Page:Essay on the Principles of Translation - Tytler (1791, 1st ed).djvu/33

 a translator, thoroughly master of the language, and competently acquainted with the subject, may yet fail to give a complete transcript of the ideas of his original author.

M. D'Alembert has favoured the public with some admirable translations from Tacitus; and it must be acknowledged, that he possessed every qualification requisite for the task he undertook. If, in the course of the following observations, I may have occasion to criticise any part of his writings, or those of other authors of equal celebrity, I avail myself of the just sentiment of, "On peut toujours relever les défauts des grands hommes, et peut-être sont ils les seuls qui en soient dignes, et dont