Page:Selections. Translated by H. St. J. Thackeray (1919).djvu/38

 Traill. In several instances I had the satisfaction of finding that my rendering practically agreed with Traill's, but I have not scrupled elsewhere to avail myself of happy turns of expression where, as often, he had the advantage of me. Josephus, with his feeling for good style and the pains which he took to acquire it, deserves and demands much care in translation. While in parts of his work his Greek is simple and easy, passages, on the other hand, where he gives his reflections on the character, or estimates the motives, of his dramatis personæ, in the involved manner of Thucydides, are extraordinarily difficult both to understand and to reproduce in readable English. I have selected the passages most relevant to Christian origins and New Testament study, neglecting almost entirely the first twelve books of the Antiquities. For further literature reference may be made to the articles in the Dictionary of Christian Biography (Edersheim), the Jewish Encyclopædia (S. Krauss), Hastings' Dictionary of the Apostolic Church (von Dobschütz), Hastings' Bible Dictionary, Extra Volume (Thackeray), and to Schürer's Jewish People in the time of Christ (E.T.), div. i. vol. i. pp. 77-110. I have to acknowledge my gratitude to my sister-in-law, Miss Harriette G. Orr, for her kind assistance in the compilation of the Index. July 1919.