Helps to Latin Translation at Sight Part 1

Helps to Latin Translation at Sight.

by Edmund Luce.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Whatever controversies may be astir as to the precise objects of a cla.s.sical training, it will hardly be disputed that if that teaching has been successful the pupils will sooner or later be able to make out an ordinary pa.s.sage of 'unseen' Latin or Greek. It is a test to which the purely linguistic teacher must obviously defer: while the master, who aims at imparting knowledge of the subject-matter must acknowledge, if his boys flounder helplessly in unprepared extracts, that they could have learnt about ancient life better through translations.

In, addition to the value of unseen translation, as a test of teaching it const.i.tutes an admirable thinking exercise. But so numerous are the various books of extracts already published that I should have seen nothing to be gained from the appearance of a new one like the present volume were it not, as far as I know, different in two important respects from others. It contains six Demonstrations of _how_ sentences are to be attacked: and further, the pa.s.sages are chosen so that if a boy works through the book he can hardly fail to gain some outline knowledge of Roman Republican history.

As to the Demonstrations, their value will be evident if it is realised that failure in this sort of translation means failure to a.n.a.lyse: to split up, separate, distinguish the component parts of an apparently jumbled but really ordered sentence. A beginner must learn to trust the solvent with which we supply him; and the way to induce him to trust it is to show it to him at work. That is what a Demonstration will do if only the learner will give it a fair chance.

In regard to the historical teaching contained in the extracts, there can be little doubt that the present tendency of cla.s.sical teaching is towards emphasising the subject-matter as well as the language. It is felt that as training in political principles the reading of Greek and Roman authors offers unique advantages, such as many English boys can appreciate, who are deaf to the literary appeal. The choice therefore of historical extracts in chronological order is an attempt to recognise both the two great aims of cla.s.sical teaching at once. At any rate there is no reason to suppose that the linguistic exercise is in any way impaired by being combined with a little history.

I should like to direct attention also to the notes given on the extracts, and the purpose they are meant to serve. If no notes had been given some of the pa.s.sages which are important or interesting historically would have been found too difficult for the boys for whom they are intended. Moreover, most of the notes concern the historical aspect of the extract to which they belong, and are part of the scheme by which the subject-matter of the pa.s.sage is emphasised. Although the pa.s.sages themselves are not strictly graduated, the help given in translation becomes less and less as the boy goes through the book; and it is obvious that those extracts which ill.u.s.trate the later periods of Roman History will be found more difficult than the legends and stories which belong to an earlier age. In cases where no help at all is desired, the Miscellaneous Pa.s.sages (which are without notes) may be used.

E. LYTTELTON.

ETON: _April 1908_.

EDITOR'S PREFACE

The aim of the present book is to help boys to translate at sight. Of the many books of unseen translation in general use few exhibit continuity of plan as regards the subject-matter, or give any help beyond a short heading. The average boy, unequal to the task before him, is forced to draw largely upon his own invention, and the master, in correcting written unseens, has seldom leisure to do more than mark mistakes--a method of correction almost useless to the boy, unless accompanied by full and careful explanation when the written work is given back.

Now that less time is available for Latin and Greek, new methods of teaching them must be adopted if they are to hold their own in our public schools. When Lord Dufferin could say, 'I am quite determined, so far as care and forethought can prevent it, that the ten best years of my boy's life shall not be spent (as mine were) in nominally learning two dead languages without being able to translate an ordinary paragraph from either without the aid of a dictionary;' and Dr. Reid could write, 'It is not too much to say that a large number of boys pa.s.s through our schools without ever dreaming that an ancient writer could pen three consecutive sentences with a connected meaning: chaos is felt to be natural to ancient literature: no search is made for sense, and the Latin or Greek book is looked upon as a more or less fortuitous concourse of words;' when Dr. Rouse can a.s.sert, 'The public schoolboy at nineteen is unable to read a simple Latin or Greek book with ease, or to express a simple series of thoughts without atrocious blunders: he has learnt from his cla.s.sics neither accuracy nor love of beauty and truth'--it is obvious that, for the average boy, the system of perfunctorily prepared set-books and dashed-off unseens is a failure.

The experience of every teacher who is also an examiner, and who has had to deal with public schoolboys, will confirm this; but during twenty-five years' teaching and examining of boys in almost every stage, I have found that translation at sight, taught upon the plan of this book, not only produces a good result, but teaches a boy how to grapple with the bare text of a Latin author better than the habitual practice of translating at sight without any help at all. If the average boy is to be taught how to translate, his interest must be awakened and sustained, and the standard of routine work made as high as possible.

The clever boys are, as a rule, well provided for; but, even for them, the methods of this book have been found to be the shortest road to accuracy and style in translation. Moreover by this means they have gained a firsthand acquaintance with Latin literature and the sources of Roman history.

It is impossible here to enter into 'the question of the close and striking correspondence between the history, the literature, and the language of Rome. It was not until the history of Rome threw its mantle over her poetry that the dignity of the poet was recognised and acknowledged. . . . In the same way the life of the Roman people is closely bound up with the prose records, and the phenomena of the Roman Empire lend a human interest to all representative Roman writers.'[1]

Considerations of this kind form a sufficient justification of the method here adopted of employing the historical records of Rome as a basis of teaching.

In this book the Introduction (pp. 1-14) is written to teach a boy how to arrive at the meanings of words (_Helps to Vocabulary_, pp. 1-5); how to find out the thought of a sentence through a.n.a.lysis and a knowledge of the order of words in Latin (_Helps to-Translation_, pp. 5-12); how to reproduce in good English the exact meaning and characteristics of his author (_Helps to Style_, pp. 13-14).

In the Demonstrations (pp. 15-58) the boy is taught to notice all allusions that give him a clue to the sense of the pa.s.sage, to grapple with the difficulties of construction, to break up sentences, and to distinguish between the princ.i.p.al and the subordinate thoughts both in prose and verse.

The Pa.s.sages have been carefully selected, and contain accounts of nearly all the important events and ill.u.s.trious men of the period of history to which they belong. They are chronologically arranged and divided into six periods, covering Roman history from B.C. 753 to B.C.

44, leaving the Augustan and subsequent period to be dealt with in a second volume. The translation help given in the notes is carefully graduated. The notes to Parts I., II., III. (marked D, pp. 60-107) are thus intended to help younger boys to deal with pa.s.sages which would in some cases be too difficult for them; less help in translation is given in Parts IV. and V. (marked C, pp. 108-159); while the notes to Part VI.

(marked B, pp. 160-236) are mainly concerned with historical explanation, ill.u.s.tration, or allusion.

The Miscellaneous Pa.s.sages (pp. 238-271), chosen for me by my brother-in-law, Mr. A. M. Goodhart (a.s.sistant Master at Eton College), are added to provide occasional pa.s.sages in which no help is given. It is hoped that these, which deal with subjects of general interest, and include a somewhat wide range of authors, may give variety to the book, and supply more verse pa.s.sages than the historical character of the rest would admit. For the sake of variety, or to economise time, some of the pa.s.sages may be translated _viva voce_ at the discretion of the master.

The Appendices (pp. 274-363) may be referred to when a boy finds himself in doubt about the value of a Conjunction (I.), the force of a Prefix (II.), the meaning of a Suffix (III.), the Life and Times of his Author (VI.), or the historical significance of a date (VII.). In Appendix V.

a Demonstration is given to show how a boy, after sufficient practice in translation by the help of a.n.a.lysis, may to some extent learn to think in Latin, and so to follow the Latin order in arriving at the thought.

The important question of what maps should accompany the book will be best solved by providing each boy with a copy of Murray's Small Cla.s.sical Atlas, edited by G. B. Grundy, which will be found to be admirably adapted to the purpose. By the kindness of Mr. John Murray, two plans (Dyrrachium and Pharsalus), not at present included in the Atlas, have been specially drawn to ill.u.s.trate pa.s.sages on pp. 216 and 218, and are placed opposite the text.

As far as possible I have acknowledged my indebtedness to the Editors whose editions of the cla.s.sics have been consulted. For the historical explanations I am under special obligation to the histories of Ihne and Mommsen, to the 'Life of Cicero' by the Master of Balliol, and to the 'Life of Caesar' by Mr. Warde Fowler. I have also to thank Messrs.

Macmillan for allowing me to quote from Dr. Potts' 'Aids to Latin Prose,' and from Professor Postgate's _Sermo Latinus_. For the prose pa.s.sages the best texts have been consulted, while for Livy, Weissenborn's text edited by Muller (1906) has been followed throughout.

As regards the verse pa.s.sages, the text adopted is, wherever possible, that of Professor Postgate's recension of the _Corpus Poetarum Latinorum_. For the Short Lives I have found useful 'The Student's Companion to Latin Authors' (Middleton and Mills), but I owe much more to the works of Teuffel, Cruttwell, Sellar, Tyrrell, and Mackail.

The Head Master of Eton, besides expressing his approval of the book, has kindly offered to write an Introductory Note. He has also given me an exceptional opportunity of testing more than half the historical pa.s.sages by allowing them to be used in proof, until the book was ready, for the weekly unseen translation in the three blocks of fifth form, represented by the letters, B, C, D. The criticisms and suggestions made by Cla.s.sical Masters at Eton, who have used the pa.s.sages week by week, have been very valuable, and, in particular, my thanks are due to Mr.

Impey, Mr. Tatham, Mr. Macnaghten, Mr. Wells, and Mr. Ramsay. My thanks are also due to the Lower Master, Mr. F. H. Rawlins, for kindly reading the MS. of the Introduction, Demonstrations, and Appendices I.-IV., and for giving me the benefit of his wide experience.

To my brother-in-law, Mr. A. M. Goodhart, I owe it that I undertook to write the book; without his advice it would never have seen the light, and he has given me most valuable help and encouragement at every stage.

As regards the choice of type and style of printing, I owe a special debt of thanks to Mr. W. Hacklett (manager of Messrs. Spottiswoode's Eton branch), whose unceasing care and attention has been invaluable in seeing the book through the press. I must also acknowledge the patience and skill of Messrs. Spottiswoode's London staff in carrying out the many alterations which I have found to be inseparable from the task of bringing each pa.s.sage and its notes into the compa.s.s of a single page.

In conclusion I should like to say that it has been my aim throughout to adhere to what is best in Roman literature, and to omit pa.s.sages the choice of which can only be justified by regarding their literary form apart from their moral value. Latin literature contains so much that is at once excellent in style and n.o.ble in thought that it seems a grave mistake to exalt the one at the expense of the other.

_Maxima debetur puero reverentia._

EDMUND LUCE.

WINDSOR: _April 1908_.

[Footnote 1: The late Professor Goodhart.]

INTRODUCTION

+1. Heading.+--The selections in this book are in most cases intelligible apart from their context. In cases where this is not so, you will find it a valuable exercise to endeavour to arrive at the context for yourself. In all cases, however, you should pay attention to the +Heading+, which will give you a useful clue to the meaning of the pa.s.sage,

+2. Author.+--When you see the author's name, try to remember what you know about him. For example, +Livy+, the historian of Rome and friend of Augustus, the contemporary of Vergil and Ovid. The short Lives, pp.

293-345, will tell you the chief facts about the authors from whom the selections are taken, and will give you a brief summary of their chief works. Also, if you refer to Appendix VII., pp. 347-363, you will gain some idea of the time in which the authors lived and of their contemporaries.

+3. Read the Pa.s.sage through, carefully.+--As you read--

(1) Notice all +allusions+ and +key-words+ that may help you to the sense of the pa.s.sage.

(2) +Pay special attention to the opening sentence.+ In translating a pa.s.sage much depends on getting the first sentence right.

(3) Notice especially the connectives which introduce sentences and clauses +marked off by commas+. In this way you will be able to distinguish between a +Princ.i.p.al Sentence+ and a +Subordinate Clause+.

(For List of Conjunctions see Appendix I. pp. 274-276.)

HELPS TO VOCABULARY.

+4. Through English Derivatives.+--English derivatives, if used in the proper way, may give you valuable help in inferring meanings. The reason why you must generally +not+ translate the Latin word by the derived English word is that, as you probably know, many English derivatives have come from Latin words which had wholly or in part lost their earlier cla.s.sical meaning, or from Latin words not found at all in cla.s.sical Latin. Yet in such cases the English word may be far from useless. You must take care to let it suggest to you the original or root-meaning, leaving the correct meaning of the Latin, whether the same as the English word or not, to be determined by the context.