How the texts are made
Hearth Library collects writing and images from the past, from eyewitness accounts to recipes and posters, and lets you read each passage in its original language beside our translations. Our translations are new. Claude, an AI model, drafts them from out-of-copyright editions, following written rules. This page explains each step, and what has and hasn’t been checked by people.
Who does what
The editor, Gregry Livingston, chooses the texts, sets the rules, decides what to leave out and how the collections are arranged, and edits the finished translations. Each page says whether he has edited it yet.
Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic, drafts the translations, notes, introductions and classroom material. A separate Claude session, which had no part in writing them, then reviews them.
Specialists in each language will check the hardest readings. That hasn’t started yet; we keep a list of the readings that need it.
The four versions
Here is one passage in all four: Xenophon, writing about 360 BCE, on running a household.
Καὶ τί δὴ ταῦτ’ ἐστιν; ἔφη ἐκείνη. Οἶμαι μὲν ἔγωγε, ἔφην, οὐ τὰ ἐλαχίστου ἄξια, εἰ μή πέρ γε καὶ ἡ ἐν τῷ σμήνει ἡγεμὼν μέλιττα ἐπ’ ἐλαχίστου ἀξίοις ἔργοις ἐφέστηκεν.
Kai ti dē taut’ estin? ephē ekeinē. Oimai men egōge, ephēn, ou ta elachistou axia, ei mē per ge kai hē en tōi smēnei hēgemōn melitta ep’ elachistou axiois ergois ephestēken.
And what indeed these are? said she. I think indeed, I, I said, not the things of least worth, unless indeed even the one in the hive leader bee over of least worth tasks stands.
And what are these things? she said. I think, I said, not tasks of the least worth, unless even the leader bee in the hive is set over work of very little worth.
- Original
- The text as printed in an out-of-copyright edition, or as it appears on the object. We check it against photos of the printed pages or of the object. We use only the author’s words, never an editor’s notes or headings.
- Transliterated
- The original spelled out in our alphabet, so you can hear how it sounds. A program makes these, following set rules for each language: classroom-style spelling for Greek, pinyin with tone marks for Chinese. People haven’t reviewed them yet. Chinese written in Japan is shown the way Japanese readers read it aloud; that reading is itself an interpretation, so we draft and check it like a translation. Where no rules have been agreed for a language, we show nothing rather than guess. Latin needs none.
- Close English
- A working draft that follows the original as closely as English allows. Brackets mark words we added and questions we still have. We use it to check the final version; it hasn’t been edited.
- Simplified English
- The finished translation, for a curious teenager or adult with no special background. We write it from the original and the close draft. A separate review then checks each section against the original, and each fact in the notes against its sources. Until then the page is marked Draft. We don’t look at copyrighted translations while drafting. If we consult one afterward, software checks that we haven’t borrowed its wording.
Other translations and page images
Each page lists the other translations we know of, old and modern, in English and other languages, and links to copies that are free to read. Older translations that are out of copyright can appear in full, section by section, beside ours. When a library has put photos of the original online, whether a manuscript or the printed edition we used, the Facsimiles tab links to them.
Our rules
- Easy to read, nothing lost. Common words and short sentences, but every sentence we keep is translated.
- Each writer keeps a voice. Thucydides stays terse; a bishop’s sermon still sounds like preaching.
- Old ideas stay old. “Corrupted air” and “the anger of the gods” are translated as written and explained in a note. We don’t turn them into germs.
- Cuts are marked. [...] shows where we left something out, and each page says how much of the original it includes. Compare versions shows every section we left out.
- Additions are marked. Words in [square brackets] are ours, added for clarity. Longer explanations go in the notes.
- Hard parts stay hard. If a writer is confused or contradicts himself, so does the translation, with a note.
- Context, not verdicts. Introductions say who wrote, when, and how far to trust them. Then the sources speak for themselves.
- Every claim in the notes is checked against the sources listed on its page.
Rights
Every original, edition and image we copy is out of copyright in the US. Each image’s page names the library or collection it comes from. We consult modern translations only after our own is written, and never quote them. Under current US Copyright Office guidance, text made by AI generally can’t be copyrighted, so our translations may not be protected; the editor’s selection, arrangement and editing are.
Corrections
Every page records its edition and how its text was made, so we can trace a mistake to the step where it happened and fix it there. We especially welcome corrections from readers who know these languages.
Reusing the data
Everything here is also available as data files. api/v1/index.json lists every source and collection; each source’s full record, with every version of every passage, is at api/v1/sources/<id>.json. Our own games read the same files.