“Faithful” and “Unfaithful” Translations - The Greco-Latin Tradition in Jerome’s Letter to Pammachius (395/396ce)

Written in 395/396, the letter is above all a defense from the attacks levelled against Jerome by anonymous critics (we deduce that foremost amongst them was his former friend Rufinus) with respect to alleged mistakes in his translation of an epistle of Epiphanios of Salamis (4th c. ce). After claiming that his translation was not intended for public circulation and had therefore been unduly stolen, Jerome insists that in refraining from a dull and literal version he had simply followed the traditional method of translation, consecrated by a long tradition stretching from Cicero down to his own day. Jerome also claims that this methodis by far the best, with the only exception of the Holy Scriptures, for which a literal translation (verbum de verbo, a locution that will become standard down to the present day for describing this kind of translation) recommends itself because it can help avoid dangerous misunderstandings.