Traduzione di Giuseppe Cerretesi de' Pazzi. Milano, 1756, 8vo. O GRAN Felicità, lo Al savio e al pazzo oscuramente cognita; Traduzione di Michele Leoni. Parma, 1819, 8vo. O TU, Felicità, dell' esser nostro Non men che al saggio tal, che doppia assembri; Dimmi, deh, pianta di celeste seme, Se quaggiu mai cadesti, in qual più eletta Allo splendido raggio, o colle gemme Certo loco non ha; libera sempre, Non si cambia, nè merca; e in niuna parte Nasce, o dovunque; dai monarchi fugge, O Bolingbroke, ella con te dimora. ་་ "Trace science then, with modesty thy guide," &c. These sentiments were not only expressed by Pope in his works, but were the principles upon which he acted through life, and which essentially contributed to the formation of his character, and particularly in his political and religious concerns. To whatever cause this strongly marked peculiarity is to be attributed, the effect, as far as his example and precepts extend, would not, it must be owned, be favourable to the progress of knowledge, or to the true interests and happiness of the human race. To no individuals are we more indebted than to those who have pushed their inquiries, as well respecting intellectual as material existence to their fullest extent, and have thereby contributed to ascertain the true objects of human inquiry, and the true limits of the human understanding; a task of such importance that, until it can be accomplished, we shall always be in danger, not merely of wasting our powers on subjects beyond our comprehension, but of adopting false ideas and erroneous conclusions, highly unfavourable to our improvement and happiness. The Essay on Man was translated into Latin Heroic verse by Jo. Joach. Gottlob Am Ende, of Dresden; into Italian versi sciolti, by the Cavaliere Anton-Filippo Adami; into French, by the Abbe Du Resnel; and into German, by Henrich Christian Kretsch. These translations were collected, and printed with the original English, by Bodoni, in an elegant quarto volume: Parma, dalla Reale Stamperia, 1801. In the Italian language there are no less than six translations; two in prose, and the others in versi sciolti; of these, that of Adami is too diffuse and prolix; that of Castiglione is almost literally verse for verse, but totally deficient in poetical elegance; the translation of Cerretesi is more free, without being on the whole preferable; and that of Leoni, a modern Italian poet, who has lately undertaken to introduce our immortal Shakspeare to his countrymen, holds a middle place between the superfluous verbosity of the one, and the dry brevity of the others. It cannot but be highly interesting to the admirers of Pope, to see a short specimen of the different manner in which one of the finest passages of this celebrated poem has been transferred into the beautiful language of Italy. POPE, SAGGIO SULL' UOMO. EP. IV. Traduzione del Cavaliere Anton-Filippo Adami, Ed. Parma, 1811. BELLA Felicità, tu sei di ogni ente Di pregevol, che ogni Uom dentro al suo cuore |