First, though the definition of plagiarism has changed over the ages, it seems it’s been around a long time:
“–the actual first use may have been much earlier) in something like its modern sense by the Roman poet Martial in the first century A.D. A plagiarius was someone who either stole someone else’s slave or enslaved a free person, In his epigram number 52 Martial applied the term metaphorically to another poet, whom Martial accused of having claimed authorship of verses that Martial had written.” (Posner, p. 50)
Plagiarists (and students!) take note–here it is almost 2000 years later and people still are talking about it. Sort of the perfect example and a great lesson in “the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” (William Shakespeare)
Speaking of Shakespeare, Posner goes on to point out a passage from Antony and Cleopatra that is clearly taken from Sir Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch.
The concept at the time evidently was that writing someone else’s words even better was an improvement, not a copying or stealing of those words. True, as Posner notes, Shakespeare said it so eloquently that even our modern interpretation of plagiarism will willingly forgive him.
It still bothers me though.
Shakespeare seems appropriate here
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology