ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates Dutch translations from the Greek and Roman classics in the turbulent decades around 1800. During the Age of Enlightenment, many Dutchmen believed that their country was experiencing a steep process of decline. They blamed this at least partially on the neglect of Dutch culture caused by an excessive reliance on foreign influences as exemplified by the large number of contemporary translations from the French, the German and the English languages. Yet the Dutch emphatically excepted translations from the Greek and Latin classics from this general condemnation of foreign influence: the writings of the ancients were celebrated as an indispensable tool for the revival of Dutch culture and therefore needed to be made accessible in translation to as broad a public as possible. Beneath this general consensus, however, deep divisions emerged. To most theorists of classical translation, its aim was to be sought in furthering a harmonious process of cultural improvement and general enlightenment. The practice of translation from the classics, on the other hand, demonstrated that the flourishing culture of translation from the classics was inextricably entangled with the ferocious political struggles of the time and thus served to deepen divisions within Dutch culture.
