ese classics, the best, no doubt,
being made by men of independent income with the ability and leisure to
turn their hands toward such work. A careful sifting of these
translations, therefore, might very well furnish the bibliophile who is
inclined toward such reading with a library of classics easily readable in
good, accurate translation. The cost of such a collection would be
comparatively moderate, and if care were taken in the selection to obtain
first or early editions of the translations recognized as having the best
literary qualities, there is little reason to doubt that the collection
would have a very positive value. The subject is, perhaps, interesting
enough to justify a few details.

The principal stumbling block, and that which renders the ordinary
published "classic" libraries of doubtful value, is the delicate question
of expurgation and that of abridgment. Any translation is, at best, a
substitute; but an incomplete one is worse than none at all. There are,
however, a few volumes in which the collector will be interested, which
will be obtained, in all their original naivete, only with difficulty.

Suppose a nucleus for such a collection were to be assembled. One would,
of course, begin with Homer. The best translation in prose is by Andrew
Lang and others; the Iliad, 1883; the Odyssey, 1879. The most readable
verse translation is that by William Cullen Bryant, in four volumes,
Boston, 1870-1871. This version, unfortunately, gives the Roman form of
the names of the Greek gods--a concession to unnecessary corruption--but
is otherwise very faithful.

After Homer, perhaps Plato's Dialogues, of which the best translation is
that by B. Jowett, in five volumes, Oxford, 1875, third edition, revised,
1892. And of Plutarch's Lives, which follows naturally, the translation
called Dryden's, revised by Clough, five volumes, Boston and London, 1859.
Virgil, from the Latins, would accompany these, and of this, a good
translation is Dryden's also, revised this time by John Carey, in three
volumes, London, 1803. A much rarer edition is the "Aeneidos" of Thomas
Phaer, London, 1584, with several reprints, in small black letter.

As a souvenir of lovely Sicily, we would require, of course, the pastorals
of Theocritus, of which the best translation is that in prose by Andrew
Lang, London, 1880. In this rendering two passages of about two lines each
are left untranslated, but the omission is too slight to be serious. The