DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0409
384 COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE
have given us should not be held in less esteem
than Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, to which languages
our own would, perhaps, not be inferior if we kept its
rules, and polished it with the same care and diligence
as the Greeks and Latins. Surely that man is his
own enemy who counts a foreign language to be more
worthy of study than his own. For my part, I hold
my own language so dear to me that I would not
change it for any other in the whole world, and I
think you will feel the same. Therefore you ought
to be grateful to hear the " Calandria " in your own
tongue—no, I made a mistake : in own tongue,
I mean, in 4!)% will hear the comedy
which we have to recite, and while we speak it is
your part to keep silence. If anyone says the author
is a thief, who has stolen from Plautus, let him hold
his peace ; for old Plautus would be well content to
be robbed, and allow " 11 Moccicone " to have the
use of his treasures, and does not think it needful
to keep them under lock and key. But the author
swears by the Cross of God that he has not stolen
from Plautus, but has rather tried to emulate his
work. And he further says that, if you search all
through Plautus, you will find that the Latin poet
has lost nothing that pertains to him. This being
the case, Plautus has not been robbed ; and if you
or any obstinate person still dare to call the author
a thief, at least I beg you not to call him names
or accuse him before the magistrate, but go your-
self and whisper the secret into the ears of Plautus.
But here comes the actor with his argument. Prepare
to receive it well, and let each one open the door of
his ear. ^
In the brief argument which followed, the author
explained that Demetrius, a citizen of the Greek
city Modone, had twin children—a boy, Lido, and a
girl, Santille—who were so much alike that when
i 'Teatro antico italiano/ i. 195.
have given us should not be held in less esteem
than Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, to which languages
our own would, perhaps, not be inferior if we kept its
rules, and polished it with the same care and diligence
as the Greeks and Latins. Surely that man is his
own enemy who counts a foreign language to be more
worthy of study than his own. For my part, I hold
my own language so dear to me that I would not
change it for any other in the whole world, and I
think you will feel the same. Therefore you ought
to be grateful to hear the " Calandria " in your own
tongue—no, I made a mistake : in own tongue,
I mean, in 4!)% will hear the comedy
which we have to recite, and while we speak it is
your part to keep silence. If anyone says the author
is a thief, who has stolen from Plautus, let him hold
his peace ; for old Plautus would be well content to
be robbed, and allow " 11 Moccicone " to have the
use of his treasures, and does not think it needful
to keep them under lock and key. But the author
swears by the Cross of God that he has not stolen
from Plautus, but has rather tried to emulate his
work. And he further says that, if you search all
through Plautus, you will find that the Latin poet
has lost nothing that pertains to him. This being
the case, Plautus has not been robbed ; and if you
or any obstinate person still dare to call the author
a thief, at least I beg you not to call him names
or accuse him before the magistrate, but go your-
self and whisper the secret into the ears of Plautus.
But here comes the actor with his argument. Prepare
to receive it well, and let each one open the door of
his ear. ^
In the brief argument which followed, the author
explained that Demetrius, a citizen of the Greek
city Modone, had twin children—a boy, Lido, and a
girl, Santille—who were so much alike that when
i 'Teatro antico italiano/ i. 195.