up the word. Do not be misled by the spelling of foreign words.

III. If you find puzzling constructions, such as an ablative where you expect an accusative, or a form that troubles you, apply the knowledge that you possess; review rapidly the rules governing exceptions, remembering that contractions, poetic order, and poetic forms occur in prose as well as in poetry. IV. Take pains, in your translation, to choose words that are:

(1) simple, and not pretentious and high flown. ex. food instead of viands,

wrath instead of malevolence.

(2) exact in meaning, not English derivatives.

ex. translate sublimis, lofty, not sublime.
translate candidus, white, not candid.

(3) specific, not general.

translate salix, willow, not tree.

Sic Volvere Parcas, so the Fates turn the wheel of destiny; not, revolve or decree.

(4) recognized English words. Do not transfer words from another language into English.

V. Use English idioms. Do not imitate foreign idioms, such as the following:

1. He being consul.

2. Large in respect to his shoulders.

3. The man he.

4. He made an end of speaking.

5. I have hunger.

6. He leaves to other men to dine and to feast. 8. It does nothing, i.e. it is of no consequence. 8. Stamps sell themselves here.

9. To the again seeing.

10. It makes cold.

VI. Follow the natural English order of words in a sentence. Avoid such order as:

Therefore is also the for many years so much praised system of marking questionable.

But me then first cruelly surrounded horror.
These words spoke he, harshly.

The, of the book notices, package.

Weapons and a man I chant, of Troy, who first from the shores to Italy, by fate driven, and to Lavinian shores came.

as:

VII. Fill out an ellipsis, avoiding such expressions

ex. These words, he, for, These words he spoke.

VIII. Be sure that your pronouns are used clearly enough to leave no doubt about to whom they refer.

ex. Caesar and his army met the enemy. They encamped for the night.

Do not translate iste, this one, and ille, that one; use the proper name.

IX. Remember that it is not always necessary to translate all the particles that appear in a foreign language. Note the negative particles in French.

X. Do not add words or figures of speech that are not in the original text.

EXERCISE

Point out in the following selection anything that seems to you to transgress any of the rules for translation, as given above.

Exegi monumentum aere perennius Regalique situ pyramidum altius,

Quod non imber edax, non Aquilo impotens

Possit diruere aut innumerabilis

Annorum series et fuga temporum :

HORACE: Ode III, 30.

I have completed a monument more lasting than brass, and more sublime than the regal elevation of pyramids, which neither the wasting shower, the unavailing north wind, nor an innumerable succession of years, and the flight of seasons shall be able to demolish.

SMART.

EXERCISE

1. Show in what ways Pope was an unsatisfactory translator of the Iliad, by pointing out, in comparison with the literal prose translation:

(1) Additions to the text in the matter of figures of speech and adjectives.

(2) Incorrect translations of single words.

(3) Translations in bad taste because the words chosen are pompous, affected, and unspecific.

But these [the Trojans] with high hopes sate them all night along the highways of the battle, and their watch fires burned in multitudes. Even as when in heaven the stars above the bright moon shine clear to see, when the air is windless, and all the peaks appear and the tall headlands and glades, and from heaven breaketh open

the infinite air, and all the stars are seen, and the shepherd's heart is glad; even in like multitude between the ships and the stream of Xanthos appeared the watch fires that the Trojans kindled in front of Ilios.

Iliad, VIII, trans. Lang, Leaf, and Myers.

The troops exulting sat in order round,
And beaming fires illumin'd all the ground.
As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night!
O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light,
When not a breath disturbs the deep serene,
And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene;
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole.
O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed,
And tip with silver every mountain's head;
Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise,
A flood of glory bursts from all the skies:
The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight
Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light.
So many flames before proud Ilium blaze,
And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays:
The long reflections of the distant fires

Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the spires.
ALEXANDER POPE.

EXERCISE

Write a translation of fifteen or twenty lines from some book in a foreign language you are studying.

CHAPTER XII

THE PARAGRAPH

The Paragraph.- We have already seen that, when a new idea is introduced in a letter or in a theme, the change should be indicated by indenting the line, thus forming a new paragraph. A long composition which has but one paragraph is very tiresome to the reader, for it wearies his eyes and makes a heavy demand upon his attention, whereas if the composition is broken up into paragraphs it is read easily.

Unity and Coherence in the Paragraph. — A paragraph must be about one subject in its most intimately related aspects. Do not include in a paragraph matter that does not belong there. Arrange the matter in your paragraph in such a fashion that the thought in one sentence leads inevitably to the thought in the next. Make your paragraph a chain closely linked together.

In the following extract consisting of four sentences, note how one thought leads to another, and how the relationships are shown by the use of the words italicized.