Surpassing the source: Roman theories of translation (Livius Andronicus, Plautus, Titus Maccius, Cicero, Aulus Gellius, Titus Maccius Plautus)

This dissertation aims to provide a study of Roman theories of translation from the beginnings of Latin literature through the third century AD; it covers authors as diverse as Livius Andronicus, Plautus, Cicero, through Aulus Gellius. Rather than concentrating upon philological comparisons of Greek original and Latin translation, it examines the places where Roman translators pause to discuss or allude to the aims and function of their work. Through analysis of these passages it seeks to uncover the issues and problems inherent in the highly aggressive way that Romans formulated their concept of translation, a concept which focused upon a model of competition with the original text, one that sought to surpass both its source and all of the other competing forms of translation that inhabited Rome.; Fundamental to my approach is the belief that translation as a literary activity in Rome was deeply connected with other forms of translation and imperialism within the Roman Empire: one cannot disassociate the translation of Greek literature from the translation of Greek slaves, Greek art, Greek everything, into the possession of Rome. To create a broader understanding of the multiple ways that translation operated in Rome it also examines the role and methods of interpreters and official inscriptions in addition to literary translation. This is necessary to provide a contrast to the comments of authors like Cicero who were adamant in their rejection of the world of the interpres and the word for word, literal style of translation that he represented.; Finally, the dissertation uses the field of translation studies as a means of widening our understanding of the aims and purpose of Roman translation; it sees translation as a manipulated form of literature that was an integral part of the poetics or literary system of Roman culture, not as something derivative and inferior. For the Romans, translation was an activity that was meant to produce works that surpassed their originals, to conquer Greek sources as the Romans had politically conquered Greece.