A Renaissance Courtesy-book: Galateo of Manners & BehavioursDella Casa, Giovanni
Philosophy
A Renaissance Courtesy-book: Galateo of Manners & Behaviours
Della Casa, Giovanni
Courtesy -- Early works to 1800; Etiquette -- Early works to 1800
The "Galateo" was translated into French by Jean du Peyrat in 1562, and
again, anonymously, with the original and the translation on opposite
pages, in 1573. A Spanish version by Domingo Becerra was published in
1585, and this was followed in 1599 by a loose imitation by Gracian
Dantisco, entitled "El Galateo Español," which in its turn was
translated into English in 1640 by William Styles as "Galateo Espagnol,
or the Spanish Gallant." In 1598 an edition of the "Galateo" in four
languages, Italian, French, Latin, and Spanish, was published at Lyons;
and a German version was added in the editions of 1609 and 1615.
The first English translation, by Robert Peterson of Lincoln's Inn,
appeared in 1576, as "Galateo of Maister Iohn Della Casa, Archebishop
of Beneventa, or rather a Treatise of the Manners and Behaviours it
behoveth a Man to use in his familiar Conversation;" and an edition of
it, limited to one hundred copies, was privately printed by H. J. Reid
in 1892. Peterson's rendering is based almost entirely on the anonymous
French translation of 1573, although he occasionally refers to the
Italian original on the opposite pages. Two proofs of his indebtedness
will suffice: Where the Frenchman renders the single Italian word
"mezzanamente" by the phrase "avec discretion et médiocrité," Peterson
follows him with "by Discretion and Measure;" and again, the single
word "questa" in Della Casa becomes "cette gracieuseté et courtoisie"
in the French and "this civilitie and courtesie" in the English version.
At least five other English translations have been published. In
1616, Thomas Gainsford appended to his "Rich Cabinet" an "Epitome of
Good Manners extracted from Archbp. J. de la Casa;" the treatise
was paraphrased by N. W. as "The Refin'd Courtier" in 1663; in 1701,
an English translation (from the Latin version of N. Chytraeus) was
published "by several young Gentlemen educated at a private Grammar
School near Hackney," under the title of "J. Casa his Galateus, or a
Treatise of Manners;" a version entitled "Galateo of Manners" appeared
in 1703; and still another version, entitled "Galateo, or a Treatise on
Politeness and Delicacy of Manners," appeared in 1774. Della Casa was
also the author of another treatise on conduct, "Trattato degli Uffici
communi tra gli Amici superiori e inferiori," which was translated
into English by Henry Stubbe in 1665, as "The Arts of Grandeur and
Submission."
Peterson's version is reproduced in the present work. The proofs
have been collated with the British Museum copy of the original 1576
edition by Mr. W. B. Owen, formerly scholar of St. Catharine's College,
Cambridge. In deference to the insistence of the publisher and the
general editor, a few passages "perfume our pages only in their native
Italian."
J. E. S.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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