This book is an account of the development of translation theory and practice from Roman times until the present. It is a summary of the way in which translation has developed; an account of its intellectual setting and a delineation of its purposes over the last two thousand years. To this end technical and religious texts, as well as literary texts, have been examined. The author argues that translation techniques have not changes since Cicero and claims that the variations between his time and ours, and between “literary” and “technical” translation, are due to the different perceptions translators have had of the communicative purpose of the original text. He argues that the techniques of translation are the same, no matter what the genre, but that the use to which they are put is determined by the purpose for which one translates. The author proposes a model that is universally applicable. It does not treat all types of translation the same way, but it takes into account the way each translator, as the archetype of his own readership, perceives his text. From this point, the author proposes an explanation of why translation has varied immensely according to genre, purpose and intellectual climate.