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altogether deficient in that critical sagacity which discerns truth from falschood, and distinguishes the intricaGies of confused and conflicting statements, Plutarch has preserved in his Lives a vast number of facts which would otherwise have been unknown to us. He was a great reader, and must have had access to large libraries. It is said that he quotes two hundred and fifty writers, a great part of whose works are now entirely lost." (Penny Cyclopædia, art. "Plutarch," by the writer of this Prefaco.)

The lively portraitures of men draw in Plutarch's Lives have made them favourite reading in all ages. Whether Plutarch has succeeded in drawing the portraits true, wo cannot always determine, because the materials for such a judgment are sometimes wanting. But when we can comparo his Lives with other extant authorities, we must admit, that though he is by no means free from error as to his facts, he has generally selected those events in a man's life which most clearly show his temper, and that on the whole, if we judge of a man by Plutarch's measure, we shall form a just estimate of him. He generally wroto without any predilections or any prejudices. Ho tells us of a man's good and bad acts, of his good and bad qualities; ho makes no attempt to conceal the one or the other; ho both praises and blames as the occasion may arise; and the reader leaves off with a mixed opinion about l'lutarch's Greeks and Romans, though the favourable or the unfavourable side always predominates. Tho benovolent disposition of Piutarch, and his noble and olevated character, have stamped themselves on all that he has written. A man cannot read these Lives without being the bettor for it: his dotestation of all that is mean and disingenuous will be increased; his admiration of whatever is truthful and generous will be strengthened and exalted.

The translation of theso Lives is difficult. Plutarch's text is occasionally corrupted; and where it is not corrupted, his meaning is sometimes obscure. Many of the sentences are long and ill-constructed; the metaphors often extravagant; and the just connection of the parts is sometimes difficult to discover. Many single words which are or ought to be pertinent in Plutarch, and which go towards a description of character in general or of some particular act, can hardly be rendered by any English equivalent; and a translator often searches in vain for something which shall convey to the reader the exact notion of the original. Yet Plutarch's narrative is lively and animated; his anecdotes aro appropriately introduced and well told; and if his tasto is sometimes not the purest, which in his age wo could not expect it to be, ho makes amends for this by the fulness and vigour of his expression. He is fond of poetical words, and they are often used with striking effect. Ilis moral reflections, which are numerous, have tho merit of not being unmeaning and tiresome, because ho is always in earnest and has got something to say, and does not deal in commonplaces. When the reflection is not very profound, it is at least true; and some of his remarks show a deep insight into men's character.

I have attempted to give Plutarch's meaning in plain languago; to give all his meaning, and neither more nor less. If I have failed in any case, it is becauso I could do no better. But, though I havo not always succeeded in expressing exactly what I conceive to be the meaning of the original, I have not intentionally added to it or detracted from it. It may be that thoro aro passages in which I have mistaken the original; and those who have made the experiment of rendering from one language into another, know that this will sometimes happen even in an easy passage. A difficult passage attracts more than

usual of a translator's attention, and if he fails there, it is either because the difficulty cannot be overcome, or because he cannot overcome it. Mere inadvertence or sleepiness may sometimes cause a translator to blunder, when he would not have blundered if any friend had been by to keep him awake.

The best thing that a man can do to avoid these and other errors is to compare his translation, when he has finished it, with some other. The translation which I have compared with mine is the German translation of Kaltwasser, Magdeburg, 1799, which is generally correct. Kaltwasser in his Preface speaks of the way in which he used the German translations of two of his predecessors, J. Christopher Kind, Leipzig, 1745-1754, and II. v. Schirach, 1776-1780, and some others. Ho says, "These two translations, with the French translations abovo mentioned, I have duly used, for it is the duty of a translator to compare himself with his predecessors; but I lay my labour before the eyes of the public, without fearing that I shall be accused of copying or of close imitation. First of all, I carefully studied the text of my author and translated him as well as I could: then, and not before, I compared the labour of my predecessors, and where I found a more suitable expression or a happier turn, I made use of it without hesitation. In this way, every fault, every deviation of the old translators must be apparent; the most striking of them I have remarked on in the notes, but I have moro frequently amended such things silently, as a comparison will show tho reader." The translator has not compared his version with any English version. The translation of North, which has great merit in point of expression, is a version of Amyot's French version, from which, however, it differs in some passages, where it is decidedly wrong and Amyot's version is right. Indeed, it is surprising to find how correct

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Xviii PREFACE TOo the civil wars of rome.

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this old French translation generally is. The translation of 'Plutarch's Lives from the Greek by several hands,' published at London in 1683-86. It was dedicated by Dryden to James Butler, the first Duke of Ormond, in a fulsomo panegyric. It is said that forty-one translators laboured at the work. Dryden did not translato any of the Lives; but ho wrote the Life of Plutarch which is prefixed to this translation. The advertisement prefixed to the translation passes under the name and character of the bookseller (Jacob Tonson), but, as Malone observes, it may from internal evidence be safely attributed to Dryden. The bookseller says, "You havo here the first volume of Plutarch's Lives turned from tho Greek into English; and give me leave to say, the first attempt of doing it from the originals." This is aimed at North's version, of which Dryden remarks in his Life of Plutarch: "As that translation was only from the French, so it suffered this double disadvantage; first, that it was but a copy of a copy, and that too but lamely taken from the Greek original; secondly, that tho English language was then unpolished, and far from tho perfection which it has sinco attained; so that the first version is not only ungrammatical and ungraceful, but

in

many places almost unintelligible." There is another English version, by the Langhornes, which has often been reprinted; there is an edition of it with notes by Wrangham. I have compared my translation carefully with the German of Kaltwasser, and sometimes with the French of Amyot, and I have thus avoided some errors into which I should have fallen. There aro errors both in the versions of Amyot and Kaltwasser which I have avoided; but I may have fallen into others.

The translation of Kaltwasser contains some useful notes. Those which I have added to this translation are intended to explain so much as needs explanation to a

person who is not much acquainted with Roman history and Roman usages; but they will also be useful to others. The notes of Kaltwassor havo often reminded me of the passages where some note would be useful, and havo occasionally furnished materials also. But as I have always referred to the original authorities, I do not consider it necessary to make more than this general acknowledgment. The notes added to this translation are all my own, and contain my own opinions and observations.

This translation has been made from the edition of C. Sintenis, Leipzig, 1839, and I have compared the text of Sintenis with that of G. II. Schaefer, Leipzig, 1826, which has been severely criticized: this edition contains, however, some useful notes. I have very seldom mado any remarks on the Greek text, as such kind of remark would not have suited the plan and design of this version, which is not intended for vorbal critics.

I shall explain by two brief extracts what is my main design in this version and in the notes, which must be my apology for not affecting a learned commentary, and my excuse to those who shall not find here the kind of remarks that are suitable to a critical edition of an ancient author. I have had another object than to discuss the niceties of words and the forms of phrases, a labour which is well in its place, if it be done well, but is not what needs to be done to such an author as Plutarch to render him useful. A man who was a great reader of Plutarch, a just and solid thinker above the measure of his age, and not surpassed in his way by any writer in our own, Montaigne, observes in his Essay of the Education of Children'-"Let him enquiro into the manners, revenues, and alliances of princes, things in themselves very pleasant to learn, and very useful to know. In this conversing with men, I mean, and principally those who only live in the records of history, he

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