Translation and Ovid as diplomatic tools in William Caxton’s Eneydos (1490)

Abstract

In 1490, in Westminster, William Caxton published Eneydos – the first printed translation of Virgil’s Aeneid in vernacular English. Eneydos is an English translation of an anonymous French text called Le Livre des Énéydes compille par Virgile, lequel a esté translaté de latin en François. Although the source text describes itself as a French rendering of Aeneid, Le Livre des Énéydes is not a verbatim translation of Virgil’s epic poem: Tudor translation practices tended to create dialogue between sources through comparisons between texts, the incorporation or dismissal of elements from a specific episode, as well as digressions. As a result, Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos, although read as one unified version of Virgil’s Aeneid, borrow from different source texts and offer diverging readings of certain mythological figures and episodes. Two accounts of Dido’s life are told in Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos: a rewriting and translation of Boccaccio’s depiction of Dido’s life in De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (1355-73) – according to which Dido kills herself in protest as she refuses to marry a neighbouring king in order to stay true to her vow of chastity – is followed by a rewriting and translation of Virgil’s Aeneid 4, in which Dido falls in love with Aeneas and commits suicide out of love and despair when he eventually leaves Carthage. The juxtaposition of these two conflicting and opposing versions of Dido’s life introduces a well-known debate into the text. Indeed, the French compiler brings together two accounts that are representative of two of the three traditions that surround the figure of Dido (Virgil’s misogynistic rendition of Dido’s life, and Boccaccio’s historic, arguably pro-Dido digest), putting a greater emphasis on the mythological figure and thereby stirring up debate on the Queen of Carthage. There is a basis for this, as for many centuries, Aeneas’ supposed cowardice and Dido’s arguable virtue have been discussed in literature. The third tradition – the Ovidian angle – depicts Dido under a favourable light and condemns Aeneas for his dubiousness. It is introduced into the narrative by William Caxton, who added pro-Dido elements to his translation. And yet, Caxton does not openly defend Dido’s plight: the changes he makes in his translation are fairly subtle. Le Livre des Énéydes and Eneydos reactivate the debate and directly take part in the Querelle des Femmes (sometimes translated as the Battle of the Sexes), a literary debate on the condition of women which was then raging throughout Europe. This article aims at examining how the act of translation and how the Ovidian intertext are part of a proto-feminist rhetoric of appeasement of violent misogyny.