Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Part 4

E.g. here, +ignoratum ... dumetis+ is all logically connected with the object +sepulcrum+, which for the sake of emphasis is put in an unusual position at the end of the sentence.

+13. Additional Hints.+--(1) Remember that Latin is often +concrete+ where English is +abstract+.

E.g.--

+ingeniosi+ (men of genius) = _genius_.

+eruditi+ } (learned men) = _learning_.

+docti+ } +viri summo ingenio praediti, saepe invidia opprimuntur.+ _The most exalted genius is frequently overborne by envy._ +omnes immemorem benefici oderunt.+ _The world regards ingrat.i.tude with hatred._

(2) The same Latin word may stand for different English words. Take, for example, the various uses of the word +RES+ in the following pa.s.sage of Livy, xlv. 19:--

[7]+Ut RES docuit . . . animo gestienti REBUS secundis . . .

speculator RERUM quae a fratre agerentur . . . REM prope prolapsam rest.i.tuit . . . aliis alia regna crevisse REBUS dicendo.+

_As the +FACT+ showed . . . spirits running riot from +PROSPERITY+ . . . to watch the +COURSE+ pursued by his brother . . . he restored what was almost a lost +CAUSE+ . . . by saying that kingdoms grow by various +MEANS+._

[Footnote 7: Postgate, _Sermo Latinus_, p. 34.]

In translating +RES+, +avoid at all costs+ the word +THING+, or +THINGS+, and let the context guide you to the appropriate English word.

(3) You may often translate a +Latin Active by an English Pa.s.sive+.

Latin prefers the Active because it is more direct and vivid.

For example:--

+Liberas aedes coniurati sumpserunt.+ _An empty house had been occupied by the conspirators._

(4) Use great care in translating Latin +Participles+, and make clear in your translation the relation of the participial enlargements to the action of the main Verb.

For example:--

concessive: +Romani, non ROGATI, auxilium offerunt.+ _The Romans, +though they were not asked+, offer help._

final: +Fortuna superbos interdum RUITURA levat.+ _Fortune sometimes raises the proud, only +to dash them down+._

causal: +S. Ahala Sp. Maelium regnum APPETENTEM interemit.+ _S. Ahala killed Sp. Maelius +for aiming at+ the royal power._

Notice also:--

+Pontem captum incendit+ _He took and burned the bridge._ +Nescio quem prope adstantem interrogavi.+ _I questioned someone who was standing by._ +Haec dixit moriens+ _He said this while dying._ +Nuntiata clades+ _The news of the disaster._

(5) In translating, try to bring out the exact force of the +Ablative Absolute+, by which a Latin writer shows the time or circ.u.mstances of the action expressed by the Predicate. The Ablative Absolute is an adverbial enlargement of the Predicate, and is not grammatically dependent on any word in the sentence. It is, therefore, called +absolutus+ (i.e. _freed from_ or _unconnected_). It should very seldom be translated literally. Your best plan will be to consider carefully what the Ablative Absolute seems to suggest about the action of the Princ.i.p.al Verb.

For example:--

+Capta Troia, Graeci domum redierunt.+ _The Greeks returned home after the capture of Troy._

+Regnante Romulo, Roma urbs erat parva.+ _When Romulus was reigning, Rome was a small city._

+Exercitu collecto in hostes contenderunt.+ _They collected an army and marched against the enemy._

+Nondum hieme confecta in fines Nerviorum contendit.+ _Though the winter was not yet over, he hastened to the territory of the Nervii._

+Tum salutato hostium duce, ad suos conversus, subditis equo calcaribus, Germanorum ordines praetervectus est, neque expectatis legatis, nec respondente ullo.+ _Thereupon, after saluting the enemy's general, he turned to his companions, and setting spurs to his horse, rode past the ranks of the Germans, without either waiting for his staff, or receiving an answer from anyone._

HELPS TO STYLE.

Though Style cannot perhaps be taught, it can certainly be formed and improved. There are several ways of improving your Style. For example:--

+14. Through the Best English Literature.+--+Read good Literature+, the best English Authors in prose and verse. You will know something, perhaps, of Shakespeare and Scott, of Macaulay and Tennyson. Though you may not be able to attack the complete works of any great author, you ought not to have any difficulty in finding good books of selections from the English Cla.s.sics.

+15. Through good Translations.+--Study a few +good English Versions+ of pa.s.sages from the best Latin writers. You may often have a good version of the pa.s.sage you translate read to you in your Division after your mistakes have been pointed out to you, and to this you should pay great attention. You will thus learn eventually to suit your style to the Author you are translating, while at the same time you render the pa.s.sage closely and accurately.

+16. Be Clear.+--Remember that the first characteristic of a good style is +clearness+--that is, to say what you mean and to mean what you say.

Quintilian, the great critic, says that the aim of the translator should be, not that the reader may understand if he will, but that he _must_ understand whether he will or not. The more you read the greatest Authors the more you will see that, as Coleridge says, 'there is a reason a.s.signable not only for every word, but for the position of every word.'

+17. Be Simple.+--With clearness goes simplicity--that is, use no word you do not understand, +avoid fine epithets+, and do not choose a phrase for its sound alone, but for its sense.

+18. Avoid Paraphrase.+--You are asked to translate, not to give a mere general idea of the sense. What you have to do is to +think out the exact meaning+ of every word in the sentence, and to express this in as good and correct English as you can.

+19. Pay attention to Metaphors.+--The subject of Metaphor is of great importance in good translation. You will find that every language possesses its own special Metaphors in addition to those which are common to most European languages. As you become familiar with Latin Authors you must try to +distinguish the Metaphors common+ to English and Latin and those +belonging only+ to English or to Latin.

For example:--

(1) Metaphors +identical+ in Latin and English--

+Progreditur res publica naturali quodam itinere et cursu.+ _The State advances in a natural path and progress._

(2) Metaphors +differing+ in Latin and English--

+cedant arma togae+ _let the sword yield to the pen._ +ardet acerrime coniuratio+ _the conspiracy is at its height._ +rex factus est+ _he ascended the throne._ +conticuit+ _he held his peace._

+20. Careful Translation a Help to Style.+--In conclusion. Nothing will help your style more than to +do your translations as well as you possibly can+, and to +avoid repeating the same mistakes+. The Latins themselves knew the value of translation as a help to style.

For example, Pliny the Younger says:--

'As useful as anything is the practice of translating either your Greek into Latin or your Latin into Greek. By practising this you will acquire propriety and dignity of expression, an abundant choice of the beauties of style, power in description, and gain in the imitation of the best models a facility of creating such models for yourself. Besides, what may escape you when you read, cannot escape you when you translate.'

DEMONSTRATIONS

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UNSEEN TRANSLATION