It is this principle [i.e. the interpretation of an original] which…

Quote byJohn Conington · 1825–1869

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: "The Academical Study of Latin", address delivered by Professor Conington in the Theatre, Oxford, December 2, 1854, as his inaugural lecture, as published and reported in Miscellaneous Writings of John Conington, ed. J. A. Symonds, Vol. I (1872), p. 208, and as quoted in The Aeneid of Virgil in Blan.

English (original)

It is this principle [i.e. the interpretation of an original] which constitutes the true value of a really good translation—not as superseding the original even to the worst scholar, but as explaining it even to the best.

— John Conington