ABSTRACT

In the sixteenth century, Polish translators and printers were busily occupied with the furnishing of vernacular prose texts, based on Western and general European originals, for the delight of the local public. It may be added that the widely influential Apollonius of Tyre was also available in Polish. The earliest German translation by Wilhelm Salzmann appeared in a folio edition, and this is the text used by the Polish translator. The Polish translator has sometimes shortened his original, even at the expense of clarity, and sometimes expanded on it. By far the liveliest passages of the Polish romance are those depicting the youthful adventures of Florenc, the Emperor’s son, reared by his worthy foster-father Klimunt. The succeeding versions in French, German, and Polish offer materials for an interesting study of evolving sixteenth-century prose style in Europe: the subject lends itself to a monograph which will be written by some trilingual expert who can have the appropriate texts at his disposal.