Horizon

Translator Prose

In the Herodotus thread, Martha mentioned that she doesn't read Greek as a response to my question about which translation she recommended. There's an assumption behind her (no doubt throwaway) comment that I'd like to address: that the quality of a translation is a function of its faithfulness to the wording of a text. Certainly that can be the case — the euphemism of the Penguin translation of Suetonius completely obscures some scandalous gossip about Tiberius — but often that's not the case. Eusebius of Caeserea writes Greek as if it were a functional programming langauge, with clauses nested within other clauses, n-deep. Any translator who hopes to produce actual English will be forced to paraphrase him extensively.

Here is the same passage of Herodotus (4.143) in four different translations. Note especially how each handles the difficult passage in the middle, where Artabanus asks, "What would you like to have as many of as seeds in your pomegranate?" There's really no way to say that in one sentence in English without awkwardness.

The Rawlinson translation Martha's got can be found in a fragmentary state at MIT, but is also accessible at this UK website in a somewhat better condition (though note the missing subject of the third sentence).

Darius, having passed through Thrace, reached Sestos in the Chersonese, whence he crossed by the help of his fleet into Asia, leaving a Persian, named Megabazus, commander on the European side. This was the man on whom Darius once conferred special honour by a compliment which he paid him before all the Persians. was about to eat some pomegranates, and had opened the first, when his brother Artabanus asked him "what he would like to have in as great plenty as the seeds of the pomegranate?" Darius answered - "Had I as many men like Megabazus as there are seeds here, it would please me better than to be lord of Greece." Such was the compliment wherewith Darius honoured the general to whom at this time he gave the command of the troops left in Europe, amounting in all to some eighty thousand men.

My Loeb Classical Library volume of Herodotus contains D. D. Godley's 1921 translation. You can also find this version online, at the well-annotated Perseus Digital Library.

Darius marched through Thrace to Sestos on the Chersonesus; from there, he crossed over with his ships to Asia, leaving Megabazus as his commander in Europe, a Persian whom he once honored by saying among the Persians what I note here: [2] Darius was about to eat pomegranates, and no sooner had he opened the first of them than his brother Artabanus asked him what he would like to have as many of as there were seeds in his pomegranate; then Darius said that he would rather have that many men like Megabazus than make all Hellas subject to him. [3] By speaking thus among Persians, the king honored Megabazus; and now he left him behind as his commander, at the head of eighty thousand of his army.

Perseus also links to the Project Gutenberg version of Macauley's 1890 translation:

Dareios then marching through Thrace arrived at Sestos in the Chersonese; and from that place, he passed over himself in his ships to Asia, but to command his army in Europe he left Megabazos a Persian, to whom Dareios once gave honour by uttering in the land of Persia[126] this saying:--Dareios was beginning to eat pomegranates, and at once when he opened the first of them, Artabanos his brother asked him of what he would desire to have as many as there were seeds in the pomegranate: and Dareios said that he would desire to have men like Megabazos as many as that in number, rather than to have Hellas subject to him. In Persia, I say, he honoured him by saying these words, and at this time he left him in command with eight myriads[127] of his army.

The Penguin edition I managed to find last night contains a 1954 translation by Aubrey de Sélincourt.

Darius now marched through Thrace to Sestos in the Chersonese, where he took ship for Asia, leaving a distinguished Persian named Megabazus to command in Europe. Darus had once paid this man a high compliment: wishing to eat some pomegranates, he had just opened the first of them, when his brother Artabanus asked him whihch of his possessions he would like to be multiplied to a number as great as the seeds in a pomegranate. Darius' answer was "Megabazus": he would rather, he said, have such a number of men like Megabazus than be master of Greece. It was in Persia that Darius paid him this high compliment, and on the present occasion he left him in Europe wiht a corps of the army 80,000 strong.

It looks to me like Macauley is most faithful to the run-on sentences of the Greek, and his avoidance of the Latinized forms of proper names is also closer to the Greek originals. However, the "-aios" endings distract the reader, and "he would desire to have men like Megabazos as many as that in number" makes me want to pull my hair out.

Posted by Ben Brumfield at April 21, 2006 04:27 PM