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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 186 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TRANSLATION (See also:

Lat. trans, across, and latus, the participle of Jerre, to carry), literally a carrying over or transference from one to another, and so from one See also:medium to another. Among the more literal usages is the translation of See also:Enoch in the See also:Bible (Heb. xi. 5), or the ecclesiastical removal of a See also:bishop to another see. But the commonest sense of the word is in connexion with the rendering of one See also:language into another. The characteristics of a See also:good translation in the See also:literary sense, and the See also:history of the See also:influence, through See also:translations, of one literature on another, are See also:worth more detailed See also:notice. See also:Dryden has prescribed the course to be followed in the See also:execution of the ideal translation: " A translator that would write with any force or spirit of an See also:original must never dwell on the words of his author. He ought to possess himself entirely, and perfectly comprehend the See also:genius and sense of his author, the nature of the subject, and the terms of the See also:art or subject treated of; and then he will See also:express himself as justly, and with as much See also:life, as if he wrote an original; whereas, he who copies word for word loses all the spirit in the tedious transfusion." Comparatively few translators have satisfied this See also:canon. A writer capable of attaining the See also:standard set up by Dryden is naturally more disposed to use his See also:powers to. express his own views than those of his See also:foreign predecessors. No doubt at all times, and in all countries, translations have usually been produced for utilitarian purposes, and not from See also:artistic motives. In the first instance we may assume that translations were undertaken in a spirit of educational propaganda as a means of communicating new ideas and new facts to a somewhat uninstructed and uncritical public, indifferent as to matters of See also:form. But, though the translator's See also:primary See also:motive is didactic, he is insensibly led to reproduce the manner as well as the See also:matter of his original as closely as possible. See also:Montaigne warns aspirants of the difficulty in dealing with authors remarkable for the finish of their execution.

" II faictbon," he writes in the Apologie de Raimond Sebonde, " traduire See also:

les aucteurs comme celuy-la ou it n'y a gueres que la matiere a representer; mais ceux qui ont See also:donne beaucoup a la See also:grace et a 1'elegance de langage ils sont dangereux a entreprendre nommement pour les rapporter a un idiome plus foible." As it happens, however the task of translating foreign masterpieces has frequently been undertaken by writers of undisputed literary accomplishment whose renderings have had a permanent effect on the literature of their native See also:country. It was certainly the See also:case when See also:Rome, having conquered See also:Greece, was captured by her See also:captive. There is much point and little exaggeration in the statement that " when the See also:Greek nation became a See also:province of Rome, the Latin literature became a province of the Greek "; and this peaceful victory was initiated by a See also:series of translations made by writers of exceptional ability and, in some cases, of real genius. The first translator whose name is recorded in the history of See also:European literature is L. Livius Andronicus, a manumitted Greek slave who about 240 B.C., rendered the Odyssey into Saturnian See also:verse. This translation, of which some fragments are preserved, was See also:long in use as a school See also:text, for See also:Horace studied it under the formidable See also:Orbilius; but Andronicus appears to have recognized his See also:mistake in using the native Latin measure as a vehicle of literary expression, and is said to have rendered Greek tragedies and comedies into metres corresponding to those of his Greek originals. The decision was momentous, for it influenced the whole metrical development of Latin See also:poetry. The example set by Andronicus was followed by See also:Naevius and See also:Ennius, both of whom laid the See also:foundations of the Latin See also:theatre by translating Greek plays—especially those of See also:Euripides—and naturalized in Rome the See also:hexameter, which, as practised later by See also:Lucretius and See also:Virgil, was destined to become " the stateliest measure ever moulded by the lips of See also:man." The tradition of translating more or less freely was continued by See also:Pacuvius, the See also:nephew of Ennius; as well as by See also:Plautus and See also:Terence, whose comedies are skilful renderings or adaptations from the New See also:Attic See also:Comedy of See also:Philemon, See also:Diphilus and 1VIenander. A persistent translator from the Greek was See also:Cicero, who interpolates in his See also:prose writings versified renderings of passages from See also:Homer, See also:Aeschylus, See also:Sophocles and Euripides which prove the injustice of the popular See also:verdict on his merits as a poet. Cicero not only translated the oration of See also:Demosthenes On the See also:Crown, but also made Latin versions of See also:Plato's See also:Timaeus (See also:part of which survives), of See also:Xenophon's Oeconomicus, and of the Phaenomena, an astronomical poem by See also:Aratus of See also:Soli, an Alexandrian imitator of See also:Hesiod. This last performance was a See also:tribute to the prevailing See also:fashion of the moment, for the Alexandrian poets had supplanted the See also:early Greek school in favour among the literary circles of Rome. To the foregoing See also:list may be added the See also:great name of See also:Catullus, whose See also:Coma Berenices is translated from See also:Callimachus, and See also:Cornelius See also:Gallus is mentioned as a translator of See also:Euphorion.

See also:

Complete translations became less and less necessary as a knowledge of Greek spread among the educated class. But the practice of translating fragments of Greek verse continued throughout the classic See also:period of Latin literature, and the translations of Greek originals incorporated by Virgil were duly pointed out by Octavius Avitus. The knowledge of Greek declined with the See also:empire, and translations were accordingly produced for the benefit of students who were curious concerning the philosophic doctrines of the Athenians and the Neoplatonists. See also:Porphyry's introduction to See also:Aristotle's Categories was translated by See also:Victorinus about the reign of See also:Julian the Apostate; at the end of the 5th See also:century this introduction was once more translated by See also:Boetius, whose translations of Aristotle's Categories and other logical See also:treatises began the See also:movement which ended in establishing the Greek philosopher as the most profound and authoritative exponent of intellectual problems during the See also:middle ages. Plato was less fortunate, for he was known to students chiefly by the Latin version of the Timaeus made by Chalcidius (it is said) for See also:Hosius, the bishop of See also:Cordova. See also:Cassiodorus, the contemporary of Boetius, went farther afield when he ordered a Latin translation of See also:Josephus to be prepared; but the See also:interest in Aristotle extended to the See also:East, and in the 6th century he was translated into See also:Syriac by See also:Sergius of Resaina. The Syrians acted as interpreters of Greek learning to the See also:Arabs, and during the 8th and 9th centuries-. chiefly through the See also:staff of translators organized at See also:Bagdad by Honein See also:ibn Ishak--the See also:works of Plato and Aristotle, as well as those of See also:Hippocrates and See also:Galen, were translated into Arabic. These translations are of See also:capital importance in the history of European thought. Many of them were introduced into See also:Spain by the Arabs, and were rendered—in some cases through the intermediary of a Castilian-speaking See also:Jew—into Latin at the See also:college of translators founded in fi130 (or shortly afterwards) at See also:Toledo by See also:Raymund, See also:archbishop of that See also:city. Circulating widely throughout western See also:Europe, these Latin translations supplied the learned with a third- or See also:fourth-See also:hand knowledge of Greek See also:philosophy. When Albertus See also:Magnus, St See also:Thomas See also:Aquinas, or any other early See also:light of the See also:schools refers to Aristotle, it must be See also:borne in mind that he often had no more exact acquaintance with the text which he expounds or confutes than could be gathered from an indirect Latin version of an Arabic rendering of a Syriac translation of a Greek original. This accounts for many misunderstandings and errors which would otherwise be incomprehensible.

Among the earliest European translators who made their way to Toledo were See also:

Adelard of See also:Bath, who rendered an Arabic version of See also:Euclid into Latin; the See also:English-man known as See also:Robert de Retines, afterwards See also:archdeacon of See also:Pamplona, the first translator of the See also:Koran, which he did into Latin in 1141-1143 by See also:order of See also:Peter the See also:Venerable; and See also:Gerard of See also:Cremona, who, towards the end of the 1lth century, was responsible for over seventy translations from the Arabic, including See also:Ptolemy's Almagest and many of Aristotle's treatises, as well as works by Galen, Hippocrates and See also:Avicenna. Early in the 13th century See also:Michael See also:Scot, who had begun his Arabic studies at See also:Palermo, visited Toledo and (perhaps with the help of the Jew Andreas, if we are to believe the statement of See also:Hermann the See also:German, repeated by See also:Roger See also:Bacon) translated into Latin various works of Aristotle, Avicenna, and—more especially —See also:Averroes. These Latin translations by Michael Scot introduced Averroes to the notice of Western scholars, and the fact that they were used at the See also:universities of See also:Paris and See also:Bologna gave the first impetus to the See also:vogue of Averroistic See also:doctrine which lasted from the See also:time of St Thomas Aquinas to the rise of See also:Martin See also:Luther. At Toledo, between 1240 and 1256, Hermann the. German translated into Latin the commentaries of Averroes on Aristotle's See also:Ethics, together with abridgments of the Poetic and the See also:Rhetoric made respectively by Averroes and Alfarabi. But, at the very period of Hermann the German's See also:residence at Toledo, a more satisfactory method of translation was begun. Within See also:half a century of the See also:conquest of See also:Constantinople in 1204 a visit to Spain was no longer indispensable for a would-be translator of Greek philosophical treatises. The original texts slowly became more available, and a Latin translation of Aristotle's Ethics seems to have been made from the Greek by order of Robert See also:Grosseteste, bishop of See also:Lincoln, between 1240-1244. Towards the end of the century the indefatigable See also:William of Moerbeke (near See also:Ghent)—mentioned as " William the See also:Fleming " by Roger Bacon—produced, amongst numerous other Latin renderings from the Greek, versions of Aristotle's Rhetoric and Politics which have commended themselves to more exact scholars of the See also:modern German type. The Latin renderings from the Arabic were current till a much later date; but it was henceforth accepted, at least in principle, that translations of the Greek See also:classics should be made See also:direct from the original text. Meanwhile the See also:work of translating foreign productions into the See also:local See also:vernacular had been begun in the See also:north and See also:west of Europe. Towards the end of the 9th century an illustrious English translator appeared in the See also:person of See also:King See also:Alfred, who rendered St See also:Gregory the Great's Cura pastoralis into West Saxon " sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense." Alfred is also regarded, though with less certainty, as the translator of See also:Bede's Historia ecclesiastica and the Historia adversus paganos of See also:Orosius.

The version of St Gregory's See also:

treatise is the most literal of the three; omissions are frequent in therenderings of Bede and Orosius, and in all the diction is disfigured by latinisms. A larger conception of a translator's See also:function is noticeable in Alfred's version of Boetius's De consolatione philosophiae, a famous Neoplatonic treatise which was the delight of the middle ages, and was translated later into German by See also:Notker See also:Labeo, into See also:French by See also:Jean de Meung, and twice again into English by See also:Chaucer and by See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth respectively. In translating Boetius, Alfred deals more freely with his author, interpolates passages not to be found in the extant texts of the original, and yet succeeds in giving an adequate See also:interpretation which is also an excellent specimen of English prose. If the alliterative verses found in one See also:manuscript of Alfred's translation are accepted as his work, it is clear that he had no poetic See also:faculty; but he has the See also:credit of opening up a new path, of bringing See also:England into contact with European thought, and of stimulating such writers as Werferth, bishop of See also:Worcester —the translator of St Gregory's Dialogues—to proceed on the same See also:line. Some See also:forty years earlier See also:John Scotus (See also:Erigena) had won celebrity as a translator by his Latin renderings of works ascribed to the mysterious 5th century Neoplatonist who passes under the name of See also:Dionysius the Areopagite. Towards the See also:close of Alfred's reign some countrymen of Erigena bettered his example by producing Irish versions of Hippocrates and Galen at St Gallen. St Gallen became a centre of translation, and there, at the beginning of the See also:firth century, Notker Labeo presided over a See also:committee of interpreters who issued German renderings of certain treatises by Aristotle, Terence's See also:Andria and Virgil's Eclogues. Far greater literary importance attaches to See also:Syntipas,the See also:title given by Michael Andreopulos to a collection of See also:ancient See also:Oriental tales which he translated from an intermediate Syriac version into Greek at the See also:request of the Armenian See also:duke of Melitene about the end of the firth century. These stories were retranslated into French verse and (by Jean de Haute-Seille) into Latin during the course of the r 2th century under the respective titles of the See also:Sept sages de Rome and Dolopathos; they were utilized in the See also:Cento novelle antiche, in the Libro dei sette savj, and in the Decamerone, and were finally absorbed by every literature in Europe. Immense popularity was won by the See also:Liber gestorum Barlaam et Josaphat, a Latin translation made in the firth or 12th century from the Greek, and recast in many European See also:languages during the 13th century. The See also:book is in fact a legendary life of See also:Buddha adapted to the purposes of See also:Christianity by a See also:monk; but it was accepted as an See also:historical See also:record, the undiscerning credulity of the faithful informally canonized Barlaam and Josaphat, and ultimately compelled the Latin See also:Church to include these two fictitious beings as See also:saints in the Marlyrologium romanum. This is perhaps the most curious result attained by any translation.

The interest in Eastern apologues and moralizing stories, which was early shown in See also:

Marie de See also:France's translation of Aesopic fables, was further demonstrated by the Castilian translations of Kalilah and Dimnah and Sindibad made about the middle of the 13th century, by (or at the command of) See also:Alphonso the Learned and his See also:brother the See also:Infante Fadrique respectively. The See also:enthusiasm for these Oriental stories was communicated to the See also:rest of Europe by John of See also:Capua's Directorium humanae vitae (1270), a Latin translation of Kalilah and Dimnah; but, in the meanwhile, as the younger European literatures See also:grew in See also:power and variety, the See also:field of translation necessarily widened to such an extent that detailed description becomes impossible. See also:Geoffrey of See also:Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae, which purports to be a See also:free version of an unnamed See also:Breton book, is the source of the Arthurian legends which reappeared transformed in elaborate French versions, and were transmitted to the rest of Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries. During this period of French literary supremacy instances of bilingual faculty are not wanting in the form of translations: shortly after the middle of the 13th century Brunetto See also:Latini translated passages of Cicero into See also:Italian, and selections from See also:Sallust into French. A See also:hundred years later there are unmistakable indications that the middle ages are departing, that the French See also:suzerainty over literature is at an end, and that the See also:advent of the New See also:Humanism is an accomplished fact. The early See also:Renaissance had already dawned in See also:Italy: a renewed interest in the Latin classics (Greek was not yet generally cultivated by scholars) proved that there was a revival of learning in France. See also:Livy was done into French by Bersuire, See also:Seneca by Bauchant, See also:Boccaccio by See also:Laurent de Premier Fait, and a celebrated translator appeared in the person of See also:Nicolas See also:Oresme, who, however, rendered Aristotle from a Latin version. In England Chaucer executed translations of Boetius and part of the See also:Roman de la See also:rose, and succeeded equally in interpreting the philosophic treatise and the allegorical poem. A still further advance is discernible in the book of travels ascribed to See also:Sir John See also:Mandeville: this work, which seems to have been originally written in French, is rendered into English with an exceptional felicity which has won for the translator the loose-fitting but not altogether inappropriate title of " the See also:father of English prose." The English version of Mandeville is assigned to the beginning of the 15th century. About 1470 Sir Thomas See also:Malory produced from French originals his Morte d' See also:Arthur, a pastiche of different texts translated with a consummate art which amounts to originality. Malory's inspired version, together with the numerous renderings from the French issued (and often made personally) by See also:Caxton, stimulated the public See also:taste for romantic narrative, raised the standard of execution, and invested the translator with a new See also:air of dignity and importance. Yet the 15th century has a See also:fair claim to be regarded as the See also:golden See also:age of translation.

The See also:

Gothic version of the Bible, made by See also:Ulfilas during the 4th century almost simultaneously with St See also:Jerome's See also:Vulgate, is invaluable as the See also:sole literary See also:monument of a vanished language; the 14th century English version by Wycliffe and the 15th century English versions which hear the names of See also:Tyndale and See also:Coverdale are interesting in themselves, and are also interesting as having contributed to the actual Authorized Version of 1611. But they are incomparably less important than Luther's German translation of the Bible (1522–1534) which, apart from its significance as indicating the complete victory of the liberal middle class and the irremediable downfall of the feudal and ecclesiastical See also:autocracy, supplanted See also:minor dialects and fixed the norm of literary expression in German-speaking countries. Luther, it has been truly said, endowed See also:Germany with a See also:uniform literary language, a See also:possession which she had lost for nearly three hundred years. The effect of profane literature was speedily visible in See also:Fischart's translations of See also:Rabelais's Pantagrueline (1572) and the first book of Gargantua (1575). But before this date France had produced a See also:prince of translators in Jacques See also:Amyot, bishop of See also:Auxerre. In 1548 Nicolas de Herberay had published a French translation of Amadis de Gaule which enchanted the polite See also:world at the See also:court of See also:Henry II., had its See also:day, and is forgotten. But Amyot's translation of See also:Plutarch (1559) remains an acknowledged masterpiece, surviving all changes of taste and all See also:variations of the canon of translation. Montaigne writes: " Je donne la palme avecque raison, ce me semble, a Jacques Amyot, sur tour nos escripvains See also:Francois." If " escripvain " be understood to mean " translator," this See also:judgment is beyond See also:appeal. See also:Lord See also:Berners will not See also:bear comparison with Amyot in achievement or influence; but, though less completely equipped and less uniformly happy in his choice of texts (for Amyot translated the Aethiopian History and See also:Daphnis and Chloe as well as Plutarch), Lord Berners holds a distinguished See also:place in the ranks of English translators. His renderings of See also:Fernandez de See also:San Pedro's Carcel de amor and of See also:Guevara's Libro aureo are now read solely by specialists engaged in tracing English See also:euphuism to its remoter See also:sources, and some of his other translations—the Boke of Duke Huon of Burdeux and Arthur of Little See also:Britain—are too poor in substance to be interesting nowadays. But Lord Berners is justly remembered by his notable translation of See also:Froissart (1523–1525). Froissart offers fewer opportunities than Guevara for the display of that " fecundious art of rhetoric " in which the English translator thought himself deficient, and, with this temptation removed, Lord Berners is seen at his best.

In his version of Froissart, apart from endless confusion of propernames, he makes few mistakes of any real importance, and, if he scarcely equals his original in brio, he is almost invariably adequate in reproducing the French blend of simplicity with stateliness. Such translations as See also:

Phaer's Virgil (1557) and See also:Golding's See also:Ovid (1561) have not the historical importance of William Painter's See also:Palace of See also:Pleasure, a See also:miscellaneous collection of stories rendered from the Italian, nor of See also:Jasper See also:Heywood's version of Seneca (1581) whose plays had exercised immense influence upon the methods of See also:Garnier and See also:Montchretien in France. Though See also:Kyd translated Garnier's Cornelie, the Senecan See also:system was destined to defeat in England, and Heywood's translation did not even postpone the See also:catastrophe. On the other hand See also:Marlowe found the subject of his Tamburlaine in Painter's collection, and thus began the systematic exploitation of the Palace of Pleasure which was continued by his successors on the See also:stage. A translator of the rarest excellence was forthcoming in Sir Thomas North, who rendered Guevara (1557) from the French (revising his second edition from the See also:Spanish), and The Morall Philosophie of Doni—" a worke first compiled in the See also:Indian See also:tongue "—from the Italian (1570). But, good as they are, both these versions are overshadowed by the famous translation of Plutarch which North published in 1579. He may have referred occasionally to the Greek, or perhaps to some intermediate Latin rendering; but the basis of his work is Amyot, and his English is not inferior to the French in sonority and See also:cadence of phrase. This retranslation of a translation is a masterpiece of which fragments are incorporated with scarcely any See also:change in See also:Coriolanus, See also:Julius See also:Caesar and Antony and See also:Cleopatra; and touches from North have been noted also in the Midsummer See also:Night's See also:Dream and in See also:Timon of See also:Athens. Amyot greatly influenced the development of French prose, and his translation was the source of See also:Racine's Mithridate; but, if we reflect that See also:Shakespeare not only took some of his subjects from the English Plutarch and found nothing to amend in the diction of many passages, North's See also:triumph may be reckoned as even more See also:signal than Amyot's. Very little below North's translation of Plutarch comes John See also:Florio's translation of Montaigne (1603), a fantastically ingenious performance which contributed a celebrated passage to The See also:Tempest and introduced the practice of the See also:essay into England. It is impossible to See also:cope with the activity of English translators during the last half of the 16th century and the first half of the 17th. To this period belongs See also:Chapman's impressive and resounding translation (1598–1616) of Homer, which was to enrapture See also:Keats two hundred years later.

Adlington's version of See also:

Apuleius, Underdown's renderings of See also:Heliodorus and Ovid, the translations of Livy, See also:Pliny, Suetonius and Xenophon issued in See also:quick See also:succession by Philemon See also:Holland are vivid and often extravagantly picturesque in their See also:conveyance of classic authors into Elizabethan prose. With them must be named the translator of See also:Tacitus (1591), Sir Henry See also:Savile, who served later on the committee which prepared the Authorized Version of the Bible, and must therefore be counted amongst those who have exercised a permanent influence on English prose See also:style. Thomas See also:Shelton produced the earliest translation (1612) of See also:Don Quixote, a version which, in spite of its inaccuracies and freakishness, preserves much of the See also:tone and See also:atmosphere of the original. Mabbe's translation (1622) of Guzman de Alfarache was lauded by See also:Ben See also:Jonson, and widely read during the 17th century, and his version of the See also:Celestina deserved a success which it failed to obtain. It compares most favourably with a version of See also:Tasso (1600) by See also:Edward See also:Fairfax, who has been persistently overpraised. But the Puritanical See also:instinct of the English See also:people, powerful even when not in the ascendant, was an insuperable obstacle to the See also:acclimatization of Spanish literature in England. The See also:Leviathan has obscured See also:Hobbes's fame as a translator, but he is known to scholars by his See also:sound but crabbed rendering of 'rhucydides (1629), and by a wholly unnecessary version of Homer which he published at the very end of his career (1674). Sir Roger L'Estrange is responsible for translations of Seneca, Cicero and Josephus, which are usually lively enough to be readable and unfaithful enough to be misleading; the most popular of his renderings is a translation of Quevedo's Suenos (made through the French) which owes most of its vogue during the Restoration rather to its reckless indecency than to its See also:intrinsic merit. Dryden's free translations of See also:Juvenal (1693) and Virgil (1697) treat the original authors with a See also:cavalier freedom, but at least they preserve the meaning, if not the conciseness and point, of the Latin. Among the multitudinous English translations of the 18th century it is only necessary to mention See also:Pope's versions of the Iliad (1715-1720) and the Odyssey (1725-1726), and See also:Cowper's rendering of Homer, issued in 1791. These neat translations necessarily fail to convey any impression of Homer's epical grandeur, and they set a mischievous fashion of artificial " elegance " which has been too often adopted by their successors; but both Pope and Cowper conform faithfully to the mistaken canon of their age, and both have fugitive moments of felicity. A See also:posthumous translation of Don Quixote bearing the name of See also:Charles See also:Jarvis appeared in 1742, has been reprinted times innumerable ever since, and has helped to make Cervantes's masterpiece known to generations of English-speaking people.

Defective in point of exact scholarship, it has the merit of agree-able perspicuity, and there seems no See also:

reason to believe the remark, ascribed by See also:Warburton to Pope, that Jarvis " translated Don Quixote without knowing Spanish ": the available See also:evidence is strongly against this malicious theory. The most remarkable translations of the 18th century, however, appeared in Germany: these are the versions of the Odyssey (1781) and Iliad (1793) by See also:Voss, and A. W. von See also:Schlegel's rendering of Shakespeare (1797-181o), which gave a powerful impulse to the romantic movement on the See also:Continent. See also:Byron's version of a Spanish ballad and See also:Shelley's renderings of See also:Calderon are interesting exhibitions of original genius voluntarily accepting a subordinate role. More importance attaches to See also:Carlyle's translation of Wilhelm Meister (1824), a faithful rendering free from the intolerable mannerisms and tricks which the translator See also:developed subsequently in his original writings. William See also:Taylor had long before translated See also:Burger's Lenore, See also:Lessing's Nathan and See also:Goethe's I phigenia; but such interest as the English nation has been induced to take in German literature See also:dates from the See also:appearance of Carlyle's translation. If he did nothing more, he compelled recognition of the fact that Germany had at last produced an original genius of the highest class. Calderon found accomplished translators in See also:Denis See also:Florence See also:MacCarthy (1848-1873) and in Edward See also:FitzGerald (1853). who also attempted to render Sophocles into English; but these are on a much See also:lower See also:plane than the translation of the Rubaiydt (1859) of See also:Omar Khayyam, in which, by a See also:miracle of intrepid dexterity, a half-forgotten See also:Persian poet is transfigured into a pessimistic English genius of the 19th century. Versions of See also:Dante by See also:Longfellow (whose translations of poems by minor authors are often admirable), of Latin or Greek classics by See also:Conington, See also:Munro, See also:Jowett and See also:Jebb, maintain the best traditions of the best translators. William See also:Morris was less happy in his poetical versions of Virgil (1875) and the Odyssey (1887) than in his prose translations of The See also:Story of Grettir the Strong (1869) and The Volsunga See also:Saga (1870)—both made in collaboration with Magnusson—and in his rendering of See also:Beowulf (1895). In his See also:Lays of France (1872) Arthur O'Shaughnessy skirts the See also:borders of translation without quite entering into the field; he elaborates, paraphrases and embroiders rather than translates the lais of Marie de France. Most versions of modern foreign writers are See also:mere hackwork carelessly executed by incompetent hands, and this is even more true of England than of France and Germany.

But, with the development of literature in countries whose languages are unfamiliar, the function of the translator increases in importance, and in some few cases he has risen to his opportunity. Through translations the works of the great See also:

Russian novelists have become known to the rest of Europe, and through translations of See also:Ibsen the dramatic methods of the modern stage have undergone a revolution. (J.

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