Excerpt from The Olynthiac and Other Public Orations of Demosthenes
My principal aim in undertaking this work is to produce a readable version of Demosthenes, adhering to the original as closely as is consistent with the primary object. Brevity and simplicity of style, together with the choice of apt and forcible words, are the most essential elements of a good translation.
It is sometimes asked, and there seem to be various Opinions on the question, whether a translation should be literal? It depends, I say, upon the object which you propose to accomplish. If you are composing a translation to be used in the Hamiltonian method of teaching, or as a mere help to the idle student against his day of examination, then you must he literal. And to perform such a task is not very difficult. But if you seek to accomplish a higher purpose, it is not to be done in this way: a work of another order becomes necessary.
The primary object of a good translation is, that it may be read with pleasure, or at least without difficulty, by your countrymen; and secondary to this is the assisting of the student in his perusal of the original. It is true, that for both these purposes a certain degree of closeness is necessary: but the first of these can not be attained by a literal version, on account of the varying idioms of languages; whereas the second may be accomplished by a good readable version.
Nor does the matter rest here. I say that the classical student will derive much greater benefit from a readable version than he could from a literal. I speak of the real and self-improving student, not the cramming idler, nor yet the mere school-boy. Let us only see what his wants are.
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