PREFACE TO THE ONLINE EDITION

I have placed online the text of J.H. Freese' English translation of codices 1-165.  This was published in 1920, but no further volumes ever appeared.  This text is now in the public domain.

The remainder has not been translated into English, with the exception of selected codices by N.G. Wilson in 1994.  The whole has been translated into French by René Henry -- not very well, according to Wilson.

I am purely an amateur interested in antiquity.  I had the good fortune to do some Latin at school; sadly Greek even in the 1970's was no longer part of the curriculum.  So I am unable to translate the Greek text myself.  In the last 5 centuries there must have been millions of English-speakers with a command of Greek, but none of them have ever chosen to perform the task.

From time to time, I am asked what the French text of Henry says by persons who are interested.  These people like myself lack Greek, and have even less command of French than myself.  

It seemed to me that there would be value in placing my translations of Henry online.  Les Belles Lettres have kindly agreed to my request for permission to do this.  Material derived from Henry is therefore their copyright, and marked as such, and may not be placed elsewhere.  I have also modified the text in some places from Wilson, from the Greek, and from the Latin translation in the Patrologia Graeca.

I hope no-one will be so ungracious as to point out the wretched nature of this performance.  None know it better than myself.  But when those who could do the task will not, then those of us whose only qualification is a willingness to try must fill up the gap.  Needless to say, corrections are very welcome!  Should anyone feel inclined to do some translating from the Greek (or even from Henry), such contributions would be very welcome.  The intention is to make the work better known, less cited, and more often read.

Roger Pearse
July 2002

This text was transcribed by Roger Pearse, 15th July 2002.  All material on this page is in the public domain - copy freely.