Teaching Christianity (continued)
And how beautifully all this, after pouring out like that, is rounded off with a two-clause period: Not thinking highly of yourselves, but going along with the lowly (Rom 12:16). And a little later: Persevering, he says, in this very thing, pay to all their due, taxes to whom taxes, tolls to whom tolls, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. This flow of clauses, one after the other, is also rounded off with a period, stitched together from two clauses: Owe nobody anything, except to love one another (Rom 13:6–8). And a little later on: Night is far advanced, he says, while day has drawn near. And so let us cast aside the works of darkness, and clothe ourselves with the armor of light; let us walk decently as in the day. not in revels and drunkenness, not in sleeping around and shamelessness, not in wrangling and jealousy; but clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not make provision for the flesh in its lusts (Rom 13:12–14). If someone were to phrase this "and for the flesh in its lusts make no provision," he would undoubtedly be wooing the ears with a more rhythmical conclusion;[45] but the more sober translator preferred also to keep the order of words of the original. How it sounds in the Greek language which the apostle spoke, those who are more learned in that language even as regards these points of style can tell; still, it doesn't seem to me that what has been translated for us, keeping the same order of words, runs with a very smooth rhythm.
41. It must be admitted, certainly, that this embellishment of a speech, which consists of rhythmic concluding phrases, is wanting in our authors. Whether this is the fault of the translators, or whether (as I am inclined to think) the authors deliberately avoided these agreeable niceties, I dare not judge, since I confess I do not know. What I do know, for all that, is that if anybody skilled in this matter of rhythm were to rewrite the translators' concluding phrases according to the rules of such rhythms, which can be done very easily by substituting some words with the same meaning, or by