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 [pg xxv] 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 ten years | Total for preceding fifty years | Total for preceding hundred 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 |