Expositio prologi
Commentarius in Ecclesiasten · Prooemium
Prologus commentarii S. Hieronymi in Ecclesiasten.
Memini, me ante hoc ferme quinquennium, cum adhuc Romae essem et Ecclesiasten sanctae Blesillae legerem, ut eam ad contemptum istius saeculi provocarem, et omne, quod in mundo cerneret, putaret esse pro nihilo; rogatum ab ea, ut in morem commentarioli obscura quaeque dissererem, ut absque me posset intelligere quae legebat. Itaque, quoniam in procinctu nostri operis subita morte subtracta est, et non meruimus, o Paula et Eustochium, talem vitae nostrae habere consortem, tantoque vulnere tunc perculsus obmutui; nunc in Bethlehem positus, augustiori videlicet civitate, et illius memoriae et vobis reddo quod debeo; hoc breviter admonens, quod nullius auctoritatem secutus sum; sed de Hebraeo transferens, magis me Septuaginta Interpretum consuetudini coaptavi, in p. 9 his dumtaxat, quae non multum ab Hebraicis discrepabant. Interdum Aquilae quoque et Symmachi et Theodotionis recordatus sum, ut nec novitate nimia lectoris studium deterrerem; nec rursum contra conscientiam meam, fonte veritatis omisso, opinionum rivulos consectarer1.
Expositio huius prologi.
Huic libro praemittit sanctus Hieronymus Prooemium, in quo primo manifestat motivum ad transferendum. Secundo determinat translationis modum, ibi: Hoc breviter admonens.
Prima pars habet tres partes. Primo dicit, quid movit eum ad inchoandum, scilicet intercessio sanctae Blesillae. — Secundo tangit, quid impedivit ad differendum, scilicet mors eiusdem, ibi: Itaque, quoniam in procinctu etc. — Tertio, quid movit ad consummandum, scilicet et eius memoria et intercessio Eustochii et Paulae, ibi: Nunc in Bethlehem positus etc.
Hoc breviter admonens. Hic tangitur modus transferendi, et primo ponitur modus, scilicet quod nec omnino convenit cum aliis nec omnino differt, immo, in quibus potuit bono modo, eos est imitatus. Secundo subiungitur ratio, scilicet ibi: Ut nec novitate nimia etc. Et est ratio, quia secutus est in aliquibus, ne videretur nimiam ingerere novitatem; nec omnino secutus, ne desereret veritatem2.
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The Prologue of the Commentary of St Jerome on Ecclesiastes.
I remember that about five years before this, when I was still at Rome and was reading Ecclesiastes with the holy Blesilla, in order to rouse her to the contempt of this world, and that she might count everything she beheld in the world as nothing, I was asked by her to expound whatever was obscure after the manner of a short commentary, so that she might be able to understand without me what she was reading. And so, since, when our work was in train, she was taken away by a sudden death, and we did not deserve, O Paula and Eustochium, to have such a companion of our life, and I, struck down at that time by so great a wound, fell silent; now, placed at Bethlehem, in a more venerable city that is, I render both to her memory and to you what I owe; giving this brief warning, that I have followed no man's authority; but, translating from the Hebrew, I have accommodated myself rather to the usage of the Septuagint translators, in p. 9 those things only which did not much differ from the Hebrew. At times I have called to mind Aquila also and Symmachus and Theodotion, so as neither by too great a novelty to deter the reader's zeal, nor again, against my own conscience, to follow after the rivulets of opinions with the fount of truth forsaken1.
The exposition of this prologue.
To this book Saint Jerome prefixes a Prooemium, in which he first makes manifest the motive for translating. Secondly he determines the manner of the translation, there: Giving this brief warning.
The first part has three parts. First he says what moved him to begin, namely the intercession of the holy Blesilla. — Secondly he touches on what hindered him, so that he deferred it, namely her death, there: And so, since, when our work was in train etc. — Thirdly, what moved him to complete it, namely both her memory and the intercession of Eustochium and Paula, there: Now, placed at Bethlehem etc.
Giving this brief warning. Here the manner of translating is touched upon, and first the manner is set down, namely that he neither altogether agrees with the others nor altogether differs from them; rather, in those things in which he could do so in a good way, he has imitated them. Secondly the reason is subjoined, namely there: So as neither by too great a novelty etc. And the reason is that he followed them in some things, lest he should seem to bring in too great a novelty; and did not altogether follow them, lest he should forsake the truth2.
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- 1Hunc prologum transcripsimus ex editione Vallarsii Operum S. Hieronymi, tom. III. col. 382.We have transcribed this prologue from Vallarsi's edition of the Works of St Jerome, tom. III, col. 382.
- 2Post hunc in Prologum Hieronymi commentariolum cod. E adiungit alium longe maiorem; quem cum contulerimus cum commentario scripto a Fr. Gulielmo Britone Ord. Min. (qui vixit eadem aetate, qua S. Bonaventura, et omnes Prologos S. Hieronymi in libros Scripturae commentatus est), invenimus, codicem illum exhibere totum scriptum praedicti Gulielmi, tamen auctum additione plurium locorum s. Scripturae. — Item notamus, quod etiam cod. A verbis S. Bonaventurae hic interserit explicationes sumtas ex eodem Gulielmo. Idem cod. A passim addit multas interpolationes, etiam longiores, depromptas plerumque ex Commentario Hugonis a S. Charo in Ecclesiasten, vel ex Glossa ordinaria. Plura de his in Prolegomenis nostris dicuntur.After this little commentary on Jerome's Prologue, codex E adds another far larger one; and when we had compared it with the commentary written by Friar William Brito of the Order of Friars Minor (who lived in the same age as St Bonaventure, and commented on all the Prologues of St Jerome to the books of Scripture), we found that that codex exhibits the whole writing of the aforesaid William, enlarged, however, by the addition of a good many passages of holy Scripture. — Likewise we note that codex A too here inserts among St Bonaventure's words explanations taken from the same William. The same codex A adds here and there many interpolations, some of them of considerable length, drawn for the most part from the Commentary of Hugh of St Cher on Ecclesiastes, or else from the Glossa ordinaria. More is said of these things in our Prolegomena.