Issues in Translation: Plutarch’s Moralia Translated from Greek into Latin by Iacopo d’Angelo
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Giancarlo Abbamonte
Abstract
The Latin translations of Plutarch made by Iacopo d’Angelo (ca. 1370- 1411) have been often criticized for his Latin style, regarded as inelegant, and his misunderstandings of Greek. The present work will focus on Iacopo’s translations of three treatises from Plutarch’s Moralia, namely the two works On the Virtue and Fortune of Alexander the Great, and the one On the Fortune of the Romans, in order to show that most of the criticisms, today still repeated, were made by Iacopo’s enemy, Leonardo Bruni. In fact, some mistakes and misinterpretations by Iacopo depended on the lack of basic tools in his age, such as a Greek or bilingual lexicon, and on the condition of the Greek manuscript he used for his translations.
Abstract
The Latin translations of Plutarch made by Iacopo d’Angelo (ca. 1370- 1411) have been often criticized for his Latin style, regarded as inelegant, and his misunderstandings of Greek. The present work will focus on Iacopo’s translations of three treatises from Plutarch’s Moralia, namely the two works On the Virtue and Fortune of Alexander the Great, and the one On the Fortune of the Romans, in order to show that most of the criticisms, today still repeated, were made by Iacopo’s enemy, Leonardo Bruni. In fact, some mistakes and misinterpretations by Iacopo depended on the lack of basic tools in his age, such as a Greek or bilingual lexicon, and on the condition of the Greek manuscript he used for his translations.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of figures IX
- Introduction 1
- Through the Eyes of the Greeks: Byzantine Émigrés and the Study of Greek in the Renaissance 9
- Janus Lascaris’ Florentine Oration and the ‘Reception’ of Ancient Aeolism 27
- Manuel Calecas’ Grammar: Its Use and Contribution to the Learning of Greek in Western Europe 51
- Issues in Translation: Plutarch’s Moralia Translated from Greek into Latin by Iacopo d’Angelo 67
- Translating from Greek (and Latin) into Latin: Niccolò Perotti and Plutarch’s On the Fortune of the Romans 79
- Humanist Translations and Rewritings: Lucian’s Encomium of the Fly between Guarino and Alberti 95
- Cardinal Bessarion and the Introduction of Plato to the Latin West 109
- The Reception of Aeschylus in Sixteenth-Century Italy: The Case of Coriolano Martirano’s Prometheus Bound (1556) 125
- Rethinking the Birth of French Tragedy 143
- ‘Pantagruel, tenent un Heliodore Grec en main [...] sommeilloit’: Reading the Aethiopica in Sixteenth-Century France 157
- From Greek to the Greeks: Homer (and Pseudo-Homer) in the Greco-Venetian Context between the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century 175
- The Wanderings of a Greek Manuscript from Byzantium to Aldus’ Printing House and Beyond: The Story of the Aristotle Ambr. B 7 inf. 195
- The Reception of Horace’s Odes in the First Book of Marcantonio Flaminio’s Carmina 213
- Orazio Romano’s Porcaria (1453): Humanist Epic between Classical Legacy and Contemporary History 233
- List of Contributors 253
- Index 255
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of figures IX
- Introduction 1
- Through the Eyes of the Greeks: Byzantine Émigrés and the Study of Greek in the Renaissance 9
- Janus Lascaris’ Florentine Oration and the ‘Reception’ of Ancient Aeolism 27
- Manuel Calecas’ Grammar: Its Use and Contribution to the Learning of Greek in Western Europe 51
- Issues in Translation: Plutarch’s Moralia Translated from Greek into Latin by Iacopo d’Angelo 67
- Translating from Greek (and Latin) into Latin: Niccolò Perotti and Plutarch’s On the Fortune of the Romans 79
- Humanist Translations and Rewritings: Lucian’s Encomium of the Fly between Guarino and Alberti 95
- Cardinal Bessarion and the Introduction of Plato to the Latin West 109
- The Reception of Aeschylus in Sixteenth-Century Italy: The Case of Coriolano Martirano’s Prometheus Bound (1556) 125
- Rethinking the Birth of French Tragedy 143
- ‘Pantagruel, tenent un Heliodore Grec en main [...] sommeilloit’: Reading the Aethiopica in Sixteenth-Century France 157
- From Greek to the Greeks: Homer (and Pseudo-Homer) in the Greco-Venetian Context between the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century 175
- The Wanderings of a Greek Manuscript from Byzantium to Aldus’ Printing House and Beyond: The Story of the Aristotle Ambr. B 7 inf. 195
- The Reception of Horace’s Odes in the First Book of Marcantonio Flaminio’s Carmina 213
- Orazio Romano’s Porcaria (1453): Humanist Epic between Classical Legacy and Contemporary History 233
- List of Contributors 253
- Index 255
