Monday, November 28, 2022

 

The King of Snoopers and Meddlers

Lucien Febvre (1878-1956), The Problem of Unbelief in the Sixteenth Century: The Religion of Rabelais, tr. Beatrice Gottlieb (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982), p. 61:
Visagier describes Rabella as a curious man whose curiosity makes him utterly unbearable. He might be called the king of snoopers and meddlers. "You want to know everything," Visagier reproves him, "who I am, how I live, who my father is, where I was born and where my house is. You want to know my name and my sweetheart's name, my style of life, what I eat and who works for me, whether I am lucky in love or ever have been. You want to know—" In the next line Visagier's muse gets a little too outspoken for us to quote in translation. But immediately after this digression comes the expected conclusion: "There is nothing that you do not want to know. But in your rage to know all, Rabella, what you want to know is not enough and it is too much (non satis et nimium scire, Rabella, cupis)."
"A little too outspoken for us to quote in translation" — that's like catnip to me. Here is Jean Visagier's entire poem (Ad Rabellam) in Latin:
Scire cupis qui sim, qui vivam, quoque parente
    Sim natus, quae sit patria, quique lares.
Scire cupis nomenque meum, nomenque puellae.
    Scire cupis vitae quod genus ipse sequar.
Scire cupis mensas, famulus mihi quotque ministret.        5
    Scire cupis campi jugera quotque habeam.
Scire cupis quam sim, fuerimque in amore beatus.
    Scire cupis quam sit mentula longa mihi.
Nil non scire cupis; sed dum cupis omnia scire,
    Non satis et nimium scire, Rabella, cupis.        10
The outspoken line is number 8, "Scire cupis quam sit mentula longa mihi," which means "You want to know how long my dick is."

Ioan. Vulteii Rhemi Inscriptionum Libri Duo (Paris: Apud Sim. Colinæum, 1538), p. 6:



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