1/8/2024 0 Comments Tu me liberasErat in monasterio nostro vir apud suos haud ignobilis, Eusebius Cremonensis, qui cum haec Epistula per multorum ora volitaret, et mirarentur eam pro doctrina et puritate sermonis, docti pariter et indocti, coepit a me obnixe petere, ut sibi eam in Latinum verterem, et propter intelligendi facilitatem apertius explicarem: Graeci enim eloquii penitus ignarus erat. Harum exemplaria certatim Palaestinae rapiebantur, vel ob auctoris meritum, vel ob elegantiam scriptionis. Ante hoc ferme biennium miserat Ioanni Episcopo supradictus Papa Epiphanius litteras, arguens eum in quibusdam dogmatibus, et postea clementer ad poenitentiam provocans. And lest it should happen that my accuser-encouraged by a volubility which stops at nothing and by an impunity which arrogates to itself an unlimited license-should accuse me as he has already done our father (Pope) Epiphanius I send this letter to inform you-and through you others who think me worthy of their regard-of the true order of the facts. For a rash tongue charges me with ignorance or falsehood it alleges that in translating another man’s letter I have made mistakes through incapacity or carelessness it convicts me of either an involuntary error or a deliberate offence. On this occasion I too think myself happy that learned ears will hear my defence. The apostle Paul when he appeared before King Agrippa to answer the charges which were brought against him, wishing to use language intelligible to his hearers and confident of the success of his cause, began by congratulating himself in these words: “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused by the Jews: especially because thou art expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews.” 1 He had read the saying of Jesus: 2 “Well is him that speaketh in the ears of them that will hear ” 3 and he knew that a pleader only succeeds in proportion as he impresses his judge. Ac ne forsitan accusator meus facilitate, qua cuncta loquitur, et impunitate, qua sibi licere omnia putat, me quoque apud vos argueret, ut Papam Epiphanium criminatus est, hanc epistulam misi, quae te, et per te alios, qui nos amare dignantur, rei ordinem doceat.ġ. Unde et ego beatum me in hoc duntaxat negotio iudico, quod apud eruditas aures imperitae linguae responsurus sum: quae obiicit mihi vel ignorantiam, vel mendacium si aut nescivi alienas litteras vere interpretari, aut nolui: quorum alterum error, alterum crimen est. Paulus Apostolus, praesente Agrippa rege, de criminibus responsurus, quod posset intelligere qui auditurus erat, securus de causae victoria statim in principio sibi gratulatur, dicens: “De omnibus quibus accusor a Iudaeis, o rex Agrippa, existimo me beatum, cum apud te sim hodie defendendus, qui praecipue nosti cunctas quae in Iudaeis sunt consuetudines et quaestiones.” Legerat enim illud Iesu: “Beatus qui in aures loquitur audientis” et noverat tantum oratoris verba proficere, quantum iudicis prudentia cognovisset. To Pammachius on the Best Method of Translating. Ad Pammachium De Optimo Genere Interpretandi. See Letters LXXX, and LXXXI, and Rufinus’ Preface to the περί ᾽Αεχῶν in Vol. When at a subsequent period Rufinus gave to the world what was in Jerome’s opinion a misleading version of Origen’s First Principles, he appealed to this letter as giving him ample warranty for what he had done. Charged with having falsified his original he now repudiates the charge and defends his method of translation (“to give sense for sense and not word for word” §5) by an appeal to the practice of classical (§5), ecclesiastical (§6), and N.T. His version soon became public and incurred severe criticism from some person not named by Jerome but supposed by him to have been instigated by Rufinus (§12). (from Epiphanius to John of Jerusalem) under circumstances which he here describes (§2). In the previous year Jerome had rendered into Latin Letter LI. Written to Pammachius (for whom see Letter LXVI.) in a.d. For a discussion of the relationship between this letter and Jerome’s work on the Latin translation of the Bible see my article on the Literal Character of the Vulgate. Fremantle, from A Select Library of Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, second series, vol. The English translation and notes are by W.H. In § 5 Migne’s edition has the typographical error κακοξηλίαν for κακοζηλίαν in the sentence “Quam vos veritatem interpretationis, hanc eruditi κακοζηλίαν nuncupant.” It does not otherwise purport to be a critically emended text. 22 (Paris, 1859), which I have corrected in one place. I present here Jerome’s letter to Pammachius in Latin and English. Jerome "On the Best Method of Translating" Bible Research > English Versions > Translation Methods > Jerome
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