instances where the discovery and collation of fresh manuscripts had
improved the text. In the case of an author whose characters speak in
the argot proper to their surroundings, the necessity for revision is
even more imperative; the change in the cultured speech of a language is
a process that requires years to become pronounced, the evolution of
slang is rapid and its usage ephemeral. For example Stephen Gaselee, in
his bibliography of Petronius, calls attention to Harry Thurston Peck's
rendering of "bell um pomum" by "he's a daisy," and remarks,
appropriately enough, "that this was well enough for 1898; but we would
now be more inclined to render it 'he's a peach.'" Again, Peck renders
"illud erat vivere" by "that was life," but, in the words of our lyric
American jazz, we would be more inclined to render it "that was the
life." "But," as Professor Gaselee has said, "no rendering of this part
of the Satyricon can be final, it must always be in the slang of the
hour."

"Some," writes the immortal translator of Rabelais, in his preface,
"have deservedly gained esteem by translating; yet not many condescend
to translate but such as cannot invent; though to do the first well,
requires often as much genius as to do the latter. I wish, reader,
thou mayest be as willing to do the author justice, as I have strove
to do him right."

Many scholars have lamented the failure of Justus Lipsius to comment upon
Petronius or edit an edition of the Satyricon. Had he done so, he might
have gone far toward piercing the veil of darkness which enshrouds the
authorship of the work and the very age in which the composer flourished.
To me, personally, the fact that Laurence Sterne did not undertake a
version, has caused much regret. The master who delineated Tristram
Shandy's father and the intrigue between the Widow Wadman and Uncle Toby