Wodhull (3 vols., London, 1809). In the author's preface to this work, an exhaustive account of previous attempts in the same field is given, which is not without interest as showing the critical stand-point of that age.
In more recent times we have had Robert Browning's "Balaustion," a beautiful poem in itself, and almost a verbatim translation of the "Alcestis;" while not a few scholars of modern days have shown their keen appreciation of the beauties of Euripides by presenting the world with verse translations of portions of his works.
In conclusion, if it is necessary to say anything on the vexed question of translations in general, one might perhaps defend them against their traducers on the ground that, when, as now, the whole world is bent on being examined in every branch of knowledge, time becomes an object of vital importance, and, if only to save this, translations have a distinct value. There are many who wish to know the contents of the ancient classics without being put to the trouble of studying them closely in the original language; indeed, the number of those who will have leisure in the future to study these great masterpieces is only too likely to become even smaller than now as the pressure of examinations and the range of prescribed subjects becomes daily larger; if, then, a translation can, in however an imperfect way, serve to keep alive an admiration for the models of antiquity, it will not have been undertaken in vain.
The form that any translation should assume is a point on which few persons hold identically the same opinion. It is a matter for individual taste. As far as I am concerned, this knotty point has been decided for me by my publishers, who have therefore saved me the trouble of weighing conflicting claims.
A prose version having been essayed, I have endeavoured to produce one, which should combine, as far as the different
