In diction, syntax, word order, and complexity of expression,
Guibert's Latin is more difficult than that of any other Latin
historian of the First Crusade. I have tried to preserve as much of
the complexity of the syntax as is tolerable in comprehensible
English sentences. Guibert's penchant for alliteration, rhyming
clausulae, and pithiness must usually be sacrificed. A
characteristic example of the sonic loss occurs in my attempt to
translate the sardonic description of Arnulf's elevation to patriarch:
...dum vox magis quam vita curatur, ad hoc ut Iherosolimitanus fieret
patriarcha vocatur. (RHC 4.233)
and since a man's voice is of more concern than the life he has led,
he was called to the patriarchy of Jerusalem.
I have followed the paragraphs of the latest edition, often longer
than those to which twentieth-century readers are accustomed, to
allow readers to check the original more easily. Passages which
Guibert composed in verse are translated into prose and indented.
Guizot's early nineteenth-century French translation, although at
times erroneous or misleading, was very helpful.