Editing Declaration of Arbroath (section)

==Manuscript==
The original copy of the ''Declaration'' that was sent to Avignon is lost. The only existing manuscript copy of the ''Declaration'' survives among Scotland's state papers, measuring 540mm wide by 675mm long (including the seals), it is held by the [[National Archives of Scotland]] in [[Edinburgh]], a part of the [[National Records of Scotland]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/090401.asp| title = National Archives of Scotland website feature| access-date = 4 April 2009| archive-date = 9 April 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090409010616/http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/090401.asp| url-status = dead}}</ref> 

The most widely known English language translation was made by [[Sir James Fergusson, 8th Baronet|Sir James Fergusson]], formerly [[Keeper of the Records of Scotland]], from text that he reconstructed using this extant copy and early copies of the original draft. 

[[G. W. S. Barrow]] has shown that one passage in particular, often quoted from the Fergusson translation, was carefully written using different parts of ''[[The Conspiracy of Catiline]]'' by the Roman author, [[Sallust]] (86–35 BC) as the direct source:<ref>G. W. S. Barrow, "The idea of freedom", ''Innes Review'' 30 (1979) 16–34 (reprinted in G. W. S. Barrow, ''Scotland and its Neighbours in the Middle Ages'' (London, Hambledon, 1992), chapter 1)</ref>

{{quote|...&nbsp;for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.}}