Page:Essay on the Principles of Translation - Tytler (1791, 1st ed).djvu/34

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Chap. II.
TRANSLATION.
19

la critique soit utile." (Duclos, Pref. de l'Hist. de Louis XI.)

Tacitus, in describing the conduct of Piso upon the death of Germanicus, says: Pisonem interim apud Coum insulam nuncius adsequitur, excessisse Germanicum; Tacit. An. lib. 2. c. 75. This passage is thus translated by M. D'Alembert, "Pison apprend, dans l'Isle de Cos, la mort de Germanicus." In translating this passage, it is evident that M. D'Alembert has not given the complete sense of the original. The sense of Tacitus is, that Piso was overtaken on his voyage homeward, at the Isle of Cos, by a messenger, who informed him that Germanicus was dead. According to the French translator, we understand simply, that when Piso arrived at the Isle of Cos, he was in-formed