Page:The Voyage of Nearchus and the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea.djvu/16



the editions of the Periplûs of the Erythrêan Sea are now ſo ſcarce, that a ſingle copy is ſeldom to be met with in the moſt extenſive catalogues. This has been the principal inducement for undertaking the following publication.

A ſecond object was, to enable every claſs of readers to compare the contents of both the originals with the Commentary already publiſhed, and to judge whether the deductions were correct, or the concluſions juſtifiable.

To effect this purpoſe, the tranſlations are given in a ſtyle of language ſuitable to the narrative of a navigator and a merchant: all embelliſhment therefore, or curioſity of expreſſion, are diſclaimed. But if I have failed in giving the genuine ſenſe of the originals, or in preſerving the purity of the Engliſh idiom, it is but loſt labour after all.

The verſion is not literal, neither (if executed according to its intention) will it be thought diffuſe. To compreſs is more deſirable than to dilate; but circumlocution is preferable to obſcurity.

The language of the Periplûs, more eſpecially, is ſo abrupt and conciſe, that without the aid of insertions, in ſome inſtances, the ſentence would be incomplete; and in others, unleſs ſome liberty