Talk:Cornificia

A fact from Cornificia appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 10 December 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the work of Cornificia, a Roman poet of the first century BC, was read for centuries, but has since been lost entirely?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2007/December.

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Reference to quotation of Virginia Brown's translation

Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

I could be very well mistaken on how I am referencing this, so please show me where I should put the reference since I know you are very knowledgable on things like this. On page 174 of Brown's translation it reads,

...and to have been just as celebrated as her brother Cornificius, a renowned poet of the same period. She was not satisfied with having, thanks to her splendid talent, merely a way with words. I think that the sacred Muses inspired her to use her learned pen in the composition of verses worthy of Helicon. Rejecting the distaff, Cornificia wrote many notable epigrams still held in esteem at the time of St. Jerome, as he himself attests.

Then on page 175 it continues with,

....By means of talent and hard work she succeeded in rising above her sex, and with her splendid effort she acquired for herself fame that is perpetual and rare precisely because it stands for an excellence few men have equalled.

The wording in the article says it is Boccaccio saying this, so it looks to me to be saying essentially about the same thing, but in two different ways translated off Boccaccio. Your's is Guarino's translation and mine is Brown's, however I believe they both refer to the same quote. That could be the wording of Guarino's translation (I don't know) but the article did not say this was Guarino's wording, just ...which says of her..., which to me is Boccaccio speaking. If after this explanation you still feel it is not correct, then just leave it out - I have no objection. You would be the better judge on this.--Doug ^talk 12:27, 25 December 2007 (UTC)Reply

Yes, indeed, Doug, two translations of the Latin of Boccaccio. I have Guarino's, which is the one I quoted in the article, though not in full. Frankly, Boccaccio isn't a primary or secondary source for Cornificia, but we have so little on her that I put it in. I think it's fair, at least, to mention Boccaccio's (and Laura Cereta's) interest in Cornificia, but there's no need for more than the citation of the translation used. Xn4 17:59, 25 December 2007 (UTC)Reply

Sounds good to me. --Doug ^talk 18:10, 25 December 2007 (UTC)Reply

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