The First Book of Virgil's .Enid. With Interlinear Translation
and Notes. (Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co.)—Books of this kind expose more forcibly than anything else some of the evils which competitive examinations have brought upon us. This book is adapted for use in girls' high schools. Girls, we are told in the preface, are weaker than boys, and, in spite of this, have more to do. They therefore need more in the way of assistance to pass such examinations as those of the University of London than is given them at present. The writer of the book before us thinks that it can be done by an interlinear translation, giving beneath each Latin word its English meaning. We are afraid that this will do little more than assist students to learn by heart the
English of the first book of the 2Ensid, possibly minimising the chances of putting the wrong English to the wrong Latin word. It will not help them to obtain a knowledge of the Latin language. The translation itself is poor. It is possible to be literal without being grotesque. Consequently, it is not necessary to translate tonsisgue mantilia i,lUia, "towels with shorn hair ; " and "stepping along, overtops all the goddesses " as a rendering of gradiensque dens supereminet (mines, is not remarkable for poetic grace, nor is it what Virgil meant. What are we to say of a note of this descrip- tion,—"Dehinc = d'hinc" ? We cannot recommend this translation even for girls' schools.
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