“The reliable exercise of the scientist man”: literature translation in the first Russian journal

The article is devoted to the prose translational publications of the first Russian popular science magazine “Monthly Essays for Benefit and Entertainment”. These publications are moralistic. Their sources were Western European literary magazines, as well as collected works of European authors. Translated literature was in the XVIII century was almost the main channel through which the Russian educated society spontaneously assimilated the ideas of the European Enlightenment. Along with this, a culture of literary and artistic translation developed. Journal Editor Academician G.F. Miller believed that translated moral prose combines both of the fundamental principles of his journal - “benefit” and “entertainment”.