The Histories of Tacitus - An English Translation With Introduction, Frontispiece, Notes, Maps and Index #263691

IN this translation of the Histories, as in that of the Annals which preceded it, it has been my endeavour to present a version of Tacitus which should carry with it none of the flavour of a translation, but should conform to what Mr. Jowett lays down as the first requirement for a translator, that 'his English shall be English'; which, secondly, should be strictly faithful, both in letter and in spirit, to the original, giving 'the sense, the whole sense, and nothing but the sense'; and thirdly, which should exclude from its vocabulary, so far as is possible, all modernisms: that is, all language which represents things or ideas, or carries with it associations, of a modern character, such as cannot have been present to the mind of Tacitus, or within the range of his comprehension. Such language, when attributed to him in a trans lation, gives an air of unreality to the whole.