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largenumberofscholars,includingAverroës,Avicenna,alGazaliandAlfarabi.
Beginningintheeleventhcentury,philosophersandscientistsfromtheWest
workedandstudiedintheMuslimEastandcamebackwithLatintranslationsof
theArabicversionsofGreekphilosophers,andofArabiccommentarieson
them.TheArabs,atthispoint,wereknownprimarilyforadvancedmedicine.
ThesubstantialtranslationmovementfromArabicintoLatinwasinitiatedby
ConstantinetheAfrican,who,lateintheeleventhcentury,settledinthe
monasteryatMonteCassinoafterstudyinginNorthAfrica.Hespecializedin
themedicalworksofGalen.ConstantinewasfollowedbyBishopAlfanusof
Salerno,whoextendedthefieldtoPythagoras,Plato,Aristotleand
Hippocrates.Duringthetwelfthcentury,mostscientificandphilosophical
translationfromArabicintoLatinwasdoneinSpainandsouthernFrance.
Therearoseageneralpatternofcooperationorevencollaborationbetween
ChristianandArab.ThiswasattherootoftheformationoftheSchoolof
Toledo,supposedlyfoundedbyArchbishopRaymond(1125–52).Thebest
knowntranslatorsofthisgroupworkedunderRaymond’ssuccessor,
ArchbishopJohn,forexampleDominicusGundisalvi,JohnofSeville,Gerardof
Cremona(1114–87)andPeterofToledo,allofwhomtranslatedAristotleand
theArabcommentators,AverroësandAvicenna.Thereweremanytranslators
workingoutsideToledo,forexampleHermannofCarinthia,PlatoofTivoli,
AdelardofBath,andMichaelScot;thelatterwasworkingaslateas1217.A
coupleofLatinversionsoftheQur’ānwerealsopreparedduringthisperiod.
AristotleandotherGreekphilosopherswereintroducedintotheuniversitiesof
thetwelfthandthirteenthcenturiesthroughLatinversionsoftheArabic
translations.Jourdain(1843)givesafulllist.Inevitably,theincursionofAristotle
inArabdresscausedintensedisquietinorthodoxcircles,andAristotlewas
bannedinseveralmajorplacesasapaganinfluence.Aristoteliansrepliedby
translatingdirectlyfromtheGreektexts.Thegreatestofthetwelfthcentury
translatorsfromtheGreekwasJamesofVenice(fl.1125–50).Hewas
responsibleforcompletingtheLatinversionofAristotle’sOrganon,the
Physics,Metaphysics,DeAnima,andParvaNaturalia.TheonlyLatin
versionsofPlatocamefromHenricusAristippus,whoseMenoandPhaedo
appearedinthelate1150s.
Twonorthernersstandoutasimportanttranslatorsofthisperiod.Robert
Grosseteste,bishopofLincolnandprobablyfirstchancellorofOxford,
translatedtheNicomacheanEthics(1246?)andtheDeCaelo.Healso
translatedanumberofGreekcommentariesonAristotle,particularlythoseof
Simplicius.EvenmoreimportantwastheFlemishDominican,Williamof
Moerbeke(1215?–86),whorevisedanumberoftheknowntranslationsof
AristotleandaddedtotheLatincanonthePoliticsandthePoetics.Amongthe
GreekcommentariesofAristotle,hetranslatedAlexanderontheMeteorology
andtheDesensu,AmmoniusontheDeinterpretatione,Simpliciusonthe
CategoriesandtheDeCaelo,andThemistiusontheDeAnima.Inthe
Dominicanschoolsofphilosophyandtheology,theMoerbekeversions
replacedmostothers(D’Alverny1982).
TheRenaissance(fourteenthtosixteenthcenturies)
IntranslationasinothermattersrelatingtoClassicaltraditions,theRenaissance
wasatimeofrethinking,notatimeofdiscoveryofthepast.Becauseliterature
was‘philosophyjoinedtoeloquence’asCicerohadtaught,Renaissance
translationtheoryfollowedCiceroniannorms,andHorace’sArsPoetica(134–
5)sufferedaradicalrereading,cf.BenJonson’stranslation:
Forbeingapoet,thoumaistfeigne,create,
Notcare,asthouwouldstfaithfullytranslate,
Torenderwordforword.
Inprinciple,literalityhereprecludesfidelity:inHorace’soriginalthedistinctionis
notasclearcut.
Humanisttranslationbeginsinthegreatmercantilestatesoffourteenthcentury
Italy,inparticularFlorenceandVenice.Fromthebeginningofthefourteenth
century,thesecitieswelcomedGreekscholarsfleeingtheTurkishadvanceinto
theByzantineEmpire.Theyencouragedthemtosetupschoolsandbuilta
classicalculturearoundthem.Forthetranslator,patronagewasessential,
becauseit