In the treatment of classical authors and works used or borrowed upon by Rabelais, Cicero's share has not been fully studied, or, if studied, not properly emphasized. Plattard in his study of Rabelais maintains that “Bien que Gargantua recommande à Pantagruel, étudiant à Paris de former son style latin ‘à l'imitation de celui de Cicéron,’ Rabelais ne semble pas avoir beaucoup pratiqué lui-même les œuvres de Cicéron.” In the Lefranc edition of Rabelais' works, the same unawareness is evident although there are, besides quite a few direct mentions of Cicero in the text, many notations indicating possible references to him. These, however, are presumed to have been taken mostly from Erasmus. But on this point there is no complete accord. That Rabelais borrowed generously and frequently there can be no question. It is the purpose of this paper to show the borrowings made by him from Cicero's De Oratore and the Orator.
In 1934 Professor Lebègue devoted a series of three articles to the changes made by Montchrestien in the language of his play Sophonisbe as evident in the 1596, 1601, and (to a lesser degree) in the 1604 editions. In these articles Lebègue further attempted to show that the changes made by Montchrestien were the result of the latter's conversations with his compatriot Malherbe. It must be admitted at the outset that Lebègue establishes a very convincing argument for Sophonisbe and especially in so far as concerns the changes made between the 1596 and 1601 editions upon which he has concentrated his main effort. But at the same time one cannot escape the conclusion that if Montchrestien had been a willing pupil of Malherbe before 1601 and had retained some of the latter's teachings, he, nevertheless, reasserted his linguistic independence shortly thereafter. For the 1604 edition of his plays teems with forms, uses, and expressions which, no doubt, would have suffered the ignominy of being crossed out by the irritable pen of the “Docteur en négative.”
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.