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Abstract :
[en] Eusebius’ Chronicle by Jerome is a summary of the history of the Greeks and Barbarians from Abraham’s birth (placed in 2016 BCE) until Diocletian’s reign (303 CE: beginning of the great persecution) in its first version, the second one going up to the twentieth year of Constantine’s reign (325 CE). Jerome’s Chronicle is the translation (almost faithful) of that of Eusebius for the part which extends from Abraham’s birth to the capture of Troy. In the second part, which goes until 325 CE, the chronicle is largely enriched with notes composed by Jerome himself, most of which concern Roman history. Jerome is largely inspired by Suetonius. A third part is entirely specific to Jerome: it prolongs Eusebius’ work until 378 CE, providing numerous data on secular history as well as on ecclesiastical history. The chronicle belongs to a specific genre: the informative text, of historical nature, which the translator considers himself authorized to rectify, “improve”, or update. We are at the border between translation work, compilation, research, synthesis, and personal elaboration. In such conditions, it is interesting to study the praefatio of the Chronicon, probably the first of Jerome's translation works (c. 380-381 CE), roughly contemporary with the translation of Origen's Homilies on Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In this preface, Jerome explains the difficulties of a good translation. He begins with a school memory, then immediately takes as his first example that of Cicero, which he analyzes critically. Strictly literal translation is impossible. He gives examples of difficulty, in particular what he calls suum et uernaculum linguae genus. We can compare translation theory that emerges in this text with that expressed in other passages, especially some prefaces and the letter 57 to Pammachius De optimo genere interpretandi. There are differences and similarities interesting to highlight between those texts of Jerome about translation theory.
