Style Transfer: in a Way of Semi-Ancient English-Chinese Translation

You may have heard of style transfer, a technique that can transform the feature of one thing to another. People might firstly think of it as related to machine learning, but sometime the classic way is still a fun to play with.

Introduction

Ever found yourself neck-deep in ancient texts, trying to decipher what exactly our Roman friends were up to? Well, I’ve been there, wading through the murky waters of Latin verbs and Roman debauchery. Recently, I stumbled upon Edward Gibbon’s magnum opus, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Yep, that’s the heavyweight champion of history books, written way back in 1776 — when America was just deciding it had had enough of British tea.

Gibbon, with his flair for the dramatic and the archaic, wrote this monumental work in what can only be described as ‘English Plus’ — that special version of the language where every sentence is a marathon. This makes it a tough nut to crack, particularly if English isn’t your first language. And if you think translating it into Chinese is any easier, think again. It’s like fitting a square peg in a round hole… but the peg is made of butter and the hole is a time-travelling portal.

Enter Huang’s 1996 translation, based on the D.M. Low’s abridged 1986 version in London. Huang took some creative liberties—sometimes the sentences get lost in translation, sometimes they just get weird. But let’s give credit where it’s due; it’s still a fun house mirror reflecting Rome’s own chaotic decline.

The Style Transfer

My mission to stylistically morph Gibbon into Chinese started after I perused a Wikipedia page about the Five Good Emperors. It’s fascinating how they managed to keep the Roman ship steady—no easy feat, considering everyone was backstabbing everyone else with a gladius back then.

If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world, during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus. The vast extent of the Roman empire was governed by absolute power, under the guidance of virtue and wisdom. The armies were restrained by the firm but gentle hand of four successive emperors, whose characters and authority commanded involuntary respect. The forms of the civil administration were carefully preserved by Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, who delighted in the image of liberty, and were pleased with considering themselves as the accountable ministers of the laws. Such princes deserved the honour of restoring the republic had the Romans of their days been capable of enjoying a rational freedom.

And here’s the magical Chinese rendition that seems to have popped out of some scholar’s dream after binge-reading both Gibbon and ancient Chinese annals, quoting from Wikipedia:

五贤君时期的文治武功，在罗马帝国其他时期也是难得一见的。因此，18世纪的英国历史学家爱德华·吉本在他的著作《罗马帝国衰亡史》中，把这个年代称赞为“人类最幸福的年代”。他对五贤君的种种贤德的称赞如下:

“天下历代，以民之富庶安乐论，何时居首？闻者立对曰：自图密善薨至康茂德立，可以当之。彼时罗马雄有四海，国事虽定于一尊，而以仁德聪睿导焉。四帝相继，统御诸师，颇能刚柔相济。涅尔瓦、图拉真、哈德良、安敦尼·毕尤、马可·奥略留(奥里略)五帝威严德业，下皆景仰。御国之道，一以始终，待民宽仁，而治理皆本法度，人皆颂之，帝亦颇自傲。当是时，若夫罗马推重理性自由，则共和可复，功业皆归于贤君尔。”

到了奥理略统治的后期，帕提亚帝国不断屡犯边疆，北方蛮族也乘虚而入。帝国的实力开始出现颓势。及至180年，奥理略死于维也纳的军营之中，由亲生儿子康茂德继位。康茂德不符众望，未能延续五贤帝时代贤明的统治，其于192年遇刺身亡后，安敦尼王朝正式结束。此后罗马帝国经历短暂的混乱与内战，193年由塞普蒂米乌斯·塞维鲁建立起塞维鲁王朝，在名义上仍以正统的安敦尼王朝继承者自居。

This mystery translation has become a hot favorite, quoted by a lot of websites, for example, Baidu Encyclopedia, which is a Chinese version of Wikipedia:

五贤帝时期的文治武功，在罗马帝国其他时期也是难得一见的。因此，18世纪的英国历史学家爱德华·吉本(Edward Gibbon,1737—1794)在他的著作《罗马帝国衰亡史》（The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire）中，把这个年代称赞为“人类最幸福的年代”。他对五贤君的种种贤德的称赞如下：

（旧式译文）“天下历代，以民之富庶安乐论，何时居首？闻者立对曰：自图密善薨至康茂德立，可以当之。彼时罗马雄有四海，国事虽定于一尊，而以仁德聪睿导焉。四帝相继，统御诸师，颇能刚柔相济。涅尔瓦、图拉真、哈德良、安托奈纳斯·派厄斯、马可·奥勒留五帝威严德业，下皆景仰。御国之道，一以始终，待民宽仁，而治理皆本法度，人皆颂之，帝亦颇自慰。当是时，若夫罗马推重理性自由，则共和可复，功业皆归于贤君尔。”

（新式译文）“如果让一个人说出，在世界历史的什么时代人类过着最为幸福、繁荣的生活，他定会毫不犹豫地说，那是从图密善去世到康茂德继位的那段时间。那时广袤的罗马帝国按照仁政和明智的原则完全处于专制权力的统治之下。接连四代在为人和权威方面很自然地普遍受到尊重的罗马皇帝坚决而温和地控制着所有的军队。涅尔瓦、图拉真、哈德良和两位安东尼全都喜爱自由生活的景象，并愿意把自己看成是负责的执法者，因而一直保持着文官政府的形式。如果他们那一时代的罗马人能够安享一种合乎理性的自由生活，这几位君王是完全可以享有恢复共和制的荣誉的。”

Baidu marks the translation as “old-style” and “new-style”, which is quite interesting. The “old-style” translation is quite similar to the one quoted by Wikipedia, and remains the style of both ancient Chinese and Gibbon’s writing. The “new-style” translation, however, is quoted directly from Huang’s translation.

The Work

So, inspired by this mashup of East meets West, I decided to dive deeper. I grabbed some more Gibbon and translated additional passages into this ‘old-style’ Chinese that makes you feel like you’re both at a Roman senate meeting and a Chinese tea ceremony.

Here is the result.

[Volumn I] Chapter III: Its precarious nature

Original

The labours of these monarchs were overpaid by the immense reward that inseparably waited on their success; by the honest pride of virtue, and by the exquisite delight of beholding the general happiness of which they were the authors. A just, but melancholy reflection embittered, however, the noblest of human enjoyments. They must often have recollected the instability of a happiness which depended on the character of a single man. The fatal moment was perhaps approaching, when some licentious youth, or some jealous tyrant, would abuse, to the destruction, that absolute power which they had exerted for the benefit of their people. The ideal restraints of the senate and the laws might serve to display the virtues, but could never correct the vices, of the emperor. The military force was a blind and irresistible instrument of oppression; and the corruption of Roman manners would always supply flatterers eager to applaud, and ministers prepared to serve the fear or the avarice, the lust or the cruelty, of their masters.

Translated

此诸君王之劳作，以其成就之巨大报赏过之，得以崇德之诚心自豪，且于观万民乐而自作者之乐甚深。然，一念悲哀，乃为此至高欢乐之添痛味。彼等必时思此乐之无常，系乎一人之品行。恐怖之时刻或将至，或有荒淫少年，或有妒忌暴君，滥用绝对权力至国之灭亡，其初意乃为民造福。元老院与法律之理想制约，或可显帝王之德，绝难矫其过。军力盲目，或成压迫之工具；世风日下，或成谄媚之温床。或为恐惧，或为贪婪，或为情欲，或为残忍，皆愿为其主效力。

[Volumn I] Chapter III: Insensibility of the orientals

Original

When Persia was governed by the descendants of Sefi, a race of princes whose wanton cruelty often stained their divan, their table, and their bed, with the blood of their favourites, there is a saying recorded of a young nobleman, that he never departed from the sultan’s presence without satisfying himself whether his head was still on his shoulders. The experience of every day might almost justify the scepticism of Rustan. Yet the fatal sword, suspended above him by a single thread, seems not to have disturbed the slumbers, or interrupted the tranquillity, of the Persian. The monarch’s frown, he well knew, could level him with the dust; but the stroke of lightning or apoplexy might be equally fatal; and it was the part of a wise man to forget the inevitable calamities of human life in the enjoyment of the fleeting hour. He was dignified with the appellation of the king’s slave; had, perhaps, been purchased from obscure parents in a country which he had never known; and was trained up from his infancy in the severe discipline of the seraglio. His name, his wealth, his honours, were the gift of a master, who might, without injustice, resume what he had bestowed. Rustan’s knowledge, if he possessed any, could only serve to confirm his habits by prejudices. His language afforded not words for any form of government, except absolute monarchy. The history of the East informed him, that such had ever been the condition of mankind. The Koran, and the interpreters of that divine book, inculcated to him, that the sultan was the descendant of the prophet, and the vice-regent of heaven; that patience was the first virtue of a Mussulman, and unlimited obedience the great duty of a subject.

Translated

波斯国自色非之裔庶执政时，皇族嗜杀残忍，宫廷、筵席、闺房，常染幸臣之血。流传一言，某少年贵族，每自苏丹殿下退，必须自查首颈尚存。日常之验，几令人信鲁斯坦之疑虑有据。然而，悬剑虽系一丝，似未扰其安眠，亦未断其宁静。此人深知君王一怒，足令尘归尘，土归土；然雷击与中风，其殊途同归，皆不可避免。智者宜忘世间难免之灾，乐享流年。其所尊为王之奴隶，或许自幽暗之家被购，生于不知何土。自幼严加管教于后宫。其名、其富、其荣，皆主之赐，主亦无不公以夺之。若鲁斯坦有所学，亦但足以固其成见。其言语中，无异政体之词，唯有绝对君主制。东方史载，自古以来，人世多此境遇。可兰经及其解者示之，苏丹乃先知之裔，天命之代行者；忍耐为穆斯林之本德，绝对服从为臣子之至责。

The Conclusion

What started as a quirky side project turned out to be quite the undertaking. The translation is shaping up to be a bridge across cultures, centuries, and languages. And while I may only pop out a blog post every few years, remember, Rome wasn’t built (or translated) in a day!

By the way, I’m still chipping away at Latin—salve! Funny how it means both hello and goodbye, much like my relationship with Gibbon’s work: I can’t decide if I’m coming or going.

Stay tuned for more adventures in translation or other fields, and here’s to hoping my next update comes before we colonize Mars!

Beam me up, Scotty! 🚀