And by cause I Wylliam Caxton was desyred & requyred by a good and synguler frende of myn, Maister Wylliam Daubeney, one of the tresorers of the Iewellys of the noble & moost crysten kyng our naturel and souerayn lord late of noble memorye kyng Edward the fourth, on whos soule Ihesu haue mercy, to reduce al these sayd hystoryes in to our englysshe tongue, I haue put me in deuoyr to translate thys sayd book as ye here tofore may se, al a long and playn, prayeng alle them that shall rede see or here it to pardon me of thys symple & rude translacyon and reducyng, bysechyng theym that shal fynde faute to correcte it, & in so doyng they shal deserue thankynges and I shal praye god for them, who brynge them and me after this short and transytorye lyf to euerlastyng blysse Amen. The whyche werke was fynysshed in the reducyng of hit in to englysshe the xviii day of Iuyn the second yere of kyng Rychard the thyrd, And the yere of our lord M.cccc.lxxxv. And enprynted the fyrst day of decembre the same yere of our lord & the fyrst yere of kyng Harry the seuenth.
Explicit per William Caxton.
The double dating which the worthy translator and printer gives so calmly has here a special interest as (unless indeed he began setting up the translation before it was finished) it shows that he was able to print a book of considerable size between June 18th and December 1st, and also because between these two dates Bosworth Field was lost and won, and the English throne had passed to a new king, on whom Caxton was perhaps at first inclined to look with rather critical eyes. If this was so, however, Henry VII found a sure way to conciliate him, for in the “Fayts of Arms” of Christine de Pisan we find that the translation and printing of the book were undertaken at the king’s request, and there is now no lack of honorific epithets attached to the mention of him.
Thus endeth this boke whiche Cristyne of Pyse made and drewe out of the boke named Vegecius de Re Militari and out of th’ Arbre of Bataylles wyth many other thynges sett in to the same requisite to werre and batailles. Whiche boke beyng in Frenshe was delyuered to me William Caxton by the most crysten kynge and redoubted prynce my natural and souerayn lord kyng Henry the VII, kyng of Englond and of Fraunce in his palais of Westmestre the xxiii day of Ianyuere the iiii yere of his regne and desired and wylled me to translate this said boke and reduce it in to our English and natural tonge, and to put it in enprynte to thende that euery gentylman born to armes and all manere men of werre, captayns, souldiours, vytayllers and all other, shold haue knowlege how they ought to behaue theym in the fayttes of warre and of bataylles, and so delyuered me the said book thenne, my lord th’ Erle of Oxenford awayting on his said grace, Whyche volume conteynyng four bokes I receyued of his said grace and according to his desire, whiche to me I repute a comandement, and verili glad to obeye, and after the lityl connyng that God hath lente me I haue endeuoyrd me to the vtterest of my power to fulfylle and accomplisshe his desire and comaundement, as wel to reduce it in to englyshe as to put it in enprinte, to thende that it may come to the sight and knowlege of euery gentylman and man of warre. And for certayn in myn oppinyon it is as necessary a boke and as requisite as ony may be for euery estate hye and lowe that entende to the fayttes of werre, whether it be in bataylles, sieges, rescowse, and all other fayttes, subtyltees and remedyes for meschieues. Whiche translacyon was finysshed the viii day of Iuyll the sayd yere and enprynted the xiiii day of Iuyll next folowyng and ful fynyshyd. Thenne syth I haue obeyed his most dredeful comaundement I humbly byseche his most exellent and bounteuous hyenes to pardone me of this symple and rude translacion, where in be no curyous ne gaye termes of rethoryk, but I hope to almighti God that it shal be entendyble and vnderstanden to euery man and also that it shal not moche varye in sentence fro the copye receyued of my said souerayn lord. And where as I haue erryd or made defaulte I beseche them that fynde suche to correcte it and so dooyng I shal praye for them, and yf ther be ony thyng therin to his pleasir I am glad and thinke my labour wel enployed for to haue the name to be one of the litel seruantes to the hiest and most cristen kyng and prince of the world, whom I byseche almyghty God to preserue kepe and contynue in his noble and most redoubted enterpryses, as wel in Bretayn, Flaundres and other placis, that he may haue victorie, honour and renommee to his perpetual glorye. For I haue not herd ne redde that ony prynce hath subdued his subgettis with lasse hurte &c and also holpen his neighbours and frendis out of this londe, In whyche hye enterprises I byseche almyghty God that he may remayne alleway vyctoryous And dayly encreace fro vertu to vertue, and fro better to better to his laude & honour in this present lyf, that after thys short and transitorye lyf he may atteyne to euerlastyng lyf in heuen, whiche God graunte to hym and to alle his lyege peple Amen.
Passing now from authors and semi-authors (if we may invent such a class to do honor to Caxton) to editors of a more ordinary stamp, we shall find that they, or the printers who hired them, in their anxiety to magnify their achievements, have frequent recourse to the opportunities offered by colophons. For unflinching and pretentious self-advertisement the palm, as far as my experience reaches, must be given to Bartolommeo Cepolla, who collected and edited the “consilia,” or counsel’s opinions, of Paulus de Castro, a celebrated jurist:
Si quis rerum omnium naturas inspexerit: vnamquamque non minus suo ordine quam partibus constare facile intelliget. Nec qui pro construendis edibus structori materiam parat sed qui pro consummati operis expeditione dispositam artificiose connectit domum edificare perhibetur: eique iure optimo architecti dum taxat nomen indidimus. Nemo namque sane mentis plineturgos aut cementarios edificatores merito nuncupabit, hi licet coctilia ac reliquia pro ceteris conglutinandis particulis administrent: hominem neque progenuisse naturam iudicaremus si hominis crura vertebris vero ac inguinibus caput et humeros addidisset, quando quidem et si nullius portiuncule integritate caruisset solius tamen situs incongruitate monstruosa res non rationis particeps animal diceretur. Cum itaque clarissimi ac excellentissimi iureconsulti Pauli Castrensis dilapsa undique neque in unum corpus redacta consilia cernerentur non ea fuisse edita seu composita dici posse videbant[ur], ac deperiisse potius tantum opus tamque elegantissimum quam in lucem peruenisse merito arbitraretur, communi studentium utilitati parens, quibus maxima pro eorum beniuolentia summisque in eum benemeritis seipsum debere fatetur, insignis eques et comes ac iuris ciuilis et pontificii interpres famosissimus Bartholomeus Cepolla Veronensis, aduocatus consistorialis, in florentissimo gymnasio Patauino ordinariam iuris ciuilis de mane publice legens, singula queque ab eo clarissimo uiro hinc inde consulta colligere elaborauit: fieri etiam unum reintegratum volumen (quod merito Repertorium Pauli Castrensis appellamus) ad faciliorem doctrinam capescendam curauit ac omnibus eius professionis imposterum accomodatum patere studuit. Idque impressoria arte Nurnberge de mense Octobris M.cccc.lxxxv Indictione tercia: per Anthonium Koburger actum est et diligentia completum.
Any one who has examined the natures of things in general will easily understand that each of them is the result quite as much of its arrangement as of its parts. Nor is he who makes ready the material for the mason to construct a dwelling considered to be the builder of the house, but rather he who skilfully combines the material available for the furtherance of the complete work, and by the best right it is only to this man that we have given the name of architect. For no one in his right mind will entitle tilers and bricklayers builders, although they furnish the bricks and what else is wanted for cementing together the other parts, nor should we judge nature to have given birth to a man if a man’s legs had been added to his vertebræ and a head and shoulders to his middle, since although every portion were there in its entirety, yet merely from the incongruity of their position the result would be called a monstrosity, not an animal partaking of reason. So when of the most famous and excellent counsellor Paulus Castrensis the Opinions were perceived to have been scattered abroad and not brought together into one body, it seemed impossible to speak of them as having been edited or compiled, and it might justly be thought that this great and most elegant work had rather utterly perished than been brought to the light of day. Obeying therefore the convenience of students, to whom he acknowledges himself indebted for their great good will and many services to him, a noble knight and count and very renowned exponent alike of civil and papal law, Bartholomeus Cepolla of Verona, an advocate of the consistorial court, who lectures publicly of a morning in the most flourishing University of Padua on the ordinary course of civil law, has taken the pains to gather from all sides all the individual opinions given by that most distinguished man, and has arranged, in order that his teaching may more easily be understood, for the publication of a single renovated volume, which we rightly call the Repertory of Paulus Castrensis, and has made it his care that this should be available in future for all of his profession, and this by the printer’s art has been finished and diligently completed at Nuremberg in October, 1485, the third indiction, by Anton Koburger.
A more normal example of the custom of blaming previous printers and editors—and it must be owned that the accusations hurled at them are, as a rule, much better justified than the vituperator’s assertions of his own superiority—may be taken from another law-book, a lecture or commentary by Petrus de Ancharano, printed and, as he asserts, edited by Benedictus Hectoris at Bologna.