estienne translation.pdf

8/10/2019 Estienne Translation.pdf

1/16

T h e Te n sio n o f P h i l o l o g y a n d

P h i l o s o p h y in th e Tr a n s la tio n s o fH e n r i s t i e n n eK E N N E T H L L O Y D J O N E S

This a r t ic le cons iders the t rans la t ions f rom Greek to La t in of the Renaissance humanis tand phi lologis t He nri Est ienne (Stephanus) . I t argue s that Est ienne s phi lological app roac hto t rans la t ion s tems f rom h is convic t ion tha t idea t ion occurs beyo nd the form al ized s t ruc-tures of a r t icu la t ion . This unders tanding of the tens ion be tween thought and language ,para l le ling the tens ion be tween ph i losophy and rhe tor ic, governs Es t ienne s t rans la t ivepr ior it ies . His t rans la t ions of some Greek h is torians , ph i losophers an d poe ts a re s tud ied ,as wel l as one of Es t ienne s own re nder ings of Proper t ius in to Greek.Conclusion:w e k n o wonly th roug h in te rpre ta t ion , an d for Es t ienne , ph i lo logy is the prerequis i te for ph i losophy.

Sed aliud est imitari, aliud interpretari . . . .(H. Estienne,Moschi, Bionis, Theocriti . . . Idyllia,1555).

n 1 569, H e n r i E s t i e n n e p u b l i s h e d h i s t r a n s l a t i o n s o f a n u m b e r o fsentent iae h e h a dc h o s e n f r o m t h e G r e e k c o m i c a u t h o r s . 1 I n j u s t i fy i n g h i s s e l e c t io n , h e n o t e s :

An t iqu iss im ae sun t , quae p ropr ie , quanvis omn ibus idem s i t nomen, Sen ten t iaevocantur, quas Graeci rvo~l~a appel lant . U trun qu e aute m nom en e x eo acceperunt ,quod s imiles su nt consi li is au t decret is . E st aute m haec vox u niversal is , quae e t iamci tra com plex um causae possi t esse laudabil is.(fol. 202

A t t h e h e a r t o f th i s la s t d i s ti n c t i o n li es t h e k e y t o E s t i e n n e s u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h ea n c i e n t res-verba p r o b l e m , a n d t h u s o f t h e n a t u r e o f l a n g u a g e i t s el f. H e p a r t i t i o n s t h ei ss u es b e t w e e n t h e vox un iversa l i s ( in w h i c h i d e a t i o n m a y b e t a k e n t o o c c u r w i t h o u ta n y r e d u c t i o n e i t h e r t o c a t e g o r ie s o f t h o u g h t o r to a n y p a r t i c u l a r l i n g u i s t i c f o r m u l a -t i o n ) , a n d t h e causa ( th e p a r t i c u l a r i z e d o c c a s i o n o f t h e i d e a t i o n , a n d t h e r e b y t h e f o r -m a l i z e d s t r u c t u r e o f i ts a r ti c u l a ti o n ) . S u c h a d i s t i n c t io n , i n v o l v i n g t h e e s s e n t i a l b o n d

1. Com icorum Graecorum Sententiae, id est I~vr~l~aL, Latinis versibus ab Henr. Stephano redditae, &annotationibus illustratae... (Geneva: H. Est ienne, 1569 [Bibl ioth6que Nationale , Paris : Yb5217]).

2 . Quota t ions a re genera l ly providedverbatim,but in one or two cases s i len t cor rec t ions havebeen m ade: these a re l imi ted to obvious pr in t ing e r rors , o r in order to br ing brea th ings a ndaccentua t ion in the Greek in to l ine wi th m od em typographica l p rac t ice .

K e n n e t h L lo y d - Jo n e s , D e p a r t m e n t o f M o d e r n L a n g u a g e s a n d L i t e r a tu r e , T r i n it y C o l-l e ge , H a r t f o r d , C o n n e c t i c u t 0 61 06 .

Internat ion al Journal of the Class ical Tradi t ion, Vol . 1 , No . 1 , Su m m er 1994, pp. 36-5 1.


2/16

Lloyd-Jones 37

b e t w e e n t h o u g h t a n d l a n g u a g e , ca n b e a li g n e d w i t h t h e li n k b e t w e e n p h i l o s o p h y a n dr h e t o r ic , e x e m p l i f i e d in C i c e r o ' s r e q u i r e m e n t t h a t t h e r e m u s t a l w a y s b e g e n e r a l i s s u e sb e h i n d t h e c i r c u m s t a n t i a e o f a n y g i v e n c a u s a . 3 A s w i t h t h e n o u m e n o n a n d t h ep h a i n o m e n o n ,u n i v e r s a l p r in c i p l e s t r a n s c e n d s p e c i fi c c a s es , a n d n o t i o n a l t h o u g h t m a yb e c o n s i d e r e d t o h a v e b e i n g i n d e p e n d e n t l y o f t h e p a r t i c u l a r l in g u i s t ic f o r m o f i tsu t t e r a n c e .

I n p o s i t i n g t h a t t h o u g h t i s u n i v e r s a l , a n d t h e r e b y d i st i n c t f r o m t h e w o r d s u s e d t oe x p r e s s i t, E s t i e n n e l e a d s u s , o f c o u r s e , t o th e c r u x o f t h e d i l e m m a t h a t h a s g e n e r a l l yc h a r a c t e ri z e d We s t e r n r e fl e ct io n o n th e r e l a t io n s h i p o f t h o u g h t a n d l a n g u a g e . H o w

p u r e c a n o u r t h o u g h t r e m a i n ( h o w g o o d , h o w w i s e ) w h e n w e t ra n s la t e i tf r o m i d e a t i o n t o a r t ic u l a ti o n ? H o w c a n t r u t h w i t h s t a n d o u r s p e a k i n g i t? 4 T h e p u r p o s e o ft h i s a r t i c l e i s t o e x a m i n e h o w t h e e d i t o r i a l a n d t r a n s l a t i v e p r a c t i c e s o f t h e f o r e m o s tH e l l e n i s t a n d o n e o f t h e g r e a t e s t h u m a n i s t s o f h is d a y s r e s p o n d t o t h e f a c t t h a t, s i n c eo u r o n l y a c c e ss to i d e a s ( t h o s e o f o t h e r s , a t l e as t ) is t h r o u g h w o r d s , t h e s h i ft f r o m o n ed i s c o u r s e t o a n o t h e r i s a m a t t e r o f w o r d s b e f o r e i t i s a m a t t e r o f i d e a s. N o t h i n g w a sm o r e f u n d a m e n t a l t o t h e h u m a n i s t v e n e r a t i o n o f p h i l o l o g y, n o r e v e n p e r h a p s t o m u c ho f t h e R e n a i s sa n c e a p p r o a c h t o th e a n c i e n t w o r l d , t h a n t h e r e a l iz a t i o n t h a t i f t o s a y ist o m e a n , t o s a y a n e w i s t o m e a n a n e w.

R e c o u r s e t o s u c h m a t t e r s a s e t y m o l o g y a n d h i s to r i c a l c o n t e x t as k e y s t o u n d e r -s t a n d i n g t he G r e e ks e n t e n t i a e i n t h e i r n e w g a r b e x e m p l i f i e s E s t i e n n e ' s d e e p c o n v i c t i o nt h a t t h e s o l u t io n , i f a n y, is to b e f o u n d a t t h e le v e l o f t h e w o r d s t h e m s e l v e s , a c o n c e r nt h a t i s r e f l e c t e d in t h e v o l u m e ' s v e r y t it le :C o m i c o r u m g r a e c o r u m S e n t en t ia e , i d e s tFv6~tc~t,L a t i n i s v e r s i b u s a b H e n r. S t e p h a n o r e d d i ta e , & a n n o t a t i o n i b u s i l lu s t r a t a e . . . .T h e r e v e a l i n g

p r e s e n c e o f a w o r d s e t i n G r e e k f o n t s e r v e s t o s y m b o l i z e E s t i e n n e ' s f o c u s o n l e x i c alp r e c i s io n , i d e n t i f y i n g h i s p r a c ti c e o f tr a n s l a t i o n a s b o t h a l in g u i s ti c o b l i g a t i o n t o w a r dt h e a u t h o r i t y o f t h e s o u r c e l a n g u a g e , a n d a c o n c e p t u a l s e r v i ce r e n d e r e d t o, a n d s h a p e db y, t h e t a r g e t l a n g u a g e ' s i n h e r e n t i n s u f f i c i e n c i e s . T h i s p r a c t i c e i s e x e m p l i f i e d m o r ef u l l y i n h is h a n d l i n g o f a c o u p l e t f r o m t h e f r a g m e n t s o f A le x is :

6K i~O'ttV 06 re xeiX og, o6 re Xprilac txaoa31:' d~L ~o 8vod~ a3k c~n 'rov oa361~vd3g y vv ~. (p . 9)

3. In the De oratore(II . 133--41), Cicero crit icizes thos e w ho fail to see this cruc ial l ink, an d hisremarks on fo rens ic s t ra tegy a re in tend ed to be equa l ly app l icab le bo th to rhe tor ica l under-takings in general and to phi losophical inq uiry i tse lf :Na m e t s i i ncu r run t t empora e t pe rsonae,tamen in te l legendum es t , non ex eis, sed ex genere quaes t ionis pendere causas(II. 139).

4. Aristotle(Sophist ical Refutat ions,168.A. 35--169. B. 1:Topica et Sophist ici Elenchi ,ed. W.D. Ross,[Oxford: Clar end on Press , 1958] , p . 204) c lear ly do ub ted that i t could. Plato , on the oth erhand , seemed qu i te sure o f the congruence o f thought and speech when he asked , in theSophis t , . . . a re no t thought and speech the same- -excep t tha t the s i l en t , inner d ia loguethat the soul has with i tse lf , th is i t se l f i s nam ed ' tho ug ht ' by us? :Pla to ' s Sophis t ,263.E, ed-i ted and t ransla ted by W il liam S. Cob b (Savage, Md: Ro wm an & Li t t lef ie ld , 1990), p . 108.

5. For general informat ion, see Louis Cl6ment ,Henr i Es t ienne e t son ceuvref rancaise(Paris: Picard,1898) and Henr i Es t i enne(Cahiers V.-L. Saulnier no. 5 Collection de I'E.N.S.J.F., no. 43, Paris:Presses de l 'Ecole Norm ale Su p6rieure d e Jeunes Fii les, 1988) . For an in t rodu ct ion to themat te r s d i scussed here , see a lso J. B . Trapp , The C onfo rmi ty o f Gre ek and the Vernacu la r:the His to ry o f a Rena issance Theo ry o f Languages , inClass ica l Inf luences on European Cul-tu re , A .D . 500-1500 ,ed. R. R. Bolger (Cam bridge: C am bridg e Un ivers i ty Press , 1971) , pp.239--44.


3/16

38 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Sum mer 1994

T h i s t y p i c a l p i e c e o f c o m e d i c m i s o g y n y is t h e n t r a n s l a t e d , a n d t h e t r a n s l a t i o n i ts e l ff o l l o w e d b y a s e c o n d v e r s i o n :

I N T E R P.Nu l l ius arcis, nu l l ius pecuniaeCu stodia aeque diff ici lis qua m foeminae.

V E L S I CM un im en omne, quae l ibe t pecuniaCus tod iun tu r f ac il iu s quam foemina .(p.9)

S u c h p r o v i s i o n o f a n a l t e r n a t e t r a n s l a t i o n u n d e r s c o r e s t h e i n n a t e i n a b i l it y o f th e t a rg e tl a n g u a g e t o s u s t a i n d i r e c t e q u i v a l e n c y w i t h t h e s o u r c e . T h e f i rs t v e r s i o n a d h e r e s c l o s e l yt o t h e o ri g in a l t h o u g h t o r d e r , a s m u c h a s d i f f e r in g s y n t a x a l l o w s , a n d e n d e a v o r s t om a i n t a i n t h e f o r ce f u l c h a r a c t e r o f th e G r e e k ( e m b o d i e d i n n o l es s t h a n s ix e l e m e n t s o fn e g a t i o n , i n c l u d i n g t h e n e g a t i n g p r e f i x 6 ~ o - ) b y t h e h i g h l i g h t i n g o f t h e e m p h a t i cad jec t ive nu l lus . T h e e p i g r a m m a t i c q u a l i t y o f t h e G r e e k i s m a i n t a i n e d b y s u p p r e s -s ion o f a l l ve rb - fo rm s in the L a t in , bu t t he t e r seness o f the ad jec t ive ~oq~hKaKTo(~) is l o s ti n t h e t w o - p a r t cus todia . . . d i ff ic i l i s ,a n d n o p r o v i s i o n is m a d e f o r th e t h i rd c a t e g o r yo f u n p r o t e c ta b l e t h i n g s t h a t p r o v i d e s t h e G r e e k w i t h i ts e l e m e n t o f u n i v e r s a l r e f er e n c e ,~ . o . O n t h e o th e r h a n d , t he t h ru s t o f t h e m a x i m i s p r e s e r v e d b y a r r a n g i n g to h a v et h e e p i g r a m m a t i c b a r b o f t h e L a ti n c o r r e s p o n d t o t h a t o f t h e G r e ek , t h r o u g h m a i n t a i n -i n g w o m a n a s t h e f in a l w o r d .

T h e s e c o n d v e r s i o n r e v e a l s a d i f f e r e n t a p p r o a c h t o t h e i s s u e o f r e p l ic a b i li t y. T h e

a b s e n c e o f a l l n e g a t i n g e l e m e n t s i n t h e L a t i n t r a n s f o r m s w h a t m i g h t b e s e e n a s t h ec o m i c d e s p a i r o f t h e G r e e k i n t o a d e c l a r a t i v e t y p e o f g e n e r a l v e r i t y, i n w h i c h t h eb r o a d l y r e f e r e n t i a l quae l ibet echo es G~ .~.o, a l th ou gh i ts a c tua l r e fe ren ce is l im i t ed to

pecunia . P o t e n t ia l ly e m p h a t i c c o m i c to n e i s r e p l a c e d b y o n e o f m o r e s t a te l y u n i v e r s a la s se r t ion : t he d i s t r ac t ingaeque o f t h e f i r s t v e r s i o n i s m o r e s u c c i n c t l y a b s o r b e d i n t ot h e c o m p a r a t i v e a d v e r b faci l ius, i ts e l f m a d e p o s s i b l e b y r e c o u r s e t o a n o r i g i n a l v e r b -f o r m w h i c h , i n c o n j u n c ti o n w i t h i ts a d v e r b , n e a t l y h a n d l e s t h e p r o b l e m o f th e d e n s i t yo f t h e G r e e k u n p r o t e c ta b l e .

Ta k e n t o g e t h e r , t h e s e t w o v e r s i o n s r e v e a l E s t i e n n e ' s u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e t e n -s i o n s t h a t b e s e t a n y s e n s i t iv e t r a n s l a t o r - - t h e b a l a n c i n g o f o b l ig a t i o n s t o s o u r c eand t a r-

ge t , lex icona n d c o n c e p t , s e m a n t i c sa n d r h e t o r i c. F a c e d w i t h t h e e t e r n a l l y e l u s i v e q u e s -t i o n o f w h a t c o n s t i t u t es g o o d t r a n s la t i o n , E s t i e n n e f a ll s b a c k o n t h e s o l u t i o n o fS o l o m o n , a n d m o v e s to d i v i d e t h e i n f a n t in h a lf . T h e f i rs t t r a n s l a t i o n b e s p e a k s p r i m a r ya l l eg iance to the in i ti a l e l em en t in thes e pa i r s o f ca t ego r i e s ( sou rce , l ex icon , s em an t i c s ) ,w h e r e a s t h e a l te r n a t i v e t ra n s l a t i o n s e e k s m o r e to h o n o r t h e n e e d s o f t h e s e c o n d ( t ar -g e t, c o n c e p t , rh e t o ri c ). A s a t r a n s l a t i v e s t r a t e g y, s u c h r e c o u r s e t o b i f u r c a t i o n e c h o e s t h ed i l e m m a s p r e v i o u s l y d e l i n e a t e d : w h i l e t r a n s l a t i o n s a r e s u r e l y p o s s i b l e , t r a n s l a t i o nm i g h t n o t b e .

To f u r t h e r e x p l o re t h e p r o b l e m s t h a t a ri se w h e n t h e o r y i s c o n f r o n t e d b y p r a ct ic e ,w e s h a ll n o w c o n s i d e r h o w t h e s e i s su e s a r e r e f le c t e d i n s o m e o f E s t i e n n e ' s t r a n s l a t io n sf r o m t h e s e p a r a t e g e n r e s o f o r a t o r y, p h i l o s o p h y a n d p o e t r y. B o th h i s p o p u l a r i z i n gc o n c e r n s a s a h u m a n i s t p u b l i s h e r ( b a l a n c in g c iv ic c o m m i t m e n t w i t h c o m m e r c i a l p u r -p o s es ), a n d h is e n g a g e m e n t as a s c h o la r (f o r w h o m t r a n s la t io n p r o v i d e s t h e o p p o r t u -n i t y f o r l i n g u is t i c a n d t e x t u a l e m e n d a t i o n a n d e x e g e si s ), a r e f o r e x a m p l e e v i d e n t i n h is1 57 0 e d i t i o n o f a n u m b e r o f G r e e k a n d L a t i n o r a to r i c a l w o r k s , t h e t it le o f w h i c h f u l l y


4/16

Lloyd-Jones 39

i l l u s t r a t e s h i s a t t r a c t i o n t o t r a n s l a t i o n a s a t o o l f o r p h i l o l o g i c a l e d i t i n g :Conciones s iveO r a t i o ne s e x Gra ec i s La t i n i s que h i s t o r i c i s exce rp t ae . Quae ex Graec i s exce rp t ae sun t ,i n t e r p r e ta t i onem La t i nam a d iun c t am haben t, nonnu l l a e novam , a li ae i am an t ea vu lga t am, s ednu nc de m um p l e r isqu e i n l oc is r e cogn i t am . 6E s t i e n n e ' s L a t i n v e r s i o n o f t h e o r a ti o n o fS a n d a n i s ( H e r o d o t u s , 1 .7 1), a d v i s i n g C r o e s u s n o t to g o to w a r a g a i n s t t h e P e r s i a n s ,w i l l i l lu s t r a te E s t i e n n e ' s t r a n s l a t i v e t a c t ic s w h e n f a c e d w i t h t h e d e m a n d s o f o r a t o r i c a ls t y l e :

S c i n ' t u v e r o r e x a d v e r s u s q u a l eh o m i n u m g e n u s e x p e d i t i o n e m p a r e s ?Quibus suae braccae, coriaceae, caeteraquoque ves t imenta , cor iacea sun t : qu inon qu ibus vo lun t , c ib i s , sed quos suai l l i s aspera reg io suppedi ta t , vescuntur :qu i v ino min im e u tun tu r, s ed aq uae sun tpo tores: qu i ne f icus qu ide m haben t quase s i t e n t : q u i b u s d e n i q u e n i h i l r e r u mbo na r u m e s t. H o s s i qu idem supe rave r i s,qu id e is e r ip ies, q uu m n ih i l poss idean t ?s in ab iis supera tus fuer i s , quot bon oru miacturam clades ea tibi a l la tura s i t , tecu mre pu t a to . Quum en im seme l bona nos t r ag us t ave r in t , i ta il li s a d ha e re s c an t u t

a v e l l i n u l l a r a t i o n e p o s s i n t . A d m equidem cer te quod a t t ine t , d i i s habebog r a t ia m q u o d P e r s a r u m a n i m i s n u l l u msusc ip iendi expedi t ionem adversus Lydosd e s id e r iu m i n d u n t .(p . 3)

Q 13c~otXe~, ~n' ~tvbpetgx o t o 6 x o v go x p a ' t e a S e o 0 c t t x 0 ~ p c t o K e v d ~ s a t , o ' ~o K v ' t [ v a g p t~ v d v a ~ v p [ S a g ,oraax[VrlV8 ~ x ~ lv dk Z . rl v ~ o 0 f i ' r a ~ o p ~ o v o to tx~ov xc t t 8~ oa3K boo t ~0 ~L ovo t , dkZ .'b o a ~ X o v o t , X c 6p rlv ~ X o v x s gx p r l X e ~ r lv, r l p 6 g 8 g o 6 K o [ v ~ 98 t aXp~0Jv ' ra t , & L~& abbpon ox~ovo t , 06oa3Kct 6~ ~X os ot xp~b~,e tv, o6K & hk od, /0 t0 bv oa3b ~v. Toa3 ro bt~v 8r] , e~,v t K r i o a g , x~ o ~ a g d m a t p f i o s a t , x o io ~~o xt ~trlS~V; Toa3xo 8~, ~ v vtK rl0f ig ,~ td O s 8 o a d y o t O d d ~ o j 3 o tX ~ e t g .F e v o d ~ t e v o ~ d p x o 3v r ~l xe x ~ pt ov& Tc t0 ~ v n s p t ~ o v x a t , o 13 8~ d m 0 o ' t o 't

~ o o v x a ~ . ' E y 0 b g ~ v v a r y 0 e o ~ o ~ [ X c ox d p ~ v , o'~ o 6 K ~ x~ v d o v x o t e a3 o ~F l~po r lO t oxp0 txe6eo0c t t ~ ' t AvSoa3g .

A c o m p a r i s o n w i t h t h e o ri g in a l s h o w s h o w E s t i e n n e ' s e f f o r ts a t r e p l ic a t io n h a v e b e e ns h a p e d b y c o n s i d e r a t io n s o f a p p r o p r i a t e r h e to r ic a l e ff e ct . T h e c l a u s a l a n d p e r i o d i cs t r u c tu r e o f t h e G r e e k i s fo l l o w e d c l o s e ly in t h e L a t i n , a s is t h e u r g e n t , p l a i n - s p o k e ns ty l e, w h i c h i s e s s e n ti a l t o th e e ff e c t S a n d a n i s , o r m o r e p r o p e r l y H e r o d o t u s , is s e e k i n g

( s in c e o n e o f h i s p u r p o s e s i s t o c o n t r a s t t h e s i m p l i c i t y o f t h e e a r l y P e r s i a n s w i t h h i so w n t im e s , i n t h e c o u r s e o f w h i c h t h e P e r s i a n s h a d b e c o m e n o t o r i o u s f o r l u x u r y ' 7 ) .

6 Ge neva : H. Est ienne, 1570 [Bib. Nat . , Par is X 1760]. N ot a l l of the t ran slat ions are by Est ienne ,bu t t he c o r r e c t i ons a r e , a s he ma kes su r e we r ea l i z e w i th h i s r emark on t he exce rp t s hep r ov i de s f r om the f ir s t bo ok o f Th ucyd ide s :eadem Latine, ex interpretatione Laurentii Vallaeab Henr. Stephano nonn ullis in locis recognita(p . 55). The ph i lo log ica l fu nc t ion of t rans la t ioneme rg es f r om Es t i enne 's i n s e r t ion i n to t he La t in o f a num be r o f co rr ec t ions b rou gh t t oVal la ' s f i f t een th-cen tury read ing of the or ig ina l , bu t i t i s no t on ly a mat te r o f rec t i fy ingm is und e r s t a n d i ngs : t he f r eq ue n t pa r en the t i c a laliquot in locis,o ffe red as jus ti f i ca tion for anum be r o f emenda t i ons , i nd ica t e s once more t he u se o f tr an s l a ti on a s a mean s o f exp lo r i ngvar ian ts, an d th us of s tab i l iz ing the sou rce tex t. S imi la rly, Es t ienne cap i ta l i zes on the u se oftranslation as glos s; the exp res sion x& ~t~v ' Oxdvrlg e~xe x~13ctwtSa nct6orv (H ero do tus , III. 81),fo r exam ple , occas ions the m ov e f rom t rans la t ion to exp lana t ion :Ea quidem quae Otanes adabolendam tyrranidem (id est unius d om inatum ) pertinentia dixit . . .(Estienne's i talics: p. 8).

7 . W .W. H ow an d J. W el ls ,A Com mentary on Herodotus(Oxford: Clarendon Press , 1912) , vol . 1 ,p. 92.


5/16


Es t i enne has i n f ac t sou gh t t o p re se rve t he cha rac t e r is t ic s o foratio media,w i t h r e g u l a rcolar a t h e r th a n a l t e r n a t i n g l o n g a n d s h o r t o n e s , w h i c h m i g h t b r i n g t o o m u c h v a r i e t y t o t h et o ne , a n d t h u s g o a g ai n st th e se n s e o f s m o o t h n e s s a i m e d f o r i n t h e m i d d l e s ty l e. B u the a l so m ake s ce r t a in t r ans l a t i ve cho ices t ha t i nd i ca t e h i s des i r e t o s t re s s t he e ff ec t s o fthe o r ig ina l . The o pe n in g sen t enc e o f t he La t in , f o r exam ple , i s c a s t a s a rhe to r i ca lq u e s t i o n , w h e r e a s t h e G r e e k i s a p la i n s t a t e m e n t o f f ac t; t h e L a t i n s t r u c t u r e E s t i e n n eh a s c h o s e n t h e n e n a b l e s h i m t o ga i n e ff e ct f r o m t h e c o n t r a s t b e t w e e n t h e o p e n i n gd r a m a t i c g e s t u r e a n d t h e s u b s e q u e n t r e f e r e n c e s t o s u c h m u n d a n e m a t t e r s a s l e a t h e rb r e e c h e s a n d f i g s . T h efidus interpres i s n o t a s e r v i l e p a r r o t , b u t o n e w h o b r i n g s e l e -m e n t s o f hi s o w ninventiot o t h e tr a n s la t io n , i n h a r m o n y w i t h t h e a ff e c t iv e n o r m s o f t h et a rg e t la n g u a g e . T h e t r a n s l a ti o n a s a w h o l e r e v e a l s a c o n c e r n f o r t h o s e q u a l i t i e s o ffacultas and aequalitas,w h i c h e p i t o m i z e t h e m o s t a p p r e c i a t e d f e a tu r e s o f t h eoratio me-dia, r e f le c t in g t h e C i c e r o n i a n i d e a o f tr a n s l a ti o n a s a n e n t e r p r i s e i n v o l v i n g t h e s k i ll s o fthe orator a t l e a st a s m u c h a s , a n d i n d e e d , p e r h a p s m o r e t h a n , t h o s e o f t h einterpres Deoptimo genere oratorum,14).

A s E s t ie n n e ' s v e r s i o n s h o w s , a n d a s C i c e r o s u r e l y i n t e n d e d , t h is is a n a p p r o a c htha t ha s i ts o r ig in i n t he s ty l is t i c qua l i t y o f t hedecus ( in i ti a ll y t h e n o t i o n o f a p p r o p r i a t e -n e s s o f g e n r e t o su b j e ct m a t t e r, a n d t h e r e b y o f f o r m t o c o n t e n t, m o r e b r o a d l y u n d e r -s t o o d ). I t i s t h e r e f o r e a p t th a t E s t i en n e s h o u l d r e p r e s e n t G r e e k o r a t o r y w i t h t h e n o r m sof La t in o ra to r y he re . B u t t he re i s m ore t o it t han tha t: i n d i r ec t i n g theinterpres t o w a r dthe ro l e o f t heorator, C i c e r o g r a n t s g r e a t e r l e e w a y t o t h e t r a n s l a to r ' sinventio t h a n aph i lo log i s t l ike Es t i enne m igh t f i nd com for t ab l e . I nde ed , o r a to r i ca l t r ans l a t i on r i sksp u s h i n g t h e t a rg e t v e r s i o n to w a r d t h at d a n g e r o u s a r e a w h e r einventio ( th e d i s c o v e r y o f

a r g u m e n t s ) b l e n d s i n toelocutio ( th e s ty l e i n w h i c h t h e a r g u m e n t s a re m a d e ) , a n d i f w ere f l ec t on the f ac t t ha t one Greek t e rm fo relocutio w a s in fact ~p~tr lV~tct, (al tho ug h, ofc o u rs e , m o r e u s u a l l y K ~ ) , t h e p r o b l e m i s i m m e d i a t e l y a p p a r e n t : t h e p h i l o lo g i c a lt r a n s la t o r m u s t s e e k to c o n v e y w h a t t h e o r i g in a lsays, n o t t o e x p a t i a t e o n w h a t i tu l t i m a t e l y m e a n s - - b u t t h a t i s a d i s t i n c t i o n t h a t o u r n e e d t o r e l y o n w o r d s e f f e c t i v e l yden ie s u s . It i s o f cou r se p rec i se ly a t t h i s po in t t ha t t he rhe to r i ca l d im en s io ns o f tr ans -l a ti o n re v e a l b o t h t h e p o s i t i v e a n d t h e n e g a t i v e i n t h e p r o b l e m o f b r i n g i n g e l o q u e n c et o b e a r o n o u r a t t e m p t s a t re p l ic a t io n . I f t h e o r a t o r ' s o b l i g a t i o n t oinventio i s s een a sl es s a m a t t e r o f o r ig i n a l, c r e a t i v e t h i n k i n g t h a n t h e a p p e a l t o e s t a b l i s h e d a n d c a t e g o -r i z e d s t r u c t u r e s o f a rg u m e n t a t i o n , t h e n it m a y b e l i k e n e d t o t h e t r a n s l a t o r ' s o b l i g a t i o n

t o t h e o r i g i n a l , a s s o m e t h i n g a l r e a d y i n p l a c e a n d t o w h i c h t h e r e p l i c a t e d v e r s i o n i sbeh o lde n . S imi l a rly, if t he rhe to r i ca l va lu e o felocutio l i e s i n i t s exp lo i t a t i on a s ani m a g i n a t i v e h e r m e n e u t i c , t h e n i t i n t u r n m a y b e li k e n e d t o t h e t r a n s l a t o r ' s e f f o r t t ob r i n g i n to b e i n g t h a t w h i c h o t h e r w i s e w o u l d r e m a i n u n s a i d - - a n d t h a t is t h e p r o b l e mi n a n u ts h e l l. A s w e s h a ll n o w s e e, m u c h o f E s t i e n n e ' s e n e rg y is i n f a c t d e v o t e d , a s aph i lo log i s t , t o r e in ing in t he t r ans l a to r ' s d r i f t t o w ar dinventioa n d elocutio.

I s s u e s o f s t y l e m u s t y i e l d t o i s s u e s o f c o n n o t a t i o n a l a c c u r a c y, fo r e x a m p l e , w h e ni t c o m e s t o tr a n s l a ti n g p h i l o s o p h i c a l t ex t s. H e r e , t h e r e a r e i n e v i t a b l y g r e a t e r c h a l l e n g e st o t h e n e e d f o r p h i l o l o g i c a l p r e c is i o n , p a r t ic u l a r l y w h e n t h e t h o u g h t i s e x p r e s s e d i ns y n t a ct ic a l a n d m o r p h o l o g i c a l f o r m s w h i c h , t h o u g h c h a r a c t e ri s ti c o f t h e s o u r c e l a n -g u a g e , a r e w i t h o u t d i r e c t e q u i v a l e n t i n t h e ta rg e t l a n g u a g e . E s t i e n n e ' s s t r a t e g i e s a r ec l ea r ly i n e v i d e n c e i n h i s e d i t i o n a n d t r a n s l a t io n o f t h e w r i t i n g s o f S e x t u s E m p i r i c u s . 8

8. This publicat ion was to have extensive inf luence on the sub sequ ent develop m ent of N eo-Scepticism, and it is difficult to imagine w ha t the writings of thinkers rang ing from M onta igne


6/16

Lloyd-Jones 41

O n c e m o r e , t h e v o l u m e ' s t i t l e e n g a g e s u s d i r e c t l y i n E s t i e n n e ' s t r a n s l a t i v e e m p h a s i s o np h i l o l o g y a t th e s e r v ic e o f d i d a c t i c i s m a n d p h i l o s o p h y :Sex t i Ph i losoph i Pyr rhon ia rumhypotypoJsecon l ibri III , Q uibu s in tres philosophiae partes severissime inqu ir i tur: Libri mag noingenii acumine script i , variaque doctr ina refert i : Graece numquam, Latine nunc primum edit i ,In terpre te Henr ico Stephano(Geneva : H . Es t i enne , 1562 [B ib . Na t . , Pa r i s : R 9320] ) . He rea g a i n , t h e c a re t a k e n t o e n s u r e t h a t t r a n s la t i o n m i s r e p r e s e n t n o t h i n g i n t h e o r ig i n a l ise x t e n d e d t o th e t y p o g r a p h y i ts e lf , w i t h E s t i e n n e ' s i n s e rt i o n o f a G r e e k c h a r a c t e r i n t ow ha t i s i t s e lf no t a La t in t r ans l a t i on o f t he G ree k t e rm, bu t s im p ly i ts tr ans l i te r a t i on : . . hypotypcosecon Libri III. . . . 9 O f n e c e ss i ty, t ra n s la t io n , w h e t h e r o f t h o u g h t , w o r d , o r

e v e n o f ty p o g r a p h i c a l c h a r a c t e r , a l t er s , a n d a l te r a t io n i s t h e f i rs t s t e p a l o n g t h e p a t h t om i s r e p r e s e n t a t i o n .

I n it s a n t i d o g m a t i c s ta n c e, e m p h a s i z i n g t h e n e e d f o r c le a r d is t i n c ti o n s t o b e d r a w nb e t w e e n w h a t w e m a y t a k e f o r c e rt a in a n d w h a t w e m a y p u t i n d o u b t , s c e p ti c is mr e q u i r e s t h e m o s t c a r e f u l a t t e n t i o n t o w o r d i n g . P h i l i p H a l l i e u n d e r s c o r e s t h e r e l a t i o n -s h i p o f l a n g u a g e a n d t h o u g h t t h a t su c h a n a p p r o a c h i m p l ie s : T h e u l t im a t e p u r p o s e o fS c e p ti ci sm is to m a k e d o u b t i n g u n n e c e s s a r y, t o l et th e c u s t o m s o f o u r c o u n t r y, o u rn e e d s f o r f o o d a n d d r i n k a n d s o fo r th , a n dour plain everyda y speecht a k e o v e r t h e d i r e c -t io n o f o u r t h o u g h t a n d l if e a f te r th e d o u b t i n g i s d o n e ( e m p h a s i s a d d e d ) . 1 T h e r e a r ef e w m o r e p o t e n t s y m b o l s o f b a l a n c e d s c ep t ic a l th i n ki n g , a s M o n t a i g n e w a s t o di s-c o v e r, t h a n t h e s e t o f s c a le s r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e r e fu s a l t o e n a c t a n u n s u b s t a n t i a t e d j u d g -m e n t , a n d E s t i e n n e ' s t r e a t m e n t o f t h e w o r d E a~ Xco(Ou t l ines o f Pyr rho n i smI. xxii) isp a r t i c u l a r l y s t ri k in g . I n a s e n s e , h e s u s p e n d s h i s o w n j u d g m e n t h e r e , b yno t p r o v i d i n ga L a t i n e q u i v a l e n t; r a th e r, h e s e t tl e s f o r p r i n t i n g t h e w o r d i n i ts u n a d o r n e d G r e e k

f o r m , a n d then a l l o w i n g h i s v e r s i o n o f S e x t u s ' s o w n g l o s s to s t a n d i n fo r th e m i s s i n gt rans la t ion :

Su m im us autem ~r~xco pro eo quod est , No n possu m dicere cui ex i is [sc. imaginibus,sententi i s] f idem adhibere . . . .(p. 51)

I t i s i n t h is c o n t e x t o f j u d g m e n t h e l d i n a b e y a n c e t h a t s c e p t i c a l t h i n k i n g e x p l o i t s t h esub t l e t i e s o f t he pa r ti c l e s o f neg a t ion in Greek : Scep t i ca l dou b t i snot denial;i t is thes u s p e n s i o n o f j u d g m e n t , t h e r e fu s a l t o a s s e rt a n d t h e r e f u s a l t o d e n y. T h e S c e p t ic sa y s ,Ouden ma l lon , 'N o m ore l i ke l iho od tha t t h i s i s t r ue t han tha t is t r ue ' (Ha l l ie , p . 9 :

9.

10.

to Wit tgenstein would have been, had not Est ienne 's versions of the primary texts beenpublished Richard Popkin apt ly draws out the consequences for Western phi losophy ofEstienne 's work: By uncov ering the temeri ty of dogm atism, [he] discove red the dangers ofphilosophers t rying to judg e al l matters , and especially theological ones, by their ow nstandards (TheHistory of Scepticism form Erasm us to Descartes,Assen: Van Gorcum & Co. ,1960, p. 35) . Rarely can the syncret ic aspects of hu ma nist t ranslat ion have been so far-reachingAlthough somewhat uncommon, the insert ion of Greek font , and on occasion Greek punc-tuation, into Rom an type is fou nd else w here in Renaissance printing: see Ro bert Proctor,The Printing of Greek in the Fifteenth Century(Oxford: T he U nive rsity Press, 1900) For tho se

interested in read ing Renaissance Greek, the type setting of w hich is often dau nting tom od ern eyes, William H. Ingram 's excellent The Ligatures of Early Printe d Greek,Greek,Rom an and B yzantine Studies,7 (1966), pp. 371-89, is highly reco m m end edScepticism, M an and God: Selections ro m the M ajor W ritings o f Sextus Em piricus,ed. and intro.,Philip P. Hallie, trans. Sanford G. Etheridge (M iddletown : W esleya n Un iversity Press, 1964),p. 7.


7/16

42 International Journal of the Classical Tra dition /Sum m er 1994

original emphasis). Estienne remains true to the declaration of intent in his Annota t iones ,in qu ibus e t iam de quarundam phi losophicarum vocum in te rpre ta t ione ag i t ,as he grapples

with the tra nslati on of the various c ompo nen ts of the question, u Clearly, for Estienne,the requirement of interpretation here demands suppressing to the maximum anyattraction towar d elocutio. Stressing the fact that the sceptic avoids dogmatizing ( O u t -lines, I. vii), Sextus discusses the various formulae of doubt and nonassertion, andEstienne translates pa rt of this section as follows:

. . . quum v o ce s S ke p t ik a e i n s t i tu t i on i s p ronunc i a t , n im i rum ve l hanc o~ )~kvi~6XXov, id es tNihilo magis: au t i l l am o~Skv 6p in to , id es tNihil dif inio. . , u thaec vox, O m nia su nt fa lsa: cum al i is e t iam se ipsam falsam esse dici t. I tem i lla,Nihi l es t verum: eodem modo & hanc, Nihi lo magis , cure a l i is e t iam seipsam dicerenihil magis esse, & propterea una cure aliis se circumscribere(emphasis in origi-

nal: p. 12).

Such privileg ing of the Greek in the heart of the trans lation represent s as m uch a tacitacknow ledgme nt of the latter's potential i nadequac y as of the importance of the origi-nal. The crucial formula o66~v 6p~o~, I define nothing (developed in Out l ines , I .xxiii), calls in fact for special atte nti on on Est ienne 's part. Sextus writes:

About the formula I determine nothing, we have the following to say. Webelieve that to determine means not simply to state something, but to bringforwa rd and to give assent to a view about a thing which is non-evide nt . . . 12

Estienne gives:

De hac autem voce, o~)~kv 6pi~o, id es t nihi l def inio, aut cer to s ta tuo, dicimushuiusmodi . 6p i~ e tv, esse pu tam us , non s impl ic i te r d icere a l iqu id , sed rem incer tampro nun t ia r e cu r e a ss ensu . . . . (p. 51)

Here, not only is the Greek once more provided as a control on the Latin, but analternative translation is provide d, one whic h, using a syntactical ly contra ry approach,actually interprets its predecessor: by tu rni ng the Greek one wa y (negatively) and thenanothe r way (affirmatively), Estienne clearly endea vors to ens ure that all possible

meanings are covered in the Latin. In his critical apparatus at the end of the volume,he then goes on to develop this issue:

. . . 6pi~co ver tere possumus def inio, ad verbum, modo accipiamus def inio in eas ign if i' ca tione qua M . T ul l ius def in i tum & cer tum, i t em def in i tum & cons t i tu tumcopulat . (p. 275)

11. Fran~oise Joukovsky, Le Commentai re d'Henri Estienne aux Hypotyposes de SextusEmpiricus, in Henri Estienne(see n. 5 above), pp. 129-45, aptly comments: Ces discussions surles roots on t une fonction mu ltiple: permettre ~ l'~diteur de corriger un ma nuscrit fautif, justifier sa

traduction latine, et surtout comprendre le Pyrrhonisme en confrontant diff&ents t~moignages.(p.132)12. About the formula 'I determine nothing,' we have the following to say. We believe that to

determine means not simply to state something, but to bring forward and to give assent to aview about a thing which is non-eviden t. .. (translation by Etheridge [see n. 10 above], p.83).


8/16

Lloyd-Jones 43

A f u r t h e r c o m p l e x e l e m e n t is t h u s i n t r o d u c e d i n t o t h e i s s ue o f h o w t h e t a r g e t te x tc o n t r o l s th e s o u r c e t e x t, i n th a t t h e a p p e a l t o C i c e r o n i a n a u t h o r i t y i s n o w t h r o u g h t h em e d i u m o f C i c e r o n ia n t r a n s la t io n . E v e n C i c e r o w a s o b l i g e d t o o ff e r m o r e t h a n o n ev e r s i o n o f th e t a r g e t l a n g u a g e , a n d t h u s c la s si ca l p r e c e d e n t is e s ta b l i s h e d f o r E s t i e n n e ' so w n f r e q u e n t r e c o u r s e to d u a l v e r s i o n s i n o r d e r t o c o v e r t h e s o u r c e m a t e r i a l t o t h efu l les t .

F e w t e r m s o f s c ep t ic p h i l o s o p h y c o n t a i n as m u c h c o m p l e x i t y a s th e v e r bq ~c tv zd ~ o0 ctt a n d i t s d e r i v a t i v e s , e s s e n t i a l t o t h e e p i s t e m o l o g i c a l b a s e s o f o u r c e r t a i n -t i es an d do ub ts . Re fe r r in g to Se x tu s ' s use o f q~(xv'ccto~c tv( O u t l i n e s , I . v i i ) , w h i c h h et r a n s l a t e s a sp h a n t a s i a m( p . 1 2 ) , E s t i e n n e c o m m e n t s :

G r a e c a m v o c e m p h a n t a s i a m r e t in u i , n o n q u o d n e s c ir e m q u o m o d o e arn v e r t a t C ic e ro ,s e d n e q u i s i n a m b i g u i t a t e v o c is L a t i n a e f a l le r e tu r . N a m v i s u m , q u o C i c er o( ~ a w : a a i a v r e d d it , a li a q u o q u e s i g n if ic a r e sc i m u s . Q u u m a u t e m v a r i is i n I o ci si n t e r p r e t e tu r v i s u m , a l i cu b i t a m e n v i s i o n e m e t ia m v e r t i t i n L u c u l l o . 13(p . 248)

H e g o e s o n t o d e v e l o p t h e q u e s t io n f o r s e ve r a l p a r a g r a p h s , a n d c o n c l u d e s :

A t e g o ( ~ a v ~ o l ~ a t h is in Io cis e x p o n e re m a l im a p p a r er e q u a m v i d e r i . . . . H o ct a m e n n e g a re n e m o p o ss it : ~ a l v o ~ t a t ( si v e r b u m v e rb o e x p r i m e n d u m s it ) p o t i u se s s e a p p a r e o q u a m c e r n o r, s e u v i d e o r.(p . 249)

T h e p a r e n t h e t i c a l v e r b u m v e r b o i s c r u c i a l , f o r i t r e v e a l s b o t h t h e e s s e n c e o f E s t i e n n e ' s

p u r p o s e s a n d h i s r e s e r v a t i o n s a s t o t h e i r a t ta i n a b i l i t y. I f t h e t r a n s l a t i v e i d e a l i s t o a l t e ra s l it tl e a s p o s s i b le i n t he c o u r s e o f th e t r a n s l a ti o n , i t w o u l d s e e m t h a t w o r d f o r w o r dt r a n s l a ti o n w o u l d b e t he s a fe st ; b u t w o r d s f e r r y i d e as , a n d s i n c e i d e a f o r i d e a t r a n s-l a t io n i n e v i t a b l y i n v o l v e s ( at b es t ) a p p r o x i m a t i o n , t h e i d e a l r e m a i n s e l u s i v e . 14 I nE s t i e n n e ' s h a n d s , t r a n s l a t io n b e c o m e s a m e a n s o f r e s t o r i n g t h e p r i s t i n e q u a l i ti e s o fm a t e r i a l t h a t t h e p a s s a g e o f ti m e , l ik e a ll o t h e r k i n d s o f tr a n s f o r m a t i o n , h a s a l t e r e d .T i m e s u r e l y d e s t r o y s , a s t h e h u m a n i s t s f e lt a ll t o o s t r o n g l y. T h e h u m a n s c i en c e ofp h i l o l o g y, h o w e v e r , p r o v i d e s a m e a n s o f r e s t it u t i o n , a n d t h a t is n o t w i t h o u t i ts v ic t o r i-o u s s id e . N o r s h o u l d w e f o r g e t t h a t, i f p h i l o s o p h y r e v e a l s t h a t i t is th e p r o b l e m a t i cn a t u r e o f l a n g u a g e t o c o n f e ra p r io r i a f f i rm a t i o n o n th e v e r y th i n g w h o s e n a t u r e w e

s e e k t o q u e r y , p h i l o l o g y b r in g s u s t h e w i s d o m t o k e e p i t a ll i n p r o p o r t i o n : a s E s t ie n n et e as e s h is f r i e n d H e n r i c u s M e m m i u s i n th e l i m i n a r y e p i s tl e ,

13.

14

Est ienne 's re fe rence is no dou bt to Cicero ' sAcademica ,wh ere ( I. 40) he speak s of Zen o 's ideaof [a sor t of imp act offered f rom outs ide]qua m ille q~ctwracrlav, nos visu m appe llemus l icet . . . .Fur ther a l lus ions m ay be fou nd in I I. 8 and II. 111, for example. F or those inter es ted in thel ingu is ti c d imens ions o f Cicero 's appro ach to t rans la t ing Greek , a top ic o f m uch in te rest tohumanis ts l ike Est ienne, Roland Poncelet ' sCic&on Traduc teu r de P la ton(Paris: E. de B occard,1957), is a difficult bu t inv alua ble to ol.As Jean I r igo in in timates, Es t i enne unde rs tands the fu ll impo r t o f the fac t tha t w e can notta lk about l anguage wi thou t recourse to the very too l we should no t be us ing : . . .la traduction

rivdle le scepticisme original , celui de Pyrrhon, tourni vers la recherche de la sagesse, tout diff&entdu scept ic isme des Nouvea ux Aca dimiciens , n igateu r de la philosophie . . . . I l fa l la i t la vas te i rudi t iond 'un He nr i Es t ienne pou r se lancer c lans une pare il le ent repr ise oh la recheche du langa ge-- las c e p t i c a l o q u e n d i f o r m a - - l esddu i t par ce t te dall iance envers ce que le langag e imp l iqued'affirm ation s i~ priori.Jean Ir igoin, Co nclus ion ( H e n r i E s t i e n n e . . . .pp . 157--63: see n. 5above) , p . 162; his quotat ion is f rom J ou kov sky(ibid.,p. 133).


9/16


Qu id? (dices statim, s it e ben e novi), modestiane quadam & verecundia hoc facis,ut tuum hunc libellum nugas appelles . . . Hic libellus seriane tractat, an nugas?~z~XW. A d hoc sal tem responde, Estne philosophicum eius argu me ntum ? o~pcavc~al~fldvco. Age , quid d efinitum con stitutum que tibi de illo est? o6 6k v 6plOw.

Tr a n s l a t i o n o f p o e t r y b r i n g s u s b a c k t o is s u e s o f r h e t o ri c , s i n ce t h e c h a l l e n g e t oo v e r c o m e l i ng u i s ti c re c a l c i tr a n c e is n o w c o m p l i c a t e d b y t h e n e e d t o r e p r e s e n t t h em o r e s t ri c tl y f o r m a l q u a l i t i es o f t h e o r i g in a l . In o r d e r f o r t h e p r o c e s s t o b e f u l l y m o n i -t o re d , m o r e t h a n o n e i n t e r m e d i a r y v e r s i o n m a y b e b r o u g h t f o r w a r d h e r e to o , a n d b o t hs o u r c e a n d t a r g e t m u s t a l w a y s b e k e p t i n v i e w, t o a c t a s a k i n d o f c o n t r o l o n e a c ho t h e r . A s E s t ie n n e p u t s i t i n a s h o r t p o e m a d d r e s s e d t o th e r e a d e r i n o n e o f h i sn u m e r o u s a n t h o lo g i e s o f a n c i e n t w r i ti n g s ,

U t varia utroque scripta sermone hic vides,Qu ae v aria variis exarata autoribus,Ita brevitatis hic & elegantiaeSpectare varia tibi datur certamina. ~5

S i nc e t h e v o l u m e c o n t a i n s o v e r a h u n d r e d p a g e s o f G r e e k t ex ts f o l l o w e d b y t h e i rt r a n s l a ti o n s i n to L at in , w e c a n b e s u r e t h at E s t i e n n e ' s r e fe r e n c e s to c o n t e s t s r e f e r sh e r e n o t t o th e c o m p e t i t iv e t r e a t m e n t o f c o m m o n t o p ic s b y t h e d i f f e r en t w r it e rs , b u tm o r e p r o p e r l y t o t h e c h a l l e n g e o f p u t t i n g G r e e k t h o u g h t i n t o L at in . In r h e t o ri c a lt e r m s , elegantia i s c o n s i d e r e d a proprietas linguae (a p r o p e r t y o f t h e l a n g u a g e , a n d

t h u s a q u a l i t y o f s ty l e, r a t h e r t h a n a n i s s u e o f c o n t e n t) , w h e r e a sbrevitas e s s e n t i a l l yd e f i n e s t h e s e l f -s u f f ic i e n c y o f t h e o r i g in a l , in t h e s e n s e t h a t w e m a y s u p p o s e i ts c r e a t o rt o h a v e s a i d e x a c t l y n o m o r e a n d n o l es s th a n w a s d e s i r e d :elegantia is a t t a in e d t h r o u g ha r ti s ti c s ki ll in t h e d e p l o y m e n t o fbrevitas. E s t i en n e ' s f o r m u l a t i o n o n c e m o r e r e v e a l s h isc o n c e p t i o n o f t h e c h a l l e n g e o f t r a n s l a t i o n a s t h e e f fo r t t o m e d i a t e t h e c o n t e s t b e t w e e na n o r i g i n a l c o n t a i n i n g t h e e s s e n ti a l, a n d a n i m i t a t i o n d e v o i d o f s ty l is t ic s u p e r f l u i t y. 16

T h e s e p e r s p e c ti v e s a r e c o n f i r m e d i n th e c ri ti ca l a p p a r a t u s a c c o m p a n y i n g a n e a r -l ie r b i l i n g u a l e d i t i o n o f t h e s a m e G r e e k b u c o l ic p o e t s i n c l u d e d i n th e p r e v i o u s l y m e n -t i o n e d a n t h o l o g y. 17 B o t h h i s l i m i n a r y a n d c o n c l u d i n g r e m a r k s a r e r e v e l a t o r y o f h isa p p r o a c h a s a p h i l o l o g i c a lcorrector. H e s t r e s s e s h i s p u r p o s e s t o t h e d e d i c a t e e , A r c h -

b i s h o p C a s a:

15. Epistolia, Dialogi Breves, Oratiunculae, Poem atia, ex variis u triusque linguae scriptoribus(Geneva :H . Estienn e, 1577 [Bib. Nat. , Paris:Z 14161] ,u n n u m b e r e d t it le p a g e.

16. Freder ic M. Rener, in hisInterpretatio: Language and Translation from Cicero to Tytler(Am ste rdam and At lan ta: Ro dopi , 1989), pp . 232-33 , d i scusses ho wbrevitasw a s f r e q u e n t l yhe ld to be one o f the m ajor cha l lenges faced by t rans la to rs, and quotes observa t ions o n thesub jec t by a n um ber o f wr i t e r s , inc lud ing Vives, L ipsius , Lu is de Le6n and Dry den . W hi le i tis o f course Greek tha t Es t i enne has in mind , an d whi le in mo s t o f the cases c it ed by Rener,i t i s Lat in that is appre ciated for i tsbrevitas,i t i s w o r t h n o t i n g t h a t b o t h H e b r e w a n d S p a n i share a lso accorded this dis t inct ion. I t can then be argued, in my opinion, that the t ransla tors 'va lo r iz ing ofbrevitasas a rhetor ical qual i ty s tems less f rom a l inguis t ic dis t inct ion (betweenanc ien t and modern tongues , say, o r be tween sacred and vernacu la r d i scourse ) , than f romwh at am oun ts essen t ia lly to the p r iv i l eg ing of an o r ig ina l. S im ply pu t : once som eth ing hasbeen said , can i t ever again be repl icated as wel l , le t a lone be t ter?

17. M oschi, Bionis, Theocriti Elegantissimorum P oetarum idyllia aliquot, ab H enrico Stephano L atinafacta (Venice: Aldus M anu tius, 1555 [Bib. Nat. , Paris: Yc 683]).


10/16

Lloyd-Jones 45

No n mu l t o v e r o p o s t a d h i bi ta quan t a ma x im a adh ibe r i a me po tu i t d i li gen ti a , i ll asi n ho m inu m ve nus t i o r em g ra t i am ede re non r ecusavi . U t au t e m e t i am Grae cael i ng u ae i gn a r is comm oda rem, e a sdem La t i na s f a c t a s cum Graec is copu lav i : nono m n es qu idem ( n o n en im i d pa t i eba tu r l it i um me a rum impor tun i t a s : I s quae si b iop t ima s horas m ax im o meo do lere v ind icab a t . . . ) .(fol. I r)

I n li g h t o f t h e s u b je c t m a t t e r o f m a n y o f t h e p o e m s , i t i s n o t e w o r t h y t h a t E s t i e n n e ' st r a n s la t i v e cr i te r ia h e r e h a v e n o t h i n g to d o w i t h m o r a l p r o p r i e t y, b u t w i t h t h ecor rec tor ' sc o n c e r n f o r p h i l o l o g i c a l a c c u r a c y, a n d t h is p o i n t i s e m p h a s i z e d a p a g e l a t e r i n h isi n t r o d u c t i o n t o t he p o e t r y o f M o s c h u s :

H o c p r i m u m M o s c h i i d y ll iu m , u t e l e g a n t is s i m u m , i ta d e p r a v a t i s s im u m i n li br oGraecum es t . Quare La t ina haec non ad ea quae i l l i c l eguntur, sed ad ea quae leg idebent , examina . De qu ibus d icemus in ca lce hu ius l ibeUi .(fol. 2 9

T h i s de s i re t o m a k e o f a n u n a v o i d a b l y i m p e r f e c t L a ti n v e r s i o n t h e m e a n s o f p e n e t r a t -i n g a n e q u a l l y i m p e r f e c t G r e e k o r ig i n a l 19 u n d e r g o e s f u r t h e r d e v e l o p m e n t i n t h e c o n -c l u d i n g A n n o t a t i o n e s :

E t h aec qu idem s u n t q u a e p e r tempor i s an gus t i a s de Graec is t r an s f e r r e m ih i l i cu it ,non s in e al iqua cer te molestia, du m & f idel is interp ret is off ic io fun gi , & co ncin ni ta te mGraec i poetae , qu an tum Lat ina l ingua pa t i tu r, e xpr im ere s tudeo .( fol . 27 v)

T h e s e n s e o f o b l i g a t i o n t o b o t h s o u r c e a n d t a r g e t i s e v i d e n t i n t h e c o m p e t i n g p r e s s u r e sf e l t b y t h ef i du s i n t e r p r e sw h o w i s h e s t o r e s p e c t t h e f o r m a l a s p e c t s o f t h e o r i g in a l . I t is ,h o w e v e r , t h e c o n c l u d i n g r i d e r t h a t c a r r i e s t h e m o s t e x t e n s i v e i m p l i c a t i o n s , w i t h i t sc o n c e s s i o n t h a t e a c h l a n g u a g e h a s it s o w n g e n i u s - - a n d i ts o w n l i m i t a t i o n s . 2

18

19.

20.

The re fe rence to lega l d i ff i cu l ti es he re i s no t spec i f ic enough to be c lea r, bu t we kn ow tha tEs t ienne was l a te r to f ind h imse l f f requen t ly in t roub le wi th the Ca lv in i s t au thor i t i e s inGeneva , w ho foun d h i s cho ice o f t ex ts fo r pub l ica t ion no t a lw ays to the i r t a s te . Both he andhis fa ther Rob er t exper ienced s imi la r d i ff i cu l ti es be fore l eav ing France fo r Sw i tze r land .This use o f an imp er fec t rep l ica tion to ver i fy the cor rec tness o f an o r ig ina l m ay b e l ikenedto the p ro cedu re o f se lec ting thelectio difficilioras a m eans o f es tab l i sh ing tex tua l accuracy.I t is precisely this ins ight that br ings Est ienn e to offer to sho w(q)uanto certe minor sit laborin transferendis in Graecum sermonem Latinis(fol. 27v) , by p rod uc in g h i s ow n Gre ek vers ionof an e legy by Proper t ius . A br ie f cons idera t ion o f the open ing four l ines o f Es t i enne ' sGreek vers ion (a longs ide Proper t ius ' s o r ig ina l ) wi l l se rve to i l lus t ra te how he approachesthe t ask o f ba lanc ing the des i re to be a fa i th fu l in te rpre te r wi th the e ffo r t to p rese rveconcinnitas:

Quicum que i lle fui t , pue rum qui pinxi t Am orem ,nonne putas miras hunc habuisse m anu s ?

is prim um vidit sine sensu vivere amantes,et levibus curis m agna perire bona.

(Elegiae,II. 12. 1-4)

~ ~o ~ v~l~mxbv ~p&,:o~ ~bv~por~c(xdpa~ev, bv 5' o~) a x ~ v 5oK~et; 5c~L~ov~ov;xaXd~,cc~;

ovzo ~ tSe np00zov Ke veo~p ovc~ e~p.ev ~pc~ozd~,Ka't ,e~.eS~ot ~:ev~t~ a~ az c~ noXK m t0~ v.

(fol. 27~)


11/16

46 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Su m m er 1994

Estienne's own renderings of Greek poetry are noteworthy in that they engagehim in problems of figurative languag e and formal arrangement. The publication, withEstienne's own Latin translations, of the pseudo-Anacreontic odes, A N A K P E O N T O ~Trl~ov I ~ . r h Anacreont is Te ij odae , Ab Henr ico S tephano luce & Lat in i ta te nun c pr im umd o n a t a e . . . (Paris: H. Estienne, 1554 [Bib. Nat., Paris: Yb 219]) changed drama tic all ythe way in which Greek verse would henceforth influence Renaissance poetics; weneed on ly compare, for example, Ronsard's A m o u r s of 1552 with the Cont inua t ion andNouvel le Cont inua t ion des Amours(1555 an d 1556) to have a sense of his semina l influ-ence. 21 The title itself, as usual, reveals his ow n perspec tives : the tr ans lat ion is und er-taken primarily for the purpose of illumination--not to engender literature, but toprovid e an en try into the Greek for the readers of Latin. The scope for interpretatio (andtherefore, even more so, for inventio) is thus restrained by the corrector for whomtranslation is not itself the occasion of poetic creation; rather, it is the act of the hu mbl etoiler who brings the materials he has quarried, in a modif ied and more easily acces-sible form, to the forge of a Ronsard, for example, whose fureur podtique will thentransmute them into gold. It is interesting to note, in this regard, that the volumecloses with a par agrap h entitled He nricus S tephan us lectori S.(p. 63), in whi ch he brief lydiscusses his choice of target language, and concludes by inviting the reader to sup-port his endeavor, accipiens eas An acr eon tis od as, quas iam a nte Gallicas feceram , in aliquotamicorum grat iam Latine quoque aggressus sum vertere. . . . Why the Latin translationscame to be published, but not the French, is doubtless so meth ing we shall never know;but what matters is that even when contemplating vernacular translation, Estienneevidently considered the passage via Latin to be a valid step in the process. His

concession of an intermediary stage of this type symbolizes perfectly his sense oftranslation as a negotiation between different linguistic structures, in whic h the thou ghtitself constitutes a vox universal is , transcending the aleatory aspects of its articula-tion.

An example of Estienne's approach to poetic translation may be seen in thecon cludin g section of the poe m E ~ Tb ~)66ov (Anacreontea,44):

Z' ~0 ov o~v g.E, K ~ K~placoI-Ic~p& ao't~ at6 v~a ~ a~lKO~,Mez& KoOprl~ I~c~0~K6K~o~

Ag edu m , ergo, me coronaPater 6 Lyaee, tem plisM odulans tu is u t ads tem:

(The following plain version of the Greek is meant to facilitate comparison): Whoever,once, first depicted Eros as being a child, don't you th ink him to have had god-like hands?He first saw lovers to be empty-minded, and to consider empty trifles as being greatcalamities.The translation retains the elegiac couplets of the original, but does not follow the Latinword order too literally. Propertius's syntax, marked here by frequent use of infinitives, isclosely mirrored in the Greek, but without any more artificiality than the genre itself callsfor. Although Estienne has generally kept the vocabulary of his translation as conversa-tional as the original, his desire to render the Greek in as authentic (or as literary?) amanner as possible may be noted in his use of the somewhat rare form ~E$.~6~ot, and thecompound adjective empty-minded, which gives a somewhat more artificial effect thanPropertius's plain-spoken sine sensu vivere.

21. See the extensive analysis in Isidore Silver, Ronsardand the Hellenic Renaissance in France,3 vols.(St. Louis and Geneva: Washington University Press and Droz, 1961-1987).


12/16

Lloyd-Jones 47

' Pobl, v o t o t o l :eCavl , oK otgl - I 8 ~ v K 0 t o ~ v o g X o p e ~ oc 0 .22

Rose i s comasque s e r t isRed imi tu s , a t que pu l ch raComi t an t e me pue l l aChoreas & ipse ducam.(p . 89)

W h i l e i t i s n o t o u r p u r p o s e h e r e t o a s s e ss t h e l i te r a r y m e r i t o f E s t i e n n e ' s w o r k , i t is fa i rt o s a y t h a t , a c c o r d i n g t o th e c a n o n s o f L a t i n v e r se , t h e t r a n s l a t i o n s u c c e e d s i n m a i n -t a i n i n g t h e t o n a l s i m p l i c i t y a n d d a n c e - l i k e q u a l i t ie s o f t h e o ri g i n a l, i n k e e p i n g w i t h t h ec r it e ri a p r e v i o u s l y d e f i n e d .Brevi tasis g e n e r a l l y r e s p e c t e d ( a l t h o u g h s u c h a m p l i f ic a t i o n sa s t r a n s l a t i n g X v p~ oo ~ b y m o d u l a n sa d s t e m , o r t h e a d d i t i o n o f pa t e r l e a d t o tw o e x t r al in e s in t h e L a t in ) , a n d t h e r e t e n t i o n o f ia m b i c s l e a d s t o c o m p a r a b l e m e t r i c e f f e c ts a n dt h e m a i n t e n a n c e o feleg antia . 23M o r e i m p o r t a n t , h o w e v e r , is t h e m a n n e r i n w h i c hE s t i e n n e h a s d e a l t w i t h t h e l e xi c al c o m p l e x i t i e s o f t h e G r e e k , s i n c e t h a t i s w h e r e t h ep r o b l e m o f a l l o w i n g to o m u c hi nven t i o i n t o t h e i n t e r p r e t i v e a c t c a n b e d e t e c t e d . I ns o m e c a s e s, a m e a s u r e o f a m p l i f i c a t i o n i n t h e L a t in i n d i c a t e s E s t i e n n e ' s d e s i r e t o s pe l lo u t c o n n o t a t i o n s t h a t t h e o r i g i n a l p r e s e n t s w i t h c o n c i s i o n . W h i l e w e t o d a y - - a t l e a s t i nt h e E n g l i s h - sp e a k i n g w o r l d - - m i g h t p e r h a p s f i n d it s o m e w h a t p e d a n t i c t o f ai l t o c o n -v e r t G r e e k D i o n y s u s i n to L a t in B a cc h u s, E s t ie n n e 's c o n t e m p o r a r i e s w o u l d h a v e f o u n dn e i t h e r d i f f i c u l ty n o r f a u l t w i t h h i s c h o i c e o fPa t e r Lyaeus , a f o r m b a s e d o n Avc ~ o~ , a ne p i t h e t s t r e ss i n g t h e w i n e - g o d ' s r o l e a s d e l i v e r e r o r u n l e a s h e r , a n d t h u s e n t i r e l y a p -p r o p r i a t e i n t h i s c o n t e x t . 24 S i m i l a r l y, t o t r a n s l a t e X o p ~ o o~ b yChorea s & ip se ducam( w i t h it s a d d e d e m p h a s i s o n t h e p a r t i c i p a t i o n o f t h e n a r r a t o r ) b e t t e r c a p t u r e s t h ep r o c e s s i o n a l a n d c e r e m o n i a l s e n s e o f t h e G r e e k t h a n , s a y, a m o r e d i r e c t e q u i v a l e n t

s u c h a s sa l tabo , a f o r m m o r e r e d o l e n t o f t ip s y f o o li s h n e ss t h a n D i o n y s i a c c h o r e o g r a -p h y. O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , E s t i e n n e fa il s t o r e n d e r t h e e p i c a d j e c t i v e d e e p - b o s o m e d ,o t h e r t h a n w i t h t h e w h o l l y c o m m o n p l a c epu l ch ra , a la p s e n o d o u b t w o r t h y o f c o n -d e m n a t i o n o n t h e e s t h e ti c l e ve l , b u t a t l e as t c o n s o n a n t w i t h h i s c o n c e r n s a s a p h i l o l o -g i st w h o k n o w s t h a t L a t i n l y r ic v o c a b u l a r y t y p i c a l l y r eb e l s a g a i n s t s u c h c r e a t i o n s . 2sT h e e x p l o i t a t i o n o f t r a n s l a t i o n a s a m e a n s o f c r e a t i n g n e o l o g i s m s is s u r e l y a t t r a c t i v e t os u c h p o e t s a s R o n s a r d a n d D u B e l la y ; 26 i n E s t i e n n e ' s c a s e , h o w e v e r , w h i l e t h e r e c o u r s et o le x ic a l a m p l i f ic a t i o n i s o c c a s i o n a l l y t h e s a f e s t w a y t o c o n v e y t h e o r i g i n a l 's c o m p l e x -i ty o f t h o u g h t , h e i s c h i e f l y g u i d e d b y h i s r e s p e c t f o r th e n o r m s o f th e t a r g e t l a n g u a g e .Tr a n s l a t i o n is n o t t o b e t a k e n f o r o r i g i n a l l i t e ra r y o r l i n g u is t ic c r e a t i o n , n o m a t t e r w h a t

t he b l a n d i s h m e n t s o fi nve n t i oa n d elocut io .

22. An d so c rown m e, and I sha ll p lay the ly re a longs ide yo ur shrines, Dionysus , and toge therwi th a deep-boso me d g i r l, enve lo ped in rose gar lands , I sha ll dance .

23. A com plete analysis of Est ienne 's concern for the imita t ion ofconcinnitaswould cal l for ex-tens ive scans ion of bo th Greek a nd La t in t ext s , which l imi tat ions o f space p rec lu de here .For some of the i s sues invo lved , see Kees M eerhoff,Rhdtorique et Po~tique au X V I e si~cle enFrance: D u Bellay, Ram us et les autres(Le iden : E.J. Brill, 1986), pp . 4- 14 an dpassim.

24. M any m od ern edi t ions pre fer the rea ding Avcc~e to a t6vvoE. I t i s cer ta inly possible thatEs t ienne was aware o f th i s manuscr ip t va r ian t when compos ing h i s La t in t rans la t ion ; a l l

tha t mat te r s he re , howev er, i s h i s dec i s ion to rend er Dionysus by Lyaeus .25. I t i s of course im por tant to rem em be r that Est ienne is transla t ing into Lat in , not French: assom eth ing of a Ciceron ian , he wo uld hard ly hav e g ran ted h imse l f the r igh t to c rea te La t informs . On ba lance , howeve r, h is appro ach to m at te r s such as the genera t ion o f neo log ismsis consis tent ly conservat ive. W ere he to have t ransla ted the Gre ek into French, his s tra tegiesw o u l d d o u b t le s s h a v e b e e n m u c h t h e s am e .


13/16


14/16

Lloyd-Jones 49

Ka't z&v y(~v ~J~dza~r Ka't 8~.azo, T~ 8' 'A~poS[zq5g~ev k&v 68~vav na t g~.ezo, 8~zt ~e vuz06v01qp~ov ~vx'L ~t~Mooa Ka'L dXbca zpeta31xaza Jtotg.Xd .d z~p ys~. daa aa z~ 8'; o ~ K '~ ao ~ ~ a d~ g s M a a a t q ;8S w'cO bs ~;v ~vq, c&8e T p a ~ t a z a d ~ . ~ K a~OtgG; 3

Improba ap is quondam fu rem conf ix i t Am orem ,D um rapit i lle favos alvearibus: a r t iculosqueUndique pe r s t r inx i t summos . Do le t i ll e, ma num queOre aff ians, pede pulsa t hu m um , laesumque parent iOstendi t d ig i tum: & quer i tur quod tantu la v isuBest ia quu m s i t ap is , tan tum det acum ine vuln us .Cu i turn subr idens mater, Q uid? non apis & tuEs simil is , qu i tan t i l lus das vulne ra tanta? 31

Directly after this tr anslation, Estienne notes, No n d ubi to quin hoc idyl l ium ex Anacreont iselegantissima ode m anav eri t . . . . Est autem sic a nobis inter rel iquas Latina facta(fol. 6v).Estienne's use of the verb manare is particula rly striking here. It does n ot seem to bea verb commonly used in either classical or humanist terminology for the process ofimitatio(whether we und erst and by this term either intralingual imitation or interlingualtranslation), 32 but it aptl y represents his ap proach to the res-verbaquestion, and thus tothe issues of replicability and translation. The t hought, or meaning, of a text ma y thenbe likened to the liquid contained in a vessel, whose shape it necessarily adopts:

pouring it into another vessel alters its form, but not its essence or nature. Similarly,mean ing will necessarily be shape d by its linguistic container, but its essence is

indepe ndent, a nd not a function of any given form.A consideration of these two pairs of Greek originals and Latin translations re-

veals how Estienne's unders tandi ng of imitat ioenables him to give due atten tion to theclaims of both brevitas and elegantia.Both Anacreontic iambics and Theoc ritean dactylichexameters are retained for the Latin versions, in keeping with Estienne's desire topreserve formal unity between source and target. The Anacreontic text provides aplain and mostl y unadorne d narrative, and leads to a similarly straightforward, virtu-ally line by line version that closely adheres to the syntactic units of the Greek. The

seemingly periphrastic v i t a m . . . e f f l o , translating the verb 6ao0v~oKto, reflectsEstienne's careful attempt to capture the precise sense of the prefix d~o -. The allitera-tive Kct~.~lv Kv0r~prlv is neat ly echoed in cand idam Cythe ren .Similarly, the delicateirony of the Theocritean text (we learn from the start that the bee is malicious a nd thatCupid is larcenous, details that help raise the Anacreontic narrative to the level of

30. Once, a wicked bee stung Eros stealing honeycomb from a hive, and hurt all the fingertipson his hands. He was in pain, and was blowing on his hands, and stamped the ground andjumped about, and showed his wound to Aphrodite, and complained what a tiny beast thebee was, and how great the wounds it caused. And his mother laughed, What, are you notlike the bees, you who were born tiny, yet who cause such great wounds?

31. Moschi, Bionis, Theo criti . . . idyllia(see n. 17 above), fol. 6v; also in 1554 edition (pp. 80--81),but without the ensuing commentary.

32. Rener (Interpretatio.. .; see n. 16 above), p. 266, notes, in addition to vertere,such forms astransferre, transvertere, transcribere, Latine exprimere, Latino sermone tradere, mutareandinterpretari.See also his discussion of Translation and Imitation (p. 293-313).


15/16

50 International Journal of the Classical Tradition / Su m m er 1994

poe t i c conce it : t he b i t e r b i t ) i s ap t ly r e f l ec ted in Es t i enne ' s l i gh tness o f tou ch as hec o n v e r t s t h e g o d d e s s ' s l a u g h t e r i n to a s o m e w h a t m o r e w o r l d l y - w i s e s m i le . A n d , i nt e r m s o felegantia, i t i s i n t e r e s t i n g t o n o t e t h a t w h e r e a s t h e 1 5 5 4 e d i t i o n h a d o n l i n e 4t h e w o r d exsuff lans (Anacre ont i s Te i j odae. . . . p , 80 ) , a l a t e La t in fo rm tha t mus t u l t i -m a t e l y h a v e d i s t u r b e d t h e C i c e r o n i a n i n E s t i e n n e , t h e 1 5 5 5 t e x t r e p l a c e s i t w i t h t h emore Class i ca l ore aff lans : o n c e a g a i n , w e s e e E s t i e n n e ' s r e c o u r s e t o i n t e r m e d i a t et r a n s la t io n i n a c o n t i n u i n g a t t e m p t t o s tr i v e f o r p h i l o l o g i c a l a c c u r a c y.

Ye t e v e n E s t i e n n e ' s d e s i r e t o r e s p e c t w h a t e v e r h e c a n o f t h e o r ig i n a l i s n o t a l w a y ss u c c e s sf u l . O c c a s i o n a l ly, t h e d e s i r e t o r e s p e c t c a n b l e n d e x c e s s i v e l y in t o t h e d e s i r e t op r e s e r v e , a s w e c a n s e e f r o m t h is f in a l e x a m p l e o f h i s e f f o r ts a t r e n d e r i n g T h e o c r i t u s .H e r e a r e th e o p e n i n g l i n e s o f h i s tr a n s l a ti o n o f w h a t i s t o d a y p u b l i s h e d a sIdyl l I II ,inw h i c h t h e l o v e r c o m p l a i n s o f h is b e l o v e d ' s c o l d n e s s t o w a r d h im :

f~ X ap te ao A~cq~uKK~,zt ~ ' abK~xt zo$z o Kc~z' av zp ova a p K ( ~ a ' c o t a a K a K 6 ~ , x b v~po~-6~.ov;'H i~d ~e gt a ~ g ;H Ib~ ys zo t ot~,bg Ka'~o~ba~vo~at ~yy~O ev p.ev,

Cu r Am ary l l i caput non , u t p r ius , exer i s an t ro ,Del ic iasque tuas voc i tas m e? hau d sum t ibi g ra tu s ?An nares s imae , por rec taque acumine longoTe barba offendi t? tu me ad suspendia coges?(Moschi, Bionis, Theocriti . . . idyllia,fol. 4v.)

O n c e a g a i n t h e r e i s a m p l e e v i d e n c e o f E s t i e n n e ' s i n t e n t i o n t o r e s p e c t t h e f o r m s a n do r d e r i n g o f t h e o ri g in a l ( d a c t y l i c h e x a m e t e r s i n b o t h ) , b u t w h a t s t ri k e s u s h e r e i s t h eh e a v y a n d g r a c e l e ss L a ti n i f w e c o m p a r e i t t o th ebadinageo f t h e G r e e k . W h e n t h e L a t inA m a r y l l i s is d e n i e d h e r q u a l i f y i n g a d j e c ti v e , th e s u p p l i c a t i n g q u a l i t y o f t h e o r i g in a l i sl o s t , a n d t h e l o v e r ' s p u z z l e m e n t t u r n s i n t o a f i a t q u e s t i o n , o n e t h a t i s c o u c h e d i n s u c ha c o n t r i v e d m a n n e r t h a t w e m u s t s u p p o s e E s t ie n n e t o h a v e a c t u a ll y w a n t e d u s t o h e a rt h e G r e e k b e h i n d t h e L a t in . T h e s i m p l e G r e e k a d j e c t i v e s n u b - n o s e d y i e l d s , n o t u n -h a p p i l y, a c o m p o u n d L a t in a p e ' s n o s e ( no d o u b t b y e t y m o l o g i c a l a s s o c i a ti o n o fo t ~ b g w i t h simia ) ; t h e r e n d e r i n g o f t h e c o m p o u n d a d je c t iv e l o n g - c h i n n e d b y t h e

v e r b o s e porrec taque acu min e Io n go . . . barbai s, ho w ev er, f a r l e ss fe l ic i tous . The p seu do -H o m e r i c a t t e m p t a t t m e s i s ( t h e in j e ct io n o feris i n t o t h e c o n s t r u c t i o nex a n t ro) ,a n d t h eh e a v y - h a n d e d a c c u s a t iv e o f s p e ci fi c a ti o ncaput ( a lso kn ow n in La tin , in f act , a s the G reeka c c u s a t iv e , a n d m o r e a p p r o p r i a t e t o e p i c p o e t r y t h a n t o e r o ti c b a n t e r ) , s u c c e e d n e i t h e ri n c a p t u r i n g t h ebrevi taso f t h e o r ig i n a l n o r i n b r i n g i n g a n yelegantiat o the t r ans la t ion .

But i t i s in theA n n o t a t i o n e st o th i s te x t th a t w e f i n d o n e o f E s t i e n n e ' s m o s t s u c -c i n c t , a n d i n a s e n s e , m o s t p o i g n a n t a t t e m p t s t o m e d i a t e t h e t r a n s l a t i v e c o n f l i c t . A l -t h o u g h h is r e m a r k b e a r s o n a re l a t iv e l y r e c o n d i t e p o i n t o f s y n ta x , it s i m p o r t i s g r e a t:

In Theocr i ti I dy ll is . Te ba rba o ffend it ? t u m e ad suspend ia coges? ~ d ? ~ a o O a t ~e~O~lO~g.Poteram i ra versum hu nc scribere , O ffend i t t e barba? mo r i me deniquecoges [?]. (fol. 26 0

33. Oh, sweet Amarylli s, peeping o ut f rom you r cave, w hy do you no longer ca ll me y ourdarl ing? Do you hate m e then? Do I , close up, ap pea r snub -nosed an d long-chinned to you?Will you have m e throttle m yself?


16/16

Lloyd-Jones 51

T h e i s s u e t u r n s o n t h e f ac t t h a t t h e m i d d l e v o i c e o f h a d y x o ) h a s t h e r e f l e x i v e s e n s e o ft o h a n g o n e s e l f , w h e r e a s t h e L a t i n f o r m u s e d b y E s t i e n n e ( a dsuspendia )d o e s n o t

n e c e s s a r il y c a r r y t h e i d e a o f s u i ci d e . Tr u e t o f o r m , E s t i e n n e e s p o u s e s t h e c a u s e o fbothp a r t i c i p a n t s i n t h e t r a n s l a t i v e c o n t e s t . A s h e i n d i c a t e s , o n e s o l u t i o n w o u l d h a v e b e e nt o s e t t l e f o r a t r a n s l a t i o nad sensum,a n d t o s a y t h a t t h e l o v e r ' s a t t i t u d e f o r c e s t h en a r r a t o r t o d i e ' - - f o r t h at is s u r e l y w h a t t h e G r e e k m e a n s . T h e o t h e r so l u ti o n , th et r a n s l a t i o n ad verbum,is to w r i t e t h a t t h e n a r r a t o r w i l l b e d r i v e n t o h a n g h i m s e l f , f o rt h a t i s a l s o w h a t t h e o r i g i n a l s a y s - - b u t L a t i n s y n t a x d o e s n o t r e a d i l y a l l o w t h e s e l f -r e f e re n t i a l s e n s e o f th e G r e e k m i d d l e . 34 R e c o u r s e t o c o m m e n t a r i e s a n dapologiae( jus t a st o m u l t i p l e v e r s i o n s ) m i g h t b e a w a y t o a l l o w u s t o d o b o t h , a n d t h u s c o n v e ybrevitasw i t h elegantia;b u t t h e n e e d t o c o m e t o t e x t u a l c l o s u r e f o r c e s u s al l t o o o f t e n t o c h o o s eb e t w e e n i n e le g a n t re p r o d u c t i o n a n d w o r d y e x p l a n a t i o n . A s E st i e nn e c o n c l u d e s , w i t ha n u n m i s t a k a b l e b l e n d o f r e g r e t a n d r e s i g n a t io n ,Sed a l iud es t imi tar i , a l iud in terpre tar i( fo l. 2 6r ). A n d t h a t is b e c a u s e i t i s o n e t h i n g t o m e a n , a n d a n o t h e r t h i n g t o s ay. T h et r a n s l a to r ' s t a s k o u g h t i d e a l ly t o b e to r e p r e s e n t , t o r e i m a g e , t oimitate: b u t a s l o n g a si d e a s a r e t r a n s m i t t e d t h r o u g h w o r d s , w e w i l l h a v e t o e x p l i c a te , t o u n f o l d , t o i n s e r to u r s e l v e s b e t w e e n s o u r c e a n d t a r g e t. We h a v e n o c h o i c e b u t t o d e a l in w o r d s ; u l t i -m a t e ly, w e k n o w o n l y t h r o u g h i n t e rp r e t a ti o n . A s h u m a n i s t s l ik e H e n r i E s t i e n n e u n -d e r s t o o d s o w e l l - - a n d a s o u r o w n a g e, in its e a g e r n e s s t o s u b st i tu t e a p p r o x i m a t i v ei d e a ti o n f o r v e r b a l p r ec i si o n, o c c a s i o n al l y n e e d s r e m i n d i n g - - p h i l o l o g y is t h e n t h ec o n d i t i o n o f p h i l o s o p h y . B e f o re th e r e c a n b e l o v e o f w i s d o m , a s t h e G r e e k s k n e w a lla l o n g, t h e r e m u s t b e l o v e o f t h e w o r d .

34. I t i s ce r ta in ly t rue tha t La t in depon ent ve rbs do som et imes ca r ry the Gree k midd le sense o fan ac t ion re f lec t ing back o n the sub jec t, bu t the re a re no inheren t ly re f lex ive over to nes tothe verbmorior.

estienne translation.pdf

Documents