Traduttore traditore: Problems in Translation of Plato’s Theaetetus

The purpose of this short note is to show by concrete examples how in some Russian (among others) translations of Plato’s Theaetetus the meaning changes to its exact opposite, which, of course, not only significantly complicates the understanding of the text for the reader inexperienced in ancient Greek, but sometimes brings him to an unsolvable logical impasse. The article analyzes two examples from T.V. Vasilyeva’s translation in comparison with some other translations and focusing on the corresponding contexts of the dialogue: Th. 160e7–8 and 164c7–d2. It is important that these are not some run-of-the-mill passages, but the key points for Plato to build the logic of Sophists: in the first case, he shows the necessary absence of the subject of sensation in the concept of universal movement; in the second, the role of the “agreement on words” in the eristic strategy of Sophists. In both cases, Vasilyeva’s translation, unfortunately, can only confuse the reader and make him doubt the logic and coherence of the Platonic text. From the point of view of the history of Plato’s translations, it would be interesting to consider possible sources of error in the first example (Th. 160e7–8) from multilingual translators of different epochs. From the practical point of view, the analysis of Vasilyeva’s translation of the Theaetetus, included in the “canonical” Russian-language edition of Plato, shows one thing: a new translation of the Theaetetus into Russian is earnestly needed.