Part 2

During the early eighties the “First‐Class Man of Balliol College” reappeared with a translation of Herodotus book by book. From this time until the outbreak of the present war there was a steady output of these utilitarian translations. G. F. H. Sykes, J. H. Haydon, A. H. Allcroft, J. A. Prout, F. G. Plaistowe, E. S. Crooke, J. Thompson, B. J. Hayes, H. Hailstone, T. R. Mills, W. H. Balgarnie, J. F. Stout, and others who did only one or two books, made their translations with the student of the language as their reading public. Some of these translations appeared in the _University Tutorial Series_, a collection of books in which the text, translations, notes, vocabulary, difficult parsings, and test papers were published.

The work of these men, quantitatively at least, is an important factor in the history of Greek translation. Between 1850 and 1870 only eleven translations of this type were published; between the years 1870 and 1910, however, at least two hundred and eleven schoolboy helps were published. The following table gives the minimum figures for this kind of translation during these years.

1870‐1879=26 1880‐1889=62 1890‐1899=86 1900‐1909=37

The falling off in the first decade of the twentieth century may be due to two causes: first, the decrease in the number of students of Greek in the schools, which was the result of the great opposition stirred up in the latter part of the nineteenth century by the advocates of a more practical education; and, secondly, the ample production of the decade preceding filled the market and plentifully supplied the demand. I have set forth here these figures in regard to the schoolboy translation because I doubt whether the extent of that type of work has been realized by any except the competing publishers. To no small degree has the total of translations in the latter part of the nineteenth century been increased by this type of publication.

In the preceding paragraphs I have tried to suggest the reasons for the changing fortunes of English translation from the Greek. The quantity of translations produced between 1484 and 1917 is somewhat larger than is generally realized: the total number of translations is 2164, of which 1289 are original translations and 875 are reprintings. For those who wish to see the progress numerically decade by decade I give the following table upon which the chart at the opening of this section was based.

II. The Translations

I have no intention in the following paragraphs of discussing the ideals or the criteria of a good translation; for the making of an English version of a Greek original presents problems little different from those of translation from any language into English. At this time I merely wish to call attention to the various kinds of Greek literature which have been popular at different times during the last four hundred and thirty years. The extant literature of Greece lends itself in many respects better than other literatures to a _genre_ classification. I have taken for my guidance the tabular survey at the close of Professor Jebb’s excellent _Primer of Greek Literature_ and in grouping my authors have used his headings and classifications. Of the divisions which he presents in his table thirteen are to be found in this bibliography. Many of these headings, such as Philosophy, Drama, History, Fable, Oratory, Geography, Biography, are self‐explanatory. Under the remaining divisions I have classed the following authors: Bucolic Poetry contains only the work of Theocritus, Bion and Moschus; Poetry contains all the other work in verse except the epic; Romance embraces the work of Longus, Heliodorus, and Apollonius Rhodius; Epic contains the works of Homer and Hesiod; Belles Lettres, the work of Theophrastus, Longinus, and Lucian; Learning and Science, the work of Hippocrates, and others of similar nature.

Date New Reprints Total for Total for Total for ten years preceding preceding fifty hundred years years 1481‐1490 1 0 1 1491‐1500 0 1 1 2 2 1501‐1510 0 0 0 1511‐1520 0 0 0 1521‐1530 4 0 4 1531‐1540 8 5 13 1541‐1550 6 3 9 26 1551‐1560 5 4 9 1561‐1570 12 2 14 1571‐1580 11 6 17 1581‐1590 8 5 13 1591‐1600 14 6 20 73 99 1601‐1610 7 7 14 1611‐1620 10 9 19 1621‐1630 9 3 12 1631‐1640 13 13 26 1641‐1650 7 2 9 80 1651‐1660 12 5 17 1661‐1670 9 6 15 1671‐1680 11 10 21 1681‐1690 18 12 30 1691‐1700 16 15 31 114 194 1701‐1710 17 19 36 1711‐1720 26 15 41 1721‐1730 14 19 33 1731‐1740 11 18 29 1741‐1750 23 19 42 181 1751‐1760 23 19 42 1761‐1770 14 22 36 1771‐1780 29 24 53 1781‐1790 17 22 39 1791‐1800 25 14 39 209 390 1801‐1810 28 49 77 1811‐1820 18 44 62 1821‐1830 55 32 87 1831‐1840 40 22 62 1841‐1850 59 19 78 366 1851‐1860 41 16 57 1861‐1870 94 26 120 1871‐1880 101 55 156 1881‐1890 154 88 242 1891‐1900 142 98 240 815 1181 1901‐1910 114 93 207 1911‐1917 63 28 91 298 298 Total 1289 875 2164 2164 2165

(For 1591‐1600, the totals are for six years only.)

With this classification I have made a chronological survey of the translations and summed up my results at the century and half‐century marks. These results are embodied in the following table in which the translations have been listed in order of importance from a numerical point of view. Underneath each heading I have placed the number of that type which were printed during the preceding fifty years. Where two or more classes are equal I have placed them within the same rectangle to emphasize such equality. At the bottom of each column I have indicated, where necessary, the classes which are non‐existent for each fifty years.

1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 Phil. 16 Phil. 20 Hist. Fable Phil. 34 Phil. 44 11 Hist. 2 Orat. 9 Phil. 10 Fable 26 Epic 31 Geog. 2 Epic 10 Learn. 2 Orat. 1 Rom. 8 Poetry 7 Epic 13 Fable 27 Fable 1 Fable 7 B. L. 5 Rom. Hist. 11 Hist. 15 B. 5 L. 15 Hist. 6 Orat. 4 Biog. 9 Poetry 14 Poetry 5 Biog. 3 B. L. 6 Drama 12 Epic 4 Drama Drama 2 Poetry 5 Biog. 7 4 Biog. 3 Learn. 1 Bucol. 4 Orat. 6 Geog. 1 Learn. 3 Bucol. 5 Learn 1 Rom. 3 Bucol. 1 B. L. 1 Drama 2 Rom. 4 Learn. 1

No Epic No Geog. No Orat. No Geog. Poetry Drama Bucol. Geog. Biog Bucol. B. L. Rom.

1800 1850 1900 1916 Phil. 48 Drama 115 Drama 244 Drama 92 Poetry 45 Hist. 59 Phil. 152 Phil. 84 Epic 37 Epic 52 Epic 141 Epic 34 Drama 22 Poetry 51 Hist. 90 Fable 21 Fable 16 Phil. 48 Biog. 60 Hist. 20 Bucol. 14 Bucol. 27 Poetry 39 Biog. 16 Orat. 12 B. Orat. 13 B. Fable 33 Poetry 13 L. 12 L. 13 Biog. 10 Rom. 8 Orat. 32 B. L. 9 Hist. 7 Biog. 7 Bucol. 22 Bucol. 7 Rom. 6 Fable 6 B. L. 19 Orat. 4 Rom. 4 Geog. 2 Geog. 2 Geog. 7 Rom. Learn. 2 7 Learn. 1 Learn. 1 No Learn. No Geog.

(B. L. are Belles Lettres, Learn. is Learning and Science, Biog. is Biography, Orat. is Oratory, Bucol. is Bucolic Poetry, Phil. is Philosophy, Geog. is Geography, Poetry is Elegiac, Iambic, Lyric Poetry, Hist. is History, Romance is Prose Romances.)

To a large extent the table speaks for itself, for the interests and preferences of each generation are made self‐evident; nevertheless it may be worth while to sum up a few of the outstanding facts. The Elizabethans translated anything which appealed to them and in many cases added to or at least embellished the translation as they saw fit. Some of their translations were made from the French, as Caxton’s version of Aesop or North’s version of Plutarch. One has but to compare Marlowe and Chapman’s _Hero and Leander_ with Musaeus to realize how little is Musaeus and how much is Marlowe and Chapman. The Elizabethan translators, moreover, were indiscriminate in their tastes, largely because their stock of Greek learning was small and consequently they had no perspective from which to judge the comparative merits of the works which they translated. “It was all Greek to them” and therefore proper to be translated. They enjoyed and believed Artemidorus’ _Dreams_ as much as they did any of the works of Aristotle. Finally I wish to point out the high place Romance holds in the fifty years before 1600. This adds to the credibility of the theory of the influence of the Greek Romance upon Elizabethan prose fiction. All things considered, the translations of the Elizabethans are thoroughly in accord with the temper of the times as exhibited in their literature.

It is interesting to note that in the one hundred and fifty years immediately following the Civil War Philosophy is the chief interest. The neo‐classicists, theoretically at least, went back to the classics for their authority. Indeed Aristotle’s _Poetics_ was considered absolute in all its dicta. Fable and Epic with varying success contend for second place in their interest. The moralized fable was naturally popular with a generation which loved the didactic; and the epic, as they often acknowledged, was a model for their own poetry. The rise of Poetry, such as Pindar’s _Odes_, Anacreon’s _Odes_, and Tyrtaeus’ _Elegies_, is to my mind an evidence of the change in opinion and attitude toward literature which was gradually increasing during the latter half of the eighteenth century and which finally came to the foreground in the first part of the next century. Pindar’s _Odes_ were placed directly in opposition to those of Cowley’s and the lyrics of Sappho were certainly not in accord with the ideas of the neo‐classicists. Whether these translations were wholly correct or not, is aside from the point. Men were becoming more interested in the lyrical side of Greek literature, and this interest exhibited a taste foreign to sententious didacticism; for none of that is to be found in the Elegiac, Iambic, or Lyric Poetry of the Greeks. Once again, then, the kind of translation which the generations enjoyed was coincident with the prevailing literary taste, and the rise of Poetry toward the close of these one hundred and fifty years is at least evidence of a change in public interest.

Perhaps catholicity of taste is the best phrase which may be used to characterize the nineteenth century. Nothing shows this better than the table of translations. The Drama, Epic, History, Oratory, Philosophy, Biography, Poetry and the more minor divisions were all translated with an abundance which shows a steady demand on the part of the reading public. The Drama now assumed its place as one of the important elements of Greek literature and possibly because it was a new found treasure, for the texts of the dramatists were not edited until the middle of the eighteenth century, was a little overemphasized. However, as was pointed out in the latter part of the previous section, the aim of Bohn’s _Classical Library_ was the aim of the reading public, i.e., a complete survey of Greek literature in English. The nineteenth century, moreover, in addition to translating practically all Greek literature, insisted upon a certain amount of literalness in the translation. It was to be the endeavor of the translator to present his author to the public without any change or adaptation on his part in bridging the gap between the two languages. Just what the word literal meant and of how much consequence it was during the century can be readily ascertained by reading Matthew Arnold’s lectures _On Translating Homer_ and Newman’s _Reply_.

Whether the twentieth century will carry on the width of interest of the nineteenth is hard to say. Until the war broke out the present century bid fair to equal its predecessor. With the coming of the war, however, translation from the Greek has been forced into the background and how long it will remain there, is, at this time, a matter of conjecture.

If this table has done no more, it has at least furnished an interesting thermometer of public taste through the centuries that are past. In all generations where the public has had the opportunity of choosing what it would have from Greek literature, the choice has been along lines very similar in taste to the prevailing literary interest. What lies in the future is hard to say, for practically everything of importance has been translated. Probably we shall see repeated what we are witnessing to‐day: the retranslation of Greek literature for each succeeding generation into terms of its own conception. Bohn’s _Classical Library_ is now in the process of being replaced by the _Loeb Classical Library_ and I dare say sixty years hence some other “library” will replace this one. Greek literature is no longer a hidden pearl, and, although the interest in the language may vary with the generations, the people of England and America have evidently found in it a worth which they desire to keep. If they had not, the following list of translations would never have been possible.

A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TRANSLATIONS

NOTE.—In all cases where no place of publication is mentioned London is to be understood.

Achilles Tatius

1. The most delectable and pleasant historye of Clitophon and Leucippe, written in Greeke, by Achilles Stacius an Alexandrian and nowe newlie translated into Englishe by W. B[urton]. [1597?] 4o

2. The Loves of Clitophon and Leucippe. A most elegant History, written in Greek by Achilles Tatius. And now Englished [by Anthony Hodges]. Oxford. 1638. 4o

3. The loves of Clitophon and Leucippe ... translated from the Greek, with notes, by ... R. Smith. 1848. 8o [Bohn]

4. Achilles Tatius. With an English translation by S. Gasalee. 1917. 18o [Loeb Classical Library]

_American Reprint_: [_Loeb_] _New York, 1917_.

Aelian (Claudius Aelianus)

1. A Registre of Hystories, containing Martiall exploites of worthy warriours, Politique practises of Ciuil Magistrates, wise Sentences of famous Philosophers, and other matters manifolde and memorable. Written in Greeke, by Aelianus a Romane: and deliuered in Englishe (as well, according to the truth of the greeke text, as of the Latine) by Abraham Fleming. 1576. 4o BL

2. Aelianus Claudius; his Various History. Translated by Thomas Stanley. 1665. 8o

_Reprinted: 1670; 1677._

Aeneas The Tactician

1. The Tactics of Aelian Or art of embattailing an army after ye Grecian manner Englished & illustrated wth figures throughout: & notes vpon ye Chapters of ye ordinary notions of ye Phalange by I. B[ingham]. The exercise military of ye English by ye order of that great Generall Maurice of Nassau Prince of Orange & Gouernor & Generall of ye vnited Prouinces is added. [1616] Fol.

2. The Art of Embattailing an Army. Or The Second Part of Aeslians Tacticks. With notes upon every chapter. By Capt. Iohn Bingham. 1629. Fol.

_Reprinted: 1631._

Aeschines The Orator

1. The orations of Aeschines against Ctesiphon, and Demosthenes de Corona. Translated from the original Greek, illustrated with notes, ... by A. Portal. Oxford. 1755. 8o

2. A literal translation of the Oration of Aeschines against Ctesiphon. D. Spillan. Dublin. 1823. 12o

3. The speech of Aeschines against Ctesiphon. Literally translated from the Oxford text, and explained in short ... notes ... by a First Class Man of Balliol College. Oxford. 1872. 8o

Aeschylus

1. The tragedies of Aeschylus translated [into English verse, with notes] by R. Potter. Norwich. 1777. 4o

_Reprinted: 1779; Oxford, 1808; Weybridge, 1809; 1812; [Selections, British Poets.] 1819; 1881; [With an essay on Grecian Drama and a biography of A. by J. S. Harford.] 1833; [Introduction, Henry Morley] 1886._

_American Reprints: New York, 1872‐76; New York, 1820‐52._

2. The seven tragedies of Aeschylus literally translated into English prose.... [Anon.] Oxford. 1822. 8o

3. Aeschyli Prometheus Vinctus, Graece, with literal translation.... [Anon.] 1822. 8o

4. Aeschylus’ Prometheus Chained. Translated by T. W. C. Edwards. 1823. 8o

_American Reprint: New Haven, 1872‐76._

5. Agamemnon. Translated by H. S. Boyd. 1824. 8o

6. A translation of the Agamemnon of Aeschylus. J. Symons. 1824. 8o

7. Aeschylus’ Persae. Translated by W. Palin. 1824. 8o

8. The tragedies of Aeschylus literally translated into English prose ... with notes. [Anon.] Oxford. 1827. 8o

9. The Persians. Translated on a new plan ... with notes ... by W. Palin. 1829. [Gk.‐Eng.]

10. The Agamemnon of Aeschylus. Translated ... illustrated by dissertation on Grecian tragedy ... by J. S. Harford. 1831.

11. Aeschylus’ Agamemnon translated into English verse. By Thomas Medwin. 1832. 8o

12. Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound; a tragedy. Translated into English verse by Thomas Medwin. 1832. 8o

13. Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound. Translated by Elizabeth Barrett [Browning]. 1833. 12o

_Reprinted: [With other poems] 1896._

14. Aeschylus’ Prometheus and Sophocles’ Electra. Translated by G. C. Fox. 1835. 8o

15. Agamemnon and Prometheus Bound. Translated by G. C. Fox. 1839. 8o

16. Tragedies. [Anon.] 1842.

17. Prometheus Bound. Translated by Pembroke. 1844.

18. Agamemnon. Translation by Sewell. 1846.

19. Prometheus Bound. Translation by G. S. Swayne. Oxford. 1846. 8o

20. The dramas of Aeschylus. Translated by Anna Swanwick. 1848. 8o [Bohn]

_Reprinted: 1873; 1881; 1886._

_American Reprints: New York, 1890 [Bohn]_

21. Tragedies. Translated by T. A. Buckley. 1849. 8o [Bohn]

_American Reprints: New York, 1856; New York, 1872‐76 [Bohn]; New York, 1888 [Bohn]._

22. Agamemnon. Translated by H. W. Herbert. 1849.

23. Lyrical dramas of Aeschylus; translation by J. S. Blackie. With a life of Aeschylus. 2 vol. 1850.

_Reprinted: [Everyman] 1906._

_American Reprint: [Everyman] New York, 1906._

24. Prometheus Vinctus. Translation by C. C. Clifford. [In verse] Oxford. 1852.

25. Aeschylus’ Agamemnon translated by William John Blew. 1855.

_Reprinted: 1865._

26. Persae. Translation by M. Wood. 1855. [Gk.‐Eng.]

27. The Prometheus and Suppliants of Aeschylus construed literally word for word. By the Rev. Dr. [J. A.] Giles. Vol. 1. 1856. 16o [Kelly’s Keys]

28. Eumenides. Translated by G. C. Swayne. 1856. 8o

29. Tragedies. Translated by Dr. [J. A.] Giles. Vol. 1. 1860. [Gk.‐Eng.]

30. Works. Translated by F. A. Paley. [In prose] Cambridge. 1864.

_Reprinted: 1871._

31. Agamemnon of Aeschylus and Bacchanals of Euripides; with passages from the lyric and later poets of Greece, translated by H. H. Milman, etc. 1865. 8o

32. The Agamemnon, Choephori, and Eumenides of Aeschylus, translated into English verse, by Anna Swanwick. 1865. 8o

_Reprinted: [Agamemnon only] 1900._

33. Prometheus Vinctus, translated by Augusta Webster. Edit. by Thomas Webster. [In verse] 1866.

_American Reprint: New York, 1866._

34. The Prometheus Bound of Aeschylus. Translated into the original metres by C. B. Cayley, etc. 1867. 8o

35. Agamemnon, translated by J. F. Davies. 1868.

_Reprinted: 1874._

36. Orestes, translated by C. N. Dalton. 1869. 8o

37. Tragedies. Translated by E. H. Plumptre. 2 vol. 1869.

_Reprinted: [With biographical essay] 1873, 1890; 2 vol., 1901._

_American Reprints: New York, 2 vol., 1869; New York, 1873; New York, 1882._

38. Prometheus, translated by E. Lang. 1870. 8o

39. Prometheus Vinctus, translated by J. Perkins. Cambridge. 1871.

_Reprinted: 1878._

40. Plays: translated by R. S. Copleston. 1871. [Ancient Classics]

_Reprinted: 1897._

_American Reprint: Philadelphia, 1871._

41. Persae. Translated by William Gurney. [In verse] Cambridge. 1873.

42. The Persians. A popular version from the Greek ... by J. Staunton. With photographs of Flaxman’s designs. Warwick. 1873. 4o

43. Agamemnon. Translation by Robert Browning. 1877.

_Reprinted: [In collected works] 1889._

44. Agamemnon. Translation by A. D. A. Morshead. [In verse] 1877. 8o

45. Septem contra Thebas. Translated by William Gurney. Cambridge. 1878. 8o

46. The Seven Against Thebes. Translated with notes by J. Davies. 1878.

47. Agamemnon. Translated by Brown Hall Kennedy. [In verse] Cambridge. 1878.

_Reprinted: Dublin, 1882._

48. Agamemnon. Translated by Henry Howard Molyneux, Earl of Carnavon. 1879. 8o

49. Prometheus Vinctus. Translated by James Davies. 1879.

50. Agamemnon. Translated by a Balliol Man. [In prose] Oxford. 1880. 8o

51. Agamemnon. Translated by F. A. Paley. 1880.

52. Seven Chiefs Against Thebes. Translated by R. Mongan. 1880.

53. The House of Atreus, being the Agamemnon, Libation‐Bearers and Furies of Aeschylus. Translated into English verse by E. D. A. Morshead. 1881.

_Reprinted: 1890; [Golden Treasury Series] 1901._

_American Reprints: [Golden Treasury Series] New York, 1901._

54. Scenes from Aeschylus translated into English verse by Lewis Campbell, selected and arranged for the modern stage by F. Jenkin. Edinburgh. 1880.

55. Agamemnon. Translated by Arthur Sidgwick. Oxford. 1881.

_Reprinted: 1895._

56. The Suppliant Maidens of Aeschylus. Translated into English verse by E. D. A. Morshead. 1883.

_American Reprint: New York, 1908._

57. Persae. Literally translated by T. Meyer‐Warlow. 1886.

58. Αἰσχύλου Ἑπτα ἐπὶ Θήβας. The Seven Against Thebes of Aeschylus edited with an introduction, commentary and translation by Arthur Woolgar Verrall. 1887.

_American Reprint: New York, 1887._

59. Agamemnon. Translated by a Gold Medallist in Classics. 1888. [Tutorial Series]

60. Agamemnon; introduction, commentary and translation by A. W. Verrall. 1889. 8o

_American Reprint: New York, 1889._

61. Supplices; revised text, notes, commentary, introduction, and translation by T. G. Tucker. 1889. 8o

62. Agamemnon, Choephoroe and Eumenides. Translated into English verse by John D. Cooper. Wolverhampton and London. 1890.

63. Prometheus Vinctus. Translated by Herbert Hailstone. Cambridge. 1892.

_Reprinted: Cambridge, 1902._

64. Choephoroi; introduction, commentary and translation by A. W. Verrall. 1893. 8o