Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/679

Rh RUFINUS. nus remaining at Aquileia, under the protection of Cliromatius, busily employed in literary labours, iintil A, D. 408, when he returned to Pinetum. From thence, upon the invasion of Italy by Alaric, he fled to Sicily, where he died soon after, in 410. In allusion to the place of his decease, his great adversary, whose hostility endured beyond the grave, composed the following epitaph : — '' Scor- pius inter Enceladum et Porphyrium Trinacriae humo ponitur." The extant works of Rufinus must be separated into two classes: — A. Original Compositions, and, B. Translations from the Greek, those belonging to the latter division being the more voluminous. A. Original Compositions. — I. De Adul- teratione Librunim Origenis ; a sort of Epilogus or supplement to the translation of the Apology for Origen by Pamphihis. It is dedicated to a monk Macarius, at whose urgent request that translation was undertaken, and is intended to prove that many of the false doctrines ascribed to Origen did Bot in reality proceed from that father, but were deductions from corruptions and interpolations of his genuine text. This tract will be found ap- pended to the Apology in the fifth volume of the Benedictine edition of Jerome. II. De Benedidionibus XII. Patriarcliarum Libri 11.^ an attempt to interpret the prophecy of Jacob regarding the destinies of his sons, contained in the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis. This piece will be found under its best form in the edition of Rufinus commenced by Vallarsi, but not con- tinued beyond the first volume, which appeared at Verona, fol. 1745. III. Apologia pro Fide sua ad Anastasium Pon- tificem. IV. Apologia s. Invectivarum in Hierony- vium Libri II. In these two polemical pieces Ru- finus seeks, in the first place, to establish his own orthodoxy beyond suspicion, and in the second place, to rebut and retort the injurious statements of his opponents, especially of Jerome, whom he imitates too closely in violence and want of charity. Both will be found in the Benedictine edition of Hieronymus, and in that of Vallarsi. V. Historia Eremitica^ s. Viiae Patrum, the biographies of thirty-three holy men, who passed a life of sanctity and solitude in the desert of Nitria. The collection was long ascribed to Jerome, and when, from the words of Jerome himself, this was proved to be impossible, it was as.>igned to various authors by different critics : but, from a passage in the Historia Ecclesiastica (xi. 4, see below), it is evident that Rufinus must be regarded either as the compiler of the lives, or as the translator from some Greek original. The best edition is that by V>osweyd., fol. Antv. 1615, reprinted fol. Lugdun. 1617, and fol. Antv. 1628. VI. Expositio Symboli. An explanation of the Apostles' Creed. It is contained in the first vo- lume of the edition of Rufinus commenced by Val- larsi, fol. Veron. 1745. VII. Ilistoriae Ecclesiaslicae Libri XI. This work belongs partly to the first and partly to the second of the two divisions laid down above, since the first nine books are a loose translation of the ten books of the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, while the tenth and eleventh .ire a continuation by Rufinus himself, embracing a history of the Church, from the commencement of the Arian heresy down to the death of Theodosius. The best edition is lUat by Cucciari^ 2 vols. 4 to. Rom. 1740. RUFINUS. 667 B, Translations from the Greek. — I. Bi- silii Mugni licgula, inserted in the Codex Regvdi- rum, &.C. of Holstenius, 4to. Rom. 1661, reprinted at Vienna, fol. 1759. II. Basilii Magni Homiliae VIII. These will be found in the edition of St. Basil, published at Paris by Gamier, in 1722, vol, ii. p. 713. III. Pamphili Apologia pro Origenc., to be found in all the best editions of Origen and Jerome. IV. Origenis de Principiis Libri IV. V. Ori- genis Ilomiliae., XVII. in Genesim.., XIII. in Ex- odnm., XVI. in Levitkum., XXV III. in Numeros^ XX VL in Josm, IX. in Judices, I. in I. Libruin Begum., IV. in Cantica Canticorum., X. Libri in Epistolam Pauli ad Roinanos. The whole of the above translations will be found in all the editions of Origen. VI. Gregorii Nazianzeni Opuscula JT., first pub- lislied by Johannes Adelphus^ at Strasburg, 4to., 1508, and included in the Latin translation of the whole works of Gregory, by Mosellanus and Pirck- heimerus, printed at Leipzig, Bvo. 1522. VII. Siocti Senientiae s. Enchiridium s. Amndus, a series of moral Apophthegms, the author of which was altogether uncertain, even in the age of Rufi- nus, since by some they were supposed to be the production of Sextius the Stoic, named by Seneca, by others of a Pythagorean, by others of Sixtus II., who was bishop of Rome, and suffered martyrdom in A. D. 258. A collection of this nature is pecu- liarly open to interpolation, and hence it is little surprising that the MSS. should present variations quite irreconcileable. It is not improbable that the reflections of some heathen philosopher may have formed the groundwork, that these were modified and adapted to Christianity by Rufinus and others, and that transcribers from time to time made such alterations and additions as suited their own views and tastes. The best edition is that of Urbanus Godofredus Siberus, 4to. Lips. 1 725. VIII. Evayrii Sententiue ad MonacJios, Evagrii Senientiae de Apathia, Evagrii Liber ad Viryincs. These three tracts, which will be found in the ap- pendix to the Codex Begularum. &c., of Holstenius, 4to. Rom. 1661, are generally believed to be the " Opuscula " of Evagrius which Jerome, in his letter to Ctesiphon, mentions as having been trans- lated by Rufinus, and to which Gennadius also makes allusions (cc. xi. and xvii.), although doubt- fully and indistinctly. IX. dementis Bomani Becogniiiones, of which the original was attributed to Clemens Romanus. [Clemens Romanus.] X. Anatolii Alexandrini Canon Paschalis., first published, from a MS., by Aegidius Bucherius, in his De Doctrina Temporum, fol. Antv. 1634. The following translations from Origen frequently ascribed to Rufinus, are of doubtful authenticity : — Homiliae VII. in Mattliaeum ; Homilia in Jo- liannem ; De Maria Magdalena ; De Epiphania Domini. The following works have been erroneously ascribed to Rufinus : — Vcrsio Origenis Homiliarum in Lucam, which belongs to Jerome ; Versio Jo- sephi Operum, which belongs to Ambrose ; Com- mentarii in LXXV. priores Davidis Psulmos ; in Oscam, Johelem, A mos ; Vita S. Eugeinae ; Libel- lus de Fide brevior ; Libellus de Fide fusior. The following works by Rufinus have been lost : Epistnla ad Hieronymum^ in reply to the first part of Jerome's Apologia ; Epistulae ad Aniciaiu