To Konstantynowa Sobieska leaving Żółkiew
The paper discusses a translation of the Roman tragedy Historia albo tragedia Oktawii
cesarzówny rzymskiej by Józef Jan Woliński, published in 1728 and finished
shortly before. Its author presents himself as a faithful servant of the Wessels’ and
dedicates his adaptation of the 1st-century praetexta Octavia to Maria Józefa Wessel,
Konstanty Sobieski’s widow. The translator adapts the Latin text, on the one hand
emphasising Nero’s ferocity and despotism, on the other employing the stereotype of
the abandoned wife. The cruel emperor is charged with all the responsibility for the
evil which consumes Rome and his relatives, while Octavia is depicted as a fragile
and passive victim of his malice. However, the translator does not disregard the protagonist’s
intimacy with her brother and nanny. Woliński underlines the moral aspect
of the drama, hinting at the eminent collapse of Nero’s strength and his violent suicidal
death, which does not feature in the original. Crossing out Octavia’s final lamentation,
the Polish translator makes her obey her nanny’s advice and stop crying. Given
Woliński’s closeness to his benefactors as well as the doleful circumstances in which
Maria Józefa Wessel found herself around the time of creating Historia albo tragedia,
it seems plausible to suggest a personal assignment of the drama, conceived as
a remedy for Wessel’s concerns when handing over her beloved property at Żółkiew
to her odious brother-in-law, Jakub Sobieski.

To Konstantynowa Sobieska leaving Żółkiew
The paper discusses a translation of the Roman tragedy Historia albo tragedia Oktawii
cesarzówny rzymskiej by Józef Jan Woliński, published in 1728 and finished
shortly before. Its author presents himself as a faithful servant of the Wessels’ and
dedicates his adaptation of the 1st-century praetexta Octavia to Maria Józefa Wessel,
Konstanty Sobieski’s widow. The translator adapts the Latin text, on the one hand
emphasising Nero’s ferocity and despotism, on the other employing the stereotype of
the abandoned wife. The cruel emperor is charged with all the responsibility for the
evil which consumes Rome and his relatives, while Octavia is depicted as a fragile
and passive victim of his malice. However, the translator does not disregard the protagonist’s
intimacy with her brother and nanny. Woliński underlines the moral aspect
of the drama, hinting at the eminent collapse of Nero’s strength and his violent suicidal
death, which does not feature in the original. Crossing out Octavia’s final lamentation,
the Polish translator makes her obey her nanny’s advice and stop crying. Given
Woliński’s closeness to his benefactors as well as the doleful circumstances in which
Maria Józefa Wessel found herself around the time of creating Historia albo tragedia,
it seems plausible to suggest a personal assignment of the drama, conceived as
a remedy for Wessel’s concerns when handing over her beloved property at Żółkiew
to her odious brother-in-law, Jakub Sobieski.