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196 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS
Romm credits James Shirley with "Most of the passages presented
here." but adds rather misleadingly that "Several passages were also
added by the editor. in his own translation. to those prepared by the
translator" (xviii). In fact. Romm translated all the following chapters:
1.102-02. [34-35.215-16; all of Book II; 111.17-33. 65.106-16; IV·46. 133-36;
V.2-3. 37-38. 49. 78. 124-26; VII·5-11. 36. 47-52. 101 ; VIII.49-58. 98.140-42;
IX.41-58. 89. 106 and II5-22. This is nearly 20 percent of the total 187
pages in the translation proper. Romm's translations increase in frequency
and size toward the end. which might suggest that Shirley was
unable for some reason to complete the task.
Whatever the explanation. Romm's own work does not clash with
Shirley·s. and there is virtually no stylistic gap between the two.
The puffs on the back of the book claim that Shirley's translation is
"elegant." "fresh" and "contemporary." I wo Id discount the assertion
of elegance. The translation is. however. "fresh" and "contemporary" in
the sense of offering students straightforward. accurate English whose
simplicity makes little attempt to capture the Greek of an historian
whom even Plutarch. despite his animosity in The Malice of Herodotus.
called a ypaqllKoc avi]p: "The man's an artist. his story pleasant. and
grace and power and vivacity fill the narrative: he tells his tale like a
Homer. not knowledgeably. but sweetly and fluently" (Mor. 8748). The
artist with all his grace. power and vivacity is no more in Shirley's
prose than in Blanco's or Waterfield's. None of the currently available
translations comes even remotely close to suggesting the full range of
Herodotus' style. though Grene gives the best approximation of the
Homeric strain with its power and vivacity. Shirley's own translations
of Spinoza. now assembled in the mammoth Spinoza: Complete Works. 3
are a magnificent accomplishment. but here he sets himself a lower bar:
to impart an undemanding. fluid pace to his English by subtly condensing.
shortening or paraphrasing the Greek without actually distorting
it. This strategy is mostly innocuous and makes the edition very useful
for high school or undergraduate classes. but no one should pretend it
does any more than enhance readability for' a generation of nonreaders.
A good example of his approach is the famous opening sentence.
a proem to the whole work. which unr lIs like a long musical
phrase to its Homeric climax and trails off to a pause before the narrative
begins. Here is how Shirley translates it: "Herodotus of Halicarnassus
here gives the results of his researches. so that the events of human
history may not fade with time and the notable achievements both of
Greeks and of foreigners may not lack their due fame; and. among
3 Samuel Shirley. trans.. Michael L. Morgan. ed.. Spinoza: Complete Works
(Indianapolis/Cambridge MA 2002).