Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T18:01:36.938Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Translator's notes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

E. M. Atkins
Affiliation:
Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds
R. J. Dodaro
Affiliation:
Instituto Patristico 'Augustinianum', Rome
E. M. Atkins
Affiliation:
Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds
R. J. Dodaro
Affiliation:
Instituto Patristico 'Augustinianum', Rome
Get access

Summary

Traduttore, traditore, say the Italians: ‘the translator is a traitor’. I hope that the following notes will alert the reader to some of the ways in which the vast differences between Augustine's world of thought and our own are reflected in the language that he uses.

Courtesy titles

The etiquette of late antique letters was elaborate. A large number of honorific titles was used which conveyed, more or less specifically, a range of social nuances which we cannot now recover in all their subtlety (for a comprehensive survey, see O'Brien, Titles). Some of these terms were technical: illustris (‘illustrious’), spectabilis (‘admirable’) and clarissimus (‘renowned’) referred to three levels of rank in the late imperial élite, illustris being the most senior title, then spectabilis, then clarissimus. Certain epithets, such as ‘holy’ and ‘blessed’, were normally reserved for Christian ecclesiastics; others such as ‘beloved’ were also specifically Christian in usage.

Such language should not, of course, be taken at face value (we ourselves rarely feel affection for those we address as ‘Dear Sir’). Abstract nouns were also used honorifically; I have translated such phrases as, for example, ‘your holy self’ rather than ‘your holiness’.

Commonwealth, government, empire, public life

Res publica means literally ‘public thing’. In Letter 138.10 Augustine refers to Cicero's well-known definition, which may be literally translated: ‘the “public thing” is a thing of (belonging to) the people’.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Translator's notes
  • Augustine
  • Edited by E. M. Atkins, Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds, R. J. Dodaro, Instituto Patristico 'Augustinianum', Rome
  • Book: Augustine: Political Writings
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511802317.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Translator's notes
  • Augustine
  • Edited by E. M. Atkins, Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds, R. J. Dodaro, Instituto Patristico 'Augustinianum', Rome
  • Book: Augustine: Political Writings
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511802317.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Translator's notes
  • Augustine
  • Edited by E. M. Atkins, Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds, R. J. Dodaro, Instituto Patristico 'Augustinianum', Rome
  • Book: Augustine: Political Writings
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511802317.003
Available formats
×