LXII.

The Curiosities of the Royal Library at Dresden.

469.) Colloqvia, Meditationes, Consolationes, Consilia, Judicia, Sententiæ, Narrationes, Responsa, Facetiæ D. Martini Lutheri piæ & sanctæ memoriæ, in Mensa prandii & cœnæ, in peregrinationibus observata, & fideliter transcripta. Volumen I. Anno 1562. 283. Blätter. Volumen II. 356. Blätter. Colloquies, Meditations, Consolations, Counsels, Judgments, Sentences, Narrations, Responses, Witticisms of Dr. Martin Luther of pious and holy memory, observed at the table of lunch and dinner, and on travels, and faithfully transcribed. Volume I. Year 1562, 283 leaves. Volume II, 356 leaves. A manuscript in folio of two volumes.

To what extent these Latin Table Talks of Luther agree with the examples printed in this language, or depart from them, I have not been able to investigate, because I have not had a Latin edition at hand. In general, the Latin editions are much rarer than the German ones, and I doubt if more than one of them has appeared in the light of day. Dr. Adam Rechenberg lists in his dissertation de Colloqviis Mensalibus Lutheri on the Table Talks of Luther §. VII. only a single German Frankfurt edition in two volumes in octavo, but without noting the time when they were printed. He adds that it is expanded here and there, and completely different from the German translation. One could conclude from this that the German Table Talks of Luther cannot be considered the original.

I am actually of the opinion that Johannes Aurifaber initially collected them together in the Latin language, and brought them under certain titles, but subsequently translated them into German and published them. Yet also in this Latin manuscript, which is older than the first edition of 1566, many German passages are inserted here and there. I have also found it to be more extensive than the German copies, and in many pieces different from them, yet also often entirely identical. I admit that they can serve to gain insight into Luther's inner mental state and inclinations, but it does not seem reasonable to me to pass off these Table Talks as his genuine doctrine. One does not weigh every word that is spoken over the table on golden scales, but rather says