Text

Use in the book

The simplest declaration of love can supply a sufficient text and motif for excellent music or poetry: the effect need not be exhausted by the original words’ ordinary meaning. Amyot’s translation is then treated as an original whose text readers like quoting, while Dacier’s receives the higher judgment specifically as translation. The Quesnel comparison distinguishes two nearly equivalent ideas through their charming or graver expressions. Likewise the Batteux note records one formulation and then explicitly restores what Joubert calls the text. Finally weaving and embroidery make text a ground for elaboration. These witnesses preserve the difference between developing a starting point and claiming to reproduce its wording.

Places to read

1. II, p. 756, entry 9, ¶1Ordinary words can furnish a powerful artistic text or motif.
2. II, p. 777, entry 3, ¶1A translation can acquire the status of an original text.
3. II, p. 808, entry 8, ¶1Two nearly equivalent ideas retain different wording and gravity.
4. II, p. 859, entry 10, ¶1Text receives a weaving and embroidery image.
5. II, p. 912, entry 3, ¶1A second quotation is identified as the stated original wording.

Translation in this edition

The English translation consistently uses text. The reported Amyot–Dacier comparison remains Joubert’s judgment, including its qualified [hundred]. Quesnel’s and Batteux’s external originals are not independently certified here. The textile fragment offers associated images rather than a modern technical explanation of weaving.