Życiorysy sławnych Polaków [The Lives of Famous Poles] is a lesser-known work by Adam Naruszewicz which encompasses several biographies of outstanding representatives of the Polish Enlightenment. Its basic, although hitherto unnoticed, problem is the attribution of the text. Doubts have been raised about the authorship of the manuscript recorded in Nowy Korbut, as only a few of the biographies included there were actually written by Naruszewicz. However, some justified reservations concerning both the work and its author emerge only in the light of recently discovered manuscripts, as their analysis proves the existence of an unknown work by Adam Naruszewicz.
PL
Życiorysy sławnych Polaków to mniej znane dzieło Adama Naruszewicza, w skład którego wchodzi kilkanaście biogramów wybitnych przedstawicieli polskiego oświecenia. Jego podstawowym, choć dotąd niedostrzeganym, problemem jest atrybucja tekstu. Wątpliwości dotyczące autorstwa budzi odnotowywany przez Nowy Korbut autograf, gdyż tylko nieliczne spośród znajdujących się tam życiorysów są pióra Naruszewicza. Jednak uzasadnione zastrzeżenia dotyczące tak samego dzieła, jak i jego autora pojawiają się dopiero w świetle nowo odkrytych rękopisów. Ich analiza dowodzi bowiem istnienia nieznanego, nieistniejącego w świadomości badawczej dzieła Adama Naruszewicza.
In 1772-1773 Adam Naruszewicz, one of most outstanding representatives of Polish Enlightenment, wrote the first complete translation of all Tacit’s works. The study is devoted to Naruszewicz’s translation work on the texts of Roman historian. Adam Naruszewicz translated them onto Polish and published them in three volume, entitled „All works of Kaj Kornelius Tacit. Translation of Adam Stanisław Naruszewicz S.J.”. The study presents a translation workshop of the bishop’s of Smoleńsk, with a special consideration of the description of the mechanisms governing the preparation of scientific commentaries. Previous research concerning the bishop’s commentary work did not at all raise the issue of authorship, claiming that the commentaries were written by Naruszewicz. The Smoleńsk bishop’s commentary work was assessed very highly by the critics. However, the outcome in comparative research of Naruszewicz’s translation and the bases of translations presented in this study allowed to formulate new statements according to which scientofic commentaries in Tacit’s first Polish translation betray a far-reaching, multidimensional dependence on the source of translation, which allows to set and prove the thesis that the bishop was their author.