Antient Authors (when they are translated) suffer in nothing more, than in having the Manners and Customs, to which they allude, transformed into the Manners and Customs of the present Age. By this Liberty, or rather Licenciousness of Translators, Authors not only appear in a different Dress, but they become unlike themselves, by losing that peculiar and distinctive Character in which they excel. This is most palpable in those Authors, whose Character consists in Humour. Let any one read Terence, as he is translated by Mr. Echard, and he will take him to have been a Buffoon: Whereas Terence never dealt in such a Kind of low Mirth. His true Character is, to have afforded to his Spectators and Readers the gravest, and, at the same Time, the most agreeable, most polite Entertainment of any antient Author now extant. This is, in some Measure, the Case of Theophrastus: He has been transformed; and he has suffer’d in the Transformation. What I have endeavoured is, to do him that Justice which, I think, he has not hitherto met with, by preserving the native Simplicity of his Characters, by retaining those antient Manners and Customs which he alludes to, and keeping up the peculiar Humour of the Original as nearly, as the Difference of Language wou’d allow. This is the Attempt; how far I have succeeded, must be let to the judicious and curious Reader to determine. Thus much I thought necessary to say concerning former Translations, in order to justify my own Undertaking, which will not acquire an intrinsic Merit from the Censures, that I have pass’d upon others. No: The Faults of others cannot extenuate our own; and that Stamp, which every Work carries along with it, can only determine of what Kind it really is.
The Reader will expect that I shou’d here say a Word or two concerning the Notes which follow the Characters. Some Authors or Commentators (call them which you will) out of a vain Ostentation of Literature, lay hold of the slightest of Opportunities to expose all their Learning to the World, without ever knowing when they have said enough: Insomuch, that in most Commentaries upon antient Authors, one may sooner meet with a System of Antiquities, than with Solutions of the real Difficulties of the Text. Consider’d barely as a Translator, I lay under no immediate Necessity of writing Notes, but then as I was highly concern’d, even in that Capacity, to lay before the English Reader, what I took to be the true Sense of the Greek, and as I farther propos’d to preserve that particular Humour of the Original, which depends on those Manners and Customs which are alluded to, I found, my self necessitated to add some Notes; but yet I have endeavoured to shun that Fault, which I have already censur’d, by saying no more, but what was immediately necessary, to illustrate the Text, to vindicate a received Sense, or to propose a new one.
I am not conscious of having made any great Excursions beyond the Bounds which these Rules prescrib’d to me, unless it is in the Chapter concerning Superstition. And even here, unless the Commentary had been somewhat copious, the Text it self wou’d have appear’d like a motly Piece of mysterious Nonsense. Thus much I thought my self oblig’d to do in Justice to Theophrastus; and as for the Enlargements which I have made, over and above what wou’d have satisfy’d this Demand, they will not, ’tis hop’d, be unacceptable to the curious Reader. They are Digressions I own; but I shall not here offer to make one Digression to execute another, or, according to the Custom and Practice of modern Authors, beg a thousand Pardons of the Reader, before I am certain of having committed one Offence. Such a Procedure seems preposterous. For when an Author happens to digress, and take a Trip ὑπὲρ τὰ ἐσκαμμένα, beyond the Bounds prescrib’d; the best, the only consistent thing he can do, is to take his Chance for the Event. If what he has said does not immediately relate to the Matter in Hand, it may nevertheless be a propos, and good in its Kind; and then instead of Censure, he will probably meet with Thanks; but if it be not good, no prefatory Excuses will make it so: And besides, it will ever be insisted on, that ’tis an easier Matter to strike out bad Digressions, than it is to write good Apologies.
One Word more, and then I have done. Since Mr. Budgell has thought fit to censure Mr. de la Bruyere, for troubling his Reader with Notes, I think my self oblig’d, in order to justify both Mr. de la Bruyere and my self, to shew that this Censure is very unreasonable, and very unjust.[D] Mr. Budgell’s Words are as follow. Theophrastus, at the Time he writ, referr’d to nothing but what was well known to the meanest Person in Athens; but as Mr. Bruyere has manag’d it, by hinting at too many Grecian Customs, a modern Reader is oblig’d to peruse one or two Notes, which are frequently longer than the Sentence it self he wou’d know the meaning of. But if those Manners and Customs, which Theophrastus alludes to, were, in his Time, well known to the meanest Athenian, it does not follow that they are now so well known to a modern Reader.
Mr. de la Bruyere’s Fault does not consist in having put Notes to his Translation, but rather in not having put enough. When a Translator of an antient Author intends to preserve the peculiar Character of the Original, Notes become absolutely necessary to render the Translation intelligible to a modern Reader. The Learn’d may pass them over; and those, for whom Explanatory Notes are chiefly designed, must not think it too much Trouble, to bestow a second Reading on the Text, after they have given a First to the Whole. This Trouble (if any thing ought to be call’d so that conveys Instruction) is no more than what many persons, who have attained to no small share of Knowledg in the learn’d Languages, must submit to, at the first Perusal of an Original Author. If in a translated Author any Difficulties occur, on this Head, to a modern Reader, and the Translator has taken Care to clear up those difficulties by adding Notes, the modern Reader ought to thank him for his Pains, and not think his Labour superfluous.
’Tis hop’d then that the Notes, that I have added, will be kindly receiv’d. The Reader will nevertheless be at full Liberty to peruse them, or to pass them over. If he if but so favourable as to approve of the Translation it self, this will be a sufficient Satisfaction to the Translator, and be looked upon as no finall Commendation of the Performance. For a Translation, if it be well performed, ought in Justice to be receiv’d as a good Commentary.
[SECT. II.]
There is no Kind of polite Writing that seems to require a deeper Knowledge, a livelier Imagination, and a happier Turn of Expression than the Characteristic. Human Nature, in its various Forms and Affections, is the Subject; and he who wou’d attempt a Work of this Kind, with some assurance of Success, must not only study other Men; he has a more difficult Task to perform; he must study himself. The deep and dark Recesses of the Heart must be penetrated, to discover how Nature is disguis’d into Art, and how Art puts on the Appearance of Nature.—This Knowledge is great; ’tis the Perfection of Moral Philosophy; ’tis an inestimable Treasure: But yet if it shou’d fall into the Hands of one, who wants proper Abilities to communicate his Knowledge to the World, it wou’d be of no Service but to the Owner: It wou’d make him, indeed, an able Philosopher, but not an able Writer of Characters.
The Mind has its peculiar Features as well as the Body; and these must be represented in their genuine and native Colours, that so the Picture may strike, and every Reader, who is concern’d in the Work, may presently discover himself; and those, who are unconcern’d may, nevertheless, immediately perceive a just Correspondence between that Piece and Nature.
Every Action has its proper Thought, and every Thought its proper Expression. And these Correspondences are not imaginary, but have a real Foundation in Nature: For when any one of these is wanting, the whole is lame and defective, but when they all meet and conspire together, the Character is then genuine and compleat, the Thing or Person design’d is drawn to the Life, and the Reader is left uncertain, whether the Character, that lies before him, is an Effect of Art, or a real Appearance of Nature.—A Master-Piece of this Kind, requires the Hand of one who is a Critic in Men and Manners, a Critic in Thoughts, and a Critic in Language.