D'ALEMBERT. 445 



His translation of select passages of Tacitus, exe- 

 cuted with great zeal, as might be expected from his 

 exaggerated admiration of that classic, and the kind of 

 delusion respecting him under which he laboured, is 

 certainly much better than his critical opinion on the 

 original. But his ideas of a translator's duties are sin- 

 gularly incorrect. He complains of the common run 

 of translators for being so " superstitiously attached to 

 their authors, that they fear to embellish them even in 

 feeble passages;" and contends, by a ridiculous sophism, 

 that as we must often fall short of the originals, so we 

 ought to take compensation by surpassing them when 

 we can. He tells us that he sketched his translations 

 with much rapidity to avoid coldness, and afterwards 

 corrected with great care a proceeding not perhaps 

 much to be condemned ; but he adds, that he has oc- 

 casionally taken the liberty of altering the meaning 

 when "the Latin presented a puerile image or idea, 

 and when Tacitus appears to be below him self." (Ib. 26.) 

 Thus he lends Tacitus a little wit, a metaphor, indeed, 

 in the celebrated description of Tiberius, whose dislike 

 alike of freedom and of flattery made men's words dif- 

 ficult and slippery, or perilous. " Angusta et lubrica 

 oratio sub principe qui libertatem metuebat, adula- 

 tionem oderat." (Ann. 11, 87.) " Tant la servitude 

 meme marchoit par une route etroite et glissante, sous 

 un prince qui detestoit la flatterie et craignait laliberte." 

 ((Euv. xiv. 167.) Can any one doubt that this is a 

 total perversion of the sense ? Tacitus does not say, 

 nor could he with truth say, that the one noble quality 

 of the crafty but able tyrant, his detestation of flattery, 

 made all the actions of men slippery and doubtful. He 

 knew well that in every other respect submissive obedi- 

 ence was their only care ; but the dislike of flattery 

 only created some doubt when they were to write or to 

 speak. Accordingly, other translators have preserved 

 the sense of the original without losing the fine and 

 picturesque expression of "Angusta et lubrica." "Eien 



