The Dream of Poliphilus

[He] deserves that one be grateful to him, especially since he extracted it from an Italian language mixed with Greek and Latin, so confusedly put together that even the Italians themselves, unless they are more than moderately learned, cannot derive any meaning from it; and furthermore, he has done so much that from a verbosity more than Asiatic Jean Martin refers to "Asiatic" style, a rhetorical term used since antiquity to describe a prose style that is overly ornate, wordy, and florid. He contrasts this with "French brevity," reflecting the Renaissance desire to make the French language appear clearer and more refined., he has reduced it to a French brevity that 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 for it, 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 Jacopo Sannazaro's Arcadia (1504) was a highly influential pastoral work. Jean Martin’s French translation was published in 1544, helping establish his reputation as a translator of Italian literature. by Sannazaro, a friend of mine who had the copy of this book The book in question is the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, which had been circulating in an anonymous French draft before Martin took it over. brought it to me to share it with me, and after much discussion, prayed that for the love of him I would 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 that are no longer in use for us, but moreover to transpose some words that still retained the Italian phrasing—so corrupted The original Italian text of the Poliphilo is famously written in a "macaronic" or "Polyglot" style, mixing Latin and Greek syntax with Italian, which Martin found awkward for a French audience. that truly I am amazed how this gentleman had been able to manage it so well. And certainly, this made me so scrupulous Martin uses the word "religieux" (religious) here in the sense of being meticulous or duty-bound to respect the original translator's effort. toward him that I never wanted to amplify or diminish anything in the clauses he had made, except occasionally to change their order to make them easier to read. This, my Lords, is how the interpretation and printing of this book proceeded; which you will receive, if it please you, with as much good affection as it is presented to you.