OF G. E. LESSING Translated from the German BY E. C. BEASLEY, B.A., AND HELEN ZIMMERN. EDITED BY EDWARD BELL, M.A., TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. LAOKOON: HOW THE ANCIENTS REPRESENTED DEATH: DRAMATIC NOTES. LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1879. PREFACE. A & B4 THE translation of the 'Laokoon' in this volume is substantially that of Mr. E. C. Beasley, formerly of Wadham College, Oxford, published in 1853, the merits of which have been generally acknowledged. For this edition it has been subjected to a complete and careful revision with the object of making it as accurate and literal a representation of the original as possible. A synopsis of its contents, which it is hoped will be found useful in a careful study of the work, has also been prefixed. The other contents of the volume are due to Miss Helen Zimmern (author of Arthur Schopenhauer; his Life and his Philosophy,' and 'G. E. Lessing; his Life and his Works'), who first suggested the publication of an English version of the Hamburgische Dramaturgie,' somewhat abridged by the omission of passages unlikely to interest readers of the present day, and who kindly undertook the by no means simple task of selection and translation. The essay on "How the ancients represented Death," which has a close connexion with a portion of the 'Laokoon,' is also translated by her. 343 |