The Letter of St. Jerome To Castorina, His Maternal Aunt

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Jerome

Letter XIII. To Castorina, His Maternal Aunt.

An interesting letter, as throwing some light on Jerome’s family relations. Castorina, his maternal aunt, had, for some reason, become estranged from him, and he now writes to her to effect a reconciliation. Whether he succeeded in doing so, we do not know. The date of the letter is 374 A.D.

The apostle and evangelist John rightly says, in his first epistle, that “whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.”168 For, since murder often springs from hate, the hater, even though he has not yet slain his victim, is at heart a murderer. Why, you ask, do I begin in this style? Simply that you and I may both lay aside past ill feeling and cleanse our hearts to be a habitation for God. “Be ye angry,” David says, “and sin not,” or, as the apostle more fully expresses it, “let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”169 What then shall we do in the day of judgment, upon whose wrath the sun has gone down not one day but many years? The Lord says in the Gospel: “If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”170 Woe to me, wretch that I am; woe, I had almost said, to you also. This long time past we have either offered no gift at the altar or have offered it whilst cherishing anger “without a cause.” How have we been able in our daily prayers to say “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,”171 whilst our feelings have been at variance with our words, and our petition inconsistent with our conduct? Therefore I renew the prayer which I made a year ago in a previous letter,172 that the Lord’s legacy of peace173 may be indeed ours, and that my desires and your feelings may find favor in His sight. Soon we shall stand before His judgment seat to receive the reward of harmony restored or to pay the penalty for harmony broken. In case you shall prove unwilling—I hope that it may not be so—to accept my advances, I for my part shall be free. For this letter, when it is read, will insure my acquittal.

168 1 Joh. iii. 15.

169 Ps. iv. 4, LXX.; Eph. iv. 26.

170 Matt. v. 23, 24.

171 Matt. vi. 12.

172 This is no longer extant.

173 John xiv. 27.

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The Letter of St. Jerome To Antony, Monk

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Jerome

Letter XII. To Antony, Monk.

The subject of this letter is similar to that of the preceding. Of Antony nothing is known except that some mss. describe him as “of Æmona.” The date of the letter is 374 A.D.

While the disciples were disputing concerning precedence our Lord, the teacher of humility, took a little child and said: “Except ye be converted and become as little children ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”158 And lest He should seem to preach more than he practised, He fulfilled His own precept in His life. For He washed His disciples’ feet,159 he received the traitor with a kiss,160 He conversed with the woman of Samaria,161 He spoke of the kingdom of heaven with Mary at His feet,162 and when He rose again from the dead He showed Himself first to some poor women.163 Pride is opposed to humility, and through it Satan lost his eminence as an archangel. The Jewish people perished in their pride, for while they claimed the chief seats and salutations in the market place,164 they were superseded by the Gentiles, who had before been counted as “a drop of a bucket.”165 Two poor fishermen, Peter and James, were sent to confute the sophists and the wise men of the world. As the Scripture says: “God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.”166 Think, brother, what a sin it must be which has God for its opponent. In the Gospel the Pharisee is rejected because of his pride, and the publican is accepted because of his humility.167

Now, unless I am mistaken, I have already sent you ten letters, affectionate and earnest, whilst you have not deigned to give me even a single line. The Lord speaks to His servants, but you, my brother servant, refuse to speak to me. Believe me, if reserve did not check my pen, I could show my annoyance in such invective that you would have to reply—even though it might be in anger. But since anger is human, and a Christian must not act injuriously, I fall back once more on entreaty, and beg you to love one who loves you, and to write to him as a servant should to his fellow-servant. Farewell in the Lord.

158 Matt. xviii. 3.

159 Joh. xiii. 5.

160 Luke xxii. 47.

161 Joh. iv. 7.

162 Luke vii. 40 sqq.: the heroine of this story is identified by Jerome with Mary Magdalene.

163 Matt. xxviii. 1, 9.

164 Matt. xxiii. 6, 7.

165 Isa. xl. 15.

166 1 Pet. v. 5.

167 Luke xviii. 9 sqq.

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Vulgate: Sixtine Edition (Vulgata Sixtina)

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Jerome

The Vulgata Sixtina or better known in English as Sixtine Edition, is a printed edition of the Latin Vulgate Bible prepared on the orders of Pope Sixtus V (13 December 1520 – 27 August 1590) in 1590. Vulgata Sixtina is cited only in some present critical editions and it is designated by siglum vgs. It was the first edition of the printed Latin Vulgate Bible authorised by a pope, but its official recognition was short-lived.

On 8 April 1546 the Council of Trent required that the Vulgate to be printed with quam emendatissime (fewest possible faults) to replace the editions of Robertus Stephanus/Robert Stephens (Latin name of Robert Estienne, a former Catholic scholar who became a Protestant late in his life) and scholars of Louvain. There was no authoritative printed edition of the Vulgate at that time. The first committee was appointed by Pope Pius IV in 1561 to undertake the work. Pope Pius IV commanded some scholars of the Catholic church to collect and to collate the most ancient manuscripts which they could procure, but the committee worked slowly and ineffectively.

This collation was continued during the pontificate of Pius V, who further caused the original text to be consulted. The second committee was appointed by Pope Pius V in 1569 (Congregatio pro emendatione Bibliorum), with four Cardinals Marcus Antonius, Sirleto, Madrutius, and Antonio Carafa. But the committee was resolved under the Pope Gregory XIII (7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585). However, it was resumed and completed under the auspices of Pope Sixtus V; who devoted much time and attention to it, and corrected the proofs of the edition which was published at Rome in 1590, in folio. Pope Sixtus V had appointed the third committee of scholars to continue the cease work. The committee was under the presidency of Cardinal Carafa. The work was prepared on the basis of the edition of Robertus Stephanus (1583) and good manuscripts were used as authorities, including notably Codex Amiatinus. Carafa presented the result of their work, in the beginning of 1589, but Sixtus rejected their work and in 18 months prepared another text he corrected to agree with the Greek and Hebrew, He used Codex Carafianus, but it was hurried into print and suffered from many printing errors. In May 1590 the completed work was issued from the press in three volumes.

The text thus revised Sixtus pronounced to be the authentic Vulgate, which had been the object of inquiry in the Council of Trent; and ordained that it should be adopted throughout the Catholic church. The full title of edition was: Biblica Sacra Vulgatae editionnis, ad Concilii Tridenti praescriptum emendata et a Sixto V P. M. recognita et approbata. The edition was preceded by the Bull Aeternus Ille (1 March 1590), in which the Pope declared the authenticity of the new Bible, the Vulgata Sixtina. But notwithstanding the labours of the Pope, this edition was short-lived, because it was discovered to be so exceedingly incorrect.

On 27 August 1590 Sixtus V died, and his successor Pope Gregory XIV caused the Vulgata Sixtina to be suppressed; and on 5 September the college of Cardinals stopped all further sales, bought and destroyed as many copies as possible. The official pretext for this action was the inaccuracy of its printing, it is thought that the attack against the edition had been instigated by the Jesuits, whom Sixtus had offended by putting one of Bellarmine’s books on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Pope Clement VIII, the successor of Gregory XIV in the pontificate, published another authentic Vulgate in 1592. This, however, differs more than any other editions from that of Sixtus V, and mostly resembles that of Louvain.

Example of Some Differences of the Sixtine Edition from the Louvain edition of the Vulgate

In Book of Genesis 40-50 43 corrections were made (on the basis of Codex Carafianus):

40,8 – nunquam ] numquam
40,14 – tibi bene ] bene tibi
41,13 – quicquid ] quidquid
41,19 – nunquam ] numquam
41,20 – pecoribus ] prioribus
41,39 – nunquid ] numquid
41,55 – quicquid ] quidquid
42,4 – quicquam ] quidquam
42,11 – quicquam ] quidquam
42,13 – at illi dixerunt ] at illi
42,22 – nunquid ] numquid
42,38 – adversitatis ] adversi
43,3 – denuntiavit ] denunciavit
43,5 – denuntiavit ] denunciavit
43,7 – nunquid ] numquid
43,19 – dispensatorem ] dispensatorem domus
43,30 – lachrymae ] lacrymae
44,4 – ait surge ] surge
44,29 – maerore ]moerore
45,13 – nuntiate ] nunciate
45,20 – dimittatis ] demittatis
45,20 – auicquam ] quidquam
45,23 – tantundem ] tantumdem
45,23 – addens eis ] addens et
45,26 – nuntiaverunt ] nunciaverunt
46,10 – Chananitidis ] Chanaanitidis
46,10 – Cahath ] Caath
46,13 – Simeron ] Semron
46,16 – Sephon ] Sephion
46,16 – Aggi ] Haggi
46,16 – et Esebon et Suni ] et Suni et Esebon
46,17 – Jamma ] Jamme
46,22 – quatuordecim ] quattuordecim
46,26 – cunctaeque ] cunctae
46,28 – nuntiaret ] nunciaret
46,28 – et ille occurreret ] et occurreret
46,31 – nuntiabo ] nunciabo
47,1 – nuntiavit ] nunciavit
47,9 – peregrinationis vitae meae ] peregrinationis meae
47,24 – quatuor ] quattuor
47,31 – Dominum ] Deum
48,1 – nuntiatum ] nunciatum
49,1 – annuntiem ] annunciem

Among these 43 corrections, 31 has only grammar meaning, and 6 of them are correct.

Changes in versification

In 30 first chapters of the Book of Genesis following changes were made:

1 – 31 . . . . 29
2 – 25 . . . . 20
3 – 24 . . . . 20
4 – 26 . . . . 26
5 – 31 . . . . 30
6 – 22 . . . . 19
7 – 24 . . . . 19
8 – 22 . . . . 20
9 – 29 . . . . 24
10 – 32 . . . . 26
11 – 32 . . . . 31
12 – 20 . . . . 18
13 – 18 . . . . 18
14 – 24 . . . . 16
15 – 21 . . . . 17
16 – 16 . . . . 14
17 – 27 . . . . 25
18 – 33 . . . . 37
19 – 38 . . . . 34
20 – 18 . . . . 16
21 – 34 . . . . 31
22 – 24 . . . . 18
23 – 20 . . . . 15
24 – 67 . . . . 54
25 – 34 . . . . 27
26 – 34 . . . . 26
27 – 46 . . . . 33
28 – 22 . . . . 14
29 – 35 . . . . 31
30 – 43 . . . . 36
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The Letter of St. Jerome To The Virgins of Æmona

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Jerome

Letter XI. To the Virgins of Æmona.

Æmona was a Roman colony not far from Stridon, Jerome’s birthplace. The virgins to whom the note is addressed had omitted to answer his letters, and he now writes to upbraid them for their remissness. The date of the letter is 374 a.d.

This scanty sheet of paper shows in what a wilderness I live, and because of it I have to say much in few words. For, desirous though I am to speak to you more fully, this miserable scrap compels me to leave much unsaid. Still ingenuity makes up for lack of means, and by writing small I can say a great deal. Observe, I beseech you, how I love you, even in the midst of my difficulties, since even the want of materials does not stop me from writing to you.

Pardon, I beseech you, an aggrieved man: if I speak in tears and in anger it is because I have been injured. For in return for my regular letters you have not sent me a single syllable. Light, I know, has no communion with darkness,142 and God’s handmaidens no fellowship with a sinner, yet a harlot was allowed to wash the Lord’s feet with her tears,143 and dogs are permitted to eat of their masters’ crumbs.144 It was the Saviour’s mission to call sinners and not the righteous; for, as He said Himself, “they that be whole need not a physician.”145 He wills the repentance of a sinner rather than his death,146 and carries home the poor stray sheep on His own shoulders.147 So, too, when the prodigal son returns, his father receives him with joy.148 Nay more, the apostle says: “Judge nothing before the time.”149 5. For “who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth.”150 And “let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.”151 “Bear ye one another’s burdens.”152

Dear sisters, man’s envy judges in one way, Christ in another; and the whisper of a corner is not the same as the sentence of His tribunal. Many ways seem right to men which are afterwards found to be wrong.153 And a treasure is often stowed in earthen vessels.154 Peter thrice denied his Lord, yet his bitter tears restored him to his place. “To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much.”155 No word is said of the flock as a whole, yet the angels joy in heaven over the safety of one sick ewe.156 And if any one demurs to this reasoning, the Lord Himself has said: “Friend, is thine eye evil because I am good?”157

Footnotes:

142 2 Cor. vi. 14.

143 Luke vii. 37 sqq.

144 Matt. xv. 27.

145 Matt. ix. 12, 13.

146 Ezek. xxxiii. 11.

147 Luke xv. 5.

148 Luke xv. 20.

149 1 Cor. iv.

150 Rom. xiv. 4.

151 1 Cor. x. 12.

152 Gal. vi. 2.

153 Cf. Prov. xiv. 12.

154 2 Cor. iv. 7.

155 Luke vii. 47.

156 Luke xv. 7, 10.

157 Matt. xx. 15.

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The Letter of St. Jerome To Paul, an Old Man of Concordia

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Jerome

Letter X. To Paul, an Old Man of Concordia.

Jerome writes to Paul of Concordia, a centenarian (§2), and the owner of a good theological library (§3), to lend him some commentaries. In return he sends him his life (newly written) of Paul the hermit.127 The date of the letter is 374 A.D.

1. The shortness of man’s life is the punishment for man’s sin; and the fact that even on the very threshold of the light death constantly overtakes the new-born child proves that the times are continually sinking into deeper depravity. For when the first tiller of paradise had been entangled by the serpent in his snaky coils, and had been forced in consequence to migrate earthwards, although his deathless state was changed for a mortal one, yet the sentence128 of man’s curse was put off for nine hundred years, or even more, a period so long that it may be called a second immortality. Afterwards sin gradually grew more and more virulent, till the ungodliness of the giants129 brought in its train the shipwreck of the whole world. Then when the world had been cleansed by the baptism—if I may so call it—of the deluge, human life was contracted to a short span. Yet even this we have almost altogether wasted, so continually do our iniquities fight against the divine purposes. For how few there are, either who go beyond their hundredth year, or who, going beyond it, do not regret that they have done so; according to that which the Scripture witnesses in the book of Psalms: “the days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow.”130

2. Why, say you, these opening reflections so remote and so far fetched that one might use against them the Horatian witticism:

Back to the eggs which Leda laid for Zeus,

The bard is fain to trace the war of Troy?131

Simply that I may describe in fitting terms your great age and hoary head as white as Christ’s.132 For see, the hundredth circling year is already passing over you, and yet, always keeping the commandments of the Lord, amid the circumstances of your present life you think over the blessedness of that which is to come. Your eyes are bright and keen, your steps steady, your hearing good, your teeth are white, your voice musical, your flesh firm and full of sap; your ruddy cheeks belie your white hairs, your strength is not that of your age. Advancing years have not, as we too often see them do, impaired the tenacity of your memory; the coldness of your blood has not blunted an intellect at once warm and wary.133 Your face is not wrinkled nor your brow furrowed. Lastly, no tremors palsy your hand or cause it to travel in crooked pathways over the wax on which you write. The Lord shows us in you the bloom of the resurrection that is to be ours; so that whereas in others who die by inches whilst yet living, we recognize the results of sin, in your case we ascribe it to righteousness that you still simulate youth at an age to which it is foreign. And although we see the like haleness of body in many even of those who are sinners, in their case it is a grant of the devil to lead them into sin, whilst in yours it is a gift of God to make you rejoice.

3. Tully in his brilliant speech on behalf of Flaccus134 describes the learning of the Greeks as “innate frivolity and accomplished vanity.”

Certainly their ablest literary men used to receive money for pronouncing eulogies upon their kings or princes. Following their example, I set a price upon my praise. Nor must you suppose my demand a small one. You are asked to give me the pearl of the Gospel,135 “the words of the Lord,” “pure words, even as the silver which from the earth is tried, and purified seven times in the fire,”136 I mean the commentaries of Fortunatian137 and—for its account of the persecutors—the History of Aurelius Victor,138 and with these the Letters of Novatian;139 so that, learning the poison set forth by this schismatic, we may the more gladly drink of the antidote supplied by the holy martyr Cyprian. In the mean time I have sent to you, that is to say, to Paul the aged, a Paul that is older still.140 I have taken great pains to bring my language down to the level of the simpler sort. But, somehow or other, though you fill it with water, the jar retains the odor which it acquired when first used.141 If my little gift should please you, I have others also in store which (if the Holy Spirit shall breathe favorably), shall sail across the sea to you with all kinds of eastern merchandise.

Foornotes:

127 See the Life of Paul in this volume.

128 Elogium.

129 Gen. vi. 4.

130 Ps. xc. 10.

131 Hor. A. P. 147. Zeus having visited Leda in the form of a swan, she produced two eggs, from one of which came Castor and Pollux, and from the other Helen, who was the cause of the Trojan war.

132 Rev. i. 14.

133 A play on words: callidus, “wary,” is indistinguishable in sound from calidus, “warm.”

134 The words quoted do not occur in the extant portion of Cicero’s speech.

135 Matt. xiii. 46.

136 Ps. xii. 7, P. B. V.

137 For some account of this writer see Jerome, De V. iii. c. xcvii.

138 A Roman annalist some of whose works are still extant. He was contemporary with but probably older than Jerome.

139 A puritan of the third century who seceded from the Roman church because of the laxity of its discipline.

140 I.e. the life of Paul the Hermit, translated in this vol.

141 Hor. Ep. I. ii. 69; cf. T. Moore:
“You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will:
The scent of the roses will hang round it still.”

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The Letter of St. Jerome To Chrysogonus, a Monk of Aquileia

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Jerome

Letter IX. To Chrysogonus, a Monk of Aquileia.

A bantering letter to an indifferent correspondent. Of the same date as the preceding.

Heliodorus,125 who is so dear to us both, and who loves you with an affection no less deep than my own, may have given you a faithful account of my feelings towards you; how your name is always on my lips, and how in every conversation which I have with him I begin by recalling my pleasant intercourse with you, and go on to marvel at your lowliness, to extol your virtue, and to proclaim your holy love.

Lynxes, they say, when they look behind them, forget what they have just seen, and lose all thought of what their eyes have ceased to behold. And so it seems to be with you. For so entirely have you forgotten our joint attachment that you have not merely blurred but erased the writing of that epistle which, as the apostle tells us,126 is written in the hearts of Christians. The creatures that I have mentioned lurk on branches of leafy trees and pounce on fleet roes or frightened stags. In vain their victims fly, for they carry their tormentors with them, and these rend their flesh as they run. Lynxes, however, only hunt when an empty belly makes their mouths dry. When they have satisfied their thirst for blood, and have filled their stomachs with food, satiety induces forgetfulness, and they bestow no thought on future prey till hunger recalls them to a sense of their need.

Now in your case it cannot be that you have already had enough of me. Why then do you bring to a premature close a friendship which is but just begun? Why do you let slip what you have hardly as yet fully grasped? But as such remissness as yours is never at a loss for an excuse, you will perhaps declare that you had nothing to write. Had this been so, you should still have written to inform me of the fact.

Footnotes:

125 See introd. to Letter XIV.

126 2 Cor. iii. 2.

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The Letter of St. Jerome To Niceas, Sub-Deacon of Aquileia

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Jerome

Letter VIII. To Niceas, Sub-Deacon of Aquileia.

Niceas, the sub-deacon, had accompanied Jerome to the East but had now returned home. In after-years he became bishop of Aquileia in succession to Chromatius. The date of the letter is 374 A.D.

The comic poet Turpilius121 says of the exchange of letters that it alone makes the absent present. The remark, though occurring in a work of fiction, is not untrue. For what more real presence—if I may so speak—can there be between absent friends than speaking to those whom they love in letters, and in letters hearing their reply? Even those Italian savages, the Cascans of Ennius, who—as Cicero tells us in his books on rhetoric—hunted their food like beasts of prey, were wont, before paper and parchment came into use, to exchange letters written on tablets of wood roughly planed, or on strips of bark torn from the trees. For this reason men called letter-carriers tablet-bearers,122 and letter-writers bark-users,123 because they used the bark of trees. How much more then are we, who live in a civilized age, bound not to omit a social duty performed by men who lived in a state of gross savagery, and were in some respects entirely ignorant of the refinements of life. The saintly Chromatius, look you, and the reverend Eusebius, brothers as much by compatibility of disposition as by the ties of nature, have challenged me to diligence by the letters which they have showered upon me. You, however, who have but just left me, have not merely unknit our new-made friendship; you have torn it asunder—a process which Lælius, in Cicero’s treatise,124 wisely forbids. Can it be that the East is so hateful to you that you dread the thought of even your letters coming hither? Wake up, wake up, arouse yourself from sleep, give to affection at least one sheet of paper. Amid the pleasures of life at home sometimes heave a sigh over the journeys which we have made together. If you love me, write in answer to my prayer. If you are angry with me, though angry still write. I find my longing soul much comforted when I receive a letter from a friend, even though that friend be out of temper with me.

Footnotes:

121 Turpilius, who appears to have been a dramatist of some note, died in 101 B.C. He is mentioned by Jerome in his edition of the Eusebian Chronicle.

122 Tabellarii, from tabella, a small tablet.

123 Librarii, from liber, bark.

124 Cic. Lælius, 76.

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The Letter of St. Jerome To To Chromatius, Jovinus, and Eusebius

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Jerome

Letter VII. To Chromatius, Jovinus, and Eusebius.91

This letter (written like the preceding in 374 a.d.) is addressed by Jerome to three of his former companions in the religious life. It commends Bonosus (§3), asks guidance for the writer’s sister (§4), and attacks the conduct of Lupicinus, Bishop of Stridon (§5).

1. Those whom mutual affection has joined together, a written page ought not to sunder. I must not, therefore, distribute my words some to one and some to another. For so strong is the love that binds you together that affection unites all three of you in a bond no less close than that which naturally connects two of your number.92 Indeed, if the conditions of writing would only admit of it, I should amalgamate your names and express them under a single symbol. The very letter which I have received from you challenges me in each of you to see all three, and in all three to recognize each. When the reverend Evagrius transmitted it to me in the corner of the desert which stretches between the Syrians and the Saracens, my joy was intense. It wholly surpassed the rejoicings felt at Rome when the defeat of Cannæ was retrieved, and Marcellus at Nola cut to pieces the forces of Hannibal. Evagrius frequently comes to see me, and cherishes me in Christ as his own bowels.93 Yet as he is separated from me by a long distance, his departure has generally left me as much regret as his arrival has brought me joy.

2. I converse with your letter, I embrace it, it talks to me; it alone of those here speaks Latin. For hereabout you must either learn a barbarous jargon or else hold your tongue. As often as the lines—traced in a well-known hand—bring back to me the faces which I hold so dear, either I am no longer here, or else you are here with me. If you will credit the sincerity of affection, I seem to see you all as I write this.

Now at the outset I should like to ask you one petulant question. Why is it that, when we are separated by so great an interval of land and sea, you have sent me so short a letter? Is it that I have deserved no better treatment, not having first written to you? I cannot believe that paper can have failed you while Egypt continues to supply its wares. Even if a Ptolemy had closed the seas, King Attalus would still have sent you parchments from Pergamum, and so by his skins you could have made up for the want of paper. The very name parchment is derived from a historical incident of the kind which occurred generations ago.94 What then? Am I to suppose the messenger to have been in haste? No matter how long a letter may be, it can be written in the course of a night. Or had you some business to attend to which prevented you from writing? No claim is prior to that of affection. Two suppositions remain, either that you felt disinclined to write or else that I did not deserve a letter. Of the two I prefer to charge you with sloth than to condemn myself as undeserving. For it is easier to mend neglect than to quicken love.

3. You tell me that Bonosus, like a true son of the Fish, has taken to the water.95 As for me who am still foul with my old stains, like the basilisk and the scorpion I haunt the dry places.96 Bonosus has his heel already on the serpent’s head, whilst I am still as food to the same serpent which by divine appointment devours the earth.97 He can scale already that ladder of which the psalms of degrees98 are a type; whilst I, still weeping on its first step, hardly know whether I shall ever be able to say: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.”99 Amid the threatening billows of the world he is sitting in the safe shelter of his island,100 that is, of the church’s pale, and it may be that even now, like John, he is being called to eat God’s book;101 whilst I, still lying in the sepulchre of my sins and bound with the chains of my iniquities, wait for the Lord’s command in the Gospel: “Jerome, come forth.”102 But Bonosus has done more than this. Like the prophet103 he has carried his girdle across the Euphrates (for all the devil’s strength is in the loins104), and has hidden it there in a hole of the rock. Then, afterwards finding it rent, he has sung: “O Lord, thou hast possessed my reins.105 Thou hast broken my bonds in sunder. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving.”106 But as for me, Nebuchadnezzar has brought me in chains to Babylon, to the babel that is of a distracted mind. There he has laid upon me the yoke of captivity; there inserting in my nostrils a ring of iron,107 he has commanded me to sing one of the songs of Zion. To whom I have said, “The Lord looseth the prisoners; the Lord openeth the eyes of the blind.”108 To complete my contrast in a single sentence, whilst I pray for mercy Bonosus looks for a crown.

4. My sister’s conversion is the fruit of the efforts of the saintly Julian. He has planted, it is for you to water, and the Lord will give the increase.109 Jesus Christ has given her to me to console me for the wound which the devil has inflicted on her. He has restored her from death to life. But in the words of the pagan poet, for her

There is no safety that I do not fear.110

You know yourselves how slippery is the path of youth—a path on which I have myself fallen,111 and which you are now traversing not without fear. She, as she enters upon it, must have the advice and the encouragement of all, she must be aided by frequent letters from you, my reverend brothers. And—for “charity endureth all things,”112—I beg you to get from Pope113 Valerian114 a letter to confirm her resolution. A girl’s courage, as you know, is strengthened when she realizes that persons in high place are interested in her.

5. The fact is that my native land is a prey to barbarism, that in it men’s only God is their belly,115 that they live only for the present, and that the richer a man is the holier he is held to be. Moreover, to use a well-worn proverb, the dish has a cover worthy of it; for Lupicinus is their priest.116 Like lips like lettuce, as the saying goes—the only one, as Lucilius tells us,117 at which Crassus ever laughed—the reference being to a donkey eating thistles. What I mean is that an unstable pilot steers a leaking ship, and that the blind is leading the blind straight to the pit. The ruler is like the ruled.

6. I salute your mother and mine with the respect which, as you know, I feel towards her. Associated with you as she is in a holy life, she has the start of you, her holy children, in that she is your mother. Her womb may thus be truly called golden. With her I salute your sisters, who ought all to be welcomed wherever they go, for they have triumphed over their sex and the world, and await the Bridegroom’s coming,118 their lamps replenished with oil. O happy the house which is a home of a widowed Anna, of virgins that are prophetesses, and of twin Samuels bred in the Temple!119 Fortunate the roof which shelters the martyr-mother of the Maccabees, with her sons around her, each and all wearing the martyr’s crown!120 For although you confess Christ every day by keeping His commandments, yet to this private glory you have added the public one of an open confession; for it was through you that the poison of the Arian heresy was formerly banished from your city.

You are surprised perhaps at my thus making a fresh beginning quite at the close of my letter. But what am I to do? I cannot refuse expression to my feelings. The brief limits of a letter compel me to be silent; my affection for you urges me to speak. I write in haste, my language is confused and ill-arranged; but love knows nothing of order.

Footnotes:

91 91 Jovinus was archdeacon of Aquileia. All three became bishops—Chromatius of Aquileia, the others of unknown sees.

92 Chromatius and Eusebius were brothers.

93 Philem. 12.

94 See Pliny, H. N. xiii. 21.

95 The Greek word ΙΧΘΥΣ represented to the early Christians the sentence ᾽Ιησοῦς Χριστὸς Θεοῦ `Υὼς Σωτήρ. Hence the fish became a favorite emblem of Christ. Tertullian connects the symbol with the water of baptism, saying: “We little fishes are born by our Fish, Jesus Christ, in water and can thrive only by continuing in the water.” The allusion in the text is to the baptism of Bonosus. See Schaff, “Ante-Nicene Christianity,” p. 279.

96 Deut. viii. 15.

97 Gen. iii. 14.

98 Viz., Psa. cxx.–cxxxiv.

99 Ps. cxxi. 1.

100 See Letter III.

101 Rev. x. 9, 10.

102 John xi. 43.

103 Jer. xiii. 4, 5.

104 Job xl. 16 (said of Behemoth); cf. Letter XXII. § 11.

105 Ps. cxxxix. 13.

106 Ps. cxvi. 14, 15, P.B.V.

107 Cf. 2 Kings xix. 28.

108 Psa. cxxxvii. 3; cxlvi. 7, 8.

109 1 Cor. iii. 6.

110 Virg. A. iv. 298.

111 Jerome again refers to his own frailty in Letters XIV. § 6, XVIII. § 11, and XLVIII. § 20.

112 1 Cor. xiii. 7.

113 Papa. The word “pope” was at this time used as a name of respect (“father in God”) for bishops generally. Only by degrees did it come to be restricted to the bishop of Rome. Similarly the word “imperator,” originally applied to any Roman general, came to be used of the Emperor alone.

114 Bishop of Aquileia.

115 Phi. iii. 19.

116 Sacerdos. In the letters this word generally denotes a bishop. Lupicinus held the see of Stridon.

117 Cic. de Fin. v. 30.

118 Matt. xxv. 4.

119 Luke ii. 36; Acts xxi. 9; 1 Sam. ii. 18.

120 2 Macc. vii.

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