Cicero de (*dia. Translated by George B. Gardiner. (Methuen and
Co. 2s. 6d.)—Dr. Gardiner adopts, for the most part, Dr. H. A. Holden's somewhat depreciatory estimate of the merits of the Oficiis. He is, indeed, scarcely consistent. On the same page we read that a young Roman could find in the treatise " a lofty morality inculcated on every page in the eternal principle of the sovereignty of virtue," and, a little further on, that it is "an elegant transcript of Panaetius." The translation shows much skill and spirit. Dr. Gardiner knows what a translation from Latin should be, and breaks up the long periods of his original into sentences whose form is more in accord with the genius of English. Sometimes his equivalents are very happy. For in- stance, " quae maiori parti pulcherrima videntur " is excellently rendered by "the ideals of the multitude " (I. xxxi ) " Decorum " is not, we think, the right equivalent for the " decorum illud quod quaerimus " on which Cicero insists. The word has a very limited meaning in English, and can hardly be said to have any ethical significance. " Propriety " is a better word. Possibly " dignity " might do. " Webster " has "decorum is that which is becoming in outward act or appearance; dignity proceeds from an inward elevation of soul producing a corresponding effect on the manners." This comes pretty near to Cicero's meaning.
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