Latin Translation in the Renaissance

Latin translations of Greek works have received much less attention than vernacular translations of classical works. This book examines the work of three Latin translators of the Renaissance. The versions of Aristotle made by Leonardo Bruni (1370–1444) were among the most controversial translations of the fifteenth century and he defended his methods in the first modern treatise on translation, De interpretatione recta. Giannozzo Manetti (1396–1459) produced versions of Aristotle and the Bible and he too ultimately felt obliged to publish his own defence of the translator’s art, Apologeticus. Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) chose to defend his own translation of the New Testament, one of the most controversial translations ever printed, with a substantial and expanding volume of annotations. This book attempts to provide a broad perspective on the development of Latin writing about translation by drawing together the ideas of these three very different translators.

• Focuses specifically on Latin translations and Latin writing about translation, an important but often neglected body of writing • Provides a broad perspective on the development of Renaissance Latin translations • Discusses in detail for the first time the translations of Giannozzo Manetti

1. Leonardo Bruni; 2. Giannozzo Manetti; 3. Erasmus and the New Testament; 4. Renaissance translations: some categories; Appendix: The preface to Manetti’s version of the Psalter.

‘… this book makes, in my opinion, a remarkable contribution to both Renaissance scholarship and translation studies. Botley‘s well-structured volume can appeal to a wide audience as it touches on such interesting and interdisciplinary topics as rhetoric, linguistics, translation theory and a number of literary genres from historiography to Bible commentaries, biographies, and autobiographies … wish to conclude by repeating my appreciation and commendation of his work.‘

– Bryn Mawr Classical Review