Note on the text
Note on the text
The translation for this volume was based mainly on the Latin texts from the Corpus Reformatorum Philippi Melanthonis Opera quae supersunt omnia, ed. C. B. Bretschneider and H. E. Bindseil, 28 vols., Halle, 1834–52, Brunswick, 1853–60 (abbreviated as CR, followed by volume number and column numbers). The Latin text was then collated against the following: Melanchthons Werke in Auswahl, ed. R. Stupperich, 5 vols., Gutersloher, 1963 (StA in notes). These texts have been further collated with those in Selectarum declamationum Philippi Melanthonis, quas conscripsit et partim ipse in schola Vitebergensi recitavit, partim alijs recitandas exhibuit, 3 vols, Strasburg: S. Emmel et al., 1558–9 and Declamationum Philippi Melanthonis, quae ab ipso et alijs in Academia Witebergensi recitatae ac editae sunt, ed. Johannes Richardius, 3 vols., Strasburg: T. Rihel, 1560.
This English translation is not a word-for-word translation from the Latin, although we have endeavoured to stay close to the original so that readers wishing to follow the Latin with the English translation may be able to do so with little difficulty. We have, however, taken the liberty of punctuating lengthy sentences, transposing clauses, spelling out pronouns and supplying extra words in order to render the English translation more intelligible.
Melanchthon interspersed his orations with quotations, phrases and terms in Greek, whose meanings he often (though not always) supplied in Latin immediately after. In order to preserve the original sense of Melanchthon's use of Greek, transliterated Greek words have been retained in the text in round brackets (), except for very long quotations, which have been reproduced in the notes.
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Sources of biblical, patristic and classical citations have been supplied in the main text in square brackets []. For Latin and Greek verse, if the text in Melanchthon's orations corresponded to the modern established text, standard English translations of these works were supplied and indicated in the notes. Biblical quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version. Unless otherwise stated, all translations were done by Christine F. Salazar, with minor corrections by Sachiko Kusukawa. Where Melanchthon's citation does not match the corresponding passages in the modern established texts, this has been pointed out in the notes. Reasons for this may be various: Melanchthon may have made deliberate alterations; he may have been quoting from memory; he may have made mistakes; or the original texts of Melanchthon as we know them may have been corrupted. Moreover, the case may be that the established text of a classical author in the sixteenth century was different from that of a twentieth-century edition. It is of course difficult to determine or distinguish these various causes, and we have made some limited suggestions in the notes, which should not be taken as final or definitive.
All other editorial comments and textual corrections have been kept in the notes so that the main text may be read as smoothly as a public oration would have been read, without interruption. All references to Erasmus' Adages are based on the translation in the series Collected Works of Erasmus, 31–34 (Toronto 1982–93).
For the form of personal names, the principles suggested in the Contemporaries of Erasmus have been adopted. That is, first and second names are given in the appropriate vernacular, where predominant forms could be established; Latin forms have been retained for less well-known persons where the vernacular counterparts were uncertain; humanist forms of names in Latin or Greek were preferred wherever they were deemed to be more widely known, hence Melanchthon, Camerarius and Regiomontanus.