I have dealt very freely with my originals, not indeed adding anything, but leaving out much, translating sometimes, and sometimes paraphrasing. Of the liberty which I have allowed myself, I may give an instance. In the Acharnians  I have in one place translated "drachmas" by "guineas," though "shillings" would have been nearer the truth. But the context seemed to require it. It was necessary that the envoys should be thought overpaid, and the word "shillings" would not have given the impression.

I have many obligations to acknowledge. Perhaps my largest debt is to the translation of Mr. Hookham Frere. These I have even ventured to alter and compress, and to mingle with them some of my own renderings. I owe much to the admirable versions by Mr. B. B. Rogers of the Wasps  and the Peace, and to the editions of Mr. Merry, one of the most ingenious and felicitous of Aristophanes's critics. I would mention also a translation of the Acharnians  by Mr. Billson, and of the Women in Parliament  by the Rev. R. Smith. Mr. Lucas Collins's excellent summaries in the "Ancient Classics for English Readers" I have also found useful.