Selections from Conrad Celtis: 1459-1508

This volume was originally published in 1948. Students of sixteenth-century Germany and its literature, in need of a text and translation of the works of Conrad Celtis, the Humanist, who wrote in Latin, will find it in Mr Forster’s selection. Latin literature was in some respects a generation ahead of the vernaculars. It is in Latin that the big changes first become apparent. But in present-day education the tendency away from Latin makes it difficult for students to study this as it ought to be studied. Mr Forster, judging by his lecture-room experience, believes that there is a need and a way to remedy this difficulty. He has selected texts from Celtis to illustrate tendencies in humanist thought, writing a commentary upon each, and adding a literal translation.