Stephen Carlson: Rufinus's Origenization of Eusebius in his Translation of the Historia ecclesiastica

Relatively little attention has been given to the translation technique of Rufinus of Aquileia in his production of a Latin version of the Historia ecclesiastica of Eusebius of Caesarea. This paper contributes to a further understanding of Rufinus's approach to translation by studying his rendering of Book 3, chapter 39, of the Ecclesiastical History into Latin. At times, Rufinus will gloss obscurities in his source material. For example, scholars have long known of his identification of the "woman accused of many sin before the Lord" mentioned by Papias (HE 3.39.17) as the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:12), but there are other cases in this chapter that have been overlooked. Particularly striking is Rufinus's identification of allusions to Origen's thought and exegesis underlying Eusebius's presentation of the material in this chapter and making them more explicit. This paper details two cases where Rufinus adds phraseology that Origenizes Eusebius's text and considers the role and importance of Origen's thought in Rufinus's works, including his translations.