thumb|right|260px|Title page of The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso: Entituled, Metamorphosis. Translated out of Latin into English meeter by Arthvr Golding was first printed in 1567 and was reprinted five times by 1603. This title page is from the 1593 edition printed by John Danter.
Arthur Golding (May 1606) was an English translator of more than 30 works from Latin into English. While primarily remembered today for his translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses because of its influence on William Shakespeare's works, in his own time he was most famous for his translation of Caesar's Commentaries, and his translations of the sermons of John Calvin were important in spreading the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation.
Biography
Arthur Golding was born in East Anglia, before 25 May 1535/36, the second son of John Golding of Belchamp St Paul and Halstead, Essex, an auditor of the Exchequer, and his second wife, Ursula (d. c. 1564), daughter and co-heir of William Merston of Horton in Surrey, in a family of eleven children (four from John Golding's first wife, Elizabeth). In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Golding family had prospered in the cloth trade, and by marrying heiresses had become fairly wealthy and respectable by the time of Arthur's birth, probably in London.
When Golding was 11, his father died. In 1548, his half-sister Margery, by John's first wife, became the second wife of John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford, and, by 1552, his brother Henry was steward for his brother-in-law's household. Another sister Dorothy married Edmund Docwra MP of Crookham, Berkshire, and was mother of the soldier and statesman Henry Docwra, 1st Baron Docwra of Culmore.
By 1549, Arthur was in the service of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, then Lord Protector. He matriculated as a fellow commoner at Jesus College, Cambridge in 1552. Henry was elected to Parliament in 1558, probably because of Oxford's influence, and from the later 1550s, Arthur worked on a translation of Pompeius Trogus that he planned to dedicate to Oxford. But Oxford died in August 1562, and his son Edward, the 17th earl, became a ward in the house of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, in The Strand. Cecil appears to have employed Golding as his nephew's receiver for several years, for two of his dedications are dated from Cecil House,
thumb|Memorial to Arthur Golding in St Andrew's Church, Belchamp St Paul
Translation of Ovid
Golding is remembered chiefly for his translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The first edition appeared in 1567 and was the first to be translated directly from Latin into English. However, Golding may not have been the first, and certainly not the only early Elizabethan author to attempt a translation of this great work. In his Pleasant Fable of Hermaphroditus and Salmacis (1565), Thomas Peend says that he had already started on his own version when he heard that another gentleman—Golding—was engaged on the same task, and so he gave up. A revised edition appeared in 1575 and there were further editions in 1587, 1603 and 1612. Many other translations followed, including George Sandys's (1621) and Samuel Garth's (1717). Golding's translation, however, was read by Shakespeare and Spenser and "conveys a spirited Ovid with all his range of emotion and diversity of plot". Golding represents the stories he translates in a vivid way, "delivering every twist and turn in as whole-hearted a manner as possible".
<blockquote>
And when he had bewept and kist the garment which he knew,<br>
Receyve thou my bloud too (quoth he) and therewithal he drew<br>
His sworde, the which among his guttes he thrust, and by and by<br>
Did draw it from the bleeding wound beginning for to die,<br>
And cast himself upon his backe, the bloud did spin on hie<br>
As when a Conduite pipe is crackt, the water bursting out<br>
Doth shote it selfe a great way off and pierce the Ayre about. (4.143–9)
</blockquote>
Written in rhyming couplets of iambic heptameter (fourteeners), the book's full title was The Fyrst Fower Bookes of P. Ovidius Nasos Worke, Entitled Metamorphosis, Translated Oute of Latin into Englishe Meter (1565). In 1567 Golding completed all fifteen books of Ovid's poem. The influence of this book and ultimately its translation did not go unnoticed and was influential to many great writers. Its influence has been detected in Spenser's Faerie Queene, in John Studley's translations of Seneca, in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine and Edward II, and many more. Even William Shakespeare knew of Golding's Ovid and recalls it in a number of his plays. However, Shakespeare did have knowledge of versions other than Golding's—for instance, a passage in Shakespeare's The Tempest seems to have a closer resemblance to the original Latin text than to Golding's English version.
It was from Golding's pages that many of the Elizabethans drew their knowledge of classical mythology.
Other translations
Most of Golding's work consists of prose translations that were from Latin and French texts. A Calvinist, he translated contemporary Protestant leaders: Heinrich Bullinger, William, Prince of Orange, Theodore Beza, and Philippe de Mornay. He translated also Leonardo Bruni's History of the War Against the Goths, Froissart's Chronicles in Sleidan's epitome, and Aesop's fables. is an important aspect of his writing. During his time it was more uncommon to translate works that reflect pagan society, such as works by Ovid. Golding, however, did not allow conformity to sway his work. Ovid's Metamorphoses, for example, does not mention Christian symbols; in fact, it was written before Christ's time. What makes Arthur Golding an influential and important character to study is his desire to pull Christian symbolism from the text and write in such a way as to make the work accessible to his peers. Undoubtedly, Golding spent time translating works by Calvin that would further his reputation as a decent Puritan,