Latin Translation in the Renaissance: The Theory and Practice of Leonardo Bruni, Giannozzo Manetti and Desiderius Erasmus

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.