History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1 — Page 13
Guizot goes on to state his own impressions on reading Gibbon's history, and no authority will have greater weight with those to whom the extent and accuracy of his historical researches are known:—
Guizot continúa exponiendo sus propias impresiones sobre la lectura de la historia de Gibbon, y ninguna autoridad tendrá mayor peso entre aquellos que conocen la amplitud y exactitud de sus investigaciones históricas:—
"After a first rapid perusal, which allowed me to feel nothing but the interest of a narrative, always animated, and, notwithstanding its extent and the variety of objects which it makes to pass before the view, always perspicuous, I entered upon a minute examination of the details of which it was composed;
«Después de una primera lectura rápida, que no me permitió sentir sino el interés de una narración, siempre animada y, a pesar de su extensión y de la variedad de objetos que hace desfilar ante la vista, siempre perspicua, me dediqué a un examen minucioso de los detalles de que estaba compuesta;
and the opinion which I then formed was, I confess, singularly severe.
y la opinión que entonces me formé fue, lo confieso, singularmente severa.
I discovered, in certain chapters, errors which appeared to me sufficiently important and numerous to make me believe that they had been written with extreme negligence;
Descubrí, en ciertos capítulos, errores que me parecieron suficientemente importantes y numerosos como para hacerme creer que habían sido escritos con extrema negligencia;
in others, I was struck with a certain tinge of partiality and prejudice, which imparted to the exposition of the facts that want of truth and justice, which the English express by their happy term _misrepresentation_.
en otros, me llamó la atención cierto matiz de parcialidad y prejuicio, que impartía a la exposición de los hechos esa falta de verdad y justicia que los ingleses expresan con su afortunado término _misrepresentation_.
Some imperfect (_tronquées_) quotations; some passages, omitted unintentionally or designedly cast a suspicion on the honesty (_bonne foi_) of the author;
Algunas citas incompletas (_tronquées_); algunos pasajes, omitidos involuntaria o intencionadamente, arrojaban una sombra de sospecha sobre la honestidad (_bonne foi_) del autor;
and his violation of the first law of history—increased to my eye by the prolonged attention with which I occupied myself with every phrase, every note, every reflection—caused me to form upon the whole work, a judgment far too rigorous.
y su violación de la primera ley de la historia —acrecentada a mis ojos por la prolongada atención con que me ocupé de cada frase, cada nota, cada reflexión— me llevó a formarme sobre la obra en su conjunto un juicio harto riguroso.
After having finished my labors, I allowed some time to elapse before I reviewed the whole.
Después de haber concluido mis trabajos, dejé pasar algún tiempo antes de revisar el conjunto.
Vocabulary
- continúa
- Continues doing something; third person singular present
- exponiendo
- Exposing or presenting ideas and thoughts
- sus
- His, her, their, or your possessive pronoun
- propias
- Own; belonging to oneself, feminine plural form
- impresiones
- Impressions or opinions formed about something
- sobre
- About or on top of something
- la
- The; feminine singular definite article
- lectura
- The act of reading a text or book
- de
- Of or from; common Spanish preposition
- historia
- History or story; account of past events
- y
- And; basic Spanish coordinating conjunction
- ninguna
- No, none; feminine form of negation
- autoridad
- Authority; power or expert credibility
- tendrá
- Will have; future tense of tener
- mayor
- Greater or larger; comparative adjective
- peso
- Weight or importance; figurative influence
- entre
- Among or between; Spanish preposition
- aquellos
- Those; masculine plural demonstrative pronoun
- que
- That or who; common conjunction or pronoun
- conocen
- Know or are familiar with something
- amplitud
- Breadth or scope; wide range of something
- exactitud
- Exactness or precision; accuracy of detail
- investigaciones
- Investigations or research studies conducted
- históricas
- Historical; relating to history, feminine plural
- Después
- After or afterwards; indicates temporal sequence
- una
- A or one; feminine indefinite article
- primera
- First; feminine ordinal adjective
- rápida
- Quick or fast; feminine adjective
- no
- No or not; basic Spanish negation word
- me
- Me; first person singular object pronoun
- permitió
- Allowed or permitted; past tense of permitir
- sentir
- To feel or sense an emotion or sensation
- sino
- But rather; used after negation for contrast
- el
- The; masculine singular definite article
- interés
- Interest; curiosity or engagement in something
- narración
- Narration or story; act of recounting events
- siempre
- Always; at all times without exception
- animada
- Lively or animated; full of energy
- a
- To or at; very common Spanish preposition
- pesar
- Despite; used in phrase a pesar de
- su
- His, her, its, your possessive adjective
- extensión
- Extension or length; great size or scope
- variedad
- Variety; diversity of different things
- objetos
- Objects or subjects; things under consideration
- hace
- Makes or does; third person singular of hacer
- desfilar
- To parade or pass by in succession
- ante
- Before or in front of; Spanish preposition
- vista
- View or sight; the sense of seeing
- perspicua
- Clear and easy to understand; lucid
- dediqué
- I dedicated or devoted time to something
- un
- A or one; masculine indefinite article
- examen
- Examination or close study of something
- minucioso
- Thorough or meticulous; detailed and careful
- los
- The; masculine plural definite article
- detalles
- Details; specific small facts or elements
- estaba
- Was; imperfect tense of estar
- compuesta
- Composed or made up; feminine past participle
- opinión
- Opinion or personal view on a matter
- entonces
- Then; at that time or in that case
- formé
- I formed or developed an idea or opinion
- fue
- Was or went; preterite of ser or ir
- lo
- It or him; masculine singular object pronoun
- confieso
- I confess or admit something honestly
- singularmente
- Singularly or remarkably; in an unusual degree
- severa
- Severe or harsh; strict in judgment
- Descubrí
- I discovered or found out something new
- en
- In or on; very common Spanish preposition
- ciertos
- Certain or some; masculine plural adjective
- capítulos
- Chapters; sections of a book or text
- errores
- Errors or mistakes; incorrect statements
- parecieron
- Seemed or appeared; preterite of parecer
- suficientemente
- Sufficiently; to an adequate or enough degree
- importantes
- Important; significant or of great consequence
- numerosos
- Numerous; many in number, masculine plural
- como
- As or like; used for comparison or manner
- para
- For or in order to; purpose preposition
- hacerme
- To make me; infinitive with reflexive pronoun
- creer
- To believe or think something is true
- habían
- They had; third person plural pluperfect auxiliary
- sido
- Been; past participle of ser
- escritos
- Written; masculine plural past participle
- con
- With; Spanish preposition of accompaniment
- extrema
- Extreme; very great degree, feminine form
- negligencia
- Negligence; lack of proper care or attention
- otros
- Others; masculine plural pronoun or adjective
- llamó
- Called or attracted; preterite of llamar
- atención
- Attention; notice or careful observation
- cierto
- A certain; particular and unspecified
- matiz
- Nuance or shade; subtle distinguishing quality
- parcialidad
- Partiality or bias; unfair favoritism
- prejuicio
- Prejudice; preconceived unfair opinion
- impartía
- Imparted or gave; imperfect tense of impartir
- exposición
- Exposition or presentation; explanation of facts
- hechos
- Facts or events; things that have occurred
- esa
- That; feminine singular demonstrative adjective
- falta
- Lack or absence of something needed
- verdad
- Truth; conformity with fact or reality
- justicia
- Justice; fairness and moral rightness
- ingleses
- English people or English language speakers
- expresan
- Express or convey; third person plural present
- afortunado
- Fortunate or lucky; well-chosen term
- término
- Term or word; expression used in language
- Algunas
- Some; feminine plural indefinite adjective
- citas
- Quotations or citations from a text
- incompletas
- Incomplete; not full or finished, feminine plural
- algunos
- Some; masculine plural indefinite adjective
- pasajes
- Passages; sections or excerpts from a text
- omitidos
- Omitted; left out or excluded deliberately
- involuntaria
- Involuntary; done without intention or will
- o
- Or; basic Spanish disjunctive conjunction
- intencionadamente
- Intentionally; done on purpose deliberately
- arrojaban
- Cast or threw; imperfect tense of arrojar
- sombra
- Shadow or shade; figurative cloud of doubt
- sospecha
- Suspicion; feeling that something is wrong
- honestidad
- Honesty; quality of being truthful and sincere
- del
- Of the; contraction of de and el
- autor
- Author; person who wrote a work
- violación
- Violation; breach of a rule or standard
- ley
- Law; rule or principle to be followed
- —acrecentada
- Increased or heightened; past participle of acrecentar
- mis
- My; first person plural possessive adjective
- ojos
- Eyes; organs of sight, masculine plural
- por
- By, for, or through; common Spanish preposition
- prolongada
- Prolonged or extended; lasting a long time
- ocupé
- I occupied myself with; spent time on
- cada
- Each or every; distributive adjective
- frase
- Phrase or sentence; unit of language
- nota
- Note; written comment or annotation
- reflexión
- Reflection; careful thought about something
- llevó
- Led or brought; preterite of llevar
- formarme
- To form for myself; reflexive infinitive
- obra
- Work; literary or artistic creation
- conjunto
- Whole or overall; entire set together
- juicio
- Judgment or opinion; critical evaluation
- harto
- Quite or rather; sufficiently, somewhat extreme
- riguroso
- Rigorous or harsh; extremely strict or severe
- haber
- To have; auxiliary infinitive used in compounds
- concluido
- Concluded or finished; past participle of concluir
- trabajos
- Works or studies; tasks undertaken
- dejé
- I let or allowed; preterite of dejar
- pasar
- To pass; allow time to go by
- algún
- Some; masculine singular indefinite adjective
- tiempo
- Time or weather; duration or period
- antes
- Before; earlier in time or order
- revisar
- To revise or review; examine again carefully
Unlock audio playback, vocabulary games, and reading progress tracking.
Create free account →