The Arab World, especially Egypt, is now living in a period of abundant translations into Arabic from the original Greek and Latin texts. This has helped cross the borders and make classical writers accessible to the Arab readers. In this regard, we may distinguish three levels or types of readers in the Arab World: firstly general public, secondly educated and learned amateurs, and thirdly specialized academicians and students. The Arab translator of Latin poetry faces many problems of translation, and accordingly has to handle them, as persuasively as possible, to pave the way for the Arabic translation to meet the demands of the readers, seeking their endorsement. The Arab translator also has to elucidate the cultural context in which a Latin poem was written by enriching his translation with commentaries and notes, otherwise the translation may be meaningless and tasteless to the Arab public audience. The translator, at the same time, cannot help avoiding his (or her) critical sense to be in work during the process of translation. In my present paper, I argue that translating Latin poetry into Arabic is a creative re-construction that involves both critical and cultural perspectives.
