Thoughts on Translation (I)

I found this rather charming extract from "An Essay on Verse Translation" by Wentworth Dillon, Fourth Earl of Roscommon (1630-85). He's describing what should theoretically draw a potential translator to work on a particular artist's work.

I found the piece in a blog called Brave New Words. Which is very much worth a look!

'Tis true composing is the nobler part,
But good translation is no easy art:
For tho' materials have long since been found,
Yet both your fancy and your hands are bound;
And by improving what was writ before,
Invention labours less, but judgment more.

Each poet with a different talent writes,
One praises, one instructs, another bites.
Horace did ne'er aspire to epic bays
Nor lofty Maro stoop to lyric lays.
Examine how your humour is inclin'd,
And watch the ruling passion of your mind.
Then seek a poet, who your way does bend.
And chuse an author, as you chuse a friend.
United by this sympathetic bond,
You grow familiar, intimate, and fond;
Your thoughts, your words, your stiles, your souls agree,
No longer his interpreter, but he.