The article presents two translation models that were typical in the XVII and XVIII centuries, but can also be seen as paradigmatics in the field of Translation Studies: 1) The rhetorical model that defends the possibility of translation and emphasizes the necessity of adapting the 'original' to the 'taste' of the target public. 2) The model that affirms the impossibility of translation, the non-translatability: a) because the sensual elements that are linked to the language of the 'original' are praised; b) because there is a defense of the cultural relativism and of the non-translatability between cultures; c) or because there is a defense not only of the impossibility to separate signifiers and meaning, but also because there is a definition of the signifier and of all identities as being the result of a differential game.