Author: Borkowska, Katarzyna
Title: Translatio, Imitatio, Aemulatio: Assimilation of Greek Thought in Cicero’s Philosophical Writings
Review/Collection: In : Benoît Castelnérac, Luca Gili and Laetitia Monteils-Laeng, Foreign Influences: The Circulation of Knowledge in Antiquity, Brepols, 304 p.
Year edition: 2024
Pages: 209-226
Keywords: Philosophie - Filosofia - Philosophy, Sources - Fonti - Sources, Traduction - Traduzione - Translation
Description: The article stresses that Plato talks about the connection of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy in the Epinomis, while Cicero uses comparable expressions to stress the connection between the arts (poetry, rhetoric and philosophy). Plato’s and Cicero’s lists correspond to the later artes liberales. The Platonic series would later evolve into the quadrivium – artes reales, and the Ciceronian list into trivium – artes sermocinales. One could be tempted to perceive Cicero’s translations of Greek philosophical terms as manipulative, but Cicero never intended to offer literal or faithful translations of his sources. Borkowska argues that the most fruitful approach to Cicero’s reception of the Greeks should focus on its culture-forming role rather than its truthfulness [Author].
Author initials: Borkowska 2024a
Title: Translatio, Imitatio, Aemulatio: Assimilation of Greek Thought in Cicero’s Philosophical Writings
Review/Collection: In : Benoît Castelnérac, Luca Gili and Laetitia Monteils-Laeng, Foreign Influences: The Circulation of Knowledge in Antiquity, Brepols, 304 p.
Year edition: 2024
Pages: 209-226
Keywords: Philosophie - Filosofia - Philosophy, Sources - Fonti - Sources, Traduction - Traduzione - Translation
Description: The article stresses that Plato talks about the connection of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy in the Epinomis, while Cicero uses comparable expressions to stress the connection between the arts (poetry, rhetoric and philosophy). Plato’s and Cicero’s lists correspond to the later artes liberales. The Platonic series would later evolve into the quadrivium – artes reales, and the Ciceronian list into trivium – artes sermocinales. One could be tempted to perceive Cicero’s translations of Greek philosophical terms as manipulative, but Cicero never intended to offer literal or faithful translations of his sources. Borkowska argues that the most fruitful approach to Cicero’s reception of the Greeks should focus on its culture-forming role rather than its truthfulness [Author].
Author initials: Borkowska 2024a
