The Strife of Love in a Dream

...worthy that one should be grateful to him for it, especially seeing that he extracted it from an Italian language mixed with Greek and Latin original: "Italien meſlé de Grec & de Latin", so confusedly put together that even moderately learned Italians cannot derive any structure from it: and furthermore, he has reduced it to a French brevity which will satisfy many people. But if there are some who are annoyed that I have not entirely restored it according to the Italian: so that they do not blame me, I wish to beg them to understand how I was induced to set my hand to this work.

Immediately after I had published my Arcadia by Sannazaro Jacopo Sannazaro (1458–1530), an Italian poet whose pastoral work "Arcadia" was immensely influential., a friend of mine who had the copy of this book brought it to me to share it with me; and after several remarks, he prayed me that for love of him I would be willing to take the charge of revising it. This I granted him, as to one for whom I would wish to do much greater things: and in fact, finding myself for the hour with a little leisure, I began in his presence to change not only some spellings which are no longer used by us, but furthermore to transpose some words which still retained something of the Italian phraseology, so corrupted that truly I marveled how this gentleman had been able to succeed so well with it: and certainly that made me so scrupulous original: "religieux" - meaning meticulous or conscientious in this context toward him, that I never wished to amplify nor diminish anything in the clauses he had made, except at times to change their order, to the end of making them easier. This, My Lords, is how the interpretation and printing of this book proceeded: which you will receive, if it please you, with as good affection as it is presented to you.

This book

This excellent and new book,

Comparable to the ancients,

Contains all that is beautiful

Upon the fertile and arable earth,

But it would have been miserable

If its second loving father

Had not, by his helping hand,

Restored it to the world, and made it happy.

Poliphilo The protagonist of the story, whose name implies "lover of many things" or "lover of Polia." first
Gave it what is called essence:
And the other, secondly,
Guarded it from death by his power,
Which was taking enjoyment of it
By plunging it into the river of forgetfulness A reference to Lethe, the mythological river of oblivion..
But he brings it into knowledge
To be ennobled by praise.

The French will now read it,
Who did not think it was in the world:
And many praises they will speak
Of chaste, pure, and clean friendship:
In which, when a good heart is founded,
Nothing but good can come to it:
Whereas he who abounds in lewdness,
Cannot attain to honor.

Bacchus The Roman god of wine and theater; the poet refers to the myth of his double birth (first from Semele, then from the thigh of Jupiter). was fathered twice,
As the Poets tell us,
And this book speaks with two voices,
At the very least to those who read it.

Now, since foreigners prize
These two, I am quite deceived,
And I shall say that the stars are harmful,
If its discourse is not well received.

Signature mark for the printer to keep the pages in order.