Page:Cynegetica.djvu/32

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16
Introduction.

tranſlate a Treatiſe on any particular Art, without being in ſome degree verſed in that Art himſelf. There is, however, perhaps, no nicer point in the purſuits of Literature, than to diſcriminate nicely between adopting or rejecting modern phraſes in tranſlations from the Antient Writers. It is what we can hardly lay down rules for, though perhaps we may feel the diſtinition. To draw inſtances from the Military Art. No tranſlator would give modern names to the diviſions and officers of the Roman armies; he would not call Legions and Cohorts, Brigades and Regiments, or Tribunes and Centurions, Colonels and Captains; but he would certainly, in deſcribing a battle, make uſe of all generally appropriated military words, as front, rear, march, halt, inſtead of the words uſually applied to the purpofes of ordinary life.

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