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Rufinus's Eusebius: Translation, Continuation, and Edition in the Latin Ecclesiastical History
- Journal of Early Christian Studies
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2008
- pp. 143-164
- 10.1353/earl.0.0007
- Article
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Rufinus's Latin translation of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History is customarily regarded as an inferior creature to the Greek original. By examining Rufinus's complete translation and continuation together, however, a more sympathetic understanding of his Latin version can be reached. This shows that Rufinus's version was by no means a clumsy version of the Greek followed by a mediocre continuation, but was conceived of as a unified whole. Hence Rufinus revised Eusebius's text not only where he found it to be deficient, but also in order to make it fit with a new vision of Christian history that took account of events subsequent to the age of Constantine. Viewed in this light, Rufinus's version emerges as a more original contribution to ecclesiastical historiography than has been acknowledged hitherto.