Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/479

Rh IIIERONYMUS. The original of Hieronymus is to be found in vol. iv. p. ii. p. 98, of the Benedictine edition, while both the original and the translation are given by Vallarsi. It was published separately, along with the catalogues of Gennadius, Isidorus, &c. Colon. 8vo. 1500, Antw. fol. 1639, and with the commentaries of Miraeus and others, Helmst. 4to. 1700. Vol. III. 15. De Nominihus Hehraicis. An explanation of all the Hebrew proper names which occur in the Scriptures, those in each book being con- sidered separately, in alphabetical order. Many of the derivations are very forced, not a few evi- dently falsej, and several words which are purely Greek or purely Latin, are explained by reference to Semitic roots. Philo Judaeus had previously executed a work of the same description for the Old Testament, and Origen for the New, and these formed the basis of the present undertaking ; but how much is original and how much borrowed from these or other similar compilations we cannot determine accurately. (Vid. Praef.) Written about 388 or 390, while he was still an admirer of Origen, who is pronounced in the preface to be second to the Apostles only. (Ed. Benc'd. vol. ii. p. 1 .) 16. Z)e Situ el Nominihus locorum Hehraicorum, Eusebius was the author of a work upon the geo- graphy of Palestine, in which he first gave an account of Judaea and of the localities of the twelve tribes, together with a description of Jerusalem and of the temple ; and to this was appended a dictionary of the names of cities, villages, moun- tains, rivers, and other places mentioned in the Bible. Of the last portion, entitled ITepi tuv to- TTiKwv ovofxaTwv Twu If Ti] ^do, jpucpy, wlilch is still extant in the original Greek, we are here pre- sented with a translation, in which, however, we find many omissions, additions, and alterations. Tlie names found in each book are placed sepa- rately, in alphabetical order. Written about 388. (Ed. Bened. vol. ii. p. 382.) In the present state of our knowledge, neither of the above productions can be regarded as of much importance or authority ; but in so far as purity of text is concerned, they appear under a much more accumte form in the edition of Vallarsi than any of the earlier impressions, especially the latter, which was carefully compared with a very ancient and excellent MS. of Eusebius in the Vatican, not before collated. We now come to the largest and most important section of the works of Hieronymus, to which the two preceding tracts may be considered as intro- ductory, viz. — III. CoMMENTARii BiBLici, or annotations, critical and exegetical, on the Scriptures. 1. Quaesiionum Hebraicaruin in Geiiesim Liber. Dissertations upon difficult passages in Genesis, in which the Latin version as it then existed is com- pared with the Greek of the Septuagint and with the original Hebrew. Jerome speaks .of these in- vestigations with great complacency in the preface to his glossary of Hebrew proper names. " Libros enim Hebraicamm Quaestionum nunc in manibus habeo, opus novum, et tarn Graecis quam Latinis usque ad id locorum inauditum," and had resolved (see Praef. in Heh. Quciest.) to examine in like manner all the other books of the Old Testament, | VOL. II. HIERONYMUS. 465 a plan which, however, he never executed, and which, in fact, was in a great measure superseded by his more elaborate commentaries, and by his translation of the whole Bible. Written about 388. (Ed. Bened. vol. ii. p. 505.) 2. Commentarii in Ecclesiasten, frequently re- ferred to in his Apology against Rufinus. Written at Bethlehem about a.d. 388. (Ed. Bened. vol ii. p. 715.) 3. In Canticum Canticorum Tradatus II. From the Greek of Origen, who is strongly praised in the preface addressed to Pope Damasus. Translated at Rome in a. d. 383. (Ed. Bened. vol. ii. p. 807; comp. vol. V. p. 603.) Vol. IV. 4. Commentaiii in lesaiam, in eighteen books. The most full and highly finished of all the labours of Jerome in this department. It was commenced apparently as early as a.d. 397, and not com- pleted before A. d. 411. Tillemont considers that there is an allusion to the death of Stilicho in the preface to the eleventh book. (Ed. Bened. vol. iii. 5. Homiliae novem in Visiones lesaiae ex Graeco Origenis. Rejected by Vallarsi in his first edition as spurious, but admitted into the second, upon evidence derived from the Apology of Rufinus. (See Vallarsi, vol. iv. p. ii. p. 1098.) This must not be confounded with a short tract which Jerome wrote upon the visions of Isaiah {Comment, in les. c. vi.), when he was studying at Constantinople in 381, under Gregory of Nazianzus, and in which he seems to have called in question the views of Origen with regard to the Seraphim. {Ep. xviii. ad Damasum.) 6. Coininentarii in Jeremiam^ in six books, ex- tending to the first thirty-two chapters of the prophet, one or two books being wanting to com- plete the exposition which was commenced late in life, probably about a.d. 415, frequently inter- rupted, and not brought down to the point where it concludes until the year of the author's death. (Ed. Bened. vol. iii. p. 526.) Vol. V. 7. Commentarii in Ezechielem, in fourteen books, written at intervals during the years a. d. 411 — 414, the task having been begun immediately after the commentaries upon Isaiah, but repeatedly- broken off. See Prolegg. and Ep. 126 ad Marcel- lin. et Anapsych. (Ed. Bened. vol. iii. p. 698.) 8. Comnj^ntarius in Danieleni in one book. Written A. D. 407, after the completion of the notes on the minor prophets, and before the death of Stilicho. See praef. (Ed. Bened. vol. iii. p. 1072.) 9. Homiliae Origenis XXVIII, in Jeremiam et Ezechieleni, forming a single work, and not two, as Erasmus and Huetius supposed. Translated at Constantinople after the completion of the Eusebian Chronicle (a. d. 380), and before the letter to Pope Damasus on the Seraphim (Ep. xviii.), written in 38 1 . Vol. VI. 10. Comme7itarii in XII. Proplietas mhiores, drawn up at intervals between a. d. 392 and 406. Nahum, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Habakkuk were printed in 392, Jonah in 397, Obadiah probably in 403, the remainder in 406. (Ed. Bened. vol. iii. p. 1234—1806.) ii u