LORENZO VALLA'S PREFACE

TO HIS TRANSLATION OF THUCYDIDES

Laurentii Vallensis e graeco in Latinum translatio Thucydidis ad sa(n)ctissimum dominum n(ost)r(u)m d(o)m(i)n(um) Nicolaum papam Quintum < proemium feliciter i n c i p i t >* 1. Quod Aeneas apud Virgilium, Nicolae Quinte summe Pontifex, id ego nunc possum dicere et, quia carmen est, etiam decantare, "iuuat euasisse tot urbes Argolicas mediosque uiam tenuisse per hostes''. Nam ex Argolicis urbibus atque ex mediis hostibus euasisse mihi uideor, militia iam quam mihi imperaueras perfunctus. Etenim quemadmodum Romani olim imperatores, qualis Augustus, Antoninus, aliique permulti (tua dignitas facit ut hac utar comparatione) Romae considentes ac per sese urbana negocia procurantes bella praesertim peregrina ducibus demandabant, ita tu, cum sacram** religionem, diuina atque humana iura, pacem, amplitudinem, salutem Latini orbis per teipsum cures, mandasti cum+ aliis tum uero nobis, quasi tuis praefectis, tribunis, ducibus utriusque linguae peritis, ut omnem quoad possemus Graeciam tuae ditioni subiiceremus, id est, ut Graecos tibi libros in Latinum traduceremus. ---------------- * add. V. **sacra V. + post cum add. alia V	Lorenzo Valla's translation from Greek into Latin of Thucydides for our most holy lord Pope Nicholas V. The Preface. What Aeneas says in Virgil, Nicholas V, highest Pope, I can now say and, since it is verse, even sing: 'What joy to have escaped so many Greek cities, taking my path through the midst of the enemy'.* For I seem to myself to have escaped Greek cities and the midst of enemies, and to have performed the soldiery that you commanded of me. For just as once the Roman emperors such as Augustus, Antoninus, many others (for your dignity invites this comparison!) presided at Rome and by themselves handled the city's business, but in foreign wars relied on their officers, so you, since by yourself you care for holy religion, divine and human laws, and the peace, greatness, safety of the Latin world, have commanded both others and me, who are, as it it were, your governors, officers, generals -- men skilled in both languages -- to bring the Greek world into submission to you; that is, that we translate Greek books into Latin. ---------------- *Aen. 3.282 f. (except that Vergil has not viam but fugam)
2. Propositum sane magnificum singulare et uere summo Pontifice sapiente dignum. Nam quid utilius, quid uberius, quid etiam magis necessarium librorum interpretatione? -- ut haec mihi mercatura quaedam optimarum artium esse uideatur. Magnae rei eam comparo <cum mercaturae comparo>.* Quid enim illa in rebus humanis conducibilius, quae omnia ad uictum, ad cultum, ad praesidium, ad ornamentum, ad delicias denique uitae pertinentia comportat? -- ut nihil usquam desit, omnia ubique abundent, et quod in aureo saeculo fuisse fertur, sint cunctorum quodammodo cuncta communia. Idem fit in translatione linguarum. Sed tanto praeclarius quanto potiora sunt bona mentis corporis** bonis. ---------------- *om. V2. **corporibus V2	A singular, magnificent undertaking, worthy of a wise Pope! For what more useful, more fruitful, more, indeed, necessary, thing is there than translating books? To me it seems a kind of commerce of the arts. When I compare it with commerce I compare it with a great thing. For what in all human activities is more useful than this, which brings us all that pertains to food, to clothing, to defense, to adornment, and to the very joys of life? So that nothing is lacking, but all things everywhere abound, and, as is said to have happened in the Golden Age, all things are common to all people. In the translating of languages, the same happens -- except that that is still more glorious, insofar as the goods of the mind excel those of the body.
3. Siquidem ex rebus quas ista transferendi negociatio nobis apportat: animi aluntur, uestiuntur, roborantur, ornantur, delectantur ac prope diuiniores efficiuntur. Nam quid suauius, salubrius, amabilius et, ut uno complectar uerbo, melius quam libri qui uel e Graeca uel ex Hebraea uel e Chaldaica Punicaue lingua in nostram traducuntur, siue historicorum siue oratorum siue Poetarum* siue philosophorum siue Medicorum* siue Theologorum*. Adeo nullum cum deo nos latini commertium** haberemus nisi testamentum uetus ex Hebraeo et nouum e Graeco foret traductum. Longiore opus esset oratione quam ut huic tempori conueniret ad omnes interpretationis laudes ex(s)equendas. ---------------- *poetarum... medicorum... theologorum V. **commercium V	Or at least, from what that 'commerce' of translating brings us, minds are nourished, clothed, strengthened, adorned, delighted, and almost made more godlike. For what is sweeter, healthier, lovelier, or, in a word, better, than the books we translate from Greek, or Hebrew, or Chaldaic or Phoenecian, whether of historians or orators or poets or philosophers or doctors or theologians? If the Old Testament were not translated from Hebrew, the New Testament from Greek, we Latins would have, even, no commerce with God. I have no space here to sing all the praises that should be sung about translation.
4. Sed ut, omissa aliarum linguarum mentione, ad superiorem militiae comparationem redeam, <non minus tibi gloriosum est, Romane pontifex, libros Graecos qui reliqui sunt>* transferendos curare; quam aut** Asiam aut Macedoniam aut ceteram Graeciam Romano adiicere imperio. Verum enimuero quae mihi uel sorte optigit uel consulto data est prouincia, ita dura ita aspera est ut uix una+ ex omnibus magis. Octo nanque ut scias mi Imperator -- si forte nescis quae expugnanda mihi mandasti -- oppida in editissimis sita sunt, ac saxeis montibus: quae neque telis tormentisue laedi neque scalis ascendi neque uallo cingi: ac uix cuniculis expugnari++ possint; neque hoc uelim magis imbecillitati meae attribuas quam rei difficultati. Nam omnium confessione arduus est saxeusque Thucydides, cum ceteris in locis tum uero in orationibus quibus octo eius refercti [sic] sunt libri. ut Ciceronis, quem Graecum suae aetatis homines appellabant, uerbis constat, dicentis in Oratore: Ipsae illae contiones ita multas habent abditasque sententias uix ut intelligantur. ---------------- *om. V2 pagina decurtata. **ut V2 +ulla V ++ oppugnari V.	But (skipping mention of other languages) to return to my first analogy with soldiery, to you, Roman Pope, this translating of Greek texts -- of those that survive -- brings no less glory than did the addition of Asia or Macedonia or the rest of Greece to the Roman empire. But the province that fell to me, by lot or by 'senatus consultum', is so hard and harsh that no other is more so. For these eight towns --just so that you can know this, my Imperator; for perhaps you know not what sort of towns you ordered me to take,* -- are situated in the loftiest regions, in craggy mountains, and defy missiles, battering rams, ladders, trenches, and the mines of sappers; and I would be glad if you attributed this less to my weakness than to the difficulty of the place. For as everybody admits, Thucydides is steep and rocky, especially in the speeches in which his 8 books abound. This is clear from what Cicero, whom men of his time called 'the Greek', says in his Orator: ** 'Those speeches have many over-subtle thoughts that can scarcely be understood'. ---------------- *By '8 towns' Valla means the 8 books of Thucydides. **Cic. Orator 9.30
5. At cur sumpsisti hoc opus? quidam inquiunt; ego uero non sumpsi sed accepi, nihil minus quam mea sponte sumpturus. At cur accepisti? Nempe quod Imperatoris mei detrectare imperia sanctissimi alioquin et sapientissimi uiri nefas esse ducebam; et cum ille tantum mihi honoris habuisset (ita enim interpretabar) ut prouinciam a nemine unquam bello temptatam mihi debellandam committeret, immori satius ipsi operi <duxi>* quam aut contumaciter aut ignauiter desistere. ---------------- *duxi om. V	'Why, then,' some say, 'did you undertake this task?' I did not undertake it; I accepted it. 'But why did you accept it?' Obviously, because I thought it wrong to ignore the commands of a most holy Imperator who is, moreover, a very wise man. And since he held me in such honor (for this is how I interpreted this) that he assigned to me the subduing of a province never attempted by anyone, it seemed better to die in the attempt than, from arrogance or cowardice, to give it up.
6. Decepit me tamen una qua nitebar spes, Bessarion* Cardinalis Nicenus; cuius ut opinor suasu transferendum tu mihi Thucydidem iniunxisti: uir, ne ceteras eius laudes attingam, consensu eruditorum inter Graecos latinissimus, inter Latinos graecissimus. Is enim et** praecipue me et potuisset adiuuare et uoluisset. statim <enim>+ post demandatam hanc mihi prouinciam, abs te Bononiam legatus est missus. Quo magis desperationem uictoriae praesumebam quod meo mihi Marte agendum esset, neminemque haberem qui aut posset aut uellet auxilio esse. Itaque quantum laboris exhauserim, aut potius exanclauerim; quantum aerumnarum periculorumque pertulerim, uel hinc aestima: quod si mihi ob hoc, quemadmodum erga multos fecisti, triumphum decreueris, non tam ipso triumpho gauisurus sim quam laboris fine gaudeo. ---------------- *Bissarion V. **qui pro et V. +enim om. V.	Yet I was cheated in one hope on which I did rely, the Nicaean Cardinal Bessarion, who I think persuaded you to assign to me the translating of Thucydides; a man who is, among other things, by consensus of learned men, the most Latin among the Greeks, the most Greek among the Latins. He above all others both could and would gladly have helped me. But after I was assigned this province, suddenly he was sent by you as legate to Bononia! So all the more I despaired of victory, because the thing had to be done by me alone, unaided, and I had no one who either could or would be of any help. And how much labor I spent, or rather, sweated and suffered, how many crises and dangers I endured, you can estimate by this: that if you decreed me a triumph, as you have done for many others, I would rejoice less at that triumph than at the end of my labor.
7. Quotiens enim mihi uidebar in suffodiendis cuniculis uersari, aut in profundis lapidicinis, aut in scrutandis auri uenis, intra uiscera montium abditis, unde nec suspicere nec prospicere nec respicere possem, sine ullo laboris mei <aut>* socio aut consocio. Quare si his cuniculis oppida expugnaui, si lapides hos porphyreticos excidi, si hoc aurum effodi ut spero, nimirum causa est cur fine laborum meorum -- hoc est, effectu -- gaudeam. ---------------- *aut om. V2	For how often I seemed to myself to be engaged in tunnelling mines, or in deep quarries, or in exploring veins of gold, hidden in the bowels of mountains, where I could not see ahead, nor above me, nor behind me, without any helper or companion in labor. So, if by these mines I captured those towns, if I did cut out those precious stones, if I did dig out that gold, as I hope I did, I have only too much cause to rejoice at the end -- that is, the result -- of my labors.
8. Etenim Thucydides, ut iam de laudibus eius dicam, talis est inter historicos Graecos quale <aut>* inter marmora porphyreticum aut inter metalla aurum. Tanta in eo grauitas, tanta uis, tanta sine ulla (ut sic dicam) scoria fides, quod est in historia praecipuum, ut ista qui legunt; uero prorsus fuisse non du<bitent>;** et scriptorem rebus agend<is non tantum interfuisse sed etiam praefuisse>** prout interfuit multis et praefuit; ut ex ipso quoque opere apparebit. Tamenetsi existimatus est serius uenisse cum classe ad afferendam Amphipoli+ opem, et ob id iniuste ex(s)ilio mulctatus, quo in ex(s)ilio hanc scripsit historiam, nec eam ut statuerat absoluere potuit morte praeuentus. Hic igitur sine controuersia atque Herodotus ita inter Graecos extitere principes ut inter nos Salustius et Liuius; quod testatur tum Cicero: Alter enim sine ullis salebris quasi sedatus amnis fluit, alter incitatior fertur, et de bellicis rebus canit etiam quodammodo bellicus. Tum Quintilianus: Historiam multi scripsere praeclare. sed nemo dubitat longe duos ceteris praeferendos; quorum diuersa uirtus laudem paene est parem consecuta. Densus et breuis et semper instans sibi Thucydides; dulcis et candidus et fusus Herodotus. Ille concitatis, hic remissis affectibus; melior ille contionibus, hic sermonibus; ille ui, hic uoluptate. ---------------- *aut om. V. **desunt V2 pag. decurtata. + Antipoli (!) V	For in fact Thucydides -- if now I may praise him -- is among Greek historians what porphyry is among marbles or gold among other metals. There is in him such weight, such force and, so to speak, such a pure, drossless gold of accuracy that no one can doubt that what is described, happened; and that the writer was not only present at many events but was even in charge. As appears also in the work itself. He was judged to have come too late with his fleet to relieve Amphipolis, and was for that sentenced unjustly to exile; in which exile he wrote this history, and prevented by death, was not able to finish it. Beyond dispute he and Herodotus are the princes of Greek history, as among us Sallust and Livy are. Cicero testifies to this:* 'The one flows, without roughness, like a tranquil river; the other rushes headlong, and himself martial sings of martial things'; and Quintilian:** 'Many have written history illustriously; but no one doubts that two historians far excel the others, whose very different virtues get equal praise. Thucydides, dense and laconic and forever crowding himself; Herodotus sweet and clear and diffuse. The one stirring, the other calming, the emotions; the one better in formal speeches, the other in talk; the one (better) for his force, the other for his delight.' ---------------- *Cic., Orator 12.39. **Quintilian Inst. X.1.73
9. Habes itaque, summe Pontifex, qualis sit graece Thucydides; quem si a me traductum censebis eandem seruare dignitatem, omnis mei laboris obliuiscar. Strenuus enim miles nihil pluris facit quam a suo qui praestantissimus sit Imperatore laudari. Iam tuum meumque Thucydidem (hoc namque tecum commune habebo, si opus meum probabis) agnoscas.	There you see, highest Pope, what Thucydides is like in Greek; and if you decide that in my translation he keeps this same dignity, I shall be oblivious of my labor. For a tired soldier values nothing more than this, that he is worthy of praise from his Commander. And your and my Thucydides (for if you approve my work, we shall have it in common) may you now come to know.
NOTE: The apparatus records differences between V = Vat. lat. 1801 and V2 = Vat. Chig. lat. J VIII 276. (I record even trivial differences, in case a reader may wish to have a sense of the difference between these two copies. The error of V in 8 'Antipoli' is typical of that MS; V tends badly to distort proper names; and often the error cannot possibly be Valla's.) Diamond brackets <...> mean that either codex omits the word(s) in question. The numbered paragraphs are mine: V has no paragraphs, and V2 makes a new paragraph only at 2 'Siquidem', 4 'Quo magis', 5 'Quotiens', 8 'Historiam multi' etc..

Karl Maurer, Department of Classics, 215 Carpenter Hall, The University of Dallas,

1845 East Northgate Drive, Irving, TX 75062 (filokalos@aol.com)