tions began to appear. Moreover, as each editor tended to pre- serve such annotations of his predecessors as seemed to him valu- able, around each Vergilian phrase was gathered a mass of com- mentary. Such commentary would be followed in any doubtful interpretation by both the Italian and Surrey. 1
At least that would be the usual course. Particularly would it be true of a man of the sixteenth century. And although it is con- ceivable that before undertaking his translation Surrey assembled versions in other languages, such a proceeding would be more characteristic of the scholarly pedant than of a high-spirited young poet and man of the world. Consequently until all the various commentaries of Vergil published before the composition of Sur- rey's translation be examined, his indebtedness to the Italian should be received with great caution. Supposing that by this means Surrey's indebtedness to the Italian be proved, the result would not be commensurate with the labor. As the poem is clearly mature work, the result of the effort would be merely to confirm what has always been assumed. Yet until that is done, the as-
The edition I have used is that of Venice 1531 with the comments of Donatus, Landinus, and Servius Maurus. For example, to the passage quoted above the comment is: "Non si ipse meus, sub audi filius posset defendere." Another il- lustration, Surrey's version of the lines 63-4:
Undique visendi studio Troiana iuventus Circumfusa ruit, certantque inludere capto,
is (81-82)
Near him, to gaze, the Trojan youth gan flock, And strave who most might at the captive scorn.
Nott notes (op. cit., 403 ) "To scorn, is to insult at, to make a mock of." The Hippolito version is
La gioventu Troiana d'ogn' intorno Sparsa corre a verderlo a fanno a gara, Chi plu faccia al prigion vergogna e scorno.
Fest black-leads this with the comment: "Es ist durchaus unwahrscheinlich, dass H. und S. unabhäng ig zur Wiedergabe des Infinitives durch Fragesatz, die sich fast wörtlich deckt, gekommen sind. 'Scorn' mit Nott 1403 als Verb aufzufassen, ist unrichtig" (op. cit., 57 ). The comment, in this case of Servius, is: "Circûfusa ruit. Figura hypallage, ruit & circûfusa est. Illudere capto. Et illudo tibi dicim, vt hoc loco & illudo te. vt verbis virtutê illude supbis (superbis) & in te sil'e (simile) est a isulto. It is quite clear it is not Nott that is here "unrichtig."
-538-
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Publication Information: Book Title: Early Tudor Poetry, 1485-1547. Contributors: John M. Berdan - author. Publisher: The Macmillan Company. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 1920. Page Number: 538.
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