Chapter 5

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+.

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[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).

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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_]

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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_]