Louis G.

Kelly

HISTORY OF TRANSLATION
University of Ottawa

1988

[Draft only]

St. Jerome
 TRA 5901

HISTORY OF TRANSLATION

L.G. Kelly

Universitvof Ottâwa

Draft Only

1988
 CONTENTS

Introduction

A. Classicaland PatristicPeriod
Week 1
sr Jerome(342?419/420)

B. Middle Ages
Week 2
The Diplomat- Anastasius (ca 810-886)
Bibliothecarius
- NicolasOresme
The Scientist
The Printer- William Caxton

C. Renaissance
and Humanism
Week 3 Religion and Science
The Doctor- ThomasLinacre
The Reformer- Manin Luther
The Man of Leften - EsdenneDolet

Week4 Literary Translation

Men of Le$ers- GeorgeChapman,JeanBaudoin

D. The Age of Reâson

Week5
Literary Tmnslation
The Poet- Abnham Cowley
The Man of Taste- Prévost
The Scholar- CharlesBatteux

Wcek6
ReligiousTranslaûon
IsaacLemaisûede Saci
GcorgeCampbell
Week 7
ScientificTranslation
The Rebel- NicholasCulpeper
- PeterShaw
The Esrablishment
The New Broom - Roben Kerr

E. The NineteenthCentury
Week 8 Romanticism
The Precursor- JohannGottlieb Herder
The Followers- Chateaubriand,
BayardTaylor

Week 9 Late Romanticismand Post-Romanticism

AmadéePichot
CharlesSuan Calverley
Léon PamphileLemay

F. EuropeanExpansion
Week 10 Missionaries,Colonisers,and OtherCausesof Bilingualism

G. TrventiethCentury
Week 11 Religiousand TechnicalTranslation
The JerusalemBibles

Week 12 Literary Translation

Ezra Pound
Walter Benjamin
Yves Bonnefoy
Frank Scott
 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bassnen-McGuire,
Susan.1981.TranslationSrtdieJ.London:Methuen
Biographieuniyerselle.1843(2 ed.).45 vols Paris:Desplaces
Brooks, Richard A. 1985. A Critical Bibliography of French Literature. 6 vols. Syracuse:
SyracuseUniversityPress
CatnbrîdgeBibliographyof EnglishLiterature.ç vols.Cambridge:CUpr-/7 7+
- CrunbridgeHistory of the Bibte. 3 vols. Cambridge:CUt / q TO
.+-
-
Cioranescu,A. 1959.Bibliographiede Ia littératurefrançaisedu seizièmesiècle.Paris:CNRS
-, 1966.Bibliographiede la li.ttérature siècle.3 vols. paris: CNRS
françai.sed.udix-seprième
-, 1969.Bibliographiede Ia littératurefrançaisedu dix-huitièmesièc/e.3 vols. Paris:CNRS
Dictionary of ScientifcBiography16 vols. New York: Scribners
Holmes,JamesS. et a]. 1978.Translationand Literature.Leuven:ACCO
Horguelin,Paul. 1975.Histoire de Ia traduction:domainefrançais.Montréal:Linguatech
KeUy,L.G. 7919.The True Interpreter.Oxford: Blackwell
-. 1984' "Bibliographyof the Translationof Literature" $$VI-VIII. ComparatiyeCriticism 6
0984\ 347-59
.F'
Lefevere,André. 1977.TranslatingLiterature: the GermanTraditionfrom Luther to Rosenzweig.
+'
Assen& Amsterdam:van Gorcum
Newman,Maureen,& su-arford,Philip. 1975.Bibliographyof canadian Books in Translation:
French to English , Englishto Frencft.Onawa:HRCC
Paningron,J.R. 1961-70.A History of Chemktry.(4 vols). LondonMacmillan
Sanon,George.1947.Introductionto the Hktory of science.3 vols. washingron,D.c.: Camegie
Institute
Stephen,Leslie et al. edd. 1885-1900.Dictionary of National Biography63 vots. London: smirh,
Elder
Taton, René. 1963.Ancientand Medievalscience,tr. A.J. pomerans.London:Thames& Hudson
Steiner,Ceorge.1T75.After Baàel.Oxford: OUp
Thomdike' Lynn. 1923-58.A History of Magic and Experi.mental
science. g vols. Ncw york:
ColumbiaUniversityPress

*CAo/nos\, K" fk4+'tÛ\-, L/+ t-, /^ 7/4- .

*Lo/rr*r*t c f;r44 Lt-4v. *- a. a' /
4!r-*
f Ç.--67o x_êt4^.
o
The courseis organisedamundindividualtnmslators,not necessarilythe most outsEndingin their
period or geffe but rpical of bolh the virtues and vices of their period.Translatorswith a good
bibliography,like Anne Dacier,JohnDryden,arc bestleft as the subjectof courseprojects.

Srudentswill be askedto give a seminarand wrie an essay.They will be of equalmark value.A

list of subjectsis givôn below:
l. Take two venions of the sametext separatedby at least 50 yearsand comparetbcm. Whât
does such a comptrison show about the periods involved. (e.g. contemporaryversions of
Descarteswith modemonesLikeAnscombeand Geach;differentversionsof Shakespcare,
Locke,
etc.)

2. "La traductionest I'accoucheuse

des littératures"(Cary). Take one period in a country that
intercstsyou and illustrate.

3. Is Steinerright in claiming that Fanslationtheory beginswith the Romantics?Give evidence

for your answerftom at leasttwo countries.

4. Take two translatorsfrom llle samecountrybut differcntp€riodsand comparcthem.

5. How has translationaffectedthe passageof ideasberweenvadouspans of the WestemWorld.

Restrictyour answerto one paniculù p€riod.

6. Trace the developmentof translation(literary and oùerwise) in one coun!ry (e.g. Canada,a
newly independentcountry)during this century.What havebeen the pcrceivedneeds,how have
they beenmet?
Introduction

to remart the needto elucidatctheoreticalissuesin translationby

Ir has becomecommonplace
investigatingits Nstory. For if rhere is a common theoreticalcore to translation,translatoBof
previousageswill have faced much the sameproblemsas modems,and their solutionsto their
problemswill at least bear thinking about.True as rhis is, tnnslation history is not only one of
rheory,but also of the placeit held in its society.
There is considerableevidenceof translationin ancientcivilisatiors, most of it to do with
administradonand trade.Herc our staning point is ancientRome during the third century BC
when Romansoldierswerebeing repatriatedafter garrisonduty on the Greekcommunitiesof the
eastemMediterraneanand Southemltaly, and the Roman authoritieswere beginningto realise
that administeringan empire meant having some fairly sophisticatedtranslationtalent. Our
flnishing-pointis the present.The coursewill deal with written translation,Lokinginto account
literary and rcligiouswork as well as the technicrl normally dealt with. Given the circumstances
the major concentrationafter the sixteenthand seventeenthcenturieswill be on French and
English.
Europeanthoughton waysof translationderivesultimately from lhe Jewsof AleKandriain the
first centuryBC and the Romansof the ClassicalAge. The fint passage
below represents
thc neo-
PlatonistJews who translatedthe Old Testamentfmm Hebrew into Greek during the second
cennuryBC, ând the otherthreethe classicalRoman rhetoricians.The Romanshavebeenquoted,
tftnslated and comflented on to the Doint that thev have dominatedtranslationcriticism ever
since.
De vita MoysisII.38-9(20 BC)
Philo Iudaeus,
tr. EdirionBudé
-mais le mot proprechaldéen(dansles textesde la Loi) fut rcndu exâctement
par le même
mot propre grec, parfaitementadaptéà la chose signiné. De même,en effet, à mon sens,
qu'en géometrieet en dialectique,les chosesà signifier ne sLrpporten!
pas le bigarre dans
I'expressionçi resteinchangéeune fois établie,de même aussi,semble-t-il,ces ûaducteurs
découvrirentles expressions
adaptéesaux réalitésà exprimer,les seulesou les plus capables
de rendreavecune parfaiteclané les chosessignifiées.
rr. Kelly 1988
-the appmpriateChaldeanword (in rhese legal texts) was exactly Eanslatedby the
appropriateGreek word, perfectly suited to the thing signified.It seemsto me ûlat rhese
translalors,just as they would havedone b€forea text in geometryor dialecticwhich can nor
afford ambiguity in expression,worked ou! the expressionsprop€r to the realities to be
expressecl,the most appropriâteindeed the only words capableot renderingt}le things
 INTRODUCTTON

signifiedwith perfectclarity.
'Onep
êni toût1s t{s vopo0eo(o5 où $o.or o,lppivor, ouve-
vey0ivor 6'eis roùrôv xriprc x,.rpiotçôv6pcror,rà'EÀÀ1vrrù
toîç XoÀ6oïxoî5, Êvo.ppoo0Évroeû pôÀo roîç 61Àor.rpÉvorç
rrpôypc,orv. [39] "0v yàp tpétrov, olpcr, êv yerop<rp(ç xoi
ôrq.À<xtr,xitô clpcrvôp<vo rrorxrÀiov épplvrica o,ir<àvÉXetor,
pévrr E' àpetépÀ1tos i1 i( ôpyfrs reOeîoc, rèv oùtôv ôç
iorxe rp6rrov xoi oûror, or.rvtpÉXovroroî9 npôypoorv ôv6poro
ÈfeOpov,8,nep 6{ pr3vc i péÀroto, rpavrioerv ëpelÀcv èp{ov trxô5 rà 61Àoûpevo.

MarcusTullius Cicero(106 BC - 43 Bq, De optimogenercoratorumv.14

I trdnslâtedinto Latin a pair of the mos! famousspeechesby lwo of the most noble Grcek
orators arguingoppositesidesof the case:thoseby Aeschinesand Demosthenes,
two most
eloquentorators.I did not work as a Eanslator,but as an orator,translatingthe sameopinions
and their expressionin sentenceshapesand wordscongruentwith our conventions.In doing
this, I did not think it necessary
to work word for word, but I kept the force and characterof
every word. I did not take it as my duty to countthe words out for the reader,but io weigh
ùem out (Kelly).
tr. Pierredu Ryer, 1670
Ainsi j'ai trâduit en nosûe langue deux oraisons,les plus fameusesdes deux plus grands
Orateursqui ayent fleuri parmy les Athéniens,I'une d'Eschine, & I'autre de Démosthène.
Néantrnoinsje ne les ay pas traduitescomme Interprètemais comme Orateur, avec les
mesmessentimens,avec les mesmesfigureS,& enfin avec des paroles Convenables &
confonnesà nostreusage.Au reste,je n'ay pi$ crt qu'il fust besoinde les rendremot à mot,
mais j'ai lâchéd'en comprendlela vertu et la qualité,& d'en conserverla vigueur.Carje me
suis imaginéqu'il ne les fâIlôit par rcndrepar compteau Lecteur,maispour ainsidire,par
poids.
Convcnienim ex atdcisduorumeloquendssimorum
nobilissirnas
orationesinter se contrarias,
Aerhinis Demosthenisque:
necconvertiuf inærpres,
sed ut orator,sên(entiis
iisdem,et eârum
formis,tâmquam
6guris,verbisad nostram
consuetudinem
aptis;in quibusnonverbumproverbo
necesse habuireddere,sedgenusomniumverborum,
vimqueservavi:nonenimeâmeannumere
lectoripuavi oportere,sedrârnquam
appendere.

QuinrusHoratiusFlaccus(65-8BC) Ats poerical3l-35 (ca t9 Bq

tr. Ben Jonson,about1635
Yet commonmatterthou thineown maistmake,
If thou rhe vile broad-rroden
ring fonake.
For, being a Poet,thou maistfeigne,create,
Not carc, æ thou wouldstfaithfullv translate.
 INTRODUCTION

To rendcrword for Word: nor with thy sleight

Of imitation,leapeinto a streight,
From whencethy Modcstie,or Poemeslaw
Forbidsthce forth againethy foor to draw.
u. CharlesBatteux1750
Le sujet le plus commundeviendravotre bien proprc,si vous ne vous attachezpas à la lettre,
ni à rcnd.retrait pour trait comme un trucheman.Vous n'irez point, pa-rune imitâtion
scrupuleuse,vous jeter à l'éûoit, tellementque vous ne puissiezvous retirerqu'en vous
déshonoranl,
ni avancerqu'en blessantles Ègles.
Publicâ materies priyati iuris erit, si
non circa vilem patulumque moraberis oôem,
ner yerbo verbum cuabis reddere frdus
interpres,nec desiliesimitator in afium,
unde pedem proferre pudor veæt aut op€ris lex;

MarcusFabiusQuindlianus(AD ca 35-100),Institutiones
oratoriae,X.v.5 (ca 96 AD).
lr. J. Patsall,1774
A;td I would no! have this paraphraseto be merely an inrerpretadon,but rather a sort of
emulationand srrife to expressthe samethought with equai dignity, though in a different
manner.
rr. L'abbé Gedoyn,1718
Car je veux que cetteparaphrase
soit, non pas une pure interprétation,mais une interprétation
libre, ou plurostune noble émulationd'exprimerdifféremmentles mêmespensées.
Nequeegoparaphrasin esseinterprebtionem
Entumvoto,sedcircaeosdemsensus
certamen
atque
aemulationem.

All evidenceto the contrary,trÂnslationhas traditionallybeentaken as a literÀrycraft. This is

only panially true: Eurcpe is a civilisation of translations,every aspectof Eurcpeânculture,
literature,adminjstration,trade,religion and sciencehaving beendeeply influencedby translaton.
The Romanl.raditionis more readily acknowledged thesedays than rhe Jewish,althoughin this
centurythe JewishPlatonistview of translationappearsin the work of Walter Benjamin,Ceorge
Steinerand symbolisltranslatorslike AntoineBermanand Ezra Pound.The JewishPlaronistideas
on the rclationshipbetweenlanguageand the divine flourishedin the assiduoustransladonof the
Bible and other religiousdocuments.It would b€ a mistaketo put this down completclyto
intellecfualtradirion:many of theseearly translatorswere uneducated,and worked accordingto
the normal assumptionthat word equalsthing. The three quotâtionsfrom cicero, HorÀcf and
 Ii\.iTRODUCTION

Quinrilianheadingthis coursehavehad an influenceout of all proponionto their lcnglh.

Cicero'smarveilously imageof weighingwordsou! insteadof countingùem out is
evocative
one ùrat comesup mary times in translationcriticism.The influenceof the Horacepæsageis due
to a misunderstanding:
he is not talking abouttrarslation,but aboutliterary imitation.But sinceat
least the eighth century,this passagehas been taken by most peopleâs condemningword-for-
word translation.The two oppositeinæçretationsof the sentenc€about the fù$ interpres$e
by Batteuxand Jonson-Batteuxaccusesthe "faithful translato/' of translatingword
demonstrated
for word. Jonson is far morc equivocal: his "æ thou wouldst faithfully translate" can be
interpretedas Batteuxdoes,as sayingùat the faithful translatorrendenword for word. Or it may
be taken as a purposeclause,that if one is to translatefaithfully one "maist not care to render
word for word". In the Latin the term,fdw interpres,is in appositionto the subjectand can be
translatedâs, "Nor will you, a faithful translator,renderword for word", or as "nor will you, as a
faithful translatordoes,translateword for word". The matterremainsopen.
The Quintilian sumseverytiing up. The key term is aemulatio,rivalry. As â term in ftetorical
critieism,Cicero bad definedit as the "imitation of virtues of the model". And elsewhere,he had
remarked that translation was a type of imitaiion. Quintilian picks this up, seeking ro balancethe
respectCicero showsfor imitationwith Horace'scontemptuous referenceto it in ihe Arspoeti.ca:
indeed the ûeatrnenlof translaûonwe refer to abovefollows immediatelyon his discussionof
imitation.From that discussionlater translationcritics drew two points.The first was the imageof
the imitalor or translarcr following in the footsæps of the author: the second is the absolute
necessityof being original as one doesso, of addinga bit of oneself.But from Romantimes on
the panisansof literal and free translationhave waged a hot but inconclusivewar that will
probablycontinuefor as long as thereis ranslation.
A. THE CLASSICAL PERIOD

Translationwas a constantof ancientcivilisations,there being recordsof it like the Rosetta

stone from Eg)?t and bilinguat inscriptionsfrom other civilisatiors like the Assyrian.The one
ancient civilisation that has very little to say about translationis the 6reek. Though some
translationdid go on as Greeceexpandedtrade and political activity, throughtheir overweaning
snobberyabourtheir own languagerhey discountedit as a regrettablenecessityfoisted on them
by peoplcwho could not speakproperly.
There is quite a bit on translationin the later booksof the Bible. The Jewishtranslatorsof the
cities in
Old Testamentwere basedin Alexandria,then one of the most importantGreek-speaking
the Mediterranean.They faced an unenviablechoice.On the one hand the Scriptureshad to be
translatedfmm Hebrew into Greek b€causemost Jews living outside Palestine could not
understandHebrew well enoughto rcad the Scdpturesor foliow the synagoguereadings.On the
other, lranslation of the Scriptureswas regardedas tamperingwith the Word of God, and
thereforeriskedbeing sacrilegious.
These Jews reinforced their traditional rcvercncefor the word of God by Neo-platonist
philosophy.God ard Man, as we see in ûle eârly pan of ùe Bible, had collaboratedin giving
namesto thingsi and thesenameswere not.arbitrary.Indeed,in the accountof creationwhat God
called the things he made is æ importantas his making of them. Plato's theory of language
implied that namesdirectly reflectedthe natureof their referenB.Thus the physicalshapeof the
Word had a crcative power. SecondlyJewishtheologyas exprcssedin the Psalmsin panicular
saw God as illuminating the human soul and mind through his word; and wirhour this
illuminationone could not get at the truth. and this squaredwith Plato's ideason the role of ric
Divine in leading Man 10 knowledge.Thus if one altercd the Word, one negatedirs creative
power-andtrarslation inlo anotherlanglagewæ a radical a.ltering.The way round this dilemma
was by enjoining srict word-for-wordtransladon.Philo Iudaeussuggeststhat this solution was
taken frcm the languageof philosophy,in which the structur€of the vocabularyreflectsthat of
the ùeory, and lhereforeof the object analysed.Thus the relationshipbetweenword and refercnt
is univocal,and word-for-wordiranslationis the only possible,
In ancientRome translationbeganwith the Romanexpansioninto the Greek communitiesof
SouthemItaly during the third cenruryBC The firsr tnnslator into Latin was Livius Andtunicus,
a Greekbroughtto Rome as a slaveafterthe caprureof Talentumin SouthemItaly in 272 BC In
about 250 BC he produceda Latin version of the Odyssey,wh.ichwas srill being used as a
textbookin Romanschoolsa coupleof centurieslater.The soldien and orheradministrÀtors
were
comingbackto Romewith a tastefor Creekalnusements,
panicularlytheaEe.
Enterprising
writers
suppliedthe need, first by free fanslation and even adaptationfrom Greeksources,and ûlen by

l0
 THE CLÂSSICAL PERIOD

original writing. The two most famousof t}Iesedramatistsof the generationafter Livius, P,faulrs
(died 184 BC) nd Tercnce(190?-159?BC), were regardedas authoritieson translationuntil the
end of the RomanEmpire. The greatestage of Roman literary translationlastedfrom the lst
centuryBC rc the middle of tle lst centuryAD. This age set the customwhich lasrcduntil well
and constantexercisecf. the
into this cenruryof treatingfanslation as a literary apprenticeship
lettersof Pliny the Younger(AD 61-112).The greatnamesare Catullus(87-57BC), Cicem (106-
43 BC), and Horace(65-8 BQ. Translationremainscommonin the cenfuriesfollowing, one of
the notabletranslatorsbeing the pNlosopherApuleius(AD 120?-155),the authorof The Golden
Ass. The imponanceof literary ranslation hæ obscuædthe immenseamountof technicaland
scientifictranslation,most of it done by Greekswho had come to Rome as slaves.Most of this
work wæ done either for a patron or commercially.Drawing on the tâlent at his disposalthe
Emperor Augusnrsset up a translationoffice as part of the imperial householdto assistin
adminisleringthe Empire.
ClassicalLrtin translationb€arsall tie marks of its place in the disciplineof rhctoric.From
Cicero to Quintilianthe theoryand practiceof translationrestedon the conceptof rivalry through
creativeimiElion. Cicerodefined"rivalry" as the imitation of outstandingvirû.res.The essenceof
Romanpracticeis a carehrlbalancebetween"following in the autlor's footsteps"and originality.
It is notewonhythat the ancientdramalistswere not tr€atedâs models,orùy as inspirations.In all
casesone was controlledby what Horace called lex operis (the "law" of the work). Henceûte
imponanc€of Cicero's dictum that one must seek the value of a word and not its formal
equivalence.One shouldnote howeverthe inferencethat word-for-wordtranslationwas used in
Rome,and indeedsomeof it doestum up in medicaiexts. Ther€ are also a coupleof remarkable
instancesof it in the versionsthe poet, Canrllus,madeof someof the love poetryof Sappho(see
Kelly 1979;sv Canrllus).Cicero discussedtranslationvery often, but the âbovepassageis that
mo$ often cited. He makestwo major poins: that in this son of work word-for-wordtranslation
is not suitablefor a good translatorseeksfunclionalequivalence,not formal. And that a ftanslator
should seek in the resourcesof his own languageexpressionsthat reproduceas much of the
meaningand emotionalcogencyof the original. ThoughCicerohad much !o say âbourrhe rheory
of ranslation, and by his own work on Greek philosophenlaid the groundworkfor Westem
philosophical and scientific vocabulary, literary fanslarion practice was codified by the
rhetorician,Quintilian(ca AD 30-100),in his /nrrittres of Oratory X.
Chdstianuanslaiion,likewise from Greek into Latin, begins in the secondcenturyAD with
the Shepherdof Herrnas,and parts of the Bible. Translationof Greekliturgiesfor Larin-speakers
begins soon after. After the emancipationof Christianityunder Constantinein 312 there is an
increasingnumberof juridical documentsand many of the Greek religiouswriters are translated
inro Latin. Some attentionis paid to orher languagesas well. The larc fourth centuryand the

ll
 .I.l{ECI-ÀSSICALPEzuOD

early fifth are in many ways Rome's secondclassicalperiod. But it differs from the time of
Cicero and Horacebecausethe knowledgeof Greek, which had been the mark of the educated
personin their day, wæ no longercommonoutsidethe GreekEast.By then Christianculturehad
stabilisedafter the conversionof the Emperor,Constantine,and Romansocietyhad not yet been
destabilisedby the incursionsof the barbarians.The Chdstiantradition culminatesin the work of
St lerome (348420), rhoughhe is orùy one of a very skilled band of translators,including his
former friend, Rufrnus(340?416), lhe philosopher,Marius Mercatot (ca 4OO-450),and a large
numberof anonyrnous
churchmen.
Roman translationcomesto an end and medievaltranslationbegins with Boethius(AD '180-
524), who had intendedto producea translationof aI of Aristotle and as many of the imponant
Greekphilosophenas possible,but was executednrst.

Terence [Publius Terentius Afer] 190 BC?-159 BC?

Dramaûst;probablybroughrto Romeas a slavein about 175 BC

Translâtions
166 BC Andria (from an originaiby Menander)
165 BC Hecurge(from an originalby Apollodorusof Carystus)
161 BC Phormio(ftom an originalby Apollodorusof Carystus)
Translatedpassages
in his otherplays

Why did TerenceTranslate?

Terenceis one of ùe first commerciallilerary fanslatorsrecorded.After comingto Romeas a
slave,he was manumittedby his masterand then supponedhimself by writing plays for various
Romanfestivals.

How did Terence Translate?

Terenceis includedherc only becauselhe Romansthoughtof him as a tÉnslator and cited
him as such even as late as Jerome.Though there arc passagesof transladonin his plays, his
compositiontechniquewas morc like Shakespeaæ's:
from a baseof rranslationhe adaptedfrcely
to both the socialmilieu and tastesof his audience.He was a somewhatmore radical forerurLner
of the seventeenth-century
âellesinfidèles-

l2
 THE CLASSICALPER]OD TERE\ICE

Prologueto Andria, 11-71(166 BC?)

tr. ThomasNewman(fl. 1570-1600)

Andria and,Perinthia, which Menanderwrote

(Know one,know both) nor much alike in plot,
AJe differentyet both in their stile andphrâse.
He [i.e. Terence]not deniesthat fuomPerinthia
Thosethingsthat seem'dconvenientin ùe same,
He (as his owne)hath dlawn into tle hame
And couse of ùis presented
Andrra.
This is the thing they challenge,and theybranle
Thar suchson of cleanlyComedie
Shouldnot be hotch-potched.
Thesemen verily
Wlile much ùey seeme,shewthey know noughtât all;
Who him accusingdraw his presidents
Naeuius, Plautus, funius, in like crime;
To whosemistâkingshe would ratherclimbe,
Then follow thesernensobscurediligence.

References
Forehand, W.E. 1985. Ierence. Boston: Twayne
Oxford Classical Dicionary. 1970. Oxford: Clarendon Press, sv. '"Tercnce"

St lerome (A.D. 342?-4191420)

Krowr as a first-clâssif somewhatrigorisrand quarrelsome
theologian:probablythe mosr
brilliant scholarof his time. His VulgatedominatedBiblical Scholanhip until the Reformation,
and is only now b€ing displacedas the official versionof the CarholicChurch.
342 Bom of Christianparcnmat Strido,Dalmatia.
ca 350-60 School at Rome under the great grammarian,Aclius Donatus, whos€ Ladn
gnunmarwas usedfor the next thousandyears
365 Baptised;begantheologyat Trier
374 Went to a hermitagein the Syriandesen
377? Ordainedpriestar Anûoch
380?Snrdiedat Conslantinople
underGregoryof Nazianzen
and Gregoryof Nyssa
382-84Privatesecrctaryto PopeDamasus

IJ
 THE CLASSICALPERIOD TERE\CE

386 Retires to a monastery at Bethlehem

Translations
380420 A huge number of miscellaneoustranslationscovering Church administrarion,
monasticrules,theology,letters.The most significantof them are:
380 Chronicles oI Eusebius
381-90\ir'orksof ùe Eastemtheologian,Origen
383-406Panial rcvisionand trânslationof the Latin Biblc (the \/ulgate)

TheoreticalWritings
Jerome wrote no separaletreatiseon t.ranslationunlessone counts his indignant refutationof
chargesthat he was either incompetentor malicious(Letter 57 to Pammachius),Lener 106 to
Sunnia and Freteua on Bible translation,and cenain letters to St Augustine. Most of his
translations,panicularlythe separatebooksof the Bible, haveprefaceswhich detail his ideas.

Cultural Background
Jemmeillùstrateshow Latin Chrisdanitywas setdngup its o\À'ntraditionfrom both Jewishand
classicaitraditions. His educationhad exposedhim to both. Under Donatus he would have
received a ftetorical rraining whose main outlines had been set in Cicero's day. His later
"theoiogy" training was mairùy Bible study. His stint in Constantinople,which foilowed the
ancientRoman traditionof finishingone's educationin the Greek East, was untraditionalin the
sensethat it was doneundertwo Chdstianteâchers,and it was Iherehe cameunderthe influencc
of the Greek Fatlers, panicularly Origen. The Greek East had ncver had much problcm in
reconcilingpaganand Christian,and the Greekattitudethat Christianitycould comfonablyleam
from pagan classicswas later taught by Jerome,even if at times he paraded a ruthlessly
fundamentalistview of the dangersof paganliterâture.His Roman educationhad also exposed
him to the rhetoricaltraditionof Cicem, Horaceand Quintilian.Thus in arguingwith his enemies
he defendshis translationpracticesby quoting a rangeof reveredauthorities
in Ad Patnrrutchiam,
beginningwith the pre-Classical
dramatistsand endingwith his immediateChristianforebears

Why did he translatÊ?

By Jerome's time Roman Christianity, particularly in Nonh Africa, had ceasedspeaking
Greek, but was still conscioustiat the Greek East was culrurally and religiously more
Much of Jercme'slranslationseemsto have been administradve:
sophisticated. one has the
that in tie communityin which he lived any documentin Greekwas broughrto him
impression
for translation,and &at he obtigedon the spot.The Latin Christiancommunityhaving always

l4
 THE CI-ASSICALPERIOD IEROME

acceptedtranslationas a form of teaching,Jerometranslatedthe Greek Fathers (particularly

Origen) for the edificationof his colleagues.A similar motivation underlay the Vulgâte.This,
however, was commissionedby Pope Damasus,who wished to bring an end to the confusion
causedamong the laity by the large numberof slightly differing Latin vcrsions of the Biblc
circulatingamongthe ChristianChurches.

How did he translate?

in lettersand prefacesfollows C'lassicalprecedent
His own thoughton translationas expressed
very closely. His first concemwas accuracyof text. This demandfor an authentictext.prompted
him to cast doubt on the Old Testamentbooksextantin Greekody, an attitudelater to be taken
up by Luther. Hence his Old Testamentis largely translationfrom the Hebrew, and his New
Testamentis a revisionof the exisdngLatin translationstaken from the original Greek. Much to
the concernof St Augrrstine,who was worried aboutthe possiblepastoraldifficulties causedby
"changing"familiar texts,he spentconsiderable
time on establishingauthenticGreeli and Hebrew
texts. Almost in spite of himself his concem with hebraica yerilas rcflects the close links
Platonist philosophy and Jewish rcligious attitudes saw between reality and is label, between
languageand God. In many placesthe Sepruagintlackedverirasin either or both of two senses:
at times the Greek words werewrcng, eventhoughthe original had been clear: and at times the
Hebrew iself was incomprehensible
so that the Greek could not be accurateeven if it made
sense.
The l€tter to PammachiusquotesCicero'sDe optimo genereoratorwn veôatim, and in the
samelener he reflectsthe clæsicaldoctrineof rivalry by the famousmehphor of bringing home
the author'smeaningby right of conquest.He developsthe old doctrineof functionallyequivalent
translationby discussinghow style in the sourcetexr matchessryle in rhe targer(seeKelty 1979:
181).Jeromefollows the classicaltradiûonin taking the unit of translationas the phraseor sense-
group, not the word. Thus he translates
eithersensurnpro sensq or per cola et cottunata(i-e- by
sentencedivisions).And he was not aboveexplanatoryexpansionsin his versions.It seemsthat
he often ranslatedorally: in many references
to his own work he s€emsto take it for grantedthat
one dicates translations10a secrctary.
He claims to treat Scripturcdifferentlyfrom other t1pes of translation,as in Scripture"even
Ùre order of the words is a mysrery".He arguesfor this anitude from lhe Platonistdefenceof
Iiteral translationwe have alreadyseenin the intmduction.For a literai tnnslation preservesthe
mystic communionbetweenCod and Man. Not that this was an excusefor bad Lxtin. Howeverit
would be a mistaketo seerhis as out of keepingwith his bæic principle of style matchingstyle.
For just as the rhetoricaistyle of his Greekauthorswas to be matchedby free trÀnslaùon,so the
Hebraic style of Biblicai Greekwas to be matchedby a close translarion.For this pmduceda

15
 THE CI-ASSICALPERIOD JEROME

Hellenisedchristian Latin that was not too differcnt in shapefrom the Hebraic Greek of the
original. The Judaictheory he preachedfor his public, bur in puning it into practicehe remained
within the intent of Romanrhetoric.He is one of the first peoplerecordedas using an informant.
As his Hebrew was not too good, in translatingthe Old Testamenthe employeda Rabbi who
trânslatedit into Greek, and from ùât Greek Jercme went inro Latin. unlike a lot of his
colleagùes,he rejectedthe idea that a Biblical translatorwas inspired: good scholarshipwas
sufficienr.In any case a Eanslarorcarelessenoughnot to researchhis zubjectwould not have
becninspired:a just God would haveleft him to stcw in his own iuice.

FromLetler106(403?)
For everygood transLator
is subjectto this nrle: ûat he expressthe peculiarresoucesof the source
language through his own. we know that Cicero did thjs with plalt's protagoras, Xenophon's
Oeconomicusând Demosthe$es's
spech againstAeschines;as indeeddid ùrosemost perceptiveof men,
Plautus,Terenceand Caecilius,in transladngcomediesfrom Greek.But thereis no reâsonto believethat
tle l-atn languageis lirnited becauseword-for-wordtrarslationis impossible:the Greekstoo uanslatemost
of our tatin idioms by circumlocutions, and they make no auempt ao trânsla@Hebrew wsds liîerÀlly, but
try to representthem by the resourcesof their own language.

References
Bardy, G. 1940."Traducteurset adapteursau quatrièmesiècle" Recherches
de sciencerelipieuse
30,257-306
1843svv. "Cicéron",,,Jérôme"
Biographieuniyerselle,
CatnbridgeHistory of the Bible, vol 1:412-562
Coste,J. 1958."La premièreexpériencede raduction biblique",Maison-Dieu53, 56-gg
Courcelle,P. 1943,Les letcresgrecquesen occid.ent
de Mocrobeà Cassiodore.Paris: de Boccard
cuendet,G. l.933."cicéron et saint-Jérôme
traducteurs",
RevuedeséntdzslatinesxI, 3g0400
Favex, charles. 1958.sajrr Jérômepeint par lui-même.collection LaromusxxxIII. Bruxe es:
REL
Horguelin1975:sv "Jér6me"
Jerome'AD 4û2 Ad Panntachium.tr. L.C. Kelly. Oftawa:Schoolof Translatorsand Interprerers,
1976
Kelly, J.N.D. 1975Jerome: His Life, Writingsand Controyersies.
London:Duckwonh
Kelly, L.G. 1973."LinguisticsandTranslation
in SaintAugïsrine".TheBible Translator24, 134-
9
- 1979.sv ,,Jemme"

l6
 THE CLASSICALPERIOD

Nerv catholic Encyclopedia.New york: McGraw-Hill. 1967. svv ..Jemme". .,Translarion

Literafurc".
OxfordClassicalDicionary.2 ed. Oxford:Clarendon
press.1970.sv..Jerome".
Poncelet'R. 1957. cicéron traducteurde platon: I'expressionde la penséecomplexeen ratin
classique.Paris:deBoccard
vigouroux, F.G. 1949.Dictionnairede ta Bible. supplément.edd. Louis pirct & André Roben.
Paris:Letouzey.svv "Itala", "Jérôme"
'l976.
l ^ l a r d m a nA,l a n , R o m e ' sD e b t t o G r e e c e .L o n d o n :t l e k ( s v . t r a n s l a t i o n ) -
| , l i l l i a r h s , G o r d o n .1 9 6 8 . T r a d i t i o n a n d 0 r i q j n a l i t y i n R o m a n
Poetry.
O x f o r d : 0 U P( c h a p t e r 5 )

t7
B. THE MIDDLE AGES
Week2

In ùanslationas in everythingelse,ùe Middle Ages falls into two pafis, dividing at aboutthe
tenth century. AlûroughJeromewas rcveredand quotedright through the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance as the main model for transladon,the medievaltone was set by Eoeairus(480-524),
famous for the Consolatiophilosophiae.He had inrendedto stave off the advancingtide of
barbarismattcndanton the collapseof the RomanEmpireby producingLatin versionsof as mary
of the important texts by Plato and Aristotle as he could. Translationof literarurcwas not an
issue.Boethiushad put the Judaeo-Christian
traditionof translationagainstthe specialbackground
of technicaitranslation.Thus he saw salvationas restingin the intellect, and he revenedto the
strict lype of translationthoughtproperby Bibiical translators.Indeedhis prefaceto Porphyry's
lsagogein which he castigatedeleganceas inimical to "ruth" dominatedtranslationinto Latin for
the next thousandyears(cf. Kelly 1979;71).
Boethiuswas followed by Cassiodons(ca 490-583),a Romannoblemanwho spemsometime
in Constantinople.
Between550 and 560 he foundeda monasteryin Calabriacailed the Vivariwn,
dedicatedto prcservingClassicalculture.Though translationfrom Greek theologianshad beena
had put it on a fairly soundadministrative
traditionûlactivityin the Latin Church,Cassiodorus
footing. He like Boethius,had the ambitionto tfimslatethe whole of Greekliterature,philosophy
and theologyinto Latin. Thoughhe did not succeedin this, he set up a tradirionby which those
in the Vr'estwith someknowledgeof Greektmnslatedfor the edificationof their colleagues,and
kept diplomatic lines open with ûe EastemChurch.Fmm his time until the sixieenthcenrury
there is a flourishingtraffic of religious and diplomalic EanslationsbetweenEast and West.
Among ùre most imponantnamesare DionysiusExiglus (early 6th cenfury),Hilduinus,Abbot of
Saint-Denis in Paris, (n. 800-840), AnastasiusBibliothecarius(ca 810-886), Joaines Scotus
Eigena (85O-9OO). Equally imponant are missionarieslike Sts CyrrTarfi Methodius(early 9rh
century) who chdstianisedrhe Slavs and translatedthe Greek lirurgy and Bible into Slavonic.
Betweenrhe 9th and 16ù centuriestherewere Latin communitiesin Constantinople
ând Cleek in
the West who kept up a steadyflow of translationin an effon to heal lle breachb€tweenEâstem
and WestemChdstianiry.
The influenceof Royal courtsand otherofficial bodicscan not b€ undercslimated.
Among the
most significant are the schoolsand cultural centresof the Muslim world at Baghdad,Seville,
Toledo, Cordova, wherc Greek philosophy and science was translated into Arabic and
perceptivelycommentedon. Fmm the tenth to the eady twelfrh cenruriesthesecentresplaycd
host to a numberof Chrisrians,
e.g.Adelardof Bath (fl. 1130).Cerail of Cremona(l I l4-1187),
HcrmannusAlemalnus (1013-54),who ranslatedArab texts into Latin and broughtback to the

18
 THE MIDDLE AGES

west texts from Aristotle and Plato ùat had been lost. Indeeda greatnumberof Arab medical
and scientific tcxts came into Latin fint thmugh the work of the "School of Toledo", and then
into French,Catalanand Provençalaccordingto local requirements.One other imponantcentre
for this work was the court of the Kingdomof the Two Sicilieswheretranslatorsworkedbelween
Larin, Arab and Greek,and trinslatedscientific,diplomaticand religiousmaterial.
Latin was not rhe only languageinvolved here. The GermanSalic Law was translatedinto
Latin during the eighth cenfury,then redraftedin German,and the new text retranslatedinto
I-âtin. In Englandthc fint Bible tmnslationwas tbe free verse rcndedngof Caedmon(seventh
century), utd Alfred the Great (848-99) ordered ecclesiaticaldocumentsto be trÀnslatedinto
Anglo-Saxonto counteracta cenain laxnessin the Engish church.The most imponantof them
was Pope Gregory the Great'sPastoral Care. After the Christianconquestof Spain the Kings
commissionedtechnicaltranslationsfrom Arab and Latin iruo the vemacular.The result was a
full corpus of medical works in Spanishand Catalan (Haskins 1924). ln France King CharlesV
foundeda similar major cultura.lcentrein his court. Among the translatorsemployedto stockùe
royal library werc Robert Codefroy, an astrologer,Laurent de Bellefeuille, a translatorof Cicero,
and a large numberof medicaland scientifictmnslators.The most imporlantof thesewas Nrco,le
Oresme(1325?-82).
The twelfù and the thirteenthcenturiessaw two imponânt developments.
Following attempts
to condemnAristotle as corruptand corrupting,his works were retranslated
from the Greektexls.
Some of thes€translatorsaæ anonymous.But we know of Wi iam of Moetfuke (1215-86),a
Dominican friar, and Robeft Grcssetesre(1168-1253),Bishop of Lincoln. In Con$antinople
Westem theologianswere translatedinto Greek to gain some undershndingof how Westem
theology differed from Eastem: for example Thomas Aquinas wæ ranslated into Greek by
Mzrimos PIanudes(1260-13 I 0).
Literary translationinto vemacularlanguages,either from Latin or fmm olher vemacùlan
seems!o begin at aboutthe tenth century.Cicero's absencefrom the list of authoritiesis tlpical
of tlre early pan of the period which seemsto have done its best to distanceirself from ùre
Ancients. The first transladonsof classical rhetoric date from this period - it seems that
vemacularwrilers saw suchlrânslationis the samelight as Livius Andronicushad seenit twelve
hundred yea-rsbefore: it was a way of educatingthe languageto maturity. Popular classical
authors were Ovid and Vergii, very often taken from medieval Latin reworkings.Boeùius's
Consolationof Philosophy,valued for both its style and its content,was frequently[anslated,
notmùy, as in Chaucer'scæe, from a Frenchversion.Epic poetry,like the Chansonde Roland,
was also lranslatedwidely, so that most of the great medicval epic exists in a large numberof
dialecB and languages.Much of the really imponanr Lranslal.ion
was in the hands of the
troubadouN,who translatedvery freely befweenthe vemacularlanguages,
often extemtnreand as

19
 THE MIDDI.EÀGES

part of a pcrformancc.There were also literary translalorsat the roya.lcourtsiikc Christinede

Pisan (1364-1430)in France,md Geoffiey Chaucer(1343-1400)in England.There wæ much
religious translationof popular dcvotion for the public, one of the most imponant of these
mystical tnnslarorsbeing Nchard Rolleof Hample (130049), a monk who workedfrom French
to English.
Translationstyle b€gins 10 bifurcate.During the twelfth century many of Cicero's rhetorical
works had been translatedinto Eurcpeanlanguagesto facilitate the developmentof literâry taste
and skiu, and to improve the powersof the languagesconcemed.Where technicâltranslstion
remainsvery close, literary translationis exremely free. Again there is a classicalparallel:the
free adaptationsof Greek wort by the dramatists,
Plautusand Terence,who had beentesdngout
the limits of Latin, ând seekingto entenÀinby a mixtureof the familar and the strange.

SectionBibliography
Blatt, F. 1938."Rcmarques
sur l'histoiredeslraductions
latincs".Clcssjcaet medieyalia1,217-
42
Dunlop, D.M. 1960.'"TheWork of Translationat Toledo".Babel 6, 55-9
Hækins, C.H. 7924. Studiesin the History of Medieval Science.Cambridge,Mass.: Harvard
UniversityPress
Jourdain, A.M.M.B. 1843. Recherchescritiques sur I'âge et I'origine des traductiorc latines
d'Aristote.Paris:Joubert.
Mon-frin,J. 1964."Hummisme et traductionsau moyen âge". in A. Founier (ed.),L'hutnanisme
médiévaldans les littéraruresromanesdu XIIe au XMe siècle.Paris:Klincksieck,21747
Reynolds,L.D. & Wilson, N.G. 1968.Scribesand Scholars.London: OUP
Schwarz,W. 1944. 'The McaningoI fdus interpresin Medieval Translarion".Journal oJ
TheologicalStudies45, 13-8
Setton,K.M. 1956. '"Ihe ByzantineBackgroundto lhe Italian Renaissance".
Proceedingsof the
AmericanPhilosophicalSocierylffi, 1-76
Weiss,R. 1950. "Translatorsfrom the Greekof the Angevin Coun of Naples".Rindscimentot.
194-226

Anastasius the Libraian (ca 810-886)

Abbot of the Monasteryof rhe Virgin Mary acrossthe Tiber, PapalLibrarian
847 NamedCardinalPricsr
850 Degradedand excommunicated
by PopeLeo IV for variousecclesiastical
offences
855 Set himselfup as Anti-popeagainst
NicholasI

20
 TI]E MIDDLE ACES ANASTASruS

856 Excommunicationlifted; admittedto lay communion,namedAbbot

861 Placedin chargeof Papalcorrespondence
penalties,namedPapalLibrarian
E67Frced from al] ecclesiastical
to iurangemarriageof Louis's son to
869 Sent by King Louis II of Fmnceto Constantinople
the daughterof the GreekEmperor
871 Namedas Papaldiplomatin dealingswith the GreekPatriarchsof Constantinople

Translations
Much devolionalwork and hagiographyfrom Greeksources
Mysdcai theology,in panicular Dionysiusthe Areopagiteand a numberof importantCreek
seûnonson the saints
Diplomaticcorrespondence
Ladn ranslationsof the GreekExts of variousChurchcouncils,panicularlythe synodof 869
in which the Greekpatriarch,Photius,was condemned.

Cultural Background
The training for the priestiood was not as highly organisedas it was after the rise of the
Unive6ilies in the thineenthcentury;but Anætasiuswould have followed a coursebasedon the
classicaleducationof ùe Roman Empire,smning with grammarand some pagan and Cbdstian
Larin liærarure.lndeed his training woutd not have been very different from that of Jemme.
Anasusiusobviouslyhad also studiedin Constaatinople or, pertrapsin the Grcek-speakingaress
in the south of ltaly. He shows a very good grasp of Greek philosophy and theology.And,
despitea very partisanattitudetowardsttle rightsof ùe Latin Church,has a fair understanding
of
the Greek.

lYhy did he Translate?

Though Greek and Latin Chistianity werc not yet at daggersdrawn there were lensions,borh
theologicaland administrative.The theologicaltensionsarc reflectedin a le$er to PopeJohn VIII
concemedwith the definition of a numberof Greek words thar causedendlessdifliculties - the
chief amongthem being hypostasis,(substance
or person)which causcdendlessrouble in rhe
theologyof the Trinity. We also ftnd in Anætasiusthe samespirir that mled translationin Rome
from the dnmatists to Boethius:that in thingsthat matteredthe Greekswere in advanceof the
Romans,and one neededto translateto redressthe balance.He also retranslatedtexts wherehe
consideredthat ûre acceptedLatin versionwasinadequate
(seebelow).
He seemsto have acted as interpreterduring the sessionsof the mid-nineth-centurysynods
betweenthe Greek and RomanChurches,as well as being an activepanicipant.The ranslations

21
 THE MIDDLE AGES ANASTASruS

- he
we havewere donelater as diplomaticrecordsfor the files rn both Romeand Constantinople
from Ladn to Greek to supply the
and his Greek counterpanswere not aboveback-translating
loss of a Greekoriginal.
Clearly he did not trust the Greekscompletely.He is insistent.that every'lhingof irnponance
that went on in Consantinoplebe kept in the Vatican archiveswith an accurateand readable
Latin venion. This was not as easyas it seems:he recountshow someof his messengers
fell in
with brigands somewherein modem Albania and were robbed of their dispatches.Thus
documents given
wereto be sentin duplicateby differentroutcs.He alsonotesthat it is essential,
the differencein both languageand culturalideas,to know how the Greeksinterpretedboth Letin
ard Greekoriginals.It would be intereslingto know what his Greekcounterpafisthoughton this
issue.

Ho'rvdid he translate?
Anastasiusis testimonyto the lasting influenceof St Jerome,and to the way that legacywas
temperedby Boethius.His letter to PopeNicholasI prefacedto his Latin versionof the life of
John, Pauiarchof Alexandria,quotesJemmedirectly on translatingnon verbwn ex verbo, sed
senswne sensr. This he expandsby claiming to have replacedGreekidioms and word-orderby
Latin in this version.lndeedhe quotesJerome'sidcas ratheroften. In a letler to PopeJohn VIiI
on his Latin version of the SeventhEcumenicalCouncil, he bi$erly castigatessome previous
anemptsat translatingtheseproceedings:the translaûors
had paid so liule aftention!o the "idiom
of either language" that the Latin is almost uninte[igible, and the fatigue (the word is
Anastasius's)causedby this unidiomaticversionhæ discouraged
readers.His letter to Charlesthe
Bald, King of France,on the versionof Dionysiusthe Areopagiteattacksthe translator,Joames
Scotus Erigena, a famous philosopher,for producing an cqually unintelligible text by "not
presumingto depan from the very shapeof the words Qtroprieas verborum\for fear of leidng
fall some of the true sense(ventansensru)".Hencethe necessityfor adding a huge numberof
marginalnotesto makea clumsyranslationreadable.
And yet there are contradictions.
His prefaceto the Eightb Univenal Synodof 869 stateslhat
he translatedword for word as far as he was allowedby Latin idiom, a sentimentthat goesback
to Cassiodorusand indeed,was put into effect by Jeromein translatingthe Bible. The lettcr to
NicholasI also reflecs Boethiusin is rejecrionof rhetoricalomament,and in irs assumptionûat
such omamentgets in the way of "truth". His vocabularyhas a strongmoral tinge: he avoidsthe
dstxtia (cunning)of fine sryle,and its trumperies(the word used,is phalerae,omamentstied to a
Thus for all his quoùngof Jerome,his work showshim to be in r}le
hoBe'sbddleon a feastday).
literalistEaditionpioneered
by the Jews,and consecrated in his prefaccto Porphyry.
by Boertrius

22
 THE MIDDLEAGES ANASTASIUS

From t-hepreface to bis version of the VII General Synod

Therefore in my translation of this holy synod, I have rendered word for word insofar as Latin idiom will

allow. And I have somedmes had o change Greek constructions to their [:tin equivalents in keeping the

sense. A few passâgesI have left to be unnvelled by a more able u slâtor. My work in Rome and
Byzintium gave me knowledge of certain matters which needed special attention. These I annoraredin ùe
margin, or even as need ùose commented more fully on them. I should also note tiat certain relevant
documents which had been sent to Constantinoplehad not been tumed into Creek âccur-àtelybecauseof the
lack of competent translalors.Some of these documenLsas time permitted I conected myself; others remain

as I found them, uncorrected.

One last point. Reâders must be wamed, and it must be clearly recorded for future reference,in cas€
underhand additions or alrcmdons are made by Constântinople in the Gleek accounb of this holy synod,
rhat the Greek minuæs of ûris same council held in the archives at Rome connin no more nor no less than
what 'râs dehned during the meetings. These were satisfactorily translâæd into l-atin, and officially
archived in Rome. The accuracy of tiese records is anest€d to by the signaturesof all ùe adminisû-alorsof
Pariarchâl Sees and by those of all the Emperors and Bishops. And they rcmâin âs ùey were when the

official seals were aflixed.

References
Kelly 1979:sv Anastâsius
Bibliothecarius
New Carholic Encyclopediasv "Anasmsiusthe Librarian"

Nicole Oresme( 1325?-82)

Prominent Ecclesiasticaland Coun official, later Bishop of Lisieux. In many ways Oresme
resemblesAnastasiusBibliothecarius.He was a skilled ecclesiasticaladministratorand theologian
with the ear of the mighty ând some influenceover them. But he is recognisedas one of the
and political scientists.
foremostmedievalmaftematicians
1348Boumierof the Collègede Navarre@aris)
1356Masterof Theology,appointedmasterof the College,taken into the Royal circle as
translatorand con-fidant
of King JeanII
1362Docbr of Theologyand Canonof Cathedrdlat Rouen
(Paris)
1363Preb€ndof La Saint-Chapelle
1364Deanof RouenCathedra-t
1377Bishopof Lisieux
 THE MIDDLE AGES ORESME

Translations
Frenchversionsof ArisroûeDe coeloet mundo,Politics,Ethics,Economics
Frenchversionsof somcof his own Latin works,panicularlyDe moneta
(Ihese are in modemeditionsby M. Clagget,E. Grant,A.D. Menut & M.J. Denomy)

Cultural Background
As a trdnslatorworking after the thineenthcentury Oresme'swork shows the effect of the
of Universities.He addedan Aristotelianbackgroundto the mainly Platonistculture
cstablishment
we saw in Anastasiusthe Librarian. He also claims to have known Grcek, a very rarc
accomplishment
at the time. It is not unlikely that, like a good numberof his contemporaries
he
had some interestin Alchemy. He was one of the central figures at the coun of CharlesV, a
FrenchKing who saw to it tlat his interestin leamingwas sharedby his courtiers.
He also translatedat a time when the scholarwas interestedin translation.Indeed,many of his
prefacesgive indicationsthat he had taken the lessonsof Cicero'sRhetorica,a popularbook in
his France,to hean.

Why did he Translate?

Orcsme worked at the King's behesl and his venions were meant to be read by ttre
Gendemenof the court for their own education.It is said that Oresmeused precedentsfrom
Aristotle to persuadethe King that it was logical and effective to delegateauthority.Thus he
tmnslatedfrom Latin into Frcnch working from llre thineenù-cenruryversionsof Aristorle,and
also from his own Latin: he is one of the fint to translâtefor the generalpublic rather than for
like-minded professionals.Oresme is also . recogrrisedas one of the pioneers of westem
mathematics;and one can not discountthe imponanceof his own interestin ùe mafier, and the
intercstedpenon's drive to teachwhat he loves.
Like Cicero Oresmefelt the need to crcatea literatevemacularprosefor scientificexprosidon
in Frenctl One aspectof this was crcating a scientific teminology. To do this, at times he
borrows from Laûn: distinguer (distinguere),angulaire (angulark), gravité (gravitas) etc. At
times he useswords which alreadyexist in carefullyexplainedtechnicalsenses.

24
 THE MIDDLE ACES ORESME

L E L I I R E D E P O L I T I O Û E SD ' A R I S T O T E

I-E PROHE]IE e n x r t d c g o u v e r n e r p r i n c c v s d o c t r i n e o r d e n e ee
e s c r i p t cf a i r g r â n r a i . l e . I i r s r n t p a r c e l e s p r i n c c
(3c) -\1 tres souveriin ct tres e\c(ilerir prince
f a i s p l r r s s a g e s ,c t p c u t l ' r n < l i r c d e c l l e , " . 1 , u d i t n ,
C h a r l e s ,q u i n t d e c e n o m , p a r J ag r a c ed e D i c r r r o l d e
s a p i c n ss a p i e n t i o r e r i t " I P r o \ ' . 1 , 5 ] . E t p o u r c g
F r a n c e : \ i c o l e O r c s n r c ,d o v e n d e v o i r r e e g l i s c d c
p l u s e L r rC s r c c s ( t L J t i r ) s o n t J c , c c o n r p ^ : 'r s ( s c r i p
R o u e n , r ' o s t r e h u m b l e c h a p e l l a i n :I l o n e u r , o b e d i e n c e
tures appelleesLi',trcsdc I'olicits ou De la Chosepul,
et subjectiôn.
/ i q r , c ,e n r r e l e s q L r c l s . \ r i : r o rl eJ - r l c l , l u s r i : n o r rl Ë
T r e s r e d o u b t éS e i g n e u r s, e l o nc e q u e d i t I a S a i n c t e
' lequel selon ce que dil EustraccfCorrrrlclicriunir
E s c r i p t u r e , C o r r e t i s i n n r a n uD o n r i n iç t . l l r o c L r n q u e
dercn liLro, Ell ro,t,tn l. l]. r:cr.1,:r.t tr.icta rlc
voluerit inclinabit illird:" Ie cuer du .o]' cst en la
s c i , n c c sp r . t , q u . s c l s f , . L l . , i . \ ( j . L . t - . : r t L l cq u c r
n r a i n d e \ o s t r c S e i g n e u r ;l l l e i n c l i n e r a I a o r r l l
r r e l i s t o u c o r l - r p o soan q u c s o ! r r e a r r c l l c u r d i l i g e n c r
louldra IPror'. ]1:l]. E t d o n q u e sb c n r r s ts o i t D i e u ,
q u c c e s t I i \ r c . I i t p e L r ta s s é si i p p a r o i r t a n t p a r J t
c a r I l a l e v o s t r e n o b l e c u e r e n c l i n éa l a i r e n ] e t t r e e n p r o c é s p a r
et l c s t i t l e s c l c sc h o p i r r r s i / 1 . 4 ae1t p t r l z
I a n g u a g ef r a n ç o l s l a s c i e n c ed e p o i i t i q u e s d , e laquelle
T a b l e d e s \ o t a b l c - s q u i s u r t i r p r e s ,t c n t c o m n r cp a r
d i t H u e d e S a i n t Ï i c t o r , " P o l i r i q u ae s t o u e r c i p u b l i c e
u n p e t ; t i i v r c d c l a r - i ed r - \ r i s t o t e [ \ ' i r a . \ r i s t o t e l i s .
c u r a r n s u s t i n c n sc u n c t o r u n ts a l u t i s u e p r u d . n t i e s o l -
-ltis!olelis Frag t..n!.1,ecl. \'. f{o:c, p. .1-lol oLrqucle:r
l e r t i a e t j u s t i c i eq u o q u el i b e r ae t f o r t i t u d i n i ss r a b i l i t a t e
d i t | . o r n n t eq, u J n r l r g . d I | l r o \ . \ 1 . r . ' nl r e , q u i s ,
a c t e n l p e r a n t i ep a c i e n c i an r e d e t u r " l D i d a s c a l i c o r 2 ,
g o u v c . r n o ipt a r l e c c . r n s e<i l el u r ' , a l a c n s a j c u n e c ec n
2 0 ( \ l i g n e , P L l i 6 , i 5 9 ) ) . L t i p s a p o l i r i q u ad i c a t d e P - r c c l r i * n r - nn rlrnr r,r.,', r"
semet, "Per me regesregnant et legum conditorcs h l c r n i r p , l n i \ r ,.t r'nn.,.nro nr.li,.ipr Ir-'"
j u s t a d e c e r n u n t " I P r o v . 6 : 1 5 ] . P o l i t i q L r ee s t c e l l e "',
c o n ) m e n t i l e s c r i p s ta p r e s a u r o ) ' - { l e r a n d r eu n l i v r e
q u i s o u s t i e n tI a c u r e d e l a c h o s ep u b l i q u e e t q u i , p a r
appellê Liber de Rcgno,ou il lul' enseignoit cornnteil
l ' i n d u s t r i e d e s a p r u d e n c ee t p a r l a b a l a n c eo u p o i e s
devoit regner, et que par ce Ie ro)' fu nroult animé a
de sa justice et par la constance et {ermeté de sa
bien fajreen tant que Ie jour que il n'avoit bien fait a
f o r t i t u d e e t p a r l a p a c i e n c ed e s o na t t r e n t p a n c ed, o n n e
ilucun, il disoit, "Jc ne c\. p.ls aujorrd ul r,:gnû"
m e d i c i n ea u s a l u td e t o u s ; e n t a n t q u e e l l e p e u t d i r e
" q u i a n o n l , e n e f i c ir l i q u i b u s b o d i e , n c c
d e s o i n e i s m e : P a r n r o l l e s r o ) s r e g n e n t ,e t c e u l z r l u i I D i c e b a t
r e g n a v i " \ : i t a - l r i s t o t e l i s ,F r a g r c n t a , p . , 1 - 1 6 ] . I t e n ) ,
f u n t l e s I a 1 ' sd e c e r n c n e t t d e t e n r i n e n tp a r n r o l ' q u e l l e s
i l l c q u e se s t d i t c o r n n r e n ât p r e ; c e q u c . f r i s t o t co u t
c h o s e ss u n t j u s t e s . " E t a i n s i c o m m e p a r i a s c i e n c e
[ a i t p l u s e u r sl i v r e s i l e s c r i p s td e r r e n i e r e r n e nl t' - l s l o r c
et art de medicine lez corps sont nris et gardés en
des Policies, ce est âssavoir cest livre ouquel sunt
sanité selon Ia possibilité (le narure, semblablement
n r i s e se t r e c i t e e sp l u s e u r sp o l i c i e sd e c i r é se t d e p h i l o -
p a r I a p r u d e n c ee t i n d u s t r i eq L r ie s t e x p ) i q u e ee t d e s -
s o p h c s ,m e s m e m e n to u s e c u n t l i | r e , o u q u e l i l c o m -
c r i p t e e n c e s t d o c t r i n e l e s p o l i c i e so n t e = i é i n s t i t u c e s ,
m e n c ca d e t e r m i n e rd e c o m n r u n i c a c i o pn o l i t i q t t e .
g a r d e e se t r e f o r m c c !e t l e s / { 3 dr r o t a l n r e :c t p r i n . c ) s
O - : r n - < , J n n n p . r l p . , + ; \ ' r e. . t t l c l . n , c l l e u r
r n a i n t e n u st a n t c o m r n ee s t o i tp o s s i b l e . C a r l e s c h o s e s
s c i e n c cn r u r c l a i n cq u i p u i s s ec s i r e , c t f u f a i t p a r l e
h u m a i n e sn e s u n t p J Sp c r p c r u ( l l e s . E r . p l r c e l l es c e t
p l u s s a g e p L r r p h i l o s o p h e< 1 u oi n q u c sf u s r d o n t i l s o i t
I e n c o m m e n t l e n d o i r d i s p o s c rl c s g u r r :. ] r r e s l i o n n e
m e n r o r e ,e t a g r a n d e d i i i g c ' n c ee t e n s r - , np a r f c i t e a g e
policje c-t faire les bons a ce par notlri'e et par ac-
e t c o m m e l a p r i n c i p a l e t l i n r l d ! . s e so c v r e s . E t p o u r
c o u s t u m a n c ec t p a r d i s c i p l i n e .E t d e c e u l z q u i n e
p a r I ' c s p a c ed e m i l e t . \ ' i . c e n t s a n s c t p l u s , e n
p c v e n te s t r et e l z o u q u i n e s u n t t c l s ,l c n : c e i r p a r r ) l e c e ,
t o u t e s l a ] s c t s e c t c sr t p a r t o u t l e n r t r n d ea c s t é p l u s
c o m m e I e n l c s d o i t g o u v e r n e rp a r a u t r ( - sp o l i c i e sa u
accept(1 e t c n p l u s g r a n d c a r r c t o r i t é( l u s q u ! i c u n ( l u e
n t i c r q u e i l e s t p o s s . l , l e . c i ol nl n . t i , r . . l ( . r c g i o n ic :
o u t r e c s c r i p t u r cd c p < r l i c i c ns r u n d i i n c s . I t c ; t a u s i
d e s p e u p l c s ,e t s e l o nl c u r n r e u r s .
c g m n l c u n l i v r e < l el a v s p r c s q u ! sn i r r u r c l c su, n i \ - c r s c l c :
E t d o n q u c s ,d ( r o u t e sl e s s c i e n c ens r u n d a i n e sc e e s t
et ;rrpcrucles, et cc p:lr quoi roates autfrs lal s
l a r r e s p r i n c i p a l c t l a p l u s d i g n ee t l a p l u s ç r r o 6 t a l , , l e ,
p a r t i c u l i c r c s , l o c a l e s o u t c n r p c - , r u l cssu n t o r d e r l c c s ,
c t c s t p r o p r u n r c n (: I p p J f l r ' n i , r r tacs p r i r r c . s . E t p o u r
i n < r i r l r " c ' , , ^ , I . r , . ^ < t t r , r n r , r. ,. - . i. ' r I I l
ce, elic c:r dirc archi.tcclottigt "> Otl lllUCCS
c, ce cst a dire princcs:c
Et suscc sunt fun(iccs.
s u s t o u t e s . E t s e o u c u n so n t L i e n g o u \ ( n l É s l n s c c
q u e i l e u s s e n tl i v r e s d e p o l i t i q u e s ,n j e n r r n o i n si l c o n - E t p o u r r L , / ( . l b ) t r c s c \ . c l l u n t P r i n c , , ,. l u , i a' u . i
r - i e n t q u e i l e u s s e n te s c r i p sc n l e u r c u e r I e sp r i n c i ; - , e s , c o r n r n e d i t T u l i e s c n s o n l i \ r e d e - l c h o C c n i q u c s
" l - c s c h o s c sp e s l n T c sc r r l c g r a n d c a u c t o r i t é
c o n ' r m a n c e m e nosu r e g l c sd c c c s t cs c i e n c e . J I c s a u s i [ ] , i i , 3 ] ,
c o l n l Ï l ce n a r t d e n r c d i c i D c t c n a u t r e s ,s e n t l r l t t r l ( r r r e n t s u n t d c l c c t a L l c s( t i r g ( r c i l Ù l c :i 1 sg c n s o u l e l r L n l u a g c
d e l c L r rp ; r i s , " a i j e c e . t l i t r e , r l u i f u f : r i t c n g r c c e t
' C , I l o m i t t h e P r o h e n r ea n d r h e l n s t r u c r i o n . a p r c st r a n s l a t ét n l e t i r r , , l c\ ' o s t r ua ( ) n l | Ù J n ( l c r J (l cl cn L
t Y r,mit: Er par celle . di,ciplrre. l ; r t i n t r a n s l a t éc - r f r l n ç o 1 s ,c \ l - , ( . , .( il r l i g ( i r n n r c nctt n ) i i

d e o b s c u r i t é . e rct l a r t é s o r r z\ - o s ( r cc o r r e p t r o na u l ) r c n
d e t o u se t a l e h o n e u r d e D i e u .

Ls
 T1JEMIDDLEAGES OR[.Si\1E

Ilorv did he Translate?

His prcfaces make the point thal the originals are difficult reading, a-rrdthat:
-je ne ose pas esloingnermon parler du tcxte d'Aristote, qui est en plusieun lieux
obscur, afin que ie ne passehors son intencionet que je ne faille.
This is a very normal statement in medieval prefaces, and may have something to do with the
Platonist view of Language as a gencmtivepower. However the preface to the ErÀics m alies
frequent reference to the authority of Cicero's Rhetorica. The rcsult is that, though very close, his
translationdoes not have thc Boethianclosenessof Anastasius,but rather a rclaxed frcc style
which managesto illuminate any difficultiesin the Latin. Bearing in mind that hc will be read by
ùe ordinary pelson, he is very careful of the polish and rhythmic quality of his French, ofrcn
expandingby paired synonyms,and refusingpoint-blankto use Latinate constructions.Hc is a
leading exponent of the "Ciceronian style" of translation in medieval French. He also saw
commentary as part of his task, working by expansionsin lext and expository notes, ard
advertised the fact in the preface to his Polilicj:
ai je cest livre qui fu fait en grec er apÈs translatéen latin, de vostre (i.e. the King's)
commandement de latin translatéen franceis, exposé diligeanment et mis de obscurité en
clarté souz vostr€ correption au bien de tous et a l'honneur de Dieu.
The following is the openingof the translation.Commentaryis intercalaledbetweenparagraphsin
thc normal medieval sryle.

[LrÏRE r] JNSTRLICl]O\
Ou premier livre il met son entention et determine
On peut vcoir les materes l.actees en cest li|re pilr
d e s p r e m i e r e sp a r t i e s d e c o m m u n i c a c i o np o l i t i q u eo u
de cité. Et conrient .xviii. chapitrcs.. I e st i t l e sd e z c h a p i t l e sq t r i s t t n t c s c o m r n c n c c n r c r dl se s
l i v r c s p a r t i a l s ,c t p a r l a T ; i L , l ec l c z \ o t a b l c s q r r i c s t
15a) i.-Oat prcnicr chapitre il propose sot inlenlion a p r e sl a 6 n d e t o u t I e l i | r e .
e! !tacle prill(ipalnaû dcs cortntnîtés qri sa t pat- I t e n r , ) e s c r p o s i t i o n s e t s i q n i 6 c a t i o n sd c s n r o i f o f s
rics de t ilé. o u e s t r a n g €ssu n t e n u n c T l l r l c : L p r c sI : t i t l c l L tl i r r e ,
Nous voiolrsque toute cité est une con)ntunrte t e t a c c c o n r ' i e n ta l o i r r c c o t r r s .
t o u t e c o m m u n i t é e s t i n s t i t u c e e t e s t a b l i ee t o r d e n e e I t e m , p a r e s p e c i a lc e s t l i v r c n c p c r r t b i e n c s t r e
p o u r l a g r a ô ee t a l a 6 n < l ea u c u n b i e n . C a r t o u t e sg c n s e o t e n d ue n p l u s e u r sl i e u s s n r t : s a V o i r l a s i g n i 6 c e t i o n
{ u n t l e s c h o s c sq u e i l e r n p r c n n c n t ,p o u r a u c r r r i cc h o : e de ces .iiii. mos: urislocr,tcit, couinrune po!kie,
l a q u c - i l lce u r s e n r b l ee s t r e L i e n . d c t t o . r o c r co, l y g a r c l : i c . E t c e s m o s s r l n L l r p r o p r r i ' sl
ccstescience.
6 . 3 C o m l r i e nq u e c e s o i r l - , i e ns e l c nv e r i t é< , uL r i e nt a n r
seulenre I t e m , t o u t e f o Y sq u e e n l a g l o s ee s t q u o t é o u n o r r l b r é
Ins e l o na p D a r e n c c . - . , . . , - - F r n ; , . a - ô - c r . . . , . r n - J ; er D r e l u v n : , . 5 n \ e
I I { b e ; i n s , ri r h : l i | r e p a r c i a ) ,s e u J r i u t r e n e e s i n o n r n r ée t q L l o l i - . S i
C i c o , r r n , c r , . e.
rA. fol.lcd, cc,ntâins
a r . r b u l a r l i s t i n g o f r h e c h a p t e rh e a d i n q o sf
c o r n m ee n I e . r ' i i i . "I i l r e , q u i d i r o i t a i n s i: " s i c o n r n t ei l
_
B o c k L S i r ' c et h " h e , J i r , r s : r r e . r l r r , , . t r \ J c r t i . f ( t . ë " r ( L r : r i ( h e fu dit ou .ir.' chapirre," ce est a entendre ou .ix.o
b e c r r r i n su i e " c h \ h . . p r E ri h r L u i h u J I r h e c , , r . r e* , r k r n , . .: b . , r r J c h a p i t r ed e l e . r ' i i i . ' l i r . r e . l 1 L ' s s e c e e s t o r t e n ù n
e \ ' e r ! r e d À c t i o n , r r e h r . r - ec , n r j n c d r h e s e t . r b l c s a t r h e l , e g i n n i n g o l a i n s i: " s i c o n l n r e
a u t r eI i v r e ,i l s e r o i te r p r i n r ée t n o r r r r n é
e : , c h ! e p a r i ! e B o , r k i n r h i s c d i r i < , n , f o r r e : r s r , n so f e c o n o i n r . .
i l f u d i t o u . i x . ' c h a p i t r ed u q u a r t l i t r e o u d u q u i n t
. r À I o n t i r ' c h . r t , r ( rh c . J r r r ; . I J r k k e r l : 5 : . , I i I ( r . h k , , n U k I , article."
ch. I, I t.
' r Y r ,I - ù u ( r e r t .
: -{t the errd
o l f o l . l b i n À t : J e I i i , o r t e r d O r t i c r r sr l u i I ' c s c r ri y
i 4 c ) C i r c o n r n r c n c cL e L i v r e d c l o J i t i q u e s , o u r l u c l
m r s I e l e \ t e p r c | r i e r a i n ; i s i S [ i f _ I : r , r P r e sl a g l u s ej e r ) s u i rJ i | l . i - l , r i S t o t ter a i c t c e t d c t e r n r i n ci l c s n r a n i e r c st l e o r r l c r e r
s r s t t i O , q u i f e i t O r e s r u e . - \ c r u l l l \ ' , r h e g l o s s i s i r r d i c a r e dr a r i . c c d c g o u v e r n c rl c s c i t é s c t l c s g r a n s ç o n l n r u r i l i s . c t
o u s l ) - O , O r o r < J c c r : i ô , r r t l vO , .cj,,,e. c o n ( r È r . \1- l l { . i i r ; e s l r . r r r i c u l r . r ' .

lo
 ORESME
THE MIDDLE AGES

I . E t p o u r c e c s t i l n r a n i f e s t eq u e t o u s e n f a i s a n t
communité conjccturent ct cntcndent a aucun bierr.
E t d o n q u e s l a c o n r m u n i t é q u i e s t r n e i s n r c n r e n tp r i n -
cipal parLIe:us'louleset qui comprent et conrient
t o u t e s l L . sa u t r e s , e l l e c o n j e c t u r e e t p r c n t p o u r 6 n l e
t r e s p l L r sp r i n c i p a l n l e n t b i c n d e t o u s . E t i c e s t e c o r n -
r n u n i t û c r : r r r l l e r l u i c , t a p p e l l e ec i t é e t c o n ù I U n i . a -
cion politique.
6. Et donques ausi comrne elle conticnt toures les
a u r r e s c o n r m u n i t é sq u i s u o t p a r t i e d e e l l e e t s o u s e l l e ,
s i c o m m ei l i u d i t o u . r i i . ' c h a p i c r e de le.riii..dElliqlcs,
s e n r b l a b l e u r e oI er b i e n e t l a f i n p o u r q u o 1 6e l l e e s t o r d e n e e
conrient les ins des autres. Et par consequent, il est
plus principal er plus dilin car, si comme il fu dit ou
; r t r r r i r r c l . " p i t r ed I t i r ç r , . s . t J n t u ; t u n b i e n p l u s . o r n -
m u n , d e r a n i e : c p l u s d i v i n e t p l u s a r n a b l e . . { p r e si l f a i r
c o n r p r r o i s o n : d ce i r Ê a u L r e sc o m m u n i t É se,t p r e n . i e r e -
"'
m e n ! i l o s ! e L i n ee r r e u r -

L Et quicunques genscuident que princel'ou gou-

vernen)cnt polit;que et to)'ale ou gouvernenlent
5conorrique et dcsporiqLe :oient ua meiime goLter.
nernent, il ne dient'pas bien.
6 . P r i n c e vp o l i r i q u ee t r o ] ' a l s o n t , l ( 5 b ) s t - r us n e g r a n d e
m u l r i t u d e o u c o r n m u n i t é ; e t d i f i e r e n t ,c a r p r i n c e y r o l a l
e s t s o u \ ' e r a i n ee t p r i n c e l ' p o l i t i q u ee s t s o u s p r i n c e y r o 1 a l ,
s u s u n e c i t é o u p a r s , e t e s t s e l o nl e s c o r r s t u m ees t l e s l a i s
du pais. Àles princey qui est eû lln hostel du pere lers
femme et enfans, ce est prl'ncey patetnel, et le princey
que il a ters ses Êerlans est dit despotique. Ec tout
ensemble, ce est assavoir Je princey er gou\'ernêment
que le pere ou son lieuteflan! a r:ers femme e! enfans et
s e r v a n s , e s t d i t l c o n o m i q u e . - \ p r e s i l e s p e c i 6 el e u r
entencion.

I. Car il cuident qr)e les gouvernrensdessus diz

different en ce tant seulement que un est de plus grant
multitude que l'autre et qu'il ne different pas en espece
et en maniere de gouverner. \tais il dient que se peu
de gens sunt en un hostel, ce est gouvernement
paternel, et se il sunt en plus grant nombre en un
h < . r s t c lc, * e j t g o u \ ' e r n c l n e n t l c o n o m i q u e . l l e s s e t l
s u n t e n c o r e n p l u s g r a n t n o n t l r r ee t c n p l u s e u r sh o s t e l x
ou nraisons, c est goulernenrcnt rotal ou politique,
a u s i c o r n n i e : r i l n ' e - : s t n u l l c d : f i s r c n c ee n t r c u n S r a n t
hostel et unr lietite cité, ne cntrc gollyernentent
p o l i t i < 1 u ee t r . ) l a l . C a r q u a n t u n h o o t n r e a l a s o u -
v e r a i n e p r e s i . l c n c e ,c c e s t p r i n c e l ' r o ) ' a l ; n 1 e sq u â n t i l
gouverne sclr,n le: parolcs de ia discipline, ce est a
dire selon lc: lais de la cité rt iJ cst etr partie tenant
princev et cn partie subjcct sous le ro5', atlottques ce
est Prince\' 1-'c,litiquc.
6 . E t p o u r c e l o u l o i c n t i l d i r e < l L r et e l z p r i n c e l s n e
d i J J e r e n tD a s e n e s D e c ec c , m r u cd i t T e r e n ru n c h e v a l e ! u n
asne ou louleur |erte ec blanche, mes çu il dirlcrerlt
s e u l É n t e n !e n 0 u a o t i t t , c o m n r e L r n g r a n d c h e v a l c t u n
l( r..'..

.1
 TI{E MIDDLEACES ORÊSME

References
Biographieuniversellesv. "Oresme"
Dictiorcry of ScientifcBiography.sv "Oresme"
Speculum16, 167-85
Durand,B. 1941."Oresmeandthe MedicvalOriginsof ModemScience",
Knops, J.P.H. 1952.Endes sur la traductionfrancaise de la morale à Nichomachepar Nicole
Oresme.s' Gravenshague:
Meunier,F. 1857.Essaisur Ia vie et les ôuvragesde Nicole Oresrne.Paris:Lahure
Sarton1947:III.1486-97

William Caxton ( 1422?-91)

Founderof the PrinringIndustryin Britâin
1438Apprenticedto a mercer(cloth-merchant)
of the English governmenland as a
1441-70Lived in Brugesas an unofficial representative
privatemerchant
l47O-74 ItÙnr printing at Cologne
1476Retumedto England,madecontactsat Court
1477-91Establishedhis Printing-press
ar wesûninster.

Translations
1475Recuyellof the Historyeof Troye(from Frenchof Raoul le Fèvre).
The Gameanà Plrye oJ Chesse
1477The Historyeof Jason
1481Seigeof Jerusaleîr(from Frenchof Godefroyde Boulogne)
Mirrour of the lYorlds
Reynard the Foxe
1482Polycronicon(from Latin of John Higden,revisedfrom Englishof JohnTrcvisa)
1483GoldenLegend(fuomFrenchof Jehande Vigray)
1484Order of Chyvalry(from Frenchversionof RamonLull's Catalan)
Book of the Knyghtof the Tower
Aesop'sFables
Curial (Alan Chanier)
1485Ch<trlesthe Grete
1487Bookeof GoodManers
1488The Royal Book (from the Frenchoriginalcompiledat the ordersof Philippele Bel)
1489 The Fayttesof .Arzs (From Chrisdnede Pisan's Frenchversion of Vegetius,De re

28
 THE MIDDLE ACES CAXTON

militari)
B lanchardin et Eglantine
The Four Sonnesof Aymon
1490 Eneydos (from the Frcnch of Dares).
Most of his translations are published in the Early English Text Society Collection

Cultural Background
By his time Anglo-Normanhad preny well died out in the generalpopulation,and the French
spokenin Court circles was morc or less the stândardFrcnch of Paris.Not that English had
benefitedmuch from the demiseof its rival: Francewas still regardedas a superiorculture from
which the English had a lot to leam. And English was far from shakingoff the aura of an
unpolishedlanguagewith very few of the advanlagesof the other Europeanlanguages.Caxton
would have moved in court circles formed by the culturdl interestsof CharlesV, and probably
knew the literary circlesaroundthe princelycourts.

How did Caxton Translate?

Caxtonclaimsto haveFanslatedliterally:
-following myn auctor as nygh (close) as I can or may, not chaungingthe sentence
(sense)ne presumyngto adde ne mynusshe(subtract)ony thing otherwysethan myn
auclorhath madein Frcnsshe...
@rologueto Joson).
And like the medieval Eanslatorsfrom Greek he constantlyharps on his "symple and rude
translacionwherein be no curyousne gayeterms of rhetoryk"(Faynesof Arms).Thesepassages
are a fair descriptionof his techniqueas we.sce it in the openingpassageof Alain Chanier's
Curial reproducedbelow. There is minimal reorderingof the sentence,a high degree of
borrowing,and a preponderance
of formâl equivalence.Caxtondoeshavethe curiousexpression,
"reducedinlo English", which may or may not imply that hjs Englishversionis in somesenæa
comedownfrom a richeroriginal.
And yet Caxton'sEngiish is not completelylitera.l.Severalscholarshave remarkedlhat an
imponant Frenchword will be translatedtwice (whar I have called "ftythmic glossing" [KeIy
1979: 1ùll), onceby a bonowing and once by a more familiar word:
Frenchline 1l: merites= rewardes& merites
line 24: servicespublicques= thyngespublicques& servyses
When pairedsynonymsappearin the original they are carefullypresewed;but, no matter whal he
says,the useof suchfeaturcsin his translationsshow a senseof rhetoric.
As with his Latin-speakingpredecessors plainnessis a selling-poinr;
And as nygh as to me is possibleI have made it so playn that everyman resonablemay

29
 THE MIDDLE AGES CAXTON

onderstonde it, yf he advysedly and ententyfly (attentively) rede or here it (Mirrour of the
World).
Caxton is not rcally a theoretician: he quotes no predecessors from whom he derives his
principles.It would seemthat if he is to be put into any pigeonholeat all, he followed Bocthius.
This may reflect conviction,for in spite of a flourishingliterarure,there was a sensethat English
was not considered a fit subject for rhetorical rcmodeling under the aegis of Latin. His prologue
to the Eneydos is a fair summing up of his lingtistic interests, and lays particular stress on the
dialect differencesin the Englandof his time, and the problemsthcy causein intercomprehension.
It is for this reason probably ûlat he was so willing to b€ correctedon points of usage by
members of the Court.

[t!e
durinl nf $lrrirr6frrrmtirr,l
4 Ilerc folorvell []rc copyc of a lcLlrc rvhycLc rrrnistlo turc".l.)
Âlayn Chrrcticr.\1,rotcLo Lys !r.otlror/ rvLyeLo ,)"sir",t il:1,,i ill;l,l:,"
to conrodwcllù irr Court / irr rvLJ,clrclrc rclrclsctlr ,',"rry il:'ii,:l::i;il:l]
rttysclycs& rv|etclryLlrrcsscr thcIirr !scclr / lr,.lr'trr,lrr.1.sc ;ii:lil:ii i,i,,,,
8 Lyr)r Dot !o cnlrc iu to il / hsto lrr.:ufLor rcperrtc/ )ihc tt,,' ,r'.'t,,',
ns lri,tr nltcr.fol,rrru/ lrlrl Jrrtetr.Lrnslulorl ouL of Ilcnsolrc
i r r l . o c n g l l s s I e/ w l r y , : l r oC o l r y cr v t s d o l y r r L . r i ,t lo L r , :
L y a r r r - , L lnur r d v c r L r r o r rl )sl c / , \ ! r v ) r o s[ r l , ; l i r r r e.uù
19 ù0qucstcI hnuc r',:rlrrc':rl ib irr to l)rglysslr.
Yglrt rr,,,lLeloul,rl l;rr_r!lrcr., & l,ur.$)le l,llo\lnùlL / r,-,r,,,,,,.,,
r !lrou a,lrrrurrcsû:sr, antl erlrortest nro to lrcl)urc & ;:l'il.i;.i:1"
I u l k c r c , l 1 ,!,l u c c n r r r lc r r h . c cf r r r t l r c v r r t r rt l , . l l i ' , " - , , '
l 6 C u r i , r l l/ r v l r 1 . c hl ,l :L o L1r 1 , : s i r ' /. srr\ n , l L l r r Lit, y r r r 1l., r : t 1 , i ,
i u r ( l I c , l u ( s L ct l r r L rn r J X l r l , r rl t| r r r e t h c I i , . , i l 1 r :/o, \ r r , l
l r c r t o t l l o l r n | L r l r r l l , l r r r , ; r r _ lyrLy l c , , r r r 1 , ur rI r , , r l r . , , iL l , c
p c o p l c/ r l l r i r : l r ,r:ù l ) r t ùL L , ) n ( ) u rf r r o r r r l ; r 1 . r r c , t
l , , , u , l , eui i
20 tlerrr of tlrc c,rrrlc / L,rl,c Lhylgc; rloru lrl|:s,1,Ll lt L;r1r1,1,
t L l n o l l r c r/ o r l , r t l r l r r r l et l r n t I I r r Ë c r r r : l r v L : l ru f t l r y
t l e s y r c/ T l r u r r\ \ ' ' , c r L I , , r r i r o 0 DoL /L t l r a t r l r c y t l r t l , \ \ , r ) . t ur 1 . , , . , , : , r , , r
'""
o n o t l i , : c/: l , c r ri r v . r l r r , , r ro; c c r r l , , L c i , r&n sr f) j , u t ù 3 rr 1 , , . , , i,l j i l l , : i l . " '
! 1 t l r u r r r o L lc, r r t l r y f o r t , i l r û L r r ':r : r v ; r r r l c sr.rtr , , r i L ,/: s. \ r r , l
. r l r o L l r o r r l l i , r r r . t e . t i , t l r e r c r L u s c s ! ) r a t : r r eL r( r! ,! :, r, Il r u
I
l , y t l r , j \ i r ) r j , l ùo i r r r , : t l r . r t
/ c r r r 1 , t . s s rl r ,r :3 , s . l r r ,i:, , r . t , r
s , , f , , ùi , t r l , o c r , r , r r ,l,l y r L l l
iiilllijl;ï / r , , , 1 r , ) r t , ( , , , ( l ,r jl , i r r r t , , , , ,
. " t r ' r r re) . r , I , | r J . g l r t , , sI sr c r l , ) t l , , i l ù
ir. Lrlijllg., r,,,,rl). rrlL.rr L,
/
r u , ( l t l , ^ t \ \ 1 : , , , ) . ) j l , t ct . : : i L l r o
r r , i ( , J . ,tJl , 0 r , , , .. l
, ! ! ' .o r ,nr r L h r . t , i i r , r r , 1 . 1 , 1 . 1 , r1rn "i'ulr,
/ ) r,y r : l r r1,, , r . , 1L,..1 . r ri r, , ,r . l ,f , , , , ,: , 11 , , . . , , , ,
I \ ' i l , \ . . 1 r r , : ,, \ r r r l t l , 1 . sl i r r , , r r , I: r v , : l
/ L l r , t tL l r yc L , r L r , r g , :
i t u o L r r ) t l r r l r , r r v rf:,r:rr f n , r r rr r L , , f i . , : r r r L h y 1 , 1 r , :
i . f , , , f, i , , ,
t i f r : . , i t t r u r i u , J . t oi s ; r u t i l r . r . y c ,vi p i r r t l r r :
/ \ \ l r l , , l L ,i
t o r r r 1 , r 1 r , : tLl 1r . :lli o r r , l e d s ! l , R j : , \ , r , tr(!)r,r r l I r : r r e r l L
r r , r Lr L r ,
r , e , l et , , r , , , r r r r . , :. j ,, t . L y L l i, l:r , , r , r
i r l , s r : r r ct , , t , J , "
1,,,,,",./

30
 THE MIDDLE AGES CÀXTON

r\irJ I lf()\'r tlrrLLlL-trr al-r:crrr:u ig rrot llssu gretrotlsl,)

r n . / t l r l r r r ) J , r i r t o l l r y s : l f / l i , t r r o s ù r r c l l r it l r . L Ll l i
t l r ( r l l ) e JI r r u L s c r l e ,I u t r l l l r e l cr v h c l o l ) r o 1 r l , r r : cr rsr , L
r u l l i r l' L :rsl , s i , , 1 ' r rv,s: / l l r r LL y c ; r r r sgo, r l o f t o r l r r r r cI ) t ' l l i
s o r l ,l r , r r ' l e rcl, r r rr l t . l 1 ' r r c/c t l n L t l L o t ra v ' ; L y t t : sf Lt c l ; ', ' r r
t l r J r ( , \ \ ' l r l ) r y u i L t ct l r ) ' r ' i j , ,/ r r \ r r , l ! l r a t L r r r r o r : r : r r p y ,l:' ,i 1
c,ull,yrrg,:s1rrl,l.1'c,1Lro, ù strtlJsùsirr solo\\'Illl l).Lssir,rt:j /
l - l r r rlùl r ' r r r | ) , r u r co r r r l y s , : l f c o r r r p r L s s /i ol nl r u r r r r er r r r L
I rrriol,:,1 r i L I r y r r , i L s e , / ,t\l l i ( ! f c l i 1 , 1 1 9 ' s/ i Li t r t l , i : ,
' " l r t h I s r L l l l cc l l e f f : l l
t l r r r Ll l o r L a L L , r 1 ' t l eLsLl u r r l s c r l i , : s
, t l y / , ! u n y i I l , l u r n oo r i r c c r r sleo r l r r r r ùf , , r ' r , r , :/ I
p l u y s ca r , , ll ) r i L u l i Icr c r o n L l r r Iot L h c ri ) r r t c l o f t l ' o / I ' i , f
$ o I ù L ) L l ri r s s l r u l r n L Lc x e r r r p t o l L c h o L i r ùr t r r l j r r y r s l r r r
tlrtt I sulllo r i r L l L o c o u r L c/ r ! r L r lt l r . r t s l r u I I L L I Lr r o Ll l t
IrLllo vs lt'LIru lrrusùlltunLo /

Lc cnr.ill

f f \ U n r er t l n r o n u c s t ccst c r 0 r t c ss o u l . e D lt t)o n ) n t cc l 0 q u c n ic t n l r i t l
I f . a r a t r c s m r ( , l , l c c r l l r ^ j 0 t c 1 , 1 6 p 1 1l 6i n r r r t c t i t r n n I l i ;
culiÂle qte ttl afpcies, ct que ptl' DroDa)(lc ct irrtcrccssioIi
6 tu y puisses &yoir offico. Et ad ce es trr se deyicot csn]cu flr
h comrrrurteeueru dcs ltomnrcsrlLri lcs ltonncLrr.smol(lâir)s cl
p o n r p c sd c s g c n s c u l J r r t l r I c p u t c D tc s t f c c l ] o s c sb i c l t c I l f c c sl ) l l l s
q u e r u l t r c s . O u n d f i n c l u cj c n o j u g c n t i r ld c t o l r l c s i r . , . l cr rL r i r l c s
p ù & d L r c n i u l eq u c c e u l s q u i v t c c l u c l t i l u \ o f f i c c sp r L b l i c , l û c s
! o s o y c n t p i u ç c r t l l c u s c s@ r r v r e Ise p l l t c zp l u s d i g n c st l ' c u l ç o i r . D r c -
lites. Et si y ndjoustesaultle cnusequi t'y csnleut, c'csl iNSa\.oir1
l ' c x c n r p l c d e m o y , q u i r r ' e n l c s c h ed e s c t v i l a I a c o ù r ' l r o t ' r l ,
û d f i n q u e t l l u s c s t c s j o L r l s p l r c o t ) r p x g n i ci l v f c r l l ) o , \ . ,i r t r l n c
p u i s s i o r l sc u s c n t b l cj o l ' r r l c l a d o u l ç o L r ld ' a u t i s l i 6 r l r r i r l e l , r r r r
r s t c n r f s c s t c o [ l c ] t o u s d e i i x . ! t c n c c c o n g n o i ; j c l r i c n r l L r ct 0 r . r
c o l a g c n ' c s l p o i D t 'c s l o r r g i 6( l c D o s t t . cr n r i s L i ( i ,r l r l c l r j j r r (
d ' l t u n r r n i t 6n ' c s i p o i u L c u t o v r s s c i c l l i c J. l u i c o o l p r c n ts c s i u l i i .
p r c s c n sc L r c l i r i s s ca u b c s o i n gn c o u s c l l i c rl '.t r i r l i c r .I c s l b s c r , "
a s o n f o o i r . I i t c l o v q r r et 0 n î b s c n c cl 1 cl t ' c s t l ) a sn t , r i n sg r i l l i c .
2 0q u c 0 s t l a l t i c n n c r r t o y . , ! i n r ; o i su r c s r n t b l c q u c ) t , , - \ -l l ) : r , l t i
j c n ' ; r y p o i u l m o ) i n t c s n t c sl i r o r r l c s l i c r r r c l I c s l L f l i i i r . crsr r r r r s
( l c s j o i r r g r c n t . l l a i s p u J s q r L c d i c u o u i ' L r r ' l t L locl ) t t l n t s c l ) r f t ' r :
I r o s t r cc l c s t i n e cr,l L r ct L rv a c r l r r cisL i r u c l t c n t c nI t l r s c l r , t s l sI t i 1 r . , , . ,
c l ( L L l oj c s L r - 1o 'c c r r p él r r r s c L v i c c sp L r i r l i c q L t ccsr t r l o l l r L l r , r r . , , s
: i p a c i o n s : c l i u r r r ij ' l r y r l c n r o , ym c s I i c s c o u t p i l s s i o l r r | r s r r i j , ,
,
c s j o i d c i o l t r i s c , c l l ) r c ] t Sp l c s i rc n c c . l l r c i L l â s c r . i L r llér t sr ù i s c I c s

q l t c ; e s o e l i i c( : l r i r r , , ljlui tu t . . J i t s o j r _br l a s n r c, l t t
i r , , r l t : ,t , , r l r , r i ,
I ) o t l rl l r o y rj r l , r l , r e , l ' r r u l t | rl ): i Ù .lt) o ù r t. t ) \ , )c l r t i r ù r , 1 r r l, l , r . r
c - \ r l l ) l ô ( l C sr i Ù g , r i : j f sr l r r r : s , , r ; i l i ,r:l ) ( L ,
.j0 l t . r . f , l l l , ,I r)t
ll0lls ,y ll lilti l,r 5 rl(i| \ ttt|s,rlrirtts

ll
 THg MIDDLEÀGES cÀxToN

Why did he Translate

Caxton was in an enviable position: his trânslating skill was in demand, he had powerful
patrons,and he was his own publisher.Judgingfrom his publicationlist he had contactwirh other
publishersfrom French to English. He obviously Fanslatedfor enjoyment,but he was well awarc
of the teachingresponsibilities
of ùe medieval $anslator.It is significantthat he translatedfrom
French, not Lalin. France had bccome one of the centrcs of European culture, and in any case,
England even almost four cenruries after the Norman invasion, was still in the French sphere of
in{luence. Translation from French therefore was to the taste of a rÂtlxersophisdcatedCoun. But
beside ùis commercial motivation, Caxton was aware of the value of lirerary translationin
rcfining the tasteof a less cultured society- and in this he echoesearlier English translatorslike
Chaucer. Not that Caxton was thc orùy translator from French in his England; bur he is one with
a very wide range,from literaturc,to recreation,to popular religion.
Hc is interestedin the languageitself too, remarkingin his edition of Trevisa's Polycronicon
that he has "chaunged the rudc and olde Englyssh" to remove obsolete words that would srand in
the way of comprehension.
He seemsto have been aware of playing a role in tiie standardisation
of English on the bæis of the usageof the Court and the mercantileclassesof London. He has a
strcng sense of dialect differences in England, and seems to have been sensitive about his own
Kentish dialect.

Prologueto Eneydos (14901 rvlllr rrllrcL rr',rlics,l

rtas !ho :':tyrl Lor.rltoof crr,r1'tlos,
trrutl,rrtr,l 1,.:tt,,,,.1
rllyl;' irr sc',lis,sp'.e.1rrll5
il ytll,l'o .Vl
otlrr'r phces / rvhiche LisLorlo lhc s.r1.l lylgylo tucrlo
.rlrrcn djucrso rvcLl:cs nuelo / ir:rrrslrrtctl ouù iu rrrelrc/.r\nù.rvùon I larl nrlrryscJlrro irr !lris s,r1,J
cc)ricrcd,,1houyng noo tcr'lic in lrcrr,lc,I, sittlrrg in L,-rlio,I tlclyLcreil onrl conclu,le,l to tr'.rrl.lo il in to
rrrystrrdycrrlrctoos l;ryotu,ruyJ'):Ùcrsc lir\lùllctli5nrr{l c u g l l ' s s l r c , : \ u . .l 1
o r t l r l ' r ' t I l o ) r o n p c n r r o& 1 n k c , n r , , l i '
boukl's, I'rl,porrcrlthrl lo rrry lrrntlc cnrrc a lyLll s r o l e e l r . c l o r t \ t c y n o / w l r y , . l r oI o r r l l s . r r vnog . r l r rt , l
l,oolioirr flcusl'0,rtLiclro lrto wns tr:rnsl.rfut[outo of c o r e c l ui l / , \ r r , l r v l r : r r rI s r r t o t l r n [ . r y r & s t r ' . r r r r , ; , J
l:rt1n by sorto troblo clutlio of (rnurrcc,rrlri,:lrolool:o is'
tclorr;s tlrurin / I tloul-rlcJ t)'xt it 6holdo lot plq.1;g
rrlrrre.l, Incl'rlos / nro,loirt lltyrr by th,rt nollo pocto
 o r r \ c r r r l \ ' l n l ! u r r l r i c L e ) o t e ! i l n r e d r u o , 6 â y c r r g/ r r L
& grclo clcrko vyrgylo / rvlricls l-rooliof errvo oucrl
irr nry tr:trrrl,rcl'orrsI ll.trl orrcl crtryorrstorrrrc:rvlrielruj
arrJ rc,hlo lherin, llorv, tfrcr tlro gorrclnHrlcslruccyonl
coud{,.lol bo rl(lcrut.n(lo of comyn peplo / and desir.cdl
of tlro g"rctoTroye,lrrons depnrtetl,lrrr,l.rrgo his oklo
nrc to vsc ol,lo nll Lornely tcrrucs iu n1- tr:rrrsllcyons..
Iirrlurnrclirc.l vpoulri: slrol,lrcs / lris liLyl sorr I'olrrsou , arrrl 'f,ryrr rvo|lc I srlysfl o êrcry n)iD f nntl so to.loo,!
lrir hoodo,hÈ rvyfo rvyth nrochooLLct lrcoplofolorv-
tolic nrr olLloLr,ltolrrl rc,lJc t)reril / arrLlccrtrrJ,rl) tlrè
yrrgo/ nurl how ho slryppodnrrtl dcprrtctl,rvyth oHo
errglyss)rcrr,u so lrde nrr,l brooLlthlt I corrdonol rvelcl
tlryrl,:ryoof hir aduorrt(rrcs that ho lrrtl cr Io cnm to
l n J e ! r t , L n , l ci t . , \ r r J s l i o I ' r y l , . , L J ,l rl , L o l o f w , : L l
tLo ochlcucrucul oI lriscortquesL of yhl1,c,as nH o longo
trryttrtcr rlcil rlo sltcrvo to llo lîtc, certryt crrydcrrccsL
rl"rH boslrr'lrverl in tirisprcrunlùolo, Irr rrlriclroboo[o
r t r ' 1 t o r ri r t r , ) ' l c c r r g l l s J r r , f o l t o r c , l r r c oi t i l - l o o u t
I lrrJ gruto pluylyr, Ly c,rusoof tlrs f,ryr nrrtl horcsL
cng)l sslrorrorv rsirl / .\rr,l certrt5'rrlyil u.ns rfrctol il ,
tcrnrcs& rvollcs lo Ircuslro/ rvlycho I rrcLrer slryo
s u t ) r c r t ' )i c t ) r : r t i l r r n s r r r o l c) 1 ) : o t o r l L r t u l , ot l r : r n
tofolo lllio, lo nolto so physlutLl rrc so lcl orrlr.e.l l enSllsslro; I corrclcnol lc(lucc rc Lr.1'rrgoit to L,:
rrLielrol..rouko, rs nroa:rrrr.l,slrol.luLu r,'ocl.oro,1uysl fol
v r r t e r s l o r r , l c r/ r  r r , l c c r ' t l y r r l yo r r r ) r r r 3 , r g o
lory vse,l
t o l ) o b l ot r e r r t o 6 c €n, s \ y c l I " r t L o c l o , l r r c n lcl cs t ) r o f
r';rr'1rlI fctrc frotrt tlr:rt rlIir.lro rr':rsysc(l ttrr(l sl'r,liorr
ùi-!orycs/ IIorv rvel tLrù nr:rrrylrorrtlcnly"ry" 1,"sscù'

?1
 TIIE MIDDLE AGES CAXTON

\r.lrrn I \rls Lortto / l'or'ryo cullJ'ss)rcrrou / Lcr l-,orno

TrJ!r tllc tlorl;lrrcyon of '.Lo nlolro, rvlritl:c i: trcuer
stcdf.rsto/ Lrut curt Tfaucryngc/ \\'cx)'lrgcolro 6c(solr/j
orr(l \yônct)r & dyscrccselh rnolho! Eerrsou / Ând lLal
colryrt clgl)'ss[c l[at is spokcn il ono elryro vrryclh i md, corrccto this sayrl boolo, ,\nd L:tldrcsso nnrl
froor n lother. Iu so ntocLe llrni ir rrry dnycs lurp . oxpo\vno rvùcro os 6hrllo Lo loun,.lc Inullo to t|cyrn
pcnc,l thal ccrtnlrr trctchaurrtcg tvclo irr o ship2c irr
tlrul olu[[ rccluyroil. J,'orLyur,I knorvc lor ouû-yc1'cnl
tanrysc,Ior to lcuo slylctl otrer tlro sco into zololtle /
to expowlro ûûd cnglysrlro cucry dyiTJ,cullô t[ÂL ig
lnrl ior lnclio of rrynrlc, tLci tcryc,l otlo forlond, arrrJ
tLcriu / For )ro lr:rllr Lrto Lr.rnrlote,l tlro cl,ystlys ol
rlcrrtc to hur.lo fqr t,r tcflcsLo t)rcru; .r'\.rrrlo:roof tlrcyrr
luHo / lnrl thc l,olio of dyodorLrssycu|rs,r outl ditrcrso
:rar'rcLlslrcllil,lc, i1 lrlclcc!, clnl in-to nu lrotls nnr.l arr:tl
ollrcr \yerkcaouto of llrlyrr in.to crrgll'sslrc,troû in rrrrl,r
l..t rnclo; uutl spccyally lro rtxyd aflcr eggi,e; Àrrrl t)ro 'rtttrl oldo llrrgngo, lrLrl irr
1,oly;.lrt,l ntr,.l orrrrLcterrnc: .
g,rollc rvyf orrswcldc,thitt eLo cot:ùospclio lo flcn.Lo.
cltIloly, ôs lro llrr! Irrtlr r,:,l,lo vlrgi'lo / ouytlo, tullyc,
ir(l thc rùircllîuli \vxs Âlr(fy, f,rr lro nlso courlu ry"l;o :
an,l tll t[o olhcr noL!ù 1:oclcsnnJ orÂtours / to lno
no troni)ro, ùul .rvol,lc hruo l:urlrlo egges/ nuù slro vr)kDo\vcni r\od olso ho hath reddo llra ix. uuscs, arrd I
rnrlcrsLodo hyru not / Àtrù t)rcnuo al lrrstc a lollur yllddrsldlldo thcyr ruusicaHoscyences,ourl to rvhoru of
s:r;û tlrrrt hc ryol.le l'auo cylcn / then tho goorl rvyf thoyo echo scycDcois oppropred. I supposoho liaLlr i

sryrl tlrrt sLo vnrlcr:loù h.vnr rvcl / I-oo, rrlrlL sLolLlo dronkcn of Dlycous rvcll llrcu I prayo,Lyro, & sLrtho
.l
n ttrttr in tlryao ,l;ry,:s no\v \'tyto, c;gcs or. cyrcl othor, to correct4,n(ldo o. nynysslro \yltcfo Àr lro or 'J
/
ccrhrynly it ir hlrrlo to phync crrcry rrrrn lry cruso o! iLoy r'lrull Iynrlo furlto / l'or I Lcrro Lrul folorlcLl ruy ':1
/
. tlyucrsito & chaurrgo of llngogc. Irr.,r il thcso dnyes copyo in f(cn.ho oe nygh ee nro is posryùlo / r\lLl yI
crrcr). nran thcl is itr ony ùpulacyolt in lris coultr.e, ony \voralo bo suyrl th$in rvcH / I nm glad; o ù yf I
\fJft ttLcr lris cor,rrrryrrycucyorr arrtl rr:tlcr.si1 slcIo olhor\yyss,I ouLmytlo nry sryd bolo lo thcyr correc-
rulncrs & tornlc! /' tlr;rt fervo uretr slnH vrrder.slorrclo tyon /'\Vhicho bolio I prcscntovtrto tlro hye born rny - I

llrcym / :lrrrl eorrrlro'ncsL arr.l grcto clcr.licslrruo bcn tocouryngorrolLrrcH& Eou€myn lorLl, r\rllrur, try tlro l

\\')!L rlc, onrl rlc';itr,l nto to \rrtto llro rrrosloçurJ.ous 5'nco of gocl,Pryuco of \Vulys, Duc o{ Corno\yryH, .V
.1
trlrùca thot I cou,lu l1'rrtlo/,\nù tlrrrs ùytrrcao pl;ryn I:rlo ol Clrcsler, fyrst L,ygotcu aone ootl lcycr vtlo our
rlost dnd(lo nclurrH.! soucnyn lord;, & ruosLcrlslcu .. J
trtde / & curyous, f stlnùo al..rasslred. ùut in rny Iudgc,
rrreulo / tho cont)'tr lcr,D)cJthrLt Io dlyli yseri, Lctl I kyngo / Ilcnry tho lij. ùy tho graco of god, kyngo of J

l.1,ghlerto lo vnrlcrslontle tlrln lltc olcloltr.l trutcycul i . Iinglondo onrt of liraurrcc, & lorLl of IrcloLrrlo/ byscc)r- I
err;lysslto itrg Lis nollo grcco to !cccyuù iù in llrarrkc of nrc, Lis
/ - ! r r t l f o r i r s r n o c l o l s t ) r i s ; , t c . c t r Cù o o k o i l 1
:roL for n t.url,rvlrl,.rrrrllsshtrrrn to l:ll)onl.cllrcr.irr/ rro I rnoslo huruLlo subgeÈ& scruluat /,\rrrl I shrH prrl'o ,;
r c , l o i U / l - r u to ! r c l y f . ' r  c l u l l i c & I r r o l , l cg r : n l l , l r r r r n vnto olmy;hLy goJ for ILi.l proslrc:orrr cncrc.rslng irr
1
rlr.rt IÊlutlr lr,l v rrrlcrrtorrdolh irr f.rytus of rl.rrc., in l vcrluo / rvysctloru/ sr^û hururnylc, thrt, ho nray bo cgal
)ouc, & in nohlo clryrr,rlr.l,o/ 'I'Lclfor ir, o ,,,0n,,0 leylh tho ùlost rcno,rtûrcdoI oHo his noùlo progcrry-
/
l,l lrvcno Lotlr.r,I ltrrrr lrr'lrrrrrl .t, tr:rrrsl,rlc,ltLi: e:ryù tours {l Ând so to lyuo in tlrir prcscnt lyf / lhaf aftcr ' -
L,ro}io il to our cugltsllrê, lrot oucr r\rJu lo curJ,ous, tlris trxusitolyo ly[o ho onrl \io lHo tuiry cûr)o to
l,nl in strc)rotcrnrusrrs :lrlH )rc vrrdelstrÙtlcrr, LrygoJrlys cuerlrsLyngolyl in )rcucn / Ârncn:

itr'r({., lrccoKl) ;jrr lu r|l) cr,l']o. .lttLl ]f orrt Irûrr rr.).H

trlcr-lr)clc iu rcrJlrr; ol lril, altl ftuûrllr srruLotr:rrrres
tlrut ho can not yrrrl0rglorrde,klo L1,r\ goo rcrlo nnrl
!cluo ryrgS.H / or. tLc lrystlcs of orrlrb lrrrl tLcr ùs
/
tlruH ccc arrd vrrrlcrstorrdo11';)rtlyrrH If lro hruo o
/
gootl rcrlur & qrrfornrer/ lior tlris Loc,lici: not fori
rrLcryrutleontl tnconr.\,ngc)r)nnto scc Lrrtto clcrkys
7'
0ll(l Yery .elrlJlllcrr tLrrL vtrtlcr''larrrlc
gr:rrL1)nes
ltrtl
ôclcnco!I lLerrrrc I 1,r:rycallo t)r,yrrrtlrlt rlr:ril r.,tlo
I
irLt)rie lylyl t.c.ty$, to holtlo rrrolor cxcusr,tlfor thoI
lrarrslalyngc of )ril, l.'orI hrrory)cclrorry srllc ignorrrrrt
of colrnyngglo crrIr'v.o r)!r !ro so I'ir-rarr,l rrol-,luo
rvcrlic/ Dut f prirycrueyslerfohn Skcll.on,l;rlo crertctl
l)octclrulcxtc il tLc vlyucr.siLo of o:ir,rrford,,,
lo orrcrseol

31
 THE MIDDLE ACÊS CAXTON

References
Blake, N.F. 1969 Caxton and his World. London: Deutsch
-. 1984. "Wiliam Ca,xton",in Edwards, A.S.G., Midd.le Enslish Prose: A Critical GtrZe. New
a
Brunswick:Rutgers,389-412
-. 1983. "Reflections of William Caxlon's 'Reynard the Fox' ", Canadian Journal of
NetherlandicSndies 4, 69-76
Belyea,Barbara.1981."Caxton'sReadingPublic",EnglishLanguage
Notes19, 14-19
Dictioury of National Biographysv "Caxton"
Horall, Sarah.1984."Wiliam Caxton'sBiblical Translatioi".MediumAevum53, 9l-8
Kekewych,M. 1971."Edward IV, Wi[iam Caxton,and Literary PaEonagein Yorkisr England".
ModernlnnguageReyiew66,481-87
Lathrop 1933.sv. "Caxton"
Workman,S.K. 1940.Fifieenth-centuryTranslationas an Infuenceon EnglishProse. Princeton:
PrincetonUnivenity Press

w
C. RENAISSANCEAND HUMAMSM

As the Turks were increæingthe prcssureon the ByzantineEmpircin the fourteenthcentury

Greek scholarsbeganmoving West, bringing their libraries with them. Once establishedin the
West they madetheir living by seftingup schools,mairùy ro teachphilosophyfrom the auûrenric
Greektexts. The centresthey chosewerc Florenc€and Venice, both powerful trading rcpublics
with ruling families interestedin scholarship.Major Rorentine schoolswere set up by Manuel
Chrysoloras(1355-1415)and ConstantineLâscaris(fl. 1450-90).Among rhcir pupils were
Marsilio Ficino (1433-99),who translatedPlato into Latin, and AeneasSilviusHccolomini (1405-
1.164),later Pope Pius II. Grcek studies receivedmajor encoungemenrfrom Bessarion(1389-
1472),an envoy of the EastemChurch who changedsides and becamea Cardinal.He left his
library to Venice,and evcnduringhis lifetime helpedcreatea climatein which humanistscholar-
printeN like Aldus ù{atutius (1447-1515),himself an excellentrrallslatorinto Latin and ltalian,
could flourish. The cenfe of sixteenth-cennrry
culture was ltaly, and indeed it almosr rivalled
Greeceand Rome. From therc the New Leaming moved nodh into France,Germany,the Low
Countries;and then into the rest of Europe.
Exposureto elementsof the classicalGreekheritagethat had not survivedin the West was the
first elementin the changeof culùral direction we now call the Renaissance.
The Greek schools
reinforcedthe idea that the ClassicalAge had been a Golden Age from which the world had
declined.And they rejuvenated the Classicalideal of the orator, \,tbotnQuintilianhad definedas
"the good man, skilled in speaking".His iniellectual and moral excellencedependedon prDper
handling of languageand its resources.The Greek schoolssoughtto give an examplc of the
ancientenkukliospaedeia,that is an all-round.cducationwhich, thoughbasedon the language
arls, gave accessto every branchof leaming, and, throughproper and skilled use of language,
made the scholarvirruous.This literary and linguistic training was dircctedtowardsproducing
schola$ wirh a wide rarge of intercstsand abilities who could tum lheir handsto any pan of ùe
ancienttradition.
Of equal imponanceto theseearly humanisÎswerc the Bible, ancientsciencesand medicrne.
Again ûe medievalpcriod had been prcny prolific, but it was felt necessaryro work fmm ùe
original texts to get rid of medievalaccretions.Hence one of the activitiesmost important to
humanistsno maner their discipline, was searchingour Latin and Greek manuscriptsand
producinga cridcal text from them. A large numb€r of manuscriptsof classicalliteraturewere
unearthedin European[brâries, some of rhem compleælyunknown.The same principle was
appliedto scientificand Biblicalwork, imponanrdoctorslike ThomasLitacre (1a60-1524)
and
JanusHagenbut[Comarius](1500-1558),rhe Rrst Dean of Medicineat Jcna,scouringEuropefor
manuscriptsof ancientmedica.lworks. In Biblical work Desideius Erasnus(14667-1503)did rhe

35
 RENÀISSANCE I

same ùing and his Grcek-LadnNe'x Testament.based on the latest manuscriptswas very
influential.The imponant elemenrin all of this work was the crcâtion of a spirit of criticism.
This, combined with an inevitablercdefinitionof the relationshipbetweenGod, Man and the
Church, producedan intellectualand social ferment culminating in radical questioningof all
medievalvalues,social,anistic,scientincand religious.
The basic discipline to which lransia[ionconformedwæ rhetoric. In teachingûanslationlhe
age demandedthe target text haveall the "feel" of the original. one of the first to attemptto
detfuonethe translationmodelof Boethiusthroughthe ncw scholarshipwas an early pupil of the
Florentineschools,leorardo Bruni Aretino,(1370?-1444),who translatedAristotle into Latin (ca
1420) amid considerablecontrovenyover his methods.Though his style of translationhad risen
from contact with the normal native-speaker's
ambivalenceat what a translatorcan do to a
beloved text, the acrualnormsinvolvedbecamethoseof Cicero and Honce, and Cicerohimself
becamethe preeminentmodel in Latin prose composition,and thereforetrarulation.But the
senseof style broughtup the questionof how far one could take ùe authodtyof
Renaissance
Cicero in maftersrelatingto Latin style.The large number of schola$ regardingCicero as the
only guide in Latin style were vigorouslyopposedby Erasmus,whose Ciceronidna.rpoints out
that differentpeoplehavediffercntstyles,and lhat even in Latin one must have one's own sfyle
and ftat style must be congruentwith matter. He did have followers. In his prcface to
Hippocrat€sComariusnotes that he has wrilten in a technical style, with which Cicero has
nothing to do. lndeed,as Cicerohad neverwriEenon scientificsubjectshis stylisticauùority was
not rclevaDt.This is also picked up by Bartholomew Clerke (1537-9O) discussinghis Latin
versionof Castiglione(1571).In their view a clear Latin was its own justification,and whetherit
conformedto a reveredmodelor not wæ besidethe point. Though the centreof rheir intellectual
world was in lhe Classics,the Humanistssaw popular educationas an essentialpriority. In
applying the samestandardsof eleganceand nâfurdlnessto the vemaculârs,they inændedto do
what the Romantmnslatorshad done!o Latin: bring the vemacularlanguagesto maturity.
The Humanistsemphasised
the necessityof popular education-Realisingthat one could not
expect everybody to know Ladn and Greek in a society that was largely illiterate, they
championedthe translationof classicalworks into the vemaculars.lndeedthe Humanistprinting
presscs,like that of Aldus Manutius in Venice and Frobenius in Antwerp, commissioned
vemaculartranslationsand sold them nther widely. One essendalaim was forming functional
stylesin the vemacularsby clæsicalexample.One must note, howeverûrat what could be termed
a "modem language"changessubtly.Europe'sshapewas modem, and the standardlanguagesof
political and cultural cenres, as English, French, Spanish and Italian were, moved into the
territory of thosclike Catalarand Provençalwhich werc not.

JO
 RENAISSANCE I

no matterthe field. Anotherquotation

Translationthen, was an essentialaspectof scholarship,
from Horacetakeson auùrority:"Ut picrurapoesis"(A poem is like a picturc. Ars poetica 361).
Though this cridcal commonplaceappearsvery early (we seeit in HenricusAristippus'stwelfth-
centuryversion of Plato), it gives rise to the very commonimage of lranslal.ionas a protrait of
the original (c1. JacquesPeletier du Mns t1517-82)). It would seem that the only fifteenth-
cennrry Hurnanist work on ranslalion with a wide circulation was Alfonso de Madrigal's
Comento de Eusebio. a translationof Eusebius'sChronica wilh Jerome'sLatin venion, and
commentsin Latin and Spanish.De Madrigal recognisestwo types of translation,interpretacion
(word for word) and exposicion(a translalionmade longer than the original by explanatory
expansions).
One importantdiscussionof this distincûonthat directly follows de Madrigal is that of luaa
Luis Vives(1492-1540).In his De ratio^e dicendihe adoptsMadrigal'sdistinctionbetweenllteral
and free, only to point out that literal ûanslationis impossibleowing ro the differencesbetween
languagesin idiom, grammar,etc. But he nuancesthis categoricalstatementby claiming ùat a
target languagewili often be enrichedby borrowingtums of phrasefrom the source.Yet he
showsthe literalisrtemperof his generation:
The more exactly a trànslatorprcserveslhe gracesof his originai and the more literâl thc
version,the more powerfi:l and valuablethe translation.For it expresscsthe original with
more mlth.
This was exactly the pncrice of Erasmusurd Sir ThomasMorc (Kelly 1979:73, 181).But their
performancedoesgive somelatitudein defining"literal".
The authority of Cicero and Horace is often coupled with tlat of Jerome.The frequent
condemnationof word-for-wordfanslation (almostin the words of Cicem himselo is tempercd
by realisationthat close tanslation has a placein attainingwh^t Lord Bemen (1467-1533)calls
"the true repon of the sentence".There is constantagrcementwith Jerome that the unit of
translationis not the word but ttle phrase,and the sensethat one must somehowdeal with foreign
customsin lrânslationgrows throughoutrhe period.The most publicisedstalementon the new
translationnorrnswas that of EsûenreDolet (15(8-46\,but translationhad been of vital concem
to scholarsfor a long time befoæ.
It was at aboutthis time lhat dictionariesfirst appearedas classroomand translationaids,one
of the pioneersbeing the Dictionariun of AmbrosiusCalepinus(1502). The famousdictionaries
of the time arc lhe Thesauruslinguaegraecae(1576)of Henri Estienne(1531-98)and thc various
bilingual dictionariesby his son,Robert.ThesecoveredFrench,Greek and Hebrcw.

37
 RENÀISSANCE I

SectionBibliography
Amos, F.R. 7920.Early Theoriesof Translation.New York: ColumbiaUniversityPress
Banass,Tine. 1978. "The Functionof TranslaredLiterdturewithin a Nâtional Literature:The
Exampleof Spain".in Holjnes,JamesS. et al., Uterature and Translation.Leuven:ACCO, 181-
2M
Bertelli,L.A. 1965."A Glimpseat the Historyof Trarslationin Italy". Babel11,76-8
Canbridge History of the Bible, vol 3: 94-198
Chavy, Paul. 1981."Les traductionshumanistesau début de la rcnaissance
française:l.raductions
médiévales,traductionsmodemes".CanadianReviewof ComparativeLiterature 8, 284-306
Conley,C.H. 1927.The First EnglishTranslatorsof the Classics.New Haven:Yale
Henneben,F. 1858.Histoire des traducteurs
français desauteursgrecs et latins pendantIe XVIz
siCc/e.
Gand
Hermars, Theo. 1985. "Images of Translation:Metaphor and Imagery in the Renaissance
Discourseon Translation".in Theo Hermans(ed.) Tlre Manipvlation of Literature. Studiesin
Literary Translation.Beckenham:
CroomHelm, 103-35
Kushner, Eva & Paul Chavy, edd. 1981. "Translation in the Renaissance/Tnduction à la
renaissance".
CanadianRniew of ComparativeLiteratwe 8.2 (whole number)
Lowry, Manin, 1919.The \Yorld of AldusManutius.Oxford:Blackwell
Matthiessen,F.O. 1931.Translationan ElizabethanArr. Cambridge,Mass.:Harvard.
Larwil, P.H. 1934.La théoriede Ia traductionau débutde Larenaissance.
Munich: Wolf
Nonon, Glyn P. 1977-"TranslationTheory in Renaissance
France".Renaissance
and Reformation
1 0 ,1 - 1 3
-...._1984.The ldeologyand Languageof Translationin Renaissance
France and their Humanist
Antecedents.
Geneva:Droz
Pound,E. 1917."Notes on ElizabethanClæsiciss" in T.S. Elior, (ed.) Literary Essaysof Ezra
PoundLnndon: Fabr. 1954,22749
-. 1920."Translatomof Creek,Early Translarors
of Homer,'.ibid..249-75
/,/
Rice, EugeneF. 1985.Saint Jeromein the Renaissance. Baldmore: Jofns AoOU:ny'Jîickard, p.
1968.L4 lznguefrançaiseau seizièmesiècle.Cambridge:CUP Ll
Scott,M.A. 1916.ElizabethanTranskttors
from the Italian. Baltimore:MLA
Shire, Helen Mernie. 1978."The Functionof TrdnslatedLiterarurewithin a National LiterarLre:
The Example of Englandand Scotland".in Holmes,JamesS. et a1..,Literature and Tratslation.
t€uven:ACCO, 177-180
Strand,K.A. 1961.ReformationBiblesin the Crossfre.Ann Arbor: U. Michigan Press
Stames,D.T. )937."BilingualDicuonaries of Shakespeare's
Day" PMtA 52, 1005-18
Stoneman,Richard.1982.Da\hne into Laurel. London.Duckwonh

38
 RENAISSANCE I

Ullmann, S. 1966."Clæsical Influenceon the Vocabularyof the FrenchRenaissance".

Language
and SryIe.Oxford: Blackwell,243-67

lVeek 3 Religionand Science

humanismwas essentiallyreligious,and the Bible held an imponantplacein

Sixteenth-century
translators'activiûes.They had the medievalconvictionthat the final goal of all ieaming was
knowledge of God. Hence becausethe new leaming was naturally at ùre service of Biblical
scholanhip, Erasmus establisheda Greek Bxt of ûe New Testamenrusing the tecbniques
applicableto any ancientauthor.Wherethe Middle Ages had beeninspiredby Jerome'ssanctiry,
Erasmusand Luther in panicular,were attractedby his emphasison scholarship,
the Renaissance,
and quote him as an essentialauthority. Like St Jerome,Humanist translatorstook sound
scholarshipas a completelyadequateguanmteeof accuracy,and also appliedhis stylistic practice
to Biblical work. Thus the Bible was lreatedno differentlyfrom any other ancienttext. Hencethe
study of Bibiical Hebrew was rcvived: one of rhe grcat gÊmmars of Hebrew being that of
Ioharaes Reuchlin (1455-1522),a friend of Luther's.Much !o the scandalof the ûaditionalists
they adopædJerome'sattitudeand practice- that eventhoughùe original was divinely inspired,
the translatorwas not and all thât was neededfor a goodjob was soundscholarship.Trânslators
first soughtto producea Larin Bible of Humaniststandard;and thereare a large numberof them.
Even in Latin the Bible was zubjectio controversy.Erasmus's1523 New Testamenlstudiously
tried to be neutral, but other translatorslike Théodorede Bèze (1519-1605) and Sebastiân
Castalio(1515-63)producedBiblesin fairly classicalLatin, but with strongdoctrinalleanings.
Its skiu and scholarshipput Erasmus'sNew Testâmentin the forefront, and much to his
sonow he was used a.sa weapon by both sides.Of the vemacularBibles Luther's' (1534) is
preeminent,and other Germanversionswereproducedby reformersin Switzerland.Luther's is in
many ways a team efforl His coræspondance tracesdiscussionson points of difficulty wirh
otherslike Philip Melarcthon(1497-1560)and Spalalin(1482-1545).Orherimponant Continenral
Bibles were the 1641 Italian vesion by the Calvinist, Giovatni Diodati (1576-1649),wh.ichhe
himself tumed into French in 1644,and the FrenchBibles of lacquesLefevre d'Etaples(1455-
1537), Hene Olivétan (ob. 1538), and De Bèze which came our in 1528, 1535 and 1556
respectively.De Bèze's is known as the "GenevaBible". In Spainthe first completeversionof
Scripnrrewas publishedin 1569 by Cassiodorode Reina (1520-94),a follower of Jean Calvin.
and in ltaly the first completeBible was by Antonio Brucioli (ca 1495-1566)in 1532.In England
ticrc is a long progression
from theTyndaleBibleof 1526-30to rheAuhorisedVersionof 161L

39
 RENAISSANCÊ I

In generalCatholicslended to lag. Spain continuedthe medievalcustomof ranslating the

Epis es and Gospelsused at Mass. France often readaptedProtestantor doubtfrtl Bibles, for
example the CaLholicBible de Louvain (1550) was Lefebvre d'Etaplesbrought up to dare.
Likewise in Germany:Hieronymus.Emserk version (1523) tried to "correct" those parts of
Luther's Bible alreadycirculating.In Englandthe Douay-Rheimsversionappearedin 1588 as an
emergencymeâsureto counterthe Protestanlaccusation, paniauyjusfifled,that the Catholicswere
afraid of the Bible. The preface of the Catholic Douay-Rheimsversion (1588-1609)clearly
indicatesthat the hand of the Catholic authorideswas forced bv the soreadof the Prctestant
Bibles.
Most of the ProtestantBibles werc taken from ùe original Hebrewand Greek,ùe only major
exceptionbeing Coverdale's(1535), taken from the Vulgate. The Council of Trent defined
Jerome'sVulgateas accurateand definitive,and from thenuntil the appeardnce
of RonaldKnox's
Bible in 1949,CatholicBibles wers almostexclusivelytâken from the Vulgate.The Authorised
Versionof 1611 is an cxcellentexampleof teamwort.The work wæ divided betweensix
"companies",eachresponsiblefor a particulargroup of book. The companiesdrcw on the best
talent availablein England:not only theologiansbut also expens in Clæsicallanguages.Each
companybad a referencelibrary containingevery dictionarythey could lay their handson, and
wide rangeof theologicalliterature,and copiesof as many Laûn and vemacu.lar
Bible they could
find. The work wæ donethrougha mixture of minutedmeetings,and individualtranslationin thc
study.Drafts from eachcompanywere submittedto a reviser'spanel,theno a publicationpanel
to ensurethat the style was uniformly good, and then sent to the printer.
One of the necessaryconcomitantsof the Reformationwas the developmentof vemacular
liturgies.ln Englandthe Boolt of ConunonPrayer ('1549)rose out of Englishversionsfrom rhe
"Primers" (vemacularbooksof devotionfor the laity, often translatedfrom the officiat lirurgical
books) and translalionsfrom ùe Sarum Missal and Breviary.The committeewho did that was
headedby ThomasCranmer(1489-1566),the Archbishopof Canteràury.Orher Reformerswho
did similar liturgicâl adapration
mixed with translationwereMartjn Luther nd Jen Calvin (15Cg-
1556). As the Reformationspreadlhere were translationsof Luther's liturgy into Scandinavian
languages,which were adoptedas the normai worship. Attempts to proselyûseEngland by
English trarslationsof Luther's liturgy were not popular with the authoriùes.Trânslatorsalso
enteredwith gusto into religious controversy.Luther's works were ranslatedinto English by
Richafd Tavemer(1505-75)who was also responsiblefor Tavemer'sBible (1539), and,Thomas
Nofton (1532-84),a notedscourgeof Catholics,translatedCalvin's Les lÆtitutionsde la religion
chrestienne,
which Calvin himselfhad translatedfrom his own Latin.
Besidethe religiousthe scientificwork is tame,alttroughit too sharcdthe aim of changingrhe
intellectual
paradigm.Because thc basictrainingof a scientistwasclæsicaland lircrary,scientific

40
 RENA]SSANCE I LLNACRE

and medicaltmth were to be soughtin ancientdocumentsuntrammelledby medievalcorruptlons,

just as in religion.Hencenotedtrânslatorslike ThomasLinacre(1460-1524)andlanus Comarius
(1500-58) scouredlibraries for medical and scientific manuscripts,edited them and rranslated
them, usually into Latin, the normal teachinglanguage.Interpretationof thesemedical books
dep€ndedon the new scienceof philology, as did Biblical work. Running alongsidethis is
translationfrom alchemy.Continentalalchemistslike Paracelsus(1493-1541)who wrote in lheir
own languages(in lhe case of Paracelsus,Cerman),were ranslated into Latin, and then from
ùerc into the local vemaculan.There was also considerable
interestin medievalalchemy,mainly
works ascribedto the thirteenth-century
scholasticsRogerBacon and Alben ùe Great,or to later
alchemislslike Basil Valentineand Nicholasof Cusa.Thesewere to have considerable
effect on
popularmedicineand causeconflictlater on.

Linacre, T homas (I 460-1524)

Founderof the Royal Collegeof Physiciars
1484Fellow of AII SoulsCollege,Oxford:leâmt Gre€kfrom Comeiio Vitelli
1485Went to Florenceas Tutor to sonof Lorenzode Medici
1496Went to Rome,lhe to Venice;Met gr€athumanistprinter,Aldus Manutius
1490?Doctor of Medicine@adua)
1491Retumedrc Oxford as Professorof Greekand Medicine
1497TaughtThomasMore and Erasmus
1590-1Tutor to PrinceAnhur,heirto rheEnslishûrone
1509RoyalPhysiciar
1518FoundedLondonCollegeof Physicians(modemRoyal College)
1520 Became a priest; retired fmm active academiclife, devoredhimself to wnting
languagesand medicine
1523Tutor to hincess Mary
1524Left moneyin his will for foundinglecrureships
in Medicine

Trrnslations
N.B. All the following are from Grcekto Latin.
1491Proclus,De Sphaera
l5 l7 Galen,De sanitate
tuenda
1519Galen,Methodusmedendi
1521Galen,De temperamentis
1523Galcn,De rwturalibusfacultatibus

4l
 RENAISSANCE I LINACRE

-, De pulsuumwu
1524-, diferentiis et causk
De symptomatum

Cultural Background
Linacre's contâct with Italian humanism was remarkably close both professionailyand
personally.After srudyingat Oxford, where Greek seemsto have been taught since 1476, and
where Latin studieswere strongly humanistic,he seemsto have worked in Florenceunder the
Italian Angelo Poliziano (1454-94)and the Greek DemetriusChalcondylas-
When he went to
Venice he had much to do with Aldus Manutius,the great printer who insistedthat.Grcek be
spokenin his household.He movedin an Englishhumanisticcircle of someemincnce:his friends
included,roftnColet(1466-1519),ThomasMore (1478-1535),JohnFisher,and Erasmushimself.
It seemsto havebeenhis studiesin Paduathat had the grcatestinfluence.There medicinewas
studiesin rhc Facultyof Arts, togetherwith Letters,PhilosophyandTheology.It. soughta balance
betweenthe medievaltrâditionsand the newly validrtedraditions of Hippocratesand Galen.The
essentialtool was philology appliedto the C'lassicâitexts,with its carefulanalysisof the meaning
of words, sentences,and the things behind them. But this was balancedwith some clinical
experience,a melding of theory and practice certaiily not out of keeping with the way the
were taught.
langagesthemselves

Why did he Translate?

Linacre's scholarlyactivitieswere wider than one would expectftom a medicalman, but not
untypical of the Humanist.He was pan of the reactionagainstthe Middle Agesl and like his
contemporaries,
soughtto retum to the ancientclassica.lGolden Age, from which the Low Latin
and Medicval periodshad deviatedso disastrously.Hencethe breadthof his inrcrests.Thoughhis
translationsconcemonly Greek medicine,he is also responsiblefor imponantwritings on Greek
and Lalin gnunmar.It must be emphasisedthal none of this work was "museumtranslation":it
was all of curent interest.There was need to updatelhe medica]training in England,and tlese
tmnslationswere meantto bring the ancicntdoctrinesin their purc form. and in the caseof his
medicalwork was dirccEd specificallytowardshis students,who could readLatin but not Greek.
As a humanisthe foUowedthe classicalidea that or y a fully rhetoricalstyle would do for
transminingimponantinformation.In ttris he was following the exampleof Galen himself, who
was an imponant writer on rhetoric as ',vell as on medicine.And he set about rcplacingùe
medievalLatin versionsof imponantworks by versionsof refinedtaste,and greateraccuracy.

42
 RENAISSANCE I LINACRE

How Did he Translate?

was very high. In generâlhis appmachto translationis
His reputationwith his contemporaries
that of Luther and Eræmus:he translatedfrom his own edidon of the Greektexts and someof
them were published bilingualy, that is in two columns on the page. He uses a controlled
literality in his work in tlut the degreeof dynamicequivaienceis lower than one might expect;
and he annotatesvery fully.
His apprenticeshipunder Vitelli had made him very panicular in stylisric matters,and he
joined in the Renaissance
fight betweenttle Ciceroniansand the anti-Ciceronians
ratherquictly. In
Linacre's view a clear Laûn is its own justification,and whctherit conformsto a reveredmodel
or not is beside the fnint. Thus he is not afraid to coin words, and like his contemporary
Erasmus,he translatesprettycloselywithout inelegance.

References
Berulet,J.W. 1968. "John Morer's Will: ThomasLinacre and Prior Seltyng'sCreek Teaching",
Studiesin the Renaissance15,70-91
Dictiotnry of National Biograplry,sv. "Linacre"
Dictiotnry of Scientifc Biography,sv. "Linacre"
Maddison, F., Peling, M., Websær,C. (eds.) 1977. Esssyson the LiTe & Work of Thomas
Linacre. Oxford: ClarendonPress

Martin Luther (1483- 1546)

Founderof the LutheranChurch
1506OrdainedPriestin the Augusrinian
communiryar Erfun
1508Masterof Theology,Winenberg
1512 Doctor of Theology,Winenberg
1513-16lÆctures
on the Biblea! Wirlenberg
1517Nails 95 Thesesto rhedoor of Winenbergchurch
1521Condemnedat the Dict of Wormsas a hereric
1522-30Consolidationof rheLutheranChurchin Germany

Translations
1522-34The complereBible in Cerman
LutleranLiturgy in German

43
3 RENAISSANCEI LT'TIiER

Theor€ticalIVritings on Translation
1530Sendbriefvom Dolmetschen
1531-33Summarieniiber die Psalmen
Somepassages
in the Tischreden

Cultural Background
Luther's role as a heresiarchovershadowsthe traditional elementsin his background.In
essencehis early formal educationwould not havedifferedall that much from that of Oresme, a
good training in Latin emphasisingthe Christirn and medievalpans of the Classicxlheritage,a
solid course in scholasticphilosophyand theology,an introductionto Biblical work thmugh
medievalcoû[nentarieslike that of Nicholrs of Lyra, and a tnining in preaching.Lurher is a
good exampleof the imponanceof st Augustinein this t)'p€ of education.Frcm Augustinecame
the standardpattemof Biblical interpretation,
the theoryof the "four sensesof Scripture".Though
this does not dominateand indeedis balancedagainstJerome'smore prosaic approach,it rs a
constantpresenc€in Luther's wOrk.
It is his knowledgeof Grcek and Latin lhat makeshim a Humanist.His Greek came from
early contact with Germanscholan like Steinhoweland Reuchlin who had studiedin ltaly. He
was also stronglyinfluencedby Erasmus,a personalfriend,who was as convincedas the Romans
of the clnssical age that the studyof Greekwas essentialif one was to understandLarin.
Luther Eanslarcdhis Bible at a dme when the rourineof a ranslationhad b€eneshblishedfor
any ancient text. First the sourcetext was checkedfor accuracyagainst the manuscriptand
printedtradùion: secondit was readand placedwithin iA ow.rrsocialcontextby comparisonwith
other ancienttexts; and then it wæ translatedand arylotated,
usuallywith marginalnotes.

Why did he translate?

His Bible is a typicâl producr of irs time, bearing the marts of the great linguistic,
nationalisticand religious controversiesof the early sixteenthcentury. Luther's prime aim rn
translationwas the reform of the religiousexperience
of the laity by giving them direct accessto
the Bible in their own language.This fell wirhin his rnajor goal of reforming his church by
casting off a lot of the medieval accretionsand getting rid of clerical comrption. Like his
Humanistliterary and academiccolleagues,he âlso soughtto standardise his own languageand
make it as sensitivean instrumentas the classicallanguages.Hencehis insistenceon using the
speechof the common man, a theme found in Erasmusamong others.As a largely unwritten
languageCermandid not yet havethe sophistication of Latin and Greek.Luther himself was in a
peculiarly effcctive position to contributeto the standardisation
of German,as his dialect lay
between its High and Low dialecrs. This goal of creating a standÂrd lirenry language

44
 RENNSSANCE I LUTHER

differentiaresLuûrer's Bible from othervemacularBibles: fadidonally they had beenwritten in a

standardliterary dialect.

How did he translate?

Luther's fiequentpmnounc€ments
on translationrevolveround a dilemmathat is still with us.
Given its imponanc€,the Bible must be as exact a transladonas possible,yet it must also be
Luther is in the "philological" tradition of Jerome,whom he admired
completelyunderstandable.
greatly,and balancedagainstAugustine'sideason scripruralexegesis.His scholasdctrâiningwith
irs mixfurÊ of Platonismand Aristotelianismshowsmost forcibly through Ns theology,whose
exegeticalprinciples provide the basis for his thought on Eanslation.For him all inteçretation
beginsin grammar,becauseeven grammaris of theologicalimportanc€.This comesup coundess
times in his discussionsof translation:he takes as most accuratethosewhich can be accounted
for throughthe "grammai' of Hebrewor Gre€k.Luther's humanisttrainingmadehim very aware
of ùe ancientrhetorician'sconc€mwiù properdelineationof the corurections
betwe€nwordsand
things (copid rcrurn e! verborum).Thus thoughthe basic translationis alwaysliteral ihis was no
excusefor producinga hellenisedor latinisedGerman:just as the original Hebrewand Greekare
idiomadc,so any Germantrarslatedfrom them must be idiomatic.ThereforctIe full force of the
original can only be decentlyrcnderedinto Germanby functionalequivalence.
Like JercmeLuther was concemedwith the integrity of his sourcetext. Ironically, where
Jeromehad invokedthe needfor a soundtext to accôuntfor working direcûy from tlre Hebrewin
trarslating the Old Testament,Luther invoked it againstJemme himself in r€fusing to work from
his Vulgate.He usedErasmus'sCreektext with its Latin versionin parallelcolumns.For the Old
TestamentLuther usedthe Massoretictext of the ninethcennrry.
Although Luther's Bible is widely assumedro be a solo effort, and indeedLurherdid do a.ll
lhe actuallransladon,the actualresearchthat went into it was done by a team.Luùer w€nr to his
colleagues,
Melanchthon,Spalatinand Forster,for adviceon mattersfrcm the value of the Roman
coinageof Judaea(Melancùonpur togerhera coin collecrionspecificallyfor this purpose),to ùe
theologicalmeaning of key passages.Luther also worked from a number of aids, including
traditional manualson preaching,medieval scripturecommentaries,and Ladn versionsof the
Bible.
TA.ALE TA-I.X

Tuo Rulesf or Translatingthe Bible

Summeror FalI, 1532 No. 3J2
"In translatingthe Holy ScripturesI follow hlo rules
"First, if somepassageis obscureI consideru'hether it treats
of graceor of larv,s'hetheru.rathor tbe forgiveness
of sin Iis con-
tained in itl, and wit! rvhich of these it agreesbetter. By this
procedureI have often understoodtlc most obscure passages.
45
3 RE}IÀISSANCE I LUTHER

Either the larv or the gospelhas made them meaningful'for Cod

divideshis teachinginto larv and gospel. The law, moreovet,has
to do either sith civil govemmentor rlitl economiclife or u'ith
the church. The churchis abovethe eartlrin heaven,rvherethere
is no further divisionbut only a mathematicâlPoint, and so princi-
ples cannot fail there. This is (and CersonrsE sâid it is suPreme
wisdom) to reduceall things to the first principle,thât is, to the
most generalgenus. In theologythere are larv and gospel'and it
must be one or the otber. Gersoncalls this redrrctionto tbe most
generalgenus.So everyprophet eithertlreatensand teaches, terri-
Êesaod iudgesthings,or maliesa promise. Everythingends u,ith
this, and it rneÂDs
that God is your graciousLord. This is my 6rst
rule in translation.
"The secondrule is tlat if dre rneaningis ambiguousI ask
tiose u,ho have a better krowledge of the languagethan I have
rr,hetlertIe Hebrervrvordscan bear this or that senservhichseems
to me to be especiallyÊtting. fuld tlat is most Êtting rvhichis clos-
est to the argumentof tlre book. The Jervsgo âstray so often ia the
Scriptrues becausethey do not linorv t-he [true] contc-ntsof the
books. But if ône lorows the contents,tlat senseought to be
chosenrr'hich is neârestto tlrem."
References
There is a huge bibliographyon Luther. The most useful referencesfor our purposesare given
below:
Bainton,R.H. 1951.Here I stand;A Lde of Martin Luther.London:Hodder& Stoughton
Bluhm, H.S. 1965.Martin Luther, CreativeTranslator.SI Louis: Concordia
- 1969."An 'UnLno,xn'Luther Trarslationof the Bible". PML.A84. 1537-1544
CatnbridgeHistory of the Bible, vol 3: 94-103
Keinath, H.O.A. 1965. "Melancthon and Luther's Translation of the Bible", Concordia
TheologicalM onthly 5, 842-6
Kelly 1979:sv. "LutheC' rlrJc.n C.rson (1363,1499),leamed Frcnch scholar to rr.Àoscl,orlis Lrrtlcr
Lefevere1971:sv. "Luthei' often aoocalcd.

Steiner1974:sv. "Luthe/'

Estienne Dolet (I 509-46)

Scholarand Printeç supposedto be an illegitimatesoneof Frdnçois1; Trainedas a lawyer
1533Speaksat Toulous€againstDecreesof Parliamentof Toulouseon riotousasscmbly
1536 AbandonsLaw for Lettersi attacksEræmus in ùe quarrel betweenCiceroniansand
anti-Cicercnians
At aboutlhis time setsup as a booksellerand printerat Lyon.
1546Bumt on the chargeof Lutheranopinions.

46
3 RENA]SSANCE I DOLET

Translations
1542Les Epitresfamilièresde Cicéron
1544Deux dialoguesde Platon

TheoreticalWorks on Translation
l54O La manièrede bien traduire d'une langueen aulre (Rickard1968:104-107)

Cultural Background
Dolet had the Humanisteducationnormal at his time, which includeda balancebetweenLalin
and Greek,literarureand philosophy.By then the remnantsof the medievalliterary traditionshad
finally gone underground,in leamed circles !o be replacedby the anisdc ideology of the
Humanist prose writers as embodied in the teachings of the fifteenth-centuryFlorentine
translators.Like most of his contemporaries,he was very sûongly influencedby Erasmus,
leaming from him the necessityof making a balance betwecn matter, style and rcligious
experience.As far as reiigion was concemedthere is no proof that he was a Lutheran,but like
most of his Humanist contempotuies he was rather unonhodox. It is probable that he was
influencedby Luther.Howeverhe was almostc€rtâinly in the circle influencedby JeanLefebvre
d'Etaples wbo, like Luther, combinedclassicalscholanhip with researchon religion and the
Bible.

lVhy did he Translate?

As was normal at the time, Dolet's translationactivity was part of a generalprogrammeof
scholarlywriting ard populareducation.In this light it is significanrthat he followed the Iralian
exampleand ran a printing press.By the time he had translatedCicero'sleftersin 1542 he was
well awareof his rÊputafion:
-si i'ay travaillépour acquérirlos (prrise) & bruict en la languelatine, ie ne me veulx
efforcermoinsà me faire renommeren la miennematemelleFrancoyse.
And his prefaceto his Platoclaimsthar he will be rememb€red afterhis deathfor his transladons.
Ironically,the pretextfor his executionwas a contentiouspassagein his Platowhich was takento
be heretical.
As far as the originalsthemselves
and their translationsare concemed,Dolet takesa very wide
view. His ûanslationof Cicero's Epistolae ad faniliares was undenakento cast light on the
sp€echesand their historicalse ing. Quite rightly he wams his readersthat one can not really
understandCicero'smore famousworks unlessone knows the Letters,drawing attentionto the
absolutenecessity
of knowingaboutRomandaily life, religion,politics,consritution
and politics
if one is to gain anything from reading even a translationof a Roman literary work. Thc

47
 RENAISSANCE I DOLET

emphasison socialbackgroundremindsone of Lulher's similar concemson tie Bible.

But it would seem that Dolet wishes to emphasiseto his public the need to develop a
vemâcularliterary sfyle in French.In his prefaceshe has a numberof very perceptivediscussions
of Latin style, and his famouslittle pamphleton translatingmust be understoodas pan of his
concemwith goodsrylein both classicallanguagesand his own. His preoccupations
with his own
ianguagematchtiose of Luther in Cerman with this diffeænce,that the pEdominan!social and
political positionof Parismeantthat Frenchwas alreadybeing standardised
on the model of the
languageof the //e de France.We are beforethe period of les belles infidèles,but Frenchis not
yet sure of its standards.
In one sensea lead does come from Luther's insistenceon education
thrcugh the languageof the commonman, but the influenceof Erasmusard the fifteenth-cennrry
Florentineschoolof translationis obviousin his complaintthat Frcnchis not æ copieuzas Latin.
And as Cicem had done wiù Latin, Dolet was setting out. to give French added range and
flexibiliry.

How did he Translate

It would be a mi$ake to take l,c nanière de bien Ùaduire âs anything but a general
programme,or to seeit as somethingnew. Indeedit had alreadybeen said by the translatorsof
the FlorentineSchool,Manilio Ficino in particular,and by Erasmus.He translateswith an eye to
his author as well as to his readership.One would expect a prDminentHumanistlike him to
demand that il fault ovoir raison de la phrase. He is also concemedâbout equivalences,
remarkingthe problemscausedby les mots anciens(i.e. those denotingmagisraciesand other
public institurionsin Rome). For these he recommendsa mixture of borrowing and dynamic
eouivalence:
From Dolet'spreface!o Cicero'sEpistles
Au demeurânt,ie te veulx advenir, que la langueFrançoysen'est si copieuse,qu'elle puisse
exprimerbeaucoupde chosesen ælle briefvetéque la [:tine. Parquoysi quelquefois i'use de
commodss,tu ne le trouverasesrange,puis qu'aultrementne se peult faire. Ce qui
circonlocutions
advientpour la diversitédes largues,câr ce, que I'une exprimeen ung mot, I'auitre I'exprimeen
plusieurs.Et ce qu'icelle a en plusieurs,I'aultre I'a en ung. En quoy il fault avoir raison de la
phrase,& propriétéde chasquelangue,potrr se rouver excellentinterpreteur& parfaict.
D'avantagesi en ce livre tu ùDuvesquelquesmotz d'anûquié, comme auspices,augures,
sesærces,terunces,comices, Calendes,ldes, Nones, Consuls, Questcurs,PreÉurs, Dictateurs,
Tribunes, Aediles & plusieurs aulues dictions du siecle Rommain, garde-oy de les vouloir
reprend-re,
ou reicrter, crr cele scroit confondrela vénérableantiquité, Qui plus est ilz ne se
p€uventaultrement.
raduLe en nostrelangue.Et si tu en veulx sçavoir,& entendrela significarion,
il te fault avoir recous aux Autheursl,atins,ou Françoys,qui expliquenttclz termes.

48
 RENAISSANCE I DOLET

He was also involved in the CiceronianreactionagainstErasmus'sa[acks on the unthinking

imitation of Ciceroniannormsin Latin prose.His concem seemsto have been that Erasmushad
as many blinkeredfollowersas the Ciceronians,
and thât they would throw out the baby with the
bathwater,and so lose what was valuablein the CiceroniantrÀdition.In transladonterms this
meant he exercisedextrcmecare in creatingin Frencha copia rerum et verborumto matchthat
of Latin as in the text below.

Dolet on Cicero, Epistulaead familiares, I.x

M.T. Cicéronà ValeriusIurisconsulte
Salut.
Ie ne voy rien, parquoyie doubreto saluerpar ce beau tilue, veu principalement,que I'on peult
user mainlenantd'audace,au lieu de sâpience.I'ay remerciéLentuluspar letresen ton nom. Mais
ie ne vouldJoisque Lu ne me feissesplus escripre,& que tu rclounassesà Rome, & que tu
âym:rssesmieulx estreen ung lieu, où tu fussesnombré pour sçavantque demeurerlà, où tu es
tenu pour seul sçavanl Touæsfois ceulx, qui viennent de par delà, disent, que tu es en panie
superb€,pour ce que tu ne responsrien, quâtd on te demandequelquechosede droicq & en panie
injudeux, pour ce que tu réponsmât. Ie désire fon, que ryons ensemble.Parquoy donne ordre que
tu retounes âu plus tost sansaller en ton pais d'Apglie afrrn que nous nouspuisSionsresjouir,que
tu es retoumésain e[ saulve,Câr si tu vas en ton pais, tu n'y congnoisu-as
personnenon plus que
Ulissesau sien.Adieu.

References
Boulmier, I. 1857.EstienneDolet. repr.Geneva:Slalkine
Chassaigne,
M. 1930.Estienne
Dolet.Paris:Albin Michel
Horguelin1981:sv. "Dolet"
Kelly 1979 sv. "Dolet"
Rickard1968:w- "Dolet"

49
C. RENAISSANCEAND HUMAMSN{ tr

W€ek 4 Literary and EducâtionalTranslation

Like his medievalcounterpanùe Renaissance an educator.The rise

wnslator was essential.ly
of the vemacularsseemsto have slowly shiftedthe centr€of trÀnslationtowardsliterature;though
one must be awarethat distinctionbetweenlranslationgenresis essentiallymodem.For Erasmus,
for instance,fanslating the Ncw Teslamentwas not all that different from translaûngthe Greck
dramadst,Euripides.The Renaissmceshowsa shift in the ethics of scholarchipaway from the
medievalintellectualpriorities.Literatureand its translationwere to be "works of Art", and other
types of lranslationbenefitcd,as they had in the Classicalen. Hence the rhetoric of the text
becamepan of the message.In literary trdnslationin panicular this age soughtto creat€within
the bounds set by an exisdng work, and thus to balance freedom, imitation, discipline and
creativity. Literary translation brought to fruition what the Romans from the preclassical
dramaûststo Jerome had to teach.Indeed franslationheld a central olace in educationas a
method of criticism of bolh the author and oneself.
As we have seenhumanisttranslationbeginsin philosophy,and from Ficino right throughthe
sixteenthcenturytherewere c.untlesstranslationsof Greekand Latin philosophen,eachclaiming
to be more authenticthan the last. One imponant issue was education.Educationâlworks by
Erasmus(panicularly the Colloqui.a)and Vives, especialyhis work on the educationof women,
was widely tmnslated,One of the most chamcterisiicmanifestations
of ihis interestwas concem
for the educationof the Prince, that idealisedRenaissance
figure who embodiedall possible
humanvirfues.The tone was set by works such as Doctrinall of Princes (1533)translatedby .tlr
ThomasElyot (1490?-1546)from the Greek of Isocrares(436-338 BC), and the versions of
Castiglione'sIl cortegianoby ThomasHoby (1424-1585)andJuan Boscan(ob. 1542).There was
censorsNp:Mach.iavelliwas feared and the English venion of Il principe by Sir Thomas
Bedingfield (ob. 1613) was unfavourablynoticed by Queen Elizabeth I and remained in
manuscriptuntil after 1960.
Though by lhe naturc of things, philosophywas the major concem of these first humanisr
translators,we do frnd founeenth-century
translatotslike AlessandroBnccese(1445-1503)and
Aldus Manutius (1455-1515)who did do some literaùre. Bur in rhe res! of Europe lirerary
translationarrived late in the sixteenthcentury,rhoughûrere are some interestingpioneerslike
Gavin Douglas(14752-1522),Bishopof Dunkeld,whoseScotsvcrsionof theAeneidis one of rhe
most interestingin English. When it did translatorsworkcd with cqual skill to or from their
vemaculars.The major inspirationwas classicalwitiin an Italian cultural dominance,and in a.ll
countricsthis shapedliterature,especiallypoetry. In France ûle group of poets around flerre

50
 RENAISSANCE tr

Ronsard(1524-85)(rhe Pléiade)is a very imponantgroupof translatonwith the usual interestin

thc lalest from Italy as well as Greekand Latin literamrc,and,JacquesAmyol (1513-93),whose
French venion of Plurarch'sLjves wæ translatedinto English by Sir Thonas North (15351'
1601?)iin EnglandHenry Howad, the Earl of Surrey(1517?-1547)is known for his translaÙons
of Peûarchand the Classicsilasryr Heywood(1535-1598)
for his versionsof Seneca'sdrama,
Afthur Colding (1536?-1605?)for his Ovid, and the most famousof them all, GeorgeAnpman
(1559?-1631?)for his Homer. In Spainwe have the Franciscanc{jf-t,Ffty Luis de Leon (1520'!-
91), also known from his work from classics.

George Chapman (I 559?-1634)

Dramatistand Poet
Probably anendedOxford Ând left wiùout a degree.Probablysoldieredin Franceand Holland
during the 1580s.Renownedin his own ûme as a clæsical scholar.Perhapsthe "rival poef'
mentionedin Shakespeare's
sonnets.
1594First poemspublished
1598-1634:Play-writingand productioneither aloneor in collaborationwilh Jonson,Shirley,
Fleæher and Mæsinger. Pubtished .on.i6ïbt. amounr of poetry, including *..
" \t/ f
trÂnslaùons
from Latin and Crcek.

Translations
1598-1616:The Whole Works of Homer; Prince of Poens (ed. A ardyc€Nicoll, Princeton:
PrincetonUniversityPress,1956).
SevenPenitentiallPsabnsof Petrarch
Extractsfiom Hesiod,Juvenal,Musaeus

TheoreticalStatements
There are many referencesto translationin the prefacesof his variouspoems.The most imponant
and completeis his vene prefaceto Homer.

Homerrs I111ads, To the Reader 90-146 (L598)

ed. All;rrdyce N1coI1, ?rinceton, 1956
lVhiclr hor.'l havc in rrry corrrcrriort prov'd
I must conferrc I hrrtlly drrc rclcrrc
1'o rc:rrling jrrtl6crrrrrl\, rirr{ (' \tt ,.irrr(tirlly
ol't\t',t'lstia . nl C o t l o u l c h x ( l r r r r l r l cc v c t t ( l r ' i r b l c 5 t . \ l i c r r tct r r c
ttc îatutdl .lil! zr.rcc In thcrc tr;rnslatiorrs:all so rrrrrrh l1>ply
ol Dial.clt tt...ltôtilt Thcil plirrcr nrrd cunrri116rrtot<l Ior rtorrl !o rcnrlcr
lo bc oÙ5.n.d i,t il.
TLcir p:rticrrt Arrtlrôls, \!hcrl tllcy rlriryla !t'cll
Itfakc fish rvith [orvle,Crrrrclsrvit[ \l'L:rlct crgcûdct,
Or rlrcir aorrgoci'spccchirr orlrcr moutht <orrlpcl[.

5l
 CIIAPMAN
RENAISSANCEtr

For cvcn ar dillcrcnt e prorlrtction

r\rkc Grcchc rtttl lirrglislr,rirrcc, as thcy in :ounlls
^nd lc!rcr5 slnrnrrconc lorlllc nn(l unitorr,
So hiryc thcir icrlsc in.l clcgilrr(icbonlr(l!
ln thcir diJtingu;Jh! niturc!, ir,r(ltcluirc
Oncly a ju(lgcllcrr lo m;rlc bolll corrrctrt
ln scnrc and clocution, and asPirc
Âr rtcll to rcirch thc il)i.ir tl|:lt rrils sltcDt
In lrir cxarnplc. ar rvillr arte to Piclcc
llis Grarttrrt:rrrtlrl ctyntol,4ii,:of tr,rrrls.
lroni(è. lut ar grcar Clct ler c,rttr{r itc rlo lirrgliill lcrsc
Bc<rulc (ilirt! grcirr Clcrli) liuglirh 1(ordr,
Say rhcy, no hciglrt uor coPic-l rudc toutrg
'li5 thcir Nrtivc)-bua in Grcclc or Lrtinc
(Siocc
Thcir rvrir: arc rrrc. Ior lhctr.c a!uc Pocsic sprong-
Tlrough thcnr (fruIh Lnorvcr)tllcy lrave Lrutsliil to clrat in
Conrper'd rvith thrr thcy nti8h! lay in rlrcir ortnc,
Sincc tlrithcr tlf otltcr'llull .tr)rrlc<rrrlrrotrnllc
Thc anrplc trlrrrorigrxtion io lrc tllorvrc
lrr N:rtrrrc.lovirrgI'ocricl ro rhr: brirlc
Tlr1r tlrosc'friuslrtor5 sticlc itr llrirr nllccl
Thcilrvorrl.for-rçotd rr;rductiorrr (whcrc thcy lole
Thc frcc grlcc oI tlcir nrrurrll Dialcct
Arrd shrmc thcir Authorr rrith a (orccd Clorc)
thc nctcuarie I laugh to scc-end yct ar much abhorrc
n.cfaEattc oJ ÀIorc ticcnce frorn rhc wordr rhan mly cxprcssc
t/.ntlôtion lo lha Thcir lrrll comprcrsion and mrlc clcarc ùhc ^u!hor,
From rvhosctruth if you thiukc mv fcct digrclsc
BccarrrcI usc nccdlull Pcriphrtsc:,
Rca<.1Vdla,IIcssus,that in Latinc Prosa
^n(l Vcr3c conycrr him; rcad thc Ilcsirrcr
'l'llra
inro Tuscan turnr lrim, and tbc Glorc
Grllc Salcl mllc in Frcnch lr hc-tranrlatcr-
\\rhich (lor th'atorclrirlc rclonr) all murt doo-
Anrl scc that my convcrtion nrucl! abitcs
1'lrc licencc thcy talc, a.td nrorc 5hoEc5him !oo'
\\'ho5c righ! not all thosc grcal lcarn'(l m(n ltÀvc donc
(ln :oarc Inainc parl!) tlra! !'c.c lri5 Commcûtirs'
Bur (:rr rhc illurul(ion of thc Sunûc
Slrould bc artcmPrcd by thc cr!ing star!c5)
They (ail'd to scarchhir dccpc and uca5uro'Jth:rrL
'l'lrc.lu.ic
rvni tinse lhcy rvnltlcd lltc ti! key
Th. fott.t ol natvrc Of Narrrrc, in thcir dorYn'tighr s!ùcrtgtlt,.r[r\rl,
6bouc,1tI ht t'oati.. \t'i(h Poc.ic to opcn Pocric-
Wlrich in my Pocmc of thc mYslc:ict
Rcrcrl'd irt lloù1cr I rvill clcrrcly Prolc,
'l
ill whorc nccrc ùirth.lrspcnd yorrr Catumnicr
And fnuc'rvidc imputitiottt of,cl[c Iovg'

J/-
 RENAISSANCE
tr CHAPMAN

Cultural Background
one mustmeasurehis
Chapmanwas very frrr y rootedin the classicalworld. ln consequence,
ideas on translationagainsthis ideas on poctry. Poetry as Art followed Nature, ard did not
control it. And lhis appliedto all poetic texts including ranslations.He also had the Platonist
beiief lhat the Poet wæ inspired,and lhereforethe translatorwho did his job properlywas also
inspired: one of his discussionsof his Homer is couchedas a dialoguebetweenhimself and
Homer, in which he claimsthat Homer has sharedhis own creativeftre with him. This is related
to a statementby Cicero ùat "to ranslate Demosthenesproperly, one must become
Demosthenes".
His ideason languagewereof a piecewith his ideason the Poet.Writersand literaryscholan
have never fully acceptedthe idea that languageis necessarilyarbitmry,but see the Word as
connecdonwith its referent,and in somewaysenjoyingthe power!o generate
hâving a necessary
iL In Chapmanthis is tnnslaredinto his emphasison Naturein both original and translation.The
most obviouselementof Naturc in a languageis its pronunciation.But as pronunciations
differ
from languageto language,the reality that they generatealso diffen. Thereforeliteral trarBlation,
even if possible,wouid be misleading,and a free translationwhoseequivalenceis measuredby
meaningis the only possible.
We havethereforein Chapmana mixture of late medievalPlatonism,Aristoteliandoctrineson
An, and the rhetoricaldocrineson lransladonfrom Ciceroand Quintilian.

\ilhy did ChapmanTranslate?

Like most Renaissancewriters Chapmanbelieved that translationof the Clæsicalliteratures
was nec€ssaryto the maturationof both the national languageand its literature.In this they
followed the exampleof the Roman transiatom,panicularly Cicero and Horace,who soughtto
improve Lalin and Romancultureby assiduoustranslationfrom Greek.Howeverin the English
sixteenthcentury the canonof "classical" literature had widened:not or y did it contain both
Latin and Greek,but also the works of the ltalian humanists:hencethe iriclusionof works from
the ltalian poet, Petnuch.Litenrure was to benefit from absoôing both models and literary
ideologiesfrom the Ancientsiand Englishfrom the sbetchingof its resources
to handlethesenew
ideasand forms.

How did he Translate?

Chapman'sbasicprinciplewas the Clæsical one that ûanslationwas imitation.This he takes
in the sensedefinedby Ciccro:that imitation is the emulationof the bestqualitiesof the original.
Thus Chapmanagreedwith his contemporaries
that translationwas following in the foosteps of
the original auûor ("...if you ùink my feet digresse/BecauseI use needfull Periphrases...").

53
 RENAISSANCC
tr CHAPMÀN

Cicero's principle he then interpretsin rhe senseof Quintillian: that ùe imitâtor is rvonh nothing
urùesshe brings someûtingof his own to lhe task. From Cicero also comesthe condemnationoI
word-for-word translation.Like most of the writen of his rime Chapmanhad a pridc in his own
languageand fuUy realisedthat Englishhad its own customsand naturethat differed considerably
from those of the source languages.His ruling principle is the literary one, "to op€n Poesie with
Poesie"; and 10 this end he preached a balance bctween free and literai translation based on a
functionalistview of language.
Chapman was a "leamed poef in the ancient scnse in thât he knew the cultural and
mlrhological context of his original well enough to measure them against contemporary
authorities. The explanatory and sometimespolemical footnote wæ an essential pan of such a
translator's armoury, and Chapman uses them lo the ful1. A large number of his foohoted
comments are linguistic analysesof his Creek or Lalin originals to show the reader how he
arrived at the venion he published, and to justiry thar his periphaseswere "needfull".

THE SECOND BOOKE

of
HOz]{ER,SIUADS

TLIE,-IRGUAIENT
Jat,e cals a uiton ylt irs:t1 Sonlnru, Letl
To bi:!,1!,id(t ntustcr u! his nen.
/ ttc hnt; \to. (;rcchcs dbremb[]ng lis
denrel
r.ttua,I.s tlttùt to thet. tountric to retirz.
By Pallai a ilt IL!1,sscs sta1,esthcir
Iight
Attdtuise oll !\'t:rtotl1!àttctrrlht
rc fi"ht.
Th./ t L..th r,ùco!c: ultich done,
t o a r t t t e sI t t c y g o e
Attd.-tarch ra et)otlora\ aËain!t
th. lo(.
Jo lttote ul Tt,,7.z.,hcu ltrr,Iro,n lhc,llte,
O1 Saturt t sot,ttr pctlonns thë.lnl.tatstc.

</ùotber LArgumèlL,

Bcta,the dreamc and S1nod,circs,

,/lnd Catalogue, thc tovall hniglLts,

'l'lte
lklri..r c^t.lIit nl o t h e r C o d : a n d k n i g h 1 5r t a n n c sa l l n i g l t t s l c p t . O r r c l v
p ( t l o r ù 1 i ' t r ) ti s L . a u Sr(ect5lumbcr seis(lnor: hc discourstlror" b"rt hc nright Jor c
appinre
IIis vorv rnadc for Achilles grace and m"le rl,e
C.cii"n, i',r,1
IIis misic in much death. Al rr'ajs5615g,tlis counsel
scn.il
his rnind
l!'irlr ntost allorr.ancc-to disp:lrch a llarmcfull dreame (o
-I'he grcct 5
kjng of men, rnd gale rhis clrrr.ge:,Co ro rhc .\chile
iec_t,
lul)it(r.ats ul a P c r n i c i o r rdsr c a m c .a n ( 1 ,b c i r r g : r r r i v , di n A g : r r n c r r r r r o n( c. su l ,
I ) c i i \ e r r r u l v i l l t l r r sr i t ; r r , l c .C o r n r r r e n h cim ro ç6n,.c,111
I I 1 5\ \ l l r ) l lcr o i r \ar r r ) i l 1 , , . 1 . )l rl cr c s .r o r r r c 5f o, I r r o r vl - r , , i . s
L r , , . I r , ; r . trl , , r , c
I l c s h i l l t . r L qi n : r l r c l r , - , r v c n l r i , u . , (Cl i ) ( l \ ; r r , -n,o r t i r r r l r l [ r : r c n r
gr ( , \ r lc
. i r r o \ r c q t r c rl rt ; r r lrrr , r r r r .r,l r c r : l r o i | l , ) r lr r ( c r r r r l l l r û . r \r! l i
, \ t l l l I ) i r f t rl . r l r o u r r .I l r r r c h . r r . : Ll r:c : r r r lt.l r c \ i J i o r r
, ( r . i i , l l r rf u l J l i ,

Pr+ [ +r ]
 RENATSSANCE
II
CHAPMAN

!: Honc/s I liads
.i A m i d s t h e c r l m e n i g h c i n m y s l c c p ed i d c h r o u g l rn r v s l r u ce y e s
l s hi n e
\\.'ithin my fanrasic, FIis forme did Pxssir)Qt)turnlly 45
Resemblc Nesror: such attire, a stacurejusr as lic.
He stood above my head and rvords thus Iashiond did rclate:
t.lt ltis
A ga,t'c"tJtot1 "Sleepesthe wise Atreus' tame-horsesonne?A counscllor oI
s(ate
i\lusr not the rvhole night spend in sleepc,to rvhom the pcoplc arc
For guard commitled and rçhoselifc stanclsbound to so nrLrch 50
c3le.
Norv heare me dlen, Jove's masscnger,r'ho, thougll [irrc off
from thee,
Is ncere thce yec in love xnd crre, :1nd gir'cs conrrnenrll.rr'nrc
To rrme thy rvhole hoasc.il-hl srrong lrand rhe broed.rreirl
to\(nc oI Troy
S h a l l n o \ v t a k e i n . N o m o r c t h e G o r l sd i r s c n t i o r r s )i in r p l , n
I i r c i r l r i g h J r o u s dD o w r c s :S r t u r r r i ; r ' s r r i ! ch r ( l r r r r r r r r r rl l r , : r r r l l :r,r
to ne!
^ r ) d i l l f r t e s o v c ! . h a n g! h c s ct o \ ! r c s .i d r l r c s t b y J r r p i t c r .
I : i \ c i n t h y m i n d t h i s . 1 ' l r i : r : r l r r c s t l. r ( r o o k c \ i n q r r r r r ri r r ' . r v .
' \ r r d s r v c c ts l c e p cl c f ( m c . L c ( u s t l l c l b ) a l l o u r n t c J n c \ : r \ \ : r \
'l-o:rtmc
our arrnic. I rsill lirsr (:rsf:rrrc rs n!s orrr riijh!)
'frie
tltcir addiction5 and commirnd rlith full.seil'clships orrr 6o
fl ighc,
\ \ ' l r i d r i I t h c y y c c l ( l t o , o p p o s c] o u . ' I I c s i r t c ,a n r l r r p ; r r o s c
Ncstor, oI sanclyPy]osking, rvho (!rill;ng to dispose
j l r c i r c o u r t s c l lt o t h c
l ) L r l r l i c l cg o r x l ) l r r o l x r s r ti l r i r t o 1 l r . 5 i , r , :
'ltrinccs
N c ! t o rt o l h . C t . . k c t . a n d C o u n s c l l o r s o f C r c c c c , i I e n y s l r o t r l <rl c l l t t
'l'his
lision but tJreking hirnsclfc, ir might be hcki e t:rlc 65
r \ r r d m o v c t h e ! a t h c r o u r r c l r J i r c ; b ù ! s i n c co u r C c r r c r : r ) i
r \ l l r m c s I e s r r vi t . h o l d i t t r t r cr r r < 1o r r r u c 5 tn r c : r n c rsr i r r c
_fo
a l r r r eo u r a t m i e . T h i s s p c c c hu s r l c ,I r c f r r s tt h c C r > r r r r L rl lrlr . r i i c .
l llc othersceptcr.bcrring S t : r t c sr r o s c t o o , e n d o b c v t l
-l
l l c p c o p l c ' sR c c t o r . B c i n g x b r o r ( i , t i l c c r r t l l l ( ; l t o \ c r i . l L , i jo
Si'rilc. \\'irh llockers to thetn thrt crnlc [or!h. Às lvllcû of frc(lLrrnt ]irc\
S\rrrmcs !ise out oI a hollorv rocke, rcpririllg thc rlcglccs
t ) [ t J ) c i rc g r e s s j o ne n ' l l c r j v r , i r l r c l r r r i . j r r ' . r; r tr y
l:ronr forlh their sl{eet nest, as thcir srore,still as ir frdcd, gr crç
, \ l d r r c v c rw o u l c l c e : r s s cs ,c n d i n q [ o r l h l r c r t l L r s t c r tso r l r c r r r r i r r . ] ; ;
'l_hcy
s t i l l < r o r v do u ! s o - t h i s f l o c k cl l c r c , t h x t t l ) c r c ,l l c l . r l r , , r ; r i r r r :
_flrc
l o r r l c d l l o r ç r c l :s o f t o r u L l r cs l r i l r s : l t ( lt c r r r ( l , c i l l ) ) i . r \ i t ) r c '
'froop! (o
t h e s cP r i n . c si l n L li h c C o u r ! i l o n g t l r ' u n u r c . r s L, lr r
silorc-
Ânrongst whom Jove'sArnbessadresse, Ianre, in her lerruc slrir r'rI
Antb'atttdres!. !.xciring grcedirlessero hcÂrc. Thc rai.)blc,thus iuclirr'rl, S,r
I i u r r i e c l t o g e t h e r .U p r o r c s e i s dr h e h i S I rC o u r c ;e r h c l i ( it r r ) j r c
llcneath the setling multjturlc; turrrrl! rr.astllcre rlonc.
l h r i c e t h r e c v o i c i t c r o u sh c r a l d sr ' o s cr o c h c c k r l t c r o r r r i r i r , l! c r
I : l r c r o r l r c i r J o v c k e p t C o r c r r r o r s r, n t l i r r s t l r r t l yr r r r :s c t
I l r r t h r r B cc o n l l l s i o : c \ ' r f \ n ] r l ] s c ! f r \ t , r n ( l ( l ù u { ) r ( r r . t 55
'I
h c n s t o o dd i v i r r e ; \ t r i d c sr r l rl n r l i n l r i sI r r n i l c o r u i r r c ; t
.ftt.tûltttôl ilissccPlcr,(h'clirbor:rtc\\orkcofficlicÀltrlcibcr,
\ \ ' h o g i l v ci ! t o S ; r t ù r n i i l l lro . , c ,J o v ct o h i 5 n ) c s s c n : c r - ,
{ l r s n ) c s s c n s c(r, \ r g i c r d c st), r I ' c l o 1 ; ss,L i i r ir r rl r o r s q .
I ' c l o p s! o r \ t r c u s ,c h r c f co I r r r L r rl;r c , t l l r r r g ,g e ' , . ci t c o r r r r c !o
l o l ' r i n c c T h y c s ! c s r. i c h i n h c e r d s ,I i l v c \ r c s( o r I c l r r | | l
P{{ ( ) J . \ : ' : r r r r c r r t rrrcorrrrr l c r ri tl : r r r t lr.ri r l r i r . r l r cr o n r n r . r r r l
O f r r r r r t , lrl' c s : r n c ,l \ r g o s : r l l .O r r ! h i s I r c ,l c r r r i n ' t ,s . r r d ;
 ;{i T t I U S D C o . N Dn O ) K ILItll)S i';
Qlr 0 ItliS

I'ur t[ough it Ùc oll tLc lcrltlitiorrllc,rrrclcrpLesselh, ; ct hc irrtcrrr]s

trru
rltciul ports irr tLc nlllicttiorr Drolc, \!lri!lr lrrr lcrres to I'ia.1rr.lici,,t
tlariclr uurlcrrtquding, rl.:Lc dollr in nll )ris ull,cl sirrrilcs; ;irrcc ;utrtrrtr
uist lrcniûlly (or', os Lc passctlr) disccrrr l|ll llrirl is lo Lo rrrrilolstootl
COI{I\TDNTANIUS. Àrrrl lrcto,LcsidcstLuir tLrorrgsof roldicrscxlr'èssctlirr tLo srtu'rrrsol
lx\}{, llc iutiDlata$tlrc itrfirritcnutrlLcl ilr liroso tlrlcrrrgsor cotrrp:ttrie;,
i,uuirrgfionr llcot so ccrrsclcss)y llr[ Ûrcrc rU)))rlrcr]nlrrroslrro trrrl r,l
'(]irt itr'",.tc. tlcir irsuc; oud thilclly, thc cvc|y rvlrolodispc|sirrgthcrrrscllcs. llrrb
Jical cr',rrrirrn2to,lrur.t altuu f,ttxr,rl,rrlr, .tc.
I I Irr this sirrril,:\'ilgil (u"irrg drc liIo irr irrrir.,rir,r)is pruf,:r.rr:rl Slx,u,lqnus rvoul,l cxcusc I [ourer ful cxl)fcssirrg rrcruolcuf Iris:rlrllicrrtiurr,
to llonrcr; li[L rvlrrt r,curorr r itL aftirrnirrgit iur|ossil.rlc tl;irrgc,'r'r|:rturl,nrr,lllrrlr,,rrrIrrr
llrlt tlrr.: isor,
- I |r'ny ),ou scc. !|1cir.crrrlgrrr.u rli(lclcnt;
I lorucl in(clrling to c\|rcss !lroinlinitc mtrltituticofsoltlicrscrcry rrirclc rh-rul,ioussclirrrllprrts;ûntl[]tclcfuf,'Lrll(3esthcvrrlgrrlrrrr,l,rlsllrulirrg
\ 'lisJ,crsirg; \'irgil, thc rliligouccof l_,uilcrr, Virgil,u sirrilc is tLis: ofo tiruilc, rvIicL is as gtoss rusir is \'rr]grrf,llrr\l l sirrrilitrr,lc
rrrrr.Lrr,r,/
y,h sztnperchutliculc. IIis lcll-lotrlul jt ir ns nLsrrlrllr tJru lt'st;
r l. .liuci,l,.l30.
., Quôlisûtcs rcstûlonovÀnar llorcr rurr rlriclr ir tlrir, Sri cc ir lcr se otu;tn ,'c())o1r(lcft)û,f4lhlc! illul t:t iottu', z
lirorr:t't irrb sololuLor; d,nl ÂcnlisDd,,tl.os nlllon sirniloasl irlulr.; ns thorrg[ tlrc gcrrctll rlpl)liccliorloftlrc solr-
l:ducun!trlus; ou! cumli{lutrrliuruollr ttrotel)rc slttltr', IP
Stitutrt;or Julli disltDduntnccltro coltÀs I'orc,loud tho coolfolisollwould torllic lLclrr rllry tlrirrg z
i
^ùt !ncm,ûccit'iurr rsrjcn( m i ûu!, nÂ,r,i o f,!cl"', oroll ouo; nrofo Llrorrllrc srrl, lrg of Lccs rlrrdtLc tlrlc,lg of rol,licrr rrr',r o
r(nuv nr t"co5 l,ccur tr l,f,ra.tib , ûr(L,r!: all ,rnoor tlrosomc; lLl utrswcfirrgtùosl nl)lly. lJut thrrt,r s;nrilctrrrrit
t \ . r r c r o 1 ' u , , r ' c J " t e n r , 1 u i ,r h y r i r u f r a g f t r u r i r , , r c c . "
rrlrdsLÀli of oùc fool still nllorrctlrhorvL c rrrl3nLtlûtiili,rrri'r,cslrrci:rlll
Nu" com|rLrtthir l.itL lforrrcr.'s,but il rly tr.nlshtiol; rurl jurlgc if,
io Lcr cenguro<,f pocsl'. ùlr' rvlro nt lir'"t siglrt rrill rrr.rtr:orrccilciL
tu bot[ tLcir cuds, tlrclc lrc uy sucL Lotûcllcssirr \rir.gil,sLrrt tLtt tLo
alreurdto ù)rlio n siurilc,rvùicL sclrcs to tlrc illrrstllliolr irlld otllirnlrlrL
rcvclcDccof thc sclrolûr,duc to thc ùrajtc! (cvcu iù thcsc Lis 'rrûliglrc$), .llr.
o f a p o c o r , l o m o o f a f o o t , o n d i t l i c ' i ' 1 ' h c i t l c l e t l i l , l c r i o l c n c c s r r l1l c, 1l r': i l
rright rlcll hoyc coulûiùcd thcir. lorùo ccrrgur.cs
of llo yocticul fury fr.our sirrrilcs,lrcirr;;cr1,r'c's,"1 irr
Ilonrcr iq qll drc rcgt <.rfhis Iuost iuilniùrllrlc
lhcsc unrroulcrly oncl lrotcful corrr|o aols. Dspcciolly,sinccYir,gil Loth T;.1
lir llacc, vill rbunùuntly lttovc t|c stulrirlilyof tLis tlrrrliliort,nrrrl)rorv
rotltug of hi-sorv[, bui only clocution; his i[vontion,nuttcr, oud foru,
iujuriourlyolrorlhis iutclptctcts t)rùsi rrccLhcoDlcof lrirrrirr Lis sllril
l,oirÉ oll llonrcr.'e; rvlich loirl Ly r uroù, tlrrt ryl cL Ic nddcth is onlv
arrrldcop phccs, rvhon itt his opcu olld fLlir'fùssigcs tLcy irull lrrd lr:rr,g
tlrrr rrurk of o roturo, to uctify crrd polisl, Nor Jo I, olns,Lut dro
uoct go.
folcnrosi roùk of thc urost nocicnt onil Lcst lcorncd lhût crcr rrcr.c,coDto
!1.. :lè', piv àgi(n^ovAixtv @ùç, kc,luorc qtiLlcnt cirrrrrnr(or i/lus-
to tlrc ffcld fol Iloorcr, Liùug all otLcr. pocls undcl.Lis crrsign. Ifctc
lrc,t) I.cit Dcus' ûs it is by lrll ttrnsltrtc(l; r.lrer',:irrI Irolc tlro strrrrrSù
not ùc tLcn, Ùut thcD, to tvLoru,Lcforo ruy !ook, I rcfcr
Jou. llut rbusr-,(as I opplohcutlit) o{ tlc ttrttl âçiç'aroç, Ùc;-ilr,irrg)ro,, :,rll
rùucL tlro rô[llcr f ilaigt orr l]ro fornrcl, eiruilo; for.t]ro rvor.rliaaààr, crr_
coulirruirrg rvhclcsocvcril is foul,l irr tlruscllirLrl:. Ir, is l,l llrtr lrlrrsi- o
li'rrrrt;)r, or colfrlilr, nlricL is notcd ùy Spoudu,nusto contoin all tLo ,i
tion of (iuto à irr dclirrltior),rccoltlirrg to tLc Dolic; fr,rlllriclr crLrrsc
irjà0,-rç, rcrLlitioo, or. clplicatiol of tlrc courlorisou,aur.lis uotlrirrg sq.
our iut4rlrctcrs rvill uccds i.rorollourcl irrtcrrd âçiàrror, rrl,icl is c/,2,u.
 RENA]SSANCE tr CHAPÀ,IAN

Relerences
B an1en,Phyllis B. 1941.The Poemsof GeorgeChapman.New York: MLA. (has an exccllent
introduction).
sa vie, sa poésie,son théate, sa pensée.Pais:
Jacquot.J. 1951.GeorgeChapman(1559-1634),
BellesLetues
Kelly 1979;sv. "Chapman"
Latlrop 1933;w. "Chapman"
Maclure, M. 1966.GeorgeChapmanToronto:Universityof Toronto
Snare,G. 1978."Chapman'sOvid".Srudiesin Philology75, 430-50
Ure. Peter.1982."Chapmanas TranslatorandTngic Playwrighf'.in Ford, B. & Vickers, B. New
Penguin,420-35.
PelicanGuide to EnglishLiterature.Harmondsworth:

Baudoin, Jean ( 1564-1650)

Vy'rilerand courtier
1605 Lecteur ûo QueenMaryuerite de Navane
1615Passesto servic€of Louis de Marillac on deathof Marguerire
1620Mission to Englandfor the QueenMother
1621-30Goesto Englandseveraltimeson publicandprivatebusiness
1634Foundingmemberof lhe Académiefrançaise

Translâtions
He translatedaboutfifty tirles of which ùre mos! imponantarc
1611Les essayspolitiqueset monux de messireFiançoisBacon(reprinred1626)
1624-5L'Arcadie de la comtessede Pembrok,traduitede I'angloisdu chevalierSidney
1633Le commentairemyal, ou I'histoire desYncasrois de Pérou(Garcilassode la Vega)
1648L'homme dansla lune @rancisGodwin)
1606-1651Transladonsinto Frenchfrom Creek and Latin historiansincluding Dio Cassius,
Lucian,Suetonius,Sallust,VelleiusPaterculus,
Tacitus.
Contemporaryhistoriansinclude Scipio Ammirato, Saint-ManheI'Ainé. Pietro de la Valla,
OctavioFinelli, Davila, Garcilassode la Vegad
Moral and religiousworksby JusrusLipsius,LalÉntSclva,VincentioGilbeno
l'

Cultural Background
Baudoinwas translatingin a Europein which thc Latin and Creek Classics,though still vital,
were being challengedby modems.The New World was also being explored,hence the work

/'a
)/
 RE!{AIS{;ÀNCE N BAUDOIN

from Spanishwriters.The Reformationand its aftermathhad put Catholicismon the defensive,

even in countrieslike Francewhere it was the stâte religion, and so there is a lot of religjous
work, both polemicaland liturgical in Baudoin'slist. The preponderanceof Italian works among
his versionsfrom modemlanguagesillustratesmore (hanhis linguistic skills: it reflectsthe hold
Italiânshad over Frenchculturc the centurybeforc.The absenceof Germanis notable:it was still
on the frontien of Europeanculture.BesidesFrancewas stu somewhatsurprisedthat England
could offer culfuralenrichment.

How did Baudointranslate?

Baudoin's only commentson his style of translationare the normal protestationsof fidelity,
such as this ftom his Tacitus(1618):
Il vaut bien mieux explicquer ne$emen! sa conceptionou celle de I'Autheur qu'on
traduict,que la desguiserpar despamlesfardées.
However one sensesthe beginningof les belles infidèlesin thesetranslations:Baudoin is very
consciousof t-tledictatesof Ie bon goût aftd of the absolutenecessityof pleasinga public that
was extremelyfinicky over its languagestandards(cf. the snippetftom Baconquotedbelot. In
confa$ !o the previousgenerationhe arrogatedto himself the right to commenton and "correct"
the languageof his authon to fir the languageaftifudesof his public. It seemsstrangethat the
most pnised of his versionsare thosefrom English,a languagethe Frenchwerejust discovering,
and which he was not too expen in. He trânslatedsecond-hand:
his versionof Bacon's.Ess4ys
was done from the Italian versionby Sir ThomasMathew,L'hotnne dansla lune seemsto have
beenbasedon a Frenchcrib by a Scot namedThomasAnan, andhis Arcad.iewas translatedwith
the hclp of peoplewith whomhe quarrelled
later.

Baudoinon Bacon
De la bonté considéréeen deux façons
Ie prendsicy la Bontépour un désir inviolablequi porte t'esprit âu bien de tous les hommesen
général Les Grecsle nomment.
Philantropie, parceque Ie mot de Courtoisie, commenous usons
d'ordinùe, a Eop peu de forcepour I'exprimer.
I'appelleBonté I'habitude;& BonténaturelleI'inclination.Cestevenu surpassetouæsles autres
en préeminence,
et sembleestreun caractèrede la Divinité, sanslequel I'hommeest un vrai objet
de mal-heur,de misere,& d'inquiétude,plus ravalé que s'il esûoitun ver de ærre, ou quclque
insec@nuisible.

I tal(e goodnessin this sense,the affecring of the wea.lof men, which is rhat tfte Grerians call
philanthropiel and tie word humaniry(as it is used)is a lide too light ro expressir. CoodnessI

{q
 RENAISSA,NCBII B AUDOIN

câ.Uthe Habir, ând Goodness of Nalure ùe Inclinarion. This, of ail ûre virtues and dignides of tie
Mind, is the greatest,being ùe ch acter ôf ûe deity; and wiùout it man is a busy, mischievous,
weæhed thing, no better l}tan a kind of vcrmin (Bacon)'

why did he translate?

Baudoin's reputationas a writer rcstedon his translations.Like most wriærs of the time he
was an obsequiouswrircr of dedicationsand a long-windedwriter of prefaceS.Theseprcfacesgo
to considerablelengthson why he ûanslated,on the importanceof hiS authors,and what his
readersshouldleam from his venions.Besidesas a memberof one of France'sroyalhouseholds,
Baudoin was in demandas a translatorand he seemsto have have translatedOn demand.His
(1650 reprinted 1658) from the Inlian of rhe
Négotiatiots ou leures d'affaires ecclésiastiques
Cardinalof Fer6ra was translatedfmm an unpublishedmanuscriptfor an assemblée génêraleof
the Frenchclergy.
Baudoindrawsanentionto ùe utility of his authorsin the educationof the "Prince". Classical
historianshelpedshapepôlidcal attitudesin France,and at a time when therewas somepolilical
murmuringall over Europewereexploitedio show thtt absolutistrégimeswent back a long time.
The introductionto his Ca€sarrcproducedhere gives a numberof lessonson the attributesof a
King, and then discussesthe ways in which the Frenchpeopleare heirs to the warlike attributes
of ûre Romans.The fate of rhe lncasrclatedin his Garcilassode la Vega (1633)is presentedas a
waming o the Frenchpeopleon "la Décadence d'un GrandEmpire,advenûepar la tyrannied'un
Usuçateur". Even the oppositionwas bent into service:from his 1618Tacitus,a notoriouslyanti-
Imperial Roman author,come lessonson the craft of the Prince.Bacon was treatedin Franceas
Descanesin England- as a great foreignphilosopherovershadowed by the greaterhome-grown
son. But with much !o offer all ùe same.

fro, lis q:::,"

I
rect t oi r noTconcito7cnt i, i.r,rr r;lI : ït,:t;t|: i: !;: {::: î ::,
c,1x ftù-y fiabtmù at lebcurdccct tradu&-rcns)
7c f?rc ct prcnrcr
Iicrdl lcoir eomntîcrl lrtt miroiicr,la graa/c 6 zo\:/c nntiqaiti de
ktt anu,4ryt :',combicnil/af rct (t ,Idootr. ih ont q\i 'de tout
ttnpt oa,fiifl dc la grcrrtg/çj oitru ,à I'aduca nclme fi refnoi;
S:o,Cr,,o, c,ctt),luqrt! u ,tit -cntrc Ctpirainc t1 Cbcf d'trmà na
J-t-tgdat ? r.t mdrx cn nprcr e rtinct që,ont accoafuné tqport.,
.n ttt rct dominationt 6 r!rtt k, ,o)runct çi p:rtialitci'/tna
tltyu , protezan la pl,a-porr dc l'qfucti )rl, nrrrriu dc too,
ljr,rt' aC I yclqnin -uint alkgrrr-',1u, cr/, h$oire nr zctt c.1î
ja ln ,cn0au.ll.mcnt de dotltur , d'aroir aitf cli donTtcz
@ rc-
pt un .a.è ?;e -o,qrr'ô opprobo-
:,:': ,: !:|,,o,tn
,li::ir.4!* ,EJlrzng..l,
atrçoigye6 opprolra
,20* ncftll)e d'r1Çndrc
7r,t
e rynJt ?ctt, nombtcdc atu ton pc* rep/iqur à l,cntoiuc
, juc ult

{1
 RENAISSANCE
tr BAUDOIN

' . eou loit ntfw tulrrkr ) orazd gloirc', d,auoir à ,o,atlt ,7roin,cI;

':i:'/"!,';,'ï:;;:!i:::d:r:I,i:;,i:*s/:r:,:î
f::!;.r:':: ric,,;,?,;;;,;"';; ;fî,;',','0, ,,n-
i',.c,f,tr,àq.ui t.

con?c,1triir,,.p1,."),ei Ltronquc-
''i;:îi{;!:'/;;:"1;:,!:::f
f:y,:,,;':.:i; :"p,i,"i:c
,:::,'X;::,,i:i'I;:,!*::::::
. .?-dc.,nt con,clcr,auclc dirc dr poitc,tLn." ,rigli J.**..._
à 1,r,,,t.
f;h,r, cepl
l::- lt
&li dct ctr prtm'ci ;;; ; ;,',,t ::' 7rt'i / n' t f n -
; ; ; T,i, : ;' I ; ;,:;n::{:c

References
Cioranescu,
A. 1942.,,pourI'histoiredu Roman royal,,,Modern Innguage Notes
57, 190_1
Kynaston-snel1,
H. 1940.J. Baudoin et /es Essaisde Baconen France jusqu,au
xvlIe siècre
CfhèseClermont-Ferrand)
Lawton, H.W. 1926 "Notes sur J. Baudoin e! sur ses traductions
de l,anghis,,, Revuede
lhtératurecomparée6, 673-691
Pellison,1858.Histoire de l,académie
françaue. éd. p. Livet. I.23g_40

//,
OL
D. THE AGE OF REASONI

1600 marks the coming of age of ùe vemacularlanguages,bur it is not until thc mid-
eighteenrhcenturylhat ùanslationsof imponântwdtings into Latin ceasedto be a commercial
proposirion.And by the end of the sixteenthcenturyFrancehad taken over from Italy as the
cultural leaderof Europe,a positionit held in someform or other until after the First Vr'orldWar.
During the seventeenthcentury French educatorshad designatedlhe mother tong)e étude
other nalionshad followed suit by the beginningof the eighteenthcentury.Thus
nécessaire,and
French rhetoriciansand grammariansled the developmcntof a rationalistapproachto language.
Thoughthe philosophesof the seventeenth
centurytake most of the credit,the movementactually
movementled by the Frenchphilosopher,
beganin the late sixteenthcenturyin an anti-Ciceronian
Petrus Rarnus, and his rhetoriciancoileague,Antoine Muret. By a rather amazing feat of
intellectualpropagandrFrenchscholarsmanagedto convinc€themselvesand the rest of the world
that languagewas ruled by reasonaboveall things,and that Frenchwas the only languagethat
was completely"logical". The English counterpartto this was the idea that one ranslatedas a
"Gendeman",the full nomrs of such restraintbeing set out by ThomasSprat (1635-1713)in his
History of the RoyalSociety(1666).
\
Tllresalon,l;amed societyand coffee-house
arc essentialto the developmentof translation. In
Britain figudshke Dr Johnson(l7OJ-84) held courr in the many coffee-houses
in Loldon, and
nrled the liærary life of ùeir country almost with the same savagery as the French salonr, the
Royal Societyand the Royal Collegeof Physiciansfosteredranslation until lhe centreof activily
moved north. The Royal Societyof Edinburghbroughrrogeher translarorsof all genrcs,one of
the hngible resuls beingTytler's 1791Essayon Translation.
The mainspring of the theory was the Roman Philosopher,Senecathe Younger, whose
scathingdctestationof Silver Latin rhetoricexpresseditself in a deliberatelyunpolishedstyle,and
in the key maxim, "the languageof truth is simple" with the implicârion ùat rhat polished
languageis a sign of dishonesty.Thus the ideâI Muret had looked for in Larin was a bare direct
style wiûl the minimum of rhetoricalflourish.This was imitated in both Frenchand Englishto fit
ùlem to take over from Latin as "standardlanguages".And by 1680,their task was considered
nnished.Thus the seventeenth
and eighteenthcrnturieswere much surer ùlân the sixteenththat
translation could be reduced to mles based on gmmmar. The basic classical authority on
translationis Quintilian, Cicerobeing categoriscdas somebodywho taught by example.He was
thereforecountedthe greatertranslator,but the lesserteacher.Yet becausetheoriesof language
loomedso large,the translatorsof the time tracedrhe influenceof logic on fanslation direcdy to
Seneca,a.lthough
in Englandone of the majorinflucnces
was Fnncis Bacon.The reasonfor this
was the role of translationin classroomteachingarresredto by .loseph Webbe (f1.1612-35),

61
 THE ACE OF REASONI

Antoine Lemaistrcde Saci,(1613-83)and othcr leadinglanguagereachers.

classroommethod is descÈbedar lengt by lohn Brinsley(1585-1665?),a nolorious puriran
schoolrnaster,who ascribesit to the continentalteacher,Manin Crusius. It assumesthat the
"natural" sEucturcof the sentenceis SVO, and that the distuôancesof this order requiredby
ùetoric are rmnaturaland thereforedishonest.
The translationdrill Brinsley hught is this:
a. arrangingthe sourcetexl in the "grammaticallordef'(SVO) basedon Naure and Reason:
b. construing(i.e. ranslating word for word) rhe resultinto the targetlanguage;
c. recastingany expressionin the construethat offendsagainstthe customsof the targetlanguage;
d. if a literary text, recastinginto ûe "rhetoricalordeC'.
The other imPonantimmediareinfluenceis the GenevaBible (1560) which remainedcurrent
in Puritancircles.It had its word to say aboutlanguageand translation:
Now as we have chiefly observedthe sense,and laboured alwaies to restore it to all
integritie,so we have mostreverentlykept the propriedeof the words, consideringthat the
Apostlesspakeand wrore to the Gentilesin the Greekronge, rather constra)medlhem to
the lively Phraseof the Hebrew,rhen enterprisedfarre by mollifying their languagero
Speakeas the Gentiles.
Ironically this method was endorsedby rhe Esrablishmenr and, wherher rhey liked it or not,
translationstyleswere the sameno matterone's religiouscolour.
But respectfor languageindividualitiescoexistedwith theseunivenalist ideas.One resultof
lhis was a growing ændencyto acceptthat litenry and sciendficstyles were differcnq and that
the translationthat produc€dthemwas differentin techniqueas well:
I conceiveit a Vulgar Enor in translatingPoetsto affect being Fidrs Interprc$ let lhat
care be with them who deal in matteNof Fact or manersof Faith.
So says Srr John hnham (1615-69).In essenceliterary rranslationuscd all four of Brinslcy's
steps,but scientifictranslationorùy the first three.
As modem langlages becomemore flexible and recognised,there is a constant flow of
translationsbetweenmodem langlagesas well as classicalin all disciplines.There is also much
cross-influencein theory betweenlanguagesand genres,the culmination of eighteenth-cenrury
theory being lhe DissenâdonsGeorgeCamptull(1719-96)prefacesto his Four Gospels(17g9).

SectionBibliography
crosland,Maurice P. 1962.Historica!studiesin the language of chemistry.London: Heinemarrr
Diderot, D. & D'Alemben, J.L. 1760-80."La rrdduction"Encyclopédieou dictionnaireraisonnée
des sciences,des arts, et desmétiers.Paris:Briæson
Draper'J.w. 1921."The Theoryof rranslarionin the Eighrcenth
century",Neophilologus
6,211-
<4

62
 TIIE ACE OF REASONI

Goldsmith, Oliver. 1759. "An Account of the AugustanAge in England".CollectedWorks of

Oliver Goldsmith,ed. A. Friedman.Oxford: ClarendonPress,1966.I:498-505
Johnson,Samuel.1759."The Idler, Essays68, 69". The Idler and Advenfuer.ed. Vr'.J.Hale et al.
Yale Edition II. Newhaven& London:Yale UniversityPress,1963
Kelly, L. G. 1987."Medicine, Leamed Ignorânceand Style in Seventeent-h-Century
Translation."
ltnguage and Style20, 11-20
Ladborough,R.W. 1938-39. "Translation from the Ancients in Seventeenth-century
France".
Journal of the WarburgInstitute2, 85-lo4
Mounin, Georges.1955.Les bellesinfdèles.Paris:Cahien du Sud
Slaughter,M.M. 1982.UniyersalLanguagesand Scientijc Taxonomyin the Seyenteenth
Century.
Cambridge:CUP
Steiner,T.R. 1975.EnglishTranslationTheory,1650-1800.Assen& Amsterdam:van Gorcum
van Tieghem, P. 1917. "L'année littéraire" corruneintermédiaireen France des littératures
étangères.Paris:Thèse,Univenité de Paris
West,C.B. 1932."La théoriede la traductionau XVIIIe sièclepar rapportsurtoutaux traductions
françaisesdes ouvragesanglais". Revuede littéranre comparée12,330-55
Zuber,R. 1968.I-esbellesinfdèles et Ia formation du gott classique.Paris:Armand Colin

Week 5 Lilerary Translation

It may be sâid that through developments in the seventeenthand eighteenth cenruries
"tmnslation"was takenover by the creativewriter, and becameidentifledin popularopinion wiûl
literature.During these centuriesliterary translationis dominatedby French models, narurally
enoughat a time when the Frenchhad designatedtheir mothertongtteéude nécessaire.It would
hardly be unfair to see this period as sufferingfrom the adolescent
urge to show the world that
one is independentof aduit authority- in this case,the authoriryof the Classicalworld. The
critics of the time gave ùanslation the aim of surpassingthe original. And yet the Age is
dominatedby the search for rules, and like naughty teenagers,its rhetoricianscall on tie
Ancients,particularlyQuintilian, in a crisis of litcrary cndcism.As a result translatorshad mos!
to say about their orvn language,its reputation and its stândards.Zuber 1968 traces the
developmentsin France through Nr'ciolas Peîot d'Ablancoutt (1606-64), François de Malherbe
(1555-1638)and their contemporaries.Their influencewâs felt in Englandby Abnham Cowley
(1618-67),Iohn Dryden (1631-1700),Alexutder Pope (1688-1144)and orher Resbrarion and
Auguslanpoets. In Cermany their most influential follower was lohann Chdstoph Gottsched
(1700-66).

OJ
 T}IÊ ACE OF REASON I

In literary work prcper thesetranslatorsnever managedto resolvethe inherentcontradiction

betweenthe ruting logical model of langnageand the other principle of crcative freedom in
translation.This was orùy resolvedwhen they translâtedbooks on history,educarion,art and the
like for the generalpublic. Translatorslike Dryden show a markeddifferenceb€tweenmanners
when they do such wo*, tendingtowards"metaphrase"rather that "paraphase".Much of this
work was commissioned,and often had a political purpose.In England,for instanceParliament
commissionedlegal and histodcaltranslationin an effon to legitimisefanslaûon, and much of
the translationby James Howell (1594?-1666)and Dryden was political if not polemic in
character.
However the iszuewent beyondthat of linguisticnorms into that of literary conception.The
Frenchput a very Frcnchûnge on what they translated- even to the extentof massiveediting.
English prose works for instancewere cut by up to a half in some casesto disciplinethem to
French taste.English translatorstendedio regardthe French as inedeemablyimmoral, though
their alterationswere morc discrcet,if equally radical.And one tendedto tame the classicsto
bring them in line with contemponrytaste:in all countriesthere were long discussionson just
how far one could go with a Lati($Freek authorwho had lapsedftom rasre.
Hence Dryden's famoust),pologyof "metaphrase","parapbrdse",and "imitation". He himself
opts for the secondirs ideal. But it is significantthat in practicehis poetic ûanslationis more
towards "imitation" while his technical work on painting and h.istory lies more towards
metapb,ras€.
The n ing methodin Francecan be seenby consultingthe Pon-Royalrules (quoted
under læmaistrcde Saci, below), adheredto rarherferociouslyby L'abM Hvost (1697-1763).
From the tæginningof the century,translatorsbegin to demandauthenticityand closetranslation.
T.R. Steiner traces this change to ùe influencc of Hene-Daniel f/uef (1630-1721),who
championedliteral translation.Among English tnnslators affected by him were Sir Edward
Sherbume(1616-1702).The new mannerbecomesstandardlater in the eighteenthcentury,as in
the ranslationsascribedto TobiasSmollett(1721-71).Frenchtranslationpracriceand theory was
somewhatin similar rurmoil in the mid-eighteenthcentxry,L'année littéraire in panicularleading
a movementof repenmnceagainstthe previouschauvinisticfreedomaccordedtranslatorsto be
themselves.This has its linguistic expressionin CharlesBaUeux(1713-1780),and in Spain by
Antonio CapmanySuis y Montpalau(1742-1813).In practiceit appliedonly to prose and to
poetry translatedinto prose. In poetry translatedinto verse the old marner remains,as in the
work of lacquesDell,le(1783-1813).

64
 THE AGE OF REASON I

Cowley, Abraham (I 618-67)

Poet,Counier,Diplomat
1633First booksof poemspublished
1637Admited to Trinity CoUegeCambridge- wrote poetry in both Latin and English
1&3 Ejectedfrom Cambridgeby the Puritansas a Royalist
1646Went to Paris,employedas a diplomatby the EnglishRoyal Coun in exile.
1656Retumedto Englandas a spy, arested
1657Took MD at Oxford
1660On Restorationof King CharlesII given the manorof Oldcou(, retiredthere.

Translations
1656Anacreontiques.
PindariqueOdes
There are also tramlated fragmens of Vergil, Horace and Manial scattercdthrough his
works.

Intellectual Background
Cowley went throughthe classicaleducationnormal in Englandat the time. Thus he conflated
the ideas on literature we find in cicero and Quintilian with the ideas of Seneca.onto this
backgound he gnfted the ideasof the Frenchphilosophes.During his exile in Francehe came
under the influenc€of the salons with their twin emphasison linguistic nationalismand the
subjectionof languageto logic. On his retum to EnglandCowley becarneone of a group who
was groomingEnglishas a standardlanguage.NaturaIy he was alsoin the circle that foundedthe
Royal Societyin 1660,and contributeda revealinglaudatoryode to Sprat'sHktory of the Royal
SocieryQ666).

Why did CowleyTranslate?

Chapman'sgeneralaim of acclimatisingclassicallitenture to English remainsvalid - but the
sixteenth-c€nturyaim of leaming from the Ancienrs is evolving. cowley's preface to pindar
makesit clear that the idea of following in the footstepsof rhe Master is being contestedoy a
view of translationas crealive imitation of the original. Becausethe original comes from a
different society and time,differencesbetweenthe classicaland modem sensibilitieshave to be
compensated for. But there were universalsof criticism: cowley calls on the ruling image of a
literary work as a painting from nature.The previouscenruryhad developedthis imagefrom the
Romanpoet,HoraceEpr.rrles
II.l.

o)
) ACE OF REASONI COWLEY

How did Cowley Translate?

A century later SamuelJohnsonsaid of Cowley, "He was among those who freed translaton
from servility." In common with his contemporaries, Sir Johr Denham and Dryden, he saw
compensadngfor the lossessufferedin transferas an essendalelementin literary transiation.It is
pretty certain that he respectedBrinsley's "grammaticall translation", but wherc ùe Puritans had
stopped at "a bare version", Cowley rook it to the last step of arranging the bare venion in "tie
rhetorical ordei', so "rhetorical" indeed that Johnson criticised him for "lax and lawless
versification". Cowley wæ aware that he was stretching the concept of translation, and his work
is cenainly what Dryden called "imitation": he rcarranged as he pleascd, and foohoted his
versionsto show how his versionsreordereda recalcitrantpoet like Pindar in a "logical" way.
Preface to Plndarlqua Odes (London, 1656)

F a manfncuid undertrketo uat{lak?ind4 Êord

for wôrd, it s'ouldbe thoughtthacoraand-n:a htd
r'anllrcd.anothz; asm31l3ppcsrrrvhcn r perGnrvho
underftasdsnotrhc o gin4!, reads.ôc vcrbil :Irr-
duôiori of him ir11s!.atin lraft3b.en rvbic5 mthine
fecrirsmore.Rezirg. And firie. r/rç".. \ç:rhoucùë
addirionoflrrr,3n4 tlq sp;ni of 't.ittr1'(qstdetyto
aon(lrarc.(r fcntiottxtrim',v:oti<lbutmrle it tcn ûme{riorcci f ri7 td
thegit isin rraÊ. We muftconfideriaPihde ùtoerar.dit-c;cnc{of
timebetwixihisrgerndous, whichch:ngc sla3in't11wu,xlàft rhe
Ciloqs oî,trrrrTr-thcno teGdrference bàcwl xt rhc'geligo;^t3r,dctt-
f on ol ou! CooflrcyEend a thouGnd partin/lrriria of placrslpcrfoos,
andmrnners,whichdobut confuledlyappear roour etesxr fogrcara
dift:nce. A;d IaIUy,(rvhichwcrccnough aloncforniyporpoË;rvc
rnuftconfider thrrourErrsareftrângers ro theMufickolbtsNtnScrs,
which[oacrimcslelpccirlly in s argiandolc4ùmoftwirbcuc rnything
clfe,mekes anexcellenr Prrri lor thoughthe6 raamarinstndCrit icks
hrvchbor:dto rcduce hisVerfes iuroregulir[cer3ndmcalures (esùev
havealf,, rholeof theGrac y
k nd L nri ncëomcdi cù erîr.cffcarbcr aÉ
lirdeberrcrthenPray'to our Eus. And I rviuidghcily.know ivh:ç
roplrulcourbell pîeccsol EnehlhParlîccouldexoe&tromaFrtnch,na o
ôr'Italian,if convcrtcdfairhiuliy,anâ u'ordfor'word,into FrcntLo7
Itrlian trofc. And nhenwe h:ve cordidcred :rll rhis, çc mcft necds
coofcG,rhit rfrcr all rhcfeloffcs(uftrinedby Pinddr, all wc canrdCeto
-
him by our wir or invcnrion (nor de{ertingftill bis fubjedt;is nor like to
mrke him aRiehn mn rhcn bewrsin hkoonCltntrcl. This is in
fomemeafurc to bcrpplycdo l Trolatiozr; aud thc not obferving
of ir- is rhecauGrlur ell rsiûcheverI lnt f3lv, 3refo rnuchinlErior rô
thck'oricitab; The like h:ppens rqo\n riéîirtt- frornthc fune rooc
of ext&'laitatiar; which bcingrvile rnd unrvorrhykinde of sozi -
rrlc, is inoprble o[ p;oducing:ny rhinggoodor noble, I h:ve ft en
orisiaahbôtbin Paiitint tnd Poclîc,muchmorebesutifulthsn thcir
not"u.al ohicctti bur I neTerfr,v e-co2Tbecter thcn the ozgrz;/rrvl.rich.
indccdcrnnorbi orhcrwife Jfor menriôlving in no r:'feto"(hær'b c1e
z/
.the trl*k, itisarhorlandiooneif theytùocnoc/orrof ic- Icâoeg
nor at all tioublemcthrt rl,e Grenmnriiù pcrhapi - rr ill ncr fu6cr ùis
Arrz- libcrdns
16
 AGE OF REASONI COWLEY

l.loE y^y:I_'::jy:_tulelqn rh_o1

s, ro be^crlIcdzrr n! t i on;
ror I ::
amnorlo 'ucn e'smouedol"A.u
theNamcTrtnfator, asnoi ro tvî[h
p
ftIImucn atr
*lJ1t,h!,tg Bttt,r,though
it wrntyrri iàr. I ç.rt
to rnts, rndeicnce.ot-my
mrnerof Tra/lletin.qrorImitnth("oi
(or r:hrtorhcrTidcthcvolerfe;
ihe rrvo,nfiing"oirrii i;rir)'r'ii,
thrtryouldnotdelcrycÉdl,bcÉry*;r, ;'tïi?i,
theopioion of divers 'Ti,. "...n". tore&ifie
menuryn,-himrit.r, ;f;i;:;i D;:i;,
(which I bclievcto havebeenin thrir origidal,-
io-ri'r-Hrorrw o, o,,
timc, thonghnorro o,rrHcl)rcptof rariorfn,h;';fi;g, rhc moft
pr".::t ot r gr er_r
exrrnpleoi har I hive Ê.id
'r
:J:,:0
tne rdntr.tcrt ot!0.J!) ,a: -rr ; ail
whrch {cvenMr, sanù hinftll; ibr io deQigirrof
popul:rc-nor, I v;ill bebold nor ro exceprhim) for rhisviry
rerl-on,
ttar theybrve.nor foughtto fupplythe i.n Èi..U.*i.,
or anorher
Ltngsdgc^wrtn newonesrntheirown; arcfo frr fromdoinehonour.or
3r rmtr JultrcctothltDia,int paarthat,merhinks,theyrevilëhim
rvoiG
theoshinci. And B,lcanan trimftlfithough,i.i-ri ifrài.n iuiÀ
dl, andinieeda grcitpcrfon)comes in rnyopinion "f of
no,le[s
lhorc
Daoid, ùçs Iusdonttrcldocsoî ûË;i i;;rnd, I h:v'e
in tbefcwo a/aro1 pIdir nken,-7u-l).
lkc oor,.à"i ;dï-d"*h; i'pî;C ;
nor.makc isfo mucbmyrimto teirhenda* f,""wË..,,.,y
fpoke,as.wha!yxs hisoo1and.norrir;aii;lift:' ;hich *n* hrs
n.
bcenyet (tluoI knowof; inuoduced noc
intor ïii;ii,'1i,"T""n it
nobleftrnd hiehcftÂindoîwridngio, V.rf., ïJ'*Ë.Ë".igt ue irrï
h1po,l. pg.$o theLiû of praiirot!u,;;;;h.'/rï;, ;p;
q.)cnttons
Te. r -s j ct
f^:whrch [fq butrotryhow; * ili io'o'r.
lt il.lxpcrimcûq I havechofen_one i^ i',s i,Jhî,i
i,
tor "A
of hs oûnpiq,rc,:ad anorher
of bls N cmian odci i whtchar.^ foijo*.,ii. "r "' r' 1"'

The following venion of Martial V.58 shows the inlluenceof French ethnocentrismand is
an
excellentillustrationof the principlesoutlinedin his prefaceto pindar:
To Morrowyou will live,youalwayscry;
In whatfar CountrydoestliisMorrowLye,
That 'tis so mighty long e'er it arrive?
Beyondûe Indiesdo€sthis Monow live?
'Tis
so far feæhedthis Morrow,that I fcar
'Twill
be borh very Old and very Dear.
To Morrow I will live, the Fool docssay;
To Day irselfs too lâte,The Wise liv'd yesterday.

o/
 AGE OF REASONI COWLEY

Crâs te victurum,crasdicis, Postumesemper.

Dic mihi, cras istud,Postume,quandovenif

Quam longe crasistud ubi est?aut.undeçrcûendum?

Numquid apudPanhosArmeniosquelatet?
Iam cras istud habetPriâmi vel Nestorisannos.
Cras istud quânti,dic mihi possetemi?
Crasvives?hodie iam vivere,Postume,serumest.
llle sâpit quisquis,Posnrme,vixit heri.

References
Hinman, R.B. 1960. Abrahan Cowley's World of Order. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
Johnson, Samuel. 1779. "Abraham Cowley". Lives of the Poars I. London: Buckland, 1793
Kelly 1979: sv "Cowley"
Loiseau, J. 1931. Abrahatn Cowley, sa vie, son oeuvre- Paris: Didier
Taaffe, J.G. 1972. Abraham Cowley. New York: Twayne

Prévostd'ErtIes, I'abbéAntoine-François(1697-1763)
Benediclinemonk, authorof Manon Lescaut
1713-15 JesuitNovice
1717Servesin army
1719Goesto Holland
1721EntersBenedictines,
ordainedpriest,gcts good reputationas a teacher
1728LeavesBenedictines
sudden.ly,
fleesro England,rhenHolland
1734Retumsto Franceand the Benedictines
1754Prior of SaintCeorgesde Gesne

Translations
1727Supposedto haverranslatedFrenchentriesfor Gallia christianainto Larin
1730-31Lettresde Cicéronà MJ. Brutuset de M. Brutusà Cicéronatec un préfacecririque
traduit de l'anglais de ConyersMiddleton.
1732-37Histoire métalliquedesWII provincesdesPays-bas(van Loon)
1735AII for ldve (JohnDryden)
l'742 Pamela (Richardson)[ aftriburcd]
1743Histoire de Cicéron(ConyersMiddleron)
- Histoire uniyerselle(de Thou)

68
 AGE OF REÂSONI PREVOST

1744Voyagesde CapitaineLade
1751-52Clarissa Harlowe (Richardson)
1755Nouvelleslettresangloises@ichardson)
- Apologie desfemmes@eîjool
1'760 Histoire de Ia maison de Stuart(Hume)
1763Almoran & Hamlet (Hawkesworth)
There are many other fragmentaryFanslaûonsof English drama and poetry pour
in et
contre,a penodicalhe ediredberween1733-1740.

Cultural Background
Prévostis known mainry ror his Manon Lescaut(173r), one of rhe
very influentialnovcls of
the eighreenthcentury. In spire of being classical in form, it
already rooks forward to
RomanÙcism.It is this peculiarmixtureof sensibilitythat madehim
an effectiveambassador for
Englishliteraturein a Francettrat had onty just discoveredthat
the Engtish were capâbleof such
things.Prévostbecamean enthusiastic panisanof Englandafter his first visit there,and his pour
et con,e is a mnning commentaryon Englandas viewed through
the eyes of a sympathetic
Frenctunan'Togetherwiù Béat de Muralt, a Huguenotexired
to England,and yo,rrar'æ, prévost
built on the mannerof Bautroinand was instrumenarin making
some senseour of the Engrish
for the vastly differentFrenchpeopleof the eighteenthcen$ry.

Why did he translate?

The comparativeabsenceof translationfrom the classics
is remarkable.It is quite obvrous
that he was an Anglophire,and thar his ransrarionsfrom Engrish
rose out of friendshipfor me
Englishandinterestin Englandraûrerùan out of any scholarly
aims.

How did he translate?

He is typical of his age through his strong ehrocen'ism,
his intensewillingness,o adapt
foreign texts to Frenchmanners,and in the overridingimponance
of Ie bon goût.T]neforward to
Richardson'sPatnera,w.'ich may or may not have been wrinen
by prévost,puts lhe matter In a
nunheU:
Disonsun mot de no'e Traduction. Nousavonstachéde Ia rendreaussindellequ,' nous
/ /
/ a été possibleld ra différencedesLangues.on sait que la langue
f angloisen,esrpas tour à
t' / fait aussi châtiée que ra Françoise:on souffre dans
celle-là des expressionsqu,on
permeuroitpasdanscelle-ci.Il seroitaiséd'en citer grand
un nombred,exemples s,il étoir
nécessaire'c'est ce cui a obrigéà rendrcle sensde nôtre auteur,prutôt que
l0us de
suivreexacrement sesexpièRicins.

69
 AGE OF REASONI PREVOS'f

Th.is has little to do with the languagesin question:it reflectsmuch more the norms of a
supremelyself-confidentsociety thÂt kept its writers very heavily regimented. Prévost writes in
his introductiontô ClarissaHarlowe:
Par le droit suprèmede tout Ecrivain qui chercheà plaire dans sa languenaturelle,j'ai
chângéou suppriméce que je n'ai pas jugé conformeà cette vue. Ma crainte n'est pas,
qu'on m'accused'un excès de rigueur. Depuisvingt ans que la littératureanglaiseest
connueà Paris,on sait que pour s'y faire naturaliser,elle a souventbesoinde ces petites
Mais je me suis fait un devoir de conseryer,aux caractères
réparations. & aux usages,leur
teinte nadonale.Les droirs d'un Traducteurne vont pas jusqu'à transformerla substance
D'ailleun,quel besoin?L'air étrangern'est
d'un Livrc en lui prêtantun nouveaulangage.
pas une mauvaiserecommendation
en France.
The key word here is plaire, and the key assumptionthat languageand messagewere two
entirely different things. English literature offended againstFrench canonsin many ways, and
Prévost is typical in his manner of dealing with foreign li[erary customs.Like Shakespeare,
Richardsonis often vulgar, panicularly when it is usefulin deflningthe character.His lower-class
charactersoften use slang, and eccenuicsare carefully delineaædby linguistic extravaganc€.
Adminedly Frcnch is a linle less supple in such situations,bur Prévosrgoes out of his way to
make sure that the standardof his Frenchnever lapsesbelow the arismcratic,as in the following
from JosephLeman,Lovelace'ssewantin ClarissaHarlowe:
Je seraisbien fachéde ne pas vous rendr€servicequândje vois que vous avezla boné de ne
vouloirfairede mal à personne. quevousétiezfon méchan!,
J'avaiscru,avantde vousconnaîEe,
ne vous déplaise. Mais je trouve qu'il en est tout autrement. Vous êtes franc comme or fin: et
meme, âulant que je Ie vois, vous ne souhaitez que du bien à ûout le monde, comme je le fais
aussi; car, quoique je ne sois qu'un pauwe domesdque,j'ai Ia crainæ de Dieu et des hommes, er je
ne proôte des bons discours e! des bons exemples de rotre jeune demoiselte, qui ne va nulle part
sans sauver une âme ou deux, plus ou moins (Clarisse Y).
I love your Honner for contriveing to save mischiff so well. I ùought until I knowed your
Honner, thâ! you was verry mischevous, and plese your Honner; but ûnd it to be th€ clene
conrâry. Your Honner meâns mighty well by everybody, as far as I see. As I am sure I do
myself; for I am, alùoff a very plane man, and â[ tha! a very honnest one, I t]rank my God.
And have good principels, and have kept my young lady's presseptsalways in mind: for she
goes no where, but saves a soul or two, more or less.

Prévost'snote on this passageis:

pousseici la fidélitéjusqu'à donnercettelcttre avec les
L'auteur,s'arbchantà garderles caractères,
faues de langageet d'onhogmphe,qui soo! ordinales dansla condirionde Leman.Mais Ie goût de
notsernûon n'admetpoint de si grossièrespeintures.II suJfiràde conserverici un style et des traits

70
 AGE OF REASON I PREVOST

de simplicitéqui puissent un valet.

faireconnaîûe
SecondlyRichardsonis a very leisurelyand long-windedwriter. He aims at an immediacyof
impressionby pil.ingon all sonsof visual and audial detailswhich at time swampthe storyJine.
Richadson was also fond of moralising:indeedhis novels were meantto defendone sex against
the other.The following is a goodexampleof kvost's technique:
Belford! je te le répète, épargne mon Bouton de Rose. Observe, âv€c elle, une règle que je n'ai
jamais violée sans qu'elle m'a couté de longs regrets: c'est de ne pas ruiner une pâuwe frlle, qui n'a

d'âure support que sa simplicité et son innocence. Ainsi point d'attaques, point de ruses, pas
d'agacerix. La gorge d'un agneausans défiânce ne se détoume pas pour éviær le côuæau. Belford!
garde-toi d'ètre ie boucher de mon agneau (Clarisse, vol 1).

O Jack! spare ûrou thercfore (for I shall leave thee often alone wit}l her, spare thou) my
Rosebud! - l-€t the rule I never deparled from, but it cost me a long reget, be observed to my
Rosebud! - never to ruin a poor girl whose simplicity and innocence were all she had to trust
to: and whose fo(unes were too low !o save her from the rude contempb of worse minds lhan
her own, and from an indigence exreme: such a one will only pine iD secreti and at last
pelhaps in order to refuge herself from slandercus bngues and virulence, be induced !o tempt

some guilty streafl, or seek her end in the knee-encircling garter, that perÀdventurc was ùe first

attempt of abandonedlove. - No deôances will my Rosebud breaùe; no self4ependent, thee-

doubting watchfu.lness(indirectly challenging thy invendve machinations to do their wonQ will

sha assume.Unsuspiciousof her dânger, the lamb's tluoat will hardly shun thy hife! - Oh be

nor thou the bucher of my lanbkin! (C/arrJsa Harlowe vol 4).

Yet Prévostwas capableof prctty accurètetrarxlation:

Parler du loup, esttn vieuxproverbe.
L'agréablefriponm'a fait unevisite& ne fait quesonir
d'ici. Ce n'est qu'impatience de la condùte qu'on tient avecvous, & crainreaussi
et ressendment
qu'on parvienneà sumontervos résoluûons.
Je lui ai dit, commeje pense,qu'on ne vous fera jamais consentirà prendreun hommercl que
Solmes;mais que I'affairese lermineraprobablementpff une composirion,qui serade renoncerà
I'un et à I'autre.
n'a obtenusi pcu de faveur
Jamaishomme,dit-il, avecunefonunee! des alliancessi considérables,
d'une femmepour laquellell âit tânt souffen.
Talk of the devil is an old saying.The lively wretch has mademe a visit, and is but just gone
away. He is all impaûenceand resentmentat the treâtementyou meet with; and full of
(oo,that ùey will carry thcir point with you.
apprehensions
I lrld him my opiniôn,tlat you will nevcrbe broughtto tiink of sucha man as Solmes;but
ûnt it will probablyend in a composidon,neverto have€ither.
No man,he said,whosefortunesând allianceare so considerable,
ever had so little favourfrom

7l
 ÀGE OF RIASON I PREVOST

a womaJlfor whosesakehe hadbomeso much.

himselfwasvery hun by whatPrévosthad done.But Thereweremanycriticson
Richardson
both sidesof ùe Channelwho argled that PÉvost vasdy improvedfuchardsonby cutting him by
a]mosta third - the orùy major dissentingFrenchvoice in this judgmentwas Voltaire, and

References
Havens,George R. 1921.The Abbé Prévostand English Literature. New York: Kraus Repnnt,
1965
Roddier,H. 1957."L'Abbé Prévostet le problèmede la traductionau XVIIIe siècle".Cahiersde
I'associationinternationaledeséudesfrançaises7, 173-81
Wilcox, Frark Howard. 1927.Préeost'sTranslationsof Richardson'snovels.Berkeley:University
of Califomia

B atteux, C harles (17I 3 -17 80)

Professorof Greek andLatin Philosophyat the Collègeroyal
1730Taught humanitiesand retoricin the Collègesde Lisieux et Navane
1754Admitted to theAcadémiedesIrscriptiors
1761 Admitted to rheAcadémiefrancaise

Translations
7750Horace, lzs poésies.Paris:Dessaint& Saillant
1'751Les quatrepoériques,d'Aristote,d'Horace,de Vida, et de Boileau
1768 Ocellus htcanus, De la nature de I'univers; Timée de ltcres, De l'ône du monde;
Lcttres d'Aristotesur le systèmedu monde
1788 Traité de I'anangementdesmots,traduit du grec de Denysd'Halicarnasse

TheoreticalWritings
1.747Cours de belleslettres

Cultural Background
Batteuxwas a pupil of I'abM d'Olivet(1682-1768), who was ar one time ftror to Voltaire,
and was lhus broughtup in the traditionof thephilosophes.His influencecan be tracedas late as
the 1980sin stylistiquecomparéeand ils derivatives.
The role of classicalphilosophyin his
formationis not untypicalof a Frcnchchurchman
of the period,given the intensesuspicion
of
cenain aspectsof Descanesand the honible exampleof Voltairc. His attitude to rhetoric and

72
 AGE OF REASONI BATTETIX

rransladonshows lf)e strong influence of the Roman rhetorician, Quintilian.

The other influences on Batteux are a little difficult to ûace. As far as his ideas on French
style are conc€med, they seem to have been influenced by CharlesRo.f/rr, Rector of the Sorbonne
ar rhe beginning of the eighteenth century, who published a defrnitive edition of Quintiliar. His
ideas on translation owe much to Piene-Daniel Huet urd to other imDortant French translators
like Rjclard Simon (1638-1'712),the Biblical scholar.

I I e s !i n u t i l c t l e n o r r s s cprl r r sl o i n c e
t l i t r i l . T i l o r r s d e c e p c ,nc i p à r l c sc o r r s i -

234 DE LÀ co!tsrÀrrcfIoJ OnÀ1OlnE, :35

q u e n c e sq u i s e r o n ta u t l n ! d e r è g l e sd e p i r c c q r e c en ' e s tp l r r sI c m é m e o r c l r e .
l ' a r t d e t i " d u i r e . I l s r r i td e l à , D ' u n à u t . ec û r é , : ' i l e ù r t . r t l r r i r , f , ' r r
L Q u ' o n n e d o i t p o i n l t o u c h e ri général nc peut réeler unc artnie,
I'ordre des chmes, soit fails, sotl rat- '1uine perLtse réqler lui-mèrne; tl er,\t
6 0 n n e m e n s rp u i s q i r ec e t o . â r e e s t l c frit un latinisn'à . insi I'cremplerle
même drns tout;s les lanlues, et F l i c h i e cn o u : d o n n e u n ed o u b l el e c o n .
ou'il tient à Ia nalure de l'honrme I I l . Q , r ' o nd o i t c o n s e r v cl e r sp d r i o -
p-lurôt qu'au génie particulier tlesna- d e s , g r r e l r l u cl o n g r r e sq r i e l l e ss o i e n t,
trons, p a r c e. l u l | l l e p c I t o ( l en c s t q u u n e p c n -
I I . Q u ' o n d o i t c o n s e r r ear u s sli' o r d r e s é ec o m p o s d ed c p l u s i e u r sr u t r c s p c n -
d e si d é e s o . u d u m o i n sc e l u i d e sm e m ' s d e sr l u i s el i e n Le n t r ee l l c sp r r d e - r a p -
b r e s . ' I lv a e u u n é r a i s o n ,q r r e l q u ef i n e p o r t s i n t r i n s è q u e, se t q u c c e t t el i r i -
q u ' e l l ei o i t à o b s e r v e r q , ui a ddiermioe i o n e s t h v i c i l e c e sp c n i i c s e t I ' o b j e t
I'auteurà prendre un ariatrgemenlpl.u- p r i n c l n adl e c e l u iq u i b a r l c : A t e n s e o -
tôt qu'un autre : Deut+lre que ç'a ete r u m i c n t c n t i i se t ' e a ' n t m , f g u r i s ( r ) .
I'hrr'monie: mais<itrelqucfois arrsiic'est D a n su n e p i r i o d c l e s d i f i t r e n s m c r t r -
l ' é n e r g i eC. i c é r o nâ " r i i d i t : I Y e g u pe o ' b r c s s o n t c . r m n r ed c s p e n , h n s q u i s t l
lcst it ezerct:lum continere imperatgr, r c : n r d c n t ,e t d o n t l e s r r D 'i potts
font
,
qui seipsutnnùn continct. Flichicr , n : l r m o n l es: l o n c o r r p e . l cl n Sr r s c s , o n
qui a tmduit ccttè pensÉe n orrteurt a u r a l e sp e n s é c sm 1 a i so n l e s a l l r . s i l n s
r i ' a y a n rp u c o n s e r v ; rI ' o r d r ed e si d é c s , I e sr a p p o r t sd e p l i n c i p c , o r t , l c c o n s d -
o, -oint conservéI'ordre des mem- q r r e n c re( l e p r e u y c , d e c o m p l r a l s o n,
"b r e s i l a d i t : n
; Q t r e l l ed i s c i P l i n e q u ' c l l c s a v a i e n td r n s l a p é r i o r l c, c t
c e l u iq u i
" D e u té t a b l i rd a n s s o n c r m p { u i e n f a i s a i e nlt, r c o u l c , r r .I l y a d c s
. à" p"ut régler sa contluiie"? Que m o y e n sd c c o n c i l i e rt o u t .L e s p è r i o d c s ,
serait-ces'il Ëùt mis ; An général qui q u o i q u e s r r s p e n d u edsr n s J e u r s d i f f é -
ne règle point sa conduite ne peut r e n s m c r r b r c s , o n t c c p e n d x nd t care-
,àel"i uie armëe? C'escle ruême
s e i r ; m r t ! c e n ' e s !p l u s l e m ê n r ef e u, (') Cic. ./e o4r. Gcn. or.7.

73
 ACE ÔF REASONI
BATTEIJ'<

:36 or LÀ consrRUcrrori
presque
fini,etgl i don, onÀ'oln
)l]ir-?
e n t ai .1,.r.":
l ",r,
e s p r i r l er c J i c À ed o n ru a u e s o r n . i- rylars
^.r
comrDeI.a[Iaire" que
' ,j7
an.,r.orcrun eremplc tiré ie pl.ii.l;
pourle poëre
Ârchias
de l,oraison
]lil,jli.!,.',,.""d.d.oii,t,n".0u,"
il^il.-.:"1
oea
( II): 'i; cstPortée;'r
tribrrn'rl
ne eui lestrlrm
tttrl. nrc in.Tuestione
nrirurn essea))de)-
legitina, 272n " "'"i
;;:;:'1TT .,o"-
r";i"r.-,i.ïil:".,i:iÏ,^
l,udtcio p ul,lt'co,.wtuntres"a gat ut apu,.! " cepenrla.r.jii d'esscin
pre t oren popu It Ro na n i, iect .lc ilt;:l::
issi nr t m p,rrairr;r
, apud. scverissinosjudies:, . fiïl,.",li"id* Iui
.'rg" urr ljcrrcon-
?!r-,rrt "t
tanto, cont.enluÀominum ac , li"jj.ll-"i barreauI i.ri, lles_
tto , ttoc uli genere lreqtten- . ;;;..:j.:_ "ou, demrndecunc gr.Àcc,
mo.doa,
dicendi, quod non
.consttel dtne 'sennone
iudt)ciorum , t,e_
, i;::.jiï"":J"ï,iî"
ï j."il,l",,"
r.utn elen
t_:!,t.:
aforcnsi
:::T:*,.#"îltJ;**"rm
aùJ,or-
Iugs-o a aoùis , ut in ho.c causa nj:
:,-:,: !:t.t"
t::-!n*
/nnc uentam, accontmoda-
::,ïï,:.1'ï"'#,i^11i:i
reo , ao.ltts qiemadmot{um
, |"iî:'#JJi
:_r"0,,'
tnl,ne .{tc,cnten,
;iï :jî:.1ï
T:;î:,,4;:.:!::ii;:,'li,ii,!"1,".|i:J
/nc concurstt
*#:,''i'fi i
horni-
tltl!
!'!.teytisslrnorum
,:::.::,-r,,.nt,:,..Loc , lnc uestra
denique prft!o.c : :::::ri:.fi:'fi:i;ïÏ:",l,î
. mcflte des i,-
l e t t r c s ; c t q r r c. c . ,

:i;ii:ii :,1:
:;:fîïa\îtlili,ii
ete-rcente jrtdtcIum
, /.)at;ami;i.]",t tr_
i;;,,::'
iii :::,: n",,^
",!,!,i::;:i . ' , u ' n n ". o n -
'Ï,.:.7uo "i: p-i,
. n r i tq ' e I é , ; ; 1 " ' ; ; , ù ,
mrrttne
,in
");;,
jurliclis
i,;;';i ::
"f:rroc-
periculisque
q".;;;;,;;ii: ;iT:
. S,:'lb,f".
m r n r è r cn o r r v c J l e ,
, utt' propi .nooo qiottanr . . , , 1 , , 1 " I^n. ". et
f;::ï*":ï,,i,,
::::- :: lo
tnusrl.fl
tradr
rireccirc
genere dicen,lrl.' O,
pérl"à"".r"i'
r"i,, I'jj'l
"t
; :ljË:Ë,I
rongrre
t..,',i"0
ur ertr.émc; ;";
nrntres,.p",,1i,"ilî'
""p.""a..ni,
;;iilil;:i;

7+
 I
ACE OF REASON

oRÀrornt. t3g
iddes
c o u r se s t u n r a l P o r t d e l l r r s i e u r r
t38 DE r'À coNsrnucrloN t" à. of,',ii"".i L r p r e s t i o n t : . l a symé-

iii'l;i"}* "ï'î1,i1îl'ïïli::
::J:*il;"d;;'
r r i c d e i e x p r e s s i o nf cst l Lc o n s l s t c r
i;r;;.;,i";
nanl
l a q u à n t i r éd e ss Y l l a b c s '
"*l;' l::"J;:ii
"lî danslr'termiurison ou la lgnBlreur
J:Til"
::l:;,î;ft:l :*,""r*:t;,
*; d e sm o t s, d an sI ' a r r a nB e m e tod c sm e m :
l , r e s .\ r o i c i u n e p h r a s cd c S r l l u s t e
gur

**qfifiît'ffi
de symétrie: '4zr-
at, t"t a"t espôces
"nti imnerio, èorporis servitio .magts
I cs-
urimtlr: u i{ous'not-ttser{ons de
u n r i t n o u cc o m m l n d e t, d u c o r p sp our
. l r t , . i i ;' o u s i I ' o n v c u t": b n . n o u s rcs-
l c . c o r p s . , o l c i t"' D t
io"'-
::fl: .Ï: " nii,'J"-rnrt,f",
C f " d . o n. e n p r l l a n t d e l l ' ' \ h r c c l l r r s'
à
""iù;ià.i''.ïi"'
i, ti"ulttion"l"'ni:iu:1";"it;;;.Sn a r r i t d e m a n d éd c l o g c r ,

;rim{{i:ri:il*ihur
c" tte sera qrre
r,Jrs'i' -oi
J uent tu lidcltcct ' c' aa
"J"hi "eôz.l ru' ii r:i " Q
,1,.r,todi"ndàr, tc r!iligc.ntissitnum' et-
iispt"ordu,' sagàcissinutn' et
od
ir",

i:l:li::: "i'T'ii;
Tii,l
*n.ï:i -, ,lriiin na,rrt .fortissinrnt.fore p 1L
qu'il
ne
crprimce ; ; ; ; ; . , ; ï ; ; : c o m p t i c ' s a r r sd o u t c
lTl'llir". rt
"""ionction n i d c 1 ' i g i l ' r n c cp o t t r
" t'e tr'Ilnq\lcrait
il'i]:oèîj' i'.',ii'"ii "''""'
ïl:i'l"1,' ; , , ; " ; - ; ; t à " . , r r id ' a r l r c s s1c' o r r 't l é c o ' . r -

::xl*j: ; ;::i'ÎlJ,ïH''fl:
:.;"J: " u.ir v"os
r l e s s c i o' sn i d c c o u r r g el t o r t t '
, l e s a r r ô r e r ' . "S i o n n e - p e t l tr,c r l o r c
' ,ubsr"ntif,rerle' ad-
: l;l"*;*;î"'i'iii:i'i:{i: ;;;";;;',;;
commeils sontdrnsIe
li;
.''îi:'*i.t'il
-"irr'",
"ài..,ii,
t c x t c , i l i ' , r u ta t r t n o i n s s ' i c l r t l t t c r P l r
s'vmétriques
phrnscs l l l l c i r r l t r cs o r t cd c s T m c t r ) c ' . . ,
ou
l c t t r .s t m é l r t e r ' i l ' Q , t " 1 " , P c n s " c sL r i l l r n l c s '
"si
."."ni tinàu"t "tlcc r"di"
::l:il,tl;i;T-L" n'"'i'.'i'"''

7b
 ACE OF REASON I BATTEUX

:4o DE LÀ coNslRUCTIOr
. onÂTornr. zltr
p o u r c o n s e r v eIre m ê m ed e g r éd c l u -
I X . Q t r cl e sl , r o v c r b c . r J r rsi o r r t
mière, doivent avoir à peu prôr l,r , rles
n l l x r m e s p o p r r l a i r c s c, t ( l ; i r e
m é m eé t e n r l udea n sl e sm o t s: s a n sq u o i font
o n t e r n i t o u o n a u E m c n t el e u r é c l a ;t P r e s q u cq u ' u n n r o t ,d o i Ï c n I t t I c r c n d r r s
p a l d ' n u t r e sp r o v c r b c sC . o n t m ci l s n c
c e q u i n ' e s tn u ) ) e m i n tp c r m i s '
VItI, qu',;t faut consèrrerlesfigurcs que sur.dcschoscsdont I.usrqe
!^o_r'.1m1
rcvrentsouvcnt drrrs,)r
s o c i c r ct,o u , ,
- m ê m e sparceque-Ics Penii€ssont
<iepensdcs, r c sp c u l l c s c n o n t l ' l c l r r c o r r l ,
.lcs d i n s t o u sI e se s p r i t s ; c l l e s rlc conr_
le mcmc t , . " r r ' c s rf o u r .l c r p r : l . r : . r . n. r,, r
y
I C u v e n t P r c n d r el s r t o u t ]]l'lt,
a r r a n g e m e D la: r n s lo n r e n d l e s l n t e r - n ^ .p 9 , , r " l cs c n s: r i n s i
lql ,uoc- , - o np c u l I , r c s _
r o g a t i o n s ,l c s s u b j e c t i o n s ,l c s a n t i - , t o u l o u r l.css r e n d r c . , r i l r n r el ) r _
c t e r I a J a i t f o r . tI r c u r c u s c n r c n r
o c c u D a l . l 0 nest ,c , rlrrr.s;r
l r r d u c t i o nd c T i r c n c c .
l o r r r c e q u i e s td e sf i g ù r e sd e m o t r ,
À . Q u ct o uL eI j i r i p l l r ; t s cc s tv i . i c r r s c
t e l l e sq u e s ô n tl c s m d t r p h o r e sI,e s r i - :
c \ en c 5 t . l ) i Qt sr e d u i r c ,c ' c s tc o m i l l c , l r c r .
' r ée tribt ieosi r -so.l redsi lcahi ruet cmsednêt n o m s o u d c
n r , c p c n d a n tq, r r l n di l n ' 1 . p i s
, on-peut lct a rl.autlec
r e m n l a c e rp a r d e s é q u i v r l e n s . P a r l ; , i r cc { , n n i i r l c) c s r n s ,l : r
1l'_,1)-c,l.,nour
. r c - o ] " . C i c é r o nd i t û ' J n d i c r e r d e s c r Ld ' c x c u s c; r u r r r L l u c r c u r . l
Yc.rés qu'il n'était Doint traLali cla' cl l :c: si :t,a1 :I u n c d c sd e u r l : r r q u c s , 1 u . i l
firut
uo fitui ; rrouspour:ons dire : Il n'itait s en pt.endrc,
p o i n t t c l l c m e r t ' c i n c n t é q r r e ,e t c . S i XI. Enfin riu'ii fot,t cnricrcrncnr
,
ces fiqures ne peuvent se transPorler J ; rr,r r a n i ô r(c1 . r c \ r c
l-:nn1:nnr. Tr.orr
o r ' t s " " r c - p ) u " ! . p a r d e sé c h a n g e si,l q u . n , i l c s c r r s) ' c x i g cp o ^ r rlr; .r
li1l.ul,,
f a r r ta l o r sr e p r e n d r eI ' e r p r e s s i onna t u - pou'litiv:rciri,
o u I t t a r ml.o n:"",in'rcnr
îllilîl:i l cp- c r l r I ' n g r i m c l l t
r c l l e . e t t â c i r e r d et t o r t e i l a 6 i : t r r cs u r : cerrc
q u e l q u eà u t r ei d é eé u i e u s o i t . i l u ss u s - c o n s i q u c n c cd c r i c n t u i
s c c o n dn r l n _
à p t i L l e r a l i n o u e l i p h r a s et i r d u i t e , q o , e s rc o m m ei e r c r . c r sd u ' p r e _
ml Pr"e, r .
n . i r " d . n s s ; rt o i a ) i t é n , e p e r d er i e n d e l
Lcsiddcs
. i c l ' c s r cqsu ' c l ) er " o i i d a n sI ' o r i 6 i n a l . ,r c 5 n l e m c s ,l ) e u v c n ts. ,l n s c e < s e r d . é r r e
s cp r ç 5 g n 1 45 16 , , 5d r l l - i r ct c s
Inr)\c. DÈ LtTl. _ .1..
1O!r. ll

24â DI LA co]qsrnucrlotr
[ormes,,ct s-ecomposcr ou
se décom_
p o s e rd a n s l e s r n o t s d o n t o n
sc sert
pour lcs exprimcrl cllcs pcuvcnt
se
en r,er.be en. adjectit, en
l:i:n,o.."
subsrrntlle .,
, n a d v c r b e :J et i a , l u c i c r r r
a c c sq u r t r c . r o i c s p ô u r s e t i r e r
d,em_
n a r r a s e. u i l p r e n n e . l aÙ r l a n c e q , u.il
p e s eI c sc x p r e s s i o ndsc p r r t c r , l ' r , r i . e .
q u r l . l e s m c r t c e n é q L r r J i b rd.cc r n , , t c ,
r n a n l c r e so;o l u i p r r d o n n e r al e s
mita_
m o r p t r o s c sp.o u r v u q u ' i l c o n s c r r c
à Ia
P c n s c eI c m g m ec o r p se ! l r n t é m cr r e:
q u e c c q u e . l a i tI g , o J , g " u . ,
gl ]u. ft. ,- p, *or .. r rsr a c- o m r u o d i t i d, o n n e t l n 1 6 r
p r c c ed o c p o u r p l u s i e u r sp i ô c c s
o! . nr rcg c n r , t a n t ô - tp l u s i ô u r rp i è c c s ' d , a r _
g en t I ) o u rr r n ed b r .

-7r
/o
 ACE OF REASONI BÀTTEI,')(

\Yhy did he translâte?

The lack of translationfrom modemlanguagesin his work is odd in a Frenchtranslatorof
this period.Batteux'stranslations
are obviouslydirectedtowardshis teachingof rhetoric.He took
a major hand in the contemporary$rmoil in Frenchtransladonpr:rcticeand theory and seemsto
have used his own translationsof the Poetics(1751) and Dionysiusof Halicarnæsus(1788) to
exempliiy what he was about.

What rvashis theory?

Batteuxmarks a declinein the rcign ol les bellesinfdèles. He is a translatorwhosetheoryand
practice coincide. Where the radonalistgmrnmar of the late sixteenthand euly sevenreenth
centuries had taken the "grammaticalorder" as prior and natural, Rollin had developedan
approach to sentenceorder based on the priority of "ideas" or informadon.This Baficux
formalised by dividing the sentencein(o two pans, ùe début utd the but, a theory recalling
Plato's division of the sentenceinto bnoma Nrd,rhema,.The ordre de la naturewhich dictatesthe
sequenceof début and àrt directly reflects/es passionsnot grammaror logic. This in a direct
reversal of onhodox docûine Batteux calle.I'ord,re de I'art. It follows then that while in the
gnunmarand rhetorichandedon fmm les philosophesthere was only one "naturalorde/', that of
grammar, in Batteux's theory there were several. And indeed, far from being taken as
predominantin forming the shapeof the message,gftlmmar was at the service of rhetoric.
Therefore, where the seventeenth
century had regardedgrammar as a glue of no analltical
importance,Batteuxregardedit as one of the agenciesbearingthe messageof the text.
His rules for translationùen have to deal with the problem of reconcilinggrammarand
discourse.For the sentenceorderof the sourcetext has to b€ presewedas far as possiblein the
target.He is one of the llnt to give anaifical respectrbilitylo the normaltranslationbehaviourof
sacrificing formal grammaticalequivalenceto rhetorical.His métatnorphose
correspondsdirec y
to the Geneva School tral$poJinonas discussedby Sechehayeand Darbelnel The "ideas"
expressedby a word aIe not irrevocablytied to its pan of sp€ech,so that if formal grammatical
equivalenceis impossible,a functionalequivalenccmeasuredby discourseprioritieswill be.
One notices thrcughoutBatteuxa tÉnsformcd idea of eightcenth-century
univenalism. One
tends to forget that even in eighteenth-century
France tlere was a considerablebody of
But languagesdo have a universality- it is not grammarthat
scholanhipon larguagedifferences.
is universalbut the "shapeof the thoughrs".The rhetoriciansweæ in control.

77
 ACE OF REASONI BAT'I'EI,X

References
Batteux,C. 1747.Principesde liuéranre V. rrpr. Geneva:Slakine, 1967
- 1747Cours de belleslettes, Paris:Dessaint& Saillant
Horguelin1981:123-5
KeUy 1979:sv "Baneux"

78
D. THE AGE OF REASON tr

Week 6 ReligiousTranslation

The Authorised Version of 1611 was the last major Bible translationbefore the twentieth
century.Luther's GermanBible is kept constantlyup to date, and the Douay-RheimsBible was
updatedby Bishop RichardChalloner(1691-1781)in 1763.There was ratherbelatedlyan otficial
Spanishvenion of the Latin Vulgate in 1'193.lf one sets aside aftemptslike the Bible by
Lemaiste de Saci (1613-84)talien from the Vulgate (imponantfor trarslation techniquesraûrer
than for Biblcal srudy), h France ranslarion was merely an incidental aspectof Biblical
scholarship.This gatherspace during the eighteenthcentury with the work of Richafl Simon
(1638-1712),AugusdnCalmet,Ciar.lesHoubigant(1686-1783),and the Socinian,ChaiesLecène
Qe7 -n$). This work was extremelyinfluential outside France, itself being translatedinto
English in paflicular.
Of more immediateimponancewas the Fansladonof other religious work. There are Welsh
versions of the Book of Cottnton Prayer, which bring the English Reformation to the Valleys.
The flurry of religiouspersecutionoccæionedmuch exportationof Protesbnt liorgies. Thus we
find Frenchversionsof the AnglicanBook of CommonPr4yer, Engiish versionsof the Lutheran
and Calvinist liturgies,and the like to accommodare
religiousrefugeeswho had not changedtheir
home language.Among Puritansand Calviniststhe Frcnch and English GenevaBibles of the
previous century dictated more than religious experience.The marginal notes of the English
version quoted in the previouschapterlose no opponunityto drive home to the rcaderthat the
mind of the religious mar is always open to divine ilumination, and rhat by retarningan
evangelical simplicity such a man hæ all wisdom. This was in tune with the intellecrual
backgroundof the alchemistwhich supplemented
the pragmatismof Bacon's No,tutnOrganum
with medieval and contemporarymysticalsourcesas well: one of the most imponantfiguresin
this inteuectualtradition was the fifteenth-century
Cardinal,Nicholas of Cusa, whoseworks on
divine illumina on, panicularly,The ldiot, rrÀnslaledanonymouslyinro English in 1560, were
current and popular in Calvinist circles.Thc Lutheranmystic, Jakob Boehme,anorherpopular
author, focussedpanicularly on the necessarylinl betweensimplicity of thought and that of
languagein treating the questionof wisdom; and thc English Rosicruciandoctor, Roben Fludd,
wæ read for his treatmentof the necessary
link betweenscienceand the Bible. Their works were
ranslatedinto modemlanguagesas an attcmptto take over the new rationa.lismof Descanesand
Bacon,the versionsof Boehmeby thc Englishbarrister,lohn Sparmw(1615-65?) for insrance,
detailinghow their rationalismwas subsumcdin the "higher Reason"of the Bible. Another
medievalmystic popular in vemaculartrùnslation,and often translatedanonymouslywas Ramon

79
 THE AGE OF REASON

Franciscanscientist.
Lull, the thifieenth-century
These translationswere frankly polcmical.The condemnation
of Jansenismin 1tr3 and ùe
subsequentripostes from Blaise Pascal was noiscd abroad by translatorswith a fair gusto.
ModemJanguagetransiationof work by great religious writers like the Dutch jurist, Hugo
Grotius, were partially polemical,partly designedto try to heal the breachbetweenProlestants.
One curious example of this is the 'EIKON BAII^IKH, a book of meditaûonspurportingto
have been writlen by King CharlesI beforehis executionin 1649.This appearcdwithin a couple
of monthsof the exccutionin a Latin version by Bishop lohn Earle (1601?-65)and a French
versionby a Huguenotrefugee,DenysÇailloué(fl. 1630-66),and was heanily disapprovedof by
,+o,æ_
-'-'' the PudtânGovemmenr.
This was countertaiancedby a lot of religioustranslationthat was not polemical. Sûangely
enoughFrenchCatholicismprovidedmuch devotionalliteratureto the Proteslantparts of Europe,
Fénélon,the Archbishopof Cambrai,being a very popularauthor.As Catlrolicismbecamemore
confidentof itself, there is a lot of translationof Catholicreligiousmaterial for Catholics,even
into English where such work was often againstthe law, æ in England.Even stranger,much of
the Englishwork is publishedin Ireland,then subjecrro Engish law.
As far as the method of Eanslationis concemed,there is very little discemabledifference
betweenthis work and technicaltnnslation,and mosl of it is into the vemaculars.

Lemaistre de Saci, Isaac-Louis (1613-1684)

JânsenistPriestand Teacher
1640EntercdPon-Royal
1661L€ft Pon-Royalto escapecondemnation
æ a Jansenist
1666knprisonedin the Bastille
1675Retumsto Port-Royal
1679Made to move out by the civil and religiousauthoriries

Translations
1647Comédies
de Térence
Poèmede Saint Prospercontreles Ingrats
Fablesde Phèdre
1662lrnitaiion de Jésus-Clhrisr
(fhomas à Kempis)
1663Vie de Dom Bathélemy(from Spanishand Pornrguese)
1664Homéliesde SainrJeanChrysosrome
1665-Booksfrom the Bible (someposthumously
published)

80
 ACE OF RIASON tr sAq

1666AeneidIV & vI
1675Le Pastorâl@opeGregorythe Great)
1709(l)Panegyricof Trajan by Pliny the Younger

Cultural Background
I! is impossibleto assessLemaistrede Saci apart from the grammarianand liærary theorist,
Françoisde Malherbe(1555-1638)and his Pon-Royalcolleagues,ClaùdeLancelot(1615-95)and
Antoine Amauld (1612-94).As ùre twentieîh-cen$rylinguist, Alben Dauzat,\ras to remark,"Le
Françaisest né gnmmarien"; Lemaistrcde Saci worked in that culfure,and contriburcdto it.
They were productsof the salon culture of early seventeenth-century
France,and the religious
rigorism that in ProtestantcountriesproducedCalvinistsand Puritansand in Catholic,Jansenists.
The immediatebasis for their anitude to translationis certainly the work leading up to the
graflma$ and kgic of Pon-Royal.In its tum, this goesback to the æcrndancyof Senecanideæ
of the relationshipbetweenprosestyle and'\ruth".
in the clntemporaryassessment

Why did he translate?

Translationwas an essentialpart of both æcular and rcligious teaching.In the language
classroomit was importântin leachingmother-tonguestyle, and also æ a contrastivetechniquein
teachingthe grunmar of both sourcæand tÀrgetlanguages;and good translÀdonin the minds of
somewas a necessary stepto emancipatingoneselfonce and for all from ûre dominationof Larin.

How did he translate

The Pon-Royalrulesgiven below show the influenceof this ethnocenricapproach.This view
of grammaris the ancientars grantnaticawhich took in the study of literaturcand stylistics,as
well as grammar pmper. The French were more assiduousin mou.ldingtheir language in
accordancewith the four requiremencplacedon languageby the Romanphilosopher,Senecathe
Younger,whosetheoriesdominatedformal usesof language.Naturalpmsewas first of all simple,
thât is i! avoidedcomplexwords, grammarand sentenceshapes:secondit was clear in thar it
followed an intellectually transparcntsequenceof informadon. Third it was pirhy in ùat
statementswere shon and sentences did not straggle:and last it was pure in tha( obsoletewords,
neologismsand borrowingswereavoided.The rcsult was theseprinciplesard nrles:

Rrglu tlc la traltrtlior fr-ançoifc. _:.-Il frut râcherde rendrcbeaurépourberu-

r. Lr prrmicr: chofc à rlrroill duc prcnrire .té, & Fgurc por.rr6gurcl d'imirer)e ltrle Jc
l . u : c u r , ë ( d ' e n a p p l o c i r eIre p l u sp r ù sq u ' o n
gsrCc Crns h trriu0itrn frrr:çoile, cclt rJirra
r:ltrimcmror 6,.lclc& lir(crrl , a'(fl-i-dir,:, d'cx- çortrrrI vrier lts 6gurc:& lc; locuriirnç, & rn-
hrr rcr)drcDcrrctrrdu&ionunlrblcru& unerc_
fr:mcr cn nortc hntuc, rout ce qui clt drr:s prilcr;retioncu vrf dcl.r preccqr.rcl'<..,o trrJuit:
[c h:in, d c l c r c - r r d rfi r . b i e n , q u c . r i , ç : r cnlo c que I'on puiilc Jir'cquclc firocorr<li
{.
c \ c n l f l c r . L r c c r o n 3 v o t rP a r l cc n o l r c l t n  U c , .ullr bc.luque_le l.r(in, & circr rvec rll'.rrrncc
rr cut llric ce rrcmc que llous lc lrrlons flrl(r r c I : t r ( ( , 1 â u l t c ud u l a ( t n ,
o r n i n o ( ! ct r À d u t t L o n .

8l
 6 AGE OF REÀSONII
'ucauré
r. {l frur CiilincuerIr
'd'r','cc de notiÈ r,rcÈ 7. On doic prcldrc grric -& à ne commenccr
fc ccilc dc-nosvcrs. Lr bcrut! Cc':ros jtor:,ii dc,rx pitlodes , enco:f nroins dcL.rr
vcrs col6lÏc cn prrtie_(lrr)s lcsrimes,rdlieuquc : : . - l l i D r " 5P i r ( , r . cl l r l l c D l e , c o n r l l ) cf r r , r r r , r r .
le p:ofc frrnçoiiè all'cCle dc n'en avoir ioinr: ùLrxirrrcafcDlblrblcs.
c : r ' c ' 1 f t u r r c ' r e g lgec n . : r . rdl e' i v i t c r l r s ' r i m q 5 L JI fauc.tâchera'rfli dè ne poinr merfre dc
Crnj Ii irolc. Lcs vcrs vculcnt unJ Cer|li. fiire dcs mots qui coomenceirc dc la mtrnc
nc rref',rc,.& d:r,s h plofu rl,f:ut ;rcrJrc grr- i , : ' r r r l c o n r n r cy ' o : , o . f f t u e , y t , 1 2 : r c i L ;x
( c c e 1 1 ch n t r J t û ) 3 1u5n c f c r , o J cP l r u n v ( , s ! n -
l , ù n q L r l l v c t 3 i t q u i n c c o m d l . n c c n rp r r J è
t;cr ou Frr un drmi yersr cui confiile c1 fi; ! r m J i n e ô r t c d r n s ' 1 . : c r i t u r ec. o n ) n r cd J n sI c
I:ll:bes s'il cft mrl.ulin, &en lcir s'rl cft fcmi- prenrier e\cmple qui cft mrrqué, il f.rrtr qr.'rk
n i o . I L I ' y 3 q u ' u n c , è u l c c r c c p l r o -pno. u r h r i - {c {'rononcen!de I]l(rne 2our ler rcJc:ccr,I,1rcc
r)ic, à lrvorrr qu cncorc que ce lùr( ul:e rfglc r l È cr o u i el h ] , m o l l i c d r r ô i l c o u r sc f t p o u r p l r i r c
g i : r i r r l c _d c n ' e n f i i r e p o r r ) ,f . n â n m o i r s c ' i r t -_u{orcrucsèi non au\ yeùY.
guflqu:fois une bceu:é, )orlllu'il y r rurrhelc en- q. Lc pius bc:u u embrc eft cclui qr-riclt
tre dcut mcnrbrcs, d'yjoirrdreruili h rime : nrli5 rri'etfoui ou .r0 dclhr5de lc moiu.1d'un-g'rnd
elle ne fe fauroit foufiiir en norrehngr.rcen roq. r , ; s h . i r o i q r r ,c c ' c f t . à - d r r,e q u i c f t d c c . n q o u
t c . : u : r eo c c a f i n n c c l l c) 1 . lu\ Ce- I c2: lillrh{,: Les ir,r.Lfrllrbi:siunt Lonnesr!.li:
-qutn _Qrin!
r..i !ers, on eli obli:é,lcn lriller un i l.l tin rriis il frr-rrprrndre qrrde q-reIi lr périoCe6rric
d u-rrc périodc, lorfqu'on nc Deu! rcurncr l.l
, 1 r r f . r , r l r t ' c n r, S q u c , t i o r r l ô r o i r I, l l u c r i r r o d F . r ru i 1D r . ( n r r l c u l r n ,r l e f t b o n q u : l . p r . c : C c r t
l o l ( u ; r l c l n r n L n c. o m m e p r r e \ c r n p r er / r r - r . t
.r fcr,'ir crrrin.lLrrlr & eroinsnrturelle. r . o r r , t . t t d , S t , . ; t .( ) n r n ) : r . r . , . ) - f . c ' r l c ' t , , ' r
. ll ,,r frrrr ,lr"c.ar','r.'.1,',}i^" ni rri.'
n:L': :( n)isir) I c:r.t[cdc S;rra)q.rr . tl nrli|'lr r.\
lc 1,,'rô,Lrcs pcrioCes. ni auiii affejlcr Lrn flile
_ qui Ênir Ir pcriodc. Crl on ni conli,lirc i.:s cc
lr.)tr corr.is. [t conrmc no(rc lrn:ue eft de fi)i p : t i t m o t / c . Â u r c i l c r l u c f . r L rpr . r ss ' : l l i r , .r . r .
-:.ri I'rntue quc le ltrir. & dem-rndcoirrs de lnir torjour. prr guclqu:rrCec(i liclu\ L1.i.l-
'nr,,
s po-rr ci,'ri:irer toui )cfc's, i) frut^richer btcs qui rrc foirt pioprcrn.rrrquc l.t ;n \j(,
[^ur
Cc grlder un jufte milicLrentrc I'exccllivcabon-. g r . l r r J c sl c o t l e s ) p r r c c q ' r c i c _ d r l c o u r i c rf l -
C.:r:cedc prroles quircndroit le Iiileirnguilfânr. ' t o l l r o l t n t o l t l i n J t u r ( l r r r c c t l c1 t lc i : J : r o nf c r t a -
;t ).r bric.;c:écxcétfivequi le rendrok obltur. ( lrallc.
5. Tor-rs les mcnrbrei d'une pÉiiodedoivcnr ro. I-orfqrr'uncpiriode cft iroplongrrcSl trop
; . l , t e l l r n r c njtu t t e s , & G é g r o l è n r r e e u x , q u ' i l r cn1bar3ff(:cJrus lc l:tin ou cirDslc gr'cc , rl ;
li r,lonCsni, i i ctt potlii'le, pufrircrncnr lcr '
f : t r r , c n h r r r d u r r i n r ,l r c u p c r c r t p l : { i r u r :
ur)53ll\ luircs. p a : i t i m c r h b r e s : c eo L r fi i i t d ' u n c n t r r . q u ' rt l : . r . r
6. ll uc fr:ur ricn mft:ie dlns notfc tridu- q . r ' c l i cr r r K r i lr 1 r éI : n ' r - r r l l r r r r c. . r rlir t i ' i r . F cC c -
fllafl J(.it on ;rc pui$: renCrc rr,for, & quc 1 - o r t cq : r ' c l l c f c i o r i i . ' n r n r i c u r ; l < d e l . , u r ' r
l , n . c f , r l l c d r r e l o u r q , t o io r r I ' a m i s ; c c q u i g u o n r e n d c l r i r S i i r r c l l i ; r b l cr c q u i r : : o . r r r c
cll flu! CiJ;cilc qu'in ac'P<nfc. rcmpli d'r-:ne o b f c u r r r év i t r r u l è .
Luke xvii.tl-19 [cf. Campbell;ùe JerusalemBibles]
Un jour, commeil alloit à Jérusalem,& qu'il passoirpar le milieu de la Sarnarie& de lâ Galilé€,
étÂntprêt d'entrer dans un village, ùx lépreux vinrent au-devantde lui, qui se ænantéloignéz,
élcvèrentleur voix & lui dirent Jésus,notre maltte,aiez pitié de nous.Lorsqu'il les eur aperçus,il
leur dit: Allez vousmontreraux prêtres.Et commeils y alloienqils furentguéris.L'un d'eux,
voiït qu'il avoit été guériretotxra sur sespâs,en glorifiant Dieu à hauævoitr: & vinr se jetter aux
piedsde Jésusle visâgecontrelerre, en lu.i rendantgraces:et celui-là ét,ir Samaril.lin.Alors Jésus
dit: Tous les dix n'ont-ils pas été guéris?Où sont donc les neuf aures? il ne s'en est point (ouvé
qui soit revenu& qui air rendu gloire a Dieu, sinon cer éùanger.Et il lui dit: lrvez-vous, allez,
votre foi YouSa Sâuvé.

References
Catnbridge Htstory of the Bible. llI ll4-5, 384-51
Delassault,G. 1957.Le lllaistre de Sacyet son temps.Paris:Thèse,UniveniÉ de Paris
Muntearo, B. 1956. "Port-Royal et la stylisrique dc la lraduction", Cahiers de !'association
internationaled,esétudesfrançaises8, 151-72

82
 ACE OF REASONII HOUBICAI{T

Houbigant, Charles-François(1686-17g3)
Oricntalistand BiblicalCommenraror
1704Enteredthc Oratorians
TaughrHumaniries at Juilly;Rheroricar Marseille,philosophyar Soissons
1722Wcnt deafafteroverworking at the seminaryof Saint-Magloirc
1740-Publisheda lor on Hebrew

Translations
17534 Biblia hebraicacum notisctiticiset yersionelatina (4 vols).

Cultural Background
Houbigantwas a BibricarscholaraboveaI else,thoughtherea-reconsiderable
Lraces
of a good
classicaleducation
in his wriiings.His ideason translation
seemto havebeeninfluencedby Huet.
Did he know CharlesBatteux?

Why did he translate?

His versionof the ord restamentis meantas a crib for usein Bible
studyin seminaries.

How did he lranslate?

He is well within the Ciceroruanrradirion.The following passage
from the firsr volumeof his
Biblia hebraica measurcsCicero's metaphorof weighing
out words against a good dose of
Seneca:
r p. crxxxj
Finally the meùod of transrarionI have adopred
is nor exrremery free, which everybody knows
should be rigorously avoided), but midway between
riteral and frce. For I berieve ûat the bsk of
the Ilalrslator is to show Sacred Scriprure exacdy as ir would
havc b€en if ùe aurhors had writlen in
l-atin so when one presentsûle in r-adn' one must
represent ticm as wntrng Latin, noa Hebrew;
and he must pres€n! their ideas, and not ùcir words,
but in as many worcls as they did. My
auùority for this is Jesus ben Sirach whose Greek version (of
Ecclesiastes) conhins many ûtings
that show he did nor ranslate word for wo.d.
It is easy to ânswer Éose who sce it as dangerous
to abandon the very shape of the words for
fear thât leaving aside words means missing ûre sense:
the ransrator who u:ùsrates word for word
often arrives at a version that makes no sense at all,
A version t]Ët fails ro get the fravour of the
târgerlânguâgethrough stickingloo close ro lhe source
language,in rhis case, Hebrew, can not bur
be obscure.

83
 ACE OF REASONtr HOUB(GfuYT

Hebrcw lexts shou)dnor offer any problemsmore difficulr tian any oticr books,L,âtinor Greck;
and thescnobody belicvesone can ûânslateif onc remainsfettercdby the words of the original.In
shon ùere can be no dangerif thc Hebrewwordsare diligendy weighed:a tmnslat r who docs this
neednot fcar he wiII warder f frcm ùe scnse.There are many sidesto lhe trsk of showingfonh
to task for taking the middle way, but ample
the sense;but ùat is no rcasonfor taking a u-anslator
causefor casûgadngone who refuses!o ùust his goodjudgementand commonsense...
However he balances this call for freedom against norms of auùrenticity. Note that hc sees
discourse and grammatical srucNr€ as two differcnt things:
This is ûe otler part of the rask:tie fanslaûormustbring over into his Latin text the very shapeof
the Hebrcw Scriptures.For Holy Scriptue mustbe held in suchregardùai the Word of God must
be presentedas it is; the ranslatormust fullil the expectations
of the Christianreâderwho seeksto
readthe Word of God not of the trânslator.
The result is a techniquenot unlike that of Batteux's.
Wiûin thesÈnorrns he is very strict on nuancesof stylc. Close translation is no excuse for bad
style: this is al insult to ùc authors who must not be represenledas slovenly writers. Hencc the
various books of the Bible must rcflect their authors' stylistic characteristicsin Latin æ they do
in Hebrew. This is panicularly imponant in poetry, where the parallellism characterisric of
Hebrew poetry must be rcflected in the Latin version.
His discussionof vocabularyis also a long one, restingmainly on the old problem of bringing
over inrc the target language the nuancesof lhe Hcbrew ùat will make senseof rhe religious and
mystical use one will make of the target texl

References
Biographie universelle sv. "Houbigant"
KeUy 1979,sv "Houbigant"
New CacholicEncyclopediasv "Houbigant"
Vigouroux,sv "Houbiganf'

C ampbell, G eorge ( I 719 -96)

Principal and Professor of Theology at Marischal College, Aberdeen
1741 EntercdTheologicalCollcge at Edinburgh
1748 Ordainedministcr at BanchoryTeman, Aberdeenshire
'1755
Founding membcrof AbcrdecnPhilosophicalSocicry
Appointed to MarischalCollege,Ab€rdccn

8,1
 AGEOF REASONtr CA,MPBELL

Translations
1789 The Four GospeLsTranslatedîrom the Greek

Theoretical Works
1176 Philosophy of Rhetoric
1789 The "Preliminary Dissertations"publishedas ùe Rrstvolume to his Gospels

Cultural Background
The twelve "Dissenrtions" mrking up tie lirs! volume of bis venion places his work firmly
within the "philological" tradition of Biblical scholanhip, which stretches back ultimately to St
Jerome.He malies the theology of his positionas clear as Jeromedid: provided one acts towards
the Biblical text with normal professionalrcsponsibility,one's trarslation will bc accurate,even if
unmisrakeably one's own. Thus on the one hand, Campbe[ works within a tradition that goes
back to the translators of the Royal Society, and to some extent Dryden. This, as one mighr
expect, is sfongly supplementedby the French rhetorical and grarnmatical tradidon fouowing on
the period of les belles infidéles. Though he nowhere mentions him, it is not unlikely that he was
aware of the work of Charles Batteux (indeed there was ar English venion of Batteux's analysis
of ûanslation problems printed in Edinburgh [1760]), and many of Campbell's ideas show rhe
influence of Pierre-Daniel Huet. Campbell manies this trâdition to a Biblical scholarship that nses
from Erasmus and Luther. But this is supplemenredby Jerome and the Fathers of rhe Church, and
by eighleenth-cen ry French Biblical scholarship,chiefly Richard Simon and Charles Houbigant.
And to these Catholics he ^dds CharlesLecène.
One difficult point about Campbell is that we do nor know how much he rook from currcnr
discussionsof translationin the leamed socictiesof Edinburgh.His style is not unlike the legal
and technical work coming out at the time from people like Thomas Nugent (1700?-72). He did
know Tytler witlt whom he largely agrees;and thcre also seemsto be traces of current discusslon
of medical and technical translation in his dissertationsas well as the Biblical and literarv one
would expect.

Why did he trînslate?

His trarlslalionrose out of his preaching.Very cxrly in his carcer he became impatient wiùr
the inadequaciesof the Authoriscd Version before a congregationalmost rwo centuriesafter it
appcarcd. This impaticnce was sharpened by deficiencies in the Greek text tumcd up by
eighteenth-cenfury
research.So he soughtto replacethc AuthorisedVcrsion of the Cospels by a
text that was accurate,and thereforc rcligiously neutral. This hc underlincs by dedicating his
version to the Anglican Lord Bishop of Carlisle.

85
 ACE OF REASONtr CAMPBELL

Horv did he translate?

To my mind this is the bestvenion of the Gospelsin English.Campbellsumsup the bestof
trarlslationtheory;indeedwe do not flnd as comprehensive
eighteenrh-centuD, or workabletheory
of translationuntil wcll into this cenfury. He is a mine of clichés on the responsibilityof
trinslator to text:
DissertationX. Part I
To trânslate has been tlrought, by some, a very câsy matær to one who understândstolerably the

language from which, and hi]s made some proliciency in the language into which, ûre translaÛon is

to be madc. To trânslal,ewell, however, in my opinion, is a task of more difficulty than rs

commonly imagined. That we may be the betær able to judge in ùis quesdon, let us consider what

a Eanslator, who would do justice !o his âutbor, and his subject has to perform. The flrst thing,

without doubt, which claims his attention, is to give a just representationof the sense of the

original. This, it must be acknowledged, is the most essendalof all. The second ùring is to convey

inlo his version, as much as possiblc, in a consistcncy with ùe genius of the language in which he

wriæs, the author's spirit and manner, and, if I may so express mysclf, the very character of his

style. The third ard lâst thing, is !o tâke care, thal the version have, at leâst so far the quality of an

original performance, as to app€âr natural and easy, such as shall give no handle to ûe critic to

charge the trÀnslator with apptying words improperly, or in a meaning not w ranbd by usc, or
combining them in a way which rendcrs the sense obscure, and ùe construction ungrammatical, or

even harsh.
ln demanding thai the translaior b€ impa:tial, that he "lay no claim to originality", he castigates
predecesson for rather too frequently prefcrring their religious opinions to ùe truth as it is in

text. Hence a second cliché: "the translator's business should not be confounded with tire
commentâlor's". He wams against taking Classical Greek as the only authority for meaning:
Biblical Greek was spoken at least live centuries later.

Campbeu treats translation as an act of linguistic communication rather than as a way of

finding equivalen$. Thus he has much ro say on the word and the discourse unit and very lirde

on graJnmar. Naturalness of style is essendal in Biblical work, paniculârly as he follows the

Protestant view that the Bible must be wirhin rcach of every person. His arritudc to srylisric
equivalence is that of Jcrome as reformulated by Erasmus, wiûl strcng touches of Luù-ler:
There are two extremes in translating, which are commonly taken notice of by those who
examine this subject criticâlly; from one extrcme, we derive what is called a close and literal, from

the other, a loose and hee translation. Each has its advocaæs.But though ùe laner kind is most
pafonised, when the sub.i€ctis a performance mainly human, the general sentiments,rs frr as I am

able !o collect thcm, scem raùcr to favour rlrc former, when thc subjecris pan of Holy Wrir. And

this difference appearsto procÈcd from a vcry laudablc principle, ûrat we are not enûded ro use so

86
 AGE OF REASONII CA.\{PBELL

much freedom with ùe dictâtes of inspiration, as witi the works of a fcllow-creature. It ofæn

happens, however, on such general topics, whcn no panicular version is rcferred to as an example

of excess on onc side, or on the oùer, that pcople agree in words, when their opinions difier, and

differ in words whcn their opinions agree.For I mây consider a ûanslation as close, which anoùer
would denominaæ Free, or as Free, which another would denominate close. Indeed I imagine that,
in the b€st sens€ of these words, a good trdnslationaught to have both these qualities. To avoid all
ambiguity, therefore, we shall call one exkem€ literal, as manifesting a grearcr auention to thc
lettcr ûran to the meaning; the otlcr, /oose, as implying undcr it, not libeny, but licentiousness.In
regard even to liÉral transladons, there may be so many differences in degre€, thar, wiùout

specifying, it is in vain to argue, or (o hop€ to lay down any principles tlut will prove entirely
sadsfactory.
What makes Nm "modem" is his mixture ôf sociologicâl considerations of equivalence with
tradidonal theories of meaning going back to classical times. Fmm the principle that nobody
ignorant of Judaca as it wæ under Roman occupation has any business translating the New
Testament, he develops a typology of translatability familiar from modem sources like Nida,
Ariyeh Newman and the Czech school of tra$lation theory. A word depending on its "scop€" is
either completelyEanslatablc,untrarslatableor panially translatable.The scopeof a word is a
first a social concept:dependingon whethersourceand targetsocietiessharethe conceptor thing
denoteda word can be ûanslatedor not. It is also a communicative
concept,determined
by
meaning and use in contex!.Thus in lhe caseof money, a coin can be Fanslaredby its exact
exchangeequivalent,by whar it will buy (for examplea denariuswas a day's wage),or by irs
socialpurposeG.omanmoneywas uscdto pay axes). In this we hark back to discussions we
find in Luticr andMclancthon
of "commrntary"did not extendto the well-tumedfoomotc.Thesehe trea$æ
His detestation
a teachingresourceindependcnt
of text. Note his referenceto Gronovius,the great humanist
editorand scholarin the ftrstfoomote:
Lukexvii.ll-19 [cf. Lemaisre
de Saci(above); Bibles(below)]
Jerusalem
Now, in ravelling !o Jemsalem,he passedthrough ùe confrnesof Samariâand Galilee, ând

being about to enLera certein villagc, ùcrc mct him ten lcpers, who stood at a dislance,ând cned
out, "Jcsus, MÀstcr, tâte pity on us." When he saw them, he said to tiem, "Go, show yoursclves !o

the priests." And as they went, they wcrc clcanscd. And one of them perceiving ûrat he was healed,
turned bâck, glorifying God aloud. Thcn ùrowing himself prosualc at the fÈ€rof Jesus,he rcrumcd
him rianks; now this mar was a Samarinn. Jesussaid, "Were not ten cleansed?Where then are the
other nine? Have none retumed to givc glory to God. cxcept this alicn?" and he sâid ro him,
"Arisc, go ùy way, ùy faith haûr curcd rlrcc."

87
 AGE OF REÀSONII CAMPBELL

Through the cont'nes of Samaria and Galilee 6trl p€ooD la.pûpercq Km I-chÀ€rûq. I
agee with Gronovius ard others, tiat it was not through the heart of tlese countries, but, on the

contrary, tirough those pârts in which Lhcy bordcred on each oûrer that our Lord travelled at the

time. I understand the words ôtc geoou, as of the same import as'(!vq. Éeoov, as commonly
understood. And in this manner we find it interpreted by the Syriac and Aramaic Eanslat rs. No
doubt the neârest way, from where our [,ord resided, was through the midsr of Samaria. But had
that been his roule, ûle historiân had no occasion to mendon Galilee, the country whence he câme;
and if he had mcntioncd ir. ir would have bcen more proper, in spcaking of a joumey from a
Galilean city to Jerusalem,to sây, tirough Galilee and Samaria, ùan, reversing ûre natural order, to
say, tlrough Samaria and Calil€€. But if, as I undersand it, the con6nes onty of the rwo cou$ries
werc meânt, it is a matter of no consequencewhich of them is first named. Besides the incident
reco(ded in the following words, also, renders it more probable ùrat he was on the borders of
Samaria, Ûnn in the midst of the country. It appsrs that there was but one Samaritân among the
lepers thsr were cleânsed,who is called an alien, ùe rcst being Jews.
This aLien 'o 'ûÀÀol€qç 'ouroç.
The Jews have ever since rhe Capdviry, considered the
Samâritansas aliens. They call ûrem "Cuthiæs" lo tÀis day.

References
CatnbridgeHistory of the Bible lll: 368
Dictioury of NarionalBiographysv. "Campbell"
Kelly 1979:sv "Campb€U"
- 1982."GeorgeCampbell's
Four Gospels".
Stud.ia
evangelica
Vlt,277-81
Tytler,A.F. 1790.Essa-v
on Translation.
ed.JeffreyHuntsman.
Amsterdam:
Benjamins

88
D. THE AGE OF REASON Itr

lveek 7 Scientific Translation

By the end of the eighteenth century medicine and the natural sciences are recognisably
modem: the humanist approach tlpical of Linacre has been replaced by experimental and
obscrvationâl techniques, ûre natural sciences have been emancipated from medicine, and the
working language is no longer Ladn, but "stùndard languages" like French, English and German.
At the beginning of the. sevcnteenûrcenlury lhree scientific paradigrns had been nghting for
supremacy, and translators were in the thick of the fight. First there was the scientinc paradigm of
which Thomas Linacre, the founder oi the Royal College of Physicians, had been typical; thc
second was the alchemist paradigm; and the third was the new philosophy of science being taught
by Francis Bacon and René Descanes.
At the beginning of the seventeenthcentury the classical paradigm was losing steam, partly
because it had done what it had set out to do, and parùy because it was under attack. Thc
alchemists regarded it as obscurantist, and were pushing the newer chemical medicines from
people like Paracelsus.They also regardedit as irreligious, b€cause it had very little time for the
strcngly mystical union alchemists saw between Go<l and the world, and therefore between
religion and science. Conscquently for boti alchemists and their opponents translation was a
professionai responsibility.
Alone among medical men alchemists and surgeons often wrote in their own languages,
somedmcsas a matter of principle.Thc most famousof thcseauthors,Paracelsusand Glauberfor
instance,were oftcn translatedinto Latin for intcmationalconsumption.Cerhard Dom (fl. 1570-
90) supplied the Latin "originals" that wcre rumed into French ard English. In England in
particularùis had i$ political side.The Civil War (1641-49)was panially religious,panly a class
war between the rising artisan class and cstablishedprivilcge of religion, social st3tus and
knowledge, as is quite clear from noted Puriran apothecariesllke Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654).
The English PuritÂn translators were grouped around printers in the East End Of London. Two of
these have panicular importance, Naùaniel Brooks and Perer Cole, who ran stables of translators.
As well as Culpepcr these include Peter's brothcr, Abdiah Cole (fl. 1620-60), the botanist and
apothecary,Roæft Tùmer, and (1620?-65?),
John French(1616?-57),an early distiller in London.
There is also a lot of surgical translation,thc diffcrence here being that while medicine and
pharmacywas usually from Latin, surgeryusually came from French or German. Many of these
translatorsare anonymous.As wcll rs thcsc ticre ç'cre a number of Royalist alchemisB, for
cxample E1las Ashmole (1617 -92), \ltilliun Dug,rd ( 1616-62) rrrd Jamcs Howell (1591-1666).
Aftcr the Rcstorationlhe lisht continucdundl about 1680 in ùe work of odd characterslike the

89
 THE ACE OF REÀSONM

apothecary,Richard Russell (ob. 1685'i) urd William Salnon (1644-1703), a rarher shady doctor.
These trânslatorscast their net very widc: not only did they translate from the latest medical
sourceson the Continent, but also from medievals with a reputation like Albenus Magnus, Roger
Bacon, Ramon Lull, all thineenth-century philosophen with noted interests in alchemy, and from
the flfteenth century philosophers, Basil Valentine and Nicholæ of Cusa.
From the medievalalchemistcame an "illuminisl" view of knowledge,i.e. the assumptionthat
all knowledge was one, and that one became wisc by leaving oneself open to tie Spirit of God.
In practicalterms this meant that rcligion and mcdicine werc two facetsof the same knowlcdgc
of the world, r.nd trat one "becarnewise" by consultingrhc "two books", the Bible and nature.
Much store wâs placed on "simplicity", l..hatis on avoidanceof the comtpt tradirions of ùe
Classicalbooks by Galen and Hippocrates.Alchcmists attemptedto supplemen!the influencc of
school ând chapel with the pragmatism of Bacon's Novum Organum, not realising ùat even if
both were termed "leamed ignorance" and both gave rise to much the same translation style, the
two intellecrualtendencieswere at war. Whilc the alchcmist's"leamed ignorance"looked to the
divine for illumination, the Baconian "lcamed ignorance" was a freedom from preconceptionsthat
allowed oræ to examine experimentrl and observationalevidence in an unbiassedfæhion.
Pafticularly between 1660 and l70O there was a staggering amount of translation from Bacon,
Descanes and their followers, the scientific God of rhe cenn:ry finally b€coming Isaac Newton.
This was a dme when scientists were beginning to write in their native langlages, with
consequent difficulties for overseas readers. Roben Boyle, stung by unofficial Latin versions of
his wo*s published by De Toumes in Geneva. commissionedhis own Latin translations, ând sar
on the trarslators' shoulders. Descanes was wcll served by his French translator, le Duc de
Luynes, l-rrdbadly by the Dutch matiematician, Fnns van Schooten(1615-60): and Newton used
various pupils of his, including samucl Clarke (1675-1729) of Norwich to avoid being
misrepresented.In the rare cases that scientists were incapable of writing Latin, they found
anonymousLatin translators,Lieuwcnhoek,the inventor of the microscope,is a case in point.
Translationtowards modem languagesgains pace: Bacon, Newton and Locke find conrinental
rranslarors,including Gottfied rhiete (17012-1760), pierre coste (t669-1747) utd, voltaire (.1694-
1778),and bv t}le end of the seventeenthccntury thcrc is a constanttrafflc of translationsbcrween
thc major lmglages of Europc. on a lcss lotiy plane thcrc is a lot of "gentlcmanlv" rranslauon,
on gardening,building and architecture,much of it from French and ltalian sources.This begins
in "genùemanly"translation,like the many manualson gardening,for exampleLhetrarslarionsof
the Gardenerto the French King, de la Quindnye by lohn Evetyn (162G1706),and conrinuedin
translationsof imponant Italian architectslike Palladio.
Dunng the eightccnÙlccntury Lhc whole intellectualclimare of physical scienccchangcd. At
thc beginningof tic century chemistry and biology wcre dominatedby medicine;tmnslatorshrd

90
 ]'IIE AGE OF REASONM

a hand in making thcm indcpendcntby translating and annoradng the latest out.
Sciendnc languagewas still largely in he hands of the medicai profession,encouragedby
systems of publication subsidies.The peak of activity comes in the period from 1700-45,
coinciding with the adopdon of scientilic ideas from Descartes ard Ncwton. The common
langlage was stiu Latin, and indeed it. is doubtful whither Linnaeus, lhe famous biologist,
Albrecht von Haller, ùe founder of physiology, or Bergman, ûle noted Swedish chemist, would
have had the effcct they did if they had not written in Latin and been translated into ûle
vemaculars.For examplethc readablevcnion of ùre Germanchemist,Stahl by Peter Snaw (1694-
1763) was a major factor in ùe vogue of Stahl's theories in England: in fact they were not
displaceduntil the Lavoisierranslationsof thc 1790s.His l74l version of Boerhaave'slectures
completed after Boerhaave'sdeath, dominatcd the teaching of chcmistry in both England and
Scotland until the end of the century, and set ùe climate for major reforms in pharmacology.
By ùe late eighteenthcentury the centre of scien(ifrc trÂnslation in England was moving nonh
to the scientilic communities of the Midlands and Sco and, important fanslators t:eing Thomas
Hcnry Q734-1816) of Manchcster,Robeft Kcrr (1755-1813)of Edinburgh. [n France rhc cenrre
was still Pans, Louis-Bemard Cuyton de Mofleau (1737-1816) b€ing pafiicrilarly active.
Linnaeus's theories on scientific taxonomy had been spread by such translators, who had helped
create the climate for funher developments. Henc€ in lhe lasl quarter of the cenrury the Paris
circle of Antoine Lavoisier, working from the writings of Bergman as well as their own research,
developed a chemical ærminology that is still largely in use and still productive. It is based on a
taxonomy of substancesordered according ro Condillac's "philosophical language", a language
basedon genera and species.From Condillac and his colleaguesLavoisier's circle had taken the
idea that the intellectualand linguistic structureof a scientific taxonomy reflectcd a "natura]
order" that underlay reality.He was widely ranslatcd, Partinglonlisting translationsinto English,
German, Dutch, Sparish and Italia.n.
The eighteenthcentury is also marked by much translationof applied science.This begins in
"gentlemanly" translation. But from ùre middle of the eightecnth century there is a lot of
industrial translation from French and German. A good pan of ir deals with a$icutturc - ùe
concentrationof populationin lhe new towns dcmandedintensiveagricultur€if they were to be
fed, and much on the manufacturcand use of wcapons. But therc is much on applicatiors of the
new science,like navigationard the industrialisationof ûadidonal crafts like dyeing. The mosr
radica.lchangescome in pharmacy,which follows rhe "new chemistry" so closely that i$ practice
is reformed.Some of the emergingvemacularwork on medicine is also ranslâted.Again no one
country holds the monopolyover original rcsearch.Indecd creativephysiciansllke William Lewis
( 17 l4-8 I ) of Edinburgh, dc Rusicu.\of Paris, I.H. Zieglcr of Gcrmany are borh translarorand
translated.

9t
 THE ACE OF REASONM CULPËPÊR

C ulpeper, N ic Inlas (I 6I 6 -54)

Apoùecary and Astrologer
men who published
Culpeperis the mostprominentof the groupof Puritanmcdica.l throughPcter
Cole and NaùranielBrooks,two prominentprintersin the East End of London.A large number
of his nanslationsfrom the Lâtin originalsby rcpurableforeign physiciansand apothecaries
were
edited and published posthumously,and he remainedone of the most influentiai writen on
century.
medicineuntil ùe endof the seventccnth
1634Adminedto Cambridgc,
srudiedClassics
1636Apprenticcd in Bishopsgate,
to an apothecary London
1640 Goesinto practiceas ar apofieceryand rstrologer,also practicesmedicineillegally
1642Joinsmedicalcorpsof Cromwcll'sarmy
1643Woundcdat ùe Batdeof Newbury
astrologerandphysician
1&4 Refumsto London,resumespracticeas apothecary,
1649-54Originalwritingson medicine, of medicineandrelateddisciplines.
translation

Translations
1649 A PhysicalDireclory (from the Pharmacopoeialondinensis,the officia.lpharmacopoeia
of the London Collcgeof Physicians).
1651 The LondonDispensatory(3rd revisededition of above,takenfrom the l649 revision)
1652Galen'sArt of Physick
1653The Anatonryof Man (JohannVesling)
1654A New Methodof Physicl<(SimeonPartliz).
These are only the most imponantof about 50 ûanslatedtilles. All are from Latin, except
perhapstie Galen,which could havebcen publishedfrom the original Greek.In ùre decade
after his deathabout 20 titles were editedby colleagueswith and without the permissionof
his wife, andpublishedthroughColeor Brooks.

Cultural Background
There were two major influences
on Culpcpcras a translator.From his classicaleducation,
whethertakenunderBrinsleyor not, Culpeperwouldbeenhaveimbuedwith the ideasof Seneca
the Youngeron ûte virtuesof simplicity and though him, FrancisBacon.This was reinforcedby
of Puritanmodesof preaching
ùe simplification rhat Culpeperwould haveseengoingon and by
lhe GencvaBible (1560)with rts emphasis
on literaltranslation.

92
 THE AGE OF REASONM CULPÊPER

Why Did Culpeper Translate?

For Culpeperand his Puritancolleagues,
translationwas boûl a social and a religiousduty. Ar
its simplest,Culpeperactedaccordingto the Reformadonbelief in lhc necessiryof educatingûlc
public: as a medicalman he saw teachingthe patientto look after himself as an essentia.l
pan of
ûeaûnentiand as a deeply religiousman he saw sucheducaLionas a divinely imposeddu(y. In
immediaæpracdcal tcrms Culpepersought to pmtcct "ûle poor" agairst the tondon College
ofPhysiciars,whose memberswerc often too expensivefor the ordinary people.His other targer
was "Empyrick", the half-educatedbarcfoot doctor who wandered around England Fearing
paÙentsby a mixùre of folklore and half-leamtpmfessionalformulas. He b€lieved that the
college werc almostas incompeæntas the Empyrick,becausethey relied heavilyon rhe t|aditlons
of medicine as handed down in the writings of the grcat Gr€ek physicians,Hippo€ratesand
Galen, and did not follow the medicalteachingsof ttE alchemis(sand of Paracelsus
with ali rne
puritan.
religiousrigour of the Cod-feâring

To-thc Rcadcr.
ttt.lryutÈt,tltto naiat:b I'it O1itioa, atd_tbofc,ki
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'iut
cll ruf\..! ttbott, u at brfilucb .u ùvd ù dift-
tut chptit t iwb:rcst ifthc riuowkdgol PbSf:lwu1
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lhlf ian i]oi I'uf ' tblîiat tbcufttuct.wtutd
b..tLu..t lt:'"c-d.r,t!0nI ProPrtolno.(., ol wL.t lLtt
dcr otltrJo\lra tt vl ,tta/IaEaa wbtÀ tbat b.,Laêctla.
a. ui'I'a!ù ç,iu {PL1qQfin- ùt ut!çrit
tbcnaloa q talcft nu.b yr.pn.;,u lbtf,k at tb,t
dt, .tl tb ttul. of tb. Dilafu ad trtrittili,t tb:,
}rirl utoutbalclrcr ud ulrrt rb:t v.7' ft bi rbcl
tLcntt Rt!:t cf Pb1.l:lrLq oulJaur yilitc l{c

1. Hidialrl'cGrouû of t\ft\ ralat ll fuù

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rj!:iï;1:f ,ii,kliïn
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ta,4 pt t t y.u.t fui|., tt tt lnewnthu1.

1j
 CULPEPER
THE AGE OF RTASON III

The view of medicineC'ulpeperput io his public was a curiousmixturc of alchemy,astrology

and the new pÊgrnatic scienceof Francis Bacon He joined his colleaguesin attÊmptingto
preservethe old paradigmof scientificknowledgewhich regardedMan, ûIe world, and God as
Microcosm and Macroclsm, that is as models one of ûre oùer. His assaulton the l-ondon
College was tlærcforcpanially religious: by irs assiduouskeepingof trddidon rtle College, as
many poinad out, was acting agairst Cod and true religion, âlld was ûlercfore x corrupting
in-fluencejust as tlE Estab[shed Church was.

How did He Tnnslate?

The major practical influenceon his translaûonprc€edureswas cenainiy the rcchniqueof
"grarnmaticâlltranslæion"taughtby tlte famousPuritansr:lrootmaster,
John Brinsley,in his frd{r
linerarius (1612). His pret'ace!o the bndon Dispensatory(1651 ediùon) lays claim ro a
simplicity of languagewhich prccludesdishonesty.Culpep€r'sorùy word on his acnraltranslation
methodis a ssongly wordedanâckon the AuthorisedVersionof the Bible (16l l) in rlrc preface
of "adding c€nain tnusards of words", of .,nor
to his Galerl Therc he accusesrhe trarlslat,ors
translatingmany words at all", ard of "mrulsting onc and ûre sarneword divers ways". A glancê
al his own wort showsthat hê himscu followcd sæpsa to c of Brinsley'sdriu, but ttrat for him
equivalenceresledon lexical and discoursepattems,and ùrat he ofæn altÊrcdrhe sourcegrammar
to allow for this. '.'1To
. r+-: ., ,.
rhéRcader.
,h,iÂî,à;;iiiii,i.{!iT,!;':l:iï\ï;:
.ïIfrYfi'Æiiyitrtï;I'ti,*\:,r.
Ê-- lls y'r-fr-c- /"A/"-^
'
@r.)
lnit:i^'iri,:tï,:"èari;jt;!7"
, h,i,t r"2i,4-',^"i-r,"-"L\i,:â;
:! ,r.ll,a t eut ofqullicz;::,\:i tt;/ rbi.
:;;
-"'f,4r.
i;:'!ii,:T,:!l' \ttd
. 1iî!"!'i:,',i:"(::'ii.! h'* wttr" t,.','.,
::,1::l::':!::, i :rL,tl,c çutL\t,)
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tclllotitwat ro na\c ltatc cf it; ÈlilLtcaert ttttr- t. Àltalvcdr ùt1bw. rc, n..inû
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tct lotfc ol ir tbar tbc S2iticcf-Gcf,, ia tbln ot)cLra-
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tront ot rî:Ju Dcaat,rnc tDê lnlwar ol rlE ton"uc ir.
frornrhcLord, aloiltiw all te Gc/,ttdunl,iuftal!
r.,E;;'i;;::;,",i{ii,:'/,':i;:ii,
tc naa, at rbulclf duor<in1 Piiui2lt ,f f iu.vé
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iii:: ;hLti,
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d)ttott.
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,:L hou' iii;i';:rii:i:';iil;r;î?it
ja.,[rjl

1*
 THE AGE OP I'F.ASON M CULP€PER
:---
.,., 8..7&t tltrlldtc oacctt ,lt lrùc trJ dixttf:
' tLtl btu dott lc ru, ll'! tL. .ix-
'. \a!U, .qlwbty
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' iauftul ElÀcriv1 ùwitt, i,vo ct rbuc
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Nacu ctccgtcd;ad tltc wudlJiboç lontixtt us-
'latcd gtc.iâcit rb, pord li.lhog i Lul rTi:lc
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ttr a4u4pit ea Diltl, otd tLc enrd Prctblqt it
'
Itiii-r4lilb, butfu th irq fcuc witb aEldcr, a.rd ..
1.,rahx t Ju<lin!.utClolu nalctwirl ttc woiJt ez
. salt h:v,rè Difhopt,ô,rl Prcsbircrr,ul Elàcu, aÈ
Ors{r,ru, ( lab h 'c vulttt ctU l{czvcn-.lrircrrl
-.lrl..lnt
', tlg gj iowt uolt tî dtlc,ttrr ar I Ltrw,t'z'
lilhogr, I\ribirrrr, Eldcrr, er{ Q*tkcr, Aât,:a.
' . . ' r r , - P t d f t n r r cE \ l r y ' a : r r dc r l l r Jr h cE ! D r t r .
'
oIrbc Chnrrhl 'tic ltralui:utleitb rhcaùgin , -azd'
zttrfctl, bcltiûtLcn tr!clrrcdrorhrmf<lrcr:ud ro
sbcFlo<l oyarwhi([ rhcLord hrJ nra.lc rhrn Or'.rr-
t | | | tr.r'rr ïvbi(btbcLud baàanJctLt'n B,Aw9r
faitË
' Sàiunc tbc Orilirtl i tcnldoùit1 uulptal rtll ncaùs
dilfnau wu tat ld bt:ly.t.ra Dillr;lp,t
Prcibircriâ
'noi Oyctlcclc, aui,ca ÊlC,<t i /ud. iuttid t
lu - tbt h ctbitctt lbertd.oa\t tLcnftlut di{fo utt
. ftdaBi$oyqzlLu ucirltrt6cd itt ilitt't lcri; ,r,at.
6alL7 tb locgoiug Sniyut, uti Nzrnt, Ju rltq
trt .t li\c lbaNut tarditi.ndJ 4P.ntr,tt.litlt+. -tt

Colledg. Take of Sweet Almonds not corrupted, as mâny as you

will, cast the shellsaway, ànd blanch them, beat them in a stone

Mortar, heat them in a double vessel, and press out the Oyl

without he*.

C u l p e p e r / A . l t h e l p s r o u g h n e s s a n d s o r e n e s so f t h e t h r o a t a n d

s t o m a c h , h e l p s P l e u r e s i e s ,e n c r e a s e t hs e e d , e a s e t h c o u g h s , a n d

Hectick feavers; by injection, it helps such whose wâter scalds

them; ulcers in the bladder. reins and matrix. You may either

take half an ounce of it by it self, or mix it with half an ounce

of Syrup of Violets, and so take a spoonful at a time, still shak-

ing them together when you take them; only take notice of this:

if you take it inwardly let it be new drawn, for it will be sowr in

th ree or fowr daies.

A. In their new Moddel, they bid you heat them in a double Ves-

sel, and then press out the Oyl without the help of heat; Oh

H e a v e n s ! d i d e v e r t h e S u n s h i n e u p o n s u c h r e d i c u l o u sc r e a t u r e s !

who would think a whole Colledg should dote io youngl

R A m y g d a l a sd u l c e s , n o n d u m p r a e v e t u s t a t e r a n c i d a s , q u o t

?{
 Tl{B AG8 OP REASON M CULPAPER

volueris. Fracto, É abjecto cortice exteriori lignoso, c

e x u t a i n t e r i o r i m e m b r a n a ,t r i t a e i n m o r t u a r i o l a p i d e o , c a l e f i -

ant in duplici vase, 0 prelo exprimatur oleum, sine vi

References calo ris .
DictionarJ of National Biographysv. "Culpepe/'
Kelly 1979:w "CUpepe/'
Partingtonl97l: w "Culpepet''
Powys,L. 1924.Thineenllorthies. I-ondon:GrantRichards
Thomdyke 1958:w. "Culpepe'''
Wdl, C., Cameron, H.C. & Underwood,E.A. 1963. History of the Worshipjtl Society of
Apothzcariesof london. I-ondon:WellcomeHistoricalMedicalMuseum

Shaw, Peter (1694-1763)

Royal Physiciar4Medicalpublisherand wriær
1726 Pracdsilg medicinc in London, pmbably wirhour a lice.nce;Publishcsboth original
writings ard translâtionson chemistry and medicine
1740Lic€ntialêof the Royal Collegeof Physiciaru
1752 Appointcd Physician to the King; awardedCambridgeMD by manfunts (Rloyal
Commard)
1753Fdlow of lhc Royâl Collegcof Physiciaru

Translatlons
1727 Edinburgh D isp. nsatory
- New Mcthd of Chcmistry@iratedin collaboraù<ln
wirh Ephraim CTrambcnfrom tlre
unpublishedlecturs of Bocrhaave)
l71O PhilosophlcalPrlru;lplcsof UniversalChemlstry(G.F. Srahl)
1733Abridgedu-anslæion
of Works of FrancisBacon
1741Elen nts d Ch.tr.istry['?nd Edirion"] (Boerhaave)
1746 NantExperimenuatd, ObsemationsuponMineral Waters(Hofmarut)

Cultural Background
Shaw is one of the physician-scienlists
who ser out o publicisethe "mechanicalpNlosophy,'
of Bacon and Newon as it was being appLiedto chemistryard medicine,and who sougiû to
rcfonn medicinealong "Newtonian"Iines. Newton's meùlod of infercncefrom appearances and
Ns univenalist scientfic model predicatedon invariantscienrifrclaws with prcdicriveadequacy

s5
 ACEOF REASONtrI SHAW

was applied to lhe human body as well as to scienrilic phenomena.The Royal College of
Physiciaruwas makirg medicinecompletelyphysical,moving it away fiom rhe mixed physical,
mental and religious view cxempliflerlby Culpepcr.tn mcdical practice tlus meant rcgading
humanphysiologyas a set of chemicalrcactionsand illnessas a dt:viationfrom the corre-ctones.
Shaw is, in addition,a trainedrhetorician,having all lhe cighrc€nth-ccnrury
idcason syle and
the "rules" of translation.

Why did Shaw Tnnslate?

Although lide is known about Shaw bcforc rlrc appcarance of his 1727 Edinburgh
Dispensatory he is onc of the most imponant medical and chenical translarors in eighteenth-
cenurry England. In one sensehc is a succcssorto Culp€per as he regarded translation Âs a t)?e
of popularisation of uscfirl hnowlerlge: and indeed hc l.las as much consciencc as Culpcper over
infringements of authors' righs, such as they were at thc time. Both Shâw and his accomplice,
the encydopcdist, Ephraem Chamb€rs, honestly believed tlrey had a dury to rhe scienrific
communify and the pblic to spread knowledge by translating tlle latest and most immediarely
applicâble o medicine and chemistry as we se€ in the preface he and chambers wrct€ for their
edition of Bocràaave:

(Jor,:,I,'!;"'!:{f::r::{,':i,iî,f",ii',:#'f/n#:'î:
ll
Y frrttcaTrndkiflgan! additiln, bozotlrongfifoet)ert)-e na!
-b,
trrpted tbireti- lle aPPrabcnàit /itfir to lte Jpariig
0û tbat ooini, end ratbct' leaoctbc relder to difcottcr tbtn-b1
tbeir ovsi litbt, tban byan ofuius zcal forcf all bir curioftyor
2rcpofaft bilr uitb biaatiei, ubicb ma1 ltc onll facb to our.
'GIoes.
II/e aro. ,eilra\t, tlo fledrlv.conccrn'din tlsa caufe, tobc ad'
mittad tifpoak iÎ it uithoui fafpicio": for tho' it Ûe onlLa
fort of fccozdary crcàit ue Prdlend ro ftom it; 1'tt tbere are.
-l^ome
-tbe circun/Iaacct ubicb, for ou(bt zttekncu:rtrt,tyentitlc ar t0
ubolc. tTit oiftcrtt,iltattbîlearned auîbor bas abandoz'd
tbis bis latcf offpring ' tbo' it uat ftnour ha-ba,lgolteuith it
maiv wartl, anà sreât pre\arationr zoere,Dadafor tbe deliuty;
fct i-t'at Iaft .can'c-{artÎtbiforc itr titna. tbe tutb it, becoaTd
-aot
preoail on.binfclf to lct it go: bis excefioo fcrapuloufncls
zDat,tlt contcntcduitb e noaum prematurin annum,uicc o'
ocr 1 and babad in allprobabilitt uitb-held it balf an aga lon'
eer, bdd it zot arrioed' at /Ireizg.tb azrtr ntaturity enlagb to
ha'kc ir cfcape,it'îelf- It aat ln foonr iz tbe uorld, Iban,
uitb atl ibr'diladitaita1et fo irrcgtlar tt t,irtb bad occafotcd,
itfoantl its aàmirert : irnlick'd,tincotnpold, uzJuaddlert at it.
utaq rudisindigeftaque moles,jral tbare eaery ubere appear'd.
tbc lenJÇltla .traæs of an extluifta fortn, ubiclt ,tztbixg clilld.
oaerpou)cf 01 c,rflcc.

el
 1 l\CE OF RF-ASONIII

Tbis ndo'd rr to take tbe athapp2fitgitiue underutrr carcl

.andfupply, in fomc nnnfart, tbe uuiretl qfrccof thc torural
Parsrzt. I[/hat ue haae dote for it, let otlLert fiv; t/te noll
rrantrcnttica of itsforucrl conp,tretluitb its prifttr,
!,,tr,
A z rt i/l

Advenifernent.
aill caflyf:euit.
.fzlltort,uc adjttficdantl cotttpofcàits ài/70-
cdtcd parrî-i ?a,'ed a1ftlte rcdntdrtît onr, ; arifi,rt it a-ne|p)
,la)', a d adlr '.1.and etriclt'd it ; z:titlsa circrri, ail afeflion
rare.lylhcurto tbeprodflion oî ottserpiïpii.
$ ô J ,t tJclrtJtrut tt.t- intcntiotts lscreiz ,.'aad cbnrcc ur uitlt
a cri.uc it attenpting t_orefcac a oaluab/c uu-k, juf r"cadl to lre
Jacrrycclt 10thc crael delicarv oJ its atttbor: azd ttofti4 at of-
J er t ng.0Ji t, t 0 t bep a-bli c, u b i cb zaas i n d a ng'er of ttei ttg dert.a d-
o/ ttr dlc i zoc -count
:(
tnerr cenlurepraife. ltau rTztbirg t0 replJ, ltît tbat zc,r
T^bi1/æs l,îtt put tr on afootirg zcirb
fonc of thc greatcf and
ryoI defercing pcrfozs d many àrrr, zrsiroare 0z r7c0,-dh,i tlre
latte.o'irttc : if tbtir tarucs ûer"c rcbcarfrd, Boerhaave+ 1112y
lclf uould ba.-fouù of tbc naubtr.

Hence the translationof reveredand imponant tigureslike Hermann Boerhaave.Pmfessorof

Medicine at L,eiderLFriedrich Hofrnun, Royal Physicim of Pnrssia,and Ceorg Friedrich Stahl,
whosetheory of chemicalcomposiiiondominatcdEnglurrl for the next sixty years.Shaw is also
one of the first trarxlalorswherea mujor conc4mis makingmoncy by se[ing krnwledge. And to
funher this end he enthusisticallyfannedwork out, thoughhc wasjust enoughro allow the hack
who did the work to get most of ùe credit for iL

9'
 ACE OF REASONItr SHAW

In spiteof beingtioroughlydisapproved
of by Boerhaave
and activelyfought,Shaw'swork
heavily influencedBritish chcmistry.The t733 Baconser out a scientificmethodthat was a
model for the physicians
of the ûme. It was cspeciallyinfluenrialbecause
it was short,and its
commentrrywasclearard prccise,thougha little idioslacraùc. versiono[ Stah]was
His reâdable
a major factor in the vogueof Stahl's theoriesin England:in fact they were not displaceduntil
the Lavoisiertranslxtionsoif the 1790s.Apan from ,be llz'7 EdinburghDispensârory, which was
not superseded
until the 1780s,his mostimponantchemicaltranslation
is the 1741Boerhaave,
death,which dominatedthe teachingof chemistryin both England
completedafterBoerhaave's
ald Scotlanduntil t}le end of the century,and set the climatefor major reformsin pharmacology.

How did Sha\vTrânslate?

His versionsare all heavily foomoted,as can be seenfrom the extractfrom Boerhaavebelow.
In the intrûductionro his 1733 Baconhe does llin with ùe idea that translarion
is a type of
and ideathat was to inspiremachinetranslation
cryptography, duringthe mid-twentietlcentury.
Bu! his ûanslationstyle is cenainly of the eighteenù cenrury;he aimed at "a kind of open
Versionwlnch endeavours to expressin modem English,the senseof the Author, clear,full and
strong". Yet it doestend to smoothoff the comcrsof ttre very pointedLatin originalsand put an
veneeron them.This style he imposedon his Grub Streethacks.His prefaces
eighteenth-century
and thoseof his protégés
havemuchto say of "ùre plainstyle"as necessary
to scientificwriting.
This idea takenftom Senecahe has in commonwith his Puritanpredec€ssors. But he speaksless
of "truth", and more of not writing abovehis readers'heads.Explanatoryfoomotesare a feature
of his versions.
The extrdctis a goodillustragLionof t}tescopeof thesenotes:like his colleagues
Shawusesthemto coordinate his authoritics
and to placehis authorwithin currenttheory.In this
panicularcase,it is imçrocnart
to showhow Boerhaave
haschangedstylesof scicntificthinking.

,r
 AGE OF REASONItr SHAW

'J De1r) 0l
L , , H EÀ {l S T R r .

THE

'FIiltorv of F I l{ E.

\tu blz. t )zi- Fl [, nrture ci tlre is l,.robfcure,and w o n < J c r f u tl ,l r a ri r r v a sh c l d

:N. b y r n o f t o l ' r h e a n r i e n r s ,a s a D c i r y . G r c a t p r i n s h a y eb e e n r a
. k c n b y l ' c u rt r l a r , c h i . r i s o
, f p n n r c r r o r c , t o u n v r i l t l r i sn r y f l e r i o u
A i B e i n g; b u : r l c c r a c a r c f u lp c r u f a lo f u h a r t l r e yh a v ed o n e , u r
l f i n d t h c m s l l I I i ; k b y r l r e u c y , u n a L r l er o ' c x p l a i nm a n y o f r h e p r i n c i p a lc [ .
: fr-&s and 9llæIlorncnc
r5 aoo phænomcna thercof.
tûËIcol.
1 ' o g e r o v c r t h i s , u ' c l r a v c b e e nl r n o f n r r l l p a i r r si n n r a k i n ga n e w f e t o
e x p e r i m e n t s ,w h o l l y r v i r h r h i s v ! e w ; â n d o o r h e f o o r i n g r h e r e o l h a v t
l a i d d o r v n a n e w d o â r i n e o f J i r t , i n r c o u r f co f p u b l r ci c â u r c s É e k l f o r
thacpurpofc:'Ihe rcfulr whercof, ue Orallhcrc diliucr iu a litrle conr-
p e { s* .
.,tb ôalattat F i r c , i n c f l è & , a p p c a r s r o b c t h c g c n c r a li n f t r u m c n o c f a l l t l r c n r o t i o ni r
t h e u n i v c r f e : t h e c o n { l a l } tr c n o r o f a g r c e t n u m b c ro f c x n c r i m c n r sn r a d e r r
t h i s p u r p o f e , l c a v c u s n o r o o n r t o d o u b r ,b u t t h r r , i i r h c i c u e r e n o l i r e e l l
rhrng:

I Thc do&rine of 6rc Lcrc leid dowo h r v o g o n c b e y o o dr o y o f r h c m ; i n r h a r ,

b y o u r e u t h o r , w i l l a p p c & ro c w r n d e l t r r o r - Lcfide-rll thj erpcriments anJ oLfcrv.rl
diorry; er lcrll emoog us. r,cLohrvqbeen t i o o r w h i c h t h e y h a d r o b u i l d o o , h c h : r sr h c
ufcd ô confidcr6rc ii rhc lichr ir ir.fet rdrenragcof. new fcr rlcy wcrc unac
by my Lord B,r-or, .l\tr. Il,r/i eoC Sir.i, q u e i n r c àr v i r h e l . H o r v e " c r , r s h r r c x p c
'as,
f r s t o r , , B , . r rw h q r e v e r v e o c i q r i o n w c m r v r i o e n r r a r c o o t 1 e - rm r d c p u b l i c ; a n d
owc ro rhofc illuftrious eurhols, wt lor ! € 3 n ! rhcrcol, rhcre appcar diIerr
l h o u l d b c i n e x c u f a b l c ,c v c n i n r h e i r i , r d g - rhingr in rhis chrprcr, wh-rih mry l*
mcnt, (hould wc ebtulrrrclv rcquicfcc in c r i l d l n q u c l l l o n: w r w o r j l C n o r Ë r r e r !
whrr thcy have donc, and fhur ihe door e l o n c ; b r r t . a l o n gw i r h h i r f c n r . m c n i r , a n c
a g e i o f t f r . r r r h c r ,o r c v c n L c r r c r , i n f o r m e - t o t u r r o n rh, r v c c h o l c t o * t v c t h c r , , l r c .
ttoo, Bocrbtrtt mey bc c,r6ly fup;rofcd ro fponding oncr of rhe orLrcr phiJofoy.hcrs,
bori

t't L1 **'; IÔO

 AOE OF REASONIII sH^w

Tlteor1of Cuh.ursrRy. zzr

thingi rvôuldirrflantly
becomefix'd,andimr,r.,r'erblc.Oi rlrissc hrr..'p:puhc
inftancesevery rvirrter:for while frcrllprer':ils,tlrc rlrrer, riirich i,sf,,re
_ was

t
;
:
both where they agrec rod corrohorate, ' t r h e o p e r r t i o n ; i v h i c h f l t c w i , r h  r t h ê
and where thcy clelh wirh erch orher. '( hcrt scquircd by thc iron, wrs oor
T h e g r c a t , a n d f o n d r m e n t a l d i f e r c o c e ' t c o m m u o i c 4 r c dh y c i r h c r o t r l r o l ' di r r 1 .
1
i o r e f p e & o f t h c n e r u r e o f 6 r c , i s , w h e - " p l e o c n t s , a s h c a r ; b r r r p r o r l u c c di o i t
t h e r i r b e o r i -g r n a l l y f u c h , r o r m ' d r h u r b y " l , t À m o : i o o , g r c l r c n o u d h r l r o o g l y r o
t h e c r c . r r o r h i m f c l f a r t h e b c g r n n r n g " r g . ( u r ' : ( h c o r r ( , o [ l - ot , o r l l a b o l y a r
o f t h i n g s; o r w h c t h e r i t b e m " c c h r o i - " t h c p i c c e o f i r o n , w i t h o u r b c i n g a r ' : l c
cally pioduciLle fronr oth.er bo.lies, by in- " sô hrve rhe likc ilfe$ rlpon fo much
ducjng Iome alterrrloD to thc p t t g r c a t e r m o ( I c rq f m c t a l , a r r h c I r  m m e a
_ rwr rr ri cr cl cr rt , -and
rhereofl Amon6 the modcrn " rhe anvil. Tho' rf rhe pcrcullic,ns
Honlot, etha.,e+ thc youngcr &zrery, " o r c r e o l _ r e nr,n J b r i s k l y r c n c . v c J , r n , J
sA iG,aatful: mtintrio thc formcr : tlic " t h c h r n r m er w c r c f m a l l , t h i ; - l t b m i g l r r
fartcr is chiefly fupporred hy thc Engtip " b e h e e t c d . \ V h c n c c i t i r r o t n c c c t .
tuthorr. " frry, tlr,rre body irfclt nroJlJ be hoi,
B.'roz, in hir trertifc /c Fo,na Cal'di, " t o g l v c h e r t .
deducesfrom r trert nurnbcr of perricu- " If a lrrge neil bc drivc'r by e hrm.
lrrr, rher hcrr, io bodicr. ir n'o orr,cr
" m c r i n ( o r p l r u k o f r , v o o r !i,r r v i l l r c .
('
thln molion; only, e motion fir snd io cei'rc fcvcrrl llrokcs on irr heatl, c cr i<
< r r c r , rt t r r ( i r t e d : l o r h a r , r o p r o d u c eh e e t " g r o l v h o t ; h u ( r g h e n i t i s o n c e d r i u c n
i u r h , ; d y , n o t h i n g i s r c q u i r c d b u t r o ( ' r o t h e l r c a J , r f c w l l r o k c r f , . r S c er o
c ' ^ r u . h m n r r o ni n . t h c p a r r r t h c - r c o f .
" g i v c i t a c o n l i d c r s b l oh e r r : f o r w l , i l c ,
L j,r lfCooqrntmr ln rn CtpqClt trcr-
" rt cucry blow of the hrrnnrcr, thc ueil
I l'. ôr (he Ltaht,.i.cl Or.R,n ;i H.lt ^nd " c n t c r s f u r t h e r i n r o t h e r . v o o L lt ,h c r n o -
C,?; .nd nrrln(srnr rhe frmi dotrinc 'r tioo proJuccJ ir chicây progret6vc,
trl(h nc'v obfcrvrrions rnd crpcrimcorr :
" rod ir of thc whole o;ril,rcnrlingonc
A ' e f p c c i m c n rw e ( h a l l h c r c i i " c o n " o .
" w.y; bur\rhcn thc mo!ion cerfe!, (hê
r w o ( , 1 r h c û i . M r n v û o r e w i l l c o Û l ei o
r h c c o u r f co f r h c c h â p r c r . "r . i m p u l l e 6 i v e n h y r h c l l r o l c , b c i n g u i r -
a b l e r o d r i v c r h c n a i l f r r r r h e ro n , o c
( . o f , û l-,rc:k ir, mutl be tj)côt in rnrrlinq r vr-
. " In the prodr:tion," fiys he,
" h e r r , r h c r e r p p c e r ro o t h i o g ' o o < h c p e r < t ç r l o q t , v c h c m e o r ,d n J i r l ( c t l l n cc o n r i l r o -
" cirncr of rhc ,gcor or p.riànc,br,r mo- " tioû of (ho pÂr!s Ârùoô4 rhcrnl-llvct;
" 1 r o n ,a n d i r r n a r u r . r l e l l i ! é l ' . t V h c n Â
" whcrcin thc n!t(urc lf h:at corrli{l;.'
" I : n r t h b r i s L l y h . r m m c r r e f m e l l p i c c c Ar.,t). P',,t ., ol Hz.ttnù Cc!,t,
" o i t r o n , t h e r n c r r l r h e r e b v b c c o n r e rc r - A q r c c . b l e r o r h i . . i s r h c o n i n i o no f 5 i r
" ccerlinqlh y o r ; y e r r h c r e ' i s n o t h i r r g . r o I . N ) t - r n , w h o c o n c c i r e sr h - i r , . t r o t , b o -
" o r k c i r l b , c r c c p { r h e f o r c r b l c r : r o r r o o " d i c r r n r y b e c , r n v e r r c r il n r o l i g h r b y r h c
" o f r h c h a m n e r , L m p r c { l i r r r4 v c h e n r c n r , " r l l i ( r t i o n o f t l r e i r
l l n r t i c l : s: x u d l i g h ( , a .
" r n d v e r i c r , t l yd e r c i m i n e i e 3 i r r r r r - , no, n r ' g x r n , r n . o g r o f s b o r i i e s ,L y b c r r r g t i t c L l
" r h c fm.ll pirrr of rhc rrco,-rvhrcnoc- ' , rlrcrein.' O;r,.p. irS,& ;17.
" tne e col'l oo,ly rcfore, 4r,,t,s, hy-rhar O û r h e o t h c r l r a o d , 1 1 .J ; " , i " , ' , i n l r ; ,
_' lJFer-lndL(cl
c c m r : o t i o n o i i t r f r n " l l En-.,i ,lr Sô'lat. P,r- !., !old\, ,. ihrr rtre
" prrtr, lor r frrtt, in a ,r:orc loolc ec- "ci,ernrc.l I'nnciFlcor !t<n\crr iJJl.hL,r.
' ceptrtron
c f r h c r ç o r d ; ! v l ( h t c : r r J t o " w h r c l t l . l L : ! i , . r t , JoJn c . r r 5 c r i r n p l c ,p ç 1 .
" f o n r c o r h c r b o d r c s . c o m o . r . c , i r v r r h ' 1 m r r y , p r c c x 1 ( ! c nr(n : i r ( ' d t c f i ror f : r , . n r , -
" r , r h r c h ,r r ' , v e . c, o l d É c f o r c . ' . l r r n , t c n - " t r r r . r lb o . . 1 i er'r, r c . r l Ë rc ; r n d c o n f c , 1 u , : r- r
y l l ô r ; L c c : u t è ! h t ! . e r r r r , o n l u r . " l i r S r t t i r c r t r : o c / r l \ v l r ; rL o u y . .
" "; o- t l e r ( h . ( o r r h c p J r ( , o i " n , r r f i n g , . r r : J . l . ; , r J . - i n . t j ) j . .:,-.,,,.
' n t l r ' r t r l l r n c c , ( , l i e D ( ; D r t j .r,l ) e Dt.iC,ir,fr'l: g o e s o n r n r t h r h c t ' rr e
, . lon' t, o
l ûcr
. r o d r o r l i c o r ) t l n L e( o l J , r t l c r p r r r - , c t p l:c" f i r c r . r a a o r d t c gr o 6 r L ; r ,
c r r r r . .r

t 0l
 AGg OF REASONM

llreorl o/ CH r rrrr sr R y.
u a s f l u i d , b y a m e r cp r i l a r i o n o f h e a r ,b e c o m e sf o l i d , i . r . h a r d e n si n t o i ç 1r
t : : t , . t ù 16 a n d f o r e m a i n sr i l l r e f c l v e da e a i n L r ' 6 r c . - f h a r r h c d , f l e r e n c eb c r w . . i
ii,:::[;i fI:i:::.1':l,l'::':::"^11.-9']l:'.*atcr wrrich ":l:-:'illsrn tt'.iil;
e r e n t q u a n t i t yo f f i r e c o r r t a i n ' di r r t T e o n e , a r rl:,':
tt"''rt'
J - t h e . o r . l r c ,rp, p . " . . l r . n l ' . '
t h a t i f y o u a p p l ya t h e r n r o n r e r cnr l i k c r o s r c t l ç l f u l l o { c o l J . u u t . . , i r , l
c l i n i n g t o f r c c z e ; a n d t o a n o r h e rv e l l e lf u l l o f u a r e r , ,o n c d e g r c e n e 2 l a a
freezing : you will find thc former ro lrarc a grcarer degree ol heat sf16
t h c l a t r e r : A n d i f a q u a n t i r y o f i c e a n d f r l - g r m r v c r ca d d c d t o e i r h 6 s
t h e u a t c r w o u l d b e I l i l l i o u n d m u c h c o l d e r ,r r r d a c c o r J i n g l ym o r e d i f p o ç {
lf:-':,,}" to,freezc. And iI fr.om.this.watcr you i.rnou..the rhcrmomererrô 6i
o l n c r l c t s c o l d , t h e l p l r l r w l l l r r l c ; r h e c a u l eo l \ \ n r c n n l r n g c a n D e n o
o t h e r r h a n t h e l i r r l e Ê r e f t i l l r e n r a i n i n gi n t h e t l a r e r : o r , t o f p e a k n r o r ç
p r e c i f c l y , t h c c a u f e o f r h e Q i r i t s b e i l q r a r e f i e da n d e l e v a t e dl r i g h e r b y r t 5
o n e t h a n t h e o t h e r , i s n o o r h e r r h a n t h è g r c a r e r r e m a i n so [ 6 r c i n r h i s , t h l o
thatf.' In eftl&, all natural morion.is pe_rform'deithcr by.a fepararingof
parts fro-meachother, or by a rarefying of thcm ; neither of rshich is dône,
but bv fire.
'Tis
"A;,: rti't:t.iat, rhercforea ju{t obfervationof the chenrills, thar fre it the unitet[al
carJe oJ-an the chnrgetin noturi: 'Ihus, wcre a man cntirely deftirure oç
..t-.lt @ttD4t
ji,-*ti"1l
r;dt N+ hea.r,,he would. inrmediarelylreezeinro a Jlacue. And thus,' the air irfelf,
id:..
w h i c h r s f o u n di n c o n t i n u a lm o t i o n , b e i n g a l w a y s e i t h e re x p a n d i n go r c o n -
denfing, would, upon the abfenceof fire] contia& itfelf, fà as ù forrn a
folid, confiRenrvaulr. So, alfo, all animals and vegerables,all oils, fahs.
d r r . w o u l d u p o n t h c l i k c o c c a t o n i m m e d i a t c l vc o n à i a l ,
That 6rc is rhc reel caufe of all rhc changej in niture, will appear from
the following confidcrations.

'. rbç compofitioo of ell bodics,ir conrrio'd I p*aet!fut cvcn r6rmr rock-cry0el to
'rio rll bodis; rnd mey bc fcprrated,or t r c n o r l r i n g c l f c b u t w e t c r ' f t r o n g l y c o o -
" Drocurcd from rll boâic:. 6y rubbrne p c r l ' d b v e v c r y i o r c n f c c o l d . B u r r h i r
., ihcm rerio0 crch orhcr.rnd rÉurourrioË doc. ôor rppc.r vcry. probrblc, io rcgrrd
.. rheir 6io io ootioo. Bur 6rc, ht eddi cryllal lr lo rlruch hcr?tCr thro Wrtcr
.. ir by oo mcrur gcocrrrcd by fuch nro. r p h e r e r r i c c i r l i g h r c r . S c o t h c . h . p r e r r ;
tr 66s." Bfum.PIJ. t. z. c.r. of Sunct r'nà llrai,.
M, bnq rhc'-vo.rn:cr r:rccr wirh . I . \ c c o r d i o g l y , . I h c . y o u n g c r - I r r n a r yo L '
rhcfc two eurhorr io rflirrioe"rhir ebfo. l c r v c r . f h r t l c c t t o n l v r r a . c l l a L l l l n m ê n t
l u t e , e a di n g c o c n b l cn r r u r c à f 6 r e : B u r o l ! h c p a r t s o f w : l e r i n t h c i r n c r u r a l
hc ertcodr ir furrhcr. Nor conrcnred ro l l . t c ; r h . r t t h c m c r c r L f c n c c o f 6 r c i r
. c o u G o c i t r r r o c l c m e o r o b o d i c r ,h e i u É c t , : n r t o r c c o o o r f o r t h i r r c . c â e t , l i ( h -
cndervourrro fhçw rhrr it ir.r cqurLlv <jrf. m c o r . l o d , l r l i i y , r h r r r h c S u i d i r y o f w r -
.. fufcd rhro' rll fprcc, ir prcfinr in ell t c r i r a r e r l f i f i o n , l i t c r h e r o î m c r e i r
., plrcer,io rlrc coid fpecc'bcrwccnl,odier, crpolcd ro thc 6rc <,nly dilfcring in
. . t r w c l l e r i n r h e i n f c n l i h l ci n ( ê r l l i c c l b c . t h i s , t h r r e g r c e t c r ; q u r o r i t y o f 6 i c i r
lftwccn thcir prrrr. M.,n.lt l.!tâAÀr.r7r:.,, n,:ccffrry ro tlrc ooc rhrn rhe âr,lwr,
.1,!<n.
Thir lr{ fcoriarcnrfrllr in wirh rher of ,L f.|ctJ, ff.1e\, Aa, t1o9.
futbaovt, rvhich will bc morc hrsely fcr
References forrh ir çbrr follo,*s"
Dictionary of National Blography sv. "Shaw"
Dictionary of Sclzntific Blography sv. "Shaw"
Gibbs'F.w. 1951."Pet€rshawandthe Revivalof chemistry",Annabof Sciencc
7,2ll-237
Kelly 1979w "Shaw"
Panin$on1961:sv "Shaw"
Thomdike1923-58:sv "Shâw"

lôL
4
 AGE OF REASONM KERR

Kerr, Robert (1755 -1813)

Physician and industrial chemist
Studies medicine at Edinburgh, on qualifying became surgeon at Edinburgh Foundling
Hospital
1790 Manager of papermill at Ayton, Berwickshire
1800 Wenr bankrupt: translated fulftime
1805 Admined ro the Royal Societyof Edinburgh
1810 Takes up appointmentas Professorof Medicine ar ùe Universiryof Edinburgh.

Translations
1790 Essoy on the New Method of Bleaching by Means of Orygenated Muriatic Acid
(Berthollet)
1791 Elements of Chemistry in a New SystematicOrder (Lavoisier)
1792 The Animal Kingdom or Zoological Systemof Linnaeus
l8O2 The Natural History of Oviparous Quadrupedsand Serpents(Lacépède)
l8l3 Essay on the Theory of the Earth (Cuvier)

Cultural Background
By lhe time Kerr staned fanslating Edinburgh wæ probably the most imponant translarion
centre in Britain. Both sciendsts and humanists belonged to leamed societies in which both
language, literature and science were discussed.In these circles the new ideas on science from
Linnaeus,Lavoisier, Bergman, Dalton and othen would have been grafted on to the Newtonian
baseusual in Britain. It was here that ttre Natural Scicnceswere first emancipatedfrom medicine,
the Univenity of Edinburgh being rhc firsr to reach these subjecrssepanrely from medical
subjects. Kerr would probably have krown Alcxander Tytler, the author of ûle famous Essay on
Translation (1790), and George Campbcll. Many of Kerr's colleagues also b€longed ro hese
circles, including physician-translatorslike ./o/rn Thomson (1756-1846) also of ttle Universiry of
Edinburgh.Through otlrer colleaguesKerr also had considerabiecontactwiùl scientilic circles in
the Midlands, who were as enthusiasticabout the new French scienceas he was.
Kerr had a large hànd in the scientific rcvolution of the eighreenthcentury and did his work
rather enùusiastically.He was translatingat a ûme when ir had becomeacceptedthat chemistry
was a speculative, not a practical scicnce, and alchemists' terminology had been replaced by one
panially derived from the work of St;rhl. This in tum was b€ing replaced by work rising from
Lavoisicr's circle. Kcrr seeshis role as one of tcachingal.titudcsas well as mattcr. He takes it for
grantedtilat a terminologyis an esscnûalpan of theory,and insiststhat his readcn take thc point.

/ô3
w
 KERR
Ào8 0P REJ\SONItr

\ilhy did he trrnslste?

hc was an enûusiast who
Th€ immediaæreâsoûis that he needed to eat' But beyond that
wishedtosprgdÙÊmessageofthenewchemistry.HisLavoisier,forexample.wasdirccædto
thalmostimportânrmÛkeçsoldentsettexts.Att}ratpaniculardmeBritishctæmistswcrccoming
toter6swiththcæwthinkingcomingoutofFrance,attclllrercwasconsiderabl€friaionbetween
Ken claims in his
ttre old, as reptls.næd by Shaw, for example, ând lhe new"Itrus though
BenhoucttobctrmslÂrioSmainly!oinformBririshmanufirctucrsofth€ldrstFrerEhPractic€in
g chÈ'listry reslldng mainly
dyeing, hc losca no timc in launching inro skilled atrôck on ùe old
the shapeof British
from the transluionwork of peær Shaw. tle is obviouslyaiming to chanSe
Descarusard Newron'
scienccto teflect thc cxperimentallincs of ùought going Lrackt'o Bacon'

t1:-r H E very high chan{tcr of IrIr Lrvr'ificr n e'g Icéi, fz r nror-ciir=ii-'àè oi dcd Girù-Ili yriihcs.
À . chcmical philc,fopher, art.l rlrc lircrt flrc Frcrrcirco,ry did not rctch his hcndsl-re.
", .forc thc rui.trllccrl'se2tcrnbei;
revolutionwhich, in the bpinion of rnrny er- rnclir rrasjud6-
,:<llcntchcnriits, hc hascJlcâccl in (hêtllcutyoI cd neccfliry by the I'ublilL:r :har rhc f'ranta-
chcmiftry, har long anadeit much del'ireJ to tion l'nouldbc rcadyby thc conrmcoccment of
jifcovcrics,anil
bavc a coonc&cdiccount of hir thè Uuivcrlity Selïon rt thg cnd of Oétobcr.
.:
of thc nerv rhcory he has forrqdcdupon lhe mo' I
'l'his is
dcrn eipcriments writteo by hinrfclf' I{c rt 6rft intcndcdto lnr'à chrngcJall thc
norv accooplifterl by the publicationof lris r"rci3lrts
rnd mclfurcsufeCby À,irLrvoitcr into
.Ilcoeots of Ctremillçy.; thercforenu ercuG' tireircorrclponr.Jent
[,ngliiirdcnonrinrtions,
but,
for giving the tbll'-r'ring
.:f,r'.b.: ùt all rtc,:cf:ary
rvork to tbc ptJbli" itt aq Eogtifi drcfr ; anÂthc '
only befitationuf tle Tranllatoris rlith regarô
ro his own abilitiesfor thc talk. He is moÈ
rcar!1'to' confefs, thai bif knowledge of the
compolitionof languagc6t for publicationis far
infcrior to his attrcltment.tothe fubje&, and to
his dcfire of appcaririgdecentlybeforethe judg-
lneot of the rvorld. ..

I-Ic ha: carneftly endervourcd to. give the

nre:ning of .the Àutbot ,rvi1l1r\ç mo{t fcrupu'
loùi 6delity,.bavingpai<Iinlirritely.grcrter at.
tention to accuracyof rran0aiion:than to ele-
grùcc of ftitc. Tlri, la(l iudced,.jr:d he even,
by properlabour,becncap:bleof atcrinirtg,he
has beenobligcd,for vcry obviousreefons,to

n
/0î
 1 AGE OP R81SON M
--..-_.
upon trial, the ta(k rvis found inSnirely Gà-
glc: t lbr thc'tiarc allorvctJ; lnd to h:lv: c::ecu. fonr: plrcnthctictlclprcflions,only rclxrivclo
tcclllrisy.lr.rt
oi tlie rvcrkin:,ccurrtel;,,nrufthaçe rvhich,in lheir priginrl plrcç,tcnd-
thc ful.,jcft,
'Iheti,
bce;i bo:lr ',rÈlcis:nci 1ui!l:rriing ro tilc .'ca.l:r. ed to confufe the fcnf'J' and thc ori-
All :hat h:s becuattc:lrpicdin this rray is id. by
giual noresof t)teÂurltor, rrc ri!{liniluiflic.l
r.lirrg,
betrveen brackcts( ), rhedcgrccsofFr- the letterâ, and to the lirv tihich thc l'rirlfl:r.
tor hes veniurcùto :rdcl,thc lÈtrrr E ir ftib-
hrcnheit's.. fcale correfpondingrvidr thofe of.
Rerumeur'sthermomelcr'\Yhichis ufedby the j oinctl.
Âuthor.' Rules are added, horvever, in the'
l\ir L:voiiicl hasalde.l, in au Al,p.nrJix,fc.
l\ppcndix, for cônvertingthe Ïrench rvciqhts'
inro Englifh, by rvhichnr:instha verallcry ufeful'I'ablcsfor fircitit:tiugthc crl-
anJ nrerfures
cul:rticrrsnorvrtecelhryin the advanceil ft:tc cf
l-'rdcrmry at a:rytime calculrteIuch qu,rnririet
lroder;:ct:emiftry, rvltercinrhe ntoft fcrupulous
3s occur, rvhen defirousof comparing ù1rLa.
voifier'sexperirnentswith: tltofe.ofBritifh au.' xccurac)is rctluireL!'ft is propir to givc furn.'
thors, rccouniof tllcfe,rtrJ of thc rc:fortsfor ornii-
rin.qfev:rrl of thern,
By an overfighl,th:6rft part of the tranflr; Nc. I. of thc FrcrichÂppentli.ris e 'i';rblefor
tion rventto prcfsrvithoutany diftin&ioab:irrg' c o n r , c r t i nogu n c c sg,r o s , a n d g r : r iirrrrst o
,r l r ed c c i -
prcfcrvedbetrvecncirarco':land its finrple ele-. lnrlfr:rftions of thel:renc)r pouniJ;artl No.ll. f.r
ln3nt3rypart, rvhichentersinio chemicrlcom- rcducingthefedccirnalfra€tionsrg.,rininto the
bin:tions,efpecir!lyrvi:h c;<y3er: or thc acirli- vulgrr fubdivifions.No, llI. conrri:rsrhenunr.
bcr ciFrenchcubicalinchesalrdr.lecirnals rvhiclr
fyin;'principle, forrni;rgcrrbonicacid. l lri:,
correlpond to a cleteirninrre rveightof rvlter,
pure clcnrcnr,r'rhichexiits in grcarl)le::iyin.
rvcllaradecharcoai,is namcdby Mr Lavcitcr
tarbonz, and ought to havebcenfo in rhe cr:rn.. The Tranflators'ouiclmoft.rerdilyhevecon-
fl:tion; but the r,tteative rc:dercanvcry e:rtly verted thcfc Tablesinro Inglil'ir rveighrsancl
'Ih:rc ' mel[ures; but titc neceliirycrlcul:rtiotrs
rc6tifyrhe inilt;'l:e. is an crror in Pllie r:ru[t
-\I. r',aichl5e cng;r-;r;copicdiiri6tlyfro:r rhe Lrvc occupicd a grercdcalnore rinrethancould.
oriSi:,:.1, '.:ndrvl,i.-lr
i;as no! difcoierecl
uurii tlic iave been fp:rreJin rheperiodlinrircJfor pu-
plrtc r'.:rsrçcrhe,lof at prcfs,whenthli prrl of Llic:lion. 'fircy are therefore
onritrrJ, rs :rlro.
ihc liiernen:s rvhichrrert!of the apprrarus thcre gctllerufeleÀ,in rheirprcfc:rtf[rte, co rhc l]ri.
'rrpref:nted came io be tr^aalhtcd,.. 1'he trr,o.' tilh chemift.
tLrt-resz r, anJ 24. b) shich the gasis.conr.eycd
Nc. I\'. is a Table foi converring lines or
into thc botrles of alkalinc folution et, r5,
tuciilh parrs of tic inch, anci tri.elfrhprrrs
fliould hrvc becn mr,de to dip into tlrr:liquoi, of
lines,i:ro ciecirn:l fraJriors,chiellylbr rhc pur-
rvlrilethe othcr tubcs .3. and e6, rvhich carry
pofc of rnrki:rg th: nccefiarv cor;cftion:uporr
olf the gls, ought to have been cut ,:lf fonre
ilré (urniitiÊsof gril,:saccordirrg to theirb:r.o-
\vay abovethe furfrce of the liquor in rlic bot.
rn:ui::l prelI,;re, This c:n h:rrcllybc
nc rll
tti:[ul cr rc:cil-.r;y.,rs th: brronrcte:s rrictlirr
.lJ:i:::;lrre g;riul:cC i;r c::in:r.lfi:tit_rrrs
 fervexplaua,torynote3are addcd; and in- of rjrc
ilch, b',.::,b:irg ieicrr:.J ro by lh:
deed, from the perfpicuityof rhe.Âuthor, very Aurhor in
feçr were founcl neceffary. In a vcry frn:ll
lrumbcrofpl:ceù, the libcrtyhasbccntikcn of
rhrcrvingto rhc bortomof the page,in nctes,

laf
 ACE OF REASONM

rilc test, it hasbeenrctaincd,and i: No. r, of l i u l c s e r e f r r L , j o i l r c di,n t h c . , \ p p c n J i st , . ,

'l'ranfletion. rl,i;
thc Àppcndis to rhis t r r r r f l r r i o n , f o r c o n v c r t i r r ga l l l h c \ r c j g l , ( ; 1 l t . [
t n c l f u r c s u l e d b y I \ { r L r . v o i f i c ri l t o c o r r . c l p o r r .
No. V. Is a l':ble for convcrtingthe ob-. d i n g I r r 3 i i f lr r l c n o u r i ; l r t i o
n s ; a n d rl r c. . 1 . r ;lrJr: i t o r
ferverlheights of rva[er'sithin tlrejrrs ufcdio i s p r o r . r Jt o : r c l : n o r v l c d gler i s o b l i g r , t i o i r
ro rh,:
pn3u[lato'chcmi:al experinlents into corrcfpon- j e r r n e l
P r o l : f l o r o f N r r u r . l l p i , i l o i b p i r yi n r h c
<lcntlrciglrtsof mercury for corrc€tingthe vo'
o f I r l i n L u r ; ; h , l h o k i n . . l l yf u p l ; l i e J
lLrurcof g'rffes. This, in lrlr Lavoilicr'sWork, -L'::irc;i:-:y
b i i r r r ç i : h t l r e n r c e l î : . ; yi a f o r m r r i o n f o , r i , i ; t p r r -
sater in lincs, and fcr the
. is exprcftcdfor tlte Pol-e. :! f'abie is !i;iervife r.d,led,.No. I\r. of
n)lrcury irt decinrals of the iuch, and con[e'
rhe Eoqlinr Appen<iir,for conveiting the dc-.
quently,for rhe reafonsgiven refpe{tingthe
A r c . : so f R e r u m e u r ' sf c r l e u f c d b y l \ I r L r v u i f : e r
Icr:rth'I'able,muft ltavebeenof no ufe. The i n : o t h e c o r r e f p o u d i n gd c g r c e s o f I ' a h r e n h c i r ,
'l'rsn0:tor
has rhereforecaléulrteda'fable for
, r v h i c hi s u n i r ' e r l a l l ye r n p l o y c di l l 3 r ' i t a i n . .
this.co;rcôion,irr rvhichrhewrrcr is expre[Icd
in <lcciurls,ass'cll as thc mercury,This Tablc l f l r i i T r a r r f l e t i o ni s f e n t i n t o t h e r v o r l d r v i r l :
i; N:, II. of rheEnglift r\ppendix, l l t e u t r n o f t d i l l i J c n c e , t e n t p e r e r l ,l t o r v e v e rr, v i t l r
t h i s c o n [ o l r t i o n ,t h a t , t l o u g h i t n r u f t f e l l g r c a r l y
No. VI. containsahenumbcr of lrenclt cubi. I h o r t o f t l t e c l c g l n c e , o r ( : r c l l ) r o p r i c t y< , f l : r u -
cal inchesand decimrlscontaincd iIt the corre'
g u a g c ,r v l , i t l rc v c r yr v r i t e ro u g l r t t o e n c l e a v r ùtror
f;;o;rJing
ounce-Inealutcs ufedin-tlrcespctintents ' . r t t r i ; ri,t c : r r r n r -l ,l 1
i l , r f : r d v a n c i n gt h c i r r t e r e f t so f
oi our celebralcdcountrytnanDr Priehley' l r u e : ! r : n r i c l l f c i c n c c ,b y d i f l ' c r r r i u r , . t itrhr g
c :rccu-
t his 1'able,rvbichfôfhs No. III' of thc Engliflr t a t e rL r d c o f : r n r l ; l i s a l o p r e r lb y i t sj r i f tl y c c l c Lr l -
Appendi:, is retained,\ri(h tlle addirionof a t : , - l . r t - r . : r i : o5r [. o t r l J t h c p r r b l i cc r l l f o r a [ t : c o r r d
cclum::, in '.çhichthc correfpondingIn3liflr crliti<, , c';ery care Jirrll bs l:rkcrt to corrc€! tLc
. cubicalinchcsand decirnals
areespre0id' f o r c : r t i r r r l , r r [ c t t i o n so f t h e l , r c f c l r tt r a n f l ] t i o i r r
No, \41, Is ir'Iable of the rveiglrtsc[ r cubi.. l n d t u i r n 1 , r r , ; ct l r c r r o l k b y v . r l u : r l - rul c, . ! t l i r i o r , r !
cll Jôôrrnd inch, Ircnch meafure,of thc clif. J n : \ t t c r! l , r r r ro t l r c r a r r r l r o r so f r c l r u t t t i r . r irrrr t ) r . . ,
t.'rencgrilis esprefledirr Ircnch ounccs,glos, f c l e r a l i u bj c & s i r e e t " d o f .
'I'his,
gr:.ins,ancldecimals. rvhichfornrsNo. VI.
of rheIngliflr Appcndix,hrs been, rvirhconû-. . Eo r s r u n c r r , )
tlcrablchbour, crlculrt':dinro Jinglillrw.ight , O1.:j. r7s9. J
:nd rn:rfure.
No. VllL Gives the fpecificgrl iries of a t Th:'1'ran{1.rtor hri {incc bcerr cn:lblcd,b,j thc linA

erc:: nunrberof bcdies, $i(h colulnns,con. e f i i t r n : c c I t h c q c r i l . r ; . r n a l , o v ce l l r - r J etrul , t o U ; \ c

r*.,rirr3the rv:igl:t;of a cubic.rlfoot arrdirch, f r . b l : ; , : : t L : f i m c r , J ! r r r cr r i t h r h o l r :o l l . [ r L a v o i l i c r .

of:ll the fubft:nces, 'Ilre fpe-

I rencirnrerf,.rre, f;r )':ciir',::i:1; t,\.cc:l:rl:',ic::: cl th: rclr:lrs of chsrr:i-
.1t-,^..''i...r

cirlc gnvities of this Tablc, çvhichis No, VIL

cf rheInglifh Appendix, are rerained,bur the
al.liricnalcolumn:,as ufelcfsto the Sriri0rphi-
l:i::her, l:e onit:eC; and to haveconverreJ
rl,cÈirio Englitï dcnonrinarions muft hrve re.
r ery long and prinfulcrlculations.
ç,':i;eC

t0(
 AGg OF RF.ÀSONtrI
KERR

How did he translate?

gives in his prcfaces do
As far as his ideas on ransladon are concemed,ù ose odd hints he
Frcnch writings ùn
not differ very much fton those curent in conlclnp\)raryErrglish and
0n
rransladon.Hisworkhoweverisverylitcral.andherloeshidebehindthcdeadlinesimposed
discussiors o f
him to explain himself. IIe is punicularty clreful to tr',x]slateLavoisier's
terminoiogyrvithoursayingmuch morc thanhe wishesto be scrupulouslyaccÙalc'
right "to
Howeverin his prcfaccro BertholleLa key docutncnt,he iusiss thÂt il would not be
hê hâs chosen to
make his author speak a lanSuage which upon mosl nlaturc delibcrauon'
not wish to cncr tnlo the
abandon". But though he claims râùer disingenuously ùat hc does
..conÛoversyrespectinglhecomparativemeritsof:rncienrandmodcmchemicaltheoriesand
home ù€ point Ù|al a
nomenclatues", his copious foottDtes to Lavoisier had already driven
hâd changed for €Yer'
Erminology refleals s theory, and a thcory reality, and ÙIât nrural s€icnce

I,avol-eier ( 1?91) CHAPITRE PREùII[,R.

Dcs combinaisons du CalorQue et de Ia for-
CHAP. I. malion des Fluidcs élosfiquet aéiformes.

/tl' t L't Catnbinaticru

of Caloàc,andtlJêFormnti.on C'"r" oo phénonèno conrtent dausla natura
of E@lic zlirifonn Fluidt. et dont lc géoérolité a été bieu établiô par
Bocrhaave, quo lonqu'ou écbaullu uu cor.ps
H A T cvcry body, rvhcthcrfolid or ffuirl,
- Tone f, ... À
is augmcnted in all its dirnenfionsbv any
q u e l c o n q u o , r i o l i d eo u f l u i r l o , i l a u g r n e n t ed o
irtcrcrfi: of irs fenfiÛichcat, was long ago fully
r ftablillrcdasa phyfical ariom, or univerfal pro- dirneusion denr touc le.arens. Lcs fcits our les-
quele on s'est fondé pour restreindro Ie gérré-
lxrlitiorr,by thc cclcbrated Bocrhaavc, Suclr
Lrcl' aslavc becn adduccdfor controÏertirrgr)te r a l i t é d c c o 1 : r i r r c i p c , n o p r r i s e n t e n tq u c t l c s
D g e n c r ; r l i t-r r é s u l t o t si l l r r s o i l e s ,o u d u n r o i n s d a n s l e s q r r e l s
grneraliry of this principle offcr only fall,rciour oe complirlucnt des circouslancæ éltarrgcres
r'efults,or ai lcafl, fuch as arc fo conrulicareLl q u i e n i o r p o s c u l : n r a i sl o r s q u ' o u e s t p a r v e u u à
u ' i t l r f o r e i g nc i r c u m f t a n c e sa : t o r r r i { l i a J t l r c oépaier les elfcts, et À les rapportcr chacun à
] a c a u s oô l a q u c l l e i l o t p p À r t i e n n c n t o u 5 ' a p -
. i u d g e m c n t :B u t , r y h c nw e l c p a r a t c l yc o n f i d e r
the eflcCts,fo as to dcducc cach from rhe caLtfc perçoit que l'écartenrent der molécrrles.par
to llrich they fcpararcly belong, it is cafy to l a c h g l e u r , e s t u n e l o i g é u é r a l ee t c o u s t ô l r t ed c
perccivethat the fcparationofparticles by heat la Nalule.
i) :r confiar)!antl gcrrcr;rlIarvofrrature. Si apres avoir éclrarrllé jurqu'u un certain
lYltcn se have heated a fr-rlidbody to a cer- point urr corps solido, eI en avoir ainsi écalté
tain degrcc, and havc thcrcl,rycaufedits parti- de plus en plus toutijg les molécules, orr Ie
clcsto fcparatcfioru cach otlrer, it'we allow tlre loisse refloidir', ccs nrËnrcr molécules ro rrp-
b t r d y t o c o o l , i t s p a r t i c l e sa g l i r r a p p r o a c he a c h prochcnt lcs uncs des Âutres d{urs la nrêntc
orher,in tlre fameproportionin which they rverc plolortion, suivant laguelle elles avoient élé
fcparatedl.rythc increafcdlemperatureI rhe bo- écartécsI le corps repasse par les rnéures rle-
dy returns by rhe fume degreesof expanfion g r é s d ' c r t c n s i o r t q u ' i l a v o i t p a r c o u r u sI e t s i o r r

tq
 Àca oP RrAsoNm KERR

'b.fort
rhrough which ir cxtended; ind, if l e r a m è n o À l a n r ô m o t e n r P é r a t u r eq r r ' i l a r - o i t
brought back to thc fanrc temperilturewlrich it cn comnrcnçqtrt I'crpéricnce, il reprcttrl certri-
poffelledat the corDn)encen)ent uf tltc cxperi- Lleurent le voluure qu'il gvoit d'rbord. ÙIqis
rnent, it recoverscxaCllythc famc dinrcnfiorrs c o r n r n en o u s s o r t r r t e sb i c n é l o i g n é s< l e p o u v o i r
rlhich it fornrerly occupicd. We are {iill vc- obtcnir rtn degré de fioitl absolu, cotnnlenous
ry far fronr being able to produc€the degrce of' ne conrtoissottsattcun rlegré de rcfroirl ir.sent
r nl
rrbft.rlute cold, or total dcplivationof heat, bcing q q e n o u s r t e p t r i s s i o n sE u p P o s e ra u c c e p t i b l a
runacqurintcd rvith any degrceof coldnefswhiclr rl'é-l5cqugmenté, il cu lrisullc aqÊ pous n'cYour
\\'e caunot fuppolecapablcof llill firthcr aug- t ) n É C n C o r c p u 1 l ; r l v c r r i rà. r a l r p I o c l t c r l c I l u s
n ' . c n t r t i o n ;h e n c ei t f o l l o w s ,t h a t w c a r e i o c a - 1 1 u ' i lc s t p o s : i b l e , l c s r n o l é c u l e sd ' a u c u r c o r . p i ,
bt'cauling thc ultim:tc particlcsof bodies c t q u c p â r c < r l s é t l u c r rllc s n r o l d c u l c sd , a u c u n
1,al-rlc
r o a p p r o l c he a c ho t h e r r s r l c a r t s p o l l i b l c ,a n d c o r p 5 n e s e t o u c l l c l l l d a n s l a ^ \ a t u r . eI c o D c l u -
thrt tllcfe particlcsof bo(licsdo not toucll cach c i o n t r c r - s i n g u l i è r ec t à l a r l u c l l ec e p e r r d a u t i l c . t
'fhough inrporeiblc dc sc refuscr.
othcr in any llate hithcrto knorvn,
t i r i r b , : a u c r y f i n g u l a rc o n c t n f i c n i,t i s i n r n o f i i -
lrlc to bc dcnicd.

References
Kelly 1979w "Ken '
Paninglon1961w ..Kcri'
Thomdile 1923-58w ..Ker/'

| 0t.
E. THE N'INETEENTH CENTURY

lVeek 8 Romanticism

It is not until the rise of Romanticism that "transladon" bccame popularly idcntificd with
literèry translation, and otier genres were regardedas somewhat beneath one's dignity. As it had
been during the sixteenth cenrury thc focus of attcntion became Man the Anisl wiù all thc
reliance on feeling and emotion ihat lhat cntails. Romanticism thcn is a revolt againsr the
intellectualisedclassicaldisciplineof the eighteenthccntury - it sought to ovenum the aurhority
of classicalmodels in art, govcrrLmcntand morality. Thcrefore the ardstic changesthe Romrnric
movement ushered in were accompaniedby a serics of political changes culminating in the
revolutionsof 1848. Thjs was couplcd with a new scnsc of individuality and nationalism,two
rather contradictory forces that came into special conflicr in translation.
The movement began in Germany with the wridngs of lohann Gottfied von Hcrder (1744-
1803). For him the basic issue wts thc nature of language. He bcqueathedto the Rommdc
movement À thorough-going Platonism lha! saw Man as a creature of the language he spoke.
Though one tends ro identify this strong form of the Sapir-\Vtrorf hypothcsis wrth Wilhelm von
Humboldt (1767-1835),it was actuclly common propcny. The Romanticsviewed languageas an
organismthat was bom, maturedand died, and was also a creativeforce. Romantic thought took
ÙIis idea in two directlons: outwards towards the principle that the language was an embodiment
of the People that spoke it, and inwards towards a puta(ive universal, the "Pure Speech" that was
supposedto underlie all languagcs.
Thus the Romantics bclieved that the history of a language runs parallel to that of the people
who spcali it. The linguistic unity of the Cermansgave this theory peculiar force when contrasted
with their political disunity during the whole of the Romanric era. The Romantics rook an
individual languageto be the root of cognition, ând therefore of one's identity. Thcrefore for
national groups it is the makcr urd rcpositoryof tradition: rhe crcative Word from which come
poetry, art and the whole of rationalexistence.Running parâUelwith this public face of language
and sustainjngit was postulated"Purc Speech",dcscribedby Friedich Hôlderlin (1770-1843).
This is the creative cnergy bchind the world's individual lutguages and, if one is ro lakc ùe
Bible accountof Creationliterally,ûre languagewith which Cod creatcdthe world.
It is little wonder then that bofi Romantic literary criricism and translationtheory were
strongly influencedby thcologica.lways of ttrinking- ailanguagepfiook of the divinc, ùis was
ùlc most logical way of approrch. Trlnslarors iook o; two inrcrlinkcd rasks: thc frnr was
pcnetration
to "PureSpeech"bccause
it undcrlaythe tcxt, and thc secondwas to prcsentauûror
and text unadomedto the readingpublicin tie sccondlanguagc.
Hcncethe famoustypologyby

109
 \A\t-TEFNTH CÈ\TURY I

Johatn Wollgang von Goclhe (17.18-1832).

He distinguishcsùrree types of translation,lilcral,
"parody", and I nterlinearversloa. Thc frrst was word-for word, and to be used if no otier was
possiblc; "parody" tr ]slation rvas excmplilied by les belles inrttlèles, in which the translator
imposcd himself and his society on thc original, and the I nterlineamersion the penetration to the
very essenceof ùe original. On this point Fiedrich Daniel Emsl Schleiermacher(1768-183,1)hæ
a two-fold terminology conesponding to this: Paraphrase is for the language leamcr, and
Nachbildung, (Goethe's lnterli,nearversion)is for rhe seasonedreader.
I nterlircamersion is not to be confuscd with "interlinear translation", though in tïe best
examplesof this son of work, as in Gocthe himsclf and Schleiermachcr,
original and translrrion
can be disposed interlinearly. As with ùe "grammaticall transladon" of tie Puritan alchemistsand
Batteux's rhetorical theories of translrtion ùe lranslâdon follows the discourseorder of the
original remaking the grammatical stnlctures of the original to do so. The Romartics assumedthal
the Word is the unit of languagethat mcrtered,and tiat its form is an essentialoperativcpan of
the meaning. Hence t}le value thcy placcd on closc, cvcn literâl ûanslation and on preserving
poetic form where possible.
Romantic critics, however, do not discussthis side of things: they arc much more interestedin
detailing lhe translator'smission.Bearingin mind the imponanccof transl ion (o most European
literatures when they were young, Herder terms the translator the "Moming StÂ/' of a literarure.
The two interlinked tasks of the translator dependedon nnding and expressing what was there in
the lext. Thus translation was primarily criticism, in the sense that criticism is concemed with
finding vimres as weu âs vices. As a result of tttssPhilologische Arbeit the translator "casls lighC'
on the original -the German word is Erkllirung, which can also mean "explanarion", he also sct
up a personalrelationshipbetweenhimsclf and his author.This meant that translationbecamean
act of parallcl litcrary crcation,but one boundcdstrictly by tie nature of the original work. All
this in no way impugred the anicle of fairh thar translationwas impossible.
The wider responsibilityæsumed by the Romantic ranslator was transforminghis sociery
while transforming its literature. In essence a trûnslator was a tcacher, and took his
responsibilitiesvery seriously.Pcrhapsthe most important Rommtic translatorwas Coethe - it
was through his works in both original and translation that l-he movement spread. In Frrnce his
ideas were taken up by Madame de Stâel whose Esprit des traductions (1816) is one of the
senrinalstatcmentsof Romartic ideology. Cérard de Nerval (1808-55)produced a French Fdxs,
(1827) admired by Cocrhehimself, and Victor Hugo's work on Shakespearc
has one of the finest
statementsof Romanticthought on rrlnslrtion. In Engtand rhe Lake poers,.tàc11e.y
(1792-1814),
Keats (1195-1821),Thomas Carlyle (1195-1881),in America, Bayard Taylor (1825-78) anrJin
Italy, lvlichelc Lcone di Parma (1776-1858), all produccd important Romantic translations with in
most cases,considcrable
commenr.

110
 \a\ETEENTHCE:r*TURY
I

SectionBibliography
Gocthe,Johannwolfgangvon. 1820."NorenundAbhandlungcn
zum Divan,'.ExcerptedBabetll
(1965)7; scealsoLefevere1977
Hugo, Victor. 1864."Préfacepourla nouvelletraduction
de shakespeare".
oeuvrescomplètes
de
Victor Hugo, ed. F. Bouvet.(Oeuvrescritiquescomplètes,144,144)
,,sctrlciermacher,'
Kelly 1979:sv. "Goethe","modelsof translation",
Selver,Paul. 7966.TheArt of Translatingpoetry.London:Baker
dc Stael, GermaineNecker. 1816.De I'esprit des rraducions. oeuvres de Madame de stae!.
Paris:Treunel& Wûnz, l82l , 387-97
Sleiner1974:svv. "Goerhe","Hôlderlin",,,Humboldr',,
,,sctrleiermached'

Herder, Johann Gottfried von (1744-1803)

Coun chaplain,wrirer,lircrarycriric
1762Enrolled ar Kônigsbergin mcdicine;changcdto theology;mer Kanr
1764Assisranrmasterat RoyalSchoolin Riga
1767Publication
of Fragmente
1769MeetsGoethe;gocsro Francc
to the principality
1771CourtPreacher of Schaumbcrg-Lippc
1776Coun Preacher
at Weimar

Translations
1778 Volksstimme
Occasional
Translations
in his oticr writings

TheoreticallVorks
1767Fragmente
1773 Von deutscherArt und Kunsl

CulturalBackground
Herdcr ç'as almostthe wcll-springof GermanRomanticism.
He had that pcculiarblend of
philosophicaltraining, knowledgeof theologyand woolly mysricismthat charactcriscd
me
Gcrmanand EngiishRomanticrhinlie*. Apart from his univenity courseson philosophyand
theology,Herder'sauitudesto an and literaturcwcre formcd by ossian, JamesMacphcnon,s
skillcd forgery of a Scotrishcpic, and by rhc narcissisû
c sensibilitéof Rousseauand ourer
eighteenth-centuryFrenchwriten. Herdcrwasarsowritingat a time whcn classicism
had goneto

lll
 NNETEÊYTH CE\] L--RYI HERDER

seed,xnd hadvery littleto say to ir youngwriterjust staningout. Hcncehis insistence

on relying
for the spontaneity
on inspiration appealto the youngTurksof German
of creationhadimmediate
literarycircles.Therehad becnsomcthingof this samcreligiousand socialimpulsein Culpeper
and his circle; yet Herderdid nof have the sameattitudeto the "retum to narure" we find in
Rousseau, or to ùe "God within" Culpeperprcached.

lVhy did Herder translate?

As a goodEvangelical
thcologianHerderbelievcdthat Language
wasof divineorigin,and he
ascribedto the Romantictheoryof the "primitivelanguage"from which all humanlanguages
way wiùrin us. This did not preventhim from
but which is still in somemysterious
developed,
viervsaboutlanguage:
holdingstrongnationÂlist indeedfrom them comemodemmovements
as
disparateæ the larguagepsychologyat the baseof stylistiquecomparéeand the Nazi ideason
lhe Herenyolk. But N{anis a creatureof his language,and if his languagehas beenmaturedby
translation,hc will be the richer and thc morc crcativefor it.
As did the ancientRomans,Herdcr translatedto make Germaninto a world-classlanglage,
becausetranslationbrhgs a sharein the experienceùat shapesliteratures.Indeedhe comparesa
languageinto whichone has nevertranslated
to a virgin who hæ rcmaincd"pure" and therefore
unfruitful. He is much more i-nsistentthan his predccessors
on the primacy of literatureamong
languageactivities: it is through literature that it is Schôpferung',
urd thereforeir is foreign
Iiteraturethat must be translatedinto ûlc mother-tonsue.

Horv did he translate?

Translation
is basedon "insight"into the original.In starkcontrrstto les bellesinfidèlesthe
lranslatorhas to searchfor whâr is thcrcin rhe originùland prcsentir to his reader.Thoughin
contrastto, say, Canpbell,Herderhas vcry little to say aboutthe linguisticsof translation,
it is
Goethe's! nterlinearversion
that he prcfiguresin thc Valksrimme. Hc insiststhat one shouldbe
able to feel the originalunder thc vcrsion,even to thc point of sensingin the versionsome
strangenessdue to the forcign-lângucgc
w3y of ùinking rnd shapingthe text.

References
Berman,Antoine.1984.Epreuvetle l'étanger. Paris:Gallimarcl
Kelty 1979:sv. "Herder"
Lefevere1977:sv "Hcrder"
Steiner1974:sv " Hcrdcr"

n2
 NDTTTEÊI\aTHCL\TLnY l CHATEAUBRlAND

Clraleaubiand, François-Renéde (1768-1848)

Writer,Diplomat
1791Goesto Amcricato discoverthc NonhwestPassage
1792 Retumsto France;fighls on rhc Royalistside; exiledl spendsmosr of tlre time rn
England
1800Retumsto France
1803AppointedSecretary
ro rhe FrenchEmbassyin Rome:breakswirh Napolconsoonaftcr
1806-7Foreigntravcl
1823Ministrede affairesétrangères
for the Bourbonmonarchy
1830Opposes
Julymonarchy;
leavespublicIife

Translations
1836Le Paradisperdu de Milton
Fragments
of largenumberof significant
Britishauthors.
TheoreticallVritings
1836Essajsur la linératureanglaise
Forwardto Iz Paradisperd.u

Cultural Background
Chateaubriandhas been crcdited wiù being the founder of French Romanticism.He was
Romantic by temperdmentrather than by education,and indeed resemblesGoethe'scharacter,
Wenher,in his exEemeemotional
vulnerability.
He had the Romanticlove of Nafure,his pleasure
in it and reverence
for it rivallingthoscof Bcethoven and Wordswonh.To accountfor this mosr
Frenchcriticscmphasise his Bretonupbringingin thc chateau
de combourgunderthe wing of his
mother.His imaginationwas fed by his uavels in Nonh America,and as a Frenchexile in
Londonb€tween1793and 1800he was in conlactwitlr Englishlirerarycirclcs.It was therehe
wrote his Essaisur les révolutions(1797).
The importanceof his passionatcrctum to caûrolicismin 1798 can not be underrated.
we
have emphasised
that much of the idcologyof GcrmanRomanricism was shapedby peopleof
deep religious beliers accordingro rcligious mcrhodsof schôlarship.But chaterubrixnd's
convictionswerebascdfar lcsson inlell!-ctuâl
convictionthan ùosc of the Germancircle,bernq
far closerro the arritude
of the Englishpocrs.

lVhy did Chateaubriand

Translate?
Of all tie FrenchRomantictranslators Chatcaubriand
comescloscstto his Germ!.nmcnroNrn
attitudesând practice.It is rypicalthat his Avertisseman,
mentionsùe Poetand thc Child in rnc

113
 NINETEE\TH CF-\TL,RY I CI{ATEAUBRIAND

same brealh. In Romântic thought,pJnicularly in England,ùe Child was trken to be a being of

primordial innocence whose sharp pcrccption of rcality bcyond appearanceswas preserved in
adult life only by thc Poet. Thus only the Poct and tie Child had any true senseof the Word and
its creative power.
He translatespour faire connaîte son auteur. ln his Paradis perdu the personal relationship
he se$ up with Milton goes furùrer than was usual, even in German circles. He draws parallels
between his own distastefor tyranny (including Napoleon) and Milton's republicanism,and he
characterisesMilton as un homme tourmentélike himself. In translatinghe reactedwarmly to
Milton's mystical and militant religious sensibility.He also sceks to give the reader a taste of
what the original really was like. His aim is typical of the Romantics:to bring acrossinto the
target language all the layers of mcrning in the original so that the targct language would be
rransformed and strcn$hencd.

Horv did Chateaubriand Translate?

Unlike his German mentors or philosophersof the Romantic movement like Coleridge,
Chateaubriand has very litde to say on langlage iEelf, jusr concenrating on the imponance of
Iileral translrtion to his anisdc aims:
-il faut suivre l'écrivain, non seulementà travcrs ses beautés,mais encore à travers ses
défaus, ses négligenceset seshssitudes.
It would seem thar where Goethe distinguished between literal and "interlinea/', Chateaubriand
connales the two as Sclileiermacherdoes.
Following a long-establishedFrench prccedent Chateaubriandabandonsverse for prose -
eighteenth-century
translatorshad long fclt that the scvcre disciplineof Frenchvene madc it an
unsuitablevchicle for ranslation. Chatcaubriandwritcs a prose which attemptsto emulate the
slow-moving Latinate stylc of Milton's English vcne (cf. Steiner 1974: 316-18). He readily
acceplsvaguenessof meaningas a characteristic
of his original:
-il ne me paraît même pas clair que Milton ait toujours bien lui-même rendu sa pensée;ce
haut génie s'est côntentéquelqucfoisde I'à pcu près, et il a dit à la foule: "devine si tu
peux".
But in dealing with such ùings he distinguishesshrrply bcrwccnitrr sens md sensdouteuxou
susceptible d' inteprétations d.iverses.
Where Chateaubriandshows himsclf to bc typically Frcnch is in his worrics about grammar.
Milton does take fair libenies with English for which thcre is preccdentin the AuthorisedVersion
principlcsdo bring about a Frcnch of a yery untypicalstylc for
of the Bible, and Charcaubrif,nd's
which he fcels he must apologisc.In so doing, howcvcr, he dcmons[ratcsanother Romantic
characteristicsomcwhtt ât variônccwith Platonic contcmplation.In ttre line oT Schleicrmacherin

l14
 NINETEENTTICINTURY I C}IATÊAUBRIÀND

particularheindulgesinPhitologischeArbeit.HiscloscexaminationofMilton'ssourcesandtheir
promptshim ro characlerisc
linguistic repercussions his languageas une langue scvdfllebasedon
justifred in aftcmpling
rhe Auùorised version and the Roman poct, vergil; and lhereforehe feels
to change French to fit lr'lilton's tonc

' J'ai peu dc chose à dit'e de nra tratluc- ÀYtrR'TISSE}IENT. i

tion. J-icsiditions, clcscomntentailcs, des l'ôr'iginalétaitplacéaupr-ès de la copie,lc

illustrations, des lechelches, dcs hiogla- spectateufsle velraient chacunà sa n:a-
p h i e sd e M i l t o n , i l y e n a p a l n r i l l i e l s .l l nière, et diflirercicnt de jugemcntsul la
'fi'a<luile,
c.rjstcen prosect en vels unc tlortzaine de lessemblancc. c'cst donc se
t i a r l u c t i o n sl i ' a n c a i s ecst r r n eq u r l a n t e i n e y o u e l ' a um é t i e rl' e p l r r si n g l a te t l e r n o i r s
<}imitationsdu Poète, toutestr'èsbonttes; estimé.quilirt oncques;c'estsebattrcavec
apr'èsrnoi lientlr'onttl'autlcsIt'aducteut's, ciesmots pour-leul iàire lcndre dans un
tousexccllens..A la têtetlcstratluclent's
en idiorueétrangelun sentinrent,
unepensit:,
l)r'oseest l\acine, lc lils; à la tôte clcstta- alrt)ement e-rprimés, un son.qu'ils n'ont
ducteursen YcIS,I'airbéDelille. pas clansla langue de l'auteur',Poulquoi
'
. Une tracltrction n'estpasla p ersonne, elle rlonc ai-je tladuit Milton ? Par uneraison
n'cst<1rr'uu portNit ttr.rgratrtltrtaitt'cllcttt ryueI'on tlouyera ir Ia tn de cet l?ssni.
e o r t r i r i t ;s o i l ,: r r t r t i s i
l à i l c u r ra d r r r i l a b l p Qu'ou ne se {igule pasd'aprèsceci que
je n'ai mis ancun soin à rnon travaill je
pourraisdile gue ce travail est l'ouvrage
e n t i e r d cn r a v i c ,c a l i l y a t r c n t ea n s . 1 u . ' i e
l i s , r c l i s e t t r a t l u i sl l i l t o n . J c s a i sl c s p e c -
t c r l e p u b l i c; i l v e u tb i e n v o u st r a r t 0 cs a n s
facon, meisil nc pclnret pasqûe\:ouspre-
r t i e za v c c l u i l a l n ô r u el r l - r e r r:ds i v o u sn e
r . o u ss o u c i e zg u è r ec l e l u i , i l s e s o u c i c l a
eucolemoins tlc vous.J'enappclleau sru'-

I l)
 )\T\tTl i IiyTI I CENTURY I CIIATEAUBRIAND

s .À\'ERTTSSE)IDNT. ,\\IIi NTISS]'i\ItrNT. 1I

pl(rs tur l t o t r t r t t c sr l u i c t ' o i c n t c l t c o l ' c glcmrnaticalcs sarrs rrDurLre; il traitc sa

qt'éct'ire est un .//'/: cur setls poul ront l a n g u e c nt y l r n , r , i o l c c tn r t i p r . i sIcc sr . è q l c:s
saloil ce que la tlarluction rltr Pn.rudis e n I j a n c a i ss i v o L r s u p p l i u r i c zc c r 1 u ' i sl L r l r -
pertht m'a cor\td tl'dtucleset cl'c{lbrts. p l i u r c p a l i ' e l l i p s cI s i v o L r sp c r . r i i c zs a n s
Quânt ar.rsystème tle ccLtctratluctiotr, c 0 s s Lc. o l t l l r c l r r i t u l r c r t u n t i t t r r l i l .t , t l r , .
jc m'cn suis tcnu à ccltri <iucj'avais adoptti régittte; si vos n'lati.fs pcr'plcrcsr.crrrlaicn
t:
autlefois iroul les ft'asnrens dc l'Iilton, i n d i c i s v o s e t ' t t ( i c é d ( n sr,' o u s r l c v i c n d r . i c z
cités dans lc Cénie dtL clu'istia.nisnrc. i r r i n t c l l i i ; i l r 1 cL. , ' Ir rv o c at i o n < 7 u P r r r v r ! i ,
L a t | a J r r c l i o n l i t t , i r ' ; , l UD r e p r | a i t t o r r -
2elrlrr nliscnLc loutc.s ccs diflicultrj,;r.r:-
jotrrs la nreilleulc: rtnc tlartuction inter'- u n i e s : I ' i r r v e r s i o ns t r s i r c n s i v er l r r i . j r : o i
l i n é a i r c s c r a i t l a p c r ' f e c t i o nt l u g c r r l e , s i la cdsru'ctlrrsr,pticrrr
e v els lt: ,fz trg.,/taat,ctl.l.
o n l u i p o u v a i t ô t c l c c , 1 r - r ' , :al l,cl c s r t L v a g e . l [ r t s e , e s ta d n r i l a ] r l c ;. j el ' a i c o n s c r . r ' tl lrcl i n
D a n sl a t l a i l u c t i o nl i t t i r a l c , l a d i f i i c u l t é dc nc pas tonrLr:r'rlans la 1'r'oi,1c
et liqrr-
cst de uc pas leprocluilc un ruot nobie pat liire iuvocationqrecclucct lj.ancâise, rJifisc
l€ nlot corl'csPoùdantqui peut êtr'ôJras,de céleste,chante, ct [)our que l'on scntctorrt
ne llas leodre Ilesanteunc phlase légèr'e, d'abord rpr'on cntlc dans tles r-iqious in-
légèr'eune phrase pesrnte, cn vcltu d'cx- cor)nues: Louis jiacinc I'a conscr.r'rie
rig:rlr,-
plessions qui se ressenrJrlent,nrais clui n t e n t , n r a i si i a c l u c l e v o i rl.a r . d g u l a r . i s e r .
n'ont pas la mêmc prosodic dans les deLrr à l ' a i d ed ' u n e a l l i c i s n r e . q ufia i t t l i s p a l a i r r c
idiomes. toute poisic : c'est cc que je t'inqite it clrcur
Ililton. ontle lcs lnttes qu'il faut sou- ter , )'Iuse célcste.
tenir contle son génie, offle desobscuritds

t/(
 CIIATEAUBzuAND
NINETEENTI{ CENTI,B'Y I

LIVtrti lI. q5
Ito0l( lt. t r"8l
s4 prisiblel)âssesse, non Lr prix. Apreslrri. Mrnt-
N o t p e a c e : , r n âr [ t e r l r i m t h r r s] l a m m o n b p n k e : -
r r r o rpr l r l ; r .

u Norrs firisonsIn gnerle I si ll guerre esf lc

E i r h e r t o d i s i n t h r o t r et l t o K i n g o f h e a v c r r ( ( n r c i l l e u l p r l t i ) , o t r p o r r l r l r ! t r , i n elrc r o i r l r r( i i r l ,
\ 1 c w a r , i [ r r r r l r eb o i i i r r r t o l t ' q 1 i r l ( oÙ
( l r r r o r ç r rl i f , l r t l o s t l l i r n t o l r r l l l l ' a t l er  cl h e n P o r r Ir e g ; t q r e tr t o çr l | o i l s| c r ( l t t s . l ) é t r ( ' r n el cr
u l o i t l r r ( i i e l , n o l r sp o r r v o t ) se s l é r e r c c l t , q u â n ( l
j l l  vh o l e , w h e nc v e r l a s l i t tFga t c s h a l l v i c l d
, r I e I ) c s t i n r l ' i ' t e r n e l l cr l r r r r i , " c, é d e r ai \ I ' i r r c o r r -
1 ' o l i c k t cC h a n c c .n r r c C l l r a o sj r r d * c l l l c s l r i f t r :
( i n r o s i r r g c r al : r d i f f é -
' f h c f , r n t r e r .ï r i t l l o l r r \ l c ' ; \ r F { t c 1
s sv r i n " s t r n t I l a s r r d ,e t q r r r u r lI e
" r t t r d . L c p r c n r i e rl r t r t , r ' n i l à e s p é r e f .p f t ' u v e
T h e l i r l t e r : f r r rr r l r a tP l r l c ec a t rb c l o r t l s ( q r ) cl s 6 e c o n de s ta l l s s iv â i n ; c t r e s t - i lp o r tr n o u s
W i L l r i nh c a s e n ' sb o r r t t r lt,r n l c s sl r c a v c n ' sL o r d s u p r e n l e ( rinc
l ) l r c c r l r l t s l i i l { ' r r r l r r rcl r rC i e l , à r D ( ) i n s( ] t l c
\\'c orcrpo*er? Strpposclre should I clent ( n o l r s n c s r r l r j r r q r r i o rl cr sl l o n a r q l r e s r r l r r , i m c, l r r
Ànrl pLrblishgrlcc to rll, ott promise tnarlc
" C i e l ? S u p p o s o r r qs u ' i l s ' r r l o r r c i s s eq, r r ' i l l i r s s e
Ol ncw sulrjectiorr;rr'ith wlrat cvescould we
" g r ô c c àl o t t s , s r r r lpl l o r r r e s s c d ' r r n e n o r r v e l l e s o r r
Stnrr,lin his plcscncelttrmhlc, nll(l !cccive u r n i s s i o r rd, e r l L r e ,l r i l p o r r l r i o r r s - n o r rIsr l r n i l i é s
S r r i c tl l * s i n t p o s e r l ,o c c l c l r r a t lcr i s t l r r o n e u t l e r n e u r ecr n s a P r r l s e r r c re' ,c c c v o iIl ' r t l r l r c s t r i c -
\ \ ' i r l r n r r ' l r l c r l r l m n s , n n d t o h i s G o c l h e n da i n g ( t e r r l c n ti r r r p o s r it ,L : q l o l i [ i c l s o r r l r ô n c e n m u r -
F o r c c r l r n l l c l r r i r r l rss lrt i l c l r c l o r d l v s i t s < ,r n rr r a nt < l c sl r 1m n e s ,r l c c l n n t c r 'à s a d i r i n i t é r l e s
O L r le r r t i c dS o l r a t t , a n c l) r i sa l t n r l r r c a t l r e t
" alleluia lor'ti,s,tandis quc lrri siéger:rinrpérierr-
Ârnlrrosialodottrsrncl anrblosialIlowers, ( s c r l r e r )nt o t r e S o u v c | a i r re r r r i é ,t a n t l i sq u c s o n
Our servilcofierings? This must lrc our task u u u t c l e x l r l l c ' r l< l c sp a r ' ? u r ntsl ' u n r b r o i s i c t < l e s
I n h e a v e l r t, l r i st ' r r rr l c l i g l r t: h o w r l c n r i s o n l o u f l c t t l st l ' a m b r o i s i en, o ss e l v i l c so f f i ' l n r l c s? T c l l e
E t e m i t v s o s p c t t li n r v o r s l r i pp a i d ( s e m n o t r e l i i c L ed t n s I e C i e l , t e l l e ss c r o n t n o s
'fo
l l t o n ts c l r a t rl' u r l i l i c e s .O h ! c o m l - t i t ' r(r' n n u y e u s et r n e é i e r n i t é
( a i r r s i c o n s u m é ee n a d o r a t i o n so f f c r t e s à c e l u i
.-t n q t r ' o n h a i tI
Let rrs not lhen Pur8tlc,
u N'essayonsdonc
Bv forcc impossible, bv lervc obtain'tl Pusrlo rlvil rlc folce ce qui

tl7
 \'.I}TETEÊ\TH CENTURY I CHATEAUBRIA.\D

References
Chavy, Paul. 1974. "Chateaubriandet I'an de lraduire". Canadian Review of Comparative
Literature. 1, 3448
Kelly 1979: sv "Chatcaubrirnd"
Poirier, A. 1930. Les idéesartistiques dc Chateaubriand Paris:PUF
Steiner 1974: sv "Chatecubriand"

Taylor, Bayard (I 825-78)

Poet,Writer,Diplomâl
Ncwspaperman,
writer,but verypopularwith the Amcricanpublicin his own day.
Not a first-class
1842Apprenticed
to a Printerat WcstChester,
Pcnnsylvania
1844-6Travclslo Europe
1847Goesto New York
1848Beginsassociation
with Nelr YorkTribune
1851-4Travelsin Far East
1854Lectureson his travels
1862Chargéd'affairesât AmericanLegationin St Petersburg,
Russia
1869Non-resident
Professor
of GermanLiteratureat Comcll
1878Minisrerto Germany

Trânslations
187O-lFaust(Goethe)
Frrgmentsof hrge numberof significant
poes.

CulturalBackground
Though he becameactive as a translatorafter the Romantic period in Eumpe, he is best
classedas Romantic- he wæ very stronglyinflucnccdby Goethehimsclfand by Shelley.Unlike
his Europeancounterpans,
thereis no traceof Classicrlinfluencein his work. Ir is imponantl'o
reâlisethat Taylor'sformaleducadon
stoppcdwith his unfrnished
apprenticeship
at WestChester:
he leamrthe an of writinghroughextcnsive
traveland newspaper
work.The New York he went
to in 1847 was dominatcdby a numberof talentsthat were not quite lirst-rate,for example
William CullenBryant,Fitz-Greene
Halleck,and NarhanielWillis, which probablyexplainswhy
his reputation
did not survivehis death.But hc did forgc rclationships
with NatJraniel
Hawtilome.
His mentorwasRufusOriswold,tic critic who so dislikcdEdgarAllan Poe.

ll8
 C[.\TURY1
NNTTEENTTI TAYI-OR

\Vhy did Taylor Translate?

pattcm in that he does not seem to use
Taylor lies outside the normal nincteenth-century
his Faust bcing a very late and mature production.This
trÀnslationas a literary apprcnticeship,
t nslation was designedto introducc Coethe io thc Americm public, and also to make poinB
about the an of translation.

Horv did Taylor Translate?

In his introductionand notes to FaustTaylor makesthree extrcmelyRomanticpoints: llrst, the
translotormust effacc himself bcforc his poct, second,pocrry shouid be translatedin the oriSinal
metresas much as possible.Third, only a poet can translatea po€r:
-sunendering himself to the [ull possession
of thc Spirit which shall speak through his,
he receives,also, a ponion oI the samecreativepower.
His appeal to the /ogos of languagc scems to be deeply inlluenced by Hôlderlin, and his
lechnique,though deeply criticisedsincc,is a close approximationto that of Goeùe.

I am satisfiedthat the differencebetwcen a translation

of 'Faust' iu prose or metre is chiefly one of labour,-
a n d o f t h a t l a b o u r r v h i c hi s s u c c c s s f ui ln P r o P o r t i o na s i t
is joyously performed, ÀIy orvn task has becu chccrtd
by the discovery,that the more closely I reproduccd the
languagc of the original,the more of its rirl'thmical
character rvas transfcrred at the same time ll, norv

a n d t h c n , t h e r e w a s a r l i n e v i t a b l ea l t e r n a t i v eo f m e a n -
ing or music. I gave the prefelertceto the forrner' Ily
t h c t c r m " o r i g i n a l n r e t r e s " I d o t r o t m c a t ra r i g i d , u t t -
an'l rhvnre of tltc
f i e l c l i n ga d h c r e n c e! o c v c r y f o o t , l i n e ,
Gernran original, although this has very trcarly bccrt
accomplishcd. SiDcc the grcatcr Parl of the rvork is
rvrittcn in an irre3,-rlarmcasurc, the lincs var;'irtg front
t h r e c t o s i x [ c c t , a n d t h e r h y n r c s a r r a n g e da c c o r d i r ] gt o
l h e x u t l r o r ' sr t i l l , ] d o n o t c o t r s i d e rt l l i l t a n ( r c c i l s i o n l l
c ) r a n g ei n t h e l l u n l b c r o f f c c t , o r o r d e r o f t l t l n r e ,i s e n l '
' , ' i o l a t i o rorf r l r c r l r c t f i c a lp l a l T h e s i D g l es l i S l r t l i l ) t f t ) '
I h a v c t a k c u r v i t h t h c l 1 ' r i c a lp a s s a g c si s i n l l e r g a r c t ' s
s o n g , - ' T h c l i i n g o f T ) r L r 1 c , ' - i nt r ù i c h , b y o ' r ) i t t i ù gt l r c
: L l t c l r t ; r t[cc r t t i r t i r rtcl t l ' n t c s ,\ ' c t t c t l i n i r r - ' t l l c r r l c t f c l w i l r
\ ()1. L

l19
 }IINETEENTI I CNU'RY I TAYLOR

\tlll I'REFlCE.

c a b l e d t o m a k c t h c t r a n s l t t i o I ls t r i c t l y l i t c r a l . I f , i
t \ ç o o r t l t r c c i n s t a n c c sI, h a v e l c f t a l i n e u n l h y m c d , I
h a v c b a l a n c c d t h c o m i s s i o nb y g i v i n g l h ) n r c s t o o t h c r
I i n e sr v h i c h s t a u d u l r l t v m e d i n t h e o r i g i n e l t c x t . Iior
the same reasou, I make no apology for the inrperfcct
rhyrnes,rvhich are frequently a translation as rycll as a
n e c c s s i r y . \ \ ' i t l r a l l i t s s u p r e m eq u . r l i t i e s , F a L r s t ' i s f a r
from bcing a technical)yperfect.lvorli.'
Tlte fcminine and dactylic rhvntes, rvlrich have been
for the most part omitted by all metricel translators
exccpt À{r. Brooks, are indispensable. The characterjstic
tone of man!' passages rvould be nearly lost without
t h e m . T h e y g i v e s p i r i t a n d g r a c et o t h e d i a l o g u e ,p o i n r
t o t h e a p h o r i ; t i cp o r t i o n s( c s p e c i a l l yi n t l r e S c c o n df ] r t ) ,
a n d a n e v e r - c h a n g i n ng r u s i ct o t h c l y r i c a l p a s s a g e s .T h e
Dnglish language,tllough oot so rich as the Gcrmln il
such rhymes, is lessdeficieut than is generally supposcd.
The difficulty to be overconrc is onc of constructiorl
ralher than oI the vocabulary. The present participlc
'"At p r e s c n t , . y c r y t h i n g n r u s i n r c c l n i c r l g r o o v e s ,1 | ( l t h e c r i ( i c r l
g . n t l c m € r 1b c g i n r o $ n n g l e y h t r h c r i i r h ) t r r È â n r r h ô , , i , i c o r c s t ) ô t r ( l
\ v i t h a n r a n d n o r w i r h r : . l f I w e r c y o u n g e n d r c c k l e s sc l o L r g h ,I v o u l d
purpos.ly ofiend Âll such rcchnicâl capric.s: I wotrld use r irerrrion, asson-
a n c c ,r r l s c r h y m . , j u s t a c c o r d i n g! o m y o \ v n N i o r c o n v e n i e n c c _ L u r ,r t
t h . s : n r e t i m e . I N o u l d r ( r r n . Ji . ùr h ê m r ; D t h i n g , â n , l c n J e r r ô r , r t o s J y s , )
m i n y g ô ô d t h i | g r t h x r e r c r l o r c l v o u l d b c : r r r r r c r e dr o r c r r l r n r t r c n e r | l , t r
lhenr."- ,-,/11.,iir rSjr.

t,A [ îr1 CL.

can only be uscd to a limited c\tcnt, on accoult of irs

r v e a k t c r m i l a t i o n ; a n d t h c ç a n t o f a n a c c u s i r t i ! . c[ o r r n
t o t h e n o u n a l s o r c s t r i c L st h e a r r i u t g c m c n Lo f $ . o r c l s
in English verse. I cannot hopc to lravc bccu airvur.s
s u c c e s s f u l ;b u t I h a , " é a t l c e s L l . L b o u r c dl o n g a n r l
paticntly, bearing constantly in nrincl not only thc
m e a n i n g o f t l i e o r i g i n a l a n d t h c r n c c h e n i c a ls t f u c t u r c
o f t h c I i n e s ,b u t a l s o t h a t s u b t i l c a n d h a u u t i n g n r r . r s i c
r v h i c h s e e m s t o g o v e r n r h y t h m i n s t c a c lo f b c i n g g o -
verncd by it.

t1"O
 NI}IÊTEENTI CENTURY I TAYI-OR

F,4 UST-

P R O L O G U Ei N H E A V E N . '
'l'nr
Lon.o. THE HEÀvE\Ly Hosrs, ,4/rni,ar-rls \Ielnrs-
TOPHELES,

( 7/t e'l uxex ARcH.{NcELs t otrtc .for it ar,.!.)

RAPHâEL.
-T-HE s u n - o r b s i : r q s ,i n e n r u l . r t i o n ,
It " ' t r l i t l b r o r l r c r - s p h e r e s ,
h i s a n c i c n t r o u n d:
H i s p a t h p r c d c s I i n e <tJl r r o r , r 3 lC
r reation
He ends tvith step of thunder-sound.
The angels from his visage splendid
Drarv porveq whose measure none can say;
The lofty rvorks, uncomprehended,
Are bright as on the earliest day.

GABRtEt-

And srvift, and srvift beyond conceiviug,

The splendor of the tvorld goes round,
Day's Eden-brightness still relieving
The arvful Night's intense profound:
The ocean-tides in foam are breaking,
Against the rocks' deep bases hurled,
And both, the spheric race partaking,
Eternal, srvift, are onrvard rvhirledl

t'D t-V IIE.,| |D-\'. rj

"ROLOG
lI rcrrÀEr-

A n d r i v r l s L o r n l sl b r o . l d a r c s u r 3 i n ;
From sea to iand, fiom land to sca,
A chain of decpcst action forging
Round all, iu rvrathful cncr'3y.
T h c r c i l a m e s a d c s o l a t i o n ,b l a z i u g
B c f o r e t h e T h u n d e r ' s c r a s h i n gr v a y :
Y e r , L o r ' , 1 ,l l r y n r c s s c n ; c r sa r e p r r i s i n g
The gcntle nro!corent of Thy Da,,-.

Tne Tsrrl.
T h o u g h s t i l l b v t h c r n un c o n p
r r c h en d c d ,
From thcse thc argels drarv their po$,er,
A n d a l l T h y r v o r l i s ,s u b l i n e a n d s p l c n d i d ,
Are bright as i!r Creatiol's hour.,

lLt
 NINETEENTH CENTURY I TAYLOR

Ft us7'.
nri'ised !1ther lL1n ceusurêdoD ac. n r o r êg r i l T l . r d s p i r ê i u 1 . w 1 ' r t r v i l l I sllrll not, horvever, imirate
\ h e s : y i f s h e s e e sh i n r p r d n l o t c dÀ Shcilcl in sdding 1 lircrrl tnnslr-
Thc e!rnest reidef $i1l requirc s(cp highcr,-nây, pcrhrps, neets tion. llere, mo.c thrn in il,nost
n o e r p h t r x t i o ( o f t L \ et r ô b l ê m p . o . l ! i ù i n L c r v c o 1 " O ^ a n o t h t rô c c a . l n y o r h r r p o e m , r h e v o r l r i c , l u i r e
louôdêd ir tlrÊ lrologuc. Gocrhe sion, he ctchime(l (ifwe rnly rnNl x n c w : n ( l i ! ( l c s ù r i l , a l , l ep o v c r f r o ^ r
stltes it withoLrt obscurity, ind Frlk): " At bottom,the molt of Lrs thùir rh)rhrnicrl collocl(ion- Tllc
solY.s it in ro lncertri( t.B! â( do not tnôlv how cirhe. (o love or v j . s t ,\ o D d , : r i u l i r m o s p h c r ùô l s p r c e
t h c c l o s co f t h e S e c o n dl a r t . T h c to hate. Thcy rdon't likc' m. I r v h i c hÈ r v e l o p sr h e l i n c s c o u l d n o r
mocking ;rrererencc oi Àfephi- -\n insipid phrise I-I don t lil{e be r.txined in Èrose,hoeever a(l-
s t o p h € l e r ,i n ( h ê p r c s c n . c o [ t h c t h ê r n e i t h e r . D 5 ! e c i x l l y\ v h e n ,x f t € r m i r . L l y l i l è r r l . T h e t r r o ç r m e n ro i
I*,rd, lllthoush it belongs to the , D yd e a t h ,m y \ \ ' r l p u r g i s - S r c kc o m e s t h e o r ; 3 i n 3 l i r r s i m p o r r r n r ] s i r s
chlr.cter Nhich he pl.Is thro,rsh- t o b c o p e n e d ,a n d â l l t h e r o r m . o a merning. Shellcv's transllrion ot
8, PÂoLocuE ri- HE^lEi_.
o u t , s e e m st o h r l e g i r e r rs o r l e d i f t - i n g S l y g i x n s p i r i t s ,i , n p r i s o n . du n r i t the 5trnrrs, ho\!evc., ir t)..ft.rblr
S o n r e o f C o e t h ê ' s c o n r m Ê o t r t o r s c u l r yt o t h c e r ! l / D n g l i s hr r a n s l i t o r s . rhÊn, shrll be let loose to phgue to IIly\rifd's, \ehich co^rri,,s 6!e
suppore thr! tLi5 lrolo+e \v!-s L o r d L e r e s o nO o r v e rt e r m i n ! t e st h e rll evenxs they phgued me; or if,
'l
rdded ty hih, fronr llie circum- l\oloS!. \fi(h the Chxnt of llre i n t h è c o n t ; n u ! t i oo na ' F x u n , ' t h e y h e 1 l r i g n i f i c e n t\ \ o v ] D ù " " ! / .
stuce thrt tl)e desis oi l;!ùst saç Archrnsels; I1r. nlacliê omirsir l h o ù l d h a p p e nt o c o m e u p o n r p $ - . ç d , / g- " t h u n d c . - m r . c h " ( ' i " r
D o t u n d e r s t o o d ,i n t h e ' F r l s m e n t ' c n r i r e l y ,b x t a d d s i t i D x n c n r ] s c u - srge \vhere the DeviL hi,nseli re. sIrn.q iou.th Ii.e)-h3J 3lread),
É r ; t p u o l i s | e d . I t â p p e  r st ô h r l e hrcd fornr, as rn Appc,,di\j whilê c e i v e sL ; r a c el n d l l è r c r f r u n , G o d , ô c c u r r c d i n 1 6  e l i n . o a o n e o f
L.,:ù $ritten in Juuc, t797, before Dr. Anster srlisics hit spirit of -thit, I s[ould sry, thcy \rould Schiller's earliest poe,ns,-' []/-
! h ê ' P r e l u d e o n t h c S ! a g e , ' Â n d r e v e r e n c eb y p r i n t i n g D E R H E R R n o t s o o n f o r g i v cI "
chiefry tor the purposeof setting where the E|glish te\t requircs " ù c . g .b . b ( . r u n ( . r d . r s cD n n ^ & . g t r . g,.
f ù r t [ t h c m o r a l . t r d i ù r e l l ê c r u i l " T } c L o r d . " C o l e r i < i g c ' sc b r r g c 9, Cll^)rr oF rlrF- -{Rcrr,\N6ÊLs,
Iroblenr $hich urdellies rhe drrmi. o f " l r l r s p h e m y" e v ; , l c n t ) yr ê f e r :r o T h c t h r c ê . { r c h l r g e l s r d v : r n c ei Â
A l r h o u g h p o s s i l , l vs û s g e s r c (bl y t h e t h i s P r o l o g l l ci b u t â t t h c t i n r er v h € n rhê order of their dignitï, as it is
P r o l o g r c i D t { e l l o f t \ r o o f r l ) êp u p . l ! è m r d e t h e c l ' r r g e , C o l e ' i d s ew r ' givcn in tl,c ' Ccles'irl IIi{trchy'
p e 1 - P l a ) s ,i l s c h a r r c t c r i s e v i d e n t l y h i ( l l y c i p a b l e o i a p p r e c i a t i r gt l c o f D i o n y s i u sA r e o p a g i t  ; v h o w â s
<lr]Nn froû the inrcnie$s of Sahn s p i r i t i n r v h i c h ' F Â u s t' $ Â i w r i t r c n . .lso Dârt.'s aulho(iry on thi! poiDr
'
$rth the Lord,;n rl)c 6r!t rnd se- I ! ; s v Ê r y c ) c r r , i r o m h i n t sv h ; c h I'Prridiso,' Crnro YYVIII). Râ.
c ô o d c h a p l e r s o f J o l , . U p o , r r b i s G o e ù r €l è t f i l l , t h i t h e ! t o n e t ; m e p h r c l , t h e i n f c r i o r , c o n r n e ù c e sr,n d
point, Coelhe ('n rS2j) .rid ro c o n t e n r p l r t c dt L ! i n t r o d L l c t i o ni n t o IIichrel, the chiei clo!€r rhe
E c L c r m : \ n n : " ) t y l t c p h i s t o p h e l e s ' F a u s r ' ô f t h e d o c t r i n c: r \ c i l x d r ô
siùgs r song of Shrkesperrê; in(l Orisen,-th3t ir 1]'is posiLle tor Sheu.y sp.âksof this ".-stonish.
\ ' | y n l o u l ( l h e n o t 1 \ \ ' h y s L o u l dI S r t e r t o r e p e n t 1 n ( l b c r c s t o r e dl o ing chorus," and vêry truly srys:
g i ( c m ) . r l i r l r e r r o u b l , :r o . o m p o i c I t i s f , , r r r c r p l a c cr s : n a n g c lo f l i g h t . " I r i s i m p o s s i b l ei ô r e p r c s Ê n ri n
 ne\f song, \Lhcn Shrhcsp€rre's Falk rcports Coethe .s sâying : anoth.r lrnguagc thc melody of
\ra! just the right one, sa) ing exnctly ..Yct even rhe clcver l\lldamc d. thê vcrsi6cilion: .ven thc volalile
whlt tis n.ccssrr)- l lf, lircr.fore, Siitl Nrs gr.atly scln(lilLcù thal I ilrêDgrl) ând d€licrcy of rhÈ idêrt
t h e s c h r n r co f n ) y ' F i u s t ' h : r ss o n r e l c f t t h e D e ! i l i u s u c | g o o , l - h r n r o e : . € s c a p ei n t b e c r u c i b l Lo I t | i ] n s l r t i o n ,
re'cuLl:nce lo (hrt oi JoL, ll,it is I n t h e t r e s e n c eo f C o d l l i e F r t h e r . i n d t h e r e r d e r i s s u r f . i s e r l( o l i n d I
i l ' o . t u i ( c . i g h ! , r n J I s l l o s l dL c 'hc iosisrn.l utoll ir, hr ouSI'. to ùê

vol-. l Tr

References
Frenz, Horst. 1942. "Bayard Taylor and the Reception of Coethe in America". Journal ol English
and Germanic Philolog 41,121-39
Kelly 1979: sv '"Taylo/'
Literary History of rhe United States.1971.4 ed. New York: Macmillan
History 8Zl-832', Bibliography 738-10
Pral , A.J. 1949."Eayard Taylor and Coethe".Modern ktnguage Quarterly Vll, 205-2L7
Wermuth, Paul C. 1973. Bayard.Taylor. Ncw York: Twayne
MNETEENTH CENTURY II

Week 9 Late Romrnticismand Post-Romaniicism

Narurally technicalEanslationdid no! bencfrtat all fmm the Romantic Revolution,and in

mffmer it remainsthe sameas it had beensincethe early scventeenth
century.There is a lot done
- the work of peopleiike MichaclFaraday,ûe Swcdishchemisr,Berzelius,and otier scicntilic
pioneersbeing widely translated.On the humaniticsside thcre is much trarslationof
philosophers:
contemporary lames lçlanh(1794-1842)
Prcsidentof the Universityof Vemront,
translatedHerder's The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry into English in 1833, and A.G. Henderson,
lecturer in philosophyat the Universityof London trarslated Victor Cousin'slcctureson Kant.
Cousinhimself(1792-1861)
wasa well knownphilosopher of Platoand Aristoùe.
and translator
The socialupheavalsof the end of ùe eighteenth
centuryhad somestrangeresults.Adam
Smith's ?"âeWealth of Ndriollr was trânslâtedinto Spanishfor the financial guidanceof the
govemrnent.In Francethere were at least fôur translationsat the beginningof the nineteenth
century,eachcoincidingwith a changeof régime.Otherauthorslike Malthus on popularionwere
As usuala gooddealof this translation
also translated. is anonymous,ard doneto mectspecinc
scientificneeds.
In literarure the legacy of the Romanticswas dcvelopedin ways orùy pania.lly true to
mainslreamRomandcism.The crux of the manerwas given public airing in the famousquarrel
betweenMatthew Amold (1822-88)and F.W. Newman (1805-97)over rranslaringHomer. The
principleat issuewas the natureof âuthcnticity.
Newmanbelievedthat the archaicand anriquein
Homershouldbe presented
to the Englishreaderby conscious
archaism,
while Amold insistedon
prescnting
Homeras poetrylhat rvouklconformto rhc conlemporary of poetry.Both
cxperience
men had a wide following: on Newman'sside perhapsthe greatestwere lohn Conington(1825-
69), Professor
of La[n at Oxford,and Sir Richard"/ebb(1841-1905) The acmeof
of Cambridge.
t'he antiquestyle was Williatn Monis (1834-96)Octter known as a proponentof rhe Ans and
Crafts movement),who $med out â very unevenversionof the Aeneidin a very archaising
English.Amold's streamof bclief culminatedin DanteGabriel Rossei (1828-82)who is mosr
famousfor his work on Dirnteand bis circlc. His cardinalprinciplewas that "a good pocm
shouldnot be tumcd into a bad".The majorityof late nineteenth-century
Englishversionsfell
somewhere
in betwcen.Trûnslxtion
wasdcfinitelythe rccreation
of the educated:
translatonrange
from academicsor near academicslike C.S Calverley(1831-84)to gcntlemenlike tt4E
(1809-98),ftc PrimcMinis(erof CreatBrirâin.
Gladstone
Panicularlyin AmericatJ.rcrc
was a fiiir amountof translaLion The pocc
from ottrerliteratures.
Henry WadsworthLongfellow(1807-82),Professor
of Modem Languagesar Hrrvard,worked

t+
 N'N\OTEÊ\TH CENTIJRY tr

In Canadathcrc was interestin the literatureof the oùer

mairùy from Romancelanguagcs.
langlage: Sir Charlcs C.D. Robeds(1860-1943)and RosannaLeprohon (1829-79) translated
(1839-1908)
FrenchCanadianworksandLouisFréchetle workedin borhdircctions.Alreadythcre
was developingthe problemof intcrpretingtwo cultural groups to each other, and thc French
group, as the minority wæ trying to work out whetherto absorbmaterial from the dominant
culrureor standaloof. Literary work howevcrwas not isolatedfrom intemationalmovemen[s:the
Pamassianmovementhad its effect on the circle round Fréchetteand Léon-PamphileLemay
( 1 8 3 71-9 1 8 ) .
In otherareas,pÀniculariy
France,translation literary
showcdmuch infiuenceof contemporary
movements.In FranceCharlesBaudelaire(1821-61) changedPoe from a very good second-rate
American writer into a first-classFrenchone, arrdLecontede Lisle (1878-94)went back ro thc
Classics.ln Germanythe development followedmuch the samclinesas in
of literarytranslation
England,with the conftict bctween(he rntiquarianand the authenticin the Romanticsensibiliry
developinglwo complementary
streamsof translation.Much impo(ant translanionwas also done
by hisrorians like Hippolyte Taine(1828-93).
There is also some translationof musicaltexts, panicularly of relatively "light" music. Thus
the Gilben and Sullivan Operaswereprcsentcdin Ccrmanin Gcrmany,and Frcnchand Vierurese
operettâ(e.9. Straussand Offenbach)were often presentedin London in English. There also is
sometranslationof Frenchand IÉlian Operainto other Europeanlanguages,
thoughnowherenear
the fwentieth-cenfuryscale.Germanlieder and thc French an song were also translated,ofren
very badly, for the drawing-roomsoprânoand tenor.
The issueof updaLing
the Bible did not go away.Bccauscof the rcverence
accordcdthe King
JamesVersion(AuthorisedVersion)thc qucstionwas far more acurein Englishthan in orher
which did not meanthrt r.hcissuewùs nor hard-Iought- hallowedincnia is very
languages,
difficult to overcome.The first movcs carnefrom thc Catholics:in 1836 a historian,Dr John
Lingard(1771-1851) publishcda Biblc with the Ncw Tesrament fmslared from the Greek,even
thoughthe Vulgatewas the officill ancienttext. On the Protestant
side the lexicographer,
Noah
Webster,printed a modemisedKing JamcsBiblc in 1833. In Englandthe pressurebcganto
mountfrom the 1850sfor a rcvisionol the King JamcsBible,if nor a completelynew translation.
The reasonwas only paniallytie archaicEnglishin the text: sinceErasmushad cstablished
the
textusreceptusfrom which the old Bible had been takcn, Biblical scholarship
had advanced
considerably,
new manuscripts
had bccn foundand analysed,
and much more was known about
the theologyof the text. Besideson thc Protestantside of the religiousdivide there was
considcrable
awarcncssof Ihc nccdto havca doctrinally"ncutral"Bible.
In 1870 t}re Convocationof ûre AnglicanProvinceof Canterburysct out to rcvise lhe
Autloriscd Version,using the sameson of commitreeorganisation
that had done the English

12f,
 NL\iETEENTH CE\T[,'RY tr

Bible in l6G1-1611.Other Protcstantchurchesjoincd in. Part of ûle task was ensuring that the
Greek text of the New Testamentrcflcctcdthe latestin Biblical scholarship.In 1881 the English
New Tcstarnentwâs published,and in 1885 the wholc Bible (thc "Revised version"). The revised
Greek text on which this venion was basedwas finjt publishedabout the tum of the century. In
the meantimethe American Bible Union had got undcr way in 1864, and had sent observersto
keep an eye on what the English wcrc doing. The Amcrican StandardVenion was published in
1901.
Overseasthe situation was morc tluid than in England or Gcrmany, which had to come to
terms with rephcing hallowcd Biblicûl texls,or in Splin, which was still a little nervous of Bible
translation.In any case the British and Foreign Bible Socicty was happily supplying Protestant
versionsof the Bible in Europeanlanguâges- for cxample,a revisionof Valen's 1625 Spanish
version, reprintedmany times betwccn 1806 and 1817, and a CatalanNew Testamentby J. M.
Prat (1832). In France rhe Abbé Antoine Eugène de Cenoude (1792-1819), a friend of Hugo's,
adapted the Lemaistre de Saci Bible to both the nineteenth century ând Catholic onhodoxy. At
the end of the century I'AbM Auguslin Crampn (1826-94) produced what was to become tie
standardFrench Catholic Bible of the early twentieth century (1894-1904). For French Protestans
the most imponânt Bible bccamethat of Louls Ségord (1810-85)whose Old Tcstamentcame out
in 1874 and the New in 1880.
The Jews were once again facing the problem their ancestoni had met in Alexandria by
tmnslaling the Septuagint: a religiously vital social group which could read but not understand the
sacred books. In America this was met by Rabbi Isaac Leeser (1806-68), whose English versron
of the Old Tesament in the MassorcticText cxme out in 1853.To put ùe situationon a more
official basic the Jcwish Publication Socicty was foundcd in 1892, and produced an official
Jewishversion in English in 1901.
During the nineteenthccntury ûre Catholic Church was llnally coming to terms wiù bilingual
Latin-vemacularmissals for the laity after a couple of centuriesof ambivalencc.But rdæ the
most imponant action was in the Oxlord Movemcnt, that movementin the Anglican Church to
prove its essentialCatholicismby retuming as much as possibleto early Chdstian practices.One
need was to reinstitutecongregationaisinging, a practicethe non-conformistChurcheshad uscd
witi considerablesuccess.Peculiarlycnough the spirit bchind this rcligious *'ork owed much to
rhe Philologische Arbeit of ùte Romanl.icMovemcnt and its search for authenticity. The search for
ancient Christian hymns bcgan wiù the Romur Brcviary, but it had ceftain Renaissance
accredons,including Humanist rewriting of cenâin h)'rnns a[ ùe order of Pope Urban VIIL
Attention lien passcdto the Paris Brcviary. But it had a very large numbcr of post-Reformation
hymns which had notlling to do with the early ChurcLèèùrry: rhis was soon abandonedfor
ntes like ùc Sarum(from Salisbury)and rhe York. The "WardourStreerstyle"
pre-Reformation

06
 NINETEENTH CENTURY II

in time.
provideda styletiat gavethe illusionof remoteness
that wasrisingamongthe Classicists
There are good examplesof it in the Agamemnonby Robert Bovning and William Monis's
work. The leadingtrânslatorhere was John Mason Nea,le(1818-66),whosehymn versionstook
into accountthe melodiestrâditionalin the medievalservicebook. One imponantresultof this
work was HymnsAncientand Modern (1861),editedby Rer'' Srr H.W. Balot (1821-77). This
looked to other churchesas well, pùticularly the Lutheran.Indeedone of the most imponant
contributorsto this famoushymnbookapan from Neâle was Calheine Winkworth(1827-78),an
early feministwhosespecialitywas translationfrom German.Oddly enough,ûlere was very little
aclion on this front from the Catholics,and afler Valican Il many of the versiors of arcient
hymns in HymnsAncientand Modern were adoptedin official hymnbooks.

P ichot, Amedée (1795-l 877)

Editor and writer
goesinto medicalpracticein Toulon
1817MD (Montpelier);
1818Movesto Paris
in a Frenchtranslalionof Byron
1819Beginswridng; coliaborates
1822Trip to Englandand Scotland
1824Finally senlesin Paris
1824-77Associatedwittr literary periodicals,especialy those with an interestin Englandl
often actedas Editor in Chief.

Translations

Lt//t Routh au /,t Pi,tut .l14th, Hitcirt c'itnta/t par.Thomat Mratt

rrrduirc de langiais par le- rreducreL-rr desccuvres de Lord Byron'
P o n r h i e ul,8 z o , z v o l .
CErrr'r, ,o,np/)rrrù ShaIcrycart,traduitcsde iangl;ris par,L^etourneur-
Nouu.il. édirionrevuc et corrigéepar F. Guizoc et A P rraducteur
d c L o r d B v r o n ,L a d v o c a t l,8 z t , t 3 v o l
Pitrrz ScÀlimiAl,Ladvocac,t8zI.
Cfuû-d'euvrct
- )tt Thiitrit ltrangtrt: thtft-C'eutre du Thiâtrt onglait,
L a d v o c a t ,. 9 2 2 - 2 1 , ç v o l .
par I\l dc
Hitoi.c dt t'),gtrtr,ripu J. Lirrqard, treJuire de I'englais
R o u j o u x( i o u r l e s r z i r e m i e r i v o l ) e t J \ 4 A P i c h o t ( p o u r l e s :
d e . n i e r sù) l l l e C a r i éd e l a C h a r i ee r F a n t i n , t 8 z 5 - 1 8 3 I '
Tom Tantr ou I'cnfant lrouti' Dt utlrcreat, r 828, 7 vol'
L,, irrnirrt jouri dc Panpii, r83+.
Lcr Btoutû & Lord Btron, Gilc,', dz t5 tablrcux tirèt.dt ttt.euvrtt
a c c o m p a u r t é c d ' u n t c x t c t r apdauri,r\ m c d É eP i c h o t ,A u b e r t; U t r a l d o n t
r8 3 9 .
La Cantrt /r À'ci1 per Charlcs D i c k c n s ,c r a d u i t sp a r A m é d é c P i c h o t ,
A m y o t , r 8 4 7 - r8 5 3 , 3 v o l . ; L é v y , r 8 5 8 , I 8 6 : , r t l 6 6 , r v o l .
L'Hammc au tp4lrt au L Pa.t. p " t i É ^ r l " t D i c k e n s ,t r a d L r idcc I ' a n g h i s
p a r A m é d i c P i c h o t ,A m y o r ' r b + 9 .

t2't
 NINETEENTH
CENTURYII PICHOT

Lt N&tu dc ma Tantc, hittoirc pcnonn h dc Dauid Coppcrftld, par

Charlcs Dickcnsprécédéed'une norice biographiqueer lirrérairc par
A - m é d éP e i c h o rR, e v u eB r i r a n n i q t r cr 8
, 5r, i853; Lévy, r859, rS6r,
t67r.
La Fanil| Caxtonpar Sir Ed. Buhotr Lytton, rradu.tpar Amédée Pichot,
P c r r o t i n ,r 8 5 3 .
Ltt Mormont par M. AmédéePichot, Hachcrtc, r 854.
Lc Diamant lc FanilL par Thackeray, Hachctte, r855.
Sènq du tard i dt la trru par le Cap. Basil Hall, traduirespar Anrédée
P i c h o t ,H a c h e r t er,8 5 8 .
(Euurq diacrtct dc Lord Macaulay rre série traduites par Amédée Pichor,
Hachetrc,r 86o.
Hitoirt du règncù CuillaumtIll,par Lord Macaulay,traduitede I'anglais
p a r A m é d é eP i c h o cP, e r r o r i n I, 8 6 r , 4 v o l .
La Ftmmr du Candamn!-stina dt la tit auttralitnnc.rraduites oar Amidée
P i c h o r ,L é v y , r 8 6 2 .
Un dranc enHongriapar Pulski,traduirpar Amédée Pichor,Lévy, r 862.
Hi airr dr la ronquittdu Mcxiquc, par William H. Prescocr,traduirc par
Amédée Pichor,Firmin Didor, r 863.
Margiana par l['hackeray,Hacherte,1864.
Lt Nid & l'aigL par I'aureurdc /'Illritier dc Rcd ift, traduir par Amédée
Pichot,Grassarr,r 867.
Hi orittttt .t Réc;ttdu.Fo_yar par Charles Dickens, traductiond'Arnédée
P i c h o r ,L é v y , r 8 6 8 .
Calcôll/illiant par W. Godwin, traduit par Amédée Pichot, Lévy, 1868,
3 vol.
John Hali/ax, Gnthmad, traduirde I'anglaispar Amédéc Pichot, Grassarr,
r 8 7 0 ,2 v o i .
Maîtrurc .t Sc:'tanttpar I'auteurde John Halifax, tradtrirde I'anglaispar
Amédéc Pichor,Grassarr,r 872.
Scènudr /a z,it californinncpar Brer Hartc, traduirespar Amédée Pichor,
R e i n w a l d r, 8 7 3 .
Conl.t Pour tc jour dct rou par Charlcs Dickens, traduirs par IVI. Amédéc
P i c h o t ,L é v y , I 8 7 4 .
|ttapollon à l'îlz d'Elbr, d'aprù lt journal du Cal- Sir Ntil Canpbt!|, rrad.,,tir
p a r A m é d é eP i c h o r D , e n r u ,r 8 7 5 .
Ou'n ltra-t-il? par Bulwer Lyrton, rraduirpar Amédée Pichor, Hacherre,

Srinu i, lo uit naritinu par le c;rp. Basil Hall, traduiresde I'anglaisper

A m é d é cP i c h o r ,H a c h e r t e r, 8 7 7 .

/r8
 NI]\-.ETEE}TTHCENTURY N PICHOT

Culturâl Background
ln the developmcntof FrenchRomanticismEnglish influencewas just as imponant as German
- Byron and Sir Walter Scott were kcy ligurcs,and as in Gcrmany MacPhenon's Ossicn sct the
pattem for Romantic andquarianism. In thc face of it Pichof was an odd character to play
ambassadorfor England in the France of his time: a Southemer who had had very little contact
with foreign pafls as a youngster, and a membcr of a hard-headed business family. However
Bisson 1943 makes the point that Pichot had a clcar eye for Nature, and enjoyedcountry walks.
The image painted is raùcr Wordswortlian;and therc are somc reminiscences
of the much darkcr
The family also fostcrcda srong senseof history and the past, an
upbringing of Chateaubriand.
essential part of Romantic sensibility rnd a key clemcnt in later nineteenûr-centurydevelopments.
Pichot travelled widely in Britrin md had met or writtcn to most of the poets and novelistshe
translated. As a literary editor in Paris he was in contact with most of the French writers and
critics who \À'erewoflJr anything like tllc great Charles Nodier, but he does not seem to have
belonged to any of the various litcrrry cénaclesthat wcrc such a feature of the French Romantic
scene.

lYhy did Pichot Translâte?

After tie fiIst introduction of English literature into France in the eighteenth century, English
culrural influence incrcasedquite markcdly, and by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, English
literanrre was read quile widely in France, and with more understanding than in the eighteenûl
cenrury.Pichot b€camean enthusiastearly in his adult Iife.
The best introductionto his work is the Voycge en Angleterre et en Ecosse(1835) in which
he discusseseveryhing from the beautiesof English literarurcto rhe drcss of the English ladies.
with several acute comments relevart to his translations.He is Rommtic in that he saw a
literatureas a guide to the charactcristics
of the pcoplc to which the writers belonged:his idcas
on Lhis point could be taken sûaight out of Herdcr. Tmnslation,therefore,was a way of helping
the rcaderwho was helplcssbeforer forcign Ianguage.

Horv did Pichot Translate?

Like most Frcnch translatoNhe trics to come to grips with the differencesin literary taste
betwecn English and French.The shapeof English poctry he puts down to le mélange d'une
pompe orientale (naturelle chez un peuple qui lit constarrment Ia Bible liuéralement traduite)
avec unefamiliarité bourgeoise,which is â fairly tclling comment; and he is equally clcar-sighted
on the charactcristicsof French tastc. Likc a truc Romantic Pichot saw trdnslationas criticism,
tiat is as prescntingwhat was hidden undcr the surface:the foomote to (he exûact b,elowfrom
his version of Byron's English Bards and ScottishRcviewersis a fairly normal exampleof such â

tt1.
 Nô{ETEEYTHCE\TLRY tr PICHOT

role.
Pichot is often criricised for an alnrost mindless iitcraliry, which he defended by pointing to
the requirementof neutrality in a good ûrnslator. Bcsides,Romantic critics from Goethe to
Chateaubriand fumished arguments for Lhis son of approach to translation. Beyond this he hæ
very litùe to say about his translation technique. His use of prose for poetry reflects the
eighteenth-centuryquanel about authenticity:
Traduire en prose n'est le plus souvcntqu'un travail mécanique,une mutation de mots plus
ou moins facile, selon I'idée qu'un pcuple attachcà une expressionqui n'a pas toujours son
s)monymedals un autre idiome.
Byron for one had strong objections to the way in which Pichot handled him; and even his
repeated statementsthat he sought Byron's énergie were not enough to make Byron happy. But
therc is no doubt that Pichot's work had an imponant effect on French Romanticism: indeed
much of what Pichot says about Englandis picked up in later critical work, in panicular Hugo's
writings on Shakespearc.
Apan from Byron Pichot's public relations with his authors were excellent. For exarnple the
British Library copy of his version of David Coppelteld comes from Dicken's own library, and
was doubtless a presentationcopy. His note at ùc end of his 1857 Macaulay shows rhe
beginnings of copyright conventions as tic affect aurhorsand ranslators:
J'ai exprimé plusieun fois ailleurs loute mon admirationpour M. Macaulay. Ses éditeurset
ses traducteuN doivent au moins le rcmercier ici du désintéressementavec lequel il a refusé
de se prévaloir des nouveaux lraités intemationaux qui lui doruraient le droit, non seulement
de choisir ses interprètes,mais encore d'en cxiger une rétribution. Cene rétribution a été
offene et délicatementre[usée.

LES POETESANGLAIS ET LES CRITIQIJ'ES

ECOSSATS

Resterai-jetoujoursaudi@urbenévole?1...
Fiu-Gérald2braillcrad'une voix enrouéeses aigre disdques
dansune Everne,et je n'oserairimer, de peuf quc les Revuesde I'Ecossene me û-aiLenl
d'ecrivassierct ne
ma muse!Non, non, préparons-nous
dénoncent à écrire;bon ou m:tuvaisautcur,je veux faire gémir la
presse;
les solssontceuxqueje célèbre:c'estIa mussde la saûrequej'invoqueaujourd'hui.
Noble présentde la narure,ô ma plume fidèlel esclavede mes penséæs,
obéissântloujours à mes
inspirations,anacheeà I'aile d'un oiseaupour ère une armepuissanre,
mêmed:rnsles mains d'un homme
faible:plumesecourable, de metre au jour versou prose,c'es(vain
à aidcrun écrivainimpaûcnr
destinee
que les bcllesnoustrahissent,
que les criùquesnousmordcnt,tu es Ia consolation
des amantset I'orgueil
dcsauæursjQue de beauxÈsprils,
quede pcÈtes Combicntu es urile,et qu'il esr
tc doivcntlcurrépurationl
rarequ'on se mon(Iereconnaissant
envcrstoi, condamnélc plus souventà ôre oubliée avec les pagesque

t30
 NT\ETEENTHC&\TTJRYtr PICHOT

ru as &rites! Mais toi du moins,plume qui vas me servir, laisséenaguèreet repriseaujourd'hui,je te

prometsque, nore tâcheune fois terminée,tu jouiras du reposque tu méritescomme la plume du Cid
:
il est vrai, mais tu me scrastoujourschère.Prenonsnotre essor:ce n'est
Hamct.rD'autresrc mépriseront,
point un sujetcommun,une vision oriennle, un rêve décousuqui m'inspire.C'est une route simpleet unie
queje veux suivre,quoiqu'ellesoit hérisséde ronces.Que mesven soientfacileset coulânts.

1. Semper ego auditor tantum? numquam reponam

Ventus toties rauci, Theseide,Codri? Juvénal, Satire I

2. M. Fitzgérald a été malicieusementsumommé Ie poète de la petite bière.Il foumit son tribut annuel à
l,li Société litéraire; et non content d'écrire, il déclama scs ouvrages lui-même après que I'assemblée
s'est au préalable arrosé I'estomac d'une suffisante quântité de maevais porter, pour avoir le courage de
l'écourer.

3. Cid Hamet promet le repos à sâ plume dans le demier chapitre de Don Quichotte: qu'il sera temps que
messieursnos faiseurs de livres imiassent Cid ËIÂmetBenenseli!

Still must I hear?- shall hoarseFitzgerald bawl

His creakingcoupletsin a tâvem hall,
And I not sing, lest, haply, ScotchRcviews

Should dub me scribbler,and dcnouncemy Muse?

Preparefor rhyme - I'll publish,right or wrong:
Fools are my theme, let Satire bc my song.

Oh! Nature'snoblestgift - my grcy goosc-quilll

Slave of my thoughs, obedientto my will,

That mighty instnment of little mcnl

The pen! foredoom'd ûo aid ûe mental thrces

Of brains ûat hbour, big with Verse or Prose,

Though Nymphs foresal<e,and Critics may dcridc

The L-over's solace, and the Author's Pride.

What Wits! what Poe6, dost ùou daily raisel

l3l
 CÊ\]!_RYg
\A\TTEENTH

How Frequentis thy usc,how snrallthy praise!

at lcngthto be forgotLcn
Condemncd cluitc,
W i ù r l l t h ep r g e sw h i c h ' t w r st h i n ct o w r i t c .
But $ou, at lcasLmine own especialpcn!
Oncelaid aside,but now assumed
rglin,
Our lask compleÈ,lile Hamet'sshâllbe fre€;
Tho' spumedby otiers, yct belovedby me:

Thenlestus soârtoday;no commonthcme,

No EâstemVision, no distempcred
dream
Inspûes- our paù, thoughfull of thoms.is plain;
Smoothbe lhe versc.andeasythesrrin.

References
Bisson,L.A. 1943.AmédéePichot,A RomanticPrometheus.Oxford: Blackwell
Estève,E. l9O7- Byron et Ie romantisme
français. Pais: Hache[e
Leigh,R.A.1939."AmédéePrchotet sonvoyage."Revuede littératurecomparée19,213-34
Partridge.E. 1924.The FrenchRomantic'sKnowledgeof EnglishLiterature.Paris:Champion
Smith, M.A. 192O.L'infuence deslakistessw les romantiques
français. Paris:Jouve

Calverley, Chorles Stuart (I831-94)

Lawyer,Man of Letters
1848Adminedto BalliolCollege,Oxford
1851Chancellor's
Prizefor Latjn;scntdown from Oxfordwirhouta degree
1852Admittedto Christ'sCouege,Cambridge
1858ElectedFellowof Chrisr's,Cambridge
1865Called to the Bar
1867Retiredfollowingan accidcnt

Translations
Passages
from Homer,Vergil,andthc Greckdramatists
Complctepocmsby Horacc,Carullus,
HeincandTheocritus
A largenumberof Englishlyricsinto Latinand Creek

l3:L
 }TNTTEENTHCFJ'ITURYtr CALVERLEY

TranslationTheory
"On MetricalTranslation"
"The Aeneidof Virgil"
"Horae Tennysonianac"
All publishedduring the 1860sin The Inndon Srldeni republishedas appendicesto
completeworks.
Calverley's

Cultural Background
ThoughCatverleyshowsthe influenccof Rommticism,it would be a mistalieto termhim a
"Romantic" in the sensethat Keatsand Shellcy were.There were many like him from the early
nincteenth-centuryEnglish fublic School:expert in Latin and Greek, interestedin contempomry
English and foreignliierature.m cagersponsman,a personwith a donnishscnseof humour,and
financiallycomfortable.He becametypical of the English univenity classicistof the nineteenth
ccntury - a percon wiùr a very acutc scnse of languagein both English and ùc Ciassical
languages,a wi!, a minor litenry talent,and somebodywitlt highly developedIirerarytastes.

Horv did CalverleyTranslate?

Calverley'sbiographernoteswi[h a raisedeyebrowthat Calverlcy was an excel]entparodist,
scholanhipof a classicist.
and impliesrhat rhis talenrdid not go well with the respected And
certainlyhis parcdiesof respectedVictorianpoets,includingRoben Brownjng,are very much to
the point. But it is this gift of parody that makes him a good ranslator: he has an ear for
wonhy of Dickens,W.S.Gilbcrtor Kipling.
language
"duly towardshis
beginsfrom a dichotomybctwcenthe translator's
His thinkingon lranslation
original,and his duty towardshis readcrs".He citcs Drydcn and Popeas extremeexarnples of
andJohnMillon, as excmplified
ruledby theirdutiesto theirrcadcrs,
translators by his ve6ionof
HoraceOdes I.v as an extremeexampleof duty towardstext. He takeshis own periodas
balancedbetwcenlhose extremes,but with a leaningtowardsones duty to the original. Whether
deliberatelyor not, CalverleyreformulatesGocthc's I nterlinearversion He assigrs ro the
rcndcring", "word-rcndcring"and if possible,"form-
translator'stask three aspects:"scnsc-
rendering".
This can have rathcr startlingrcsultsin which formal and dynamicequivalence
anain a
pictorial,evencolloquialquality,as in his readingof the opcningIine of Vergil'sEclopue9:
Moeris,on foot?andon the roadto town?
Quo te, Moeri,pedes?an,quo via ducit?In urbcm?
in Goelhc'sscnsc,and alsoan examplcof Schlciermachcr's
This is clearlyan I nterlineamersror
It is rhe lirst bcciiusctllc lcxcmesof thc Englishfall very closeto the Latin order
Nachbildung.

tr9
 NL.-itIÊENTH CENTURY I CALVERLEY

and Sacrince grammur:it is the sccondbecause

the sOurce-langUage it givesa very closereading
of the poem's senseof crisis with a questionshrpe one would naturally use. The literal
is, ',Where,Moeris,are your fcct, or ratherthe road,takingyou? Into the city?".He
translation
usessimilar tacticswhen going into Latrn: takc this line from Glumalditch'slament (PoWr'.
Menslevis estjuvenum.Quidte commisimus illi?
Why did I trustyou wiù thatgiddyyouth?
of youngmen is frivolous),and
into a proverb(fhe disposition
In Latin Pope'sline is reshaped
theninto a question(Why did I entrustyou to him?).Not an interlinearversion,but one which
doesdo fuil justic to the original.
Calverley was writing at a time when there was considerablecontloveny ovel the
of Classicalmetlesin English.The ftrst step in his argumentagainstsuch
acclimatisation
bctwecn"metre"and "rhyÙun":rhythmis inherentin any useof
is to distinguish
acclimatisation
larguage,while metre"is a son of framcworkwhoscoffice is to supponthe verse".He claims
ttratimponationof Clæsicalmetrcsinto Englishis impossible of the differcncein nature
because
betweenC'lassicaland Englishmetrics:Englishmetresdependson accent,while Ladn and Greek
classicalmeues were organisedaccordingto syllâblelenglh.Moreoverclassicallanguagesset up
and accen!pancmsùat mtkes for the punch of the verse.
a counterpoinrb€tweensyllable-length
Further,C'lassicallanguages,panicularlyCreek,are stronglyvocaliclanguages,while Englishhas
far more consonantsand consonantclusters.Quite apan from the metre,the rhythms can not be
reproduced.He takes a specialtilt at Tennyson,who pridedh.imselfon his imiBtions of Classical
metres.This is what he makesof the passagein Homer,Iliad lI we have alreadyquoted from
Chapman:
So all else - gods, and charioted chicts-
Slept tie night t}lrough.But swcct slccp bound not Zcus;
Ponderingwhâr wây Achillcs to exalt,

And by the Achaian ships makc may fi.tll.

This to his soul ùe fairestcounsclsccmcd;

To send !o Atreus' son an cvil Drclm:

Ard (-othe Dream he spake with vingèd words.

'Go
evil Dream, to yon Greck war-ships;scek
Thc ænt of Agamemnon,AEeus's son;

And tcll him, Iruly, aU I tell to lic€.

Say,'4r- right specdilythy unshomCreeks:

This hour is Ilion and hcr broad suees thinc.

t+
 NIT\IITEE\THCENTURY
tr CALVERLEY

For lol no longer are the immortds - ùcy

Whosc home is heaven- divided. Hcrè's prayer
Haù benr them all; and woes are nigh [o Troy.' "

References
ard F.W. Farrar's'Eric' ". Notes&
HuxJey,H.H. 1949."C.S. Calverlcy's'CarmenSacculare'
Queries19,265-66
Century.London;Cayme
Ince,R.B. 1929Calverteyand someCambridgelYitsof the Nineteenth
Prcss
Kelty 1979:sv "Calverley"
Kunitz,S.J.(ed.)BritishAuthorsof the Nineteenth
Cennrry.New York: Wilson.sv. "Calverley"
Oxford Book of Versein EnglishTranslation:400402
Queen'sQuarterly54:47-60
A.W. 1947."Calverleyof Cambridge".
Preston,
Sendall,W.l. (ed.)1901.The Complete
Worksof C.S.CalverLey.
London:Bell

/
Lemay, Lé on-Pamphile/ 183 7-l 9 I 8)
L-
Translator,
Writer,Parliamentary
Librarianat Québec,FoundingMemberof the Royal Societyof
Canada
1860Leaderof "the QuebecMovemcnt"
1865 Caltedro the Bac Publishedfirst book of poems(Essaispoétiques)
1873PublishedCataloguede la bibliothèquede la législaturede Québec

Translations
1865(rcv. 1870,l9l2) Evangéline
(l-ongfellow)
1884Le chiend'or (WilliamKirby)

How did Lemay Trrnslâte?

As far as literary work was conccmedLemay bclicvcdin frce translationto the point of
it was essentially
adaptation: a crertivcprocess.His vcrsionof The GoldenDog took generous
accountof the peculiariûes
of his rcadcnhip,adaptingin to the socialrealitiesand tasteof French
Canada.

n{
 NINS|EË{TH CENTLT.Y II

References
Canadian Biography sv. "Lemay"
Dictionnaire des oeuvres liuéraires de Québec 1978
Hayne, David M. 1983. "Literary Trasnslarion in Nineteenth-centuryCanada". Translating
Canadian Literature ed. Camille La Bossière. Ottawa: Universty of Ottawa Press.35-46
Newman, M. & Straford, P. 1975. Bibliography of Canadian Books in Translation.
Ottawa:HRCC
( Toye, W. (ed.) 1983.The Oxford Companionto CanadianLiterature.Tomnro: OUP, sv. "Lemay"

J / tt_t-v, '_

Ê6
ETIROPEANEXPANSION

lVeek l0 Missionaries,
Colonisersand Other Causesof Bilingualism

During t}le eighteenthcentury Europeanexpansioninto the New World revived ancient

problemsenrailled
in transladngbetweensophisticated languages.We know
and unsoph.isticated
little of how t]le Greekshad cometo termswitir transladnginto an unsophisricated
langlagelike
O1dLadn during the third centuryBC, and likewisethereis absolurelynoùing said abouthow
the Romansdealt with the Celtic languages
within the Empire and othersoutsideit. Later,
like St.Bonifrce(ob. 755),who ûanslatedpan of the Bible into the Old
Christianmissionaries
the Slavic peoples,facedthe
Germanof his day, Sts Cyril and MethodiusïJho evangelised
problemsof creatinglitcracy beforeevcnbcing ableto translatethe Bible into the formal registers
of languages
until thenunwritten.I! docsscemthat tnnslationcamefirst evenif, as in the case
of Lttin, rhetoricaland grammatical
aralysiscamelater.Thereare reponsof trarslations
of ùe
Bible into Eastemlanguagesin thc seventeenth and eighteenthcenruries,mainly from Catholics
like St FrancisXavier (1506-52).There are extensiverecordsof Pmtestantliturgical trànslation
into the languages
of the mission-frclds:
theTrmil translation
of the Lutheranliturgypublished
in
Ceylon in 1781 is far from unusual.IndeedAnglican translationof the Book of CommonPrayer
into the languagesof ùe Indian sub-continent
helpedlay the foundationsfor the development
of
Eastemforms of Chdstianily.They lcft no recordsof how ûrey analysedthe languagesconcemed,
or if they did at aI.
One peculiar story is the translationof ihe Korân into Europeanlanguages.There is a
"curiosity'oriented"
trinslationinto Latin daringfrom the twelfth centuryascribcdro Robertus
KetenensisandHermannusDaLnata.This was republishedin 1543by ThcodoreBibfiander(15M-
64). Therearc a.lsoa few sixteenth-cenury
Latin venionsof ir for the informadonof Chrisdan
missionaries.
Becausethe Muslimshave the samealtitudeto the Word of God as rhe Jews,
translationof the Koran for religiouspurposesh:rs nor been possible.h was a popular book
among Europeantranslators
during thc nineteenth
ccntury,versionsbeing madc into all ùe
impoftant Europe:n Iangurges.Thcrc are a numbcr of modem translationsinto Europem
languageswhich havebeentolcrutcdby ùe auùoritics,but not spccificallyauthorised
suchas,
(1955);Bell, R. The Qur'ân (1938-9);Blachère,
Arb€rry,A.J. TheKoranInterpreted R. Le Coran
(1947-51).The most interesting
of thcm,lv{armadukePickthell'sThe Explanation
of the Glorious
Qur'ân (1933),defcndsits exreme literalityby referencero "[he needsof EnglishMuslims",
whilc denyingthathis vcrsionis meantto replaccthc Arabicin any way at all.
Until now, it was tradenot colonisation,
Lhrtusuallyfollowedthc mtssionery.
A new ptttem
developedin the Americas,whcrc in thc English,Frcnch,Spanishand Portugrlese
dominions

ryl
 MISSIONARIFI ETC.

missionary and coloniser oftcn camc togcther, and at times coopcrated with each oiher. The Age
of Rcason also brought a new approlcir to translation:"re3son"indicatedthat one should analyse
thc grammar of a hnglagc brforc faislaling into it. Thc techniqueof the New England and
Jesuitmissionarieswiù Amcrindian languageswas typical: ranslation of the Bible and Christian
wonhip, for example by Thomas lvlayhew (ob. 1657) and lohn Eliol (ob. 1690) was preceded and
prepared by the production of grammars and lexicons. The creation of literacy was one of the
aims as well. There is very litde rccord at this rime of translation from the vemaculars 10
Europeanlanguxgcs.What did go on was mainly oral.
Missionary ranslation was first givcn direction by rhe formation of lne Congre7atio pro
PropagandaFrde in Rome in i662. On ùe Protestantside the Moravian Brotherhood(foundcd
1722), rhe Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (1698) and the Society for thc
Propagationof ûe Cospel in Foreign Pans (1701) took a vital part in Bible translationinto non-
tndo-European languages. Perhaps the most imponant development wæ the foundation of the
interdenominrtionalBritish and Forcign Bible Socicty in 18O1,which had as its sole aim the
production and distribution of vemacular scripturcs all over the world, including ironicrlly
England and Wales. Indeed it was thô lack of a Bible in modem Welsh that had sparked the idea.
Parallel Bible societicswere founded in Scotland and the United Statcs.The Catholic Church
rcmained a.loof from these movements, producing ùeir own bibles so that in many pans of the
*orld Catholic and ProtcslantBibles wcre in competition.
During the nineteenûrcentury most of the vemacular scripturespublished by these bodies were
ranslated in the lield, often with the help of native-speaken. In England there was an extremely
imponant link bctweenthe British and Forcign Biblc Society and the Church Missionary Socicty
of the Anglican Church. Thus the Maori Bible by Btshop Henry lyilliams (1792-67) wrs
producedin 1827 (md actuallyprintcd in New Zealand),while his Dictionary came out in 1844,
and his Maori grammarin 18.15.A Crtholic version of thc Bible and the Missal followed a little
larer. All over the world teaching thc skills of litcracy ran parallel with evangelisation,which
producedsome strangeresults,like thc developmentof Catiolic and Protestantwriting systems
for Haitian creole during the early twcntieth century. In Unitcd Statcs in pânicular, linguists
began to t3ke â'large hrnd in Biblc translationin ûc mid-twcnticth century, After the Second
World War Americrn Bible Sociciics merged into thc Unitcd Bible Socieries wir}l its own
periodical,The Bîble Translator.On rhc cvângelic:r)side of things this work is grouped around
the Summer Institute of Linguistics,âlso known as thc "Wycliffe Bible Trmslators", one of its
leaden being EugeneNida, whosework on the theory of lrrnslationhas been directedspecihcally
at the Bible, and at ùrc problcms of nraking vcrsions acccpt:rbleto peoples of widc cuhurd
differences.lt must bc said ùat thc linguislicsol lhc pcriod, with its strong anthmpologicalbias,
suiredthis work.

ttt
 MISSIONARIESETC.

Of its nature ûanslation involving thcse langurgcs was largely one-way, ùat is into ùe
vemaculars.Permanentoccupaùonol'thc territoriescrcatcdthe need for translationûre other way.
ùe ûaining of ùe loca.lsas intcrprctes was the llrst stcp: JacqucsCanier's usc of his two
Iroquois, Dom Agaya and Taignoagny,in 1534 is a relauvely extreme example of what was to
happen in Europ€an colonies. Normally such interpreten lcamt the European language in question
and did not travel: later some colonists leamt *]e nrtive limguages. Colonial goverrrments soon
benefitedfrom a loosely orgariscd translationprofession,some of the European invaders even
living with the people whose languagc they interprctcd for the autlorities. In most places a
system of professionalceûincadonslowly developed.Dctails of the Canadiansiruationduring the
seventeenûrcenrury are given in Dclisle 1987. What is notable is the role the Hudson's Bay
Company and the Nonh-West Company took in developing the interprerationprofession.
However, given its long wrinen tradition, the situation in India was different, and had
considerable impacr. elsewhere. Sir Wi iam Joncs (1746-91), though most famous for
demonstraling that Sanskrit was ar Indo-Europcan language, was an assiduous fanslator from
Eastem languages,specialisingin law, as belits a High-Coun judge. Other translatorsin British
India hcluded John Herbert Haington (1764-1828). Eastem languages were taken up in France
by Enile-Louis Bumouf (1821-1907), and in Germany by rhe Romanrics, in panicular tVrlielm
von Humboldt. Translation from Eastcm literâture intensilied in ùe mid-century, the most famous
of these productions being The Rubal,at of Omar Khayyan (1859) from the Persirn by Edward
Fitzgerald ( 1809-83).
The Romantic ideology which saw language as the embodiment of rhe people who spoke it
affectedùe most cnlightenedof the colonisersând tradcrs.There was considerabletrrnslation ano
commcntary on thc Hindu Scripturcs,[or instancc.For some colonisersfaccd with colonial wars
such translationwas an esscntialtool in gcning to know the cultural facrorsbehind ùe problems.
Thus in New Zealandduring the 1840sthe Govemor,Sir Ceorge Crey, set about collecringMaori
legends and having them translxtedthcm inio English as essentialto communicaringwith the
Maoris and getting ân undcrsl.anding
of the cultural poinrs ar issue.The British Coloniat Office
had a number of informal languagctraining programsbitsedon f,eldwork. The logical result of
this son of policy was the foundingol LhcSchoolof Oricnraland Africrn Studics in 1916 within
the University of London. Onc of its tasks was to anrlysc the languagesand rraditionsof ùe
peoplesof British Empire.
Where wars and other changesof owncrshipfoistcd ncw coloniserson the original colonisers,
the situationbecamecomplicated.Nonh America is a casc in point. Tcnsiors b€tweenFrcnch and
English, and English and SpanishanrcdarcEnglish cxpansionin Nonh ,,\mcrica.The fall of pon-
Royal in l7l0 occrlsioncda fair amounLof triinslation.It would secm that at Lhccapitulationitself
bilingual officers workcd as volunlccrtrrnslrtors- thcrc is ample evi<Jencc
that a lrrge numbcr oI

131
t0 MISSIÔNARIESETC.

Briùsh offlcers in the Nonh-Amcricantheatreof operaljonsspokc Frenchwell enough to

following (1720-55)
( l7l0-20) and thc civil administration
interpret.The militâry government
gavear ofJicialrole to translation
in New BrunswickandNova Scotia,the dominantfigurebcing
Paul Mascarène(1685-1760).Translaûonfrom and to Indiar languagesseemsto rcmain a French
prerogarve.
Apan from this there is very little rccord of anythingbeyondad-hoctrarslationbefore t}le
British takeoverof Canadâin 1759,the LouisianaPurchase
of 1803,and Americanexpansion
into the Spanishterritoricsthat now make up partsof Rorida,Texasand Califomia.But once
therewerenew populations a trarslationprofcssion
to be administercd was graduallyformalised.
The Englishauthorities
in Canadareactedto their new responsibilities
underthe Treatyof Paris
(1763) by exploitingan unofficial translationnetwork which includednewspapen(like 7âe
Gazette)and bilingual oflicials. fte need for an officially organisedtranslationprofessionwas
madeclerr in 1774whenthe FrenchDroit civil was reestablishcd
in Québec.Delisle1987gives
a complelechronologyof the frequcntlegisladonscttingup rranslation
betweenFrenchand
English h nineteenth-century
Canada,and of the gradual evolution of professionalranslation
Though there is relatively frequentlegislarionon transladonof official documÉrs
organisations.
(1793,1841,1873,1867,1884)recruitrnent of translatorsremainedprenyhaphazxrd. There was
dennitely a cadre of translatorsaftachedto the legistativebodies in Canadaand later in the
Provinceof Québec,alùough on a numberof occasionstranslationwas contractedout (for
examplein 1875).In 1884the Houseof Commonsset up a translationserviceunderthe direction
of Achilte FÉche e (DAîES).
The Pressplayeda very imponurtrolc. In wasio thcmûratthe variousCanadian
governments
(and also the govemcmentof Louisiana)tumed u,hcn they nccdcdtranslatos.Not all the
or publishers
newspapers concemcdwcrc nonh of the Bordcr.Thcrcwas considerable
marketfor
English translationsof Canadian-French
materialin the New York Citizen,the New York World
and by D. Appletonand Company.Tlcre are somc parallclsto this situationin other British
territorieslike India, with newspapcrs
in Bombayand Calcuttâin panicularplaying a rather
lmponanrpan.
The N{editerranean
basinhasbccn a llotbedof lranslation
sincethe earliesttimesiand under
the OnomanEmpirethe Levantinemultilinguâlwiù a goodcye to moneybecamea Iegend.Little
of this translation
skill was formallytaughras multilingualism
was a normalconditionof life.
was an administrative
Translation ncccssityin the multilingualempiresof the nineteenth
century.
Both the Austro-Hungarian
Empirc and the Russiandepcndcdon translation
for their cohesion,
was tâkc for grantcdin largcscctorof socicty.In Austrir-Hung.rry
and lhc abilityto translate the
dominantlanguagcwas Cerman,and at lcasrpan of ùe socialunrcstlhat lcd up to the First
World War camefrom liurguageminonties.ln RussiaLhestandardlanguage
was Russian,and

t+o
 MISSIONARIIS ETC.

again there is evidenceof widc-spreadranslaùon. In the aftermathof twenticth-century

countries
decolonialisation begilnsct.ting progrirmmes
up translation to dealwith the adminstrative
problemsposedby bilingualpopulations.
The pattemvariesimmensely.
The FederalBurcauof
datesfrom 1938,and is administered
Translations by the Secretary
of Snte. The storyof ofticial
translationin Quebecis complicxtcdby the sensethat ths minori(y had to defenditself against
ùe majority.Pania]lyas a resultof thc Royal Commissionon Bilingualismand Biculturalism
(1963-69),the provinces
setup trans)alion
Bureausduringthc 1970and i980s.in lndia thereis a
specialDepartrnent
of OfficialLanguages
underthc Ministryof HomeAffain, a set-upnot unlike
lhe Canadian;in New Zealandorganised was al lirst underthe Dcpanmentof Maori
translation
AffaiB, then becarnean independent
organisationas tlade forced interestto spreadto European
and Far Eastem languages;in South Africa the State Langlages Service is a division of the
Depanmentof NationalEducation,
anddealsâlmostexclusivelywith English,Afrikaansandother
Eurcpeanlangages.Other nadonshad followed thc Canadianpattem of forming independent
bureauswithintheCivil Scrvice.
translation

SectionBibliography
CarnbridgeHistory of the Bible lll. 383-107
Carnon, Garland. 1987."Sir William Jonesand Applied Linguistics" Papers in the History of
Linguisrics.
ed. H- Aarsleff,L.C. KeUy,H.J.Nicderehe.
Amsterdam:
Benjamins,
379-89
Delisle, Jean. 1975.lzs interprètessousle régimefrançais (1534-1760).Thèse. Univenité de
Monféal.
-. 1987.La traductionau Canada1531-1984. Ottrwa:Les Presses
de I'Univenitéd'Ottawa
1977."L^ traduction
Gouin,Jacques. au Canada
de 1791-1867".
Meta22,26-32
Guice,StephenA. 1987."Early New EnglandMissionaryLinguistics".Papersin the Historyof
Linguistics.
ed. H. Aanleff,L.G. KeUy,H.J.Niederehe.
Amsterdam: 223-232
Benjamins.

N.B. Meta 22.1 is entircly devotcd to thc history of translationin Canada.For informationon
ol.hercountries,entriesin the Ycarbooksundcr "Languagcs"givcs some information.

tgt
G. TWENTIETH CENTURY

The demandsplacedon translation not.

during the twcntiethcenturybroughtdiversilication:
changc,bur therewerenew kindsof work. Afrcr
only did the uadirionalaclivitiesof tnn-slalion
the developmentof talking films, the development
of dubbingwas only a matter of time.
Commercialtranslations,from product specificationsto advenisingbccameimponant, and the
various wars this century has suffcrcd, both Cold and Hot, have increaseddcmands on
intelligencework. One obviousrcsull is ùre creationof spccialitieslike terminologistand
documentalistard of specialist - simultaneous
lypesof interpretation intcrprctation,for instance,
is only possiblewith audioequipment
linkingthe intcrprctcr's
boothto speaker
andhearer-
Until the nrst World War pmcticallyeverytranslator his
bccameso by accident,or because
pmfession,as writer,administrâtor,
scientjst, rcquiredit of him. Though/e traducteur
churchman,
malgré lui is still not unusual,the twentiethcenturyhasseenthe rise of the translatingprofession.
One of the reasonsfor this is tle shcervolumeof translation
work modemlife occasions.
The
fina1demiseof Latin as an intemational
scientificlangage,the rise of multilingualsutes and
empires,improved intemationalcommunicationand trade,wars, social unrcst among linguistic
minorities,all have createdthe needfor organiscdtranslation.The trigger seemsto havebeenthe
foundingof the Leagueof Narionsin l9l8 whichrclicdon trànslators
for its efficiency.Demand
for translatorsclearly oulrân supply. There does not seem to be much record of fanslators
organisingthemselvesinto commercialfirms or pmfcssionalorganisationsbefore the lwentieth
century. Therc is a fairly complete list of twentieth-centuryorganisationsin Picken 1983.
Intemationalorganisations(e.g. FIT) do not seem to anledatethe SecondWorld War. Their
concems,and thoseof the nationrlassociadons, of profcssional
hve bcento draw up standards
conduct,conditionsof work, and a.lsoto set abouteducating
ùe clienl.as to whattranslators
can
do and should be asked to do. One important role has risen from the assumptionthat the
professional
instiruteshavea duty to cenificâtetheirmembersand theirqualifications
to do so be
recognised
in law.
Specialised phenomenon.
translatortmining is also a twenticLh-cenury Until the 1940sthe
methodin vogre in the schools(the"Grammar-translation
language-teaching Method"meantthat
one pickedup translation
techriqucsâlongùe way. Translationtrainingcomesfirst in in-house
indccdone of the flncsttri]nslaùon
operations: schoolsin thc wôrld is srill run by the electronics
firm,Philips,in Holland.Professional
trainingcourseswerefoundedspasmodically
duringthe fint
half of the century.In Canada,for instance,
the first.professional
couneswerc institutedat t'he
Univenity of Ottawa in 19361and in l9-1-1the /nsrirarde Traducti.onwas foundcdat the
(for thc wholescqucncc
Univcrsiléde N'lonlréal of this development
in CanadaseeDelisle1987).
At tie sametime a largenumberof ûansliuionschoolswerefoundedin Europeand ÙIc United

ti*t_
 TWENTIETH CENTURY I

States. A list of these is given in Pickcn 1983. The North Amcrican pattem was to give
qualilicationsof degree sntus - the Europcirnsituationvaries - some give dcgrees,some give
professionaldiplomas.
Teaching demandsrheory. It is convenientif stightly mislexding to class approachesto the
task as "literary" or "linguistic": fsw theories are one or the other. To my mind rhe mosr
comprehensive theory of translation bcfore thc twenticrh ccntury was Ceorge Campbell's, which
covered both literary and linguistic aspccts. The nineteenrh cenrury, though overflowing with
anistic theoriesof translation,wirs notilbly light on idcàsrhar could shed light on how lo reâchir.
And few modem theories come up to the breadtï and wisdom of Campbell's. Among direct
applicationsof individual linguistic ûIcoricsto tmnslâtionare J.C. Càtford's A Linguistic Theory
of Translation (1965) and Eugene Nida's Toward. a Science of Translating (1964). Whcrher
intentionallyor not, ChârlesBally and llis followcrs look bâck to Bârreuxwith a discoune-based
theory of translation operations.AdmiLtcdly it docs pick up some of the contrastivework of
Georg von der Gabelentz (late ninclccnth century),but in the form dcveloped in Moûrréal by
Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelner (Stylistique comparée d.ufrançais et de I'anglais, 1958) it
bears very clearly the marks of Lhe French classical tradition It has b€en applied to otler
languages:the pioneeringwork of Alben Malblanc(1944/1968)has been followed by applications
to German and English transla on by R. 114Junplt (Die UebersetzungNatunvissenschaîtlicller
und Technischer Literatur, 196l). Their work hæ been dcveloped funher by a group of
researchen arcund l'École supérieure des inl.erpÈteset traducteurs in Pads including Jacqueline
Guillemin-Flescher nd Danielle Seleskovitch. Developing another aspect of srylistique comparée
Maurice Pergnierput forward theoriesof translationbasedon responsespeculiar to societies.
Vr'ith the formation of the School of Prrgue in rhe late 1920s, translation ùreory hrd come
under Lhc influenceof semiotics,thc scicnceof signs.In rhe form developedby Roman Jakobson
it takcs over certâin aspectsof hermcncutics.In this form, and tile thcorics of Ljudskanovand
Russian ùeorists, it createsa bridge with goal-orientcdliterary translation.There has also been
some input from psycho-analysis.
Such approachesrcgard the translationas a text in ùe same
light as the original, and strictly linguistic thcorics of translation become specifrcationsof
operanons.
Work from Prague also crossedwith thc increasinglyimponant licld of discoune analysis.
And from carly work by Nils Enkvist thcre came imponant developmcnrsin discoune-baæd
approachesto contrastivelinguistics,c.g. rhe work of R.K. Hanmann. For lhe moment therewas
little communicaiion wiih the gencrrl run of literrry theorisrs,who will be mcntioned nexr
chaptcr.
The other imponanl rwcnlictl)-ccntu
ry dcvclopntcnrwas lcxicogrlphy. Dictionary producrton
became a twenficth-centuryindustry and from lic lcssonslcamt by rhe Nav English Dictionary

w
 TWENTIFTH CENTURY I

and the Robert group in Francebilingurl lcxicographybccamesomewhatsurer,though no less of

a trap for tie unwary translator

Section Bibliography
Boyer, Mildred V. 1982. "On Translation and Its Uses" Teaching Translarion through Literature
2,3-11
Brower, R. 1959. On Translation. Cambridge, Mass.: Haward
Cary, E. 1956. Lt Traduction dans le monde moderne. Genève: Georg
Fry, Paul. 1983. The Reach of Criticisrn. New Haven: Yale
Holmes, JamesS. et al. (eds.) 1978. Literature and Translation. Leuven: ACCO
Ladmiral, Jean-René.7979. Traduire. Tlftorèmes pour La traductior. Paris: Payot
Lefeverc,André. 1980." The Srareof rhe An". in Zubcr 1980: 153-61
Meschonnic, Henri. 1973. Pour la poétique 11.Paris: Callimard
Mounin, G. 1976. Linguistique et traduction- Bruxellcs: Desort & Mardaga Picken, Catriona.
1983. The Trarslator's Handbook. London: Aslib.
Smith, P. 1982. '"Ihe Will ro Post-Modemism". Dalioasie Reyieh, 62, 1U-22
van Slyne et al. 1983. Beuer Translation for Better Communication.Oxford: Pergamon
Zuber, O. (ed.) 1980. The Languages of Theatre. Oxford: Pergamon

Week 1l Religious and Technical Translation

Twentieth-century Bible translation has been shapcd by a number of needs not unlike those
experiencedby the translaton of the sixtccnth century. Thc dominant motivation has been the
increasinglyurgent need to rcplacc thc grcat Europcan-language
translationsof the pasr by up-to-
date versions.This has been only panially due to tle acknowledgedarchaismof the old versions:
the eighteenth and nineteenth century advances in Biblical textual scholarship and criticism have
caused close examination of the originals and impugncd ùe basis of many passagesin the
vemaculartexts. This has coincided with two contradictorymovements- the centripetalforcc of
ecumenismwhich has increasedprcssurcstowards a Bible common to all religions based on the
Bible, and the centrifugal forces crcatcd by new typcs of Christianand Jewish fundamentalism.
The growing imponanceof mâss mcdia has also meant that the written word has lost some of its
relevanceas a repositoryof culturi valucs. The rcsult.is that ûle stylesof Scriptural translation
have changed,the remote"formal" Biblical style bcing abandonedin favour of a more colloquial
stylc in both Biblical and liturgical work.
In English the idea of "Scripture for the Common Man" begirs wirh The Bible in Modern
Englkh (1903) by Ferrar Fenton, a London businessman.Then cufic The Twentieth-Century New

'42r
ll TWENTIÊTH CE}{TURY I RELICIOUS/TECH\.ICAL

Testament (190a) and The New Testament:A New Translation by J.B. Phillips in 1913, with the
Old Testamcnt follorving in 1924. In the Unitcd States Ihe New Testament:An Ameri.can
Translation by Edgar l. Coodspeedappearedin 1923. In l93l a venion of the Old Testamentby
Powis Smilh and others was printed with Coodsp€ed the whole bcing known as The Bible: An
American Trarslation. The most famous of these English vcrsions was that by ,r.8. Phi ips in
1958.The Penguin Classicsunder Bctty Radice even publisheda version of the Gospclsby E V.
Rleu, which includesan interestingprefaceon translation.
These were all private venturcs,which is not to impugn their scholanhip.Among "official
vcrsions" in English the most notablc Protesunt vcrsions are the American RevisedStandard
Version (1952) from the Intemadonal Council for Rcligious Education, and the British /Vel,
English Bible (1961) initiatedby ùe Anglican Church but evenruallya joint effort from most of
the main-streamProtesÉnt denominaùonswith later on a printing authorisedby thc Catholic
Church. On the Catholic side the \vesrminsterBible began publicarion in 1913, Monsignor Ronald
Krox's version was publishedin its entirety in 1949, and was supenedcdby the JerusalemBible
in 1966.Among the JewishBibles in English were The Holy Scripturesby t}tc Jewish Publication
Society in 1917. All of these,except the Knox Bible werc taken fmm the original languages.The
Knox is the last imponant version from the Vulgatc, and it was done with a close eye on tie
Greek and the Hebrew texls.
Probably the best of the modem vcnions is the Frcnch Bible de Jérusalem(1948-54)from the
Dominican Ecole biblique de Jérusalcm.This is remarkable both for its scholarship and for its
care for French style. For example, the psalms were given to the poeL Raymond Schwab. Using a
technique familiar from people like Edward Fiugerald and Ezra Pound, he worked from a word-
for-word crib, putting it into dccentFrenchin consultationwirh the rest of the tcam. Thc English
JerusalemBible (1966) comes from thc sâme tcam, and therc is also a Spanishtranslationfrom
them (1975). Other imponant modcm Bibles are be Spanishvenions of Nâcar-Colunga(1941)
and Bover-Cantera(1957). Like ûrc English and Frcnch Bibles mentioned above thcse had
intemationaldistribution,being uscd widcly in othcr Spanish-speaking
count.ries.The accidents
tilat could affect Bible trarslation are illusûated by the Catâlan venion from the Benedictinc
lvlonâsteryat MonBerrat.This beganpublication in 1926, but rhe work wæ suspendedbetween
1936 and 1950 by the anti-Catalanpoliciesof tie Franco govemment.The oddestventureof the
lot wâs a new Laûn versionof the Psrlms authorisedfor usc in the Divine Office bv PoDePius
XII in 1945. Circumstances
madeir life shon-
The most notable Jewish bible translators,mairùy becauseof rhcir very telling and coherent
ogrn, Martin Auôer (1878-
description,of their attitudc to translationwerc the philosophcr-theol
1965) and Franz Rosenzweig(1886-1929),imponant for thcir Ucber einer NeuererVerdeutschung
der heilige Schrtft IOn a New Tran.shtion of Holy Scripture), thc preface to ùeir Cerman Bible

llJ
 TWENTIETI CEN'IURY I REUGIOUSÆECHMCAL

pubLished1926-1938.Their principlcs wcrc taken t)p by Heni Meschomic (1932) in France, and
applicd to secular translation as well.
On the liturgical side the Roman Crholic and various Orthodox churches produced bilingual
service books, and some unilingual. Liturgical reforms following the work of Pope Pius X had
encouragedthe production of such books, and a very large number of missals of various states of
completenesswere printcd. In English undoubtcdly one of the most imponant was Joseph F.
Stedman'sMy SundayMissal (\938) producedchcaply and kcpt in continuouspublicationwith all
the publicity American publishing houscsare capablcof. A landmark in this type of publication
was The Missal in Latin and English (1919) edited by l. O'Connell and H.P.R. Finberg wtLh the
scriptural passagesfrom Knox's Biblc. Frcnch Missals tcnded to rcflect loca.l liturgical practice by
including Vespers.
There were also a few translations of the Divine Office for rhe laity and cenain religious
commrnities reflecting the ancient PrimeB and othcr prayer books of thc early sixteenth century.
These were usually unilingual. Onc of tlte most intcresting of these is Byzantine Daily Worship
(1969) translated from the Greek Horologîon (Breviary) and the ancient lirurgy of St John
Chrysostom for the Greek Uniate community worldwide. In this ecumenical age it bears an
appreciative note from the Patriarch oI Constantinople.The Anglican Church continued translating
the Book of CommonPrayer, the languagescven including Irish (1938). Jewish bilingual vcrsrons
of the synagogue liturgies and private prayers go back a considerablc time, at least to the
sixteenth century. However as Reform Jews began to worship in the local vemaculars, unilingual
service books are published about rhe midle of the tweôtieth century.
This work had been notably private, being controlled only after the fact by issuing
ecclesiasticalpermission to publish. In the lirurgical reform following Vatrcan II National
Commissionswere set up to see to translationof thc liturgy into the vemaculars.Unlike previous
work this involved not only liturgics in which lay people took pan, but also "professional
linrrgies" like thc Divine Office. In the caseof inremarionallanguages,Iike English, Frcnch and
Germanthere were intemationalcommissionsthat camc to some agreemcnton languagestandards
and other matteN. A typical document is the Roman Catholic lnsrruction on the Translation of
Sacred Texts (1969).This work bccamcccumenicalwhcn tic Anglican Communion producedthe
AlternativeService3ook, to be used alongsidethc traditionrl Book of Common Prayer tn 1980.
The various Churchescooperatedin vcrsions of common texts like the Creeds, rhe Gloria m
excelsis Deo, etc.
Except for the solo effons, Biblical and lirurgical work revened to tÏc pattem set by rhe
Authorised Venion of 1611. Translaûon teams covering all necessarytalcnLs,from textual
criticism, to wntjng skills were formed, rogctier wirh rhe t)?c of revisingpmel ùat is familiar to
any professionaltranslator.Considcringthat laymcn wcre involved heavily for thc lirst trme,

t.6
 TWENNET}ICLNTURYI REUCIOUSÆECIIMCAL

much imponancewas laid on exegcticaladviceto the trrnslâtors.The Roman Catholic vemacular

liturgies were used for the llrst time on tlle First Sundayin Advcnt, 1969.
There is so much technicaltranslaliônlhat it becomesanonymous.Intcmational markes for
boti knowledge and producs dcmandcdavailabilityof translators.Thcrc is no recordof when thc
first firm of translatorsbcgantaking in work. I doubt whethcr it anledatcsthe lwendeth century.
The old style of letting translationwork out to freelance writers, which had begun on a large
scaie during the eighteenthcentury conlinues. Private firms began to follow thc lead of
government depanments and create thcir own translation scctions to translate ever)'thing from
technicalrcportsto publicity and directionson how to use thc firm's products.
the productionand updatingof technicaldictionaries,including the
This work has necessitated
various electmnic term banks all ovcr the world. Thcre is also a growing body of theory of
technicaltranslation,wit}I some att'cmptto relrte it to thc mainstreamliterary and rcligious work,
cf the work of Jean Maillot, Isidore Pincltuck, etc.

LUKE, xvii.ll-19 )G,ROX from JerusalcmBibles

[cf. Lemaistrcde Saci,GeorgeCampbcll,above]

17 rr L'ÊVÀNGILE SELON SAIN.I LUC

Lcs dix lépreux.

rrOr, commc il tâisairrourc vers
]érusalcm, il
pessaaux con6ns dc la Srmaric ct d,i h Galiléc,.
r r . \ s o nc n r r e cd r n s u n v i l h H c ,d l x l è D r c u xv l n r c n r
Lv 13.r-a6 à sâ r.nconrrc. Sc rcnrnr à àisrrncc,Itrls élcvarcnr
la voir: "Jésus, Ntaitrc, dircnt-ils, aic pitié dc
)lt I . nou3." r'Â ccrtcvuc, il lcur dit: "Àllcz.ous mon-
trc. aur prêrrcs." Pcndant qu'ils y rll:icnr, ils
f u r c n r g u è r i s .' r L ' u n d ' c n r r c c u r , v o v r n r g u ' i l
âvair éré gué!i, rcvint sut sês pas cn glorilianr
D i c u r h . r u r ev o i : r ' . e tr e l e r : a u i p i c d s à c J c s u s .
l c v r s à g c( o n t r cr c r r c .c n l c r . m c r c i r n c O
. r, c Ërrit
un Samrrirain.rlPrco?nch parolc, Jésuslui dit:
lOll+ 'Est-ce quc tous les dix n'ont p.rs
éré grcrrs ?
Lcs ocui rutrcs, ou soor,ils? ull oc s'cs1 donc
r l o u v ep o u r r c v e n i rr c n d r cg -"l o i r c i D i c u q u c c c r
ét'lngcil" rtPuis il lui dit : Rclèvc-tor, pars; ra

Th. ten lep€rs

Now on thc wayto Jerusalem h e t r a v e l l e da l o n gt h e b o r d e rb e t w e e nS r m a r i À l l
a n d C a l i l e c . ' . A s h e e n t € r e do n e o [ t h e v i l l a g e st,e n l e p e r sc : l m e t o m e e t h i m . l r
lr They stood some way off .and called to him, 'Jesus!Nlaster! Take pity on us.'
,a W h € n h e s a w t h e m h e s a i d , C o a n d s h o w y o u r s e l v €tso l h e p r i c s ( s 'N . owas they
rr were going alvay rhey were cleansed. 'FindinB himself cured, one of them
r6 lurned back praisingCod at (he lop ol his voicc .and threw himself at the fee(
r7 o i J e s u sa n d t h a n k e dh i m . T h e m a n w a s a S a m a f l t t n . . T h i s m a d e J e s u ss a y ,
'Were
,s n o t a l l l e n m a d ec l e a n ?T h e o t h e r n i n e ,w h e r ea r e t h e y J . l t s e e m st h a t n o
rt one has come back to give prarseto Cod, exaeptthis foreignÈr.''Afld he srid ro
t h e m a n , ' S t a n du p a n d g o o n y o u r w a y . Y o u r f a i ! h h a ss a v € dy ô u .

^/o f. r {-ç

t+1
TWENTIETH CENTURY U

\Yeek 12 Litemry Translation

To some extent literary translation remains what it had traditionally bcen in Europe, a
searching apprenliceship for the creative writer. But under the pressureof changes in education it
diversined:translationfrom Classicalliteraturescontinued,but besidefanslations for the reader's
recrellion grew up translationsto hclp sludcnts:in English-speal:ing
countriesthe Loeb editions
from Hârvard Univcrsity Press,and in Frenchùc Editions Budé. Translâûonbegan to acquirc is
own impressarios:one of the most imponant was Belly Radice(1912-85),a classicalscholar,and
excellent translator in her own right who was editor of the Penguin C'lassics.Publishers began to
commision translationsfrom modem languâgcsand to go for the mass market. Thus beside
serious authors rccognised as great literature that had to be translÂtcdfor the good of the receptor
public (e.g. Stuart Cilben on Camus, Sheila Fischman on N4arie-CIaireBlais and other Canâdian-
French authors, or lean Simard on Hugh Maclennan), there grew up a transladon trade in
popular fiction: for exarnple Agatha Christie, Georges Simenon, have been heavily ranslated into
other languages.The importance of such trânslation is recogniscd by provisions in national and
intcmaIiona]copyright convendons.
It took a while for bilingual countriesto recognisethe imponanceof litcrary translrtion:oddly
enough this was even more difficult when the minority languagehad some intemadonal prestige.
Following cenain rccommendationsby the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism,
the CanadianSecretaryof Statc set up a number of programsto encouragetranslationbcrwcen
French and English, offcring both translatorfees and publicationsubsidies.Thc books concemcd
were either literary works, or books on thc soci:rlsciencesand historv-
In genÈralliterary trarsiatorstook as much noticc of linguistictheoristsas ùc linguists took of
ûe Iitcrary people: not really bad manncrsor obscurantismbur a vivid illustration of how multi-
facetted translation is. German translationtheory, whcther still in the Romantic tradition or
reacting against it, still lay under the Romantic shadow. It must be emphasisedthat tiese
translatorslook for grantedthat the properstateof languagewas its communicativeuse. Classical
scholars like Wolfgang Scfudewalt (t90G7.1) had dcveloped rhe hermeneuric aspects of
translâtiontheory, drawing on the tremc that ù)e translatorunderwentan experienceparallel to
that of thc original autior whilc trûnslaûng.Thus the vesion, while necessarily different,
continuedthe life of the original. Vital to this mode of thoughtwas a reversalin status between
lârguage and translation.Hence l-tlcy rcgardcdlranslationas thc ccntre of languagc behavrour,
becluse in face-to-facercaction onc "translttcs" the mc:rningof onc's in[erlocutor into "one's
own meaning"and "one's own mcrning" is translatcdin [um. Thus once again fanslation bccame

ff1
1,) TWEN"TTETH
CL\TURY tr

a branch of rhetoric, and grammatical analysis was seen as ilTelevant. One funher bone of
contentionbetwcenlinguist and literary person was the sLaNsof the linguistic sign. Where most
linguis(s were convinced by Saussure'srcworking of the traditionâl Anstotelian model of
signifant and signifé. an imponant group of German scholars headed by Karl Vossler denied that
rhis division was entirely just to the rcality of language.They regarded the form of language as
an aspect of its meaning, and as complctcly inseparablefrom it. Hence the emphasis,panicularly
in the Cerman tradition,on keepingthe poetic form of a verseoriginal.
One vitxUy imponant devclopmcnt of this theory was the work of lValter Benjamin (1892'
1940), which emphasisesthe form of languageover its content. This extrcmely symbolist and
formalist view of language was admircd but had very few nkers. Yet it is essential in the
developmentof Ezra Pound (1888-1972)and Yves Bonnefoy (i923-) as translators,though it is
doubtful that ihey knew of the work of Benjamin. Bonnefoy is also interesting in that he is one
bridge between linguist and literrry writer on translâtion. Another important bridge was the
Russianlinguist,Roman Jakobson,whosc reputationas a linguist did not preventhim from doing
extremely perceptive work on poetics and translation. In a sense this concentration on text was
one way of integrating linguistic and lirerary appmacheswithour falling inro the Romantic trap of
i(môri n c ôr} rltia\nc

The emphasison the activity of the translatoras both readerand producer,as the "middle
man" betweenthe author and the new public was of panicular interestto EastemEuropean
theorisrs,especiallytiose influencedby the Schoolof Prague.One of the most importanttrooksin
this streamwasDie literarischeÙbersenungby Jii Levy (1969).Theoriss of this schooltrcaEd
translationas an applicationof semiotics,the generâlwork of Ljudskrnov bearinga closekinship
ntedwritingsof Etim Etkind.
to the more literary-orie
In general,ùough, literarytrarslatorsprcferrcdto get on with ùe job axd srikc a balance
betweenreaderand author.This was rccogniscdby Even-Zohar'sconceptof the "polysystem",
what André Lefeverewas to call " thc canonisedsystem".The "polysysrcm"is Ùresystematic
networt of tasteand literÂrymodelsinto which translationmustbe llttcd.Litcratureitself is only
part of this systemwhich fits creativewridng into thc whole gamutof ways in which a given
Beingbirscdon tastc,thc polysystem
societywill useits Ianguages. is fluid,whichexplainswhy a
translationis neverdefinitive,quite apan from what happensto its reputationæ the language
evolves.
Translationof litcraturebcing a literery craft tircre are a large numberof critical mctaphors
it. The Romandcfiguresof light, criticism,and the rcststill remain.Equdly
usedto characterise
imponant in ûre writings of Cecil Day Lcwis (19U-12), for example,is the figure of
"fricndship",a rraditionalmetaphorthrt gocs back to thc Rcnaissanceat least.Othcrtranslators
take up the lladiûona]idcaof bcing"lhc othcr self' of ùc auùtor.Thcrearc vcry fcw disscnteIs

150
 TWENTIE'|II CE\TURY II POr,liD

from this opinion: Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)is one, who regardsthe translatoras the
servantof the author.ln modemtheory"correclness",norrns,and "truth" have becomeproblems
which separatethis tlpe of translationfrom lechnicd work, and the conflict betwcengrammarand
discourse-based hasbecomeratheracule,in the way it was to the seventeenlh-century
approaches
ator.
tra.nsl

Pound,Ezra (1888-1972)
Poet,LiteraryCritic and Writer
Professor
1906-7Assistant of Romance at a smallPennsylvania
Languages College
1907Goesto Europe
For the new rhiny or so yern in additon!o his own writing carceractsas agcnt,publicist
and fatherconfcssorto youngcrpocts
1912Activein the Imagistmovement
1940-43Broadcæts
for the ItalianCovemment
1946-58Connnedto St Elizabeth'sHospitalfor the Criminally Insane
1959Rerumsro Imly

Translations
(from the Anglo-Saxon)
1912Seafarer
1915 Cathay(from the Chineseof Li Po
1917-70Cantos(fromthe Inlian of Cavalcanti)
An immensenumberof fmslationsfrom lvric oocis from Old Frenchand othermcdieval
languages,and from Latin.

Theory
Thoughhe has no theoretical
writingon translation
as such apan from his discussions
of other
it is a constantsubjectin Pound'sletters,panicularlyùose to ly.fLD. Rouse,andin
translators,
his criticalessaysas collected
by HughKemer ard T.S.Eliot.

CulturalBackground
Englishwritersinvolvcdin translation,
Of aU the rwentieh-century Poundis by far the most
original and the most imponant.Thoughhis views of translationhave their rootspaniallyin
they arc also parallelwiLhmodcmcommunication
Romanticism, theorywhich analyses
how the
plays an active pan in determiningwhat ils contentis:
rcceptorof an ac[ of communication
readingis an activeprocessof creation,
not merelya passivereceptionof communication.
As he

lst
 TWENTIETHCE\TLRY II

,/
was in the rhick of the Symbolistmovcmenthe hcld thatflthe meaningof a linguistic sign is not
merely Saussure'ssignifié,but also thc shapcof the word itself. It is also not unlikely that many
of his ideas on interprctationcame from his medieval srudies:at dme he reads vcry like thc
medieval scripture scholars who saw the absolutenecessityof proceeding beyond the litcral
meaningof Scriprureif it has to have any spiritualpower.

tYhy did Pound Translate?

In Pound's view thc fanslator is an intermediary bctwcen author and reader. He is very aware
of ùe translator's role as receptor of the original author's work, and transmitter into the target
language. He claims that translatorsmust see to it that a piece of translatedliterature is "news" in
that translationwas the act of teachingwhat the original was, not merely adapting it to the target
culfure. It is signincant that he docs not count his Homage to Propertius as a translation. Like
Cowley and the ancient poets, Pound mrkes a strong distinction berween ûansladon and the son
of reworking at the heart of imitative composilion:rranslaLion
con[inuesrhe life of the original,
while imitation creates another work altogether.
The translâtor must "cast light" on his original. I would think that ùis echo of German
?
Romanlicismnd its Erkl{lng is quite delibcrare.In achievingthis goal the ûanslator'snrst
responsibilityis "to keepthe narrativcflow", in othcr wordspreservethe cohesionof the original,
its pace,and the peculiarites betwecnits parts.The secondelemcnthe buildson
of connection
this, panicuiarly imponant in a pocnt from anotherpcriod or from outsidethe Eumpeancultural
area,is leadingthe readerroundthe poemand its ramifications.
In his discussionsof this aspectof thc task Poundcomesvery close to the theoriesof
"impliedreader"that havesurfacedin the last decade.
To a writtcndocumenta readerwill bnng
his "mental baggage"iand in the caseof a translrtionthe mentalbaggagewill differ quite
radicallyfrom that of the rerderof the translarion. attitudes,what is taken
Culturalbackground,
for grantedwill all differ. To meel this problcmtbe translatorfrndshimself doing a "translarion
of accompaniment"
as a way of easinghis readcninto the originâI.Without using the word,
Poundviews tnnslationas a prccessof "hcrmcneutics"
by whichùe translatorsceksoul hidden
rneanings
by a mixfureof inruitionandknowledge,
oneactingas a checkon the other.

How did Pound Translate?

To prevent translation degeneratinginto the licencc of the seventeenthand eighreenth
centuries,Pound, a good Symbolist, rcgards the shape of rhe texl as pan of its meaning. He
rcvives the ancient thcory that evcry idca or conccpt has its own rppropriatesound. He has the
rhctorician'snot the grammarirn'sapprorch to tcxt: rdaptationto anoûrerrcadcnhip is controlled
by an inuition of what lhc implicationsof sound and meaning arc in both source and target

151
 CINTURYtr
TWENTIETII rOUND

languages.His focusthen is on "wot a man means"ratherthan "wot a marlsez".

is usuallyimpossible,
He remarkslhat a literal translation but that here are many ways of
comingto the meaningof an original,ondhat ùere is no suchthing asone "corect version".In
essence a good translaÛon
is functionaUy to the original,andorùy formallyequivalent
equivalent
if it can be. poundrerumsto an old problemmootedby Cicero:that a perceptive authorwill fill
up awkwardnesses in his sentenceswith "blank words",which are therefor rhythmicpurposes
but to compensate
as suchthey will only clutterup ùe translaLion,
only. If translated for Ùleir
removal,other "blank words" approprittcto the new language,must be put in. The questionis
must searchbclow lhe surfaceof his text to pull out irs
only partiallylinguistic:a translator
whatcanbe keptor sacrificed.
variouslayersof meaningto asscss
There are a few fragmennryCommcnts most Of them frOmÛte user'spoint Of
on languagc,
for not realisingthÂtin a
He criticisesBrowning,for inslance,
view ratherthenthe grammarian's.
non-inflected tangu4e- tit<eEnglish,perturbations of
in scntenccordcr are not really equivalents
similarcomposition techniquesin Latin and Greek.He is very firm ùat grammaris something to
be sacrificedif the rhctoricand mcaningof the targcttcxt demandsit. Ratherthm taking"form"
to be a literaryconcept(form of stanzr,vene, etc.),he looks on "form" as ùe combinarion of
senseand soundpeculiarto a languagc, mustaim for if he is to bring
and it is this tic translator
the meaningacross.

Pocms(1910) lKcnncr 1970:23-4i

From t}le Introductionto ùe CavalcanLi

As for thc vcrscitsclf:I bclicvcin an ukimatc end rbsolurc

rhythm as .I bclicvcin an absolurcsynrbolor mctaplror.Thc
p c r c c p t i oonf t h ci n t c l l c ci scg i v c ni n t h cw q r d ,r l r : rot f r l r cc n r o t i o r :
i n d r cc a d c n c cI t. i s o n l y , r h c n ,i n p c r l c crrl r y t l r njro i r c d r o r h c
pcrlcc word thar rhc two-{bldvisioircarrbc'rccorjcJ.I ..oul.l
l i k c n C u i d à t c a d c u c cr o n o r h i u gl c s sp o r v c r l L tr)l r a r rl i n c i n
DIakc'sdrawire.
p a i n r i n gi h, " c o l o u ri s a l w a y sf i r i r c .[ t m a ym a t c l r l : cc o l o u r
-In
o [ r h c i r r f n i r cs p h c r c bs u , r i r i s i r ra w r y c o r 1 6 n cwi i r ] r r rrrh cf r l m c
a n di t s a p p c a r a n icscm o d i f i c db y t h ci o l o u r sa b o u ti r . T h c l i u ci s
unhlundcd,it mrrks rhc prssrgcof a forcc,it conr.irrLrcs bcyon,J
thclramc.
b c l r c f t h .cr tu c r g yi s b c a u r lyr o l d sr h u sf a r ,r r . r m c l ryh, a r
..Rodiris
a l lo u r i t i c e o s f b c a u t yo f I r r r ca r cj n s o m cw a yc o r r n c c r cwdi t l ro u r
i J r . r so [ s w i l t r r c so sr c J s yl o w c r o [ m o r i o n r, r r J w c c o n s i d cure l v
t b o s Ici n c sw h i c hc o n n o t u c n w i c l d ys l o w r r eisr sr n r o v i n g .
j s p c r l r r p rsh cn r o s p t r i r r r r ol [ a l l r l r i r r gksn o * n r o u r .
, ftfttt.rm
I t r st r : s r cr 1 p o c t r ya r r dm u s i cn r u t u r l l yr,l r c i r n c l o d j cJsc p c n d i n c
o n a v r r i . r r i o n . orfo r r cq u a l j r yr r r d o [ p i r c l r, . r p " . , , u . i y ,. , , , i
c o m r n o n lsya i d ,b u r i f r v c l o o k n r o r ci l u s c l yr " c w i l l i c c r h a t
m u s r ci s ,L y f r r r r l r rcrrr r l l r r sp, r r r cr l r i r l r r nr:l r y r l r r.lr r r ,rJr o r l , i r r g

tg;
t2 TWENTIETII CENTURYtr
POUND

clsc,for tlrc variationof pitch is the varirtionin rhythmsof thc

individsal rtotcs,and harmottytltc b)cndingof thcscvaricd
rhythms.Whco wc know rnorcof ovcrtoncs wc wiil sccthat thc
tcnr;toofcvcrymastcrpiecc is absolutc, aud is cxactlysetby somc
furrlrcrlrw of rhyrhmicaccord.Whcnccir slrouldbc posiblc to
slrowrhrt any givcrrrhythm inrplicsab,rutit a complctcnrusical
forrl-frrguc, sorrata, I crnlot saywhet lorm, but a form,pcrfcct,
cornplctc.llrgo, tbc rhythursct il a linc of ['octrycottttotcs its
s y n r p h o l yç, l r i c h , l r a dr v ca l i t t l cn r o r cs k i l l ,w c c o u l ds c o r cf o r
orclrcstrr.SclLritur, or r:r(hcrirlfJr:thc rhythnrof any pocdclinc
corrcs 1tr>rrclsto ctnotioo-
ft is thc pr-,ct's brrsiucss that this corrcspoudclcc bc cxact,i.c.,
th:rt it Lrctlrc crrrorionwlrich surroundsthc thorrglrrcxprcsscd.
For wlrich cruscI havcsctlrcrcCuido'sown words,tltat tltosc
fcw ofyou rviroc.rrc,rnayrcrd irr thcmtlrcsigrrsofhis gcnius.By
r l r cs a m ct o k c u ,I c o n s i d cC r a r d u c ca i n dA r n o n cb l a s p l r c m o u s
in acccpting thercading
E la di darilak !rcnar I' on
insteadoffollowirrgthosc,nff.which rcad
E ft d,ichrilàI'au trtnarc.

I lrrvc in my trrnslatioostricd to bring ovcr (hc qualidcsof

Cuido! rhythm,uut linc for linc, but to unbody in Ihervholcof
my Englishsomctrrcc of that powerwhich implics(hc man.
Tlrc scicnccof thc rnusicofwords and thc knowlcdgcof rhcir
nrrgicrl powcrshas fallcn away sinccmen invokcd Mithra by
a 5cqucocc of purc ,rowclsotrncls. That thcrcmiglrt bc lcssintcr-
poscdbctwccnthc rcadcrand Cuido, it was my firstintcntionto
p r i n to n l yh i s p o e n r s : r nadu u r r r l r y n r cgdl o z cT
. I r i sh a sn o t b c c n
lr.lcriciblc.I can not rrustrl)c rcrdcrro rcadtllc Italirn lor thc
nrusicrftcrlrchrs rcadthc [inglislrlor thcscnsc.

/{*
 TWENTIETH CENTURY II POUND

on C H A R L EDS. O R L E A N S
EZM POUND
.'...

DIEU! QU'iL LA FAiT

6rru, qu'il la fait bon rcgrrdcr lp. r4o] '
l--l La gracicusc,bonnc et bcllc! Fro^ CharlesD'ô tons
P o u r l c s g r a n sb i c n sg u i s o n rc n c l l c , .
Chlscun çst prtst dc l.t lorrcr. 4 Cod! that mad'sthcr well rcgardhcr,
llow sbcjs sofair and bonny; I
(-lu i sc pourroir ,j'clle lrsscri For drcgrearcharmsthat rrc upon her
T o u i i o u 1 5s a b e l u t Ér e n o u v e l l c . Rcady arcdl folks to rew:.rd her.
D i c u . q r - r ' i Il , t f r i t b o n r c g e r J e r , ] -
Who could pan him from hcr bordcrs
La gr;rfcicuse b ,o n n cc r b c l l el ] ë When spcllsarcalwayrcnewcdon hcr?
' _ Cod!thdt madtt.herwell rcgud hcr,
Prr ,lcçr uc dcl:r ll mer,
How shcis sofeir and bonny.
ù . . es ç a ; ' d l n r c ,n c r l r u r o i s c l l c
Q u i s o i t c r r t o u sb i c n sp r r f r i s r c l l c; From hcrcto thcrcto thc sca'sbordcr,,:', -
C'est un songc que d'y penscr.
Damc nor damsclthcrc'snot any . . . ,.
Dicu, qu'ill Ir frit bon rcqardcrl]
Hath ofperfcctchermsso many. . . ..
Thoughcsofhcr areofdrcam'sordcr:
Codl rhatmadit hcr wcll rcgardhcr.';:1-1

References
The bibliographyon Poundis ratherlarge, and much of it does not distinguishbetweenhis
original work and his trdnslation,a fact signincantin itself. His own statements
on translation,
especiallythe lenersto W.H.D.Rouse,are essentialrcading.
Eliol, T.S. 1954.LiteraryEssays
of Ezra Poand.London:Faber
KeUy 1979:sv. "Pound"
Kenner,Hugh. 1970.The Translatiorsof Êzra Pound.London: Fabet
Mason,H.A. 1963."The Womenof Trachis and,CreativeTrânslation",in J.P. Sullivan(ed.) Ezra
Pound. Hannonds
wonh: Penguin,1970
Steiner1974:sv "Pound"

B enjamin, Ylalter ( I 892-I 940)

Essayist,Writer, LiteraryCritic
1913Fint visit to Paris
cal925 Flirtswiti MarxismandZionism
1933Establishes himselfin Paris:joins FrankfurtInstituteof SocialResearch
l94OCommitssuicidewhilelrying to escap€from Vichy Frarce

155
t2 TW E}ITIETH CFtr\TIJT.YII B L\JAMNi

Translations
1923 Tableauxpnrisieru (Baudclaire)

TheoreticalIVritings
1923The Task of the Translator(Prefaceto above)
Variousoùer cridcal writincs

Cultural Background
ln assessingBenjaminit is imponantto remembcrthat he was a GermanJcw strongly
influencedby Marxism: folk attitudesto langlagepeculiarto both Gcrmanand Jcw permeatedhis
thought.The "German" aspectof his thinkingcamealmostdirectly from Romanlicism:he was an
enthusiastfor Coethe,rnd a very knowlcdgerbleofle at that. The "Jewish" side of his thirùiing is
traccableultimately 1o JewishBiblical tradidon,but it was nlteredtluough the Kabbala,a rather
hereticalslrÀin of linguistic myslicismfrom the lvliddleAges not unlike the linguistic mysticism
we flnd among the seventeenth-century
âlchemists.For both Germanand Jew languagewas the
one force that unified a people that was in one caseunder the nrle of many diverse political
syslems,and in the otler in perpetualexile.To thescelementshe addedan intimateknowledgeof
French Pamassianliterature,a kinship with the sensrôrliÉof the late eighteenthcenturv, and
influencesfrom the ani$ic world of thc earlytwendelhcentury.
His view of languagehas someof the extremecharacteristics
of lhe Symbolist'sview of An
for Art's sake in that Benjamincomesvery close to denying the social relevanceof ianguage.
Benjamin acceptsthât Languageexists independentof Mrn - after all, once an utteranceis
wrirten,it existsin a fom independent.
of its crealor.Funhermore, languageand literature
bccause
are coterminous
actsof creationin the senscalreadydctailcdby Herdcrand his followers,Man
owes his existenceas Man 10 language.
On this point a carefulreadingof HannahArendt's
inroductionro Illutninations
with its dcscription
of the idcologyof thefâneur, and also of his
own essay,"Unpackingmy Library",is verydefinitclyindicated.
For ideologieslike Bcnjamin'sonc has to look at avant-gardc
movemcntsin music and
paintingraûer than at language as we klrow ùem. Equallyimponantis the anomalous
disciplincs
statusof being at Ûle cenre of the lingulsticact accordcdtranslrtionby thc anti-Saussurean
idealistlinguists.

How did BenjaminTranslate?

Though Stciner 1975 is right in tracingBenjamin'sPlatonisttheory of the Word to the
Romanticpoet-l.mnslator,
Htjldcrlin,it lits in closclywiti thc trrdi{ionalJudaeo-Chrisrian
reading
of GenesisI which endowsCod's word with crcativccnerq!.Iy'funhcr assumingt}lat undcr

156
l2 TWE)iNETHCE\TLRY tr B Ê\JAIlDi

certaincircumstanccs
all humanlurguagchasthis powcr,Benjamin,thoughnot a practisingJew,
is very much on ùre samc wavelcngdras lvlarLinBubcr aruJ,Franz Roscnzweig,whoseGerman
vcrsionof the HebrewBible cameout ût aboutthe srrnctimc as Benjamin'scssay.
Hencethe solipsismof the openingsecûonof The Taskof the Translator.Benjamintaklesfor
grantedthat the ody ry,peof translationwonh looking at is the creativeliteraty type, and indeed
tiat no other t)?e exists.This is an inhumanview of translation- (he translator'sduty is to
langrage,not to his authoror to his rcader.The task of translationis primarily to reachdown
to "PureLanguagc",
underthe surfaceof humanlanguages thatdreamof Ho5ldcrlin'sandof the
Kabbalabcforehim. Secondtyûre ranslatorsecksou! the "intendedeffecf'of ûre work, not on
the readerbut againon languagc.
Bcnjaminsharedthe symbolistskepticismtowardsSaussure's
dualistmodelof the Iinguisticsign,lookingto the formal propeniesin rhe sign i6elf to be an
aspectof its "meaning".Thc only way in whichone car attâinùris"effecron language"
essential
is literalify. This is an extremeexampleof the twenlieth-centuryartist's fascinationwiû form
ratherthan conten!.

157
 TW LIiTIET}I CENTLIRY II B EN]AMN

PUT I}I EXTRACf FROM BENJAIVIIN

Why did BenjaminTranslate?

is his view on the
One imponantthemedirectlyrclcvantto Benjamin'stheoryof translation
ahisroricalnatureof the fwentiethcentury.To the Romanticshistoryhad beenan essentialpan of
their thought: lan$rage was the record of history and of the changesa people had undergone.
Benjamin'sideas
And translationis one way of influencingthat historyby shapingdevelopments.
are panially Marxist, in that he deniesthat nanrrehasan influenceon humanaffaiN proportionate
to that exercisedby historicalchangc.His view of historyis peculiarin that he looks both
forwardsand backwards:
historytracesthe shapingof traditions
whichthemselves
shapehistory.
And yet translations
owe their life to their original,becausethey continuei$ life while
changingit. Symbolistthinkerswere very skepticalof objcctiviryin an, and Benjamin was no
exception.He takesit for grantedùat objcctivityin cognitionis impossible.However,that a
tnnslatorproducea "true" translationrcquiresobjcctivityon his pan. The problemis one of
laid out in its full rigour 6y Mcschonnic
hermeneutics, and Steiner.Benjamintakes thc only
objectiverealityto be language, canonly be "objective"whenin pencratesto thrt
and translation
pan of languagewhich is beyondhunranmcddling,thc sct of "ultimatesymbols"also soughtby
Poundand Bonnefoy.
ThoughBenjaminhimselfhad lirde infiuenceduringhis lifetime,elemenBof his thoughttum
up in othcr translators,like Paul Celan and Antoine Bcrman.Pcrhrpsthe casiestway to approach
him is throuchMeschornic1973or Stciner1975.

r58
 TWËNTIETHCENTI,'RYtr BÈ\JA.MôI

References
Arendt, Hannah(ed.) 1970.WakerBenjaminIlluminations.London:JonarhanCape
Dobak, Amelies Maria. 1982-3.The Litt.rary Critic as Alchemist.DissertationAbstracts43,163A
MichaelL. 1983."Benjaminas a Readerof Hôlderlin".GermanQuarterly56,544-63
Jcnnings,
Kelly 1979:sv "Benjamin"
MacDonald, Bruce K. 1984. Translationas Transcendance:Walter Beniaminand the German
Tradition.DissertationAbstacts 45, 1744A
Norris, C. 1982."Imageand Parable:Readingsof WalterBenjamin."Philosophy
and Literature
/. l)-J I

Steiner1979:sv "Benjamin"

Bonnefoy,Yves(1923-)
Poet and literary critic: at presentprofessorat Collège de Francc;has been visiting professorat
manyunivenities
1941Bacc.Trainedas a mathematician
1943Collaboratedin magazine,Révolutionde Ia nuit, JoinedSurrealists
1947Brokewith Surrealism;
published Rrstnovel;travelsto ltaly
1959Prix de la NouvelleVague
1960Travelsro rhe UniredStatcs
1967Founderof L'Ephémère

Translations
1957-67 JuLes-César,Hamlet, Conte d'Hiver, Vénus et Adonis, Viot de Lucrèce
(Shakespeare),
all for the Club françaisdu livre
1965Roi Lear
1968Roméoet Julie[e
1951 Une chemisede nuit deflanelle @eonoraCarringron)
1973Poemsby WilliamButlerYears(,4rgile i (19T) 6a-91

TheoreticalWritings
1962"Idéede la traduction"
(Postface
to H arnlet)
1979"On fheTranslation
of Formin Poetry".World LiterarureToday53,374-79

159
 TWENTIETHCENTURYII BONNEFOY

Cultural Background
The imagist ând symbolistæflectionon languagedominatingearly twentieh-centuryliterary
thought in Franceis crucial to Bonnefoy'sthinkingon translation.He exempliliesthe Symbolist
tendencyto take litemry creationas the primary functionof language,and even as its sole use.
His early fascinationwiù Surrealjsmis cenainlyresponsiblefor his bæing lingustic analysison
mind-setand on his senseof colour and form in language.One also wondershow much Roland
haveto do with his theoriesand practice.His emphasis
Banhesand the FrenchPost-Structuralists
on translationas mediationbetweentwo differcnttypesof experiencemay owe somethingto ûre
work of Buber and Rosenzweig,but it is solidly rooted in both Vienna School tltought on
and in Victor Hugo'sagonising
language, overShakespeare.

How doesBonnefoyTranslate?
In the two essaysfollowing his Hanlet Bonnefoy developsthree thrusts: an analysisof
as a linguistic and literary artist, a discussionof the separateethos of Englishand
Shakespeare
French,and a critiqueof traflslation.Theseessayswerewrinen in full knowledgeof two centuries
of Frenchstruggleswith Shakespeare.
Thereis nothingnew in his admissionthat Frenchliterature
has nothing like Shakespeare; but he rcworks with much more insight than any other French
critics (includingHugo) haveshown,thc lrustntionsShakespeare
offers a classicalsensibility.

lv
l)'rrrrc parL rrrr urit'oir cl, tl'auIr.c parl, ule sphère,
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l,0isic?
O r r r : ( ) tp r . e r r r1l t r : r r L - t 1t [rrrci c L r xr ,| l ; r i r r I c | l a r rlli.r,r i l i s o n
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dc Shl_
k t ' s l l c i l f e ;c l l c s t r t ' s o t t t , c u I l . cl c s o c u x s L f t l c l , u f c s\ , c f _
b r r l c s r, 1 u ' r l rc u r u p r . o r u i Isr.. r . i s i s t i b l c n r cl nc Is r r r o L s
tlc lu
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( f r r \ l r s {i l l l t l i r l r l t lr L : t r t i c t , s s i l d
c I r l c l t a s i r r . rel .r t c l t o t r r _
t r r i c t r l - i l sr l r r r r lr r ' l c r r i r ,p 1 1 c x s l r r l r | , r, l c I ; r r l s L r r tIit,i i
qrri
t ' s l l t s i r r g r r l i t ' r - rs.or ri ,r . r tr l r , . . ral c L o r r l c[ o r r r r c
o r rt l c t o r r l c
l ( ) r ,] ' c o l l l ) r i s I i r l r r i n r o l r l c l ? O r r c o r r r ; l r c t r r l
lricrrx arrssi
I ' r r l i g i r r cl r i s l o r . i r J r rl c I l p l r r p i r r .dI c c c s I r i l d u c l i o n s .
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I o r r v r r i r . i c l r a p I c râ. c c t I c f a l î l i L c
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) c c L i r l u cr l c I ' c s s c u c c l " d c I ' a c t c t l ' i t r c r l u c l ' , r c i u c c L
I l u r r t l c l r i l co n L t o r r sl c s d q u x n l i ( l i t d c .
C o r r r r r c r r ll,- r ' a t l u i l cS h a k c s I c a r c ?J c p o u r r t i s i r i s J -
l l l c ! l ( , l ) o u l c o t r c l r r r icr v c c I c s s i r t r i s r r t é c, lullifer Ioutrs
l c s f o L t r t t s( l l r c l ) r . r r Il l l t : r t l l c c c t I t : I o r t < l i r t r t c r r I r<rllicv c r ' -
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g l c c ( l u c ,d ' i r u I a r t p l u s a s h c i u t s l t r x f r r r r r r c cs x l l l i l i l , c s
dc la podsic 11u'ilsparl.icipcnl rroirrs dc la srcrrlit( rlc
I ' n c L i o u .U r c a u t r c d i l l i c u l L i g i t d a r s l û [ r i r ( l r r c I i o n
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S l t a l i c s p c a racn r l l i g u i t d s, u g g r s L i o nt l c l l c o r n l r l c x i LrIl r r
r [ c l c s I m a ] a i s c i r l l c ruuI I r c c h o s cc t l f l a n ç a i s{ l l t ' u r ra l l c l r -
t â 1 ,n i h i l i s l c( o u l r a r f o i sr i v o l u t i o n r r a i r c c) o u t r cI ' c s l ) r i L . . -
L c u r o i n d r cm o t d ' u r r c c r u v r e c o t l t i c n Là I ' i t l l " l n t c r r t
t o t r t c sl c s s L . u c I L r r cds c I a l l n g u c , l l n c s r r l l i l p a s r l c
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l ) c t l u o i c t r r . r : r . i l sr i' r r g i l . - i l . l/ l r i r r r . ; r r r c t i t l r rlrc: t r r r r l .
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g l r n d r i s r l r r cd c t L : v c t t i rr t r rv u l g u i r cu c u t t p r l c l " l t i l i t r c , . q u c P o u r c x ç l u r - cl c l l l o l t ( l cc I l : r r l i v c r . s i l r :l c sc x i s [ r ] c c s
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l ) o c s i cc s [ " I l u t o r t i c i c r u t , I ' a r r r t l a i st l c S l t l l i c s p c a r ct r t r c vic. Unc tollc pocsiccsLerrcor.cporIr.liL rlt l.lirrrc.
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j o t r r sl c I t r c l l c ,c l L r c p r ( ' n ( rl r r r cl d v o l u [ i o t r( l u i , c l r i n ( l u i i - p i r i c n c c i t f c [ T i r ç r l r frcl r r l l r r r l ô r r r ci ,: l t s l c ( ) t u l c d ' J I i o c r
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l l a r n l c I c o l r p r c r r l n ! < 1 u el c r i g n c d e l a l o i c s t .r c h c v i ,
r l u ' i l r r ' y : r I l r r s r l c l r t g i I i t r t i t c{ l l l c d n r s u e d i c i s i o r r
s u b j c c t i v c( l l r c r i c l r c f o u d c o u t t ' a s s u r ec, I c c l , l - p c oésie
furttçaisctl'itttjourtl'lttri rlrri s'r:st privic tlc sorr roylutnc
s t i c u l a i r c ,r l r r i [ [ e : i r i s r l u c r ' ,c o t t r r u el c l ) r i u c c d a u o i s ,
I ' a n g o i s s c I, ' i u r p o s s i b i l i l - d i ' a g i r , l e s i l e n c c .C ' c s t p a r
leur intuition Ia plus profondc, la plus ilirncntcirc,
a u t r e n l c n td i t , r p c I c r d r l i s l r c r l c S h a k e s l l c a rccl I ' i d i a -
lisnrc rcuvcrsé dc la poctsicfralçaisc rdccnIc l)cuvcllL
d d s o r n r a i sc o u r r r r u n i r l u c rL.' u n t l i c l i t c c q u e I ' a u t r c
demantle à vivrc. Lt. cc qui cst dil rlirccl-cnenL par
Shakcspcarc, PotrIra peul-ôtre ôlrc srrggtrrû,indirec-
[ c r r r c r r t r, l r r n s u r r l r r r r l . l l r glrr:j o t r t a r r l "; l l u I i t l i l i L û : r u
c o n [ e n ue x p l i c i L cd c c l t a q u c u i u v J e ,u D c é P r c u v cc o n s -
tantc de tous scs nroyens poél.iquespar le sentirncnt de
I'oltjcl prolond. Ainsi le ddpasscment dcs lormcs clas-
siqucs,desIorrnescloscsde prosodie,qui est si rriccssairc
a u f r a n ç a i sà c o n d i t i o n q u ' i l n ' e f l a c c p a s l c s o u c i d æ
lois rdcllcs du vcrs, s'itlcttIilic- l,-il au bcsoirr, darrs ll
traduclion de Shakcspelrc, dc conseryer le tnètre el sa
hlute vcrtu trrgi(lue, sa|ls pour autant laisscrcroirc
quc le poètc anglaisaiI conçu un mondc lriérat.iqrre
ct irréel. En viritrl, Shakcspcarect beaucoup tl'clizabi-
tltains onl-unc grandc valeur d'enseignemenIpour celte
p o d s i cq u i s c c l r c r c l r c N . o u s d e v r i o n sn o u sy r t t â c h e r . E t
si nous échouons à lcs trâduirc, nous aurons ccrtes
moins d'cxcuses que les traducteurs plus ancicns.
La trâduction est dans I'allrontement dc dcux lnngues
u n c c x y r ô r i c D cuer d l . a p l r y s i q r rnet,o l a l e , I ' i p r c u v c d ' u r r e
pensécpar uue autLc lorrnc dc perrsée.Il y a tlcs ruorncnts

où elle est impossiLrlc ct. tl,ailleursvaine, II y a dos

morncntsoù scsconsiqucnccs (ldl)asscnl- I,tr:rrvrcmômc
- q u i c s t t r r d u i t c ,c o n ( l u i s a nutn c
l a r r g r r ep," . t e , t J t o u .
p o é t i q u cù, u r r r r o r r v ci tl r L c l cI ' c s p r i t .

I Ci9.

t6t
 TWENTIETHCENTURYtr BONNEFOY

Language and literary differencesderive from the ways in which a languagecommunrty

createsits symbols and symbol systcms.The problemsbetweenEnglish and Frcnch Bonnefoy
puts down 10 two métaphysiques contaires qui régissentet parfois tyrannisentthe two languages.
Acoal differences in taste,his emphasis on the Leibnirzianqualitiesof the French,'word",the
irnmediacyof English contlastedwith the distanceassumedby French,all recall earlier Frencn
discussionsof difficultiesin comingto termswith Englishliterarure:prévoston Richardson rs a
casein point. In a maffler bearinga surfaceresemblan
ce to stylistiquecomparéeBonnefoyrelates
all of these contradictorycharacteristics
io habits of conceptualisation,
raûrerthan passingthem
off as surfacedifferences berwcenlanguage systems. He haslitde to say aboutgrammarbeyond
the principle ùat what is alrexdy actualisedon the planc of lexicon wiu also be found
ln
grammar.
His actu^l techniqueis one farniliarfrom the Romandcs.Here is a passagefrom his l/anlec

l : l t r c o u n ' i L r c p a s .C ' c s l "l â q l t c s t i o D .

l i s t - i l l r l u sl o ) t l u y o t t r r t t l ci l l t t c d c s o t t [ I r i r
L c s l l i c l r c sc t l u s c o r | s t l t t t t ca L to c c f o r l , t t n c ,
O r r r l c I r ' t ' n r l r cl r ' sa r - r r t ccso l l t r cl r t l c t t t c r t l c L r o l t l t l c s
l . l t .r l c t c r r rh i r c f r o r t L c, t ( l ' y t l t c L I r ' cl i n ? N l o t t r i r ,d o r m i r ,
l l i r : r rr l c p l l s ; o l r , p c t r s c L q t t ' t t ns r t t t t t t t c li tl c t t t [f i t t i t '
l , l s o r r l l n r t r crcl r tc r l t t r c t l c s t n i l l t l l t l c s s u r t ' s
Q u i s o n I l c l o t d c l l c l l a i r ; o r t i ,c ' c s t l t n d L i n o u c n ) c n t
{e
À r ( l c n l m c n Ld i s i r a b l c lm o u r i r , d o r r n i r
- Dormir, r(i'er pcut-ôtrc. i,h, c'cst l'obstaclcl
Crr I'anxiétéi esrévcs qui viendront
D a n s c c s o r n m c idl c s t n o r L sq, t t a n c n l ousattrons
R c p o u s s il o i n d c n o u sl c t u n t t t l t cd c v i v r c ,
list là pour rctcnir, c'cst la pcnséc
Q u i f r i t q u c l c t n : r l h c t tar s i l o n g u c v i c '
Q u i c n c l l c t s u l r p o r l c r a iltc l o u c t d u s i ù c l c ,
L'injurc du tyran, lcs mipris dc I'orgucil,
L ' a n g o i s s cd a n sI ' a m o u rb a f o u i , l a l c n L cl o i
Ilt la morguc dcs gcns cn placc, rcbufTatlcs
Quc le miritc rloit souffrir dcs êtrcs vils,
À l o r s q r r ' i lP c u t s c d i l i v r c r l t t i - m ô m c
D ' u n s i m p l c c o u p t l c p o i g n a r d ?Q u i v o u t l r a i t c c s f a r -
dcaux,
I i t g i m i r c l s r t c rs o u sl ' i p t t i s t n t c v i ( ,
S i l r t c r r c u r t l c q u c l q u ec h o s ct p r è s l a m o r t ,
C c l r a y si r r c o n n ud o n t n u l v o y a g c r t rs
N ' a r c I a s s él a f r o n l i ù r c ,n c t r o u b l â i t
Nol"rcdesscin,nous faisant prildrcr
L c s m a u x q u c n o u sa v o n sà d ' a u t r c so b s c u r s .
Àinsila r!fla.;r,,n f a i t d c n o u sd c s l â c h c s ,
L e s n a t i v c sc o r t l c u r tsl c l a d d c i s i o n
S'aflailrlisscn t l tr n s I ' o t n b r c , l cl a p c n s é e ,
E t d c s p r o j c t sd ' u n c h a u t c v o l i c

Sur cc[|c iriic sc briscnt eÈvicnnenl,pcrdrc

L c u r n o m m È l n cd r c t i o n . . .t r { a i st s i s o n s - n o u s ,
V o i c i l a b c l l c0 p h i l i c . . .N y n p h c , d a n s t e s l ) r i c r c s ,
S o u v i c r r s - Lroi ci t o u s m c s 1 r [ c h é s .

1*
 TWDNNETH CENTIJRY II BONNEFOY

_ H a n , T o b e ,o r n o t t o b e , - t h a t i s r h e q u e s t i o n : _
\ V h e t h e r ' r i s n o b l e ri n t h e m i n d t o s u f f . . '
The slingsand arrou,sof outra.qeous fortune,
Or to take arms against ,". o"itroubles, A n d m a k e su s r a r h e r b e a r t h o s ei l l s r v e h a v e
b r . o p p o s i n ge n d t h "em l - T o d i e , _ t o s l e e p , _ T h a n f l _ vr o o r h e r sr h a t r v e
,.nd knorv not ofi
N.o nrore; an_dby a sleepto say rr,eend
T h u s c o n s c i e n cdeo e sm a k e c o u . a r d s
T h e h e a r t - a c h ea, n d t h e - t h o u s a n n d a t u r a ls h o c k s of us all :
A n d t h u s t h e n a t i v eh u e o f r e s o l r r t i o n
T h a t f i e s hi s h e i r t o , ' t i s a c o n s u n r m a r i o n
I s s i c k l i e do ' e r r v i t h t h e p a l e c a s t o f t h o u q h t
Devoutlv_to be rvisht. To die,-ro sleep ;
;- lnd, en.tefprjse o sf g r e a r p i r h a n d . o , r _ r . n i
T o s l e e pI p e r c h a n c -t o e d r e a m : a y , r h e r e ' sr h e r u b ; \ \ r r n ( h t s - r e g a r dr ,h e : r c u r r r n t s
F o r i n t h a t s l e e po f d e a t h r r . h i r d t r.rnl, rnrv .o,ll.-' turn a\\.rY,
, , r n dl o s et h e n a m e o f , ç 1 i 6 1 1 . _ g 6 f t
\ \ / h e n r i , eh a v e s h u f i e d o f f t h i s m o r r a lc o i l , 1 . o u: i o n ,l
T h e . f a i r O p h e ) i al - \ y m p h , i " , h y - ";i-s;;r"
X { u s t g i v e u s p a u s e :t h e r e , st h e r e s p e c t
b e a l t m ) ' s r n sr e m e m b e r ' d .
T h a t n r a k e sc a l a m i t vo f s o l o n g I i f e l
For rvho rl'ould_beaithe rvhipJ rnd s.orns of tirne,
The oppresso-r's *rong, the proud ;n.n's contunreli.,
. rh € p â n g so i d e s p i s e d l o v e ,t h e l a w ' sd e l a v .
ll-he insolenceof office, and rhe spurns
T h a t p a t i e n tm e r j t o f t h e u n w o r t h v t a k e s .
: " h . .h i m s e lm
J\ Vl ]ilr' h f i g h th i sq u i e t um
s ake
a b a r eb o d k i n
f r v h ow ô u l df a r dles b e a r ,
To grunt and sq,earundera wearvlife.
B u t t h a r t h e d r e a do f s o m e r h i n.gf r e . â e . r h , _
T h e u n d i s c o v e rc' do u n t 1 1f,r,o r i * r , h o sbeo u r n
- \ o t r  \ ' ee r r e t u r n s , _ p u z z l et h
se u,ill,
Why doesBonnefoyTranslate?
In Borurefoy'sview transladonis more than linguistic tra$fen it is primarily a meditadonon
ûuough another.In his own eyes Bonnefoy has failed in his
one systemof conceptualisation
versionsof Shakespeare.
Not that this leadshim to take translationas impossible:for translation
is primarilythe Romanticcriticism,but of the targetlanguage,not merelyof the sourcetext.
Secondlyrrdnslationmust take ûre rcaderout of his normal frameof reference.Herc Bonnefoyis
ùinking primarily of the target-textreadcr,but it is also importantûrat the sourcelanguage
reader
who comesacrossthe targettext will havehis horizonssFetched.

References
Bonnefoy,C., Canaw,T., Oster,D. 1977.Dtctionnairede la littératurefrançaise contemporaine.
Paris:de Large,w "Bonnefoy",pp. 58-60
Diéguez,Manuelde. 1960."Yves Bonnefoyet la critiquedu style".Esprit290,2120-28
C. 1971."L'échod'unedcmcure",NRF225, 19-34
Esteban.
Ke[y 1979:sv "Bonnefoy"
llorld Literature Today 1979.53.2 (whole number).

rcf
 TWÊNÏETH CL\TLR,Y II SCOTT

Scott, F rank (I 899-I 985)

Lawyer,Poer
1928Appoinred
ro McGill
1947Memberof the RoyalSocietyof Canada
1961-64Deanof the Law Schoolar McGill
1963-71Memberof the RoyalCommission
on Bilingualism
and Biculturalism

Translations
1962St-DenysGameauandAnnc l{ében
1977Poemsof French Canada

Theory
!970 Dialoguesur la raduction (with ArureHében)

References
Djwa, S. & R. StJohnMacDonald.1983.F.R. Scott.Carndian.Vancouver:SimonFraser
Toye, W. (ed.) 1983. Oxford Companionto CanatlianLiterature. Toronto: O[tP. sv_ ,,Scon,
Frank"

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