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volume of the series of
Nicene Fathers has been unfortunately delayed. When I consented
in the first instance to edit the volume, it was with the distinct
understanding that I could not myself undertake the translation, but
that I would do my best to find translators and see the work through
the press. It has been several times placed in the hands of very
competent scholars; but the fact that work of this kind can only be
done in the intervals of regular duties, and the almost inevitable
drawback that the best men are also the busiest, has repeatedly stood
in the way and caused the work to be returned to me. That it sees
the light now is due mainly to the zeal, ability, and scholarship of
the Rev. E. W. Watson. It was late in the day when Mr. Watson
first undertook a share in the work which has since then been
constantly increased. He has co-operated with me in the most
loyal and efficient manner; and while I am glad to think that the whole
of the Introduction and a full half of the translation are from his
hand, there is hardly a page (except in the translation of the De Synodis, which was complete before he joined the work) which does not owe to him many and marked improvements. My own personal debt to Mr. Watson is very great indeed, and that of the subscribers to the series is, I believe, hardly less.
For the translator of Hilary has before him a very
difficult task. It has not been with this as with other volumes
of the series, where an excellent translation already existed and
careful revision was all that was needed. A small beginning had
been made for the De Trinitate by the late Dr. Short, Bishop of
Adelaide, whose manuscript was kindly lent to one of the contributors
to this volume. But with this exception no English translation of
Hilary’s works has been hitherto attempted. That which is
now offered is the first in the field. And it must be confessed
that Hilary is a formidable writer. I do not think that I know
any Latin writer so formidable, unless it is Victorinus Afer, or
Tertullian. And the terse, vigorous, incisive sentences of
Tertullian, when once the obscurities of meaning have been mastered, run more easily into English than the involved and overloaded periods of Hilary. It is true that in a period of decline Hilary preserves more than most of his contemporaries of the tradition of Roman culture; but it is the culture of the rhetorical schools at almost the extreme point of their artificiality and mannerism. Hilary was too sincere a man and too thoroughly in earnest to be essentially mannered or artificial; but his training had taken too strong a hold upon him to allow him to express his thought with ease and simplicity. And his very merits all tended in the same direction. He has the copia verborum; he has the weight and force of character which naturally goes with a certain amplitude of style; he has the seriousness and depth of conviction which keeps him at a high level of dignity and gravity but is unrelieved by lighter touches.
We must take our
author as we find him. But it seems to me, if I am not mistaken, that Mr. Watson has performed a real feat of translation in not only reproducing the meaning of the original but giving to it an English rendering which is so readable, flowing, and even elegant. I think it will be allowed that only a natural feeling for the rhythm and cadence of English speech, as well as for its varied harmonies of diction, could have produced the result which is now laid before the reader. And I cherish the hope, that although different degrees of success have doubtless been attained by the different contributors at least no jarring discrepancy of style will be felt throughout the volume. It will be seen that the style generally leans to the side of freedom; but I believe that it will be found to be the freedom of the scholar who is really true to his text while transfusing it into another tongue, and not the clumsy approximation which only means failure.