Abstract
The article shows how the idea of imitatio auctorum, known since antiquity, was interpreted in the poetology of French classicism. The opposition of «servile» and free imitation, as well as the correlation between the concept of imitation and the notions of invention, translation, copying, theft and conquest come under scrutiny. A distinction is drawn between different objects of imitation. Poetologists recommend imitating not so much the specific thoughts and expressions of the original as its general idea, «spirit», manner, and also the very creative strategy of the author. In the latter case the object of imitation is not the completed work, but the process of its creation. The imitation strategy was justified by the argument of reciprocity: we imitate the ancients in the same way as the ancients themselves imitated their predecessors.
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