Perhaps Ker had confused the 75 translator monks with the 5 typist monkeys? > ---------- > From: Daniel Pearlman > Reply To: Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine > Sent: Friday, May 29, 1998 4:21 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: In Alexander's "Pound's Seafarer" > > Have I missed a couple of postings? I don't know who this > Alexander is or who the Ker is that he quotes, but the Ker > quote seems naively anachronistic regarding the purpose of > Bible translation in pre-modern times. The primary criterion > for early translators was faithfulness to God's *word*, > literally, and therefore style and often target-language > sense could go hang. Remember the old story about the > seventy-five (I think) translators who were each set to > work independently to produce a translation into Greek > of the five books of Moses (the Pentateuch)? The result > was that they all, without consulting with each other, > produced word for word the same translation of the > original Hebrew!!--proving, of course, the legitimacy of > the operation, and thus promoting ecclesiastical interests. > > ==Dan Pearlman > >