Arber (1903-1906), II, 380. +This must have been much smaller than Echard’s other publications in +this year: it cost only 3d. against the first two’s 1s. 6d.</p> + +<p><a name = "note3" id = "note3" href = "#tag3">3.</a> +<i>A General Ecclesiastical History</i> . . . . (London, +1702), sig. b1.</p> + +<p><a name = "note4" id = "note4" href = "#tag4">4.</a> +<i>The Letters of Joseph Addison</i>, ed. Walter Graham (Oxford, 1941), +p. 504.</p> + +<p><a name = "note5" id = "note5" href = "#tag5">5.</a> +Recently republished with an introduction by Peter Ure as No. XIV (1958) +in the University of Liverpool Reprints.</p> + +<p><a name = "note6" id = "note6" href = "#tag6">6.</a> +“Dryden, Tonson, and Subscriptions for the 1697 <i>Virgil</i>,†+<i>PBSA</i>, LVII (1963), 147-48. Raymond Havens makes a rather +different emphasis in his “Changing Taste in the Eighteenth Century,†+<i>PMLA</i>, XLIV (1929), 501-18.</p> + +<p><a name = "note7" id = "note7" href = "#tag7">7.</a> +Items 450 and 595 in <i>The Library of William Congreve</i>, ed. John C. +Hodges (New York, 1955). +<span class = "mynote">Project Gutenberg <a href = +"http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/27606">e-text 27606</a></span></p> + +<p><a name = "note8" id = "note8" href = "#tag8">8.</a> +<i>Les comédies de Plaute</i>, ed. and trans. Anne Dacier (Paris, 1683). +For a further statement of her views, see <i>Les comédies de Térence</i> +(Paris, 1688).</p> + +<p><a name = "note9" id = "note9" href = "#tag9">9.</a> +In particular, see his discussion of the <i>liaisons</i> which is +derived from François Hédelin, Abbé D’Aubignac, <i>La practique du +théâtre</i> . . . . (Paris, 1669), pp. 117-19, 315-20. +D’Aubignac’s work was translated into English as <i>The Whole Art of the +Stage</i> . . . . (1684).</p> + +<p><a name = "note10" id = "note10" href = "#tag10">10.</a> +<i>Plautus’s Comedies</i>, sig. a8<sup>v</sup>; <i>Terence’s +Comedies</i>, p. xiii.</p> +</div> + + + +<span class = "pagenum">x</span> +<!-- png 12 --> + +<h4><a name = "intro_bib" id = "intro_bib"> +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</a></h4> + +<p>The texts of this edition are reproduced from copies in the +Brotherton Library, University of Leeds.</p> + +</div> +<!-- end div intro --> + + +<div class = "titlepage"> +<a name = "terence" id = "terence"> </a> +<!-- png 13 --> + +<table class = "outline" summary = "original title page"> +<tr> +<td colspan = "3"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td class = "outline"> + +<h2 class = "extended"><i>TERENCE</i>’s</h2> + +<h1><b>COMEDIES:</b></h1> + +<hr class = "full"> + +<h3>Made <span class = "extended"><i>ENGLISH</i></span>.</h3> + +<h4 class = "extended">WITH HIS</h4> + +<h1 class = "super">LIFE<sup>;</sup></h1> + +<h4>AND SOME</h4> + +<h3><span class = "extended">REMARKS</span> at the End.</h3> + +<hr class = "full"> + +<h3>By Several <span class = "smallcaps extended">Hands</span>.</h3> + +<hr class = "full"> + +<h4><span class = "extended"><i>LONDON:</i></span></h4> + +<h5>Printed for <i>A. Swall</i> and <i>T. Childe</i>, at the<br> +<i>Unicorn</i>, at the West-End of St. <i>Paul</i>’s<br> +Church-yard. 1694.</h5> +</td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan = "3"> </td> +</tr> +</table> + +</div> + +<!-- png 14 --> + +<div class = "ital"> + +<span class = "pagenum">i</span> +<span class = "folionum">A2</span> +<!-- png 15 --> + +<hr class = "full"> + +<hr class = "full"> + +<h4>THE</h4> + +<h1><span class = "extended">PREFACE</span>.</h1> + + +<p><span class = "firstletter">S</span>Ince long <em>Prefaces</em> are +lately much in Fashion upon this and the like Occasions, why may not we +be allow’d some tolerable Liberty in this kind; provided we keep close +to our Author, and our own Translation of him. As for our Author, +wherever Learning, Wit or Judgment have flourish’d, this Poet has always +had an extraordinary Reputation. To mention all his Excellencies and +Perfections were a Task too difficult for us, and perhaps for the +greatest Criticks alive; so very few there are that perfectly understand +all of ’em; yet we shall venture at some of the most Remarkable.</p> + +<p>To begin with him in general. He was certainly the most Exact, the +most Elaborate, and withal the most Natural of all <em>Dramatick</em> +Poets; His <em>Stile</em> so neat and pure, his <em>Characters</em> so +true and perfect, his <em>Plots</em> so regular and probable, and almost +every thing so absolutely just and agreeable, that he may well seem to +merit that Praise which several have given him, <em>That he was the most +correct Author in the World.</em> To compare him with <em>Plautus</em>, +the other great <em>Latin Comedian</em>, we may observe that +<em>Plautus</em> had more Wit and Spirit, but <em>Terence</em> more +Sense and Judgment; the former’s Stile was rich and glaring, the +latter’s more close and even: <em>Plautus</em> had the most dazelling +out-side, and the most lively Colours, but <em>Terence</em> drew the +finest Figures and Postures, +<span class = "pagenum">ii</span> +<!-- png 16 --> +and had the best Design; the one pleas’d the Vulgar, but our Author the +Better sort of people; the former wou’d usually set his Spectators into +a loud Laughter, but the latter steal ’em into a sweet Smile that shou’d +continue from the beginning to the end of the Representation: in short, +<em>Plautus</em> was more lively and vigorous, and so fitter for +<em>Action</em>; and <em>Terence</em> more grave and serious, and so +fitter for <em>Reading</em>. Tho’ <em>Plautus</em>’s Beauties were very +extraordinary, yet he had his Faults and Indecorums very frequent; but +<em>Terence</em>’s Excellencies (tho’ possibly inferior to some of the +others) were more general, better dispers’d, and closer continu’d; and +his Faults so inconsiderable, and so very few, that <em>Scaliger</em> +said, <em>There were not three to be found throughout the Six +Plays.</em> So that our Author seems to want nothing to make him +absolutely compleat, but only that same <em>Vis Comica</em> that +<em>Cæsar</em> wishes he had, and which <em>Plautus</em> was Master of +in such a high degree. We shall determine nothing between ’em, but leave +’em good Friends as we found ’em.</p> + +<p>This may be sufficient for our Author’s Excellencies in general; for +his particular ones, we shall begin with his Stile, a thing he has +been admir’d for in all Ages, and truly he deserves it; for certainly no +one was ever more accurate, natural, and clear in his Expressions than +he. But to be a little more particular in this Matter, we shall give you +some few of our Author’s Excellencies in this kind under three or four +different Heads.</p> + +<p>And first, We may observe of his <em>Words</em>, that they are +generally nicely chosen, extreamly proper and significant; and many of +’em carry so much Life and Force in ’em, that they can hardly be +express’d in any other Language without great disadvantage to the +Original. To instance in these following. <em>Qui cum ingeniis +<i>conflictatur</i> ejusmodi. Ut animus in spe atque in timore usque +ante hac <i>attentus</i> fuit. Nisi me lactasses amantem, & falsa +spe <i>produceres</i>. <i>Pam.</i> Mi Pater. <i>Si.</i> Quid mi Pater? +Quasi tu +<span class = "pagenum">iii</span> +<span class = "folionum">A3</span> +<!-- png 17 --> +<i>hujus indigeas</i> Patris. Tandem ego non illâ caream, si sit opus, +vel totum triduum. <i>Par.</i> Hui? <i>Universum triduum.</i> Quam +<i>elegans</i> formarum spectator siem. Hunc comedendum & deridendum +vobis <i>propino</i>.</em></p> + +<p>We shall next take notice of one or two Instances of the Shortness +and Clearness of his Narrations; as that which <em>Tully</em> mentions. +<em>Funus interim procedit sequimur, ad Sepulchrum venimus, in ignem +posita est, Fletur.</em> Another may be that in <em>Phormio</em>. +<em>Persuasum est homini, factum est, ventum est, vincimur, +duxit.</em></p> + +<p>Another remarkable Beauty of his Stile appears in his Climaxes; where +every Word is Emphatical, heightens the Sense, and adds considerably to +what went before. As, <em>Hæc verba Mehercule una falsa Lachrymula, quam +oculos terendo miserè vix vi expresserit, restinguet. Quod ille unciatim +vix de <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘demcuso’">demenso</ins> suo, suum <ins class = "correction" title = +"text reads ‘defrudans’">defraudans</ins> genium, comparsit +miser.</em></p> + +<p>The last thing we shall give any instance of, is the Softness and +Delicacy of his Turns; of which many might be produced; but we think +these few may be sufficient for our purpose. <em><ins class = +"correction" title = "text reads ‘Ehen’">Eheu</ins> me miseram! Cur non +aut isthæc mihi ætas & forma est, aut tibi hæc sententia. Nam si ego +digna hac contumelia sum maxime, at tu indignus qui faceres tamen. Nam +dum abs te absum, omnes mihi labores fuere, quos cepi, leves, præterquam +tui carendum quod erat. Palam beatus, ni unum <ins class = "correction" +title = "text reads ‘de sit’">desit</ins>, animus qui modeste isthæc +ferat. Aliis, quia defit quod amant, ægre est, tibi, quod super est, +dolet.</em> And as for the Purity of his Language in general; we find it +very much commended even by <em>Tully</em> himself. And <em>One</em> of +the Moderns is not at all out of the way when he tells us: That the +<em>Latin</em> Tongue will never be lost, as long as <em>Terence</em> +may be had.</p> + +<p>Our Author’s Excellent <em>Latin</em> is now the greatest Cause of +his Esteem, and makes him so much read in the World; but for certain, he +that reads him purely for his <em>Latin</em> +<span class = "pagenum">iv</span> +<!-- png 18 --> +sake, does but a quarter read him; for ’tis his <em>Characters</em> and +<em>Plots</em> have so far rais’d him up above the rest of the Poets, +and have gain’d him so much Honour among the Criticks in all Ages. His +<em>Stile</em>, tho’ so very extraordinary, in a great measure may be +learnt by Industry, long Custom, and continual Usage, and has been +imitated to a high degree by several; and indeed this was but as rich +Attire, and outward Ornaments to set off a more beautiful Body. But in +his <em>Characters</em> and <em>Manners</em> there it is that he +triumphs without a Rival; and not only <em>Dramatick</em>, but all other +Poets must yield to him in that Point. For these are drawn exactly to +the Life, perfectly just<ins class = "correction" title = ". for,">, +</ins>truly proportionably, and fully kept up to the last; and as for +their being natural, <em>Rapin</em> says, <em>That no Man living had a +greater insight into Nature than he.</em> The more a Man looks into ’em, +the more he must admire ’em; he’ll find there not only such Beauty in +his <em>Images</em>, but also such excellent Precepts of +<em>Morality</em>, such solid Sense in each Line, such depth of +Reasoning in each Period, and such close arguing between each Party, +that he must needs perceive him to be a Person of strong Sense and +Judgment. His <em>Deliberations</em> are most compleat, where all the +several Accidents, Events, Dangers, Casualties, good and bad +Consequences are fully summed up and clearly urg’d; so are the +<em>Answers</em> of each Person as perfect, where every thing is so well +fitted, so home, and so natural, that if one shou’d study upon ’em never +so long, he cou’d scarce find any thing more to the purpose. He had a +peculiar Happiness at pleasing and amusing an Audience, perpetually +keeping ’em in a most even, pleasant, smiling Temper; and this is the +most distinguishing part of his Character from the rest of the World; +his Pleasantries were somewhat Manly, and such as reach’d beyond the +Fancy and Imagination, even to the Heart and Soul of the Audience; and +what is more remarkable yet, +<span class = "pagenum">v</span> +<span class = "folionum">A4</span> +<!-- png 19 --> +one single Scene shall please a whole day together; a Secret which +few or no other Poet ever found out.</p> + +<p>And as we have scarce found one Man in the World that equals him in +his Characters, so we find but very few that cou’d come up to him in the +Management (we mean his Art and Contrivance) of his <em>Plots</em>. We +are sensible that many have been so foolish as to count his Plays a +<em>bare Bundle of Dialogues dress’d up in a neat Stile</em>, and there +all his Excellency to consist, or at least that they are very ordinary +and mean; but such senseless Suppositions will soon vanish upon giving +an Account of the Nature and Perfection of ’em. He well understood the +Rules of the Stage, or rather those of <em>Nature</em>; was perfectly +<em>Regular</em>, wonderful exact and careful in ordering each +<em>Protasis</em> or Entrance, <em>Epitasis</em> or working up, +<em>Catastasis</em> or heighth, and <em>Catastrophe</em> or unravelling +the Plot; which last he was famous for making it spring necessarily from +the Incidents, and neatly and dextrously untying the Knot, whilst others +of a grosser make, would either tear, or cut it in pieces. In short +(setting aside some few things which we shall mention by and by) +<em>Terence</em> may serve for the best and most perfect <em>Model</em> +for our <em>Dramatick</em> Poets to imitate, provided they exactly +observe the different Customs and Manners of the <em>Roman</em> and +<em>English</em> People; and upon the same account we beg leave to be a +little more particular in this Matter, which dispos’d us very much to +this Translation.</p> + +<p>The Nature of his <em>Plots</em> was for the most part grave and +solid, and sometimes passionate a little, resembling our Modern +<em>Tragy-Comedies</em>; only the Comical parts were seldom so merry; +the Thinness and clearness of ’em somewhat resembling our Modern +<em>Tragedies</em>, only more perfect in the latter, and not crouded +with too many Incidents. They were all double except the +<em>Hecyra</em>, or <em>Mother-in-Law</em>, yet so contriv’d that one +was always an <em>Under-plot</em> to the other: So that he still kept +perfectly to the first great +<span class = "pagenum">vi</span> +<!-- png 20 --> +Rule of the Stage, the <em>Unity of Action</em>. As for the second great +Rule the <em>Unity of Time</em> (that is, for the whole Action to be +perform’d in the compass of a Day) he was as exact in that as possible, +for the longest Action of any of his Plays reaches not Eleven hours. He +was no less careful in the third Rule, <em>The Unity of Place</em>, for +’tis plain he never shifts his Scene in any one of his Plays, but keeps +constantly to the same place from the beginning to the end. Then for the +<em>Continuance in the Action</em>, he never fails in any one place<ins +class = "correction" title = ". for ,">, </ins>but every Instrument is +perpetually at work in carrying on their several Designs, and in them +the design of the whole; so that the Stage never grows cold till all is +finish’d: And to do this the more handsomely and dextrously, he scarce +ever brings an <em>Actor</em> upon the Stage, but you presently know his +Name and Quality, what part of the Intrigue he’s to promote, why he came +there, from whence he came, why just at that time, why he goes <ins +class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘of’">off</ins>, where he’s a +going, and also what he is or ought to be doing or contriving all the +time he’s away. His <em>Scenes</em> are always unbroken, so that the +Stage is never perfectly clear but between the Acts; but are continually +joyn’d by one of the four Unions. Which according to <em>Mon. +Hedelin</em> are these; <em>Presence</em>, <em>Seeking</em>, +<em>Noise</em>, or <em>Time</em>; and when the Action ceaseth (that is, +upon the Stage) and the Stage is clear’d, an <em>Act</em> is then +finish’d. Then for <em>Incidents</em>, and the due Preparation of ’em, +<em>Terence</em> was admirable: And the true and exact Management of +<em>these</em> is one of the most difficult parts of <em>Dramatick +Poetry</em>. He contrives every thing in such a manner so as to fall out +most probably and naturally, and when they are over they seem almost +necessary; yet by his excellent Skill he so cunningly conceals the +Events of things from his Audience, till due time, that they can never +foresee ’em; by this means they are so amus’d with the <em>Actors</em> +Designs, that the <em>Poets</em> is unknown to ’em, till at last, being +all along in the dark, they are surpriz’d +<span class = "pagenum">vii</span> +<!-- png 21 --> +most agreeably by something they never look’d for: And this is the most +taking and the most delightful part of a Play. We might insist much more +largely upon each of these Particulars, and upon several others, but at +present we shall content our selves with saying that these +<em>Plots</em> are all so very <em>clear</em>, and <em>natural</em>, +that they might very well go for a Representation of a thing that had +really happen’d; and not the meer Invention of the <em>Poet</em>.</p> + +<p>There are two or three remarkable Objections against our Author which +we can’t but take notice of. First, ’tis said, <em>That he has not kept +to the Unity of Time in his Heautontimoreumenos, or Self-Tormenter; +which contains the space of two days. Then, between the second and third +Acts, there’s an absolute failure of the Continuance of the Action.</em> +These are generally believ’d by several Men, and such as are famous too; +and some to vindicate <em>Terence</em> the better have added another +Mistake, <em>That the Play was always acted two several times, the two +first Acts one, and the three last another.</em> But ’tis plain from all +Circumstances, that the <em>Action</em> began very late in the Evening, +and ended betimes in the Morning (of which we have said something in our +<em>Remarks</em> at the end) so that the whole cou’dn’t contain <ins +class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘about’">above</ins> Eleven +hours; but as for that of the <em>Cessation of the Action</em>, ’tis +answer’d two ways, either by the necessity of Sleep at that Interval, +and consequently no <em>Cessation</em>, or (which is more probable) by +the Persons being busie at the Treat at <em>Chremes</em>’s House, that +being a necessary part of the main <em>Action</em>. The two following +are Mr. <em>Dryden</em>’s Exceptions; where first he lays an Error to +our Author’s Charge in matter of <em>Time</em>. <em>In the Eunuch</em> +(says he) <em>when <i>Laches</i> enters <i>Thais</i>’s House by mistake, +between his <i>Exit</i> and the Entrance of <i>Pythias</i>, who comes to +give ample Relation of the Disorder he has rais’d within, <i>Parmeno</i> +who is left upon the Stage has not above five +<span class = "pagenum">viii</span> +<!-- png 22 --> +Lines to speak.</em> In answer to this, <em>Pythias</em> makes no such +<em>ample Relation</em>, but rather tells him what <em>Disorders</em> +such a foolish Act of his was like to raise; and in truth it is not +probable she shou’d stay above five or six Lines speaking, since after +she saw her Cheat had taken, she cou’dn’t keep her countenance within +Doors, and was so eager to revenge her self by laughing at the Fool +without. Besides here’s an excellent Artifice of the Poets, for had she +tarry’d longer, <em>Parmeno</em> might ha’ been gone, and her Mirth +qualified when she saw the good Fortune <em>Chærea</em> had met withal. +His other Exception is, that our Author’s <em>Scenes</em> are several +times broken. He instances in the same Play, <em>That <i>Antipho</i> +enters singly in the midst of the third Act, after <i>Chremes</i> and +<i>Pythias</i> were gone off</em>. As for this, ’tis to be consider’d +that <em>Scenes</em> are united by <em>Time</em> as well as +<em>Presence</em>; and this is a perfect <em>Union of Time</em>, +apparent to all who understand the <em>Art of the Stage</em>. A little +farther he says, <em>That <i>Dorias</i> begins the fourth Act +alone;<span class = "dash">——</span> She quits the Stage, +and <i>Phedria</i> enters next.</em> Here <em>Dorias</em> does not quit +the Stage till three <em>Scenes</em> after, as appears by +<em>Pythias</em>, bidding her carry in such things as she had brought +with her from the Captain’s Entertainment; but if she did, there wou’d +be an <em>Union of Time</em> nevertheless, as there is in all other +places, where the <em>Scenes</em> seem broken. Some make this Objection; +that in the beginning of many Scenes, two <em>Actors</em> enter upon the +Stage, and talk to themselves a considerable time before they see or +know one another; <em>Which</em> (they say) <em>is neither probable nor +natural</em>. Those that object this don’t consider the great Difference +between our little scanty Stage, and the large magnificent <em>Roman +Theatres</em>. Their Stage was sixty Yards wide in the Front, their +Scenes so many Streets meeting together, with all By-Lanes, Rows and +Allies; so two <em>Actors</em> coming down two different Streets or +Lanes cou’dn’t be seen by each other, tho’ the <em>Spectators</em> might +see both, and sometimes if they +<span class = "pagenum">ix</span> +<!-- png 23 --> +did see each other they cou’dn’t well distinguish Faces at sixty Yards +distances. Besides upon several accounts it might well be suppos’d when +an <em>Actor</em> enters upon the Stage out of some House, he might take +a turn or two under the <em>Portico’s</em>, <em>Cloysters</em>, or the +like (that were usual at that time) about his Door, and take no notice +of an <em>Actor</em>’s being on the other side the Stage.</p> + +<p>But since we propose our Master as the best <em>Model</em> for +<em>Dramatick Poets</em> to follow, we ought in Justice to mention such +things wherein he was any ways faulty, or at least where he ought not to +be imitated. The first is, He makes his <em>Actors</em> in some places +speak directly, and immediately to the <em>Audience</em> (of which that +<em>Monologue</em> of <em>Mysis</em> in the first Act of the first Play +is an instance) which is contrary to the Rules of <em>Dramatick +Poetry</em>, or rather indeed of <em>Nature</em>; and this is the only +real Fault that <em>Terence</em> was guilty of, as his want of <em>Vis +Comica</em> was the only real Defect. His <em>Plots</em> were not always +the best for Story, tho’ for Contrivance, and wanted somewhat of Length +and Variety, fully and compleatly to satisfie an Audience. Take ’em all +together, they were too much alike to have always their deserv’d Effect +of surprizing; which also gave a mighty Limitation to the Variety of his +<em>Characters</em>; a great pity for a Man that had such an admirable +Knack of drawing them to the Life. It were also to be wish’d that his +<em>Monologues</em> or Discourses by single Persons, were less frequent, +and sometimes shorter too; for tho’ they are all of ’em full of +excellent Sence, sound Reasoning, ingenious <em>Deliberations</em>, and +serv’d truly to carry on the main Design; yet several parts of ’em, +especially all <em>Narrations</em>, wou’d ha’ been more natural as well +as Artificial, if told by Persons of the <em>Drama</em> to one another. +Then his <em>Aparts</em> or <em>Asides</em> (that is when one +<em>Actor</em> speaks something which another that is present is +suppos’d to not hear, tho’ the Audience do) are sometimes too long to be +perfectly natural. Whether he +<span class = "pagenum">x</span> +<!-- png 24 --> +has not sometimes too much Elevation of Passion, or Borders too nigh +upon <em>Tragedy</em> for such inferior Persons, we leave to others<ins +class = "correction" title = ". invisible">. </ins>These are the main +things to be taken notice of by all that make use of him for a +<em>Model</em>, besides all such as belong purely to the various Customs +of Countries, and to the difference of <em>Theatres</em>; but those are +obvious enough to all.</p> + +<p>But there’s still one great Objection against these <em>Plays</em> in +general; that is, <em>If <i>Terence</i>’s Plays are so good as is +pretended, why doesn’t some Poet or other translate one or more of ’em +for the Stage, so save himself the trouble of racking his Brain for new +Matter</em>. We own they wouldn’t take upon our Stage; but to clear all, +we shall give these two Reasons: First, The Difference between the +<em>Romans</em> and our selves in <em>Customs</em>, <em>Humors</em>, +<em>Manners</em> and <em>Theatres</em> is such, that it is impossible to +adapt their Plays to our Stages. The <em>Roman</em> Plots were often +founded upon the exposing of Children, and their unexpected Delivery, on +buying of Misses and Musick-Girls; they were chiefly pleas’d to see a +covetous old Father neatly bubbled by his Slave of a round Sum of Money; +to find the young Spark his Son (miserably in want of Cash) joyn with +the Slave in the Intrigue, that he may get somewhat to stop his +Mistress’s Mouth, whom he keeps unknown to his Father; to see a bragging +Coxcomb wheadled and abus’d by some cunning <em>Parasite</em>; to hear a +Glutton talk of nothing but his Belly, and the like. Our <em>Plots</em> +go chiefly upon variety of Love-Intrigues, Ladies Cuckolding their +Husbands most dextrously; Gallants danger upon the same account, with +their escape either by witty Fetches, or hiding themselves in dark +Holes, Closets, Beds, &c. We are all for Humour, Gallantry, +Conversation, and Courtship, and shou’dn’t endure the chief Lady in the +Play a Mute, or to say very little, <ins class = "correction" title = +"‘s’ invisible">as</ins> ’twas agreeable to them: Our amorous Sparks +love to hear the pretty Rogues prate, snap up their Gallants, and +Repartée upon ’em on all sides. We shou’dn’t +<span class = "pagenum">xi</span> +<!-- png 25 --> +like to have a Lady marry’d without knowing whether she gives her +consent or no, (a Custom among the <em>Romans</em>) but wou’d be +for hearing all the Courtship, all the rare and fine things that Lovers +can say to each other. The second Reason of their not taking upon the +Stage is this, tho’ <em>Terence</em>’s Plays are far more +<em>exact</em>, <em>natural</em>, <em>regular</em>, and clear than ours, +and his Persons speak more like themselves than generally ours do; yet +(to speak impartially) our Plays do plainly excel his in some +Particulars. First, in the great Variety of the <em>Matter</em> and +<em>Incidents</em> of our <em>Plots</em>; the Intrigues thicker and +finer; the <em>Stories</em> better, longer, and more curious for the +most part than his: And tho’ there’s much confusion, huddle and +precipitation in the generality of ’em; yet the great variety and number +of <em>Incidents</em> tho’ ill manag’d, will have several Charms, and be +mighty diverting, especially to a vulgar Audience, like the Sight of a +large City at a distance, where there is little of Regularity or +Uniformity to be discern’d just by. Next, we do much excel +<em>Terence</em> in that which we call <em>Humour</em>, that is in our +<em>Comical Characters</em>, in which we have shewn and expos’d the +several Humours, Dispositions, Natures, Inclinations, Fancies, +Irregularities, Maggots, Passions, Whims, Follies, Extravagancies, +&c. of Men under all sorts of Circumstances, of all sorts of +<em>Ranks</em> and <em>Qualities</em>, of all <em>Professions</em> and +<em>Trades</em>, and of all <em>Nations</em> and <em>Countries</em>, so +admirably, and so lively, that in this no Nation among the Ancients or +Moderns were ever comparable to us. Lastly, Our <em>Comedies</em> excel +his in some Delicacies of <em>Conversation</em>; particularly in the +Refinedness of our <em>Railery</em> and <em>Satyr</em>, and above all in +<em>Repartée</em>. Some of these things (especially when mix’d with +<em>Humour</em>) have made many an ordinary <em>Plot</em> take and come +off well; and without a pretty quantity of some of ’em, our Plays wou’d +go down very heavily.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">xii</span> +<!-- png 26 --> +<p>Since we are accidentally fall’n into the Excellencies of our +<em>Comedies</em>, we hope it may be pardonable if we mention also some +principal Faults in ’em, which seem to need a Regulation. And first, Our +<em>Poets</em> seldom or never observe any of the three great +<em>Unities of Action</em>, <em>Time</em> and <em>Place</em>, which are +great Errors; For what breeds more Confusion than to have five or six +main <em>Plots</em> in a Play, when the Audience can never attend to +’em? What more extravagant than to fancy the Actions of Weeks, Months, +and Years represented in the Space of three or four Hours? Or what more +unnatural than for the Spectators to suppose themselves now in a Street, +then in a Garden, by and by in a Chamber, immediately in the Fields, +then in a Street again, and never move out of their place? Wou’dn’t one +swear there was Conjuration in the Case; that the Theatres were a sort +of <em>Fairy Land</em> where all is Inchantment, Juggle and Delusion? +Next, our Plays are too often over-power’d with <em>Incidents</em> and +<em>Under-plots</em>, and our Stage as much crowded with such +<em>Actors</em>, as there’s little or no occasion for; especially at one +time. Then the <em>Matter</em>, and Discourse of our Plays is very often +incoherent and impertinent as to the main Design; nothing being more +common than to meet with two or three whole Scenes in a Play, which +wou’d have fitted any other part of the Play ev’n as well as that; and +perhaps any Play else. Thus some appear to swear out a Scene or two, +others to talk bawdy a little, without any manner of dependance upon the +rest of the Action. But besides this (which is another great Error) when +the <em>Matter</em> and <em>Discourse</em> do serve to carry on the main +Design, commonly Persons are brought on to the Stage without any sort of +Art, Probability, Reason or Necessity for their coming there; and when +they have no such Business as one that comes in to give you a Song or a +Jigg. They come there to serve the Poets Design a little, then off they +go with as little Reason as they came on; and that only to make way for +other Actors, who (as they did) +<span class = "pagenum">xiii</span> +<!-- png 27 --> +come only to tell the Audience something the Poet has a mind to have ’em +know; and that’s all their business: And truly that’s little enough. +This we see frequently in the chief Actor of the Play, who comes on and +goes off, and the Spectators all the time stand staring and wondring at +what they know not what. Another great Fault common to many of our Plays +is, that an Actor’s <em>Name</em>, <em>Quality</em> or <em>Business</em> +is scarce ever known till a good while after his appearance; which must +needs make the Audience at a great Loss, and the Play hard to be +understood, forcing ’em to carry Books with ’em to the +<em>Play-house</em> to know who comes in, and who goes out.</p> + +<p>The Ancients were guilty of none of these Absurdities, and more +especially our Author; and indeed the Non-observance of <em>Rules</em> +has occasion’d the great Miscarriages of so many excellent Genius’s of +ours, particularly that of the immortal <em>Shakespear</em>. Since these +are such apparent Faults and Absurdities, and still our Beauties are so +admirable as to cover, and almost to out-weigh our Errors (else our +Plays were not to be endur’d) undoubtedly our <em>Dramatick Poets</em> +by the Observance of this Author’s Ways and Rules might out-do all the +<em>Ancients</em> and <em>Moderns</em> too, both at <em>Tragedy</em> and +at <em>Comedy</em>; for no Nation ever had greater <em>Genius</em>’s +than ours for Dramatick Poetry. These ha’ been but little observ’d as +yet, so that all our fine <em>Imitations of Nature</em> may often be +call’d <em>Lucky hits</em>, and more by Accident than by Art. We very +much need a Reformation in this Case, and our Plays can never arrive to +any great Perfection without it; therefore the nigher they come up to +this Standard, the more they will be admir’d and lov’d by all Judicious +Persons, provided they still keep to those Excellencies +before-mention’d. Besides, these are as easily practicable upon ours as +upon the <em>Greek</em> and <em>Roman</em> Theatres; and by a strict +Observance of the <em>Unity of Place</em>, the Stage may be made far +more handsome and magnificent with less Charge; and by that of +<span class = "pagenum">xiv</span> +<!-- png 28 --> +the <em>Unity of Action</em> (especially by the help of an Under-plot or +so) the Story may be made far more fine and clear with less trouble.</p> + +<p>But our Nation by long Custom, and the Success of Irregular Pieces, +seems naturally averse to all Rules; and take it very ill to have their +Thoughts confin’d and shackled, and tied to the Observance of such +Niceties: Therefore in the first place they tell us, That Poets of all +Men in the World are perfectly freely, and by no means ought to confine +their Noble Fancies to dull pedantick Rules; <em>For this</em> (say +they) <em>is like taking of Bees, cutting off their Wings, and laying +such Flowers before ’em to make Honey as they please</em>. A +<em>Poet</em> indeed shou’d be free, and unconfin’d as Air, as to his +Though, Fancy and Contrivance, but then his <em>Poetica Licentia</em> +shou’dn’t transport him to Madness and Extravagancy, making him +phrensically transgress the Rules of <em>Reason</em> and +<em>Nature</em>, as well as <em>Poetry</em>. These that we mention are +not any Man’s Arbitrary <em>Rules</em>, but pure Nature only Methodiz’d: +They never hamper a <em>Poet</em>’s Fancy or clip his Wings, but adorn +their Thoughts, and regulate their Flights so as to give ’em a clearer +insight into <em>Nature</em>, <em>Probability</em> and <em>Decency</em>, +without something of which it is impossible to please. And these are no +more a <em>Confinement</em> to a <em>Poet</em>’s Fancy, than the true +Proportion of Pillars, the Regularity and Uniformity of Windows are to +an Architect; or the exact Imitation of Nature to a Painter: As if there +could be half so much Beauty in Grotesque and irregular Whims, as in the +due Observation of the Rules of Prospect, Shadows and Proportion.</p> + +<p>Another Objection is, <em>That our Nation will never bear Rules, but +are much better pleas’d with the ways now in practice.</em> ’Tis true, +several of our most irregular Plays have come off with a great deal of +Applause, but certainly never the more for their Irregularity; but +because most of the Audience knew no better, being often dazzled by the +<span class = "pagenum">xv</span> +<span class = "folionum">a</span> +<!-- png 29 --> +Greatness of the Author’s Genius, and the Actor’s Performances; and +those that did, were willing to pardon the Faults for the sake of some +choice <em>Master-stroaks</em> they had; and upon the same account a +couple of good <em>Scenes</em> have many times carry’d off a very +indifferent Play: ’Tis plain that want of Use and Knowledge have been +the only Cause of these ways seeming so unpracticable; and if the middle +sort of Persons were once truly brought to a Sight of the Excellencies +of this, and the Deformities of the other way (as the well reading of +these Plays wou’d in a great measure do, being chiefly design’d for +them) they wou’d esteem of it far more than now; and certainly they +cou’d never pardon those many <em>Indecencies</em>, +<em>Improbabilities</em>, <em>Absurdities</em> that are so frequent in +our Plays. ’Tis true, there has been a considerable Regulation among +many of ’em since the Days of <em>Shakespear</em>, but not to bring +things half to perfection. And thus Regulation has made hope for a +further, as the Age will be brought to bear it.</p> + +<p>The last Objection is more particular: They say, <em>That the Unities +of Action, Time and Place must needs take off from the great Variety of +the Plot, and a fine Story by this means will be quite murder’d.</em> +’Tis true, all <em>Stories</em> whatsoever are not fit for a +<em>Dramatick Poem</em>; yet there may be an excellent <em>Plot</em> +without crowding together Intrigues (little depending upon one another) +of half a dozen couple, suppose, in one Play; without hurrying over the +Business of three Months in three Hours time, or perhaps without +skipping from Gardens to Mountains, from thence to Groves, and then to +Town in an Act or two: But our prying, curious Sparks can’t rest here, +but must be for peeping into Chambers, Closets, and Withdrawing-Rooms, +ay, and into Beds too (sometimes with the Ladies in ’em) and have all +things brought openly upon the Stage, tho’ never so improper, and +indecent. But this Objection may yet be better answer’d by Instances; +and +<span class = "pagenum">xvi</span> +<!-- png 30 --> +first for the <em>Unity of Time</em>, we may mention the Play call’d, +<em>The Adventures of Five Hours</em>, the whole <em>Action</em> lasting +no longer (much less a day, the extent allow’d for a <em>Dramatick +Poem</em>) yet this is one of the pleasantest <em>Stories</em> that ever +appear’d upon our Stage, and has as much Variety of <em>Plots</em> and +<em>Intrigues</em>, without any thing being precipitated, improbable or +unnatural as to the main <em>Action</em>; so by this it appears that +this Rule is no Spoiler or Murderer of a finer <em>Story</em>. Then for +the <em>Unity of Time</em> and Action too, <em>Ben. Johnson’s Silent +Woman</em> is a remarkable Instance; an excellent <em>Comedy</em> +indeed, where the <em>Action</em> is perfectly single, and the utmost +extent of the <em>Time</em> exceeds not three Hours and a half (the +shortest we ever find) yet still the <em>Plot</em>, <em>Intrigues</em>, +and above all the <em>Incidents</em> are very fine, and no ways +unnatural. Lastly, For all three <em>Unities</em>, Mr. <em>Dryden’s All +for Love</em> (tho’ a <em>Tragedy</em>, and somewhat foreign to our +business) is worthy to be taken notice of, that being perfectly +<em>Regular</em> according to the Rules of the Stage, the Scenes +unbroken, the <em>Incidents</em> exactly and duly prepar’d, and all +things noble and beautiful, just and proportionable. This we reckon one +of the best <em>Tragedies</em> of our Nation. Now can any Man justly +think that these Plays we now mention’d were ever the worse for that +<em>Regularity</em> they had; or indeed have we many better in the +Nation for <em>Plot</em>; or many that have better pleas’d the +generality of Persons than these; If so this sufficiently shows the +Truth of what we offered; and withal commends our Master’s great +Judgment in this Point: Who, in our Opinion (besides the Excellency of +his <em>Characters</em>) plainly deserves a greater Name for his +<em>Plots</em>, than he does for his <em>Language</em>.</p> + +<p>Come we next then to our own Vindication, in which we shall briefly +shew the <em>Reasons</em> why we did it, and likewise what our +Performances have been in this Version.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">xvii</span> +<span class = "folionum">a2</span> +<!-- png 31 --> +<p>The main <em>Reasons</em> why we undertook it were these. First, For +the Excellency and Usefulness of this Author in general: And +consequently for the benefit (as we shall shew by and by) of most sorts +of People, but especially for the Service it may do our <em>Dramatick +Poets</em>. Next, for the Honour of our own <em>Language</em>, into +which all good Books ought to be Translated, since <em>’tis now become +so Elegant, Sweet and Copious</em>: And indeed nothing refines, or gives +Foreigners a greater Opinion of any Language than its number of good +Translations; of which the <em>French</em> is a great Instance. Thirdly, +Because most of our Neighbours have got it in their <em>Language</em>, +particularly the <em>French</em>, who have done it with good Success; +and we have no reason for our being out-done by any of our Neighbours, +since we have a <em>Language</em> we dare set against any in the World. +Lastly, Since the Author is so excellent, we undertook it because no +other Persons wou’d. ’Tis strange that none of our great Wits wou’d +undertake it before, but let us Persons of Obscurity, take their Works +out of their Hands; when we can perceive by our little Performances that +our <em>Language</em> will do it to a very high degree, undoubtedly +better than the <em>French</em>.</p> + +<p>The most considerable Objections that have been made against our +Translation are these. First, <em>What real Use or Advantage can this +Translation be to the Publick? As for school-Boys and Learners, +<i>Bernard</i>’s and <i>Hool</i>’s Translations, the great number of +Notes, a School-Master, or their own Industry will well enough +teach ’em to construe it. Men of Sense and Learning, they read it wholly +for the Latin sake; therefore a Translation is of no use to them.</em> +Lastly, <em>They won’t fit our Stage; and consequently they are +impertinent at best.</em> To these we answer; First, As to +<em>School-Boys</em> and <em>Learners</em>; <em>Bernard</em>’s and +<em>Hool</em>’s Translations are very often false, mostly so obsolete, +flat and unpleasant, that a Man can scarce read half a Page without +sleeping; the latter +<span class = "pagenum">xviii</span> +<!-- png 32 --> +is full of <em>Latinisms</em>, and both are often more obscure than the +Original. The <em>Notes</em> sometimes don’t express the Author’s Sense; +and often very obscurely: In some things they are too short<ins class = +"correction" title = ". for ,">, </ins>in others too long and tedious: +And most of them have the slight of running very nimbly over those +Places which they are afraid they shou’d stick in. +<em>School-Masters</em> often want time<ins class = "correction" title = +". for ,">, </ins>and now <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘then and’">and then</ins> Judgment and Learning to explain things as +they ought; then to leave Boys by themselves to pick out the Sense of +such a difficult Author as this, is very inconvenient; which besides the +Discouragement sometimes of not being able to do it, will often lead ’em +into such Errors and Mistakes, as perhaps they’ll ne’re get clear of. So +that this will be of great use even to <em>School-Boys</em> and +<em>Learners</em>: Beside the great Advantage of teaching ’em, perhaps +not the worst <em>English</em>; and something of the Idiom of our +Tongue.</p> + +<p>As for the second part of the Objection, <em>That Men of Sense and +Learning read it only for the Latin sake</em>; This is or ought to be +look’d upon as a great Mistake: Since <em>Terence</em> has other and +greater Excellencies than his Style, as we have before shewn. But +however ingenious Persons must needs receive some pleasure in seeing +such excellent Latin now speak tolerable good <em>English</em>; and +likewise in seeing somewhat of the Conversation, Humour and Customs of +the old <em>Greeks</em> and <em>Romans</em> put into a modern Dress; and +perhaps not quite out of the Fashion. Besides, since many of these do +sometimes upon an occasion make use of <em>Notes</em>, ’twill be of +equal use (in that respect) to them as to all <em>Learners</em>. And +that they have often need of such, will appear from the several +difficult places (especially as to the Plot) and some obscure dubious +Passages in this Author, which the utmost Skill in the <em>Latin</em> +Tongue will not teach to explain; since there is as great a necessity +for the understanding of the <em>Roman</em> Customs and Theatres in this +Case, and of the Art of the Stage, as of the <em>Latin</em> Tongue. How +extraordinary useful a +<span class = "pagenum">xix</span> +<span class = "folionum">a3</span> +<!-- png 33 --> +Translation can be in perfectly <em>clearing an Author</em>, +<em>Roscommon</em>’s Translation of <em>Horace</em>’s <em>Art of +Poetry</em> is an apparent Instance; which shews the Sense, Meaning, +Design, &c. of <em>Horace</em> better and easier than all the +<em>Paraphrases</em> and <em>Notes</em> in the World.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, Tho’ our <em>Translation</em> will never fit our Stage, yet +it may be of considerable use to some of the <em>Dramatick Poets</em>; +which we had some respect to, when we did it; they will serve ’em (as +was said before) for <em>Models</em>; and tho’ many of our Poets do very +well understand the Original, yet ’tis plain that some of ’em do not +understand it over much. But however, it may not be wholly useless to +those that do, and more proper for their business, being ready explain’d +to their hands: And upon some accounts to be read with less trouble than +the Original: For that is in many places very obscure by reason of +corrupted Copies, wrong Points, false Division of whole <em>Acts</em> as +well as <em>Scenes</em> and the like: Further, if these Plays come to be +frequently read by the more ordinary sort of People, they will by little +and little grow more in love with, and more clearly see the true +Excellencies of these Rules, and these lively <em>Imitations of +Nature</em>, which will be the greatest Encouragement our Poets can have +to follow ’em. And besides, the common People by these <em>Plays</em> +may plainly perceive that <em>Obscenities</em> and <em>Debaucheries</em> +are no ways necessary to make a good <em>Comedy</em>; and the Poets +themselves will be the more ready to blush when they see +<em>Heathens</em> so plainly out-do us <em>Christians</em> in their +<em>Morals</em>; for their principal Vices in their Plays, were chiefly +from the Ignorance of the Times, but we have no such pretence. This +alone might ha’ been a sufficient reason for our undertaking this +Design.</p> + +<p>But to come now to what we have done; ’tis not to be expected we +shou’d wholly reach the Air of the Original; that being so peculiar, and +the Language so different; We have imitated our Author as well and as +nigh as the <em>English</em> Tongue and our small Abilities wou’d +permit; each of +<span class = "pagenum">xx</span> +<!-- png 34 --> +us joyning and consulting about every Line, not only for the doing of it +better, but also for the making of it all of a piece. We follow’d no one +<em>Latin</em> Copy by it self, because of the great Disagreements among +’em, but have taken any that seem’d truest. We look’d over all the +<em>Notes</em>, sometimes they would help us a little, and often not; +some hints we had from the <em>French</em><ins class = "correction" +title = ". for ,">, </ins>but not very many; besides we had considerable +helps from other Persons far above our selves, for whose Care and Pains +we shall ever acknowledge our Gratitude. A meer <em>Verbal +Translation</em> is not to be expected, that wou’d sound so horribly, +and be more obscure than the Original; but we have been faithful +Observers of his Sence, and even of his Words too, not slipping any of +consequence without something to answer it; nay farther, where two Words +seem to be much the same, and perhaps not intended to be very different +by the Author, we were commonly so nice as to do them too; such as +<em>Segnitia</em> and <em>Socordia</em>, <em>Scire</em> and +<em>Noscere</em>, and the like, which is more exact than most, if not +all, our modern Versions. We cou’dn’t have kept closer (especially in +this Author, which several ingenious Persons told us, <em>Is the hardest +in the World to translate</em>;) without too much treading upon the +Author’s Heels, and destroying our Design of giving it an easie, +<em>Comick Style</em>, most agreeable to our present Times. If we have +been guilty of any Fault of this nature, it seems to be that of keeping +too close.</p> + +<p>But still to be more particular; we did all we cou’d to prevent any +of the Meaning and Grace of the best <em>Words</em> to be lost; so that +we were often forc’d to search and study some time for those most +proper, and oftentimes to express ’em by two, and sometimes by a +<em>Circumlocution</em>: Which Madam <em>Dacier</em> her self, as +accurate as she is accompted, has often neglected: And thereby has +wholly lost the Force and Beauty of many Emphatical Words. +<em>Terence</em> had some Words taken in a great many several Sences, +such as <em>Contumelia</em> and <em>Injuria</em>, <em>Odiosus</em>, +<em>Tristis</em>, <ins class = "correction" title = "missing punctuation, OR error for ‘These’">&c. these</ins> we +<span class = "pagenum">xxi</span> +<span class = "folionum">a4</span> +<!-- png 35 --> +have been very careful about; but where he plays upon Words (tho’ never +so prettily) he ought not in some places to be imitated at all, because +the Fineness is more lost that way, than the other; yet we try’d at +several when they were Natural and tolerable in <em>English</em>. As for +his <em>Allusions</em> and the like, many of them perhaps are quite lost +to us. However they are commonly lost in our Language. On such places +(as well as some others) we made <em>Remarks</em> or <em>Notes</em> at +the latter end; some of which we are oblig’d to the <em>French</em> Lady +for; these serving to shew our Author’s fine Stroaks, as well as to +vindicate our Translation. For his <em>Sense</em> and <em>Meaning</em>, +we have taken more than ordinary care about, and weigh’d all +Circumstances before we fix’d. Several of the Passages are done contrary +to the general Opinion, and some few differently from all, both as to +the <em>Person that speaks</em> as well as the <em>Meaning</em>, but not +without good Grounds; and if any be so nice in censuring, we desire that +Person to shew us three <em>Terences</em> that exactly agree with one +another, either in Points or Words, for two Acts together. Of those +Passages that were absolutely doubtful, we always took the best, and +that, which seem’d to us, the most probable Way and Meaning; and all +such as were difficult, knotty or obscure in the Original, we made as +plain and clear as we cou’d; and we presume to phansie there are very +few Passages in ours, unintelligible to the meanest Capacity. In his +<em>Jests</em> and <em>Repartees</em> (except they were +<em>Allusions</em> or the like) we hope that the force of ’em is seldom +lost. For making every Person speak so exactly like themselves +(a thing that our Author was so famous for) is much more difficult +in <em>English</em> by reason of its greater variety of <em>Idioms</em> +and <em>Phrases</em> than in the <em>Latin</em>; and to suit these +always right, requires a greater <em>Genius</em> than we can pretend to. +<em>Terence</em>, tho’ reckon’d very genteel in his Days, seems in some +place to have a sort of familiarity and bluntness in his Discourse, not +so agreeable with the Manners and Gallantry +<span class = "pagenum">xxii</span> +<!-- png 36 --> +of our Times; which we have mollify’d as well as we cou’d, still making +the <em>Servants</em> sawcy enough upon occasion. In some places we have +had somewhat more of <em>Humour</em> than the Original, to make it still +more agreeable to our Age; but all the while have kept so nigh our +Author’s <em>Sence</em> and <em>Design</em>, that we hope it can never +be justly call’d a Fault. We can’t certainly tell whither +<em>William</em> the Conqueror, the <em>Grand Seignior</em> (and the +like) may pass with some: They may possibly take <ins class = +"correction" title = "’ missing or invisible">’em</ins> for Blunders in +time: which are now become Proverbial Expressions; the first signifying +only a great while ago, and t’other a great Man.</p> + +<p>As for the Division of the <em>Acts</em> and <em>Scenes</em>, all the +common <em>Terences</em> are most notoriously false: The <em>Acts</em> +are often wrong, but the <em>Scenes</em> oftener; and these have bred +some obscurity in our Author’s <em>Rules</em>. Madam <em>Dacier</em> has +been more exact in this than all others before her; yet, still she’s +once mistaken in her <em>Acts</em>, and very often in her +<em>Scenes</em>. We have follow’d her as to her <em>Acts</em>, except +one in the <em>Phormio</em>; but we have not divided the <em>Scenes</em> +at all by Figures, because they are of no such use; only the Reader may +take notice that whenever any particular <em>Actor</em> enters upon the +Stage, or goes off, that makes a different <em>Scene</em>; for the +<em>Ancients</em> never had any other that we know of. The +<em>Prologues</em>, by the Advice of several Judicious Persons, are left +out, as being the Meanest, the fullest of Quibbles, and the least +Intelligible of any thing he wrote: They relating chiefly to private +Squabbles between our <em>Author</em> and the <em>Poets</em> of his +time: The Particulars of which ’tis impossible for us to understand now, +and we need not be much concern’d that we don’t. Besides, in the main, +they are so much beneath the <em>Author</em>, that ’tis much question’d +whether they are his or no, especially the Third. The <em>Arguments</em> +are certainly none of his, and so far from being useful, that they only +serve to forestall the <em>Plots</em>, and take away the Pleasure of +surprizing.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">xxiii</span> +<!-- png 37 --> +<p>Lastly, That there might be nothing wanting that might make this +Translation as intire and clear as possible; we’ve all the way +intermix’d <em>Notes of Explanation</em>, such as, <em>Enter</em>, +<em>Exit</em>, <em>Asides</em>, and all other things of <em>Action</em>, +necessary to be known, and constantly practis’d among our Modern +<em>Dramatick Poets</em>. These serve extreamly to the clearing of the +<em>Plots</em> which wou’d be obscure without ’em; especially since +their Theatres were so different from ours. And as this sort of +<em>Notes</em> are the <em>shortest</em>, that are generally us’d, so +they are most <em>compleat</em>, <em>useful</em> and <em>clear</em>, by +the help of which any Child almost may apprehend every thing. Perhaps we +might have omitted some of ’em, but we have <ins class = "correction" +title = "text reads ‘beeter’">better</ins> offend this way than the +other.</p> + +<p>Thus have we said as much as we thought requisite in Vindication of +our Master’s Honour, and of our own Undertaking. And if we had said ten +times as much; and ne’re so much to the purpose, People will still +think, and talk what they please, and we can’t help it.</p> + +</div> +<!-- end div ital --> + + +<!-- png 38 --> + + +<div class = "titlepage"> +<!-- png 39 --> + +<a name = "plautus" id = "plautus"> </a> + +<table class = "outline" summary = "original title page"> +<tr> +<td colspan = "3"> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td class = "outline"> + +<h2>PLAUTUS’s</h2> + +<h1><span class = "extended">COMEDIES</span>,</h1> + +<h3><span class = "extended"><i>AMPHITRYON</i></span>,<br> +<span class = "extended"><i>EPIDICUS</i></span>, and<br> +<span class = "extended"><i>RUDENS</i></span>,</h3> + +<h3>Made English:</h3> + +<h4>With</h4> + +<h2><span class = "sans"><b>Critical Remarks</b></span></h2> + +<h3>Upon Each <span class = "extended">PLAY</span>.</h3> + +<hr class = "full"> + +<table> +<tr><td class = "verse ital"> +<p class = "right"> +<span class = "dash">———</span> Non ego paucis</p> +<p>Offendar maculis: quas aut incuria fudit</p> +<p>Aut humana parum cavit natura:<span class = +"dash">———</span></p> + +<p class = "right"><em>Horat. Art. Poet.</em></p> +</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class = "full"> + +<h4><span class = "extended"><i>LONDON:</i></span></h4> + +<h5>Printed for <i>Abel Swalle</i> and <i>T. Child</i> at the +<i>Unicorn</i><br> +at the West-End of <i>S. Paul’s</i> Churchyard, 1694.</h5> +</td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan = "3"> </td> +</tr> +</table> + +</div> + +<!-- png 40 --> + +<div class = "ital"> + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<span class = "folionum">a</span> +<!-- png 41 --> + +<hr class = "full"> + +<hr class = "full"> + +<h4>THE</h4> + +<h1><span class = "extended">PREFACE</span>.</h1> + + +<p><span class = "firstletter">T</span>His Nations Excellencies in +<em>Dramatick Poetry</em> have been so extraordinary, and our +Performance both in <em>Tragedy</em> and <em>Comedy</em> have discover’d +such strange <em>Genius</em>’s, that we have some reason to believe, +that we have not only surpass’d our Neighbours the Moderns, but likewise +have excell’d our Masters the Ancients. But the want of Knowledge of the +Ancients has been one great Reason for our setting our selves so very +much above ’em; for tho’ we have many Beauties which they wanted, yet it +must be own’d, that they have more which we have not, except that it may +be some very few of our Pieces. But then their Excellencies are far less +known to us than ours; for the Common People are unacquainted with their +Languages, and the more Learned sort, for want of due Observance and +<ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Penitration’">Penetration</ins>, have been ignorant enough of their +essential Beauties; they, for the most part, contenting themselves with +considering the <em>superficial</em> ones, such as the <em>Stile</em>, +<em>Language</em>, <em>Expression</em>, and the like, without taking +much notice of the Contrivance and Management, of the <em>Plots</em>, +<em>Characters</em>, &c.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 42 --> +<p>But a considerable Discovery of these Excellencies has been made by +means of a late Version of <em>Terence</em>, especially by the help of +the <em>Preface</em> and <em>Remarks</em>: And this has made me hope, +that two or three Plays of <em>Plautus</em>’s cou’d not be very +unacceptable after them; and since the principal Fault of the +<em>Remarks</em> in that Version was their being too short, I have +made these somewhat longer and clearer, hoping they will prove the +principal means of recommending this Book to the World, even tho’ the +Translation had been brought to the utmost Perfection it was capable of: +a Thing which I dare never pretend to. I made Choice of the +same three which Madam <em>Dacier</em> had done before me; those being, +in many respects, fitter for my purpose. But before I come to +Particulars in those Things, I shall give some Character and +Account of my Author.</p> + +<p><em>Plautus</em>, if consider’d as a <em>Dramatick Poet</em>, may +justly enough be stil’d the Prince of the <em>Latin Comedians</em>, for +tho’ most of ’em are lost, and consequently little capable of being +judg’d of, yet, from all Circumstances, we have good reason to presume +that they never came up to <em>Plautus</em>; so that there is no one to +stand in competition with him but <em>Terence</em>: But if +<em>Comedy</em> consists more in <em>Action</em> than +<em>Discourse</em>, then <em>Terence</em> himself must be oblig’d to +give place to our Author; and as <em>Terence</em> ought to be esteem’d +as a Man who spoke admirably, <em>Plautus</em> is to be admir’d as a +<em>Comick-Poet</em>. The principal Differences of these two Poets have +been touch’d upon in the Preface to the English <em>Terence</em>; and +from thence it will appear, that <em>Plautus</em> had the vaster +<em>Genius</em>, and +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<span class = "folionum">a2</span> +<!-- png 43 --> +<em>Terence</em> the more exquisite Judgment; and, considering what +Persons they copied, as the later was call’d the <em>Half Menander</em>, +so the former may be stil’d the <em>Half Aristophanes</em>.</p> + +<p><em>Terence</em>’s Stile was generally more refin’d and pure, and +withal more elaborate than this Poet’s; yet undoubtedly, +<em>Plautus</em> was a most absolute Master of his Tongue, and in many +Places there appear such a Sharpness and Liveliness of Expression, nay +and such a Neatness and Politeness too, that is scarce to be found in +<em>Terence</em>; and this, perhaps, may have occasion’d <em>Varro</em> +to say, <em>That if the Muses were to speak Latin, they wou’d certainly +make use of his very Stile</em>; and <em>Tanaquill Faber</em> to call +<em>Plautus</em>, <em>The very Fountain of pure Latin</em>. As to +<em>Wit</em> and <em>Raillery</em>, <em>Terence</em> might by no means +be compared to him; then he is not always so happy, but often +degenerates to a Meanness that <em>Terence</em> wou’d never have been +guilty of; and tho’ his <em>Jests</em> and <em>Repartees</em> were +sometimes admirable, and often far above <em>Terence</em>’s, yet they +were many times as much below him, and by their Trifling and Quibbling, +appear to have been calculated for the Mob. This, probably, made +<em>Rapin</em> observe, <em>That he says the best Things in the World, +and yet very often he says the most wretched.</em> A little before he +says, <em><i>Plautus</i> is ingenious in his Designs, happy in his +Imaginations, fruitful in his Invention; yet, that there are some +insipid Jests that escape from him in the Taste of <i>Horace</i>; and +his good Sayings that make the People laugh, make sometimes the honester +sort to pity him.</em> The most remarkable Thing in his Stile, +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 44 --> +is the natural and unaffected <em>Easiness</em> of it, I mean in +opposition to <em>Stiffness</em>, which with the true <em>Elegance</em> +and <em>Propriety</em> of the <em>Latin</em> Tongue in <em>Common +Discourse</em>, seems almost its distinguishing Character, and sets him +above any other <em>Roman</em> Author in that respect. ’Tis true, +<em>Terence</em> has all these Excellencies, and perhaps is more exact +in <em>Propriety of Terms</em>, and in his Choice of <em>Words</em>, yet +his extream Closeness and great Elaborateness, I presume, has made +it somewhat less <em>Free</em> and <em>Familiar</em>, or at least it +wou’d be so if any other Man of less Judgment had managed it. So that +what I mean is, that <em>Plautus</em>’s Stile ought rather to be +imitated for <em>Common Discourse</em> than <em>Terence</em>’s. +<em>Plautus</em> had the Misfortune of living in a worser Age than +<em>Terence</em>, therefore there must be a larger Allowance for his +<em>Obsolete Words</em>, his <em>Puns</em>, and <em>Quibbles</em>, as +well as those Words that were peculiar to the Theatre and his Subjects, +which, if once transplanted, wou’d never thrive elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Next, may be consider’d our Authors <em>Characters</em>; and in that +point indeed, <em>Terence</em> triumphs without a Rival, as was observ’d +in the <em>Preface</em> to that Author; and for a just and close +Observance of <em>Nature</em>, perhaps no Man living ever excell’d him. +It ought to be observ’d, that <em>Plautus</em> was somewhat poor, and +made it his principal Aim to please and tickle the Common People; and +since they were almost always delighted with something new, strange, and +unusual, the better to humour them, he was not only frequently +extravagant in his <em>Expressions</em>, but likewise in his +<em>Characters</em> too, and drew Men often more Vicious, +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<span class = "folionum">a3</span> +<!-- png 45 --> +more Covetous, more Foolish, &c. than generally they were; and this +to set the People a gazing and wondering. With these sort of +<em>Characters</em> many of our modern <em>Comedies</em> abound, which +makes ’em too much degenerate into <em>Farce</em>, which seldom fail of +pleasing the Mob. But our Author had not many of these; for a great part +of ’em were very true and natural, and such as may stand the Test of the +severest Judges. His two most remarkable <em>Characters</em>, are his +<em>Miser</em>, and his <em>Bragadocio</em>; and that the Reader may the +more clearly understand the nature of these <em>Characters</em>, their +Resemblance to some of ours, and their Unlikeness to those of +<em>Terence</em>, I shall give a Translation of some part of ’em. First +then, take the First Act of his Third Comedy call’d <em>Aulularia</em>, +which begins with the Old Covetous Fellow and his Maid.</p> + +</div> +<!-- end div ital --> + + +<p class = "stagedir"> +<em>Euclio</em> and <em>Staphila</em>.</p> + +<p><i>Euc.</i> Out-a-doors, I say: Come out. I’ll fetch ye out with a +Horse-pox, for a damnable, prying, nine-ey’d Witch.</p> + +<p><i>Sta.</i> Why do you misuse a poor Rogue at this rate?</p> + +<p><i>Euc.</i> To make ye a poor Rogue as long as you live, like a Jade +as you are.</p> + +<p><i>Sta.</i> But why, Sir, am I thrust out-a-doors now?</p> + +<p><i>Euc.</i> Must I give you an account, you hempen Bitch?<span class += "dash">——</span> Get you from the Door:— that +way:— See how the Jade moves.<span class = +"dash">——</span> Observe what you’ll meet with. If I take a +good Cudgel or a Whip, ’sbud, I shall soon put you out o’ your +Snails pace.</p> + +<p><i>Sta. softly:</i>] Wou’d I were hang’d out o’ the way, rather than +be bound to serve such an old Rogue.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 46 --> +<p><i>Euc.</i> How the Jipsey mutters to her self!<span class = +"dash">——</span> Faith, I shall spoil those damn’d +eyes, then look what I’m doing if you can.— Huzzy, go further +off:— Further still:— Further still:<span class = +"dash">——</span> Still, I say.<span class = +"dash">——</span> So! stand there.<span class = +"dash">——</span> Now, you Baggage, stir one step, move a +hairs breadth, or look back i’ the least till I speak, and by +Cocks-nowns, I’ll hang y’ up in an instant.— [<i>To himself, going +off.</i>] I ne’re met with a more subtle old Hag than this i’ my days: +I’m cursedly afraid this Witch shou’d trap me in my discourse, and +discover the place where I’ve hid my Gold: Troth, I believe the +consuming Jade has Eyes in her Breech.<span class = +"dash">——</span> Now for my Gold, that has cost me such a +woful deal of trouble, I’ll go see whether that be safe as I +hid it. +<span class = "stagedir"> +Exit <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘Eudio’"><em>Euclio</em></ins>.</span></p> + +<p class = "stagedir"> +<em>Staphila</em> alone.</p> + +<p>As I live, I can’t devise or imagine what Evil Genius or Madness has +possess’d my Master; he uses me so inhumanely; and kicks me out a doors +ten times a day. Troth, it puzzles me strangely to find out the meaning +of his crazy Whims: He watches whole Nights together; and sits all day +long within doors, like a lame Cobler upon his Stall.<span class = +"dash">——</span> Well, considering these Plagues, and the +difficulty of concealing my young Mistresses Labour, now at hand, +I find no way but making a short cut, and hanging my self.</p> + +<p class = "stagedir"> +Re-enter <em>Euclio</em>.</p> + +<p><i>Euc.</i> Now I’ve found all well within doors, my mind’s a little +at ease.<span class = "dash">——</span> Now come in, and keep +House.</p> + +<p><i>Sta.</i> What, for fear it shou’d be stolen away? There’s no +Plunder for Thieves; there’s nothing but Emptiness and Cobwebs.</p> + +<p><i>Euc.</i> I’ll warrant ye, I must keep a House like an Emperor for +your sake, you old Sorceress? Huzzy, I’ll have every Cobweb taken care +of, and preserv’d.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<span class = "folionum">a4</span> +<!-- png 47 --> +<p>I’m very poor, I confess; but I patiently bear what the Gods lay upon +me.<span class = "dash">——</span> Get ye in, and make fast +the door; I’ll be back presently. Take a special care you don’t let e’re +a Soul come within the doors; and that they mightn’t pretend an Excuse +to borrow Fire, I’ll ha’ ye put it all out: If there be any now, out +with’t in an instant. If they want Water, tell ’em the Pump is dry; if +they wou’d borrow a Knife, an Axe, a Mortar, or a Pestil, as +Neighbours us’d to do, tell ’em the House was robb’d, and they’re all +stolen. ’Sbud, I’ll ha’ no body set a step within my House when I’m +gone; therefore if <i>Good-luck</i> her self shou’d come, I charge +ye keep her out.</p> + +<p><i>Sta.</i> Troth, you needn’t fear her coming; for were she at the +Threshold, she’d ne’re come in.</p> + +<p><i>Euc.</i> Hold your prating Tongue, and get ye in.</p> + +<p><i>Sta.</i> To please you, I’ll do both.</p> + +<p><i>Euc.</i> And <ins class = "correction" title = "spacing as shown">besure</ins> you secure the Door with two great Bolts: I’ll be +here instantly. +<span class = "stagedir"> +Exit <em>Staphila</em>.</span></p> + +<p class = "stagedir"> +<em>Euclio</em> alone.</p> + +<p>O, I’m wretchedly perplex’d that I’m forc’d to go out a doors now; +and troth, it goes sore against my mind; however, ’tis upon sure +grounds. For now’s the time for our Officer to distribute the Money to +the Poor: Now if I shou’d be negligent, and not be among the Beggars, +I’m afraid the World wou’d presently conclude, that I had got Gold at +home. For ’tis n’t likely such a poor Fellow as I pretend to be, shou’d +so little value Money, as not to be there. Notwithstanding my restless +care of concealing this Gold, it strangely runs in my Head, that all the +World knows of it, and every body seems to be more obliging, and to +complement me more than ever. They meet me, stay me, embrace me, enquire +after my Health, my Welfare, and every thing.<span class = +"dash">——</span> Well, I’ll go, and be back again as soon as +possibly. +<span class = "stagedir"> +Exit.</span></p> + + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 48 --> +<p class = "ital"> +Here we see a considerable deal of the strange Nature of this old +miserable Fellow; and this <em>Character</em> he has carry’d through the +whole Play: But to see his Humour a little more perfectly, take part of +the fourth Scene of the second Act; where the Servant <em>Strobulus</em> +and the two Cooks are discoursing about this Miser.</p> + + +<p class = "stagedir"> +<em>Strobulus</em> and <em>Congrio</em>.</p> + +<p><i>Stro.</i> A Pumice-stone is not half so dry as that old +Huncks.</p> + +<p><i>Con.</i> Say ye so, introth?</p> + +<p><i>Stro.</i> Take this from me. If the least Smoke shou’d chance to +fly out of his House, he strait allarms the Town, exclaims against +Heaven and Earth, that he’s undone, and ruin’d for ever!<span class = +"dash">——</span> I’ll tell ye: whene’re he goes to Bed he +tyes a Bladder at his Nose.</p> + +<p><i>Con.</i> What for?</p> + +<p><i>Stro.</i> For fear of losing part of his Soul when he’s +asleep.</p> + +<p><i>Con.</i> And doesn’t he plug up his lower Bung-hole too, lest any +shou’d steal out that way?</p> + +<p><i>Stro.</i> ’Tis civil to believe me, since I do you.</p> + +<p><i>Con.</i> Why, truly, I do believe ye.</p> + +<p><i>Stro.</i> Did you never hear, how it goes to the Soul of him to +pour out the Water he has once wash’d his hands in?</p> + +<p><i>Con.</i> Do’st think, Boy, we shall be able to squeeze out a +swinging sum of Money of this old Gripes, to purchase our Freedom +with?</p> + +<p><i>Stro.</i> Troth, shou’d ye beg Hunger it self of him, the Wretch +wou’d deny ye. Nay more; whenever he gets his Nails to be cut, he +carefully scrapes up all the Parings, and saves ’em.</p> + +<p><i>Con.</i> Why, faith, this is the most miserable Cur upon the face +of the Earth.<span class = "dash">——</span> But is he really +such a pinching Wretch as you say?</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 49 --> +<p><i>Stro.</i> Why t’other day a Kite chanc’d to steal a bit of +something from him; this poor Devil goes strait to my <i>Lord Chief +Justice</i>’s, crying, roaring, and houling for his Warrant to apprehend +it.<span class = "dash">——</span> O, I cou’d tell ye a +thousand of these Stories, if I had leisure.</p> + +<div class = "ital"> + +<p>This is stretching of a <em>Character</em> a degree above Nature and +Probability; yet these sort, at first sight, will glare and dazle a +common Audience, and sometimes give a superficial Pleasure to a more +judicious one; but are carefully to be avoided by any correct +Writer.</p> + +<p>His <em>Miles Gloriosus</em>, or <em>Braggadocio</em>, is as +remarkable a <em>Character</em> as this, and there you may see another +too in the same place, one who wheadles as much as the other boasts, and +plays the Knave as much as the other does the Fool. For the Reader’s +Satisfaction, <ins class = "correction" title = "text reads ‘he’">here</ins> follows a Translation of the first Act of the <em>Miles +Gloriosus</em>, which begins between that Blockhead and his Buffoon.</p> + +</div> +<!-- end div ital --> + +<p class = "stagedir"> +<em>Pyrgopolinices</em>, with his Servant <em>Artotrogus</em>, and his +Soldiers.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr. to his Soldiers.</i>] Take care to have my Buckler out-shine +the resplendent Sun, when the Heavens are serene; so that in the midst +o’ the Battel, I may dazle the Eyes of my Enemies, and confound +every man of ’em.<span class = "dash">——</span> In the mean +time, I’ll comfort my bold <i>Bilbo</i>, that he might n’t be dull and +melancholly for want of use this long time; for the poor Rogue is +damnably eager to slice all my Foes, and make a Hash of ’em.<span class += "dash">——</span> But where’s <i>Artotrogus</i>?</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> Here, an’t like your Honour, ready to wait upon a Man o’ +the greatest Fortitude and Fortune i’ th’ +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 50 --> +Universe, and o’ the most majestick Air; then for personal Valour, Lord, +<i>Mars</i> himself dare n’t pretend to measure Swords with you.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> You mean him in the spatious <i>Gurgustidonian</i> +Plains, the mighty Generalissimo, <i>Bombomachides— +Cluninstaridy— Sarchides</i>, great <i>Neptune</i>’s +Grand-child?<span class = "dash">——</span></p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> <span class = "dash">——</span>The same, Sir. +Him with the golden Armour, whose whole Army you blew away with a single +Puff, like Leaves before the Wind, and Feathers in a Storm.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> By <i>Hercules</i>, ’twas nothing.</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> No, faith, Sir, nothing at all to what I can relate,<span +class = "dash">——</span> [<i>Aside</i>] but the Devil a bit +of Truth’s in’t. If any Man can shew me a greater Lyer, or a more +bragging Coxcomb than this Blunderbuss, he shall take me, make me his +Slave, and starve me with Whey and Butter-milk— Well, Sir?</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> Where are you?</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> Here, Sir:<span class = "dash">——</span> +Wonderful! how you broke the great <i>Indian</i> Elephants Arm with your +single Fist?</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> What Arm?</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> I wou’d ha’ said Thigh.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> Pshaw, I did that with ease.</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> By <i>Jove</i>, Sir, had you us’d your full Strength, +you’d ha’ flead, gutted, and bon’d the huge Beast at once.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> I wou’d not ha’ ye relate all my Acts at this time.</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> Really, Sir, ’tis impossible to innumerate all your noble +Acts that I have been Spectator of.<span class = +"dash">——</span> [<i>Aside.</i>] ’Tis this Belly of mine +creates me all this Plagues. My Ears must bear this Burden, for fear my +Teeth shou’d want Work; and to every Lye he tells, I must +swear to.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> What was I going to say?<span class = +"dash">———</span></p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> O, Sir, I know your meaning.<span class = +"dash">——</span> ’Twas a noble Exploit; I remember’t +very well.</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 51 --> +<p><i>Pyr.</i> What was’t?</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> Whatever you perform’d, was so.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> Ha’ ye a Table-Book here?</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> D’ye want one, Sir?<span class = +"dash">——</span> Here’s a Pencil too.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> Thou’st ingeniously accommodated thy Sentiments to +mine.</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> O, ’tis my Duty to adapt my Manners to your Nod, and +always keep ’em within the compass of your Commands.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> Well, how many can you remember?</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> I remember a hundred and fifty <i>Cilicians</i>, a +hundred <i>Sycolatronideans</i>, thirty <i>Sardeans</i>, and threescore +<i>Macedonians</i>, you slew in one day.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> And how many are there in all?</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> Seven thousand.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> That’s right. You’re an excellent Arithmetician.</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> I have ’em <i>in capite</i>, tho’ not in black and +white.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> Truly, a prodigious Memory!</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> That’s owing to your Table.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> As long as you proclaim my Honour, you shall never want +eating: my Table shall be always free to receive ye.</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> Then in <i>Cappadocia</i>, Sir, where you wou’d ha’ +certainly cut off five hundred Men, had not your Sword been a little +blunt; and those but the Relicts of the Infantry you had just +defeated,<span class = "dash">——</span> [<i>Aside</i>] if +there were any such in being.<span class = "dash">——</span> +But why shou’d I mention these things, when the whole World knows how +much the mighty <i>Pyrgopolinices</i> excels the rest of Mortals in +Valour, Beauty, and Renown’d Exploits. All the Ladies in Town are ready +to run mad for ye; troth, and all the reason i’the World for’t, since +you’ve so charming a Countenance. As yesterday, some of ’em catch’d me +by the Cloak, and<span class = "dash">——</span></p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> Prithee, what did they say o’ me? +<span class = "stagedir"> +Smiling.</span></p> + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 52 --> +<p><i>Art.</i> They fell to questioning: <i>Prithee</i>, says one, <i>is +n’t this the stout <em>Achillis?</em> His Brother indeed</i>, quoth I. +<i>Let me dye</i>, says another, <i>if he be n’t a wonderful handsome +Man, how nobly he looks, and how gracefully he wears his Hair! What a +prodigious Happiness ’tis to be his Bed-fellow!</i></p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> Said she so, i’ faith? +<span class = "stagedir"> +Laughing.</span></p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> And more than that, begg’d of me, for God’s sake, to get +ye to pass that way, that they might see how triumphantly you march’d +along.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> This same extraordinary Beauty brings a Man to +extraordinary Inconveniencies.</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> Well, strangely importunate they were, they nothing but +begg’d, pray’d, and conjur’d me to bless ’em with a sight of ye; nay, +they sent for me so often, that I was sometimes forc’d to neglect your +Business.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> I think ’tis high time to be marching to the Piazza, and +pay off the Soldiers I listed yesterday; for the King was very earnest +with me to do him the favour of raising him some new Levies. This day +have I appointed to pay him a Visit.</p> + +<p><i>Art.</i> Let’s be marching then.</p> + +<p><i>Pyr.</i> Guards, follow your Leader.</p> + +<p class = "stagedir"> +Exeunt omnes.</p> + + +<p class = "ital"> +I need not make many Reflections upon this Scene; but for the clearer +perceiving of it, let us bring it to the Touch-stone of Nature, that is, +compare it with Terence, and shew how modestly he has manag’d the same +<em>Subject</em> and <em>Characters</em>, to wit, his <em>Thraso</em> +and <em>Gnatho</em>, in the beginning of the third Act of his +<em>Eunuch</em>.</p> + + +<p class = "stagedir"> +<em>Thraso</em> and <em>Gnatho</em>.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Was the Lady so extremely thankful?</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> O, vastly, Sir.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> And wonderfully pleas’d, say ye?</p> + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 53 --> +<p><i>Gna.</i> Really, Sir, not so much for the present as the honorable +Person who bestow’d it; and for that, Sir, she triumphs above +measure.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Truly, ’tis my peculiar Fortune, to have every thing I +do most gratefully receiv’d.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> Faith, Sir, I’ve observ’d as much.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Why the King of <i>Persia</i>, whenever I did him a +Kindness, was extremely sensible of it: He was n’t so to others.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> A smart Tongue so well hung as yours, Sir, can obtain +that Glory with Ease which cost others so much Toil and Labour.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Right.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> The Monarch has you in his Eye then?</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Right again.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> And wears you next his heart?</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Very true: And trusts all his Army and Secrets to my +Discretion.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> Prodigious!</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Then if he happen’d to be tir’d with Company, or +fateagu’d with Business, and was desirous of Ease,<span class = +"dash">——</span> as tho’,<span class = +"dash">——</span> you know what I mean.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> Yes, Sir:<span class = +"dash">———</span> As tho, when he had a mind to clear +his Stomach, as a Man may say, of all Concerns,<span class = +"dash">———</span></p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Right: Then was I his only Companion hand to fist.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> Ay marry Sir! This is a Monarch indeed.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Oh! he’s a Man of a thousand.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> Yes, one of a million, if he chose you for his +Companion.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> All the Officers envy’d me, and grumbl’d at me behind my +back; but I valued it not: They envy’d me intolerably: But above all, +one who had the Charge o’ the vast <i>Indian</i> Elephants. One day, +this Fellow being more turbulent than the rest, I snap’d him up; +<i>Prithee Strato</i>, said I, <i>why art thou so fierce? Is’t because +you’re Lord o’ the wild beasts?</i></p> + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 54 --> +<p><i>Gna.</i> Neatly said, as I hope to live; and shrewdly. Bless me! +you overthrow Man and Beast.<span class = "dash">——</span> +What said he, Sir?</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Not a word.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> Nay, I can’t tell how he shou’d.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> But, <i>Gnatho</i>, did I never tell you how sharp I was +upon a young <i>Rhodian</i> Spark at a Feast?</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> Never, Sir; let’s hear’t, by all means.— He has +told it me a thousand times. +<span class = "stagedir"> +Aside.</span></p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Why this <i>Rhodian</i> Spark I told ye of, was with me +at a Feast, where I happen’d to have a small Girl: This Stripling began +to be sweet upon her, and waggish upon me too. <i>How now, you impudent +Saucebox</i>, said I; <i>you’re Man’s meat your self, and yet have a +mind to a Tid-bit.</i></p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> Ha, ha, he.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> What’s the matter, hah?</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> Very fine, sharp, and delicate; that cou’d not be mended. +But pray, Sir, was this your own? I took it for an old Jest.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> Did you ever hear’t before?</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> Often, Sir; and it takes to a miracle.</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> They’re oblig’d to me for’t.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> I’m sorry tho’, you were so sharp upon the foolish young +Gentleman. But pray, Sir, what did he say then?</p> + +<p><i>Thra.</i> He was quite dash’d out of Countenance; and the whole +Company ready to dye with laughing. After that, every body stood in +great awe of me.</p> + +<p><i>Gna.</i> And truly they had reason.</p> + +<div class = "ital"> + +<p>Here may be seen <em>Bragging</em> and <em>Wheadling</em> +sufficiently, but still Nature closely observ’d, and all its due +proportions; whereas the other has too much out-gone Probability, and +strain’d his <em>Characters</em> to an extravagant pitch. I shall +not criticise upon the +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 55 --> +Particulars, but leave the Reader to judge their Differences; but only I +may observe, that when <em>Characters</em> are carry’d too high, as many +of ours are, they may probably make an Audience laugh very heartily, but +can give ’em but small Pleasure; whereas others will give ’em great +Delight, tho’ less Laughter.</p> + +<p>I am afraid I have dwelt too long upon this Subject, therefore I pass +on to our Author’s <em>Plots</em>. In that respect, he had not often +that <em>Art</em> and <em>Management</em> that <em>Terence</em> had, nor +in all his Plays was so <em>regular</em> as he; tho’ in several he was, +particularly in those I have chosen. But then his Scenes were commonly +less languishing, his <em>Incidents</em> more surprizing, and his +<em>Surprizes</em> more admirable; undoubtedly he had more of the +<em>Vis comica</em>, which I may translate <em>Liveliness of +Intreague</em>, than <em>Terence</em>. His <em>Subjects</em> were all +more <em>Simple</em> than the other’s, but I am apt to believe, that +will be reckon’d but a very small Commendation in our Nation, who are +but little Lovers of such thin Dyet, as they call it. His +<em>Narrations</em> are more lively and sharp than those of +<em>Terence</em>’s, and, I think, every whit as natural and as well +brought in: I’m sure in some of ’em he can never be out-done as to his +way of bringing of ’em in. As for the General Rules of the Stage, +I refer the Reader to the Preface to <em>Terence</em>.</p> + +<p>Our Author’s principal Fault was, his mixing the +<em>Representation</em> with the <em>Theatral Action</em> in many +places, where he often makes his Actors speak immediately and directly +to the Spectators; a Fault that <em>Terence</em> was not wholly +free from. This our +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 56 --> +modern Plays, I think, are never guilty of; only in our +<em>Monologues</em> and <em>Asides</em>, our Actors have got a custom of +looking so full upon the Spectators, that it seems but one degree +better. But our Author is not guilty of this in these three Plays, +except in <em>Amphitryon</em>, and that by way of <em>Prologue</em>, or +of any other Faults but what, I believe, I have shewn in my +<em>Remarks</em>. And these that I have here chosen, are no ways +inferior to <em>Terence</em>’s in matters of <em>Plot</em> and +<em>Intreague</em>, but in some respects superior, tho’ not so +elaborately wrought up, or always with that Niceness; so that these may +undoubtedly prove excellent Models for our Poets Imitation, provided +they observe Differences of Tastes, Humours, Ages, and Persons, and keep +to those principal Beauties they already possess, some of which are +undoubtedly above the Ancients. Only <em>Terence</em> will teach ’em one +thing that <em>Plautus</em> does not, to wit, the great Cunning of +working in <em>Under-Plots</em>, and still preserving the <em>Unity of +Action</em>; for <em>Plautus</em> has none of them. As for the Necessity +of Rules, the Objections against ’em, and the wonderful Perfection our +Plays might arrive to by a more close Observance of ’em, I must +once more refer my Reader to the Preface to <em>Terence</em>. It was +principally upon the Poets Account, and for all such as are desirous of +understanding and judging the Excellencies of Dramatick Poetry, that I +translated these Plays. If it be objected, that the Poets, Criticks, and +Lovers, as well as Judges of Dramatick Poetry, do most of ’em understand +the Original; I must deny the Truth of it, tho’ several of ’em do: +But if they did, these will be much more proper for their +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<span class = "folionum">b</span> +<!-- png 57 --> +Design, especially by means of the <em>Notes</em> and <em>Remarks</em>; +and the Reasons I urg’d for the translation of <em>Terence</em>, bear a +greater force in this Author, for here is a greater Obscurity, by reason +of corrupted Copies, wrong Points, false Divisions of whole Acts as well +as Scenes, besides a greater number of knotty and obscure Passages, than +in <em>Terence</em>.</p> + +<p>Tho’ this was my principal, it was not my only Design of translating +this Author, for I had all the way an Eye to School boys, and Learners +of the <em>Latin</em> Tongue: Therefore, upon that account, I have +not only kept perfectly close to his Sence, but almost always to his +Words too; a thing not only extream difficult in an Author so +frequently verbose, but oftentimes dangerous too: And for an Instance, +I need not go any further than the very first Sentence of the +<em>Prologue</em> to <em>Amphitryon</em>, which if I had made shorter, +I cou’d have made better. I can’t forbear mentioning a Passage +in the third Act of the same Play, which just now comes to my +remembrance:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Nam certo si sis sanus, aut sapias satis,</p> +<p>Quam tu impudicam esse arbitrare, & prædicas,</p> +<p>Cum ea tu sermonem nec joco, nec serio</p> +<p>Tibi habeas, nisi sis stultior stultissimo.</p> +</div> + +<p>Which I have translated, perhaps, too closely thus; <em>I’m sure, had +ye either Wit, or Discretion, or weren’t the greatest Fool in Nature, +you’d ne’er hold Discourse, either in Mirth or Earnest, with the Woman +you believe and declare a Strumpet.</em> I’m confident many other +Translators wou’d not have been +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 58 --> +so scrupulously nice, but have made shorter work of it. But I have not +only been so scrupulous in this Case, but I have likewise imitated all +his Faults and Imperfections, whenever I cou’d do it without extream +Injury to the Translation; I speak of his <em>Puns</em>, +<em>Quibbles</em>, <em>Rhimes</em>, <em>Gingles</em>, and his several +ways of playing upon words; which indeed were the Faults of his Age, as +it was of ours in <em>Shakespear</em>’s and <em>Johnson</em>’s days, and +of which <em>Terence</em>, as correct as he is, is not perfectly clear. +Our Author’s playing upon words are of that various nature, and so +frequent too, I need not go far for a single Instance, which shall +be in the fore part of the Prologue to <em>Amphitryon</em>:</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Justam rem & facilem esse oratum à vobis volo.</p> +<p>Nam juste ab justis sum orator datus.</p> +<p>Nam injusta ab justis impetrare non decet:</p> +<p>Justa autem ab injustis petere, insipientia ’st:</p> +<p>Quippe illi iniqui jus ignorant, neque tenent.</p> +</div> + +<p>Which I have translated thus: <em>I desire nothing but what’s +reasonable, and feasible; for ’tis a reasonable God requires Reason from +a reasonable People; but to require Roguery from reasonable People, is +base; and to expect Reason from Rascals, is nonsence; since such People +neither know Reason nor observe it.</em> Our Author’s Wit did many times +consist in his playing upon Words; a great pity indeed, for a +person who was so well able to writ after a more substantial way, of +which we have many remarkable Instances. Besides his Quibbling, partly +from his Carelesness and Necessities, he hath sometimes a vein of +<em>Trifling</em>, which was but very indifferent; +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<span class = "folionum">b2</span> +<!-- png 59 --> +and on those places the Reader must make some allowance for the +translation, and not expect more than the Matter will well bear. As for +our Author’s <em>Jests</em> and <em>Repartees</em>, for what we know of +’em, I took a particular care in preserving their Force; and for +the most part, I presume, I have done it in a great measure, +sometimes by a lucky hit; or a peculiar happiness of our Tongue, other +times by a little Liberty taken, and when all have fail’d, the +<em>Remarks</em> have generally supply’d the Defect, a way I was +forc’d to content my self withal in many places; the worse they were, +they were frequently more difficult to preserve, therefore I thought it +as well to slur over some few of the meaner sort. Several of his +<em>Jests</em> and bits of <em>Satyr</em> are undoubtedly lost to us, +not only in respect of our Language, but also our Knowledge, and this +sometimes makes his <em>Sence</em> a little obscure. And as the +<em>Sence</em> of an Author ought to be his Translator’s chiefest Care, +so it has been mine; and tho’ I cannot affirm, that I have kept to +it in every passage, yet I believe I have often done it where a common +Reader will think I have not; and I think it no commendation to my self +to say I have hit it on many places where the Common Interpreters have +missed.</p> + +<p>After all, I dare not pretend to say, that this Translation equals +the Original, for there is such a peculiar Air in this Author as well as +<em>Terence</em>, that our Tongue seems uncapable of, or at least it +does so to me. Yet still if ’twere always read with the Original, it +wou’d make far more for me than otherwise. In short, the Reader ought to +look upon this as a Translation of an Author who had several Faults, and +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 60 --> +such places, as the <em>English</em> must of necessity appear mean, +being little better in the Original; and likewise as an Author of +Antiquity, some of whose Customs and Manners will appear a little +uncouth and unsightly, in spight of all a Translator’s Care. +I endeavour’d to be as like my Author as I cou’d, especially in +that which I reckon his distinguishing Character, to wit, the natural +and unaffected easiness of his Stile, and as this seems the most capable +of imitation, so I believe I have been more successful in this +Particular than in any other: and that is the main Reason I have had so +many Abbreviations, to make it appear still more like common Discourse, +and the usual way of speaking. Perhaps I may be thought to have been too +bold in that point, because I have had some that are not usual in Prose; +therefore I don’t set this way as a Copy for any one to follow me in, +nor shall I use it myself in any other Piece. I have all the way +divided the <em>Acts</em> and <em>Scenes</em> according to the true +Rules of the Stage, which are extreamly false in all the Editions of +this Author, especially the <em>Scenes</em>.</p> + +<p>To make this Translation the most useful that I cou’d, I have +made <em>Remarks</em> upon each Play, and those are of two sorts, tho’ +equally intermix’d: The first, to shew the Author’s chief Excellencies +as to his Contrivance and Management of his <em>Plots</em> and +<em>Incidents</em>; the second, to discover several Beauties of +<em>Stile</em> and <em>Wit</em>, principally such as are not very clear, +or cannot well be preserv’d in our Tongue; and those are likewise to +vindicate my Translation. Several of these I must own my self oblig’d to +Madam +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 61 --> +<em>Dacier</em> for, or at least the hint, tho’ some of ’em I cou’d not +have miss’d of in the prosecution of those Designs I aim’d at. +I have borrow’d little or nothing from any other, for her’s are far +the best <em>Notes</em> I ever met with, tho’ many of ’em were done more +to shew her Parts and Reading than for any real use, a thing which +I shall never aim at. I have been forc’d in most of ’em to be +extream nice and curious in penetrating into the bottom of the Author, +for I find it far more difficult to discover a Beauty than a Fault. +I might have enlarg’d upon ’em, and have made several more, with +good grounds, but I thought it dangerous to say all that cou’d be said; +but instead of that I was forc’d, much against my will, to dash out +several of those upon <em>Amphitryon</em> upon the account of the +Printer, but the rest are more full and compleat.</p> + +<p>If business wou’d have permitted me, I shou’d have ventur’d upon +three more of our Authors Plays; and upon that Account, I have +taken somewhat less time than was necessary for the translating such an +extraordinary difficult Author; for this requires more than double the +time of a <em>Historian</em> or the like, which was as much as I cou’d +allow my self. I made choice of these three Plays as well for their +<em>Modesty</em> as <em>Regularity</em>, for above all things I wou’d by +no means give the least Encouragement to Lewdness or Obscenity, which +grow too fast of themselves; and therefore I thought I cou’d not chuse +better than after a Lady. <em>Amphitryon</em> had the Name, and never +fail’d of a general Approbation; <em>Epidicus</em> was our Author’s +Favourite, and truly there is much Art in it, tho’ it +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 62 --> +is a little heavy; and <em>Rudens</em> is in several respects a better +Play than any of <em>Plautus</em>’s or <em>Terence</em>’s. I’m afraid +<em>Amphitryon</em> will bear the worse in our Tongue, upon the Account +of Mr. <em>Dryden</em>’s, whose Improvements are very extraordinary; but +considering Mr. <em>Dryden</em>’s Management is of such a different +Nature, this will still be as useful and as proper for my +<em>Design</em>, or at least to School-boys and Learners. I must do +that great Man the Justice in saying, that he has not only much improved +the <em>Humour</em>, <em>Wit</em>, and <em>Design</em> in many places, +but likewise the <em>Thoughts</em>. I’ll mention one, which just now +comes into my mind. <em>Alcmena</em> in the Second Act complains thus: +<em>How poor and short are this Life’s Pleasures, if once compar’d with +the Sorrows we endure? ’Tis Man’s Destiny, and Heaven’s Pleasure, to mix +our Joys with bitter Potions; and for some few Hours of Satisfaction, we +meet with Ages of Ills and Troubles.</em> Mr. <em>Dryden</em>, by the +help of Blank Verse, and a little more room, has better’d it +extreamly.</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Ye niggard Gods! you make our Lives too long:</p> +<p>You fill ’em with Diseases, Wants, and Woes,</p> +<p>And only dash ’em with a little Love;</p> +<p>Sprinkled by Fits, and with a sparing Hand.</p> +<p>Count all our Joys, from Childhood ev’n to Age,</p> +<p>They wou’d but make a Day of ev’ry Year:</p> +</div> + +<p>And to carry it on further yet, and to make it appear more fine and +clear, he says,</p> + +<div class = "verse"> +<p>Take back your Sev’nty Years, (the stint of Life)</p> +<p>Or else be kind, and cram the Quintessence</p> +<p>Of Sev’nty Years into sweet Sev’nty Days:</p> +<p>For all the rest is flat, insipid Being.</p> +</div> + +<span class = "pagenum">|</span> +<!-- png 63 --> +<p>I mention this the rather, because it may serve for one Instance of +what Improvements our Modern Poets have made on the Ancients, when they +built upon their Foundations. For we find that many of the fine things +of the Ancients are like Seeds, that, when planted on <em>English</em> +Ground by a Skilful Poet’s Hand, thrive, and produce excellent +Fruit.</p> + +<p>But I’m afraid this <em>Preface</em> has been too long and tedious +for this small Piece; but the Press stays, and the hast I’m in will not +permit me to make it shorter, or so much as review it; yet before I +conclude, I must inform the Reader, that I had the Advantage of +another’s doing their <em>P</em>lays before me; from whose Translation I +had very considerable Helps, especially in the <em>Jests</em> and +<em>Quibbles</em>.</p> + +</div> +<!-- end div ital --> + + +<!-- png 64 --> + + +<!-- png 65 --> + +<hr class = "tiny"> + +<div class = "ars"> + +<!-- png 66 --> +<h3 class = "smallcaps"><a name = "augustan" id = "augustan"> +The Augustan Reprint Society</a></h3> + +<p> </p> + +<h4>WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK<br> +MEMORIAL LIBRARY</h4> + +<h5>UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA<ins class = "correction" title = ". for ,">, </ins>LOS ANGELES</h5> + +<p> </p> + +<h6>PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT</h6> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/decoration.gif" width = "66" height = "40" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<p class = "mynote"> +When available, Project Gutenberg e-text numbers are included as +links.</p> + +<div class = "ars_list"> + +<h5>1948-1949</h5> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16916">16.</a> +Henry Nevil Payne, <i>The Fatal Jealousie</i> (1673).</p> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15870">18.</a> +Anonymous, “Of Genius,†in <i>The Occasional Paper</i>, Vol. III, No. 10 +(1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface to <i>The Creation</i> (1720).</p> + +<h5>1949-1950</h5> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16740">19.</a> +Susanna Centlivre, <i>The Busie Body</i> (1709).</p> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16346">20.</a> +Lewis Theobald, <i>Preface to the Works of Shakespeare</i> (1734).</p> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13350">22.</a> +Samuel Johnson, <i>The Vanity of Human Wishes</i> (1749), and two +<i>Rambler</i> papers (1750).</p> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15074">23.</a> +John Dryden, <i>His Majesties Declaration Defended</i> (1681).</p> + +<h5>1950-1951</h5> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14463">26.</a> +Charles Macklin, <i>The Man of the World</i> (1792).</p> + +<h5>1951-1952</h5> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15409">31.</a> +Thomas Gray, <i>An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard</i> (1751), and +<i>The Eton College Manuscript</i>.</p> + +<h5>1952-1953</h5> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/29478">41.</a> +Bernard Mandeville, <i>A Letter to Dion</i> (1732).</p> + + +<!-- png 67 --> + +<h5>1962-1963</h5> + +<p>98. <i>Select Hymns Taken Out of Mr. Herbert’s Temple</i> (1697).</p> + +<h5>1963-1964</h5> + +<p>104. Thomas D’Urfey, <i>Wonders in the Sun: or, The Kingdom of the +Birds</i> (1706).</p> + +<h5>1964-1965</h5> + +<p><ins class = "notation" title = "In Preparation">110.</ins> +John Tutchin, <i>Selected Poems</i> (1685-1700).</p> + +<p>111. Anonymous, <i>Political Justice</i> (1736).</p> + +<p>112. Robert Dodsley, <i>An Essay on Fable</i> (1764).</p> + +<p>113. T. R., <i>An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning</i> +(1698).</p> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/21499">114.</a> +<i>Two Poems Against Pope</i>: Leonard Welsted, <i>One Epistle to Mr. A. +Pope</i> (1730), and Anonymous, <i>The Blatant Beast</i> (1742).</p> + +<h5>1965-1966</h5> + +<p>115. Daniel Defoe and others, <i>Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs. +Veal</i>.</p> + +<p><ins class = "notation" title = "In Preparation">116.</ins> +Charles Macklin, <i>The Covent Garden Theatre</i> (1752).</p> + +<p><ins class = "notation" title = "In Preparation">117.</ins> +Sir Roger L’Estrange, <i>Citt and Bumpkin</i> (1680).</p> + +<p>118. Henry More, <i>Enthusiasmus Triumphatus</i> (1662).</p> + +<p>119. Thomas Traherne, <i>Meditations on the Six Days of the +Creation</i> (1717).</p> + +<p><ins class = "notation" title = "In Preparation">120.</ins> +Bernard Mandeville, <i>Aesop Dress’d or a Collection of Fables</i> +(1704).</p> + +<h5>1966-1967</h5> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8161">122.</a> +James MacPherson, <i>Fragments of Ancient Poetry</i> (1760).</p> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/29116">123.</a> +Edmond Malone, <i>Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to Mr. +Thomas Rowley</i> (1782).</p> + +<p><ins class = "notation" title = "In Preparation">124.</ins> +Anonymous, <i>The Female Wits</i> (1704).</p> + +<p><ins class = "notation" title = "In Preparation">125.</ins> +Anonymous, <i>The Scribleriad</i> (1742). Lord Hervey, <i>The Difference +Between Verbal and Practical Virtue</i> (1742).</p> + +<p>126. <i>Le Lutrin: an Heroick Poem, Written Originally in French by +Monsieur Boileau: Made English by N. O.</i> (1682).</p> + +</div> + +<hr class = "mid"> + +<p>Subsequent publications may be checked in the annual prospectus.</p> + +<p>Publications #1 through 90, of the first fifteen years of Augustan +Reprint Society, are available in bound units at $14.00 per unit of six +from:</p> + +<table> +<tr><td> +KRAUS REPRINT CORPORATION<br> +16 East 46th Street<br> +New York, N.Y. 10017 +</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Publications in print are available at the regular membership rate of +$5.00 yearly. Prices of single issues may be obtained upon request.</p> + + +<!-- png 68 --> + +<p> </p> + +<hr> + +<p> </p> + +<!-- png 69 --> +<h5>William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California, +Los Angeles</h5> + +<h3 class = "smallcaps">The Augustan Reprint Society</h3> + + +<p class = "center"> +<i>General Editors</i>: George Robert Guffey, University of California, +Los Angeles;<br> +Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles; Robert +Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.<br> +<i>Corresponding Secretary</i>: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews +Clark Memorial Library.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/decline2.gif" width = "106" height = "5" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<p>The Society’s purpose is to publish reprints (usually facsimile +reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works. All +income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and +mailing.</p> + +<p>Correspondence concerning memberships in the United States and Canada +should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 +Cimarron St., Los Angeles, California. Correspondence concerning +editorial matters may be addressed to any of the general editors at the +same address. Manuscripts of introductions should conform to the +recommendations of the MLA <i>Style Sheet</i>. The membership fee is +$5.00 a year in the United States and Canada and 30 <ins class = +"correction" title = "unchanged">—</ins> in Great Britain and +Europe. British and European prospective members should address +B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. Copies of back +issues in print may be obtained from the Corresponding Secretary.</p> + + +<h5>PUBLICATIONS FOR 1967-1968</h5> + +<div class = "ars_list"> + +<p><ins class = "notation" title = "In Preparation">127-128.</ins> +Charles Macklin, <i>A Will and No Will, or a Bone for the Lawyers</i> +(1746). <i>The New Play Criticiz’d, or The Plague of Envy</i> (1747). +Introduction by Jean B. Kern.</p> + +<p><ins class = "notation" title = "Present Text">129.</ins> Lawrence +Echard, Prefaces to <i>Terence’s Comedies</i> (1694) and <i>Plautus’s +Comedies</i> (1694). Introduction by John Barnard.</p> + +<p><ins class = "notation" title = "In Preparation">130.</ins> Henry +More, <i>Democritus Platonissans</i> (1646). Introduction by P. G. +Stanwood.</p> + +<p><ins class = "notation" title = "In Preparation">131.</ins> John +Evelyn, <i>The History of . . . Sabatai Sevi . . . The +Suppos’d Messiah of the Jews</i> (1669). Introduction by Christopher W. +Grose.</p> + +<p><a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/29237">132.</a> Walter +Harte, <i>An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad</i> (1730). +Introduction by Thomas B. Gilmore.</p> + +</div> + +<h5>ANNOUNCEMENTS:</h5> + +<p>Next in the series of special publications by the Society will be a +volume including Elkanah Settle’s <i>The Empress of Morocco</i> (1673) +with six plates; <i>Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco</i> +(1674) by John Dryden, John Crowne and Thomas Shadwell; <i>Notes and +Observations on the Empress of Morocco Revised</i> (1674) by Elkanah +Settle: and <i>The Empress of Morocco. A Farce</i> (1674) by Thomas +Duffet, with an Introduction by Maximillian E. Novak. Already published +in this series are reprints of John Ogilby’s <i>The Fables of Aesop +Paraphras’d in Verse</i> (1668) with an Introduction by Earl Miner and +John Gay’s <i>Fables</i> (1727, 1738), with an Introduction by Vinton A. +Dearing. Publication is assisted by funds from the Chancellor of the +University of California, Los Angeles. Price to members of the Society, +$2.50 for the first copy and $3.25 for additional copies. Price to +non-members, $4.00.</p> + +<p class = "illustration"> +<img src = "images/decline2.gif" width = "106" height = "5" +alt = "decoration"></p> + +<h5 class = "extended">THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY</h5> + +<h5>William Andrews Clark Memorial Library</h5> + +<h6>2520 CIMARRON STREET AT WEST ADAMS BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES, +CALIFORNIA 90018</h6> + +<p class = "center smaller"> +Make check or money order payable to <span class = "smallcaps">The +Regents of the University of California</span>.</p> + +</div> +<!-- end div ars --> + +<div class = "endnote"> + +<h5><a name = "endnote" id = "endnote">Page Numbering</a></h5> + +<p>As in the original, pagination is separate for each section. The +modern introduction and the Preface to Terence each use Roman numerals +(i, ii, iii...), shown in the right margin. Both Prefaces have +folio numbers labeling the verso (right-hand) page of the first few +leaves of each signature (A, A2...); these are shown in the left +margin. Since the Preface to Plautus has no other pagination, unmarked +page breaks are shown as | in the left margin.</p> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Prefaces to Terence's Comedies and +Plautus's Comedies (1694), by Lawrence Echard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TERENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 29684-h.htm or 29684-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/8/29684/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner, Dave Morgan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Prefaces to Terence's Comedies and Plautus's Comedies (1694) + +Author: Lawrence Echard + +Commentator: John Barnard + +Release Date: August 13, 2009 [EBook #29684] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TERENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner, Dave Morgan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[This e-text comes in two forms: Latin-1 and ASCII-7. Use the one that +works best on your text reader. + + --In the Latin-1 version, French words like "comedie" have accents, + and "ae" is a single letter. If you see any garbage in this paragraph + and can't get it to display properly, try: + --In the ASCII-7 version, French accents and cedillas are missing, + and "ae" is two letters. + +Both Prefaces were printed in italic type, with roman used for emphasis, +names and quotations. Emphasis within quotations was again italicized. +In these passages, the overall italics are not marked; Roman type is +shown between +marks+.] + + + + + The Augustan Reprint Society + + + Lawrence Echard + + _PREFACES_ + + _To Terence's_ + + COMEDIES + + _And Plautus's_ + + COMEDIES + + (1694) + + + _Introduction by_ + JOHN BARNARD + + + Publication Number 129 + WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY + University of California, Los Angeles + 1968 + + + + +GENERAL EDITORS + + George Robert Guffey, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Maximillian E. Novak, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Robert Vosper, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + + +ADVISORY EDITORS + + Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_ + James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_ + Ralph Cohen, _University of Virginia_ + Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_ + Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_ + Earl Miner, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_ + Everett T. Moore, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Lawrence Clark Powell, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + James Sutherland, _University College, London_ + H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + +CORRESPONDING SECRETARY + + Edna C. Davis, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Perhaps no higher praise can be paid a translator than posterity's +acceptance of his work. Laurence Echard's _Terence's Comedies_, first +printed in 1694 in the dress and phraseology of Restoration comedy, has +received this accolade through the mediation of no less a modern +translator than Robert Graves. In 1963 Graves edited a translation of +three of Terence's plays. His Foreword points to the extreme difficulty +of translating Terence, and admits his own failure-- "It is regrettable +that the very terseness of his Latin makes an accurate English rendering +read drily and flatly; as I have found to my disappointment." Graves's +answer was typically idiosyncratic. "A revival of Terence in English, +must, I believe, be based on the translation made . . . . with +fascinating vigour, by a young Cambridge student Laurence Echard +. . . ."[1] + +The Prefaces to Echard's _Terence's Comedies: Made English_ . . . . +(1694) and to his _Plautus's Comedies, Amphitryon, Epidicus, and Rudens_ +(1694) are of interest for several reasons. Both of them outline the +intentions and rationale which lie behind the translations. They also +throw light upon the sense of literary rivalry with French achievements +which existed in some quarters in late seventeenth-century England, make +comments on the contemporary stage, and are valuable both as examples of +seventeenth-century attitudes to two Classical dramatists, and as +statements of neoclassical dramatic theory. Finally, they are, to some +extent, polemical pieces, aiming at the instruction of contemporary +dramatists. + +Laurence Echard, or Eachard (1670?-1730), was a minor cleric, a prolific +hack, and an historian, a typical enough confusion of functions for the +time. It suggests that Echard had energy, ability, and political +commitment, but lacked a generous patron or good fortune to take the +place of private means. Within the Church his success was modest: he was +installed prebendary of Louth in 1697, but had to wait until 1712 before +becoming Archdeacon of Stow. Echard achieved the little fame by which he +is remembered as an historical writer. Perhaps he is more accurately +described as a compiler rather than as an historian. His major works +were _The Roman History, from the Building of the City, to the Perfect +Settlement of the Empire by Augustus Caesar_ . . . (1695-98), the +equally comprehensive _A General Ecclesiastical History from the +Nativity of Our Blessed Saviour to the First Establishment of +Christianity_ . . . (1702), his all-inclusive _The History of England +from the first Entrance of Julius Caesar . . . to the Conclusion of the +Reign of King James the Second_ . . . (1707-18), and the more detailed +but equally long work, _The History of the Revolution, and the +Establishment of England in . . . 1688_ (1725). + +Echard's career as a publisher's jack-of-all-trades ran concurrently +with his life's work on history, and showed a similar taste for the +voluminously encyclopedic. In 1691 he graduated B.A. at Christ's +College, Cambridge, and published four works under the imprint of Thomas +Salusbury: _A Most Complete Compendium of Geography; General and +Special; Describing all the Empires, Kingdoms, and Dominions in the +Whole World_, _An Exact Description of Ireland . . ._, _A Description of +Flanders . . ._, and the _Duke of Savoy's Dominions most accurately +described_.[2] These were followed in 1692 by _The Gazetteer's or +Newsman's Interpreter: being a Geographical Index_ . . . . Two years +later the translations of Plautus and Terence were published. + +All of this work was clearly irrelevant to his main interests: in 1695 +he had been urged to undertake his _General Ecclesiastical History_, and +by that time he was already at work upon his _Roman History_ +(1695-98).[3] Into the bargain, he was in residence at Cambridge until +1695, for he did not gain his M.A. until that year. Despite the apparent +success of his publisher's enterprises (_A Most Complete Compendium_ was +in its eighth edition by 1713, and _The Gazetteer's or Newsman's +Interpreter_ reached a twelfth in 1724), little of the profit reached +the penurious Echard. In 1717 Archbishop Wake wrote to Addison that "His +circumstances are so much worse than I thought, that if we cannot get +somewhat pretty considerable for Him, I doubt He will sink under the +weight of his debts . . . ."[4] + +The sheer quantity of work which Echard accomplished in these early +years is astonishing: it is no wonder that in the Preface to the +_Plautus_ he explained that "business" had prevented him from +translating more than three of the comedies, remarking, ". . . I have +taken somewhat less time than was necessary for the translating such an +extraordinary difficult Author; for this requires more than double the +time of an _Historian_ or the like, which was as much as I cou'd allow +my self" (sig. b3). + +In all of his work Echard sought and acknowledged the help of a whole +series of unnamed encouragers and authorities. For the _Plautus_ he "had +the Advantage of another's doing their [i.e., "these"?] Plays before me; +from whose Translation I had very considerable Helps . . ." (sig. b4). +Apart from that aid, the _Plautus_, on the evidence offered by the +title-page and the Preface, was all Echard's own. This is not the case +with the _Terence_, which was translated by a symposium, with the +Preface being written by Echard on the group's behalf. As a result, its +Preface uses "we" throughout where the _Plautus_ uses "I." When the +first edition of the _Terence_ appeared it gave the authorship as "By +Several Hands," but later editions are more detailed, and specify that +the work was done "By Mr. Laurence Echard, and others. Revis'd and +Corrected by Dr. Echard and Sir R. L'Estrange." The fourth edition also +stated firmly in 1716, "The PREFACE, Written by Mr. _Laurence Echard_" +(p. i). + +The only discrepancy which might seem to deny Echard's authorship of the +Preface to the _Terence_ is the fact that the two Prefaces contradict +one another over the way in which scenes should be marked. The Preface +to the _Terence_ simply says that exits and entrances within the acts +are a sufficient indication that the scene has changed without numbering +them, "for the _Ancients_ never had any other [method] that we know of" +(p. xxii). The _Plautus_ on the other hand, numbers the scenes, and the +Preface comments, "I have all the way divided the _Acts_ and _Scenes_ +according to the true Rules of the Stage . . ." (sig. b2v). Since this +was an open question, however, in neoclassical dramatic theory, the +simplest explanation is that Echard was free to do as he believed in the +_Plautus_, which was all his own, but was, in the Preface to the +_Terence_, expressing the views of the whole group of translators. + +The two volumes are a testimony to Echard's remarkable industry and +abilities. They were published the year before he took his M.A., when he +was only twenty-four. In the years between coming up to Cambridge in +1687 and 1695, he found time not only to satisfy his university, and to +do the very considerable amount of hack work which appeared in 1691 and +1692, as well as embarking upon his large historical works, but also +translated two difficult Roman authors with great verve. + +It would be interesting to know why, in the years between 1691 and 1694, +Echard turned his attentions to the art of translation. The venture is a +curious deviation from his otherwise single-minded devotion to history +and to journalistic enterprises (the only other translation he is known +to have done is the brief "Auction of the Philosophers" in _The Works of +Lucian_ [1710-11]). The connection of Dr. John Eachard and Sir Roger +L'Estrange may offer a slight clue. Echard was closely related to Dr. +Eachard (1636?-1697), Master of Catharine Hall, Cambridge, and author of +the lively dialogue, _Mr. Hobbs's State of Nature Consider'd_ (1672).[5] +With a family connection such as this, Echard might well have hoped for +a successful career centered on his stay at Cambridge. The dedication of +his _A Most Complete Compendium_ in 1691 to the Master of his own +college, Dr. John Covel, suggests that he was looking in this direction. +L'Estrange is important not only for his intimate knowledge of the +publishing trade, but also because he was a translator in his own right. +His _AEsop_ appeared in 1692, and he had early put out translations of +Quevedo (1673), Cicero (1680), and Erasmus (1680), and was to go on to +translate Flavius Josephus (1702). Since L'Estrange had also been a +student at Cambridge, there is some possibility that the translation of +Terence was carried out at the instigation of a Cambridge based group. +The translation might also be connected with the resurgence of interest +in translation and in "correctness" which can be discerned in the +1690's.[6] + +The two Prefaces differ somewhat in character. It seems clear from +remarks made in the Preface to the _Plautus_ that it was written after +the _Terence_ had already reached the public and after Echard's copy for +the text of Plautus's three comedies was in the printer's hands. Not +surprisingly the later Preface is hurried, and at times almost casual. +The Preface to the _Terence_ is more ambitious, more carefully written, +and more wide-ranging, though giving fewer examples of the kinds of +translations made by Echard. Both Prefaces lay claim to substantially +the same audience. That to the _Terence_ explains that the translation +was undertaken in the first place because of the literary value of +Terence's comedy. In consequence, its benefits would apply to "most +sorts of People, but especially for the Service it may do our _Dramatick +Poets_." Secondly, the work was undertaken for "the Honour of our own +_Language_, into which all good Books ought to be Translated, since +_'tis now become so Elegant, Sweet and Copious_ . . . ." Thirdly, it +might rival the translations done in other countries, particularly those +in France. The audience envisaged ranged from schoolboys, who would find +the translation less Latinate and the notes more pointed than those of +Bernard or Hoole, to "Men of Sense and Learning," who ought to be +pleased to see Terence in "modern Dress." As for the dramatists, Terence +might serve as an exemplar, especially since the translation could "be +read with less Trouble than the Original . . ." (pp. xvii-xix). The +_Plautus_ Preface is far less detailed, but refers back to these +reasons, while stressing the function of the translation for the +schoolboy. Judging by the number of editions, the _Terence_ found its +market, for where the _Plautus_ ran to only two editions, the first and +that of 1716, the _Terence_ appeared in a seventh edition in 1729. Nor +was Echard's audience merely made up of students. If one of his main +targets was contemporary dramatists, he would have been elated to learn +that William Congreve owned a copy of the first edition of both +translations.[7] + +The Prefaces are perhaps a little disingenuous in acknowledging Echard's +and his collaborators' debt to the contemporary French classical scholar +and translator, Anne Dacier. On both occasions Echard paid her some +tribute. What he does not mention is that the two volumes seem to be +modelled on her example. The _Terence_ translates the plays which had +appeared in her _Les comedies de Terence_ (Paris, 1688), and it is +significant that despite his claims that he wished to translate more +than three of Plautus' comedies, he in fact translated only those three +which Mme. Dacier had already done in her _Les comedies de Plaute_ +(Paris, 1683). Moreover, the notes and to some extent the Prefaces, are +modelled on the French scholar's work: Echard's notes are often directly +dependent upon Mme. Dacier's and are exactly described by her account of +her own volume as being "avec de remarques et un examen de chaque +comedie selon les regles du theatre." + +The views on translation put forward by the Prefaces are an intelligent +exposition of progressive contemporary notions of the art. The belief in +literal translation which characterizes Jonson and Marvell in the +earlier years of the century had been displaced by the more liberal +concept of "imitation." Roscommon is a representative of this freer +attitude, while Dryden's more severe theory of "paraphrase," whatever +his practice may have been, stands somewhere between the two positions. +Like Ozell and Gildon, and later Pope, Echard's aim, whether translating +by himself or collectively, was to imitate the spirit of his author in +English. "A meer _Verbal Translation_ is not to be expected, that wou'd +sound so horribly, and be more obscure than the Original . . . . We +couldn't have kept closer . . . without too much treading upon the +Author's Heels, and destroying our Design of giving it an easie, _Comick +Style_, most agreeable to our present Times" (_Terence's Comedies_, +p. xx). To this end it was necessary to tone down the "familiarity and +bluntness in [Terence's] Discourse" which were "not so agreeable with +the Manners and Gallantry of our Times." This was intended to bring +Terence up to the level of gentility for which he was credited by +compensating for the barbarity of Roman social manners. But the +translation was willing to go further than this: it added to the Roman +comedy what Echard thought English comedy excelled in, "humour"-- "In +some places we have had somewhat more of _Humour_ than the Original, to +make it still more agreeable to our Age . . . ." (_ibid._, p. xxii). +When speaking for himself alone in the Preface to the _Plautus_, +Echard's claims were less grandiose. Here the translation seems much +more specifically aimed at schoolboys, and Echard made firm claims for +his literalness (sig. b1-2v). On the other hand, he went out of his way +to praise Dryden's _Amphitryon_ (1690) for the freedom it had taken with +the original, which, said Echard, "may serve for one Instance of what +Improvements our Modern Poets have made on the Ancients, when they built +upon their Foundations" (sig. b3v-4). + +The praise of Dryden is to some extent double-edged since it is an +implicit assertion of the point made in both Prefaces, that English +writers had much to learn from the Roman dramatists. Echard uses the +Prefaces to assess and compare Plautus and Terence, but he also uses +them as a springboard for a critique of the state of English comedy. +Like much neoclassical criticism it is, of course, derivative. The stock +comparison of Plautus and Terence comes from Anne Dacier,[8] and +Echard's footprints can be tracked in the snows of Cicero, Scaliger, +Rapin, Andre Dacier, the Abbe D'Aubignac, and Dryden. Having set the +Ancients against the Moderns, Echard is able to attack the looseness of +English double plots by pointing to Terence's success within a similar +structure. He is also able to praise Terence's genteel style. Against +this, Echard admits, along with his precursors, Plautus' superiority in +point of _vis comica_, which he defines, interestingly, as "_Liveliness +of Intreague_" (sig. a8). Echard is thus able to claim, with +considerable conviction, the superiority of English comedy in several +areas, especially in its variety, its humour, "in some Delicacies of +_Conversation_," and "above all in _Repartee_" (_Terence's Comedies_, +p. xi). + +What the English had to learn, in Echard's view, was "regularity," that +is, the discipline imposed upon a dramatist by observing the Unities, +and obeying the other "rules of the drama" (such as the _liaisons_), in +pursuit of verisimilitude and tautness of structure. Echard's main hope +was that his translation and notes would correct his contemporaries' +habit of ignoring the Roman dramatists' "_essential_ Beauties," and +"contenting themselves with considering the _superficial_ ones, such as +the _Stile_, _Language_, _Expression_, and the like, without taking much +notice of the Contrivance and Management, of the _Plots, Characters, +etc._" (_Plautus_, sig. a1). The remarkable fact about Echard's +discussion of these matters, despite his dependence at times upon that +arch-pedant, the Abbe D'Aubignac,[9] is the critical intelligence with +which he puts forward his argument. Unlike many neoclassical critics, +Echard keeps his eyes fixed firmly on the strengths and weaknesses of +Restoration comedy within the context of previous English comedy and the +Restoration stage itself. A sign of this is his attention to practical +details, which take the form of one or two valuable notes on the theatre +of his day. We learn, for instance, that actors were in the "custom of +looking . . . full upon the Spectators," and that some members of the +Restoration audience took printed copies into the playhouse in order to +be able to follow the play on the stage.[10] It is a real loss to the +historian of drama and to the critic that these two volumes were +Laurence Echard's solitary adventure into the criticism and translation +of drama. + +University of Leeds + + +NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION + + 1. _The Comedies of Terence: Echard's Translations Edited with a + Foreword by Robert Graves_ (London, 1963), pp. viii-ix. Graves + (p. ix) says that Echard's translation of Terence was made in + 1689, when he was only nineteen. I have been unable to find any + evidence in support of this statement. + + 2. No copy of the _Duke of Savoy's Dominions_ appears to be + extant. It is not recorded in Wing, but appears in _The Term + Catalogues, 1688-1709_ . . ., ed. Edward Arber (1903-1906), II, + 380. This must have been much smaller than Echard's other + publications in this year: it cost only 3d. against the first + two's 1s. 6d. + + 3. _A General Ecclesiastical History_ . . . . (London, 1702), + sig. b1. + + 4. _The Letters of Joseph Addison_, ed. Walter Graham (Oxford, + 1941), p. 504. + + 5. Recently republished with an introduction by Peter Ure as No. + XIV (1958) in the University of Liverpool Reprints. + + 6. "Dryden, Tonson, and Subscriptions for the 1697 _Virgil_," + _PBSA_, LVII (1963), 147-48. Raymond Havens makes a rather + different emphasis in his "Changing Taste in the Eighteenth + Century," _PMLA_, XLIV (1929), 501-18. + + 7. Items 450 and 595 in _The Library of William Congreve_, ed. + John C. Hodges (New York, 1955). [[Project Gutenberg e-text 27606]] + + 8. _Les comedies de Plaute_, ed. and trans. Anne Dacier (Paris, + 1683). For a further statement of her views, see _Les comedies de + Terence_ (Paris, 1688). + + 9. In particular, see his discussion of the _liaisons_ which is + derived from Francois Hedelin, Abbe D'Aubignac, _La practique du + theatre_ . . . . (Paris, 1669), pp. 117-19, 315-20. D'Aubignac's + work was translated into English as _The Whole Art of the Stage_ + . . . . (1684). + +10. _Plautus's Comedies_, sig. a8v; _Terence's Comedies_, p. xiii. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The texts of this edition are reproduced from copies in the Brotherton +Library, University of Leeds. + + + + + _TERENCE_'s + + COMEDIES: + + + Made _ENGLISH_. + + with his + + LIFE; + + and some + + REMARKS at the End. + + + By Several HANDS. + + + _LONDON:_ + + Printed for _A. Swall_ and _T. Childe_, at the + _Unicorn_, at the West-End of St. _Paul_'s + Church-yard. 1694. + + + + +THE + +PREFACE. + + +Since long +Prefaces+ are lately much in Fashion upon this and the +like Occasions, why may not we be allow'd some tolerable Liberty in +this kind; provided we keep close to our Author, and our own +Translation of him. As for our Author, wherever Learning, Wit or +Judgment have flourish'd, this Poet has always had an extraordinary +Reputation. To mention all his Excellencies and Perfections were a +Task too difficult for us, and perhaps for the greatest Criticks +alive; so very few there are that perfectly understand all of 'em; +yet we shall venture at some of the most Remarkable. + +To begin with him in general. He was certainly the most Exact, the +most Elaborate, and withal the most Natural of all +Dramatick+ +Poets; His +Stile+ so neat and pure, his +Characters+ so true and +perfect, his +Plots+ so regular and probable, and almost every thing +so absolutely just and agreeable, that he may well seem to merit +that Praise which several have given him, +That he was the most +correct Author in the World.+ To compare him with +Plautus+, the +other great +Latin Comedian+, we may observe that +Plautus+ had more +Wit and Spirit, but +Terence+ more Sense and Judgment; the former's +Stile was rich and glaring, the latter's more close and even: ++Plautus+ had the most dazelling out-side, and the most lively +Colours, but +Terence+ drew the finest Figures and Postures, and had +the best Design; the one pleas'd the Vulgar, but our Author the +Better sort of people; the former wou'd usually set his Spectators +into a loud Laughter, but the latter steal 'em into a sweet Smile +that shou'd continue from the beginning to the end of the +Representation: in short, +Plautus+ was more lively and vigorous, +and so fitter for +Action+; and +Terence+ more grave and serious, +and so fitter for +Reading+. Tho' +Plautus+'s Beauties were very +extraordinary, yet he had his Faults and Indecorums very frequent; +but +Terence+'s Excellencies (tho' possibly inferior to some of the +others) were more general, better dispers'd, and closer continu'd; +and his Faults so inconsiderable, and so very few, that +Scaliger+ +said, +There were not three to be found throughout the Six Plays.+ +So that our Author seems to want nothing to make him absolutely +compleat, but only that same +Vis Comica+ that +Caesar+ wishes he +had, and which +Plautus+ was Master of in such a high degree. We +shall determine nothing between 'em, but leave 'em good Friends as +we found 'em. + +This may be sufficient for our Author's Excellencies in general; for +his particular ones, we shall begin with his Stile, a thing he has +been admir'd for in all Ages, and truly he deserves it; for +certainly no one was ever more accurate, natural, and clear in his +Expressions than he. But to be a little more particular in this +Matter, we shall give you some few of our Author's Excellencies in +this kind under three or four different Heads. + +And first, We may observe of his +Words+, that they are generally +nicely chosen, extreamly proper and significant; and many of 'em +carry so much Life and Force in 'em, that they can hardly be +express'd in any other Language without great disadvantage to the +Original. To instance in these following. +Qui cum ingeniis +_conflictatur_ ejusmodi.+ +Ut animus in spe atque in timore usque +ante hac _attentus_ fuit.+ +Nisi me lactasses amantem, & falsa spe +_produceres_.+ +_Pam._ Mi Pater. _Si._ Quid mi Pater? Quasi tu +_hujus indigeas_ Patris.+ +Tandem ego non illa caream, si sit opus, +vel totum triduum. _Par._ Hui? _Universum triduum._+ +Quam _elegans_ +formarum spectator siem.+ +Hunc comedendum & deridendum vobis +_propino_.+ + +We shall next take notice of one or two Instances of the Shortness +and Clearness of his Narrations; as that which +Tully+ mentions. ++Funus interim procedit sequimur, ad Sepulchrum venimus, in ignem +posita est, Fletur.+ Another may be that in +Phormio+. +Persuasum +est homini, factum est, ventum est, vincimur, duxit.+ + +Another remarkable Beauty of his Stile appears in his Climaxes; +where every Word is Emphatical, heightens the Sense, and adds +considerably to what went before. As, +Haec verba Mehercule una falsa +Lachrymula, quam oculos terendo misere vix vi expresserit, +restinguet.+ +Quod ille unciatim vix de demenso suo, suum defraudans +genium, comparsit miser.+ + +The last thing we shall give any instance of, is the Softness and +Delicacy of his Turns; of which many might be produced; but we think +these few may be sufficient for our purpose. +Eheu me miseram! Cur +non aut isthaec mihi aetas & forma est, aut tibi haec sententia.+ +Nam +si ego digna hac contumelia sum maxime, at tu indignus qui faceres +tamen.+ +Nam dum abs te absum, omnes mihi labores fuere, quos cepi, +leves, praeterquam tui carendum quod erat.+ +Palam beatus, ni unum +desit, animus qui modeste isthaec ferat.+ +Aliis, quia defit quod +amant, aegre est, tibi, quod super est, dolet.+ And as for the Purity +of his Language in general; we find it very much commended even by ++Tully+ himself. And +One+ of the Moderns is not at all out of the +way when he tells us: That the +Latin+ Tongue will never be lost, as +long as +Terence+ may be had. + +Our Author's Excellent +Latin+ is now the greatest Cause of his +Esteem, and makes him so much read in the World; but for certain, he +that reads him purely for his +Latin+ sake, does but a quarter read +him; for 'tis his +Characters+ and +Plots+ have so far rais'd him up +above the rest of the Poets, and have gain'd him so much Honour +among the Criticks in all Ages. His +Stile+, tho' so very +extraordinary, in a great measure may be learnt by Industry, long +Custom, and continual Usage, and has been imitated to a high degree +by several; and indeed this was but as rich Attire, and outward +Ornaments to set off a more beautiful Body. But in his +Characters+ +and +Manners+ there it is that he triumphs without a Rival; and not +only +Dramatick+, but all other Poets must yield to him in that +Point. For these are drawn exactly to the Life, perfectly just, +truly proportionably, and fully kept up to the last; and as for +their being natural, +Rapin+ says, +That no Man living had a greater +insight into Nature than he.+ The more a Man looks into 'em, the +more he must admire 'em; he'll find there not only such Beauty in +his +Images+, but also such excellent Precepts of +Morality+, such +solid Sense in each Line, such depth of Reasoning in each Period, +and such close arguing between each Party, that he must needs +perceive him to be a Person of strong Sense and Judgment. His ++Deliberations+ are most compleat, where all the several Accidents, +Events, Dangers, Casualties, good and bad Consequences are fully +summed up and clearly urg'd; so are the +Answers+ of each Person as +perfect, where every thing is so well fitted, so home, and so +natural, that if one shou'd study upon 'em never so long, he cou'd +scarce find any thing more to the purpose. He had a peculiar +Happiness at pleasing and amusing an Audience, perpetually keeping +'em in a most even, pleasant, smiling Temper; and this is the most +distinguishing part of his Character from the rest of the World; his +Pleasantries were somewhat Manly, and such as reach'd beyond the +Fancy and Imagination, even to the Heart and Soul of the Audience; +and what is more remarkable yet, one single Scene shall please a +whole day together; a Secret which few or no other Poet ever found +out. + +And as we have scarce found one Man in the World that equals him in +his Characters, so we find but very few that cou'd come up to him in +the Management (we mean his Art and Contrivance) of his +Plots+. We +are sensible that many have been so foolish as to count his Plays a ++bare Bundle of Dialogues dress'd up in a neat Stile+, and there all +his Excellency to consist, or at least that they are very ordinary +and mean; but such senseless Suppositions will soon vanish upon +giving an Account of the Nature and Perfection of 'em. He well +understood the Rules of the Stage, or rather those of +Nature+; was +perfectly +Regular+, wonderful exact and careful in ordering each ++Protasis+ or Entrance, +Epitasis+ or working up, +Catastasis+ or +heighth, and +Catastrophe+ or unravelling the Plot; which last he +was famous for making it spring necessarily from the Incidents, and +neatly and dextrously untying the Knot, whilst others of a grosser +make, would either tear, or cut it in pieces. In short (setting +aside some few things which we shall mention by and by) +Terence+ +may serve for the best and most perfect +Model+ for our +Dramatick+ +Poets to imitate, provided they exactly observe the different +Customs and Manners of the +Roman+ and +English+ People; and upon +the same account we beg leave to be a little more particular in this +Matter, which dispos'd us very much to this Translation. + +The Nature of his +Plots+ was for the most part grave and solid, +and sometimes passionate a little, resembling our Modern ++Tragy-Comedies+; only the Comical parts were seldom so merry; +the Thinness and clearness of 'em somewhat resembling our Modern ++Tragedies+, only more perfect in the latter, and not crouded +with too many Incidents. They were all double except the +Hecyra+, +or +Mother-in-Law+, yet so contriv'd that one was always an ++Under-plot+ to the other: So that he still kept perfectly to the +first great Rule of the Stage, the +Unity of Action+. As for the +second great Rule the +Unity of Time+ (that is, for the whole Action +to be perform'd in the compass of a Day) he was as exact in that as +possible, for the longest Action of any of his Plays reaches not +Eleven hours. He was no less careful in the third Rule, +The Unity +of Place+, for 'tis plain he never shifts his Scene in any one of +his Plays, but keeps constantly to the same place from the beginning +to the end. Then for the +Continuance in the Action+, he never fails +in any one place, but every Instrument is perpetually at work in +carrying on their several Designs, and in them the design of the +whole; so that the Stage never grows cold till all is finish'd: And +to do this the more handsomely and dextrously, he scarce ever brings +an +Actor+ upon the Stage, but you presently know his Name and +Quality, what part of the Intrigue he's to promote, why he came +there, from whence he came, why just at that time, why he goes off, +where he's a going, and also what he is or ought to be doing or +contriving all the time he's away. His +Scenes+ are always unbroken, +so that the Stage is never perfectly clear but between the Acts; but +are continually joyn'd by one of the four Unions. Which according to ++Mon. Hedelin+ are these; +Presence+, +Seeking+, +Noise+, or +Time+; +and when the Action ceaseth (that is, upon the Stage) and the Stage +is clear'd, an +Act+ is then finish'd. Then for +Incidents+, and the +due Preparation of 'em, +Terence+ was admirable: And the true and +exact Management of +these+ is one of the most difficult parts of ++Dramatick Poetry+. He contrives every thing in such a manner so as +to fall out most probably and naturally, and when they are over they +seem almost necessary; yet by his excellent Skill he so cunningly +conceals the Events of things from his Audience, till due time, that +they can never foresee 'em; by this means they are so amus'd with +the +Actors+ Designs, that the +Poets+ is unknown to 'em, till at +last, being all along in the dark, they are surpriz'd most agreeably +by something they never look'd for: And this is the most taking and +the most delightful part of a Play. We might insist much more +largely upon each of these Particulars, and upon several others, but +at present we shall content our selves with saying that these ++Plots+ are all so very +clear+, and +natural+, that they might very +well go for a Representation of a thing that had really happen'd; +and not the meer Invention of the +Poet+. + +There are two or three remarkable Objections against our Author +which we can't but take notice of. First, 'tis said, +That he has +not kept to the Unity of Time in his Heautontimoreumenos, or +Self-Tormenter; which contains the space of two days. Then, between +the second and third Acts, there's an absolute failure of the +Continuance of the Action.+ These are generally believ'd by several +Men, and such as are famous too; and some to vindicate +Terence+ the +better have added another Mistake, +That the Play was always acted +two several times, the two first Acts one, and the three last +another.+ But 'tis plain from all Circumstances, that the +Action+ +began very late in the Evening, and ended betimes in the Morning (of +which we have said something in our +Remarks+ at the end) so that +the whole cou'dn't contain above Eleven hours; but as for that of +the +Cessation of the Action+, 'tis answer'd two ways, either by the +necessity of Sleep at that Interval, and consequently no ++Cessation+, or (which is more probable) by the Persons being busie +at the Treat at +Chremes+'s House, that being a necessary part of +the main +Action+. The two following are Mr. +Dryden+'s Exceptions; +where first he lays an Error to our Author's Charge in matter of ++Time+. +In the Eunuch+ (says he) +when _Laches_ enters _Thais_'s +House by mistake, between his _Exit_ and the Entrance of _Pythias_, +who comes to give ample Relation of the Disorder he has rais'd +within, _Parmeno_ who is left upon the Stage has not above five +Lines to speak.+ In answer to this, +Pythias+ makes no such +ample +Relation+, but rather tells him what +Disorders+ such a foolish Act +of his was like to raise; and in truth it is not probable she shou'd +stay above five or six Lines speaking, since after she saw her Cheat +had taken, she cou'dn't keep her countenance within Doors, and was +so eager to revenge her self by laughing at the Fool without. +Besides here's an excellent Artifice of the Poets, for had she +tarry'd longer, +Parmeno+ might ha' been gone, and her Mirth +qualified when she saw the good Fortune +Chaerea+ had met withal. His +other Exception is, that our Author's +Scenes+ are several times +broken. He instances in the same Play, +That _Antipho_ enters singly +in the midst of the third Act, after _Chremes_ and _Pythias_ were +gone off+. As for this, 'tis to be consider'd that +Scenes+ are +united by +Time+ as well as +Presence+; and this is a perfect +Union +of Time+, apparent to all who understand the +Art of the Stage+. A +little farther he says, +That _Dorias_ begins the fourth Act +alone;---- She quits the Stage, and _Phedria_ enters next.+ Here ++Dorias+ does not quit the Stage till three +Scenes+ after, as +appears by +Pythias+, bidding her carry in such things as she had +brought with her from the Captain's Entertainment; but if she did, +there wou'd be an +Union of Time+ nevertheless, as there is in all +other places, where the +Scenes+ seem broken. Some make this +Objection; that in the beginning of many Scenes, two +Actors+ enter +upon the Stage, and talk to themselves a considerable time before +they see or know one another; +Which+ (they say) +is neither +probable nor natural+. Those that object this don't consider the +great Difference between our little scanty Stage, and the large +magnificent +Roman Theatres+. Their Stage was sixty Yards wide in +the Front, their Scenes so many Streets meeting together, with all +By-Lanes, Rows and Allies; so two +Actors+ coming down two different +Streets or Lanes cou'dn't be seen by each other, tho' the ++Spectators+ might see both, and sometimes if they did see each +other they cou'dn't well distinguish Faces at sixty Yards distances. +Besides upon several accounts it might well be suppos'd when an ++Actor+ enters upon the Stage out of some House, he might take a +turn or two under the +Portico's+, +Cloysters+, or the like (that +were usual at that time) about his Door, and take no notice of an ++Actor+'s being on the other side the Stage. + +But since we propose our Master as the best +Model+ for +Dramatick +Poets+ to follow, we ought in Justice to mention such things wherein +he was any ways faulty, or at least where he ought not to be +imitated. The first is, He makes his +Actors+ in some places speak +directly, and immediately to the +Audience+ (of which that ++Monologue+ of +Mysis+ in the first Act of the first Play is an +instance) which is contrary to the Rules of +Dramatick Poetry+, or +rather indeed of +Nature+; and this is the only real Fault that ++Terence+ was guilty of, as his want of +Vis Comica+ was the only +real Defect. His +Plots+ were not always the best for Story, tho' +for Contrivance, and wanted somewhat of Length and Variety, fully +and compleatly to satisfie an Audience. Take 'em all together, they +were too much alike to have always their deserv'd Effect of +surprizing; which also gave a mighty Limitation to the Variety of +his +Characters+; a great pity for a Man that had such an admirable +Knack of drawing them to the Life. It were also to be wish'd that +his +Monologues+ or Discourses by single Persons, were less +frequent, and sometimes shorter too; for tho' they are all of 'em +full of excellent Sence, sound Reasoning, ingenious +Deliberations+, +and serv'd truly to carry on the main Design; yet several parts of +'em, especially all +Narrations+, wou'd ha' been more natural as +well as Artificial, if told by Persons of the +Drama+ to one +another. Then his +Aparts+ or +Asides+ (that is when one +Actor+ +speaks something which another that is present is suppos'd to not +hear, tho' the Audience do) are sometimes too long to be perfectly +natural. Whether he has not sometimes too much Elevation of Passion, +or Borders too nigh upon +Tragedy+ for such inferior Persons, we +leave to others. These are the main things to be taken notice of by +all that make use of him for a +Model+, besides all such as belong +purely to the various Customs of Countries, and to the difference of ++Theatres+; but those are obvious enough to all. + +But there's still one great Objection against these +Plays+ in +general; that is, +If _Terence_'s Plays are so good as is pretended, +why doesn't some Poet or other translate one or more of 'em for the +Stage, so save himself the trouble of racking his Brain for new +Matter+. We own they wouldn't take upon our Stage; but to clear all, +we shall give these two Reasons: First, The Difference between the ++Romans+ and our selves in +Customs+, +Humors+, +Manners+ and ++Theatres+ is such, that it is impossible to adapt their Plays to +our Stages. The +Roman+ Plots were often founded upon the exposing +of Children, and their unexpected Delivery, on buying of Misses and +Musick-Girls; they were chiefly pleas'd to see a covetous old Father +neatly bubbled by his Slave of a round Sum of Money; to find the +young Spark his Son (miserably in want of Cash) joyn with the Slave +in the Intrigue, that he may get somewhat to stop his Mistress's +Mouth, whom he keeps unknown to his Father; to see a bragging +Coxcomb wheadled and abus'd by some cunning +Parasite+; to hear a +Glutton talk of nothing but his Belly, and the like. Our +Plots+ go +chiefly upon variety of Love-Intrigues, Ladies Cuckolding their +Husbands most dextrously; Gallants danger upon the same account, +with their escape either by witty Fetches, or hiding themselves in +dark Holes, Closets, Beds, &c. We are all for Humour, Gallantry, +Conversation, and Courtship, and shou'dn't endure the chief Lady in +the Play a Mute, or to say very little, as 'twas agreeable to them: +Our amorous Sparks love to hear the pretty Rogues prate, snap up +their Gallants, and Repartee upon 'em on all sides. We shou'dn't +like to have a Lady marry'd without knowing whether she gives her +consent or no, (a Custom among the +Romans+) but wou'd be for +hearing all the Courtship, all the rare and fine things that Lovers +can say to each other. The second Reason of their not taking upon +the Stage is this, tho' +Terence+'s Plays are far more +exact+, ++natural+, +regular+, and clear than ours, and his Persons speak +more like themselves than generally ours do; yet (to speak +impartially) our Plays do plainly excel his in some Particulars. +First, in the great Variety of the +Matter+ and +Incidents+ of our ++Plots+; the Intrigues thicker and finer; the +Stories+ better, +longer, and more curious for the most part than his: And tho' +there's much confusion, huddle and precipitation in the generality +of 'em; yet the great variety and number of +Incidents+ tho' ill +manag'd, will have several Charms, and be mighty diverting, +especially to a vulgar Audience, like the Sight of a large City at a +distance, where there is little of Regularity or Uniformity to be +discern'd just by. Next, we do much excel +Terence+ in that which we +call +Humour+, that is in our +Comical Characters+, in which we have +shewn and expos'd the several Humours, Dispositions, Natures, +Inclinations, Fancies, Irregularities, Maggots, Passions, Whims, +Follies, Extravagancies, &c. of Men under all sorts of +Circumstances, of all sorts of +Ranks+ and +Qualities+, of all ++Professions+ and +Trades+, and of all +Nations+ and +Countries+, so +admirably, and so lively, that in this no Nation among the Ancients +or Moderns were ever comparable to us. Lastly, Our +Comedies+ excel +his in some Delicacies of +Conversation+; particularly in the +Refinedness of our +Railery+ and +Satyr+, and above all in ++Repartee+. Some of these things (especially when mix'd with ++Humour+) have made many an ordinary +Plot+ take and come off well; +and without a pretty quantity of some of 'em, our Plays wou'd go +down very heavily. + +Since we are accidentally fall'n into the Excellencies of our ++Comedies+, we hope it may be pardonable if we mention also some +principal Faults in 'em, which seem to need a Regulation. And first, +Our +Poets+ seldom or never observe any of the three great +Unities +of Action+, +Time+ and +Place+, which are great Errors; For what +breeds more Confusion than to have five or six main +Plots+ in a +Play, when the Audience can never attend to 'em? What more +extravagant than to fancy the Actions of Weeks, Months, and Years +represented in the Space of three or four Hours? Or what more +unnatural than for the Spectators to suppose themselves now in a +Street, then in a Garden, by and by in a Chamber, immediately in the +Fields, then in a Street again, and never move out of their place? +Wou'dn't one swear there was Conjuration in the Case; that the +Theatres were a sort of +Fairy Land+ where all is Inchantment, +Juggle and Delusion? Next, our Plays are too often over-power'd with ++Incidents+ and +Under-plots+, and our Stage as much crowded with +such +Actors+, as there's little or no occasion for; especially at +one time. Then the +Matter+, and Discourse of our Plays is very +often incoherent and impertinent as to the main Design; nothing +being more common than to meet with two or three whole Scenes in a +Play, which wou'd have fitted any other part of the Play ev'n as +well as that; and perhaps any Play else. Thus some appear to swear +out a Scene or two, others to talk bawdy a little, without any +manner of dependance upon the rest of the Action. But besides this +(which is another great Error) when the +Matter+ and +Discourse+ do +serve to carry on the main Design, commonly Persons are brought on +to the Stage without any sort of Art, Probability, Reason or +Necessity for their coming there; and when they have no such +Business as one that comes in to give you a Song or a Jigg. They +come there to serve the Poets Design a little, then off they go with +as little Reason as they came on; and that only to make way for +other Actors, who (as they did) come only to tell the Audience +something the Poet has a mind to have 'em know; and that's all their +business: And truly that's little enough. This we see frequently in +the chief Actor of the Play, who comes on and goes off, and the +Spectators all the time stand staring and wondring at what they know +not what. Another great Fault common to many of our Plays is, that +an Actor's +Name+, +Quality+ or +Business+ is scarce ever known till +a good while after his appearance; which must needs make the +Audience at a great Loss, and the Play hard to be understood, +forcing 'em to carry Books with 'em to the +Play-house+ to know who +comes in, and who goes out. + +The Ancients were guilty of none of these Absurdities, and more +especially our Author; and indeed the Non-observance of +Rules+ has +occasion'd the great Miscarriages of so many excellent Genius's of +ours, particularly that of the immortal +Shakespear+. Since these +are such apparent Faults and Absurdities, and still our Beauties are +so admirable as to cover, and almost to out-weigh our Errors (else +our Plays were not to be endur'd) undoubtedly our +Dramatick Poets+ +by the Observance of this Author's Ways and Rules might out-do all +the +Ancients+ and +Moderns+ too, both at +Tragedy+ and at +Comedy+; +for no Nation ever had greater +Genius+'s than ours for Dramatick +Poetry. These ha' been but little observ'd as yet, so that all our +fine +Imitations of Nature+ may often be call'd +Lucky hits+, and +more by Accident than by Art. We very much need a Reformation in +this Case, and our Plays can never arrive to any great Perfection +without it; therefore the nigher they come up to this Standard, the +more they will be admir'd and lov'd by all Judicious Persons, +provided they still keep to those Excellencies before-mention'd. +Besides, these are as easily practicable upon ours as upon the ++Greek+ and +Roman+ Theatres; and by a strict Observance of the ++Unity of Place+, the Stage may be made far more handsome and +magnificent with less Charge; and by that of the +Unity of Action+ +(especially by the help of an Under-plot or so) the Story may be +made far more fine and clear with less trouble. + +But our Nation by long Custom, and the Success of Irregular Pieces, +seems naturally averse to all Rules; and take it very ill to have +their Thoughts confin'd and shackled, and tied to the Observance of +such Niceties: Therefore in the first place they tell us, That Poets +of all Men in the World are perfectly freely, and by no means ought +to confine their Noble Fancies to dull pedantick Rules; +For this+ +(say they) +is like taking of Bees, cutting off their Wings, and +laying such Flowers before 'em to make Honey as they please+. A ++Poet+ indeed shou'd be free, and unconfin'd as Air, as to his +Though, Fancy and Contrivance, but then his +Poetica Licentia+ +shou'dn't transport him to Madness and Extravagancy, making him +phrensically transgress the Rules of +Reason+ and +Nature+, as well +as +Poetry+. These that we mention are not any Man's Arbitrary ++Rules+, but pure Nature only Methodiz'd: They never hamper a ++Poet+'s Fancy or clip his Wings, but adorn their Thoughts, and +regulate their Flights so as to give 'em a clearer insight into ++Nature+, +Probability+ and +Decency+, without something of which it +is impossible to please. And these are no more a +Confinement+ to a ++Poet+'s Fancy, than the true Proportion of Pillars, the Regularity +and Uniformity of Windows are to an Architect; or the exact +Imitation of Nature to a Painter: As if there could be half so much +Beauty in Grotesque and irregular Whims, as in the due Observation +of the Rules of Prospect, Shadows and Proportion. + +Another Objection is, +That our Nation will never bear Rules, but +are much better pleas'd with the ways now in practice.+ 'Tis true, +several of our most irregular Plays have come off with a great deal +of Applause, but certainly never the more for their Irregularity; +but because most of the Audience knew no better, being often dazzled +by the Greatness of the Author's Genius, and the Actor's +Performances; and those that did, were willing to pardon the Faults +for the sake of some choice +Master-stroaks+ they had; and upon the +same account a couple of good +Scenes+ have many times carry'd off a +very indifferent Play: 'Tis plain that want of Use and Knowledge +have been the only Cause of these ways seeming so unpracticable; and +if the middle sort of Persons were once truly brought to a Sight of +the Excellencies of this, and the Deformities of the other way (as +the well reading of these Plays wou'd in a great measure do, being +chiefly design'd for them) they wou'd esteem of it far more than +now; and certainly they cou'd never pardon those many +Indecencies+, ++Improbabilities+, +Absurdities+ that are so frequent in our Plays. +'Tis true, there has been a considerable Regulation among many of +'em since the Days of +Shakespear+, but not to bring things half to +perfection. And thus Regulation has made hope for a further, as the +Age will be brought to bear it. + +The last Objection is more particular: They say, +That the Unities +of Action, Time and Place must needs take off from the great Variety +of the Plot, and a fine Story by this means will be quite murder'd.+ +'Tis true, all +Stories+ whatsoever are not fit for a +Dramatick +Poem+; yet there may be an excellent +Plot+ without crowding +together Intrigues (little depending upon one another) of half a +dozen couple, suppose, in one Play; without hurrying over the +Business of three Months in three Hours time, or perhaps without +skipping from Gardens to Mountains, from thence to Groves, and then +to Town in an Act or two: But our prying, curious Sparks can't rest +here, but must be for peeping into Chambers, Closets, and +Withdrawing-Rooms, ay, and into Beds too (sometimes with the Ladies +in 'em) and have all things brought openly upon the Stage, tho' +never so improper, and indecent. But this Objection may yet be +better answer'd by Instances; and first for the +Unity of Time+, we +may mention the Play call'd, +The Adventures of Five Hours+, the +whole +Action+ lasting no longer (much less a day, the extent +allow'd for a +Dramatick Poem+) yet this is one of the pleasantest ++Stories+ that ever appear'd upon our Stage, and has as much Variety +of +Plots+ and +Intrigues+, without any thing being precipitated, +improbable or unnatural as to the main +Action+; so by this it +appears that this Rule is no Spoiler or Murderer of a finer +Story+. +Then for the +Unity of Time+ and Action too, +Ben. Johnson's Silent +Woman+ is a remarkable Instance; an excellent +Comedy+ indeed, where +the +Action+ is perfectly single, and the utmost extent of the ++Time+ exceeds not three Hours and a half (the shortest we ever +find) yet still the +Plot+, +Intrigues+, and above all the ++Incidents+ are very fine, and no ways unnatural. Lastly, For all +three +Unities+, Mr. +Dryden's All for Love+ (tho' a +Tragedy+, and +somewhat foreign to our business) is worthy to be taken notice of, +that being perfectly +Regular+ according to the Rules of the Stage, +the Scenes unbroken, the +Incidents+ exactly and duly prepar'd, and +all things noble and beautiful, just and proportionable. This we +reckon one of the best +Tragedies+ of our Nation. Now can any Man +justly think that these Plays we now mention'd were ever the worse +for that +Regularity+ they had; or indeed have we many better in the +Nation for +Plot+; or many that have better pleas'd the generality +of Persons than these; If so this sufficiently shows the Truth of +what we offered; and withal commends our Master's great Judgment in +this Point: Who, in our Opinion (besides the Excellency of his ++Characters+) plainly deserves a greater Name for his +Plots+, than +he does for his +Language+. + +Come we next then to our own Vindication, in which we shall briefly +shew the +Reasons+ why we did it, and likewise what our Performances +have been in this Version. + +The main +Reasons+ why we undertook it were these. First, For the +Excellency and Usefulness of this Author in general: And +consequently for the benefit (as we shall shew by and by) of most +sorts of People, but especially for the Service it may do our ++Dramatick Poets+. Next, for the Honour of our own +Language+, into +which all good Books ought to be Translated, since +'tis now become +so Elegant, Sweet and Copious+: And indeed nothing refines, or gives +Foreigners a greater Opinion of any Language than its number of good +Translations; of which the +French+ is a great Instance. Thirdly, +Because most of our Neighbours have got it in their +Language+, +particularly the +French+, who have done it with good Success; and +we have no reason for our being out-done by any of our Neighbours, +since we have a +Language+ we dare set against any in the World. +Lastly, Since the Author is so excellent, we undertook it because no +other Persons wou'd. 'Tis strange that none of our great Wits wou'd +undertake it before, but let us Persons of Obscurity, take their +Works out of their Hands; when we can perceive by our little +Performances that our +Language+ will do it to a very high degree, +undoubtedly better than the +French+. + +The most considerable Objections that have been made against our +Translation are these. First, +What real Use or Advantage can this +Translation be to the Publick? As for school-Boys and Learners, +_Bernard_'s and _Hool_'s Translations, the great number of Notes, +a School-Master, or their own Industry will well enough teach 'em to +construe it. Men of Sense and Learning, they read it wholly for the +Latin sake; therefore a Translation is of no use to them.+ Lastly, ++They won't fit our Stage; and consequently they are impertinent at +best.+ To these we answer; First, As to +School-Boys+ and ++Learners+; +Bernard+'s and +Hool+'s Translations are very often +false, mostly so obsolete, flat and unpleasant, that a Man can +scarce read half a Page without sleeping; the latter is full of ++Latinisms+, and both are often more obscure than the Original. The ++Notes+ sometimes don't express the Author's Sense; and often very +obscurely: In some things they are too short, in others too long and +tedious: And most of them have the slight of running very nimbly +over those Places which they are afraid they shou'd stick in. ++School-Masters+ often want time, and now and then Judgment and +Learning to explain things as they ought; then to leave Boys by +themselves to pick out the Sense of such a difficult Author as this, +is very inconvenient; which besides the Discouragement sometimes of +not being able to do it, will often lead 'em into such Errors and +Mistakes, as perhaps they'll ne're get clear of. So that this will +be of great use even to +School-Boys+ and +Learners+: Beside the +great Advantage of teaching 'em, perhaps not the worst +English+; +and something of the Idiom of our Tongue. + +As for the second part of the Objection, +That Men of Sense and +Learning read it only for the Latin sake+; This is or ought to be +look'd upon as a great Mistake: Since +Terence+ has other and +greater Excellencies than his Style, as we have before shewn. But +however ingenious Persons must needs receive some pleasure in seeing +such excellent Latin now speak tolerable good +English+; and +likewise in seeing somewhat of the Conversation, Humour and Customs +of the old +Greeks+ and +Romans+ put into a modern Dress; and +perhaps not quite out of the Fashion. Besides, since many of these +do sometimes upon an occasion make use of +Notes+, 'twill be of +equal use (in that respect) to them as to all +Learners+. And that +they have often need of such, will appear from the several difficult +places (especially as to the Plot) and some obscure dubious Passages +in this Author, which the utmost Skill in the +Latin+ Tongue will +not teach to explain; since there is as great a necessity for the +understanding of the +Roman+ Customs and Theatres in this Case, and +of the Art of the Stage, as of the +Latin+ Tongue. How extraordinary +useful a Translation can be in perfectly +clearing an Author+, ++Roscommon+'s Translation of +Horace+'s +Art of Poetry+ is an +apparent Instance; which shews the Sense, Meaning, Design, &c. of ++Horace+ better and easier than all the +Paraphrases+ and +Notes+ in +the World. + +Thirdly, Tho' our +Translation+ will never fit our Stage, yet it may +be of considerable use to some of the +Dramatick Poets+; which we +had some respect to, when we did it; they will serve 'em (as was +said before) for +Models+; and tho' many of our Poets do very well +understand the Original, yet 'tis plain that some of 'em do not +understand it over much. But however, it may not be wholly useless +to those that do, and more proper for their business, being ready +explain'd to their hands: And upon some accounts to be read with +less trouble than the Original: For that is in many places very +obscure by reason of corrupted Copies, wrong Points, false Division +of whole +Acts+ as well as +Scenes+ and the like: Further, if these +Plays come to be frequently read by the more ordinary sort of +People, they will by little and little grow more in love with, and +more clearly see the true Excellencies of these Rules, and these +lively +Imitations of Nature+, which will be the greatest +Encouragement our Poets can have to follow 'em. And besides, the +common People by these +Plays+ may plainly perceive that ++Obscenities+ and +Debaucheries+ are no ways necessary to make a +good +Comedy+; and the Poets themselves will be the more ready to +blush when they see +Heathens+ so plainly out-do us +Christians+ in +their +Morals+; for their principal Vices in their Plays, were +chiefly from the Ignorance of the Times, but we have no such +pretence. This alone might ha' been a sufficient reason for our +undertaking this Design. + +But to come now to what we have done; 'tis not to be expected we +shou'd wholly reach the Air of the Original; that being so peculiar, +and the Language so different; We have imitated our Author as well +and as nigh as the +English+ Tongue and our small Abilities wou'd +permit; each of us joyning and consulting about every Line, not only +for the doing of it better, but also for the making of it all of a +piece. We follow'd no one +Latin+ Copy by it self, because of the +great Disagreements among 'em, but have taken any that seem'd +truest. We look'd over all the +Notes+, sometimes they would help us +a little, and often not; some hints we had from the +French+, but +not very many; besides we had considerable helps from other Persons +far above our selves, for whose Care and Pains we shall ever +acknowledge our Gratitude. A meer +Verbal Translation+ is not to be +expected, that wou'd sound so horribly, and be more obscure than the +Original; but we have been faithful Observers of his Sence, and even +of his Words too, not slipping any of consequence without something +to answer it; nay farther, where two Words seem to be much the same, +and perhaps not intended to be very different by the Author, we were +commonly so nice as to do them too; such as +Segnitia+ and ++Socordia+, +Scire+ and +Noscere+, and the like, which is more exact +than most, if not all, our modern Versions. We cou'dn't have kept +closer (especially in this Author, which several ingenious Persons +told us, +Is the hardest in the World to translate+;) without too +much treading upon the Author's Heels, and destroying our Design of +giving it an easie, +Comick Style+, most agreeable to our present +Times. If we have been guilty of any Fault of this nature, it seems +to be that of keeping too close. + +But still to be more particular; we did all we cou'd to prevent any +of the Meaning and Grace of the best +Words+ to be lost; so that we +were often forc'd to search and study some time for those most +proper, and oftentimes to express 'em by two, and sometimes by a ++Circumlocution+: Which Madam +Dacier+ her self, as accurate as she +is accompted, has often neglected: And thereby has wholly lost the +Force and Beauty of many Emphatical Words. +Terence+ had some Words +taken in a great many several Sences, such as +Contumelia+ and ++Injuria+, +Odiosus+, +Tristis+, &c. these we have been very careful +about; but where he plays upon Words (tho' never so prettily) he +ought not in some places to be imitated at all, because the Fineness +is more lost that way, than the other; yet we try'd at several when +they were Natural and tolerable in +English+. As for his +Allusions+ +and the like, many of them perhaps are quite lost to us. However +they are commonly lost in our Language. On such places (as well as +some others) we made +Remarks+ or +Notes+ at the latter end; some of +which we are oblig'd to the +French+ Lady for; these serving to shew +our Author's fine Stroaks, as well as to vindicate our Translation. +For his +Sense+ and +Meaning+, we have taken more than ordinary care +about, and weigh'd all Circumstances before we fix'd. Several of the +Passages are done contrary to the general Opinion, and some few +differently from all, both as to the +Person that speaks+ as well as +the +Meaning+, but not without good Grounds; and if any be so nice +in censuring, we desire that Person to shew us three +Terences+ that +exactly agree with one another, either in Points or Words, for two +Acts together. Of those Passages that were absolutely doubtful, we +always took the best, and that, which seem'd to us, the most +probable Way and Meaning; and all such as were difficult, knotty or +obscure in the Original, we made as plain and clear as we cou'd; +and we presume to phansie there are very few Passages in ours, +unintelligible to the meanest Capacity. In his +Jests+ and ++Repartees+ (except they were +Allusions+ or the like) we hope that +the force of 'em is seldom lost. For making every Person speak so +exactly like themselves (a thing that our Author was so famous for) +is much more difficult in +English+ by reason of its greater variety +of +Idioms+ and +Phrases+ than in the +Latin+; and to suit these +always right, requires a greater +Genius+ than we can pretend to. ++Terence+, tho' reckon'd very genteel in his Days, seems in some +place to have a sort of familiarity and bluntness in his Discourse, +not so agreeable with the Manners and Gallantry of our Times; which +we have mollify'd as well as we cou'd, still making the +Servants+ +sawcy enough upon occasion. In some places we have had somewhat more +of +Humour+ than the Original, to make it still more agreeable to +our Age; but all the while have kept so nigh our Author's +Sence+ +and +Design+, that we hope it can never be justly call'd a Fault. We +can't certainly tell whither +William+ the Conqueror, the +Grand +Seignior+ (and the like) may pass with some: They may possibly +take 'em for Blunders in time: which are now become Proverbial +Expressions; the first signifying only a great while ago, and +t'other a great Man. + +As for the Division of the +Acts+ and +Scenes+, all the common ++Terences+ are most notoriously false: The +Acts+ are often wrong, +but the +Scenes+ oftener; and these have bred some obscurity in our +Author's +Rules+. Madam +Dacier+ has been more exact in this than +all others before her; yet, still she's once mistaken in her +Acts+, +and very often in her +Scenes+. We have follow'd her as to her ++Acts+, except one in the +Phormio+; but we have not divided the ++Scenes+ at all by Figures, because they are of no such use; only +the Reader may take notice that whenever any particular +Actor+ +enters upon the Stage, or goes off, that makes a different +Scene+; +for the +Ancients+ never had any other that we know of. The ++Prologues+, by the Advice of several Judicious Persons, are left +out, as being the Meanest, the fullest of Quibbles, and the least +Intelligible of any thing he wrote: They relating chiefly to private +Squabbles between our +Author+ and the +Poets+ of his time: The +Particulars of which 'tis impossible for us to understand now, and +we need not be much concern'd that we don't. Besides, in the main, +they are so much beneath the +Author+, that 'tis much question'd +whether they are his or no, especially the Third. The +Arguments+ +are certainly none of his, and so far from being useful, that they +only serve to forestall the +Plots+, and take away the Pleasure of +surprizing. + +Lastly, That there might be nothing wanting that might make this +Translation as intire and clear as possible; we've all the way +intermix'd +Notes of Explanation+, such as, +Enter+, +Exit+, ++Asides+, and all other things of +Action+, necessary to be known, +and constantly practis'd among our Modern +Dramatick Poets+. These +serve extreamly to the clearing of the +Plots+ which wou'd be +obscure without 'em; especially since their Theatres were so +different from ours. And as this sort of +Notes+ are the +shortest+, +that are generally us'd, so they are most +compleat+, +useful+ and ++clear+, by the help of which any Child almost may apprehend every +thing. Perhaps we might have omitted some of 'em, but we have better +offend this way than the other. + +Thus have we said as much as we thought requisite in Vindication of +our Master's Honour, and of our own Undertaking. And if we had said +ten times as much; and ne're so much to the purpose, People will +still think, and talk what they please, and we can't help it. + + + + + PLAUTUS's + + COMEDIES, + + _AMPHITRYON_, + _EPIDICUS_, and + _RUDENS_, + + Made English: + + With + + +Critical Remarks+ + + Upon Each PLAY. + + + ---- _Non ego paucis_ + _Offendar maculis: quas aut incuria fudit_ + _Aut humana parum cavit natura:_ ---- + + Horat. Art. Poet. + + + _LONDON:_ + + Printed for _Abel Swalle_ and _T. Child_ at the _Unicorn_ + at the West-End of _S. Paul's_ Churchyard, 1694. + + + + +THE + +PREFACE. + +This Nations Excellencies in +Dramatick Poetry+ have been so +extraordinary, and our Performance both in +Tragedy+ and +Comedy+ +have discover'd such strange +Genius+'s, that we have some reason to +believe, that we have not only surpass'd our Neighbours the Moderns, +but likewise have excell'd our Masters the Ancients. But the want of +Knowledge of the Ancients has been one great Reason for our setting +our selves so very much above 'em; for tho' we have many Beauties +which they wanted, yet it must be own'd, that they have more which +we have not, except that it may be some very few of our Pieces. But +then their Excellencies are far less known to us than ours; for the +Common People are unacquainted with their Languages, and the more +Learned sort, for want of due Observance and Penetration, have been +ignorant enough of their essential Beauties; they, for the most +part, contenting themselves with considering the +superficial+ ones, +such as the +Stile+, +Language+, +Expression+, and the like, without +taking much notice of the Contrivance and Management, of the ++Plots+, +Characters+, &c. + +But a considerable Discovery of these Excellencies has been made by +means of a late Version of +Terence+, especially by the help of the ++Preface+ and +Remarks+: And this has made me hope, that two or +three Plays of +Plautus+'s cou'd not be very unacceptable after +them; and since the principal Fault of the +Remarks+ in that Version +was their being too short, I have made these somewhat longer and +clearer, hoping they will prove the principal means of recommending +this Book to the World, even tho' the Translation had been brought +to the utmost Perfection it was capable of: a Thing which I dare +never pretend to. I made Choice of the same three which Madam ++Dacier+ had done before me; those being, in many respects, fitter +for my purpose. But before I come to Particulars in those Things, +I shall give some Character and Account of my Author. + ++Plautus+, if consider'd as a +Dramatick Poet+, may justly enough be +stil'd the Prince of the +Latin Comedians+, for tho' most of 'em are +lost, and consequently little capable of being judg'd of, yet, from +all Circumstances, we have good reason to presume that they never +came up to +Plautus+; so that there is no one to stand in +competition with him but +Terence+: But if +Comedy+ consists more in ++Action+ than +Discourse+, then +Terence+ himself must be oblig'd to +give place to our Author; and as +Terence+ ought to be esteem'd as a +Man who spoke admirably, +Plautus+ is to be admir'd as a ++Comick-Poet+. The principal Differences of these two Poets have +been touch'd upon in the Preface to the English +Terence+; and from +thence it will appear, that +Plautus+ had the vaster +Genius+, and ++Terence+ the more exquisite Judgment; and, considering what Persons +they copied, as the later was call'd the +Half Menander+, so the +former may be stil'd the +Half Aristophanes+. + ++Terence+'s Stile was generally more refin'd and pure, and withal +more elaborate than this Poet's; yet undoubtedly, +Plautus+ was a +most absolute Master of his Tongue, and in many Places there appear +such a Sharpness and Liveliness of Expression, nay and such a +Neatness and Politeness too, that is scarce to be found in ++Terence+; and this, perhaps, may have occasion'd +Varro+ to say, ++That if the Muses were to speak Latin, they wou'd certainly make +use of his very Stile+; and +Tanaquill Faber+ to call +Plautus+, ++The very Fountain of pure Latin+. As to +Wit+ and +Raillery+, ++Terence+ might by no means be compared to him; then he is not +always so happy, but often degenerates to a Meanness that +Terence+ +wou'd never have been guilty of; and tho' his +Jests+ and ++Repartees+ were sometimes admirable, and often far above ++Terence+'s, yet they were many times as much below him, and by +their Trifling and Quibbling, appear to have been calculated for the +Mob. This, probably, made +Rapin+ observe, +That he says the best +Things in the World, and yet very often he says the most wretched.+ +A little before he says, +_Plautus_ is ingenious in his Designs, +happy in his Imaginations, fruitful in his Invention; yet, that +there are some insipid Jests that escape from him in the Taste of +_Horace_; and his good Sayings that make the People laugh, make +sometimes the honester sort to pity him.+ The most remarkable Thing +in his Stile, is the natural and unaffected +Easiness+ of it, I mean +in opposition to +Stiffness+, which with the true +Elegance+ and ++Propriety+ of the +Latin+ Tongue in +Common Discourse+, seems +almost its distinguishing Character, and sets him above any other ++Roman+ Author in that respect. 'Tis true, +Terence+ has all these +Excellencies, and perhaps is more exact in +Propriety of Terms+, and +in his Choice of +Words+, yet his extream Closeness and great +Elaborateness, I presume, has made it somewhat less +Free+ and ++Familiar+, or at least it wou'd be so if any other Man of less +Judgment had managed it. So that what I mean is, that +Plautus+'s +Stile ought rather to be imitated for +Common Discourse+ than ++Terence+'s. +Plautus+ had the Misfortune of living in a worser Age +than +Terence+, therefore there must be a larger Allowance for his ++Obsolete Words+, his +Puns+, and +Quibbles+, as well as those Words +that were peculiar to the Theatre and his Subjects, which, if once +transplanted, wou'd never thrive elsewhere. + +Next, may be consider'd our Authors +Characters+; and in that point +indeed, +Terence+ triumphs without a Rival, as was observ'd in the ++Preface+ to that Author; and for a just and close Observance of ++Nature+, perhaps no Man living ever excell'd him. It ought to be +observ'd, that +Plautus+ was somewhat poor, and made it his +principal Aim to please and tickle the Common People; and since they +were almost always delighted with something new, strange, and +unusual, the better to humour them, he was not only frequently +extravagant in his +Expressions+, but likewise in his +Characters+ +too, and drew Men often more Vicious, more Covetous, more Foolish, +&c. than generally they were; and this to set the People a gazing +and wondering. With these sort of +Characters+ many of our modern ++Comedies+ abound, which makes 'em too much degenerate into +Farce+, +which seldom fail of pleasing the Mob. But our Author had not many +of these; for a great part of 'em were very true and natural, and +such as may stand the Test of the severest Judges. His two most +remarkable +Characters+, are his +Miser+, and his +Bragadocio+; and +that the Reader may the more clearly understand the nature of these ++Characters+, their Resemblance to some of ours, and their +Unlikeness to those of +Terence+, I shall give a Translation of some +part of 'em. First then, take the First Act of his Third Comedy +call'd +Aulularia+, which begins with the Old Covetous Fellow and +his Maid. + + + _+Euclio+ and +Staphila+._ + +_Euc._ Out-a-doors, I say: Come out. I'll fetch ye out with a +Horse-pox, for a damnable, prying, nine-ey'd Witch. + +_Sta._ Why do you misuse a poor Rogue at this rate? + +_Euc._ To make ye a poor Rogue as long as you live, like a Jade +as you are. + +_Sta._ But why, Sir, am I thrust out-a-doors now? + +_Euc._ Must I give you an account, you hempen Bitch?---- Get you +from the Door:-- that way:-- See how the Jade moves.---- Observe +what you'll meet with. If I take a good Cudgel or a Whip, 'sbud, +I shall soon put you out o' your Snails pace. + +_Sta. softly:_] Wou'd I were hang'd out o' the way, rather than +be bound to serve such an old Rogue. + +_Euc._ How the Jipsey mutters to her self!---- Faith, I shall +spoil those damn'd eyes, then look what I'm doing if you can.-- +Huzzy, go further off:-- Further still:-- Further still:---- +Still, I say.---- So! stand there.---- Now, you Baggage, stir +one step, move a hairs breadth, or look back i' the least till I +speak, and by Cocks-nowns, I'll hang y' up in an instant.-- [_To +himself, going off._] I ne're met with a more subtle old Hag +than this i' my days: I'm cursedly afraid this Witch shou'd trap +me in my discourse, and discover the place where I've hid my +Gold: Troth, I believe the consuming Jade has Eyes in her +Breech.---- Now for my Gold, that has cost me such a woful deal +of trouble, I'll go see whether that be safe as I hid it. + + _Exit +Euclio+._ + + _+Staphila+ alone._ + +As I live, I can't devise or imagine what Evil Genius or Madness +has possess'd my Master; he uses me so inhumanely; and kicks me +out a doors ten times a day. Troth, it puzzles me strangely to +find out the meaning of his crazy Whims: He watches whole Nights +together; and sits all day long within doors, like a lame Cobler +upon his Stall.---- Well, considering these Plagues, and the +difficulty of concealing my young Mistresses Labour, now at +hand, I find no way but making a short cut, and hanging my self. + + _Re-enter +Euclio+._ + +_Euc._ Now I've found all well within doors, my mind's a little +at ease.---- Now come in, and keep House. + +_Sta._ What, for fear it shou'd be stolen away? There's no +Plunder for Thieves; there's nothing but Emptiness and Cobwebs. + +_Euc._ I'll warrant ye, I must keep a House like an Emperor for +your sake, you old Sorceress? Huzzy, I'll have every Cobweb +taken care of, and preserv'd. + +I'm very poor, I confess; but I patiently bear what the Gods lay +upon me.---- Get ye in, and make fast the door; I'll be back +presently. Take a special care you don't let e're a Soul come +within the doors; and that they mightn't pretend an Excuse to +borrow Fire, I'll ha' ye put it all out: If there be any now, +out with't in an instant. If they want Water, tell 'em the Pump +is dry; if they wou'd borrow a Knife, an Axe, a Mortar, or a +Pestil, as Neighbours us'd to do, tell 'em the House was robb'd, +and they're all stolen. 'Sbud, I'll ha' no body set a step +within my House when I'm gone; therefore if _Good-luck_ her self +shou'd come, I charge ye keep her out. + +_Sta._ Troth, you needn't fear her coming; for were she at the +Threshold, she'd ne're come in. + +_Euc._ Hold your prating Tongue, and get ye in. + +_Sta._ To please you, I'll do both. + +_Euc._ And besure you secure the Door with two great Bolts: I'll +be here instantly. + + _Exit +Staphila+._ + + _+Euclio+ alone._ + +O, I'm wretchedly perplex'd that I'm forc'd to go out a doors +now; and troth, it goes sore against my mind; however, 'tis upon +sure grounds. For now's the time for our Officer to distribute +the Money to the Poor: Now if I shou'd be negligent, and not be +among the Beggars, I'm afraid the World wou'd presently +conclude, that I had got Gold at home. For 'tis n't likely such +a poor Fellow as I pretend to be, shou'd so little value Money, +as not to be there. Notwithstanding my restless care of +concealing this Gold, it strangely runs in my Head, that all the +World knows of it, and every body seems to be more obliging, and +to complement me more than ever. They meet me, stay me, embrace +me, enquire after my Health, my Welfare, and every thing.---- +Well, I'll go, and be back again as soon as possibly. + + _Exit._ + + +Here we see a considerable deal of the strange Nature of this old +miserable Fellow; and this +Character+ he has carry'd through the +whole Play: But to see his Humour a little more perfectly, take part +of the fourth Scene of the second Act; where the Servant +Strobulus+ +and the two Cooks are discoursing about this Miser. + + + _+Strobulus+ and +Congrio+._ + +_Stro._ A Pumice-stone is not half so dry as that old Huncks. + +_Con._ Say ye so, introth? + +_Stro._ Take this from me. If the least Smoke shou'd chance to +fly out of his House, he strait allarms the Town, exclaims +against Heaven and Earth, that he's undone, and ruin'd for +ever!---- I'll tell ye: whene're he goes to Bed he tyes a +Bladder at his Nose. + +_Con._ What for? + +_Stro._ For fear of losing part of his Soul when he's asleep. + +_Con._ And doesn't he plug up his lower Bung-hole too, lest any +shou'd steal out that way? + +_Stro._ 'Tis civil to believe me, since I do you. + +_Con._ Why, truly, I do believe ye. + +_Stro._ Did you never hear, how it goes to the Soul of him to +pour out the Water he has once wash'd his hands in? + +_Con._ Do'st think, Boy, we shall be able to squeeze out a +swinging sum of Money of this old Gripes, to purchase our +Freedom with? + +_Stro._ Troth, shou'd ye beg Hunger it self of him, the Wretch +wou'd deny ye. Nay more; whenever he gets his Nails to be cut, +he carefully scrapes up all the Parings, and saves 'em. + +_Con._ Why, faith, this is the most miserable Cur upon the face +of the Earth.---- But is he really such a pinching Wretch as you +say? + +_Stro._ Why t'other day a Kite chanc'd to steal a bit of +something from him; this poor Devil goes strait to my _Lord +Chief Justice_'s, crying, roaring, and houling for his Warrant +to apprehend it.---- O, I cou'd tell ye a thousand of these +Stories, if I had leisure. + + +This is stretching of a +Character+ a degree above Nature and +Probability; yet these sort, at first sight, will glare and dazle a +common Audience, and sometimes give a superficial Pleasure to a more +judicious one; but are carefully to be avoided by any correct +Writer. + +His +Miles Gloriosus+, or +Braggadocio+, is as remarkable a ++Character+ as this, and there you may see another too in the same +place, one who wheadles as much as the other boasts, and plays the +Knave as much as the other does the Fool. For the Reader's +Satisfaction, here follows a Translation of the first Act of the ++Miles Gloriosus+, which begins between that Blockhead and his +Buffoon. + + + _+Pyrgopolinices+, with his Servant +Artotrogus+, and his Soldiers._ + +_Pyr. to his Soldiers._] Take care to have my Buckler out-shine +the resplendent Sun, when the Heavens are serene; so that in the +midst o' the Battel, I may dazle the Eyes of my Enemies, and +confound every man of 'em.---- In the mean time, I'll comfort my +bold _Bilbo_, that he might n't be dull and melancholly for want +of use this long time; for the poor Rogue is damnably eager to +slice all my Foes, and make a Hash of 'em.---- But where's +_Artotrogus_? + +_Art._ Here, an't like your Honour, ready to wait upon a Man o' +the greatest Fortitude and Fortune i' th' Universe, and o' the +most majestick Air; then for personal Valour, Lord, _Mars_ +himself dare n't pretend to measure Swords with you. + +_Pyr._ You mean him in the spatious _Gurgustidonian_ Plains, the +mighty Generalissimo, _Bombomachides-- Cluninstaridy-- +Sarchides_, great _Neptune_'s Grand-child?---- + +_Art._ ----The same, Sir. Him with the golden Armour, whose +whole Army you blew away with a single Puff, like Leaves before +the Wind, and Feathers in a Storm. + +_Pyr._ By _Hercules_, 'twas nothing. + +_Art._ No, faith, Sir, nothing at all to what I can relate,---- +[_Aside_] but the Devil a bit of Truth's in't. If any Man can +shew me a greater Lyer, or a more bragging Coxcomb than this +Blunderbuss, he shall take me, make me his Slave, and starve me +with Whey and Butter-milk-- Well, Sir? + +_Pyr._ Where are you? + +_Art._ Here, Sir:---- Wonderful! how you broke the great +_Indian_ Elephants Arm with your single Fist? + +_Pyr._ What Arm? + +_Art._ I wou'd ha' said Thigh. + +_Pyr._ Pshaw, I did that with ease. + +_Art._ By _Jove_, Sir, had you us'd your full Strength, you'd +ha' flead, gutted, and bon'd the huge Beast at once. + +_Pyr._ I wou'd not ha' ye relate all my Acts at this time. + +_Art._ Really, Sir, 'tis impossible to innumerate all your noble +Acts that I have been Spectator of.---- [_Aside._] 'Tis this +Belly of mine creates me all this Plagues. My Ears must bear +this Burden, for fear my Teeth shou'd want Work; and to every +Lye he tells, I must swear to. + +_Pyr._ What was I going to say?------ + +_Art._ O, Sir, I know your meaning.---- 'Twas a noble Exploit; +I remember't very well. + +_Pyr._ What was't? + +_Art._ Whatever you perform'd, was so. + +_Pyr._ Ha' ye a Table-Book here? + +_Art._ D'ye want one, Sir?---- Here's a Pencil too. + +_Pyr._ Thou'st ingeniously accommodated thy Sentiments to mine. + +_Art._ O, 'tis my Duty to adapt my Manners to your Nod, and +always keep 'em within the compass of your Commands. + +_Pyr._ Well, how many can you remember? + +_Art._ I remember a hundred and fifty _Cilicians_, a hundred +_Sycolatronideans_, thirty _Sardeans_, and threescore +_Macedonians_, you slew in one day. + +_Pyr._ And how many are there in all? + +_Art._ Seven thousand. + +_Pyr._ That's right. You're an excellent Arithmetician. + +_Art._ I have 'em _in capite_, tho' not in black and white. + +_Pyr._ Truly, a prodigious Memory! + +_Art._ That's owing to your Table. + +_Pyr._ As long as you proclaim my Honour, you shall never want +eating: my Table shall be always free to receive ye. + +_Art._ Then in _Cappadocia_, Sir, where you wou'd ha' certainly +cut off five hundred Men, had not your Sword been a little +blunt; and those but the Relicts of the Infantry you had just +defeated,---- [_Aside_] if there were any such in being.---- But +why shou'd I mention these things, when the whole World knows +how much the mighty _Pyrgopolinices_ excels the rest of Mortals +in Valour, Beauty, and Renown'd Exploits. All the Ladies in Town +are ready to run mad for ye; troth, and all the reason i'the +World for't, since you've so charming a Countenance. As +yesterday, some of 'em catch'd me by the Cloak, and---- + +_Pyr._ Prithee, what did they say o' me? [_Smiling._ + +_Art._ They fell to questioning: _Prithee_, says one, _is n't +this the stout +Achillis?+ His Brother indeed_, quoth I. _Let me +dye_, says another, _if he be n't a wonderful handsome Man, how +nobly he looks, and how gracefully he wears his Hair! What a +prodigious Happiness 'tis to be his Bed-fellow!_ + +_Pyr._ Said she so, i' faith? [_Laughing._ + +_Art._ And more than that, begg'd of me, for God's sake, to get +ye to pass that way, that they might see how triumphantly you +march'd along. + +_Pyr._ This same extraordinary Beauty brings a Man to +extraordinary Inconveniencies. + +_Art._ Well, strangely importunate they were, they nothing but +begg'd, pray'd, and conjur'd me to bless 'em with a sight of ye; +nay, they sent for me so often, that I was sometimes forc'd to +neglect your Business. + +_Pyr._ I think 'tis high time to be marching to the Piazza, and +pay off the Soldiers I listed yesterday; for the King was very +earnest with me to do him the favour of raising him some new +Levies. This day have I appointed to pay him a Visit. + +_Art._ Let's be marching then. + +_Pyr._ Guards, follow your Leader. + + _Exeunt omnes._ + + +I need not make many Reflections upon this Scene; but for the +clearer perceiving of it, let us bring it to the Touch-stone of +Nature, that is, compare it with Terence, and shew how modestly he +has manag'd the same +Subject+ and +Characters+, to wit, his ++Thraso+ and +Gnatho+, in the beginning of the third Act of his ++Eunuch+. + + + _+Thraso+ and +Gnatho+._ + +_Thra._ Was the Lady so extremely thankful? + +_Gna._ O, vastly, Sir. + +_Thra._ And wonderfully pleas'd, say ye? + +_Gna._ Really, Sir, not so much for the present as the honorable +Person who bestow'd it; and for that, Sir, she triumphs above +measure. + +_Thra._ Truly, 'tis my peculiar Fortune, to have every thing I +do most gratefully receiv'd. + +_Gna._ Faith, Sir, I've observ'd as much. + +_Thra._ Why the King of _Persia_, whenever I did him a Kindness, +was extremely sensible of it: He was n't so to others. + +_Gna._ A smart Tongue so well hung as yours, Sir, can obtain +that Glory with Ease which cost others so much Toil and Labour. + +_Thra._ Right. + +_Gna._ The Monarch has you in his Eye then? + +_Thra._ Right again. + +_Gna._ And wears you next his heart? + +_Thra._ Very true: And trusts all his Army and Secrets to my +Discretion. + +_Gna._ Prodigious! + +_Thra._ Then if he happen'd to be tir'd with Company, or +fateagu'd with Business, and was desirous of Ease,---- as +tho',---- you know what I mean. + +_Gna._ Yes, Sir:------ As tho, when he had a mind to clear his +Stomach, as a Man may say, of all Concerns,------ + +_Thra._ Right: Then was I his only Companion hand to fist. + +_Gna._ Ay marry Sir! This is a Monarch indeed. + +_Thra._ Oh! he's a Man of a thousand. + +_Gna._ Yes, one of a million, if he chose you for his Companion. + +_Thra._ All the Officers envy'd me, and grumbl'd at me behind my +back; but I valued it not: They envy'd me intolerably: But above +all, one who had the Charge o' the vast _Indian_ Elephants. One +day, this Fellow being more turbulent than the rest, I snap'd +him up; _Prithee Strato_, said I, _why art thou so fierce? Is't +because you're Lord o' the wild beasts?_ + +_Gna._ Neatly said, as I hope to live; and shrewdly. Bless me! +you overthrow Man and Beast.---- What said he, Sir? + +_Thra._ Not a word. + +_Gna._ Nay, I can't tell how he shou'd. + +_Thra._ But, _Gnatho_, did I never tell you how sharp I was upon +a young _Rhodian_ Spark at a Feast? + +_Gna._ Never, Sir; let's hear't, by all means.-- He has told it +me a thousand times. [_Aside._ + +_Thra._ Why this _Rhodian_ Spark I told ye of, was with me at a +Feast, where I happen'd to have a small Girl: This Stripling +began to be sweet upon her, and waggish upon me too. _How now, +you impudent Saucebox_, said I; _you're Man's meat your self, +and yet have a mind to a Tid-bit._ + +_Gna._ Ha, ha, he. + +_Thra._ What's the matter, hah? + +_Gna._ Very fine, sharp, and delicate; that cou'd not be mended. +But pray, Sir, was this your own? I took it for an old Jest. + +_Thra._ Did you ever hear't before? + +_Gna._ Often, Sir; and it takes to a miracle. + +_Thra._ They're oblig'd to me for't. + +_Gna._ I'm sorry tho', you were so sharp upon the foolish young +Gentleman. But pray, Sir, what did he say then? + +_Thra._ He was quite dash'd out of Countenance; and the whole +Company ready to dye with laughing. After that, every body stood +in great awe of me. + +_Gna._ And truly they had reason. + + +Here may be seen +Bragging+ and +Wheadling+ sufficiently, but still +Nature closely observ'd, and all its due proportions; whereas the +other has too much out-gone Probability, and strain'd his ++Characters+ to an extravagant pitch. I shall not criticise upon the +Particulars, but leave the Reader to judge their Differences; but +only I may observe, that when +Characters+ are carry'd too high, as +many of ours are, they may probably make an Audience laugh very +heartily, but can give 'em but small Pleasure; whereas others will +give 'em great Delight, tho' less Laughter. + +I am afraid I have dwelt too long upon this Subject, therefore I +pass on to our Author's +Plots+. In that respect, he had not often +that +Art+ and +Management+ that +Terence+ had, nor in all his Plays +was so +regular+ as he; tho' in several he was, particularly in +those I have chosen. But then his Scenes were commonly less +languishing, his +Incidents+ more surprizing, and his +Surprizes+ +more admirable; undoubtedly he had more of the +Vis comica+, which I +may translate +Liveliness of Intreague+, than +Terence+. His ++Subjects+ were all more +Simple+ than the other's, but I am apt to +believe, that will be reckon'd but a very small Commendation in our +Nation, who are but little Lovers of such thin Dyet, as they call +it. His +Narrations+ are more lively and sharp than those of ++Terence+'s, and, I think, every whit as natural and as well brought +in: I'm sure in some of 'em he can never be out-done as to his way +of bringing of 'em in. As for the General Rules of the Stage, +I refer the Reader to the Preface to +Terence+. + +Our Author's principal Fault was, his mixing the +Representation+ +with the +Theatral Action+ in many places, where he often makes his +Actors speak immediately and directly to the Spectators; a Fault +that +Terence+ was not wholly free from. This our modern Plays, +I think, are never guilty of; only in our +Monologues+ and +Asides+, +our Actors have got a custom of looking so full upon the Spectators, +that it seems but one degree better. But our Author is not guilty of +this in these three Plays, except in +Amphitryon+, and that by way +of +Prologue+, or of any other Faults but what, I believe, I have +shewn in my +Remarks+. And these that I have here chosen, are no +ways inferior to +Terence+'s in matters of +Plot+ and +Intreague+, +but in some respects superior, tho' not so elaborately wrought up, +or always with that Niceness; so that these may undoubtedly prove +excellent Models for our Poets Imitation, provided they observe +Differences of Tastes, Humours, Ages, and Persons, and keep to those +principal Beauties they already possess, some of which are +undoubtedly above the Ancients. Only +Terence+ will teach 'em one +thing that +Plautus+ does not, to wit, the great Cunning of working +in +Under-Plots+, and still preserving the +Unity of Action+; for ++Plautus+ has none of them. As for the Necessity of Rules, the +Objections against 'em, and the wonderful Perfection our Plays might +arrive to by a more close Observance of 'em, I must once more refer +my Reader to the Preface to +Terence+. It was principally upon the +Poets Account, and for all such as are desirous of understanding and +judging the Excellencies of Dramatick Poetry, that I translated +these Plays. If it be objected, that the Poets, Criticks, and +Lovers, as well as Judges of Dramatick Poetry, do most of 'em +understand the Original; I must deny the Truth of it, tho' several +of 'em do: But if they did, these will be much more proper for their +Design, especially by means of the +Notes+ and +Remarks+; and the +Reasons I urg'd for the translation of +Terence+, bear a greater +force in this Author, for here is a greater Obscurity, by reason of +corrupted Copies, wrong Points, false Divisions of whole Acts as +well as Scenes, besides a greater number of knotty and obscure +Passages, than in +Terence+. + +Tho' this was my principal, it was not my only Design of translating +this Author, for I had all the way an Eye to School boys, and +Learners of the +Latin+ Tongue: Therefore, upon that account, I have +not only kept perfectly close to his Sence, but almost always to his +Words too; a thing not only extream difficult in an Author so +frequently verbose, but oftentimes dangerous too: And for an +Instance, I need not go any further than the very first Sentence of +the +Prologue+ to +Amphitryon+, which if I had made shorter, I cou'd +have made better. I can't forbear mentioning a Passage in the third +Act of the same Play, which just now comes to my remembrance: + + Nam certo si sis sanus, aut sapias satis, + Quam tu impudicam esse arbitrare, & praedicas, + Cum ea tu sermonem nec joco, nec serio + Tibi habeas, nisi sis stultior stultissimo. + +Which I have translated, perhaps, too closely thus; +I'm sure, had +ye either Wit, or Discretion, or weren't the greatest Fool in +Nature, you'd ne'er hold Discourse, either in Mirth or Earnest, with +the Woman you believe and declare a Strumpet.+ I'm confident many +other Translators wou'd not have been so scrupulously nice, but have +made shorter work of it. But I have not only been so scrupulous in +this Case, but I have likewise imitated all his Faults and +Imperfections, whenever I cou'd do it without extream Injury to the +Translation; I speak of his +Puns+, +Quibbles+, +Rhimes+, +Gingles+, +and his several ways of playing upon words; which indeed were the +Faults of his Age, as it was of ours in +Shakespear+'s and ++Johnson+'s days, and of which +Terence+, as correct as he is, is +not perfectly clear. Our Author's playing upon words are of that +various nature, and so frequent too, I need not go far for a single +Instance, which shall be in the fore part of the Prologue to ++Amphitryon+: + + Justam rem & facilem esse oratum a vobis volo. + Nam juste ab justis sum orator datus. + Nam injusta ab justis impetrare non decet: + Justa autem ab injustis petere, insipientia 'st: + Quippe illi iniqui jus ignorant, neque tenent. + +Which I have translated thus: +I desire nothing but what's +reasonable, and feasible; for 'tis a reasonable God requires Reason +from a reasonable People; but to require Roguery from reasonable +People, is base; and to expect Reason from Rascals, is nonsence; +since such People neither know Reason nor observe it.+ Our Author's +Wit did many times consist in his playing upon Words; a great pity +indeed, for a person who was so well able to writ after a more +substantial way, of which we have many remarkable Instances. Besides +his Quibbling, partly from his Carelesness and Necessities, he hath +sometimes a vein of +Trifling+, which was but very indifferent; and +on those places the Reader must make some allowance for the +translation, and not expect more than the Matter will well bear. As +for our Author's +Jests+ and +Repartees+, for what we know of 'em, +I took a particular care in preserving their Force; and for the most +part, I presume, I have done it in a great measure, sometimes by a +lucky hit; or a peculiar happiness of our Tongue, other times by a +little Liberty taken, and when all have fail'd, the +Remarks+ have +generally supply'd the Defect, a way I was forc'd to content my self +withal in many places; the worse they were, they were frequently +more difficult to preserve, therefore I thought it as well to slur +over some few of the meaner sort. Several of his +Jests+ and bits of ++Satyr+ are undoubtedly lost to us, not only in respect of our +Language, but also our Knowledge, and this sometimes makes his ++Sence+ a little obscure. And as the +Sence+ of an Author ought to +be his Translator's chiefest Care, so it has been mine; and tho' +I cannot affirm, that I have kept to it in every passage, yet I +believe I have often done it where a common Reader will think I have +not; and I think it no commendation to my self to say I have hit it +on many places where the Common Interpreters have missed. + +After all, I dare not pretend to say, that this Translation equals +the Original, for there is such a peculiar Air in this Author as +well as +Terence+, that our Tongue seems uncapable of, or at least +it does so to me. Yet still if 'twere always read with the Original, +it wou'd make far more for me than otherwise. In short, the Reader +ought to look upon this as a Translation of an Author who had +several Faults, and such places, as the +English+ must of necessity +appear mean, being little better in the Original; and likewise as an +Author of Antiquity, some of whose Customs and Manners will appear a +little uncouth and unsightly, in spight of all a Translator's Care. +I endeavour'd to be as like my Author as I cou'd, especially in that +which I reckon his distinguishing Character, to wit, the natural and +unaffected easiness of his Stile, and as this seems the most capable +of imitation, so I believe I have been more successful in this +Particular than in any other: and that is the main Reason I have had +so many Abbreviations, to make it appear still more like common +Discourse, and the usual way of speaking. Perhaps I may be thought +to have been too bold in that point, because I have had some that +are not usual in Prose; therefore I don't set this way as a Copy for +any one to follow me in, nor shall I use it myself in any other +Piece. I have all the way divided the +Acts+ and +Scenes+ according +to the true Rules of the Stage, which are extreamly false in all the +Editions of this Author, especially the +Scenes+. + +To make this Translation the most useful that I cou'd, I have made ++Remarks+ upon each Play, and those are of two sorts, tho' equally +intermix'd: The first, to shew the Author's chief Excellencies as to +his Contrivance and Management of his +Plots+ and +Incidents+; the +second, to discover several Beauties of +Stile+ and +Wit+, +principally such as are not very clear, or cannot well be preserv'd +in our Tongue; and those are likewise to vindicate my Translation. +Several of these I must own my self oblig'd to Madam +Dacier+ for, +or at least the hint, tho' some of 'em I cou'd not have miss'd of in +the prosecution of those Designs I aim'd at. I have borrow'd little +or nothing from any other, for her's are far the best +Notes+ I ever +met with, tho' many of 'em were done more to shew her Parts and +Reading than for any real use, a thing which I shall never aim at. +I have been forc'd in most of 'em to be extream nice and curious in +penetrating into the bottom of the Author, for I find it far more +difficult to discover a Beauty than a Fault. I might have enlarg'd +upon 'em, and have made several more, with good grounds, but I +thought it dangerous to say all that cou'd be said; but instead of +that I was forc'd, much against my will, to dash out several of +those upon +Amphitryon+ upon the account of the Printer, but the +rest are more full and compleat. + +If business wou'd have permitted me, I shou'd have ventur'd upon +three more of our Authors Plays; and upon that Account, I have taken +somewhat less time than was necessary for the translating such an +extraordinary difficult Author; for this requires more than double +the time of a +Historian+ or the like, which was as much as I cou'd +allow my self. I made choice of these three Plays as well for their ++Modesty+ as +Regularity+, for above all things I wou'd by no means +give the least Encouragement to Lewdness or Obscenity, which grow +too fast of themselves; and therefore I thought I cou'd not chuse +better than after a Lady. +Amphitryon+ had the Name, and never +fail'd of a general Approbation; +Epidicus+ was our Author's +Favourite, and truly there is much Art in it, tho' it is a little +heavy; and +Rudens+ is in several respects a better Play than any of ++Plautus+'s or +Terence+'s. I'm afraid +Amphitryon+ will bear the +worse in our Tongue, upon the Account of Mr. +Dryden+'s, whose +Improvements are very extraordinary; but considering Mr. +Dryden+'s +Management is of such a different Nature, this will still be as +useful and as proper for my +Design+, or at least to School-boys and +Learners. I must do that great Man the Justice in saying, that he +has not only much improved the +Humour+, +Wit+, and +Design+ in many +places, but likewise the +Thoughts+. I'll mention one, which just +now comes into my mind. +Alcmena+ in the Second Act complains thus: ++How poor and short are this Life's Pleasures, if once compar'd with +the Sorrows we endure? 'Tis Man's Destiny, and Heaven's Pleasure, to +mix our Joys with bitter Potions; and for some few Hours of +Satisfaction, we meet with Ages of Ills and Troubles.+ Mr. +Dryden+, +by the help of Blank Verse, and a little more room, has better'd it +extreamly. + + Ye niggard Gods! you make our Lives too long: + You fill 'em with Diseases, Wants, and Woes, + And only dash 'em with a little Love; + Sprinkled by Fits, and with a sparing Hand. + Count all our Joys, from Childhood ev'n to Age, + They wou'd but make a Day of ev'ry Year: + +And to carry it on further yet, and to make it appear more fine and +clear, he says, + + Take back your Sev'nty Years, (the stint of Life) + Or else be kind, and cram the Quintessence + Of Sev'nty Years into sweet Sev'nty Days: + For all the rest is flat, insipid Being. + +I mention this the rather, because it may serve for one Instance of +what Improvements our Modern Poets have made on the Ancients, when +they built upon their Foundations. For we find that many of the fine +things of the Ancients are like Seeds, that, when planted on ++English+ Ground by a Skilful Poet's Hand, thrive, and produce +excellent Fruit. + +But I'm afraid this +Preface+ has been too long and tedious for this +small Piece; but the Press stays, and the hast I'm in will not +permit me to make it shorter, or so much as review it; yet before I +conclude, I must inform the Reader, that I had the Advantage of +another's doing their +P+lays before me; from whose Translation I +had very considerable Helps, especially in the +Jests+ and ++Quibbles+. + + + + +The Augustan Reprint Society + + + WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK + MEMORIAL LIBRARY + UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES + + +PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT + +[Decoration] + + [Where available, Project Gutenberg e-text numbers are given in + brackets.] + + +1948-1949 + +16. Henry Nevil Payne, _The Fatal Jealousie_ (1673). [16916] + +18. Anonymous, "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10 +(1719), and Aaron Hill, Preface to The Creation (1720). [15870] + + +1949-1950 + +19. Susanna Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709). [16740] + +20. Lewis Theobald, _Preface to the Works of Shakespeare_ (1734). +[16346] + +22. Samuel Johnson, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and two +_Rambler_ papers (1750). [13350] + +23. John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681). [15074] + + +1950-1951 + +26. Charles Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1792). [14463] + + +1951-1952 + +31. Thomas Gray, _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard_ (1751), and +_The Eton College Manuscript_. [15409] + + +1952-1953 + +41. Bernard Mandeville, _A Letter to Dion_ (1732). [29478] + + +1962-1963 + +98. _Select Hymns Taken Out of Mr. Herbert's Temple_ (1697). + + +1963-1964 + +104. Thomas D'Urfey, _Wonders in the Sun_; or, _The Kingdom of the +Birds_ (1706). + + +1964-1965 + +110. John Tutchin, _Selected Poems_ (1685-1700). [_In Preparation_] + +111. Anonymous, _Political Justice_ (1736). + +112. Robert Dodsley, _An Essay on Fable_ (1764). + +113. T. R., _An Essay Concerning Critical and Curious Learning_ (1698). + +114. _Two Poems Against Pope_: Leonard Welsted, _One Epistle to Mr. A. +Pope_ (1730), and Anonymous, _The Blatant Beast_ (1742). [21499] + + +1965-1966 + +115. Daniel Defoe and others, _Accounts of the Apparition of Mrs. Veal_. + +116. Charles Macklin, _The Covent Garden Theatre_ (1752). [_In +Preparation_] + +117. Sir George L'Estrange, _Citt and Bumpkin_ (1680). [_In Preparation_] + +118. Henry More, _Enthusiasmus Triumphatus_ (1662). + +119. Thomas Traherne, _Meditations on the Six Days of the Creation_ +(1717). + +120. Bernard Mandeville, _Aesop Dress'd or a Collection of Fables_ +(1704). [_In Preparation_] + + +1966-1967 + +122. James MacPherson, _Fragments of Ancient Poetry_ (1760). [8161] + +123. Edmond Malone, _Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to +Mr. Thomas Rowley_ (1782). [29116] + +124. Anonymous, _The Female Wits_ (1704). [_In Preparation_] + +125. Anonymous, _The Scribleriad_ (1742). Lord Hervey, _The Difference +Between Verbal and Practical Virtue_ (1742). [_In Preparation_] + +126. _Le Lutrin: an Heroick Poem, Written Originally in French by +Monsieur Boileau: Made English by N. O._ (1682). + + +Subsequent publications may be checked in the annual prospectus. + +Publications #1 through 90, of the first fifteen years of Augustan +Reprint Society, are available in bound units at $14.00 per unit of six +from: + + KRAUS REPRINT CORPORATION + 16 East 46th Street + New York, N.Y. 10017 + +Publications in print are available at the regular membership rate of +$5.00 yearly. Prices of single issues may be obtained upon request. + + + + + William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: + University of California, Los Angeles + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + + _General Editors_: George Robert Guffey, University of California, + Los Angeles; Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los + Angeles; Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. + _Corresponding Secretary_: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark + Memorial Library. + + +The Society's purpose is to publish reprints (usually facsimile +reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works. All +income of the Society is devoted to defraying costs of publication and +mailing. + +Correspondence concerning memberships in the United States and Canada +should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 +Cimarron St., Los Angeles, California. Correspondence concerning +editorial matters may be addressed to any of the general editors at the +same address. Manuscripts of introductions should conform to the +recommendations of the MLA _Style Sheet_. The membership fee is $5.00 a +year in the United States and Canada and 30 -- in Great Britain and +Europe. British and European prospective members should address B. H. +Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. Copies of back issues in print +may be obtained from the Corresponding Secretary. + + +PUBLICATIONS FOR 1967-1968 + +127-128. Charles Macklin, _A Will and No Will, or a Bone for the +Lawyers_ (1746). _The New Play Criticiz'd, or The Plague of Envy_ +(1747). Introduction by Jean B. Kern. [_In Preparation_] + +129. Lawrence Echard, Prefaces to _Terence's Comedies_ (1694) and +_Plautus's Comedies_ (1694). Introduction by John Barnard. +[_Present Text_] + +130. Henry More, _Democritus Platonissans_ (1646). Introduction by P. G. +Stanwood. [_In Preparation_] + +131. John Evelyn, _The History of . . . Sabatai Sevi . . . The Suppos'd +Messiah of the Jews_ (1669). Introduction by Christopher W. Grose. +[_In Preparation_] + +132. Walter Harte, _An Essay on Satire, Particularly on the Dunciad_ +(1730). Introduction by Thomas B. Gilmore. [29237] + + +ANNOUNCEMENTS: + +Next in the series of special publications by the Society will be a +volume including Elkanah Settle's _The Empress of Morocco_ (1673) with +six plates; _Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco_ (1674) +by John Dryden, John Crowne and Thomas Shadwell; _Notes and Observations +on the Empress of Morocco Revised_ (1674) by Elkanah Settle: and +_The Empress of Morocco. A Farce_ (1674) by Thomas Duffet, with an +Introduction by Maximillian E. Novak. Already published in this series +are reprints of John Ogilby's _The Fables of Aesop Paraphras'd in Verse_ +(1668) with an Introduction by Earl Miner and John Gay's _Fables_ (1727, +1738), with an Introduction by Vinton A. Dearing. Publication is +assisted by funds from the Chancellor of the University of California, +Los Angeles. Price to members of the Society, $2.50 for the first copy +and $3.25 for additional copies. Price to non-members, $4.00. + + +THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + +William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + +2520 Cimarron Street at West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, California +90018 + +Make check or money order payable to THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF +CALIFORNIA. + + * * * * * + * * * * + +Errata (noted by transcriber) + +_In the Prefaces, errors were corrected only if a later edition showed +the same correction._ + +_Editor's Introduction_ + + under the imprint of Thomas Salusbury [_spelling is correct_] + another's doing their [i.e., "these"?] Plays before me + [_this and following bracketed notes are in the original_] + +_Preface to Terence_ + + vix de demenso suo, suum defraudans genium + [demcuso ... defrudans] + Eheu me miseram! [Ehen] + ni unum desit [de sit] + perfectly just, truly proportionably [. for,] + he never fails in any one place, but [. for,] + why he goes off, where he's a going [goes of] + the whole cou'dn't contain above Eleven hours [about Eleven hours] + for such inferior Persons, we leave to others. [. invisible] + or to say very little, as 'twas agreeable to them + [_s in "as" invisible_] + In some things they are too short, in others too long [. for,] + _School-Masters_ often want time, and now and then Judgment + [time. and now then and] + some hints we had from the _French_, but [. for,] + _Odiosus_, _Tristis_, &c. these we + [_missing ; or : after "&c.", OR error for "These"_] + They may possibly take 'em for Blunders [' missing or invisible] + but we have better offend this way than the other [beeter] + +_Preface to Plautus_ + + due Observance and Penetration [Penitration] + Exit +Euclio+. [Eudio] + And besure you secure the Door [_spacing as shown_] + For the Reader's Satisfaction, here follows [he follows] + +_Augustan Reprints_ + + UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES [. for,] + and 30 -- in Great Britain and Europe [_unchanged_] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Prefaces to Terence's Comedies and +Plautus's Comedies (1694), by Lawrence Echard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TERENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 29684.txt or 29684.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/6/8/29684/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner, Dave Morgan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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