THE

ANTI-JACOBIN

Review and Magazine,

1

&c. &c. &c.

For AUGUST, 1806.

Si quis illa mendacia, quæ nullâ autoritate suffulta narrantur, malit propagare, per me licet; qui quotidié magis, magisque experior, mundum decipi velle, et præconceptis opinionibus regi.

AD. RELAND.

ORIGINAL CRITICISM.

The Works of Sallust; to which are prefixed, Two Essays on the Life, Literary Characters, and Writings of the Historian; with Notes Historical, Biographical and Critical. By Henry Steuart, LL. D. Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Society of Antiquaries, of Edinburgh. In 2 vols. 4to. PP. 1305. 4. 12s. Baldwins. 1806.

I

T has been often remarked, that in no department of literature has the British nation more excelled, than in the translation of the poets of classical antiquity; whilst, in prose translation, we must, with a very few exceptions, yield the palm of excellence to the learned nations of the Continent. We are not very willing to admit this remark to be just. That we have generally far surpassed our rivals, in poetical translation, is undoubtedly true, though the Italians can likewise boast of some poetical versions highly creditable to their taste and genius; but have we indeed fallen short of the Germans and French in our versions of the prose writers of antiquity? Before this question be confidently answered in the affirmative, let it be remembered that it is only with a few of the most masterly versions of the works of the ancients into French and German, that an English scholar thinks it worth his while to make himself acquainted; and a few such versions we have ourselves, which are confessedly of the highest excellence.

But admitting the fact to be as it is usually stated, we think it may

be accounted for, on principles far from discreditable to the taste and learning of our countrymen. An English scholar scorns to read the works of a Greek or Roman historian or orator in a translation; and readers who are not scholars take little interest in the perusal of such works in any dress. We have in our language histories of Rome and of Greece sufficient to gratify general curiosity; whilst the audiences which were addressed by Tully and Demosthenes were so different from a British senate, that their orations translated into English would be read with great indifference by many, who have listened with rapture to the living oratory of a Pitt, a Burke, or an Erskine.

Let not the reader infer from this, that, in our opinion, the scholar employs his time to little purpose, who spends months and years in translating the works of Herodotus, Sallust, or Tacitus. Such time is spent to the best of purposes, especially if the author translated be likewise illustrated by a commentary and notes.

That our language is a noble one is confessed by foreigners, as well as gloried in by natives; that, with some short retrograde intervals, it has been gradually improving since the reign of Elizabeth, must be admitted by every man of taste who has traced its progress; and that its improvements have been chiefly derived from the classical writings of antiquity, is universally known. Without attempting to defend the use of all the sesquipedalia verba employed by Johnson, we may be allowed to say, that he added something to the copiousness and vigour of the language; whilst he introduced into it a grammatical correctness, to which little attention had formerly been paid even by the writers of the reign of Queen Anne. Johnson and his followers took the classical writers of Greece and Rome for their models, and steadiMy resisted the introduction of useless words and phrases from the feebler languages of modern Europe. Hence the harmony and strength of their periods; and hence too, perhaps, the juster arrangement of their whole compositions.

Of late, however, we have been threatened with inundations of words and phrases, and, which is infinitely more to be regretted, of wild, extravagant, and unnatural notions, from France and Germany, which, if a check be not speedily put to them, must gradually corrupt the language, pervert the taste, and deprave the principles of Englishmen. Such ruinous consequences can be prevented only by directing the attention of our writers to those sources of good taste and genuine nature, which are to be found in the classical works of Greece and Rome; but to read those works with any advantage in the original languages, would be a task to which the erudition of some of our most popular writers is not equal; and if they read them not in translations, they cannot read them at all. This therefore should certainly be put in their power. They peruse, with avidity, English versions of Germán novels and tragedies, and of French systems of impious philosophy; making the former their models of taste in composition, and deriving from the latter the religious and political principles which they afterwards inculcate on the British public. By the

perusal

perusal of an elegant translation of a Greek or Roman author who has stood the test of ages, they might be allured from this pernicious course of study, induced to cultivate classical literature, and thus to form their own taste on the chaste models of antiquity. The natural conscquences of this would be, that their own publications, if less numerous than they are at present, would be much more valuable; and then the national taste, instead of being depraved by foreign imitation, would proceed in that course of gradual improvement into which it had been led by Swift, and Addison, and Atterbury, and Pope, in the reign of Queen Anne; and far advanced by Johnson, Robertson the historian, and many other writers of deserved celebrity, in the present reign.

On this account therefore, as well as others, we consider the English Republic of Letters as much indebted to the learned labours of such scholars as Melmoth, Murphy and Beloe, who have given us translations of ancient classics in prose at once faithful and elegant, and such as an Englishman of taste may read with pleasure; and we have now to add to the number of such translators the author of the work before us. If the attention of the directors of the public taste can be withdrawn from the frivolous and immoral productions of the German and French press, it must be by supplying them with something more worthy of their attention.

In the selection of the author which he has chosen to translate, Dr. Steuart has been eminently happy. Sallust is an historian of peculiar and distinguished merit; whilst the great events of Cataline's conspiracy, and the Jugurthine war, furnish a judicious translator with the means of illustrating his author, by reflections that come home to the business and bosom of every scholar. Of these means Dr. Steuart has so amply availed himself, that he seems to think some apology necessary for the length to which he has extended the preliminary essays

and notes.

"In delivering (says he) to the public two bulky volumes, in which the disproportionate quantity of translated to original matter is conspicuous, and yet bearing for their title THE WORKS OF SALLUST, Some prefatory explanation appears to be requisite. From the ambition of adding to our literature, it was my design to render the writings of this great historian an English book.-With the view, therefore, of giving greater value to the publication, and rendering it worthy, in some sort, of the respectable name (which) it bears, I thought of prefixing to it an essay, somewhat similar to that which Mr. Murphy has prefixed to his Tacitus, on the life and genius of that writer. Like him, I intended to accompany the text only of the author, with notes historical and critical; and one moderate volume, I hoped, might comprise the whole. The interesting nature however of the period in which Sallust flourished, the cele. brated names, and the memorable occurrences, connected with the transactions of his life, obliged me to take a wider range. A second essay, in order to examine his literary character, was then undertaken; copious notes. were added to both; until the whole insensibly grow to a size, sufficient to fill an entire volume, without any aid from the translated matter, exZ 2 cepting

cepting that of the political letters to Cæsar. Another volume, of course, became necessary, containing the two historical pieces of the author.

"Thus, the work has a twofold object; first to endeavour to add to the small number of our versions of the prose classics, which an Englishman of taste can read with satisfaction; and, secondly, to throw some light on the civil, and, in particular, on the literary history of the JULIAN and AUGUSTAN ages." (Preface).

It is the business of critics to inquire whether these two objects have been obtained; and with this view we shall devote the present article to the preliminary volume; and endeavour to ascertain the merits of Dr. S. as a translator in a succeeding Number. Our present inquiry cannot be more properly introduced, than by the account which the author himself gives of the two essays, and of the notes subjoined to them.

"There are few literary characters, (as he justly observes), concerning which any account has been preserved, more interesting than that of Sal lust; although, perhaps, it has never been fairly appreciated. In deli. neating characters, there are two methods which have been adopted by biographers. By the one, they detail the actions, the sentiments, the circumstances of an individual, for the purpose of conveying to us a clear idea of his genius and character. By the other, taking the individual only as a principle of unity, to connect the different parts of their work, as Achilles is introduced by Homer into the Iliad, they render him at all times subservient to that capital object *. The former species of composition is best calculated to bring us acquainted with the causes which guide, and the consequences that follow, the actions of mankind. The latter presents to us their situation, rather than their character. It blends the figure of the nominal hero of the piece with various others, which compose it; and although the effect, upon the whole, may be pleasing or instructive, his peculiar features are considerably less prominent. It is conformably to the first method, that the following essays are drawn up. The notes partake rather of the last mentioned principle.

"In order to comply with the laws of critical biography, on the one hand, and, on the other, to gratify the lovers of variety, I have chosen the form of a text with notes. In the text, it is attempted to convey a general view of the objects professed by the essays. The notes are reserved for authorities, illustrations, controversy, and occasional criticism. Those, therefore, who have neither time nor inclination for elaborate inquiry, will run no risk of being fatigued with the length of the essays; while the student who seeks for more accurate investigation, will find the notes, of the two, to comprise the more important portion of the matter;

This is certainly not done by Homer. Achilles is so far from being rendered subservient to the taking of Troy, that all the events of the Trojan war recorded in the Iliad are rendered subservient to him. They are calculated to display his immense superiority over every other hero of Greece. REV.

nor

nor will the most desultory, it is apprehended, complain of narrowness, in the range which they have taken. Moreover, they exhibit that sort of literary gossiping, so to speak, which, in the present day, may make them be received with indulgence, and tend to lessen the severity of criticism." (Preface).

This is a very faithful account of what the reader will meet with in the first volume of this splendid publication. Of the two essays, that which details the principal events of the life of the historian, takes the lead; and Dr. Steuart enters with all the zeal of a partizan into a vindication of the character of Sallust, from what he considers as the unfounded calumnies of Le Clerc and others. We are not ill-pleased with this zeal; for though a reader may sometimes be tempted to smile at the warmth with which he apologizes for the conduct of a man in whom we have no national interest, and who has been dead near two thousand years; yet is it certain, that the author who appears not interested in the cause which he undertakes to defend, will never interest his readers in that cause. Dr. S. however, is far from attempting to "white-wash" Sallust, or to exhibit his character as spotless. He admits that he had many failings; that he was an elegant sensualist and a rapacious governor; and that his actions were too often at variance with his precepts; but he contends, and not without success, that his faults have been aggravated as well by ancient as by modern biographers.

"It is not to be dissembled, that the conduct of Sallust laid him sufficiently open to the shafts of calumny. As a model of correct manners he never can be held up; and truth probably may lie between the exaggerated abuse of his enemies, and the ardent partiality of his friends. It is difficult, if not impossible, in a remote period, to collect, with certainty, minute circumstances concerning the lives of individuals. When, in such a period, many different persons of the same rame are found, as in the present instance, to exist together, considerable perplexity must result to the bioprapher, as well as the historian. Whether the transactions of such men be misrepresented by design, confounded by ignorance, or mingled by accident, the consequences are the same. They never fail to afford some plausible foundation for almost any superstructure, that fancy or ignorance may chuse to exert upon it. It is a circumstance to which the biographers of our author have hitherto paid little attention, that the name of Sallust was pretty common at Rome, towards the close of the Republic. Five, if not six different Sallutts, are mentioned by Cicero alone; and there probably were many others, of whom nothing has been transmitted. As it is certain, therefore, that the historian has, more than once, been mistaken for some of the e, so it is probable he may, in like manner, have been confounded with others." (Vol. i. p. 16).

Our author produces very satisfactory proof, that Sallust the historian was, even by Varro, accused of one shameful intrigue in which he could not have been engaged; and as there is no reason to suppose that such a writer as Varro was capable of wilful and deliberate calumny,

Z3