You are on page 1of 16

Two Thousand Years of Latin Translation from the Greek Author(s): Dean P.

Lockwood Source: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 49 (1918), pp. 115-129 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/282998 . Accessed: 27/01/2014 04:45
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

xlix] Vol.

Latin Translation fromtheGreek

II5

VIII. - Two ThousandYears of Latin Translation fromthe Greek


BY
PROFESSOR

DEAN P. LOCKWOOD
COLLEGE

HAVERFORD

has thestream oftransintoanother FROMno onelanguage as from Greekinto so longand uninterruptedly lationflowed from the yearsLatin translation Latin. For two thousand ofoccidental in theprogress medium was an important Greek long civilization.Like the Holy Roman Empireit lingered not into has oblivion and tradition entirely passed as a potent even in the present day. I proposein this paper to charits successive phases. acterize
- perhaps is peculiar witha motif which begins The story of the world's Aboutthe in literature. the history unique B.C. the Roman people were middleof the thirdcentury 'initiated' into artisticliterature.This was accomplished the Odyssey who,aftertranslating by a Greek,Andronicus, verse of the Latins,carried the into the nativenon-Hellenic to its logicalconclusion by renderprocessof naturalization and chorallyricin the metres of the comedy, ing tragedy, forms of Greek Greek originals. All the chieftraditional to Roman soil- probably weresoon transplanted literature of Andronicus.Of these early translawithinthe lifetime now almostentirely lost, littlecan be tionsand imitations, had the crude strength said exceptthat theyundoubtedly art. We may appreciate themas we appreciate of primitive a Giotto. To theRomansofa laterdate they were'classics' - too often, as Horace maintains,' sacrosanct. Livy's critito Juno,on the otherhand,reflects cism2 of the Hymn an

'Augustan' distrustof 'primitives': Carmen . . . illa tem1 Epist. ii,


i. 2 XXVII, 37, I3-

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

i I6

Dean P. Lockwood

[I9I8

pestateforsitan laudabilerudibusingeniis; nunc abhorrens we may notethe et inconditum, si referatur.For ourselves, of the openingline simpledignity, but absoluteliteralness, oftheOdyssey:
vAv8pauote'VvEWE, Movioa,woXV6porov. . .

mihi,Camena,insecevers(utum Vir(um

theseversions may have Howeverfar shortof perfection nativeproduction, been, theyhad the effect of stimulating forthe Romanswerea gifted peoplewho werein a peculiar immaturity, but ambitious to play their positionof artistic partin the greatworld. The situationbears a certainresemblanceto the awakeningof Japan in the nineteenth century.3
II

nationalRoman We now cometo the periodof distinctive the third B.C. through fromthe second century literature, literature A.D. In spiteof thefactthatthenational century neverof the Romans adheredcloselyto Greekstandards, almost wereforseveralreasons bona fidetranslations theless of Roman place, the relation entirely lacking. In the first to Greek was so intimatethat adaptationand literature imitationpredominated.Second, the practical need for worlddid not then the modern whichconfronts translations in exist. (If all available modernculturewere comprised howmuchneed and French, ofEnglish thekindred languages whichis would therebe forthat kind of exact translation the and onepeoplewith thought ideals to familiarize designed 4 ofthestoreof Greek theveryvastness ofanother?) Third,
(New York, i899), Book the seventh, 3Cf. W. G. Aston,JapaneseLiterature Tokio period. on the part of the with the Greeklanguage and literature 4The familiarity educated Roman public requires no detailed demonstration. Even in the languagetechnicalsciences (whereto-day the outcryagainst time-consuming study is loudest), there was no demand for translationamong the Romans. or scientistof The Greeklanguage was a sine qua non forphysician,engineer,

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Vol.xlix]

Latin Translation fromtheGreek

II7

it of the Romansto assimilate and the impatience thought militatedagainst the slow processof completeand exact translation.5 was sporadic theGreek from thenthattranslation Granted do we run where in the national periodof Romanliterature, of original Latin literaacrossit? First,we findthe fabric of Greekphrases, close withreminiscences tureshotthrough but amountto be calledtranslations.Moredefinite, enough quotations in theend,arethebrief ingto aboutthesamething intoLatin in the worksof the rendered from Greekauthors a handful ofavowed existed there proseessayists.6Secondly,
any sort. That the Romans were not averse, however, to making needed translationsis proved by the memorableversion fromthe Punic of Mago's in accordancewith senatorialdecree. twenty-eight books on agriculture, 5 In philosophy,for instance, the popular appetite was satisfiedby the resumeswith which Ennius, Lucretius,Cicero, Apuleius, and otherssupplied theircontemporaries. He who wished to imbibe more deeply could have rewithoutundue difficulty. courseto the originals It is probable also that the intensenational consciousness whichis fostered betweenmanymodem nationsis a stimulusto careby the intellectualrivalry ful translationwhichwas inoperativein the ancient world. In general,however, the reasons whichI have enumerated are but varyingphases of the one fact that Rome derivedher intellectual outstanding lifefromGreece,and from Greecealone. I cannot agree withTolkiehn (Homeru. d. rom.Poesie, Leipzig, I9oo), when he suggests(p. 78 if.) that the chiefreason forthe meagerness of Latin translationswas the inability of the Latin languageto expressthe subtleties of Greek thought. There are shades of meaningin everylanguage whichcannotbe reproducedin others, and thoughLatin was neveras richa languageas the Greek, I cannot believe that the Roman translators feltthemselves deterred or found themselvesunduly handicapped by the shortcomings of theirnative tongue. No such obstacles existedas exist to-dayin translating the Bible into Tagalog or Zulu (cf. WV. Canton, The StoryoftheBible Society[London,I9041, chap. 24). Cicero and Lucretius faced an initial difficulty in expressing the concepts of Greek philosophy, but surelythe creationof a technicalvocabularyin a new fieldof thoughtis not the most difficult task whichconfronts eithertranslator or author. 6 It is difficult to decide whereto place some of the adaptations fromthe Greek lyricpoets, in whichthe Roman imitator,thoughfaithfully translating a portion, at least, ofhis Greekoriginal, wandersaway from his borrowed theme into variationsof his own: cf. Hor. Odes, i, 9, I4, i8, 37, and even Cat. 5I. In generalthe Romans wereas freeand unacademicas the Greeks,not only of foreign in the translation languages,but in the handlingof quotationsin the

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

ii8

Dean P. Lockwood

[I9I8

translationsof complete works of Greek literature. Among the translatorsof complete works the only name of firstimportance is that of Cicero. His version of the great debate between Aeschines and Demosthenes was rated as a masterpiece, but its purpose was undoubtedly rather to display Cicero's powers than to make these works accessible to a public ignorant of Greek. It was a stylisticexercise.7 In Greekpoetryinto Latin Cicero chose and produced rendering among the only toursdeforce. Several minorpoets also figure bona fide translators: Matius rendered the Iliad; so did Ninnius Crassus; what they conceived the purpose of their work to be, we have no way of knowing. What may we say in general of the quality of the Roman translations? There was no reason why Greek prose could not be eloquentlyparaphrased or translated,as witnesssome of the extractsembodied in Cicero's essays.8 In the fieldof here Homer may be taken as a poetry, however,-and typical example the Romans struggled with problems which have beset the translators of all ages. The Latin hexameter, though a formal replica of the Greek, did not have the same cadences as the original; I the epithets gave
and in the refromotherwriters, of thoughts same language,in the borrowing productionof the spoken word (for instance in the so-called speeches which embellishthe pages of the historians). There was not that meticulousattention to verbal accuracyforits own sake whichhas become a fetishof modern authorship. 7 The translator's prefacealone is extant, and is knownas the de Optimo is safe to assume that Cicero's youthfultranslations, It GenereOratorum. Preface to of Xenophon (cf. St. Jerome, that of the Oeconomicus particularly exercises. His Timaeus is the nearest Eusebius, Chron.ii), werealso stylistic of all his "'cr6bypa0a" fromGreek philosophy. approach to exact translation and Philodemus, of excerptsfromEpicurus, Chrysippus, As forhis renderings to say that they "are in point of to his creditas a translator it is not strictly stylebetterthan the originals" (J. E. Sandys, Hist. of Class. Schoi.2I, I84). passages are Tusc. I, 41 (= Plato, Apol. 32-33), and Sen. 8-Twowell-known 22 (= Xen. Cyr.VIII, 7, 17 ff.). The adherenceto Greek metricalformsand traditionswas perhaps the most slavish featureof the Latin imitationof Greek literature. The translation of the Odysseyinto native Saturnians by Andronicuswas unique; all were- or were intendedto be - in the metreof the otherverse translations

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Vol.xlix]

Latin Translation fromtheGreek

iI9

the charmand naiveteof the folk-epic wereeludifficulty; sive. Of the best Latin renderings can the same criticism be made as of Pope's facilerhetoric:"verypretty, but not Homer." We may sum up the nationalRoman periodby saying but no definite that therewas evidenceof ability, demand and no distinctive of the transfortranslations development lator's function.Imitationwas constant,paraphrasefrerare. translation quent,genuine III The thirdepochwhichwe are to consider may be called it is the periodof the the Patristicperiod. More strictly culture - a decline whichdid not declineof the traditional untillongafterit affected affect the pagans or semi-pagans theChristians. Christian translations weremadein response to a demandwhichthe pagan Romansneverfelt. I need of the translation not enlarge upon thepurpose of theBible. aftera faithful The constant striving vernacular textis attestedby the successive versions of the wholeor of parts: the Itala, the Roman psalter,the Gallicanpsalter,and the Vulgate. of the Scriptures The translation was indispensable;it withit to a lesserdegreethe need forthe translation carried or professional of technical Christian literature of all kinds. Exceptin the case of the Scriptures, however, we find no increase in accuracyforits own sake. Paraphrasewas still withtranslation.Numerous confused as werethe Christian and eagerforthe light,theywereforthe mostpart readers in critical acumenand either untrained indifferent or hostile to theembellishments of literary style. It was thesubstance and nottheform, which thesereaders demanded. The labors
original. Popular demanddid not lead the Romans (and probablynevercould have led them) to make the varied experiments with different formsof verse and prose which have been made by English translatorsfromChapman to AndrewLang.

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

120

Dean P. Lockwood

[i9i8

of Rufinus,Jerome,and other translatorsproduced a mass of technical literaturewhich was embodied indiscriminately with the Latin literaturein the same fieldand passed on to mediaeval posterity. Nevertheless theological controversy upon the translatora higher degree of occasionallyenforced to combat the heresies of Origen, accuracy. Thus Jerome, put forthbetterversionsof the suspected Greek fatherthan those of Rufinus. Between Christian and pagan literatureGreek philosophy was an important link. It is interestingthereforeto find the practical need for the translationof the Greek fathers extending to Plato and Aristotle. It is evident, however, that the Christian theologians would expect, perhaps even prefer,in this case, the freest paraphrases or compendia. Such were the pseudo-AugustinianCategories,the Analytics of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, and the Timaeus of Chalcidius; and probablyof the same characterwere the Platonic QfC. Marius Victorinus. renderings The knowledge of Greek among the Christianswas more practical than literary. With the decline in the traditional education in the late Roman Empire and with the changing characterof the spoken Greek language, it was becominginto acquire ancientGreekin westernEurope. difficult creasingly to read Greekauthors Cassiodorus"knew Greek,but preferred in Latin translations."10 dislikeof the studyof Greek (which of youthful Confessions sound quite modern) come not only from St. Augustine," but fromthe more pagan Ausonius.12 The pagans and semipagans, however, maintained, after a fashion, the national Roman traditions. Symmachus could echo and paraphrase sententiaefrom the Greek authors; Ausonius perpetrated trivialities of Greek translation and of macaronic verse. But there was one - the last of the Romans - to whose translationsposterityowed much. It is a commonplace of
10 J.E.
12

I, 14. Confessions, 11 op. cit. I, 268. Sandys, Graec.Burdigal.p. 57, Peiper. Grammaticis

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Vol. xlix]

Latin Translation fromtheGreek

I2I

the criticismof Boethius to say that he stands between two worlds; nowhereis this to be seen more clearly than in his translations. He broughtto his task an equipment equal to that of any Roman; his aim was trulymodern- to translate and expound all of Plato and Aristotle; his motive,however,was trulymediaeval - to prove " theirsubstantialagreement with each other." 13 Boethius was thus a precursorof the schoolmenand of the humanistsas well.14 His ambitious program was never completely cardied out; but certain of his translationsof Aristotlewere the foundationof mediaeval scholasticism. The Patristic period, therefore, is characterizedby a great increase in production. The output was of a practical kind to meet a genuineand wide-spreadneed. ITe versionsof the Greekfathers were legion,supplemented by a discreetamount of Greek philosophy. Standards of accuracy were recognized,'5 but performancewas generally lax. The translations and paraphrases were plain, adequate for the needs which produced them, unembellished, for the most part unliterary. IV The next period which we are to considermay be roughly designated by the traditionalterm,the Dark Ages, although it actually extends to the twelfth century. From the middle of the sixth to the middle of the eighth centurythe decline in culture was rapid. There was no reachingout afternew learning: how could there be, when Goths and Visigoths could barely digest the old even in tabloid form? The study of ancient Greek almost completely died out in western Europe. There was, to be sure, frequent communication
13
14

When Cassiodorus eulogizes Boethius for making Pythagoras,Ptolemy, Nicomachus,Euclid, Plato, Aristotle,and Archimedes speak the Roman language (Variae, I, 45), we seem to be in the atmosphereof the Italian Renaissance. 15Cf. St. Jerome, Epislle 57.

J.E. Sandys, op. cit. I,

25I.

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

1 22

Dean P. Lockwood

[I9I8

between Rome and Constantinople,even an influxof Greek into Italy and fourGreekpopes in St. Peter's, but churchmen the Byzantine vernacular suggestednothingto the saints of the West. There was absolutelyno incentivefortranslation. It must not be thought,however,that therewas an absolute lack of interestin Hellenic ideas. A second-handknowledge of Greek thought was derived from the works of Cicero, Martianus Capella, Macrobius,Apuleius,Boethius, Augustine, and otherLatin authors. There followedin the ninth centurythe renaissanceof the era of Charlemagne,with its revival of the literarytraditions of Rome; the tenth centurywas made illustriousby Odo of and othereminentLatinists, and the eleventh Cluni, Gerbert, centuryby the rise of scholasticphilosophy- but still there was no strongimpulse to tap afreshthe ancient Greek source which had so long remaineduntouched. The few exceptions are ofa ratheraccidentalcharacter. To take themostnotable patronsaint of France, had instance: Dionysius,the martyred become confusedwith 'Dionysius the Areopagite,'the reputed author of the Hierarchies,and local pride spurred on the of France to make this work accessible to the churchmien West. It was not hard to procure manuscriptsfrom Constantinople,and about 850 John the Scot, a representative of the Irish school of Greek learning,undertookto produce a translation. His paraphrase satisfiedthe local need - and incidentally injected heretical ideas of Neoplatonism into more than one Frenchman. comprisingsix centuriesor During this period, therefore, more fromthe 'fall of Rome,' no great addition was made to fromthe Greek. The patristic the total of Latin translations forall the intellectualneeds of the times. translations sufficed V The awakening came after the firstquarter of the twelfth century. About the year I125 we become aware of a new in widely separated centres of the intellectual spirit stirring

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Vol.xlix]

Latin Translation fromtheGreek

I23

life of Europe. We may take this year as the beginningof the Mediaeval period. The movement was a true renaisin the fieldof theprofessional sance, but essentially disciplines, only incidentallyin the fieldof the humanities. It was not Greek philosophy in its entirety,and for its own sake, to which the schoolmen now devoted their attention. They raw materials fromAriswere eager only to acquire further totle for the vast structure which they were erectingaccording to theirown preconceiveddesigns. Thus there began a period of extensive translationwhich ran throughthe twelfth and thirteenth centuriesand died out in the fourteenth. Let us briefly survey what was achieved at various centresof intellectualactivity. First, all of Aristotle'slogical works were translatedfrom the Greek at Venice in II28 by Jacobus Clericus; and shortly after,at some unknown place, the long-lostversions of the - a Analyticsand Topics by Boethius were rediscovered boon to Abelard and his fellow schoolmen. As the twelfth centuryprogressed,the range of translationfromthe Greek was widened. At the court of the Norman kings in Sicily, fromabout ii6o on, versions of Ptolemy's Almagest, of two short dialogues of Plato, and of other works were produced directlyfrom the Greek.-6 'Dionysius the Areopagite' was retranslatedbefore I142 by Hugo of St. Victor and again about 1170 by Johnthe Saracen. Guillaumede Gap brought manuscriptsof other Greek works of the same stripe from Constantinopleto the Abbey of St. Denis in II67 and translated them or had them translated. Burgundio of Pisa, envoy of Barbarossa in the East, was the chief of those who renderedinto Latin many worksof the Greek fathers. The next stage formsone of the strangestchapters in the historyof European progress: the schoolmenof Europe, who heretofore had been acquainted only with a small portion of Aristotle (i.e. his five treatiseson logic-more or less), now
16 Cf. C. H. Haskins and D. P. Lockwood, "The Sicilian Translators, etc.," Harv. Stud. xxi.

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

124

Dean P. Lockwood

[I9I8

came into contact with a vast treasure of Aristotelianphilosophyin the possessionof the Arabs of Spain. How was it that the Arabs were better equipped than the occidental scholars who gathered at the University of Paris? From Byzantium the study of Aristotle had spread in the fifth centuryto Syria, and until the eighthcenturySyrian scholars were engaged in translatingand commenting on the Greek master; then at Bagdad fromthe eighth to the tenth centuries the Syrian scholars had renderedinto Arabic not only Aristotle and many of his Greek commentators, but works of Plato, Hippocrates, and Galen as well; and finally at Ispahan in the eleventh centuryAvicenna, the greatest of theArabs,had foundedhis systemofmedicineand Aristotelian philosophy. It was the works of Avicenna, along with the of the Greek authors,whichwere brought Arabic translations to Spain by the Moors and to which the westernschoolmen wereintroducedabout I I50 by learnedJewsof Toledo. Thus some acquaintance with the de Anima, de Caelo, Physics, and Metaphysicsbegan to reach Paris in this extraordinarily roundabout way. The great translatorwas Gerard of Cremona, who, in the latterhalf of the twelfth century, rendered more than seventyworksfromthe Arabic into Latin, including the Arabic texts of Aristotle,Hippocrates, Galen, and Ptolemy. At Salerno, meanwhile,was the famous school of medicine,and here, as well as in Montpellier,beforethe end of the twelfthcentury,the science of medicine was taught from the Arabic-Latin versions of Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna.-7 Two more achievementsmust be noted, whichmarked the culminationof the movementin the thirteenth century. The in I204 Franks of the occurred conquest Constantinopleby during the fourth Crusade. Immediately there began an activitywhich resemblesthat of the Italian humanistsof the
17 In facta muchearlier date - about I070 - is obtainedforthe translations the Arabicby the monkConstantineof Monte of Hippocratesand Galen from Cassino.

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Vol.xlix]

Latin Translation fromtheGreek

I25

fifteenth in all save the spirit century of humanism. Greek manuscripts to Europe; therewas an interwere brought change of scholarsbetweenthe East and the West; and students wentto Greeceto learnthelanguage. Translations fromthe originalGreekonce more appeared,and rivalled thosefrom theArabic. Williamof Moerbeke the performed feat of translating (perhapswith the help of others)not only the wholeof Aristotle and manyof his commentators, but works ofProclus, and Galenas well. Hippocrates, Meanwhilein the previouscentury the centreof Arabic learning itself had shifted from Asia to Spain,where Averroes formulated his system of Aristotelianism blendedwithNeoplatonism. In the thirteenth century, therefore, Averroes was included amongtheArabicphilosophers, associated with Aristotle in the translations himself, by Michael the Scot, Hermann the German, and Alfred theEnglishman. Further detailswouldbe wearisome. The arrayof translationsis bewildering.When Thomas Aquinas summed up scholastic philosophy, he couldpick and chooseamongmany availableversions ofAristotle.18 It is a farcryfrom thetranslations ofa Ciceroor a Jerome to thesetoolsof the scholastic trade. The translators seem almostto have regarded their task as thepiecing together of a mosaic- wordforwordand phrasefor phrase. Andwhen an occasionaltechnical term was leftin its original Greek or Arabic -form, no wonderthat Roger Bacon could denouncethe scholastic textsas barbarousand as falling far shortof thatlucidity if he couldnot know,he could which, at least divine. Thus the mediaevaltranslations owed theircharacter to a peculiarpurpose. They were not regarded as belleslettres. They werea means to an end- a purelyprofessional end. Their languagewas the jargonof the schools: theological, philosophicalL, medical, mathematical.
anciennes traductions latines d'Aristote, Paris,I843.
18 For examplessee the Speciminaappended to Jourdain, Recherches sur les

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

I26

Dean P. Lockwood VI

[I9I8

in Italy. In We comenow to the era of the Renaissance was openPetrarch century the latterhalfof the fourteenth value of the ideals embodied ing men'seyes to the intrinsic was now literature Rome. Ancient ofancient in theliterature butwith reserve, notwithcautious and admired to be studied longedto read Homerand Plato in the abandon. Petrarch monkswithwhomhe came in but the Byzantine original, thisdesire. contact couldnotor wouldnothelphimto fulfil of the classicalGreeklanguage the knowledge To recover in and providetext-books to equip teachers and literature, occupying process, and painful was a slow Europe, western century. But therewas an imthe wholeof the fifteenth of the contentof Greek mediatedemandfora knowledge identicalwith the demand at the presentday. literature, ground. The demandwas met by the We are on familiar conforming to of popularreadabletranslations, production of the classicalperiod. The existing standards the literary if reasons, were scornedforstylistic niediaevaltranslations forno other. . ofthepagan Greek to acquireLatin translations The effort
authors begins about I360, when the Greek monk Pilatus

in thehouseofBoccaccioand produced tookup his residence of theIliad and the Ulixea,as he called a literaltranslation an 'interlinear' translation. the Odyssey.It was essentially the one obtained it lineforlinewiththeoriginal, Comparing of each Greekword in the same position. Latin rendering But this was the methodof the mediaevalschoolmen;it were theneedsofthehumanists. Attempts couldnotsatisfy translasimilar and a fewother made to have Pilatus'Homer who in elegantLatin by trained humanists, tionsrewritten makeshift. but thiswas a hopeless knewlittleor no Greek, translations begin about I400. The genuinehumanistic numberthe humanists employedtheir In ever-increasing of Greekliterain making availablethemasterpieces talents

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Vol.xlix]

Latin Translation fromtheGreek

127

ture. Working at first as scattered individuals, theycame of a common mission to gradually to be conscious translate into Latin. At the courtof the whole of Greekliterature Pope Nicholas V and otherpotentatesthe work was encouragedand fostered by patronage. It can be reasonably said thatpractically thewholeof Greekproseliterature was of humanistictraining translated. Moreover churchmen a vast amountof Christian translated literature.The problem of translating the classicalGreekpoets,such as Homer, Pindar,and the dramatists, was on the whole too difficult for these pioneers. There was, moreover, no genuinehistoricalcriticism:late or spurious worksof Greekliterature were often easier to appreciatethan the classical. The Letters ofPhalariswentunchallenged; theLifeofAesopwas revered;theLetters ofPlato wereadmired byLeonardo Bruni above theDialogues. A largenumber ofworks of Greekliterature attained wide circulation throughout Europe in the humanistic versions, particularly Plato, Aristotle, Demosthenes, Isocrates, the historians, theepistolographers, Aesop,Lucian,and Plutarch. Others remained in thehandsome unnoticed dedication copies in thelibraries of thegreatpatrons. At their best,the translations werefacileand clear. The greatmajority of them, however, werehastyand in a certain respectless scholarly than the over-literal versionsof the Middle Ages. Many of the professed humanists werecharlatans. What they could not understand they omittedor from supplied theirownimagination.Theywerefilled with theconceit thattheir ownworks werean actualcontinuation of Romanliterature, a revival in the truesenseof the word. They regarded theirtranslations of Demosthenes as no less masterpieces of Latin literature than Cicero'sversion of the Oration on theCrown, whichfortunately forthe comparison was notextant! The pretensions of the humanists were excessivein the - the eloquence wholematter of style. It was the style

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

I28

Dean P. Lockwood

[I9I8

they and which praised, theycontinually which oftheGreeks that is true It translations. their in reproduce to professed style,and lacked literary totally the mediaevaltranslations in accordance werecomposed translations thatthehumanistic in but was the styleof the translation withclassicalmodels, a was That ? original Greek everycase the style of the could not art to whichthe humanists standardof literary attain. ofthehumanistic aboutmany andfreshness is a charm There the age, but speedy of characteristic is which translations,' was the fateof all. All werebased on insufficient oblivion - a defect earlyin the sucwhichwas remedied equipment ceedingcentury. VII begins the Modern period. century With the sixteenth and Erasmusat once Stephanus, as Victorius, Such scholars of the humanists. work important more the over again did and above all withprinted scholarship, Withvastlyimproved and thorough reliable theyproduced disposal, booksat their testofaccuracy authors. The final oftheGreek translations lay in the bilingualeditions. As time went on, however, usurped tonguesgradually into the vernacular translations becamemoreand more thepopularfield; Latin translations scholarship.Latin of courseconthe markof professional and transof learnedcommentary to be thelanguage 'tinued Berlin The century. nineteenth into the well until lation is still beingpubcommentators editionof the Aristotelian the Greektext. But facing lishedwiththeLatin translation the longlifeof Latin translation in spiteof a fewsurvivals came to an end in the eighteenth from the Greekpractically century. duringtwo the streamof Hellenicinfluence In follow"ing we haveseen thatvarycivilization, ofEuropean millenniums widelyin styleand differing translations ing needsproduced

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Vol.xlix]

Latin Translation fromtheGreek

I29

content. The sturdyfolk who conqueredCarthage; the polishedRomanswho ruleda world-empire; themenof the West who embracedChristianity; the theologians and the subtlelogiciansof the Middle Ages; the Italian humanists of the fifteenth century; and the classicists of the modern in one way or another with era- all have been concerned Latin translation fromthe Greek. We cannotbut marvel at the vitality of Greekthought and theutility of theLatin tongue.

This content downloaded from 161.116.173.192 on Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:45:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

You might also like