Translator'sNote
ThethoughtofPierreHadotisbasedonalifetime'sstudyof,andmeditation
upon,ancientGreekandLatinphilosophicaltexts.Inthecourseofthislong
period,hehas,ofcourse,developedhisownmethodologyforthestudyof
suchtexts.Basedasitisonthemethodsofhisownteachers,suchasPaul
HenryandPierreCourcelle,'thismethodisdistinctlyhisown,andhehas
transmittedittoawholegenerationofFrenchscholarsinthefieldoflate
antiquethought.
ThefirststageofHadot'smethodisascrupulous,textuallycriticalreadingof
theoriginaltexts,followedbyanequallyexactingtranslationofthesetextsinto
French.'Onlyonthefoundationoftheintense,detailedconfrontationwiththe
textwhichrealtranslationdemands,Hadotfeels,canonebegintheprocessesof
exegesis,interpretation,and,perhaps,criticism.Thus,Hadot'sthoughtis,atleast
toalargeextent,basedonhismethodsoftranslation.Thisbeingthecase,itis
impossibletounderstandtheformerwithoutunderstandingthelatter.
Suchasituationpresentsobviousdifficultiesfor
Hadot's
translators.Given
theimportanceheaccordstothestudyofancienttexts,Hadottendstoquote
themfrequentlyandextensively,inhisowntranslationsfromtheGreek,the
Latin,andtheGerman.Now,atranslator'snormalprocedurewouldbetodig
upthealreadyexistingEnglishtranslationsoftherespectivetexts,andinsert
themwhereHadot'sowntranslationshadstoodintheoriginal.Aftermuch
consultation,wehavefoundthismethodinadequate,forthefollowingreasons:
ManyexistingEnglishtranslationsarethemselvesinadequate;someareold
andoutdated;othersbasedondifferenttextualreadingsfromthose
adoptedbyHadot.Inthecaseofstillothers,finally,noEnglishtranslation
existsatall.
2Thereisnosuchthingasan"objectiveu·anslation."Alltranslatorsbasetheir
workontheirownconceptionofwhattheirauthorwastryingtosay.
Naturally,Hadothasoftenarrivedatviewsofwhathisauthorsmeantwhich
differfromthoseofthevariousothertranslators;hisowntranslations
consequentlydiffer,sometimesfundamentally,fromtheexistingEnglish
versions.'
Translator'sNote
Vll
3TheuseofexistingEnglishtranslationswouldoftenmakeHadot'sthought
impossibletounderstand.Ifweweretoinsert,forexample,a60-year-old
Englishtranslationof,say,MarcusAureliusintothetext,andthenfollow
itwithHadot'sexplanationofthepassage,theresultwouldbeludicrously
incoherent.Mostimportantly,itwouldmakeitimpossibleforthereader
togainanynotionofthegenesisanddevelopmentofHadot'sthought_
whichis,afterall,thegoalofthispublication.AsIhavesaid,theorigin
ofHador'sthoughtistobesoughtinhisinterpretationofancienttexts,
andhistranslationsofthesetextsareboththeresultandanintegralpart
ofhishermeneuticalmethod.Deprivedofhistranslations,wecouldsimply
notseehowHadothadarrivedathisparticularinterpretationsofparticular
ancienttexts,andconsequentlywewouldbeatalosstounderstandthe
conclusionshehasbasedontheseinterpretations.
Thisbeingthecase,themethodIhavechosentofollowinthetranslation
of
Spiritual
Exercises
isthefollowing:inthecaseofeachofHadot'squotations
ofpassagesinGreek,Latin,orGerman,IhavebegunbyasimpleEnglish
translationofHadot'sFrenchversion.Ihavethencheckedtheresultagainst
theoriginalGreek,Latin,orGerman.IftheEnglishtranslationof
Hadot's
version,readonitsown,thenseemedtometobeagoodtranslationofthe
orig-inaltext,Iletitstand;ifnot,Imodifieditslightly,withtwogoalsinmind:
first,tobringitintoaccordwithmodernEnglishusage;secondly,tomakesure
theEnglishtransmitted,asfaraspossible,allthenuancesoftheoriginal
languages.Incasesofparticulardifficulty,IhavebenefitedfromHadot's
thoughtfuladviceandcomments,partlybycorrespondence,andpartlyduring
thecourseofamemorablestayattheHadot'shomeinthesummerof
1991.4
Theresultingtranslationsthereforeoftenbearlittleresemblancetoexisting
Lnglishtranslation;thisisespeciallysointhecaseofauthorslikePlato,
MarcusAurelius,andPlotinus,towhomM.Hadothasdevotedalifetime
ofstudy.Nevertheless,wehavedecidedtoincludereferencestothe
mostaccessible-notnecessarilythebest-extantEnglishtranslations,incase
rhc
interestedreadershouldcaretoconsulttheancientauthorscitedinthis
book.Suchamethodis,obviously,moretime-consumingthantheusualslapdash
mer
hodoftranslation.Myhopeisthattheresultjustifiesthedelaysincurred:
I
wouldliketothinktheresultisascholarlyandaboveallfaithfulversionof
l
ludur's
rhought.
NOTES
(./,IIIHI\'(,
I1\11111111{iII'II'NlliIN
III'
"iN
work
011thiN
NlilKcor
hismethod
lire
llador'sprojects
Leave a Comment
thanks
Wow, this is so great! Thanks for sharing this!