Note 520 — Chapter XVII

As to this, Wrampelmeyer, a Protestant, remarks (p. 451) in his edition of Cordatus’s Diary, mentioned above: “The German ‘Table-Talk,’ which agrees almost entirely with the Latin version, does not, in Erl. ed., 60, p. 110, and Förstemann, 3, p. 122, contain these words, but replaces them by the following: ‘I have frequently made use of various means in order to drive away Satan, but it was of no use.’ It is clear that words so compromising gave offence and that others were substituted instead of those given in the Latin text, which formed the basis of the German ‘Table-Talk.’ According to the Notes of Cordatus, however, Luther’s words appear in quite a different light.” “The words of the Latin ‘Table-Talk’: ‘ut de puella pulchra, avaritia, ebrietate,’ have also been replaced in the German version by more harmless expressions.”