Introduction A Sea of Languages: Complicating the History of Western Translation

This chapter explores the relation between Cicero's translation activities and his personal circumstances just before and during the time he wrote his Greek philosophical work. The author considers how the circumstances under which Cicero produced his philosophical works both triggered and framed his approach to the translation process. He aims to show how 'translation', as a form of transformation by way of cross-cultural and linguistic interpretation, gave Cicero a way out of his predicament of personal loss and political isolation. It is author's contention that Cicero's grief over the death of his daughter at a difficult time of his political career both motivated and triggered his translation project in a very specific way. For Cicero's private grief management, author here build on his earlier work in Baltussen. The chapter attempts to explain Cicero's remarkably prolific last years in a new way by considering an additional link between his grief and his translation activity.