Nations and cultures in an expansionist phase both need and fear translation. They go to translaiton to sustain the figurative resources of eloquence which ensure a cultural legitimacy for political acts of appropriation. The difficulty is one of openness and containment: how does the national or imperial language open up to other languages without being subtly undermined in the process? This essay explore the relationship between classical and Renaissance theories of eloquence and translation and how they lead to specific understanding of the role of metaphor and figurative language in the construction of empire. It offers examples form the sixteenth century Tudor reconquest of Ireland to illustrate the enduring centrality of translation to questions of power, hegemony and identity.