The Letters of Cicero. Translated into English by Evelyn S.
Shuckburgh, M.A. Vols. I. and II. (G. Bell and Sons. 10s.)— Mr. Shuckburgh has given us here an instalment of a most serviceable work. The time for a new translation of the " Letters" had quite come. The originals have lately been edited with a care and a fulness of knowledge which had never been applied to them before. The edition of Messrs. Tyrrell and Purser has been appreciated on more than one occasion by the Spectator. It now finds its complement in Mr. Sbuckburgh's translation, itself' a very considerable advance on anything that had been done before in this line. No one would wish to speak disrespectfully of Melmoth's version. And there have been translations of por- tions of the correspondence which, as far as they went, left nothing to be desired. Still, there was ample room for the work of which we have now the earlier half. Some letters have been discovered since Melmoth's time—his translation was published nearly a century and a half ago—the chronological order has been more definitely fixed, and there are historical questions on which some light has been thrown. As for the value and interest of the correspondence nothing need be said. There is simply nothing like it in the world. We hope to return to Mr. Shuck- burgh's book when it shall have reached completion. Meanwhile, we may say—though, indeed, the translator's reputation for work already done in the same line makes it almost superfluous—that it will be found adequate in point of scholarship, and eminently readable.
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