The New York herald., 1922-03-19
The Limitations of the Translator.


~ standing come the difficulties
OF reproduction. The miracle is but
half done; the wine must not be
turned into water. Unluckily for
us, the art of translation is by neces-
sity deprived of exactly those men
who would be its best practitioners.
A man who can work miracles pre-
fers to work his own miracles; an
artist who could reproduce the pas
sionate simplicity of Homer is pref
ty certain to spend his time on his
own imaginings. Occasionally some
genius will break all rules and pre-
visions by being professor, and
will sacrifice himself upon the altar
of his adOred. Mr.. Gilbert Murray
with his Euripides is a modern in
stance; another is Mr.. William Ell
lery Leonard, whose triumphant
version of Lucretius is too little
known. Such work as Messrs. Muir
rays and Leonard's is, however, a
lucky accident. We have no right
to count on anything more than
talent. Talent is a vague term, but
l mean by it the ability to translate
good verse into good prose. Coming
ton had talent, not genius; and his
prose Virgil is far superior to his
rhetorical verse. J0wett had talent,
and Lang, and Jebb; a few recent
names might be added from the
Loeb Classical Library. Neverthe-
less, it is pretty clear that we are
not being adequately paid in the
coin Of talent for what we lose
through the scarcity of genius. The
current translations from Latin and
Greek into English are competent
enough on the score of scholarship;
but they are fatally sleepy; they
drag. They render the original. but
only after perceptible pause, dur
ing which our attention evaporates.
Once more we need to take lesson
from France.-FrOm "The Art OF
Translation" By r. X. Hack in the
'Freeman.'
The Fame of Pierre de Ronsard.
THE vicissitudes OF Ronsard's
I reputation through the cen
turies are of themselves study in
criticism. They interest us chiefly
by showing the effect OF great
French poet upon succeeding gener-
ations of his countrymen, but to
some extent also by showing the un-
happy results OF literary spite and
critical bigotry which for nearly
two centuries concealed some of the
most agreeable and musical OF
French lyrics. During the six
teenth century Ronsard was taken
at his own valuation as the greatest
of French poets. Ignoring or at
tacking their predecessors (as they
were afterward attacked or
ignoredD, the Pleiade firmly insisted
on their superiority over "barbar-
ians" like Charles d'Orleans and
Villon, and agreed that Ronsard was
their chief and the prince of French
poets. Not even divine Du Bartas"
could shake this acknowledged su-
premacy. Sovereigns like Francois
H., Charles TX, Elizabeth of Eng
land and Mary of Scotland flattered
Ronsard with praise and rewards.
His reputation spread even into
critical Italy, for it was when
Brantome was buying a grand vol
ume of Petrarch at Venice that
grand magnifique rebuked him,
saying that in Ronsard France pos
sessed a poet twice as great as
Petrarch. From pierre de Ron
sard" an the London Times Library
Supplement.
Herman Melville in First Edition.
WAS told last week there is
= cruel competition to-day i'm
America for the first editions
probably only the American "firsts'
of Herman Melville's works. As
for this side, a friend of mine
picked up recently two excellent ex