英文についての質問です。
To obtain his data on eminence, Galton made the reasonable but problematic assumption that high reputation is an accurate indicator of high ability. He then analysed the records of achievements and honours set out in three printed sources: a leading contemporary biographical handbook, Men of the Time; the obituary of the year 1868 published in The Times newspaper; and obituaries published in England going back into the past. If he were working today, he would no doubt have analysed lists of Nobel prize-winners, too.
On this basis, Galton arbitrarily defined an 'eminent' person as someone who had achieved a position attained by only 250 persons in each million, that is one person in every 4,000.(He argued for this number poetically, since 4,000 is perhaps the number of stars visible to the naked eye on the most brilliant of starlit nights--'yet we feel it to be an extraordinary distinction to a star to be accounted as the brightest in the sky'.)
An ’illustrious’ person--much rarer than an eminent one --was one in a million, even one in many millions. 'They are men whom the whole intelligent part of the nation mourns when they die; who have, or deserve to have, a public funeral; and who rank in future ages as historical characters.' As already noted, Galton left a 'genius' undefined. (Genius by Andrew Robinson)
わからない個所を教えてください。
1）Galton arbitrarily defined an 'eminent' person as someone who had achieved a position attained by only 250 persons in each million, that is one person in every 4,000.
ここはどうやって訳すのでしょうか？
ゴルトンは到達された地位を成し遂げたある人として”著名な”人を任意で定義しました、と前半部分は述べているように思うのですが、by only 250～がわかりません。
2）yet we feel it to be an extraordinary distinction to a star to be accounted as the brightest in the sky'
itは何を指しているのですか？
to be accounted as the brightest in the skyの部分ですか？
3) and who rank in future ages as historical characters.
最後の段落にある英文ですが、どのように読むのでしょうか？
長文になってしまい、申し訳ありません。
よろしくお願いいたします。
お礼
とてもお早い回答をいただき、本当にありがとうございました。