Conybeare and Stock on Literal Translations

I was reading through the introduction of Conybeare and Stock’s Septuagint Greek reader tonight. I’ve seen this quote before and liked it last time too. In regard to the fact that the Septuagint if generally a very literal translation...

"Now a literal translation is only half a translation. It changes the vocabulary, while it leaves unchanged the syntax. but the life of a language lies rather in the syntax than in the vocabulary."

’Nuff said.