Читать книгу Gian Vittorio Rossi's Eudemiae libri decem - Группа авторов - Страница 17

Gian Vittorio RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio is a very approachable author. He was educated in the Jesuit tradition based on a Classical curriculum, which provided him a solid foundation in the liberal arts. After completing his schooling, but finding it difficult to establish himself in a professional career, Rossi recommitted himself to humanistic study. He found his niche in the Accademia degli Umoristi, the intellectual and artistic community associated with the court of Urban VIIIUrban VIII, Pope. To support his private studies, Rossi built up his own library of Classical authors, as is evident in a 1604 letter to the Flemish printer Jan MoretusMoretus, Jan, in which he asked the latter to locate as many works as possible “that relate to the humanities, as they are called,” and to send them to him.1 Authors such as CiceroCicero, Marcus Tullius, PlautusPlautus, Titus Maccius, QuintilianQuintilian, LivyLivy, SallustSallust, VirgilVirgil, HoraceHorace, OvidOvid, and TerenceTerence were the inspiration and models for Rossi’s prose and poetry.2

RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio mastered these studies and was recognized by his contemporaries as a superior Latinist, even surpassing certain renowned fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italian humanists in the eyes of his friends. Gabriel Naudé, for example, wrote of Rossi’s Latin:

Everything you write, whether in prose or verse, so grabs and delights me that, compared to you, my former favorites BemboBembo, Pietro and PolizianoPoliziano, Angelo now seem plain and unaccomplished. Everything you say inspires my own sweet style. Pytho Pythoherself resides on your lips to such an extent that, in all of the ways you emulate the ancients in every other virtue, you too are second to none of them in speaking and writing.3

In a dedication to Leone AllacciAllacci, Leone’s work De templis Graecorum recentioribus ad Ioannem Morinum, Barthold NihusNihus, Barthold (Joan BlaeuBlaeu, Joan’s editor) addresses RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio as “Perillustri domino Iano Nicio Erythraeo, aevi nostri Varroni ac Tullio” (“To the most illustrious Ianus Nicius Erythraeus, the VarroVarro, Publius Terentius and [CiceroCicero, Marcus Tullius] of our time”).4

RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s Latin continued to enjoy this level of acclaim even after his death. In his Elogii d’huomini letterati, Lorenzo CrassoCrasso, Lorenzo (b. 1623) dedicated a profile to the “Gentilhuomo Romano chiamato Gio: Vittorio de’ Rossi” noting that Rossi acquired through his studies “the purity of the Latin language.”5 The renowned German jurist and philosopher Johann Christian Gottlieb HeinecciusHeineccius, Johann Christian Gottlieb (1681–1741) singled Rossi out as one of the few humanists to have achieved Ciceronian eloquence, particularly in the epistolary genre.6 Prospero MandosioMandosio, Prospero (1643–1724) had similarly fulsome praise for Rossi’s Latin in his work on Roman authors titled Bibliotheca Romana, seu, Romanorum scriptorum centuriae:

[RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio] had a most elegant, sweet, and pleasant way of speaking that was commended by every manner of praise from all quarters; they say that he earned this glory because he spoke Latin purely, pristinely, ornately, elegantly, and in a truly Latin manner, so much so that the wisest and most learned men said that whoever needed to learn to write Latin should learn that skill from Ianus Nicius Erythraeus.7

Along with these explicit statements of appreciation for RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s prose, admiration for his Latin is evident in instances of unacknowledged imitation, especially in Germany. The German jurist, poet, and composer Kaspar ZieglerZiegler, Kaspar, for example, quotes almost word for word from Rossi’s description of a dishonest soldier of a religious military order in the beginning of Eudemia Book Eight for a section of his discourse on the subject of unscrupulous lawyers (rabulae) titled Rabulistica, sive, De artibus rabulariis dissertatio.8 Similarly, the German Calvinist theologian and historian Daniel GerdesGerdes, Daniel quotes almost directly from Rossi’s description of a carpenter named BaldocciusBaldoccius in Book Six to describe a Minorite (a Franciscan friar of the Order of Friars Minor) named Franciscus in his Historia reformationis, sive, Annales evangelii saeculo XVI.9

Even into the nineteenth century, some compendia of Latin texts included passages from RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s work as exemplary specimens of Latin prose. For example, a French publication from 1818, titled Leçons latines modernes de littérature et de morale, showcases as models two passages from Eudemia and one passage from Pinacotheca imaginum illustrium; these same passages are found in a similar German publication from 1825.10

Despite his mastery of Ciceronian eloquence, RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio became more and more drawn, as GerboniGerboni, Luigi explains, to the “conversar familiare” (conversational style) of the Roman playwrights PlautusPlautus, Titus Maccius and TerenceTerence, because he appreciated their humor, levity, and their ability to observe and represent everyday life and customs.11 To quote Rossi’s own words:

I began to take up CiceroCicero, Marcus Tullius again, and, even more frequently, PlautusPlautus, Titus Maccius and TerenceTerence, since I desired nothing more than lightheartedness and joyfulness; you can tell that their poetry has colored my speech. I felt that reading these authors made such an impression on me that entire pages of their works have stuck in my memory.12

In writing prose satire with humorous situations and rapid-fire dialogue, humanist authors often looked to playwrights like PlautusPlautus, Titus Maccius and TerenceTerence to provide models of what Jürgen Leonhardt terms “unforced communication”; that is, informal, everyday language that reflects how people might have spontaneously communicated with each other in private.13 RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s mastery of this comic style is recognized in a note by Gabriel NaudéNaudé, Gabriel at the end of the manuscript key he penned for the 1637 Eudemiae libri VIII:

Regarding his style, his entire vocabulary is of good quality, taken from the more ancient and pure Latinity of PlautusPlautus, Titus Maccius and TerenceTerence, his diction is not altogether native or Roman, but his entire way of speaking is unhurried, plain, and as if crawling on the ground.14

RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s preference for PlautusPlautus, Titus Maccius is obvious in Eudemia where the Roman playwright is his most quoted author, with more than 180 direct citations (drawn mostly from, in order, Miles gloriosus, Menaechmi, Pseudolus, and Curculio). Rossi’s penchant for examples of colloquial Latin from other authors besides Plautus is also evident. He quotes almost directly from CiceroCicero, Marcus Tullius (at least 130 times, mostly from In Verrem, De oratore, and Brutus), HoraceHorace (at least 85 times, mostly from the Satires, Epistles, and Odes), and TerenceTerence (at least 60 times, mostly from Eunuchus, Heauton timorumenos, Andria, and Adelphoe). Other authors quoted in Eudemia are OvidOvid, Caesar, SallustSallust, StatiusStatius, and SenecaSeneca, Lucius Annaeus, as well as an extensive passage from the medieval author Alain de Lille.15

RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s Latin is very clear and can be read using a Classical Latin dictionary such as Lewis & Short. For the most part, even his most obscure words can be found in such dictionaries, although for a few it was necessary to consult Du Cange, Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis (for example, ocularia: spectacles). Rossi’s prose is generally easy to follow; his sentences are rarely very long, and even the longer ones are well structured with clear subordinating clauses. I did find, however, that, if I became tripped up on a word or a phrase in the middle of an otherwise straightforward sentence, it frequently turned out to be a word or phrase that was taken from PlautusPlautus, Titus Maccius.

Stylistically RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio is delightful, frequently indulging in copia verborum, which is a characteristic of Renaissance Latin comedy in general. Indeed, Rossi seems to enjoy supplying every word in his lexical arsenal to describe something or someone vividly. Good examples can be found in Book Two when he describes the prostitute NannaNanna as “subdola, blanda, fraudulenta, avara”; and in Book Six when he uses three different words to refer to ZanchaZancha the broker: “conciliator,” “intercessor,” and “proxeneta.” He similarly indulges in the repetition of verbs in doubles or triples, such as “rogat, instat” or “rogat, instat, urget.” Additionally, he is prone to reusing phrases, for example, in Book Three (54) he describes MicrusMicrus of Pesaro (Giovanni Francesco Paoli) of Pesaro as “in lacessendo respondendoque acutior,” a phrase that is also found, in various permutations, in his other works: in the Pinacotheca he describes Antonio BosioBosio, Antonio as “in lacessendo respondendoque peracutus” and Arrigo Falconio as “in lacessendo respondendoque argutus.” Repeating patterns and phrases such as these, together with his frequent borrowings from his favorite authors and his obvious enjoyment of language, allow the reader to develop a sense of Rossi’s characteristic voice.

One of the biggest challenges in translating Eudemia was settling on a tone that felt appropriate to the text. My reverence for the Latin language (combined with the fact that the best Latin-English dictionaries, like Lewis & Short, were compiled in the nineteenth century) resulted in overly formal and somewhat stilted first drafts. Ultimately, I was advised not to lose sight of the fact that the work is a satire, and thus to approach it as a humorous novel that should be enjoyable to read. That advice, combined with RossiRossi, Gian Vittorio’s frequent quotations from PlautusPlautus, Titus Maccius, and NaudéNaudé, Gabriel’s description of his prose as “crawling on the ground” (“humi serpens”), guided my final decisions as to the informal, conversational tone of the translation (one example being my frequent use of contractions like “don’t” and “I’m” instead of “do not” and “I am”). On the other hand, I tried not to overcorrect and become too informal, deciding, for example, on “urinate” instead of “piss” for “meiere” in a poem in Book One (20). I hope I have achieved a balance that is true to the original, while still being a fun read, and reflects the lightheartedness and joyfulness Rossi so loved.