De Institutione Musica: Translation as aemulatio

• Grant number: 24/10837-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Classical Languages
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Martins
• Grantee: Guilherme Pezzente Pinto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to discuss the methods of translation in the Roman world and the construction of the treatise on music by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, De Institutione Musica. Taking into account the importance of translating Greek texts into Latin in the development of Roman literature, it will demonstrate how the verbum e verba procedure used by Boethius can correspond to the Roman tradition of surpassing the translated source. Furthermore, by investigating Boethius' sources, the research will show how the author constructs this work from the reading, translation and commentary of previous authors and how he makes use of two main sources, Nicomachus of Gerasa and Claudius Ptolemy, affiliating himself with Porphyry by linking Plato's thought to that of Aristotle.