Latin Translation Research Articles

Isocrates, Hieronymus Wolf and Juan Luis Vives

This contribution starts with a detailed presentation of the German humanist Hieronymus Wolf (1516-1580) and his life-long involvement with the Athenian rhetorician Isocrates (436-338 BCE). It focuses further on the relation between Wolf and Juan Luis Vives, and especially on the tactful way in which Wolf dealt with a puzzling error by Vives in his Latin letter to Cardinal Wolsey introducing his Latin translations of Isocrates’s Areopagiticus and Nicocles Vives had indeed affirmed that Nicocles was king of Salamis, an island of the Aegean Sea, whereas in reality he was king of Salamis, a city of Cyprus and lived in the fourth century BCE.

Moral Instruction by Bad Example: The First Latin Translations of Theophrastus’ Characters☆

<i>Moral Instruction by Bad Example: The First Latin Translations of Theophrastus’</i> Characters☆

Glossing The Shepheardes Calender in Latin Translation

This article examines two Latin translations of The Shepheardes Calender by John Dove (1584) and Theodore Bathurst ( c.1602) respectively. It explores their versions of three aspects of Spenserian pastoral (all prominent in E.K.'s gloss): community and competition; allegory and allusion; register and rusticity. Throughout, it argues for the influence of translation theory on the translations and The Shepheardes Calender. It revises misinformation about the translations, demonstrating that Dove's translation influenced Bathurst's and that Bathurst's is collectively authored. It explores the way in which the translations ‘re-allegorize’ the Calender and reproduce Spenser's rustic style. While Bathurst's translation reveals an interest in Spenser's experience of patronage and poetic career, Dove attends to the poem's religious allegory, political significance, and linguistic agenda, ultimately using his translation to allude to the public disputations of Edmund Campion. Rather than ‘missing the point’ of Spenser's vernacular achievement, the translations extend the remit of Spenserian pastoral.

Imperial National Conscience as International Recognition

In the second half of the 17th century and under the conditions of the Westphalian system based on the principles of national state sovereignty, the relations between the empires existing since Middle Ages and Russia, that came to the imperial development scenario only in the New times, entered a new stage. The most morbid reaction to Russian imperial ambitions was demonstrated by the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire. The most important task of Moscow tsars and their diplomats became the task to obtain the Roman Empire’s recognition of the equal status of its rulers and that of the Russian sovereigns. The present article describes how Moscow solved that problem. Special attention is paid to the issue of the Russian tsars titles; to the nuances of diplomatic etiquette related to the work of Russian embassies in the Holy Empire, as well as the reception of the imperial authorized representatives in Russia. In Russian domestic practice the titling of Russian tsars as emperors started with the Latin translation in the official documents addressed to the tsars of the Full Royal title. The specific problem in the relations of the two states remained their affiliation with different confessions. The article describes the attempts of the Holy Roman Empire to recognize the higher international status of Russian tsars in exchange for the permission to hold Catholic services in Russian territory without difficulty.

The ‘Maria Story’ in Greek, Latin, &amp; Hebrew

This article provides the first close comparative analysis of the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew versions of the ‘Maria Story’ or teknophagia, the account of the mother who ate her child within a besieged Jerusalem first recorded in Flavius Josephus’ Jewish War 6.201–203. Josephus’ original account was written in Greek in the first century. Within the following half-millennium, three Latin versions of the story developed: those of 1) the Latin translation of the War, 2) Rufinus of Aquileia’s translation of Eusebius’ Church History, which contains Josephus’ Greek version of the story, and 3) the Latin adaptation of Pseudo-Hegesippus or On the Destruction of Jerusalem (De Excidio Hierosolymitano). This latter text comprises a late fourth-century Christian rewrite of the War and served as the most important source for a Jewish text that would emerge five hundred years later: the so-called Sefer Yosippon, an early tenth-century Hebrew text which is arguably the first and most important installment of medieval Jewish historiography. Each of these texts has received scholarly attention, and sometimes several of them have been discussed together; the Maria Story itself has not escaped scholarly treatment. Yet for all this research the exact relationship between these texts and particularly their accounts of the Maria Story has never been explained clearly and in detail. This article fills this gap in the research and uses the Maria Story to explore source-critical, literary, philological, and rhetorical questions pertaining to these five versions of the Maria Story, with an emphasis upon De Excidio and Sefer Yosippon, the most understudied iterations of this developing ancient and medieval tradition, enhancing scholarly knowledge and appreciation of all these works as distinctive iterations of an interconnected web of tradition.

The ‘Maria Story’ in Greek, Latin, &amp; Hebrew

This article provides the first close comparative analysis of the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew versions of the ‘Maria Story’ or teknophagia, the account of the mother who ate her child within a besieged Jerusalem first recorded in Flavius Josephus’ Jewish War 6.201–203. Josephus’ original account was written in Greek in the first century. Within the following half-millennium, three Latin versions of the story developed: those of 1) the Latin translation of the War, 2) Rufinus of Aquileia’s translation of Eusebius’ Church History, which contains Josephus’ Greek version of the story, and 3) the Latin adaptation of Pseudo-Hegesippus or On the Destruction of Jerusalem (De Excidio Hierosolymitano). This latter text comprises a late fourth-century Christian rewrite of the War and served as the most important source for a Jewish text that would emerge five hundred years later: the so-called Sefer Yosippon, an early tenth-century Hebrew text which is arguably the first and most important installment of medieval Jewish historiography. Each of these texts has received scholarly attention, and sometimes several of them have been discussed together; the Maria Story itself has not escaped scholarly treatment. Yet for all this research the exact relationship between these texts and particularly their accounts of the Maria Story has never been explained clearly and in detail. This article fills this gap in the research and uses the Maria Story to explore source-critical, literary, philological, and rhetorical questions pertaining to these five versions of the Maria Story, with an emphasis upon De Excidio and Sefer Yosippon, the most understudied iterations of this developing ancient and medieval tradition, enhancing scholarly knowledge and appreciation of all these works as distinctive iterations of an interconnected web of tradition.

A Further Usage of the Word Homousios in Latin: Lexicographical Observations

1 ACTA CLASSICA LXV (2021) 1–10 ISSN 0065–1141 A FURTHER USAGE OF THE WORD HOMOUSIOS IN LATIN: LEXICOGRAPHICAL OBSERVATIONS* Matteo Rajola University of Naples, Federico II Pre-Nicene uses of the term homousios From the fourth century on, the word homousios, meaning ‘consubstantial’, appears to be indissolubly intertwined with Christian doctrinal thinking and the need to define the ontological bonds between God the Father and God the Son.1 The word officially entered the ‘technical’ language of Christianity at the time of the Council of Nicaea (AD 325);2 from then on this term, borrowed from Greek, was widely used in Latin works, as we can see in a number of doctrinal and dogmatic texts. But even before the fourth century, homousios was used to refer to the notion of consubstantiality thanks to the significant contribution of Gnosticism .3 However, Beatrice notes that, in paganism, the use of the word homousios in relation to the speculation about the essence of the divine (consisting in Nous and Logos, that is a god-father and a god-son) is systematically explained only in the Poimandres, the first of the essays contained in the Egyptian Corpus Hermeticum.4 There are also five oracles of the same origin, quoted in the first Book of the Theosophy of an anonymous Monophysite 5 dealing with the same theological matters as the Poimandres, including the term homousios, to define the relationship between NousFather and Logos-Son, with the addition of Pneuma-Spirit to complete the * I would like to thank Alessia Avecone, the editor of Acta Classica, and the journal’s readers for their helpful comments and advice in the preparation of this article. 1 There is a rich bibliography regarding the term homousios and the Trinitarian matters related to it. We will just mention here a few contributions made later than the year 2000: Beatrice 2002; Weinandy 2011; Switala 2014. 2 Beatrice 2002:248. On the Council of Nicaea, see Edwards 2009:84–89; Scheck 2010:22–23; Calhoun 2011:194. 3 Grillmeier 1975; Beatrice 2002:248. 4 Beatrice 2002:257. The Corpus Hermeticum is a collection of philosophical-religious works dating to the 2ⁿᵈ or 3ʳᵈ century: Ehmer 2021. 5 A work in four books containing a final world chronicle (beginning of the 6ᵗʰ century). See the critical edition of Beatrice 2001. Rajola 2 picture of the Trinity. Therefore Beatrice concludes that the root of the specifically Christian meaning of the word homousios is to be found in the context of Roman-Hellenistic pagan Egypt and not in that of Gnosticism, where the usage of this word seems to have a looser semantic connection with that found in Christianity to define the ontological bonds between the Father and the Son.6 Homousios may also have been used in a Trinitarian sense before the Council of Nicaea. According to Beatrice, the use of homousios in a strictly Trinitarian sense cannot be inferred from a passage by Clement of Alexandria in which it is stated that the Logos is one with the Father due to sameness of substance:7 Sicut etiam verbum ipsum (hoc est filius), quod secundum aequalitatem substantiae unum cum patre constitit, sempiternum est et infectum (‘So the Word itself (namely the Son), that proved to be one with the Father due to the sameness of their substance, is eternal and without end.’) 8 Beatrice also points out that a passage from Origen of Alexandria’s lost Commentary on Hebrews,9 which survived in a Latin translation made by Rufinus,10 is similar to a passage from the same author’s De principiis, which likewise survived in a Latin translation.11 In both passages homousios is used in an analogical sense rather than as an attempt to define the ontological 6 Ibid. 264–69. Beatrice also devotes a section to the relationship between Emperor Constantine and the pagan and hermetic tradition of Egypt with regard to the Nicene Creed. 7 This passage is part of the Adumbrationes Clementis Alexandrini in epistolas canonicas, a fragment of a Latin translation commissioned by Cassiodorus (5ᵗʰ-6ᵗʰ century, ed. Stählin et al. 1970). Despite the risks of such a statement, this fragment was believed by various...

Ex sanctorum patrum certissimis testimoniis: Reading the Greek Fathers in Latin in Early Medieval Monasteries

Monastic reading communities in early medieval Europe had a voracious appetite for the works of the Greek church fathers in Latin translation. This article examines the evidence for the availability of translated Greek patristics in western abbeys from the fifth to the ninth centuries through a survey of surviving manuscripts and monastic library inventories. While there was not yet a canon of officially recognized ‘fathers of the eastern church’ in early medieval Europe, this article shows how western monks favoured five of the six Greek patriarchs singled out as authoritative in the sixth-century Decretum Gelasianum. In terms of genre, they strongly preferred the homiletical writings of eastern Christian authors over their polemical works, because sermons and biblical homilies had greater utility as tools for teaching and preaching. Lastly, this article highlights the fact that the most widely copied Greek church father in early medieval Europe was also the most notorious and suspect thinker in the eastern church: Origen of Alexandria, whose skill as an author of biblical commentaries outweighed his notoriety as a condemned theologian in the eyes of western monks.

Translation of Greek, Latin and Armenian Fragments of “Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews” by St. Cyril of Alexandria

Translation of Greek, Latin and Armenian Fragments of “Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews” by St. Cyril of Alexandria

Fragments patristiques non reconnus dans l’Expositum in Heptateuchum de Jean Diacre

This article aims to complete and correct the existing analyses of the unpublished Expositum in Heptateuchum of John the Deacon (mid-sixth century) by studying sixteen fragments of patristic works that have not or not properly been identified. A new critical examination of nine fragments edited by Jean-Baptiste Pitra in 1852 makes it possible to specify their nature and to propose a better founded localization in various works of Origen (Stromata, Peri physeon, Letter to Gobarus), of Didymus of Alexandria (De fide) and of Augustine (Sermo Delmulle 1). Seven other fragments, not previously identified, are published here for the first time: a new passage from a Latin translation of Justinian’s Edictum aduersus Origenem, a tractatus on Joshua attributable to Gregory of Elvira, four pieces on Genesis probably from Augustine’s preaching, and a sentence by Victor of Capua. Each of these fragments is the subject of a critical edition and attribution criticism.

Augustine’s Treatment of the Great Psalm

An ancient Hebrew poem of uncertain background and fastidiously subtle formal technique is made the subject of a commentary by a fifth-century Latin bishop with no Hebrew, working with a poor Latin translation, who, moreover, dismisses the formal complexities of the composition as irrelevant to interpretation. Claiming to detect hidden depths beneath the Great Psalm’s limpid surface, Augustine uses it as an opportunity to revisit some of the favorite themes of his own later writing. Has he read the text with sufficient sympathy to discover anything in it that might correspond to the poet’s intentions? Comparing his approach with Ambrose’s earlier and very different one, we notice some unexpected interpretative strengths in the earlier work. But Augustine’s attentiveness to connections between lines and stanzas and to the repetition of key vocabulary reveals a close attunement to the emotional movements of the poem. His contention that the Psalmist’s “law” is to be understood as Saint Paul’s “law of faith” is not imposed on the text, but allowed to emerge from its sequential development, and especially from its opening and closing lines.

On the Question of the Peculiarities of the Translation of Legal Texts

The article examines the use and translation of key terms of Roman law: “proprietas”, “possessio” and “detentio”, which were used in medieval texts in one way or another; at least when it comes to the act material of medieval Italy. Despite the fact that the translation of “possessio” as «владение» has been established in Russian romanistics, the translator must take into account that in Russian the use of the words «владение», «владелец» has certain features. The main problem is that until now, often (with the exception of scientific works of lawyers), the term «владелец» is used to refer to the person who owns the property right, the owner, contrary to the dichotomy between the concepts of «владение» and «собственность». Problems also arise when translating into English. Belonging of England to the Anglo-Saxon legal system leads to difficulties in transferring legal terms of the continental system based on Roman law. Researchers and translators of Latin legal texts can avoid accusations of inaccuracy by resorting to the use of legal terms in Latin in the text, or by duplicating the Latin translation of such a term into English or another language.

Alle origini della riflessione medievale sul tempo. Il caso delle Explanationes in Ciceronis Rhetoricam di Mario Vittorino

Thirteenth-century debates on time are frequently reduced to the opposition between an Ancient tradition, embodied by Augustine, and the Aristotelian philosophy as “physicalist” reading of the problem. However, before the diffusion of the Latin translation of Aristotle’s Physics, notions such as ‘time’, ‘eternity’, ‘aevum’, and ‘present’ have a rich range of meanings and nuances which cannot be considered a mere repetition of an ‘Augustinian model’. A systematic analysis of selected passages of Marius Victorinus’ Explanationes in Ciceronis Rhetoricam provides a representative example of this complexity, making available new conceptual material to reconstruct the sources of the medieval discussions about time and durations.

Transtekstualne aspekty łacińskiej parafrazy Batrachomyomachii autorstwa Jana Siemuszowskiego

Transtextual Aspects of Jan Siemuszowski’s Latin Paraphrase of Batrachomyomachia The article aims to analyse how Jan Siemuszowski, author of a 1568 Latin paraphrase of the Batrachomyomachia, used the Roman epic tradition in his work in the context of Renaissance translations of the poem and how he approached the problem of losing references to Greek literature in the process of transferring the piece into another language. The current state of knowledge of Latin translations of Batrachomyomachia is not advanced, and the issue concerning the dialogue of the poem’s Latin versions with classical literature was recently raised solely by Aaron Vanspauwen, who observed that these works mirror transtextual devices of the Greek original, claiming at the same time that this may be accidental. However, there is sound evidence that the devices were deployed intentionally, as transtextuality appears mainly in texts based on emulation. In this case, it is worthwhile to investigate one of the clearest examples of making use of Roman epic tradition in a translation from Greek, which is a paraphrase made by Jan Siemuszowski, containing over 150 direct references to Latin poetry, especially Virgil and Ovid. To achieve this, Batrachomyomachia and Siemuszowski’s paraphrase were compared in a systematic classification using George Genette’s theory of transtextuality. They were found to have two categories in common, metatexts and intertexts, the latter serving as amplifications and parodies (in Genette’s sense) of epic schemes and heroes. In Siemuszowski’s work, the metatexts are visible in quotations that emphasize the fictional dimension of the work or its supposed grandeur. The allusions used in the amplifications exaggerate the power of heroes and their opponents, and the greatness of the entire world depicted. Moreover, the application of some of them to dangerous characters and phenomena seems to outline the perception of mice and frogs. The comic effect of parody is mainly achieved by highlighting the negative characteristics of animals in contrast to ancient models, especially certain types of figures such as gods, heroes or philosophers. Parody also relates to the stories of epic heroes, making them trivial or lending particular, unearned gravity to the animals. It is observed that Siemuszowski mostly used similar methods as the author of Batrachomyomachia. However, he often supplemented the verses with new, significant references to Virgil and Ovid, preventing the loss of transtexts in the process of translation. The complexity of his piece allows us to perceive it as a text of the third degree – in the terminology used by Katarzyna Warcaba. As a result, Siemuszowski’s paraphrase was in line with the trend of emulation-based translations, whose authors avoided translating the text literally and tried to compete with the original or other authors’ versions of the poem in terms of the techniques used in it.

Looted Libraries and Legitimation Policies: Ptolemy, the Library of al-Arawšī and the Translation Movement in Toledo

Abstract MS Tunis, Dār al-kutub al-waṭaniyya, 7116, is the only extant manuscript containing a complete copy of the Isḥāq/Ṯābit version of the Almagest. Paul Kunitzsch has underlined the close similarities between the marginal notes in the Tunis manuscript and those in Gerard of Cremona’s Latin translation of the Almagest, so that Kunitzsch has concluded that Gerard of Cremona had a manuscript close to the Tunis manuscript before him during the revision of his translation of the Almagest. A note in MS Tunis, Dār al-kutub al-waṭaniyya, 7116, points out that this manuscript was copied from a model owned by al-Arawšī, a bibliophile living in Valencia famous for the size of his library, a significant part of which was looted by al-Maʾmūn b. Ḏī l-Nūn and sent to Toledo, arguably shortly before Ṣāʿid al-Andalusī wrote his Ṭabaqāt al-umam. Based on MS Tunis, Dār al-kutub al-waṭaniyya, 7116, the present contribution explores the significance of al-Arawšī’s looted library as an important link between Umayyad Cordoba and Toledo. It also calls attention to the highly unusual paper of MS Tunis, Dār al-kutub al-waṭaniyya, 7116, made of woven fibers, maybe flax.

The Four Signs of the Art: Edition and Translation of an Alchemical Epistle Attributed to Ḫālid b. Yazīd and its Latin Translation

Abstract In the article, the authors present a study, a critical edition and an English translation of an Arabic alchemical epistle attributed to the Umayyad prince Ḫālid b. Yazīd, together with its Latin translation recently identified by the authors. Among the many alchemical works attributed to Ḫālid b. Yazīd, this untitled Risāla (inc.: ‮إني رأيت الناس طلبوا صنعة الحكمة‬‎) is the second most represented in the manuscript tradition, with no less than twelve witnesses containing it. Its partial Latin translation, available in six manuscripts, was also attributed to Calid, but the name of the translator remains unknown.

Contrastive Linguistic and Cultural Backgrounds of the Two Latin Translators of the Life of Antony

The paper focuses on the direct Bible quotations that the anonymous translator and Evagrius of Antioch rendered from Greek into Latin as part of their versions of the Life of Antony, each in his own way. Did the anonymous translator use any of the existing fourth-century Latin translations of the Bible to translate the biblical quotations he found in the Greek original, or did he translate them himself, without recourse to translations already available? Which version of the Bible did he use when translating the biblical quotations, in Latin or in Greek? What does the anonymous translator’s “literal” and “low-register” style tell us about the translator? Was his non-idiomatic Latin a choice, “Christian” Latin, or rather a limitation in translating into Latin as his target language? On the other hand, what does Evagrius’ “high” and stylistically sophisticated and improved Latin tell us about Evagrius? Whom does he write for, and what do his readers expect from him? This paper aims at answering these questions.

Bibliographical Scrupulousness and Philological Zeal: Conrad Gessner Working on the editio princeps of ‘Ad se ipsum’

Abstract The article concerns the history of the first edition of Greek text of Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations (1559), printed together with its Latin translation and commentary by Wilhelm Xylander. The Zurich philologist and naturalist Conrad Gessner documented it meticulously from its earliest steps in his Neo-Latin bibliographic handbooks, as well as other printed works and letters, meanwhile contributing somehow to its realization. The controversial issue of Gessner’s and Xylander’s role in the establishing of the text of editio princeps, and thus its attribution, is discussed in detail. The other question under consideration is how Gessner imagined the interaction of humanist philology and bibliography, which had to direct literary history in the age of printed word. Taking into account this particular case of Gessner’s bibliographic and philological inquiry, the author attempts to consider his Bibliotheca universalis not only as seminal compilative and critical work, but also as important means of communication and (self-)stimulation.

Philip Melanchthon's Humanist Politics: Greek Scholarship in a Time of Confessional Crisis

ABSTRACT This article examines how Philip Melanchthon utilized classical Greek texts in the confessional conflicts of the Reformation. In 1521, Melanchthon published a Greek edition of Aristophanes’ Clouds as a critique of sophistry, and in 1527 he produced a Latin translation of Demosthenes’ speeches Against Aristogeiton as a rebuke of Johann Agricola's antinomianism. In the 1540s, when the Reformation came under political pressure from the Holy Roman Empire, Melanchthon used a 1540 edition of Xenophon to plead for political aid from the French crown and a 1547 edition of Demosthenes to critique Charles V's aggression. Finally, in 1548, as Melanchthon came under fire from Catholics and Gnesio-Lutherans, he turned to Athenian oratory to defend himself in the Augsburg Interim controversy. As these episodes show, Melanchthon's Greek scholarship was intimately connected with his career as a reformer, and Greek proved to be a powerful tool in addressing doctrinal controversy and political conflict.

Sisterhood and the law in Thomas Watson’s Antigone

This article focuses on the portrayal of sisters Antigone and Ismene in Thomas Watson’s 1581 Latin translation of Antigone. In particular, I argue that Watson’s portrayal of Antigone is more complex than previously thought and that she is in fact acquitted to some degree. Indeed, the prefatory paratexts and Watson’s own legal commentary to the play (the Pomps and Themes) demonstrate that Watson’s aim in translating Antigone is likely to have been to produce a practice law-case. In this case, Watson’s translation would illustrate an example of the need for the legal principle of equity, whereby a culprit could be granted mercy if the punishment in turn proved harmful to the community. Furthermore, the relationship between sisters Antigone and Ismene is inscribed within Watson’s legal interpretation of the play. In particular, I argue, their portrayal in the play as being simultaneously of one blood and yet of opposite views is reprised in Watson’s commentary as he raises both characters to represent different approaches to virtuous citizenship.