PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR


When the first portion of this translation appeared in 1861, it was
accompanied by a Preface, for which I was indebted to the kindness
of the late Dr. Schmitz, introducing to the English reader the
work of an author whose name and merits, though already known to
scholars, were far less widely familiar than they are now. After
thirty-three years such an introduction is no longer needed, but
none the less gratefully do I recall how much the book owed at the
outset to Dr. Schmitz's friendly offices.

The following extracts from my own "Prefatory Note" dated "December
1861" state the circumstances under which I undertook the translation,
and give some explanations as to its method and aims:--

"In requesting English scholars to receive with indulgence this first
portion of a translation of Dr. Mommsen's 'Romische Geschichte,'
I am somewhat in the position of Albinus; who, when appealing to
his readers to pardon the imperfections of the Roman History which
he had written in indifferent Greek, was met by Cato with the
rejoinder that he was not compelled to write at all--that, if the
Amphictyonic Council had laid their commands on him, the case would
have been different--but that it was quite out of place to ask the
indulgence of his readers when his task had been self-imposed. I
may state, however, that I did not undertake this task, until
I had sought to ascertain whether it was likely to be taken up by
any one more qualified to do justice to it. When Dr. Mommsen's