PHYSICAL SCIENCE 



sumption of rivalry, not to say superiority, to Aristotle. 

 Seneca may best be regarded as pupil and interpreter of 

 Aristotle, in so far as the two come into competition. 

 His date, the language employed as his medium, his 

 position, his reputation as a Christian, and his activity in 

 other fields, all conspired to give him a position in the 

 Middle Ages which is not necessarily the measure of his 

 intrinsic merit as compared with Aristotle. 



VII. THE PRESENT TRANSLATION 



From what has preceded, it will appear that the path 

 of the translator of the Quaestiones Naturales is beset with 

 snares. At best he has a choice of difficulties. It may 

 perhaps, therefore, be well to say a word or two upon the 

 method in which these have been dealt with on the present 

 occasion. 



A translator s prime duty is to follow his author, for 

 which purpose he must first understand him, a requirement 

 not very easily here fulfilled. The texts of the Q.N. vary 

 greatly, as already indicated, and it is no easy matter to 

 select any one that might be consistently followed. The 

 most recent and best text, the Teubner, edited by Gercke, 

 has strong claims, and had it been my good fortune to have 

 it by me when the translation was made, I should have 

 been tempted to adopt it simpliciter, even though in many 

 details it departs somewhat violently from the accepted 

 arrangement. As it was, it did not come to hand until 

 the translation was finished and paged for publication, so 

 that full use could not be made of it. In a few cases its 

 corrections had been anticipated ; in some its readings 

 have been adopted ; some that could not be incorporated 

 are referred to in a note on the subject. 



The text being settled, the translator must, if possible, 

 put himself in the author s position and obtain his point 

 of view. 



In science, particularly, the milieu of the author 

 must be caught if his thoughts are to be accurately 



