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Article Excerpt
This chapter examines five Tudor translations of Plutarch's Moralia: Thomas Wyatt's The Quiet of Mind (1528), Thomas Elyot's The Education or Bringing up of Children (1530), John Hales's Plutarch's Precepts for the Preservation of Good Health (1544), Thomas Blundeville's Three Moral Treatises (1561), and Edward Grant's A Precedent for Parents (1571). It is argued that these translations responded to, and attempted to shape, particular events and occasions in the life of their dedicatees, and advertised the suitability of their authors for preferment or reward by their patrons, at the same time as addressing a wider readership in print.
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In the dedication of his 1567 translation of The Manual of Epictetus, James Sanford wrote that it was 'published abrode for a common use and commoditie, and meete that of all estates he be usually read' (sig. A2r). John Dolman, in his translation of Cicero's Tusculan Disputations (1561), expressed the hope that 'the unlearned also, might have some fruicion therof: and, that our countrey, might at length flowe with the workes of philosophye' (sig. [paragraph]2v). Sanford and Dolman were by no means the only Tudor translators of the classics who claimed that their translations were intended to make the works of antiquity available to a wider readership, including in particular those who were literate in the vernacular but lacked knowledge of Latin and Greek, in order to benefit the country as a whole. Thomas Newton hoped that his translation of Cicero's Paradoxa Stoicorum and Somnium Scipionis (1569), would pass 'into the hands of manye' (sig. A4r), while Arthur Golding wished the dedicatee of his famous translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses (1567), Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, long life:
that all such students as Doo travell too enrich our toong with knowledge heretofore Not common too our vulgar speech, may dayly more and more Proceede through thy good furtherance and favor in the same. Too all mens profit and delyght, and thy eternall fame. (sig. b4r)
No wonder, then, that generations of scholars have emphasized, on the one hand, the translators' intention of transmitting the ideas of antiquity to the literate but not classically educated 'middle-class' readers of Tudor England, and, on the other, the patriotism and sense of duty to the commonwealth that inspired these authors to undertake their projects. (1)
Tudor translations were not only directed to an anonymous readership in print, however. Nor were translators as altruistic as the pronouncements in their prefaces suggest. Most translations were addressed to a specific individual with whom the author either had an established relationship or sought to establish one. In particular, writers often translated works to seek a reward, or (more commonly) some form of preferment from a patron, or to express gratefulness for the dedicatee's support of the author in the past. (2) In many cases, authors presented individual copies of their translations to patrons, either in the form of a manuscript, sometimes handwritten to add a personal touch, or in the shape of a customized copy of a printed book, perhaps with a beautiful binding or a manuscript dedication. The main occasion for presenting books, including translations, was New Year. As Thomas More wrote in the dedication of The Life of John Picus, Earl of Mirandula (c. 1510):
Hit is and of longe time hath bene [...] a custome in the begynnyng of the new yere frendes to sende betwene presentis or yestis [histories or tales] | as the witnesses of their love and frendsship and also signifyenge that they desyre eche to other that yere a gode contynuance and prosperous ende of that lukky bigynnyng. (3)
Books were presented on many other occasions, however, from the birthday of a patron to a monarch's visit to an educational establishment or a military conflict with a foreign nation. (4) Tudor translations were in many cases written specifically in response to a particular event or occasion in the life of a patron and offered some form of advice or commentary on the circumstances of the dedicatee. (5) In other instances, the translation, along with the letter of dedication, specifically advertised to the dedicatee or the readers of the book the suitability of the author for a position. The more active and creative conception of translation that existed in Tudor England meant that authors would readily fit translations to such purposes: in contrast to their modern counterparts, Tudor translators did not normally aim to represent the meaning and context of the original work as closely and accurately as possible, but sought to recreate the meaning of the classical text in the context of their own time. (6)
These issues are well illustrated by the translations of Plutarch's Moralia, one of the most popular classical works in Tudor England. Plutarch was a Greek author who lived under the Roman empire in the first and second centuries ce. (7) His Moralia, a name given to them in the Middle Ages, is in fact a miscellaneous collection of short works on various subjects. They deal with topics ranging from oracles to oratory and from animal psychology to pedagogy. However, the single largest group of essays--and certainly the most popular during the sixteenth century--deals with moral philosophy, particularly practical ethics: how to restrain anger, how to tell a friend from a flatterer, precepts for marriage, etc. Plutarch addressed many of the essays to friends or people in important positions, and several of the practical-philosophical essays, in particular, offer advice suitable to the circumstances of his dedicatees. By showing how his philosophical expertise could help people perform their role in society, Plutarch also promoted his own social and political standing.
The Moralia became an instant classic, which accounts for the survival of so many of the essays, as well as for the inclusion of a number of spurious texts in the collection, such as the popular De liberis educandis (The Education of Children).8 Plutarch's work was especially favoured by the humanists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, above all Erasmus. The Dutch scholar assisted in the preparation of the Greek editio princeps at the Aldine press, translated several essays into Latin, and modelled a number of his works, such as the Adagia, on the Moralia. Erasmus particularly valued Plutarch's essays for their practical wisdom and usefulness for everyday life: 'Socrates drew philosophy down from heaven to earth; Plutarch brought it into men's chambers and private apartments and bedrooms.' (9) He also realized their suitability to the sixteenth-century European system of patronage, especially the practice of gift-giving, and presented three Latin translations of essays from the Moralia to English patrons in the form of manuscript gift books: De tuenda sanitate praecepta (Advice on Health) to the rising diplomat John Yonge as a New Year's gift on 1 January 1513; Quomodo adulator ab amico internoscatur (How to Distinguish Friends from Flatterers) to Henry VIII in July 1513; and De capienda ex inimicis utilitate (How to Profit from your Enemies) to Thomas Wolsey as a New Year's present in 1514. (10) Plutarch's text was relatively easily reconciled with Christianity, and works from the Moralia (in contrast to some other classical texts) were unlikely to cause offence to dedicatees and readers. On the contrary, the essays presented practical solutions to everyday problems and were specially tailored to members of the social elite. (11) The compendious nature of Plutarch's Moralia made it possible for a translator to select a piece that offered advice on nearly any subject and detach it from the larger framework of the collection. As Plutarch generally compassed his thoughts in a relatively short space, individual essays could easily be turned into a small book for presentation to a patron.
The practice of presenting translations of individual essays, especially...
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