Grai vertere vocantes: Virgilio traduttore etnocentrico?

In Verg. georg. iii 147 ff., the expression Grai uertere uocantes, that introduces a name for the gadfly alternative to asilus, is not an example of “domesticating translation” (« ethnocentric », according to the definition of A. Berman), but claims the victory of the Roman authors over their proverbial linguistic and literary egestas. The sophisticated word asilus may have already been used, together with oestrus, by Calvus in his Io as well as by Varro Atacinus in his Argonautae. In his versions from Greek models which he imitates or alludes to, Virgil shows in fact a mature balance between domestication and foreignization.