THE LETTERS OF ST. JEROME: LETTERS LXXV TO LXXXIII
LETTER LXXV.
TO THEODORA.
Theodora the wife of the learned Spaniard Lucinius (for whom see Letter
LXXI.) had recently lost her husband, a bereavement which suggested the present
letter. In it Jerome recounts the many virtues of Lucinius and especially his
zeal in resisting the gnostic heresy of Marcus which during his life was
prevalent in Spain. The date of the letter is 399 A.D.
1. So overpowered am I by the sad intelligence of the falling asleep of
the holy and by me deeply revered Lucinius that I am scarcely able to dictate
even a short letter. I do not, it is true, lament his fate, for I know that he has
passed to better things: like Moses he can say: "I will now turn aside and see
this great sight."(1) but I am tormented with regret that I was not allowed to
look upon the face of one, who was likely, as I believed, in a short time to
come hither. True indeed is the prophetic warning concerning the doom of death
that it divides brothers,(2) and with harsh and cruel hand sunders those whose
names are linked together in the bonds of love. But we have this consolation
that it is slain by the word of the Lord. For it is said: "O death, I will be thy
plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction," and in the next verse: "An east
wind shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness, and his
spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up."(3) For, as
Isaiah says, "there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots":(4) and He says Himself in the Song of Songs, "I am
the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley."(5) Our rose is the destruction
of death, and died that death itself might die in His dying. But, when it is
said that He is to be brought "from the wilderness," the virgin's womb is
indicated, which without sexual intercourse or impregnation has given to us God in the
form of an infant able to quench by the glow of the Holy Spirit the fountains
of lust and to sing in the words of the psalm: "as in a dry and pathless and
waterless land, so have I appeared unto thee in the sanctuary."(6) Thus when we
have to face the hard and cruel necessity of death, we are upheld by this
consolation, that we shall shortly see again those whose absence we now mourn. For
their end is not called death but a slumber and a falling asleep. Wherefore also
the blessed apostle forbids us to sorrow concerning them which are asleep,(7)
telling us to believe that those whom we know to sleep now may hereafter be
roused from their sleep, and when their slumber is ended may watch once more with
the saints and sing with the angels:--"Glory to God in the highest and on earth
where there is no sin, there is glory and perpetual praise and unwearied
singing; but on earth where sedition reigns, and war and discord hold sway, peace
must be gained by prayer, and it is to be found not among all but only among men
of good will, who pay heed to the apostolic salutation: "Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."(1) For "His abode is in peace
and His dwelling place is in Zion,"(2) that is, on a watch-tower,(3) on a height
of doctrines and of virtues, in the soul of the believer; for the angel of
this latter daily beholds the face of God,(4) and contemplates with unveiled face
the glory of God.
2. Wherefore, though you are already running in the way, I urge a willing
horse, as the saying goes, and implore you, while you regret in your Lucinius a
true brother, to rejoice as well that he now reigns with Christ. For, as it is
written in the book of Wisdom, he was "taken away lest that wickedness should
alter his understanding ... for his soul pleased the Lord ... and he ... in a
short time fulfilled a long time."(5) We may with more right weep for ourselves
that we stand daily in conflict with our sins, that we are stained with vices,
that we receive wounds, and that we must give account for every idle word.(6)
Victorious now and free from care he looks down upon you from on high and
supports you in your struggle, nay more, he prepares for you a place near to himself;
for his love and affection towards you are still the same as when,
disregarding his claim on you as a husband, he resolved to treat you even on earth as a
sister, or indeed I may say as a brother, for difference of sex while essential
to marriage is not so to a continent tie. And since even in the flesh, if we are
born again in Christ, we are no longer Greek and Barbarian, bond and free,
male and female, but are all one in Him,(7) how much more true will this be when
this corruptible has put on incorruption and when this mortal has put on
immortality.(8) "In the resurrection," the Lord tells us, "they neither marry nor are
given in marriage but are as the angels ... in heaven."(9) Now when it is said
that they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the angels in
heaven, there is no taking away of a natural and real body but only an indication
of the greatness of the glory to come. For the words are not "they shall be
angels" but "they shall be as the angels": thus while likeness to the angels is
promised identity with them is refused. "They shall be," Christ tells us, "as the
angels," that is like the angels; therefore they will not cease to be human.
Glorious indeed they shall be, and graced with angelic splendour, but they will
still be human; the apostle Paul will still be Paul, Mary will still be Mary.
Then shall confusion overtake that heresy(1) which holds out great but vague
promises only that it may take away hopes which are at once modest and certain.
3. And now that I have once mentioned the word "heresy," where can I find
a trumpet loud enough to proclaim the eloquence of our dear Lucinius, who, when
the filthy heresy of Basilides(2) raged in Spain and like a pestilence ravaged
the provinces between the Pyrenees and the ocean, upheld in all its purity the
faith of the church and altogether refused to embrace Armagil, Barbelon,
Abraxas, Balsamum, and the absurd Leusibora. Such are the portentous names which, to
excite the minds of unlearned men and weak women, they pretend to draw from
Hebrew sources, terrifying the simple by barbarous combinations which they admire
the more the less they understand them.(3) The growth of this heresy is
described for us by Irenus, bishop of the church of Lyons, a man of the apostolic
times, who was a disciple of Papias the hearer of the evangelist John. He informs
us that a certain Mark,(4) of the stock of the gnostic Basilides, came in the
first instance to Gaul, that he contaminated with his teaching those parts of
the country which are watered by the Rhone and the Garonne, and that in
particular he misled by his errors high-born women; to whom he promised certain secret
mysteries and whose affection he enlisted by magic arts and hidden indulgence in
unlawful intercourse. Irenus goes on to say that subsequently Mark crossed the
Pyrenees and occupied Spain, making it his object to seek out the houses of
the wealthy, and in these especially the women, concerning whom we are told that
they are "led away with divers lusts, ever learning and never able to come to
the knowledge of the truth."(5) All this he wrote about three hundred years
ago(6) in the extremely learned and eloquent books which he composed under the
title Against all heresies.
4. From these facts you in your wisdom will realize how worthy of praise
our dear Lucinius shewed himself when he shut his ears that he might not have to
hear the judgement passed upon bloodshedders,(1) and dispersed all his
substance and gave to the poor that his righteousness might endure for ever.(2) And
not satisfied with bestowing his bounty upon his own country, he sent to the
churches of Jerusalem and Alexandria gold enough to alleviate the want of large
numbers. But while many will admire and extol in him this liberality, I for my
part will rather praise him for his zeal and diligence in the study of the
scriptures. With what eagerness he asked for my poor works! He actually sent six
copyists for in this province there is a dearth of scribes who understand Latin) to
copy for him all that I have ever dictated from my youth until the present
time. The honour was not of course paid to me who am but a little child, the least
of all Christians, living in the rocks near Bethlehem because I know myself a
sinner; but to Christ who is honoured in his servants(3) and who makes this
promise to them, "He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me
receiveth him that sent me."(4)
5. Therefore, my beloved daughter, regard this letter as the epitaph which
love prompts me to write upon your husband, and if there is any spiritual work
of which you think me to be capable, boldly command me to undertake it: that
so ages to come may know that He who says of Himself in Isaiah, "He hath made me
a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me,"(5) has with His sharp arrow
so wounded two men severed by an immense interval of sea and land, that,
although they know each other not in the flesh, they are knit together in love in the
spirit.
May you be kept holy both in body and spirit by the Samaritan--that is,
saviour and keeper--of whom it is said in the psalm, "He that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep."(6) May the watcher and the holy one who came down
to Daniel(7) come also to you, that you too may be able to say, "I sleep but
my heart waketh."(8)
LETTER LXXVI.
TO ABIGAUS.
Abigaus the recipient of this letter was a blind presbyter of Betica in
Spain. He had asked the help of Jerome's prayers in his struggles with evil and
Jerome now writes to cheer and to console him. He concludes his remarks by
commending to his especial care the widow Theodora. The letter should be compared
with that addressed to Castrutius (LXVIII.). It was written at the same time with
the preceding.
1. Although I am conscious of many sins and every day pray on bended
knees, "Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions,(1) yet because I
know that it has been said by the Apostle "let a man not be lifted up with pride
lest he fall into the condemnation of the devil,"(2) and that it is written in
another passage, "God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble,"(3)
there is nothing I have striven so much to avoid from my boyhood up as a
swelling mind and a stiff neck,(4) things which always provoke against themselves
the wrath of God. For I know that my master and Lord and God has said in the
lowliness of His flesh: "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart,"(5) and
that before this He has sung by the mouth of David: "Lord, remember David and all
his gentleness.(6) Again we read in another passage, "Before destruction the
heart of man is haughty; and before honour is humility."(7) Do not, then, I
implore you, suppose that I have received your letter and have passed it over in
silence. Do not, I beseech you, lay to my charge the dishonesty and negligence of
which others have been guilty. For why should I, when called on to respond to
your kind advances, continue dumb and repel by my silence the friendship which
you offer? I who am always forward to seek intimate relations with the good and
even to thrust myself upon their affection. "Two," we read, "are better than
one .... for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow .... a three fold cord
is not quickly broken, and a brother that helps his brother shall be
exalted."(8) Write to me, therefore, boldly, and overcome the effect of absence by
frequent colloquies.
2. You should not grieve that you are destitute of those bodily eyes which
ants, flies, and creeping things have as well as men; rather you should
rejoice that you possess that eye of which it is said in the Song of Songs, "Thou
hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one
of thine eyes."(9) This is the eye with which God is seen and to which Moses
refers when he says:--"I will now turn aside and see this great sight."(10) We
even read of some philosophers of this world(11) that they have plucked out
their eyes in order to turn all their thoughts upon the pure depths of the mind.
And a prophet has said "Death has entered through your windows."(12) Our Lord too
tells the Apostles: "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath
committed adultery with her already in his heart."(1) Consequently they are
commanded to lift up their eyes and to look on the fields, for these are white and
ready for harvest.(2)
3. You request me by my exhortations to slay in you Nebuchadnezzar and
Rabshakeh and Nebuzar-adan and Holofernes.(3) Were they alive in you, you would
never have sought my aid. No, they are dead within you, and yon have begun to
build up the ruins of Jerusalem with the help of Zerubbabel and of Joshua the son
of Josedech the high priest, of Ezra and of Nehemiah. You do not put your wages
into a bag with holes,(4) but you lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven,(5) and if you seek my friendship, it is because you believe me to be a servant
of Christ.
I commend to you--although she needs no commendation but her own--my holy
daughter Theodora, formerly the wife or rather the sister of Lucinius of
blessed memory. Tell her that she must not grow weary of the path upon which she has
entered, and that she can only reach the Holy Land by toiling through the
wilderness. Warn her against supposing that the work of virtue is perfected when she
has made her exodus from Egypt. Remind her that she must pass through snares
innumerable to arrive at mount Nebo and the River Jordan,(6) that she must
receive circumcision anew at Gilgal,(7) that Jericho must fall before her,
overthrown by the blasts of priestly trumpets,(8) that Adoni-zedec must be slain,(9)
that Ai and Hazor, once fairest of cities, must both fall.(10)
The brothers who are with me in the monastery salute you, and I through
you earnestly salute those reverend persons who deign to bestow upon me their
regard.
LETTER LXXVII.
TO OCEANUS.
The eulogy of Fabiola whoso restless life had come to an end in 399 A.D.
Jerome tells the story of her sin and of her penitence (for which see Letter
LV.), of the hospital established by her at Portus, of her visit to Bethlehem, and
of her earnestness in the study of scripture. He relates how he wrote for her
his account of the vestments of the high priest (Letter LXIV.) and how at the
time of her death he was at her request engaged upon a commentary on the
forty-two halting-places of the Israelites in the wilderness (Letter LXXIX.). This
last he now sends along with this letter to Oceanus. Jerome also bestows praise
upon Pammachius as the companion of all Fabiola's labours. The date of the letter
is 399 A.D.
1. Several years since I consoled the venerated Paula, whilst her
affliction was still recent for the falling asleep of Blaesilla.(1) Four summers ago I
wrote for the bishop Heliodorus the epitaph of Nepotian, and expended what
ability I possessed in giving expression to my grief at his loss.(2) Only two years
have elapsed since I sent a brief letter to my dear Pammachius on the sudden
flitting of his Paulina.(3) I blushed to say more to one so learned or to give
him back his own thoughts: lest I should seem less the consoler of a friend than
the officious instructor of one already perfect. But now, Oceanus my son, the
duty that you lay upon me is one that I gladly accept and would even seek
unasked. For when new virtues have to be dealt with, an old subject itself becomes
new. In previous cases I have had to soften and restrain a mother's affection,
an uncle's grief, and a husband's yearning; according to the different
requirements of each I have had to apply from scripture different remedies.
2. To-day you give me as my theme Fabiola, the praise of the Christians,
the marvel of the gentiles, the sorrow of the poor, and the consolation of the
monks. Whatever point in her character I choose to treat of first, pales into
insignificance compared with those which follow after. Shall I praise her fasts?
Her alms are greater still. Shall I commend her lowliness? The glow of her
faith is yet brighter. Shall I mention her studied plainness in dress, her
voluntary choice of plebeian costume and the garb of a slave that she might put to
shame silken robes? To change one's disposition is a greater achievement than to
change one's dress. It is harder for us to part with arrogance than with gold and
gems. For, even though we throw away these, we plume ourselves sometimes on a
meanness that is really ostentatious, and we make a bid with a saleable poverty
for the popular applause. But a virtue that seeks concealment and is cherished
in the inner consciousness appeals to no judgement but that of God. Thus the
eulogies which I have to bestow upon Fabiola will be altogether new: I must
neglect the order of the rhetoricians and begin all I have to say only from the
cradle of her conversion and of her penitence. Another writer, mindful of the
school, would perhaps bring forward Quintus Maximus, "the man who by delaying
rescued Rome,"(4) and the whole Fabian family; he would describe their struggles and
battles and would exult that Fabiola had come to us through a line so noble,
shewing that qualities not apparent in the branch still existed in the root. But
as I am a lover of the inn at Bethlehem and of the Lord's stable in which the
virgin travailed with and gave birth to an infant God, I shall deduce the
lineage of Christ's handmaid not from a stock famous in history but from the
lowliness of the church.
3. And because at the very outset there is a rock in the path and she is
overwhelmed by a storm of censure, for having forsaken her first husband and
having taken a second, I will not praise her for her conversion till I have first
cleared her of this charge. So terrible then were the faults imputed to her
former husband that not even a prostitute or a common slave could have put up with
them. If I were to recount them, I should undo the heroism of the wife who
chose to bear the blame of a separation rather than to blacken the character and
expose the stains of him who was one body with her. I will only urge this one
plea which is sufficient to exonerate a chaste matron and a Christian woman. The
Lord has given commandment that a wife must not be put away "except it be for
fornication, and that, if put away, she must remain unmarried."(1) Now a
commandment which is given to men logically applies to women also. For it cannot be
that, while an adulterous wife is to be put away, an incontinent husband is to be
retained. The apostle says: "he which is joined to an harlot is one body."(2)
Therefore she also who is joined to a whore-monger and unchaste person is made
one body with him. The laws of Caesar are different, it is true, from the laws
of Christ: Papinianus(3) commands one thing; our own Paul another. Earthly laws
give a free rein to the unchastity of men, merely condemning seduction and
adultery; lust is allowed to range unrestrained among brothels and slave girls, as
if the guilt were constituted by the rank of the person assailed and not by
the purpose of the assailant. But with us Christians what is unlawful for women
is equally unlawful for men, and as both serve the same God both are bound by
the same obligations. Fabiola then has put away--they are quite right--a husband
that was a sinner, guilty of this and that crime, sins--I have almost mentioned
their names--with which the whole neighbourhood resounded but which the wife
alone refused to disclose. If however it is made a charge against her that after
repudiating her husband she did not continue unmarried, I readily admit this
to have been a fault, but at the same time declare that it may have been a case
of necessity. "It is better," the apostle tells us, "to marry than to burn."(4)
She was quite a young woman, she was not able to continue in widowhood. In the
words of the apostle she saw another law in her members warring against the
law of her mind;(1) she felt herself dragged in chains as a captive towards the
indulgences of wedlock. Therefore she thought it better openly to confess her
weakness and to accept the semblance of an unhappy marriage than, with the flame
of a monogamist, to ply the trade of a courtesan. The same apostle wills that
the younger widows should marry, bear children, and give no occasion to the
adversary to speak reproachfully.(2) And he at once goes on to explain his wish:
"for some are already turned aside after Satan."(3) Fabiola therefore was fully
persuaded in her own mind: she thought she had acted legitimately in putting
away her husband, and that when she had done so she was free to marry again. She
did not know that the rigour of the gospel takes away from women all pretexts
for re-marriage so long as their former husbands are alive; and not knowing
this, though she contrived to evade other assaults of the devil, she at this point
unwittingly exposed herself to a wound from him.
4. But why do I linger over old and forgotten matters, seeking to excuse a
fault for which Fabiola has herself confessed her penitence? Who would believe
that, after the death of her second husband at a time when most widows, having
shaken off the yoke of servitude, grow careless and allow themselves more
liberty than ever, frequenting the baths, flitting through the streets, shewing
their harlot faces everywhere; that at this time Fabiola came to herself? Yet it
was then that she put on sackcloth to make public confession of her error. It
was then that in the presence of all Rome (in the basilica which formerly
belonged to that Lateranus who perished by the sword of Caesar(4)) she stood in the
ranks of the penitents and exposed before bishop, presbyters, and people--all of
whom wept when they saw her weep--her dishevelled hair, pale features, soiled
hands and unwashed neck. What sins would such a penance fail to purge away? What
ingrained stains would such tears be unable to wash out? By a threefold
confession Peter blotted out his threefold denial.(5) If Aaron committed sacrilege by
fashioning molten gold into the head of a calf, his brother's prayers made
amends for his transgressions.(6) If holy David, meekest of men, committed the
double sin of murder and adultery, he atoned for it by a fast of seven days. He
lay upon the earth, he rolled in the ashes, he forgot his royal power, he sought
for light in the darkness.(1) And then, turning his eyes to that God whom he
had so deeply offended, he cried with a lamentable voice: "Against thee, thee
only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight," and "Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit."(2) He who by his
virtues teaches me how to stand and not to fall, by his penitence teaches me how, if
I fall, I may rise again. Among the kings do we read of any so wicked as Ahab,
of whom the scripture says: "there was none like unto Ahab which did sell
himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord"?(3) For shedding Naboth's blood
Elijah rebuked him, and the prophet denounced God's wrath against him: "Hast
thou killed and also taken possession? ... behold I will bring evil upon thee
and will take away thy posterity"(4) and so on. Yet when Ahab heard these words
"he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted ... in
sackcloth, and went softly."(5) Then came the word of God to Elijah the Tishbite
saying: "Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth
himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days."(6) O happy penitence which
has drawn down upon itself the eyes of God, and which has by confessing its
error changed the sentence of God's anger! The same conduct is in the
Chronicles(7) attributed to Manasseh, and in the book of the prophet Jonah(8) to Nineveh,
and in the gospel to the publican.(9) The first of these not only was allowed
to obtain forgiveness but also recovered his kingdom, the second broke the force
of God's impending wrath, while the third, smiting his breast with his hands,
"would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven." Yet for all that the
publican with his humble confession of his faults went back justified far more than
the Pharisee with his arrogant boasting of his virtues. This is not however the
place to preach penitence, neither am I writing against Montanus and
Novatus.(10) Else would I say of it that it is "a sacrifice ... well pleasing to God,"(11)
I would cite the words of the psalmist: "the sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit,"(12) and those of Ezekiel "I prefer the repentance of a sinner rather
than his death,"(13) and those of Baruch, "Arise, arise, O Jerusalem,(14) and many
other proclamations made by the trumpets of the prophets.
5. But this one thing I will say, for it is at once useful to my readers
and pertinent to my present theme. As Fabiola was not ashamed of the Lord on
earth, so He shall not be ashamed of her in heaven.(1) She laid bare her wound
to the gaze of all, and Rome beheld with tears the disfiguring scar which marred
her beauty. She uncovered her limbs, bared her head, and closed her mouth. She
no longer entered the church of God but, like Miriam the sister of Moses,(2)
she sat apart without the camp, till the priest who had cast her out should
himself call her back. She came down like the daughter of Babylon from the throne
of her daintiness, she took the millstones and ground meal, she passed
bare-looted through rivers of tears.(3) She sat upon the coals of fire, and these became
her aid.(4) That face by which she had once pleased her second husband she now
smote with blows she hated jewels, shunned ornaments and could not bear to
look upon fine linen.(5) In fact she bewailed the sin she had committed as
bitterly as if it had been adultery, and went to the expense of many remedies in her
eagerness to cure her one wound.
6. Having found myself aground in the shallows of Fabiola's sin, I have
dwelt thus long upon her penitence in order that I might open up a larger and
quite unimpeded space for the description of her praises. Restored to communion
before the eyes of the whole church, what did she do? In the day of prosperity
she was not forgetful of affliction;(6) and, having once suffered shipwreck she
was unwilling again to face the risks of the sea. Instead therefore of
re-embarking on her old life, 'she broke up(7) and sold all that she could lay hands on
of her property (it was large and suitable to her rank), and turning it into
money she laid out this for the benefit of the poor. She was the first person to
found a hospital, into which she might gather sufferers out of the streets, and
where she might nurse the unfortunate victims of sickness and want. Need I now
recount the various ailments of human beings? Need I speak of noses slit, eyes
put out, feet half burnt, hands covered with sores? Or of limbs dropsical and
atrophied? Or of diseased flesh alive with worms? Often did she carry on her
own shoulders persons infected with jaundice or with filth. Often too did she
wash away the matter discharged from wounds which others, even though men, could
not bear to look at. She gave food to her patients with her own hand, and
moistened the scarce breathing lips of the dying with sips of liquid. I know of many
wealthy and devout persons who, unable to overcome their natural repugnance to
such sights, perform this work of mercy by the agency of others, giving money
instead of personal aid. I do not blame them and am far from construing their
weakness of resolution into a want of faith. While however I pardon such
squeamishness, I extol to the skies the enthusiastic zeal of a mind that is above it. A
great faith makes little of such trifles. But I know how terrible was the
retribution which fell upon the proud mind of the rich man clothed in purple for
not having helped Lazarus.(1) The poor wretch whom we despise, whom we cannot so
much as look at, and the very sight of whom turns our stomachs, is human like
ourselves, is made of the same clay as we are, is formed out of the same
elements. All that he suffers we too may suffer. Let us then regard his wounds as
though they were our own, and then all our insensibility to another's suffering
will give way before our pity for ourselves.
Not with a hundred tongues or throat of bronze could I exhaust the forms
of fell disease(2) which Fabiola so wonderfully alleviated in the suffering poor
that many of the healthy fell to envying the sick. However she showed the same
liberality towards the clergy and monks and virgins. Was there a monastery
which was not supported by Fabiola's wealth? Was there a naked or bedridden person
who was not clothed with garments supplied by her? Were there ever any in want
to whom she failed to give a quick and unhesitating supply? Even Rome was not
wide enough for her pity. Either in her own person or else through the agency
of reverend and trustworthy men she went from island to island and carried her
bounty not only round the Etruscan Sea, but throughout the district of the
Volscians, as it stands along those secluded and winding shores where communities of
monks are to be found.
7. Suddenly she made up her mind, against the advice of all her friends,
to take ship and to come to Jerusalem. Here she was welcomed by a large
concourse of people and for a short time took advantage of my hospitality. Indeed, when
I call to mind our meeting, I seem to see her here now instead of in the past.
Blessed Jesus, what zeal, what earnestness she bestowed upon the sacred
volumes! In her eagerness to satisfy what was a veritable craving she would run
through Prophets, Gospels, and Psalms: she would suggest questions and treasure up
the answers in the desk of her own bosom. And yet this eagerness to hear did not
bring with it any feeling of satiety: increasing her knowledge she also
increased her sorrow,(1) and by casting oil upon the flame she did but supply fuel
for a still more burning zeal. One day we had before us the book of Numbers
written by Moses, and she modestly questioned me as to the meaning of the great
mass of names there to be found. Why was it, she inquired, that single tribes were
differently associated in this passage and in that, how came it that the
soothsayer Balaam in prophesying of the future mysteries of Christ(2) spoke more
plainly of Him than almost any other prophet? I replied as best I could and tried
to satisfy her enquiries. Then unrolling the book still farther she came to the
passage(3) in which is given the list of all the halting-places by which the
people after leaving Egypt made its way to the waters of Jordan. And when she
asked me the meaning and reason of each of these, I spoke doubtfully about some,
dealt with others in a tone of assurance, and in several instances simply
confessed my ignorance. Hereupon she began to press me harder still, expostulating
with me as though it were a thing unallowable that I should be ignorant of what
I did not know, yet at the same time affirming her own unworthiness to
understand mysteries so deep. In a word I was ashamed to refuse her request and allowed
her to extort from me a promise that I would devote a special work to this
subject for her use. Till the present time I have had to defer the fulfilment of
my promise: as I now perceive, by the Will of God in order that it should be
consecrated to her memory. As in a previous work(4) I clothed her with the
priestly vestments, so in the pages of the present(5) she may rejoice that she has
passed through the wilderness of this world and has come at last to the land of
promise.
8. But let me continue the task which I have begun. Whilst I was in search
of a suitable dwelling for so great a lady, whose only conception of the
solitary life included a place of resort like Mary's inn; suddenly messengers flew
this way and that and the whole East was terror-struck. For news came that the
hordes of the Huns had poured forth all the way from Maeotis(6) (they had their
haunts between the icy Tanais(7) and the rude Massagetae(8) where the gates of
Alexander keep back the wild peoples behind the Caucasus); and that, speeding
hither and thither on their nimble-footed horses, they were filling all the
world with panic and bloodshed. The Roman army was absent at the time, being
detained in Italy on account of the civil wars. Of these Huns Herodotus(1) tells us
that under Darius King of the Medes they held the East in bondage for twenty
years and that from the Egyptians and Ethiopians they exacted a yearly tribute.
May Jesus avert from the Roman world the farther assaults of these wild beasts!
Everywhere their approach was unexpected, they outstripped rumour in speed, and,
when they came, they spared neither religion nor rank nor age, even for
wailing infants they had no pity. Children were forced to die before it could be said
that they had begun to live; and little ones not realizing their miserable
fate might be seen smiling in the hands and at the weapons of their enemies. It
was generally agreed that the goal of the invaders was Jerusalem and that it was
their excessive desire for gold which made them hasten to this particular city.
Its walls uncared for in time of peace were accordingly put in repair. Antioch
was in a state of siege. Tyre, desirous of cutting itself off from the land,
sought once more its ancient island. We too were compelled to marl our ships and
to lie off the shore as a precaution against the arrival of our foes. No
matter how hard the winds might blow, we could not but dread the barbarians more
than shipwreck. It was not, however, so much for our own safety that we were
anxious as for the chastity of the virgins who were with us. Just at that time also
there was dissension among us,(2) and our intestine struggles threw into the
shade our battle with the barbarians. I myself clung to my long-settled abode in
the East and gave way to my deep-seated love for the holy places. Fabiola, used
as she was to moving from city to city and having no other property but what
her baggage contained, returned to her native land; to live in poverty where she
had once been rich, to lodge in the house of another, she who in old days had
lodged many guests in her own, and--not unduly to prolong my account--to bestow
upon the poor before the eyes of Rome the proceeds of that property which Rome
knew her to have sold.
9. This only do I lament that in her the holy places lost a necklace of
the loveliest. Rome recovered what it had previously parted with, and the wanton
and slanderous tongues of the heathen were confuted by the testimony of their
own eyes. Others may commend her pity, her humility, her faith: I will rather
praise her ardour of soul. The letter(3) in which as a young man I once urged
Heliodorus to the life of a hermit she knew by heart, and whenever she looked upon
the walls of Rome she complained that she was in a prison. Forgetful of her
sex, unmindful of her frailty, and only desiring to be alone she was in fact
there(1) where her soul lingered. The counsels of her friends could not hold her
back; so eager was she to burst from the city as from a place of bondage. Nor did
she leave the distribution of her alms to others; she distributed them
herself. Her wish was that, after equitably dispensing her money to the poor, she
might herself find support from others for the sake of Christ. In such haste was
she and so impatient of delay that you would fancy her on the eve of her
departure. As she was always ready, death could not find her unprepared.
10. As I pen her praises, my dear Pammachius seems suddenly to rise before
me. His wife Paulina sleeps that he may keep vigil; she has gone before her
husband that he remaining behind may be Christ's servant. Although he was his
wife's heir, others--I mean the poor--are now in possession of his inheritance. He
and Fabiola contended for the privilege of setting up a tent like that of
Abraham(2) at Portus. The contest which arose between them was for the supremacy in
shewing kindness. Each conquered and each was overcome. Both admitted
themselves to be at once victors and vanquished for what each had desired to effect
alone both accomplished together. They united their resources and combined their
plans that harmony might forward what rivalry must have brought to nought. No
sooner was the scheme broached than it was carried out. A house was purchased to
serve as a shelter and a crowd flocked into it. "There was no more travail in
Jacob nor distress in Israel."(3) The seas carried voyagers to find a welcome
here on landing. Travellers left Rome in haste to take advantage of the mild
coast before setting sail. What Publius once did in the island of Malta for one
apostle and--not to leave room for gainsaying--for a single ship's crew,(4)
Fabiola and Pammachius have done over and over again for large numbers; and not only
have they supplied the wants of the destitute, but so universal has been their
munificence that they have provided additional means for those who have
something already. The whole world knows that a home for strangers has been
established at Portus; and Britain has learned in the summer what Egypt and Parthia knew
in the spring.
11. In the death of this noble lady we have seen a fulfilment of the
apostle's words:--"All things work together for good to them that fear God."(1)
Having a presentiment of what would happen, she had written to several monks to
come and release her from the burthen under which she laboured;(2) for she wished
to make to herself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that they might
receive her into everlasting habitations.(3) They came to her and she made them
her friends; she fell asleep in the way that she had wished, and having at last
laid aside her burthen she soared more lightly up to heaven. How great a marvel
Fabiola had been to Rome while she lived came out in the behaviour of the
people now that she was dead. Hardly had she breathed her last breath, hardly had
she given back her soul to Christ whose it was when flying rumour heralding the
woe(4) gathered the entire city to attend her obsequies. Psalms were chaunted
and the gilded ceilings of the temples were shaken with uplifted shouts of
Alleluia.
The choirs of young and old extolled her deeds and sang the praises of her
holy soul.(5) Her triumph was more glorious far than those won by Furius over
the Gauls, by Papirius over the Samnites, by Scipio over Numantia, by Pompey
over Pontus. They had conquered physical force, she had mastered spiritual
iniquities.(6) I seem to hear even now the squadrons which led the van of the
procession, and the sound of the feet of the multitude which thronged in thousands to
attend her funeral. The streets, porches, and roofs from which a view could be
obtained were inadequate to accommodate the spectators. On that day Rome saw
all her peoples gathered together in one, and each person present flattered
himself that he had some part in the glory of her penitence. No wonder indeed that
men should thus exult in the salvation of one at whose conversion there was joy
among the angels in heaven.(7)
12. I give you this, Fabiola,(8) the best gift of my aged powers, to be as
it were a funeral offering. Oftentimes have I praised virgins and widows and
married women who have kept their garments always white(9) and who follow the
Lamb whithersoever He goeth.(10) Happy indeed is she in her encomium who
throughout her life has been stained by no defilement. But let envy depart and
censoriousness be silent. If the father of the house is good why should our eye be
evil?(11) The soul which fell among thieves has been carried home upon the
shoulders of Christ.(1) In our father's house are many mansions.(2) Where sin hath
abounded, grace hath much more abounded.(3) To whom more is forgiven the same
loveth more.(4)
LETTER LXXVIII.
TO FABIOLA.
A treatise on the Forty-two Mansions or Halting-places of the Israelites,
originally intended for Fabiola but not completed until after her death. Sent
to Oceanus along with the preceding letter. These Mansions are made an emblem of
the Christian's pilgrimage, the true Hebrew hastening to pass from earth to
heaven.
LETTER LXXIX.
TO SALVINA.
A letter of consolation addressed by Jerome to Salvina (a lady of the
imperial court) on the death of her husband Nebridius. After excusing his temerity
in addressing a complete stranger Jerome eulogizes the virtues of Nebridius,
particularly his chastity and his bounty to the poor. He next warns Salvina (in
no courtier-like terms) of the dangers that will beset her as a widow and
recommends her to devote all her energies to the careful training of the son and
daughter who are now her principal charge. The tone of the letter is somewhat
arrogant and it can hardly be regarded as one of Jerome's happiest efforts. Salvina,
however, consecrated her life to deeds of piety, and became one of
Chrysostom's deaconesses. Its date is 400 A. D.
1. My desire to do my duty may, I fear, expose me to a charge of
self-seeking; and although I do but follow the example of Him who said: "learn of me
for I am meek and lowly of heart,"(5) the course that I am taking may be
attributed to a desire for notoriety. Men may say that I am not so much trying to
console a widow in affliction as endeavouring to creep into the imperial court;
and that, while I make a pretext of offering comfort, I am really seeking the
friendship of the great. Clearly this will not be the opinion of any one who
knows the commandment: "thou shall not respect the person of the poor,"(6) a
precept given lest under pretext of shewing pity we should judge unjust judgment.
For each individual is to be judged not by his personal importance but by the
merits of his case. His wealth need not stand in the way of the rich man, if he
makes a good use of it; and poverty can be no recommendation to the poor if
in the midst of squalor and want he fails to keep clear of wrong doing. Proofs
of these things are not wanting either in scriptural times or our own; for
Abraham, in spite of his immense wealth, was "the friend of God"(7) and poor men are
daily arrested and punished for their crimes by law. She whom I now address is
both rich and poor so that she cannot say what she actually has. For it is
not of her purse that I am speaking but of the purity of her soul. I do not know
her face but I am well acquainted with her virtues; for report speaks well of
her and her youth makes her chastity all the more commendable. By her grief for
her young husband she has set an example to all wives; and by her resignation
she has proved that she believes him not lost but gone before. The greatness of
her bereavement has brought out the reality of her religion. For while she
forgets her lost Nebridius, she knows that in Christ he is with her still.
But why do I write to one who is a stranger to me? For three reasons,
First, because (as a priest is bound to do) I love all Christians as my children
and find my glory in promoting their welfare. Secondly because the father of
Nebridius was bound to me by the closest ties.(1) Lastly--and this is a stronger
reason than the others--because I have failed to say no to my son Avitus.(2) With
an importunacy surpassing that of the widow towards the unjust judge(3) he
wrote to me so frequently and put before me so many instances in which I had
previously dealt with a similar theme, that he overcame my modest reluctance and
made the resolve to do not what would best become me but what would most nearly
meet his wishes.
2. As the mother of Nebridius was sister to the empress(4) and as he was
brought up in the bosom of his aunt, another might perhaps praise him for having
so much endeared himself to the unvanquished emperor. Theodosius, indeed,
procured him from Africa a wife of the highest rank,(5) who, as her native land at
this time was distracted by civil wars, became a kind of hostage for its
loyalty. I ought to say at the very outset that Nebridius seems to have had a
presentiment that he would die early. For amid the splendour of the palace and in the
high positions to which his rank and not his years entitled him he lived always
as one who believed that he must soon go to meet Christ. Of Cornelius, the
centurion of the Italian band, the sacred narrative tells us that God so fully
accepted him as to send to him an angel; and that this angel told him that to his
merit was due the mystery whereby Peter from the narrow limits of the
circumcision was conveyed to the wide field of the uncircumcision. He was the first
Gentile baptized by the apostle, and in him the Gentiles were set apart to
salvation. Now of this man it is written: "there was a certain man in Caesarea called
Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man and one
that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and
prayed to God alway."(1) All this that is said of him I claim--with a change of
name only--for my dear Nebridius. So "devout" was this latter and so enamoured
of chastity that at his marriage he was still pure. So truly did he "fear God
with all his house" that forgetting his high position he spent all his time with
monks and clergymen. So profuse were the alms which he gave to the people that
his doors were continually beset with swarms of sick and poor. And assuredly he
"prayed to God alway" that what was for the best might happen to him.
Therefore "speedily was he taken away lest that wickedness should alter his
understanding for his soul pleased the Lord."(2) Thus I may truthfully apply to him the
apostle's words: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but
in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with
Him."(3) As a soldier Nebridius took no harm from his cloak and sword-belt and
troops of orderlies; for while he wore the uniform of the emperor he was
enlisted in the service of God. On the other hand nothing is gained by men who while
they affect coarse mantles, sombre tunics, dirt, and poverty, belie by their
deeds their lofty pretensions. Of another centurion we find in the gospel this
testimony from our Lord:--"I have not found so great faith, no not in
Israel."(4) And, to go back to earlier times, we read of Joseph who gave proof of his
integrity both when he was in want and when he was rich, and who inculcated
freedom of soul both as slave and as lord. He was made next to Pharaoh and invested
with the emblems of royalty;(5) yet so dear was he to God that, alone of all the
patriarchs, he became the father of two tribes.(6) Daniel and the three
children were set over the affairs of Babylon and were numbered among the princes of
the state; yet although they wore the dress of Nebuchadnezzar, in their hearts
they served God. Mordecai also and Esther amid purple and silk and jewels
overcame pride with humility; and although captives were so highly esteemed as to be
able to impose commands upon their conquerors.
3. These remarks are intended to shew that the youth of whom I speak used
his kinship to the royal family, his abundant wealth, and the outward tokens of
power, as helps to virtue. For, as the preacher says, "wisdom is a defence and
money is a defence"(7) also. We must not hastily conclude that this statement
conflicts with that of the Lord: "verily I say unto you that a rich man shall
hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven; and again I say unto you, It is easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of heaven."(1) Were it so, the salvation of Zacchaeus the
publican, described in scripture as a man of great wealth, would contradict the Lord's
declaration. But that what is impossible with men is possible with God(2) we
are taught by the counsel of the apostle who thus writes to Timothy:--"charge
them that are rich in this world that they be not highminded, nor trust in
uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that
they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute. willing to
communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the
time to come that they may lay hold on the true life."(3) We have learned how a
camel can pass through a needle's eye, how an animal with a hump on its
back,(4) when it has laid down its packs, can take to itself the wings of a dove(5)
and rest in the branches of the tree which has grown from a grain of mustard
seed.(6) In Isaiah we read of camels, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah and
Sheba, which carry gold and incense to the city of the Lord.(7) On like typical
camels the Ishmaelitish merchantmen(8) bring down to the Egyptians perfume and
incense and balm(of the kind that grows in Gilead good for the healing of
wounds(9)); and so fortunate are they that in the purchase and sale of Joseph they have
for their merchandise the Saviour of the world.(10) And AEsop's fable tells us
of a mouse which after eating its fill can no longer creep out as before it
crept in.(11)
4. Daily did my dear Nebridius revolve the words: "they that will be rich
fall into temptation and a snare" of the devil "and into many lusts."(12) All
the money that the Emperor's bounty gave him or that his badges of office
procured him he laid out for the benefit of the poor. For he knew the commandment of
the Lord: "If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast, and give to the
poor, and come and follow me."(13) And because he could not literally fulfil
these directions, having a wife and little children and a large household, he
made to himself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that they might receive
him into everlasting habitations.(14) He did not once for all cast away his
brethren, as did the apostles who forsook father and nets and ship,(1) but by an
equality he ministered to the want of others out of his own abundance that
afterwards their wealth might be a supply for his own want.(2) The lady to whom this
letter is addressed knows that what I narrate is only known to me by hearsay,
but she is aware also that I am no Greek writer repaying with flattery some
benefit conferred upon me. Far be such an imputation from all Christians. Having
food and raiment we are therewith content.(3) Where there is cheap cabbage and
household bread, a sufficiency to eat and a sufficiency to drink, these riches
are superfluous and no place is left for flattery with its sordid calculations.
You may conclude therefore that, where there is no motive to tell a falsehood,
the testimony given is true.
5. It must not, however, be supposed that I praise Nebridius only for his
liberality in alms-giving, although we are taught the great importance of this
in the words: "water will quench a flaming fire; and alms maketh an atonement
for sins."(4) I will pass on now to his other virtues each one of which is to be
found but in few men. Who ever entered the furnace of the King of Babylon
without being burned?(5) Was there ever a young man whose garment his Egyptian
mistress did not seize?(6) Was there ever a eunuch's(7) wife contented with a
childless marriage bed? Is there any man who is not appalled by the struggle of
which the apostle says: "I see another law in my members warring against the law of
my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members?"(8) But wonderful to say Nebridius, though bred up in a palace as a
companion and fellow pupil of the Augusti(9) (whose table is supplied by the whole
world and ministered to by land and sea); Nebridius, I say, though in the midst of
abundance and in the flower of his age, shewed himself more modest than a girl
and never gave occasion, even the slightest, for scandalous rumours. Again
though he was the friend, companion, and cousin of princes and had been educated
along with them--a thing which makes even strangers intimate--he did not allow
pride to inflate him or frown with contempt upon others who were less
fortunate than he: no, he was kind to all, and while he loved the princes as brothers
he revered them as sovereigns. He used to avow that his own health and safety
were dependent upon theirs. Their attendants and all those officers of the palace
who by their numbers add to the grandeur of the imperial court he had so well
conciliated by shewing his regard for them, that men who were in reality
inferior to him were led by his attention to believe themselves his peers. It is no
easy task to throw one's rank into the shade by one's virtue, or to gain the
affection of men who are forced to yield you precedence. What widow was not
supported by his help? What ward did not find in him a father? To him the bishops of
the entire East used to bring the prayers of the unfortunate and the petitions
of the distressed. Whenever he asked the Emperor for a boon, he sought either
alms for the poor or ransom for captives or clemency for the afflicted.
Accordingly the princes also used gladly to accede to his requests, for they knew well
that their bounty would benefit not one man but many.
6. Why do I farther postpone the end? "All flesh is grass and all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field."(1) The dust has returned to the
dust.(2) He has fallen asleep in the Lord and has been laid with his fathers,
full of days and of light and fostered in a good old age. For "wisdom is the
grey hair unto men."(3) "In a short time he" has "fulfilled a long time."(4) In
his place we now have his charming children. His wife is the heir of his
chastity. To those who miss his father the tiny Nebridius shews him once more, for:
Such were the eyes and hands and looks he bore.(5)
A spark of the parent's excellence shines in the son: the child's face betrays
like a mirror a resemblance in character.
That narrow frame contains a hero's heart.(6)
And with him there is his sister, a basket of roses and lilies, a mixture of
ivory and purple. Her face though it takes after that of her father inclines to
be still more attractive; and, while her complexion is that of her mother, she
is so like both her parents that the lineaments of each are reflected in her
features. So sweet and honied is she that she is the pride of all her kinsfolk.
The Emperor(7) does not disdain to hold her in his arms, and the Empress(8)
likes nothing better than to nurse her on her lap. Everyone runs to be the first to
catch her up. Now she clings to the neck of one, and now she is fondled in the
arms of another. She prattles and stammers, and is all the sweeter for her
faltering tongue.
7. You have, therefore, Salvina, those to nurse who may well represent to
you your absent husband: "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the
fruit of the womb is his reward."(1) In the place of one husband you have received
two children, and thus your affection has more objects than before. All that
was due to him you can give to them. Temper grief with love, for if he is gone
they are still with you. It is no small merit in God's eyes to bring up children
well. Hear the apostle's counsel: "Let not a widow be taken into the number
under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for
good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if
she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she
have diligently followed every good work."(2) Here you learn the roll of the
virtues which God requires of you, what is due to the name of widow which you bear,
and by what good deeds you can attain to that second degree of chastity(3)
which is still open to you. Do not be disturbed because the apostle allows none to
be chosen as a widow under threescore years old, neither suppose that he
intends to reject those who are still young. Believe that you are indeed chosen by
him who said to his disciple, "Let no man despise thy youth,"(4) your want of
age that is, not your want of continence. If this be not his meaning, all who
become widows under threescore years will have to take husbands. He is training a
church still untaught in Christ, and making provision for people of all
stations but especially for the poor, the charge of whom had been committed to himself
and Barnabas.(5) Thus he wishes only those to be supported by the exertions of
the church who cannot labour with their own hands, and who are widows
indeed,(6) approved by their years and by their lives. The faults of his children made
Eli the priest an offence to God. On the other hand He is appeased by the
virtues of such as "continue in faith and charity and holiness with chastity."(7) "O
Timothy," cries the apostle, "keep thyself pure."(8) Far be it from me to
suspect you capable of doing anything wrong; still it is only a kindness to
admonish one whose youth and opulence lead her into temptation. You must take what I
am going to say as addressed not to you but to your girlish years. A widow "that
liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth."(9) So speaks the "chosen
vessel"(10) and the words are brought out from his treasure who could boldly say: "Do
ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?"(1) Yet they are the words of one who
in his own person admitted the weakness of the human body, saying: "The good
that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not that I do."(2) And again:
Therefore "I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any
means when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway."(3) If Paul
is afraid, which of us can venture to be confident? If David the friend of God
and Solomon who loved God(4) were overcome like other men, if their fall is
meant to warn us and their penitence to lead us to salvation, who in this slippery
life can be sure of not falling? Never let pheasants be seen upon your table,
or plump turtledoves or black cock from Ionia, or any of those birds so
expensive that they fly away with the largest properties. And do not fancy that you
eschew meat diet when you reject pork, hare, and venison and the savoury flesh of
other quadrupeds.(5) It is not the number of feet that makes the difference
but delicacy of flavour. I know that the apostle has said: "every creature of God
is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving."(6) But
the same apostle says: "it is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine,"(7)
and in another place: "be not drunk with wine wherein is excess."(8) "Every
creature of God is good"--the precept is intended for those who are careful how
they may please their husbands.(9) Let those feed on flesh who serve the flesh,
whose bodies boil with desire, who are tied to husbands, and who set their
hearts on having offspring. Let those whose wombs are burthened cram their stomachs
with flesh. But you have buried every indulgence in your husband's tomb: over
his bier you have cleansed with tears a face stained with rouge and whitelead;
you have exchanged a white robe and gilded buskins for a sombre tunic and black
shoes; and only one thing more is needed, perseverance in fasting. Let
paleness and squalor be henceforth your jewels. Do not pamper your youthful limbs with
a bed of down or kindle your young blood with hot baths. Hear what words a
heathen poet (10) puts into the mouth of a chaste widow:(11) He, my first spouse,
has robbed me of my loves. So be it: let him keep them in the tomb. If common
glass is worth so much, what must be the value of a pearl of price?(12) If in
deference to a law of nature a Gentile widow can condemn all sensual indulgence,
what must we expect from a Christian widow who owes her chastity not to one who
is dead but to one with whom she shall reign in heaven?
8. Do not, I pray you, regard these general remarks--applying as they do
to all young women--as intended to insult you or to take you to task. I write in
a spirit of apprehension, yet pray that you may never know the nature of my
fears. A woman's reputation is a tender plant; it is like a fair flower which
withers at the slightest blast and fades away at the first breath of wind.
Especially is this so when she is of an age to fall into temptation and the authority
of a husband is wanting to her. For the very shadow of a husband is a wife's
safeguard. What has a widow to do with a large household or with troops of
retainers? As servants, it is true, she must not despise them, but as men she ought
to blush before them. If a grand establishment requires such domestics, let her
at least set over them an old man of spotless morals whose dignity may guard
the honour of his mistress. I know of many widows who, although they live with
closed doors, have not escaped the imputation of too great intimacy with their
servants. These latter become objects of suspicion when they dress above their
degree, or when they are stout and sleek, or when they are of an age inclined to
passion, or when knowledge of the favour in which they are secretly held
betrays itself in a too confident demeanour. For such pride, however carefully
concealed, is sure to break out in a contempt for fellow-servants as servants. I make
these seemingly superfluous remarks that you may keep your heart with all
diligence(1) and guard against every scandal that may be broached concerning you.
9. Take no well-curled steward to walk with you, no effeminate actor, no
devilish singer of poisoned sweetness, no spruce and smooth-shorn youth. Let no
theatrical compliments, no obsequious adulation be associated with you. Keep
with you bands of widows and virgins; and let your consolers be of your own sex.
The character of the mistress is judged by that of the maid. So long as you
have with you a holy mother, so long as an aunt vowed to virginity is at your
side, you ought not to neglect them and at your own risk to seek the company of
strangers. Let the divine scripture be always in your hands, and give yourself so
frequently to prayer that such shafts of evil thoughts as ever assail the young
may thereby find a shield to repel them. It is difficult, nay more it is
impossible, to escape the beginnings of those internal motions which the Greeks with
much significance call <greek>propaqeiai</greek> that is 'predispositions to
passion.' The fact is that suggestions of sin tickle all our minds, and the
decision rests with our own hearts either to admit or to reject the thoughts which
come. The Lord of nature Himself says in the gospel:--"out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies."(1) It is clear from the testimony of another book that "the
imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth,"(2) and that the soul wavers between
the works of the flesh and of the spirit enumerated by the apostle,(3) desiring
now the former and now the latter. For:
From faults no mortal man is wholly free; The best is he who has but few
of them.(4)
And, to quote the same poet,
At moles men cavil when they mark fair skins.(5)
To the same effect in different words the prophet says:--"I am so troubled
that I cannot speak,"(6) and in the same book, "Be ye angry and sin not."(7) So
Archytas of Tarentum(8) once said to a careless steward: "I should have flogged
you to death had I not been in a passion." For "the wrath of man worketh not the
righteousness of God."(9) Now what is here said of one form of perturbation
may be applied to all. Just as auger is human and the repression of it Christian,
so it is with other passions. The flesh always lusts after the things of the
flesh, and by its allurements draws the soul to partake of deadly pleasures; but
it is for us Christians to restrain the desire for sensual indulgence by an
intenser love for Christ. It is for us to break in the mettlesome brute within us
by fasting, in order that it may desire not lust but food and amble easily and
steadily forward having for its rider the Holy Spirit.
10. Why do I write thus? To shew you that you are but human and subject,
unless you guard against them, to human passions. We are all of us made of the
same clay and formed of the same elements. Whether we wear silk or rags we are
all at the mercy of the same desire. It does not fear the royal purple; it does
not disdain the squalor of the mendicant. It is better then to suffer in
stomach than in soul to rule the body than to serve it, to lose one's balance than to
lose one's chastity. Let us not lull ourselves with the delusion that we can
always fall back on penitence. For this is at best but a remedy for misery. Let
us shrink from incurring a wound which must be painful to cure. For it is one
thing to enter the haven of salvation with ship safe and merchandise
uninjured, and another to cling naked to a plank and, as the waves toss you this way and
that, to be dashed again and again on the sharp rocks. A widow should be
ignorant that second marriage is permitted; she should know nothing of the apostle's
words:--"It is better to marry than to burn."(1) Remove what is said to be
worse, the risk of burning, and marriage will cease to be regarded as good. Of
course I repudiate the slanders of the heretics; I know that "marriage is
honourable ... and the bed undefiled."(2) Yet Adam even after he was expelled from
paradise had but one wife. The accursed and blood-stained Lamech, descended from
the stock of Cain, was the first to make out of one rib two wives; and the
seedling of digamy then planted was altogether destroyed by the doom of the deluge.
It is true that in writing to Timothy the apostle from fear of fornication is
forced to countenance second marriage. His words are these:--"I will therefore
that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion
to the adversary to speak reproachfully." But he immediately adds as a reason
for this concession; "for some are already turned aside after Satan."(3) Thus we
see that he is offering not a crown to those who stand but a helping hand to
those who are down. What must a second marriage be if it is looked on merely as
an alternative to the brothel! "For some," he writes, "are already turned aside
after Satan." The upshot of the whole matter is that, if a young widow cannot
or will not contain herself, she had better take a husband to her bed than the
devil.
A noble alternative truly which is only to be embraced in preference to
Satan! In old days even Jerusalem went a-whoring and opened her feet to every one
that passed by.(4) It was in Egypt that she was first deflowered and there
that her teats were bruised.(5) And afterwards when she had come to the wilderness
and, impatient of the delays of her leader Moses, had said when maddened by
the stings of lust: "these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt,"(6) she received statutes that were not good and commandments
that were altogether evil whereby she should not live(7) but should be punished
through them. Is it surprising then that when the apostle had said in another
place of young widows: "when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ they
will marry, having damnation because they have cast off their first faith,"(1)
he granted to such as should wax wanton statutes of digamy that were not good
and commandments that were altogether evil? For the reason which he gives for
allowing a second husband would justify a woman in marrying a third or even, if
she liked, a twentieth. He evidently wished to shew them that he was not so much
anxious that they should take husbands as that they should avoid paramours.
These things, dear-est daughter in Christ, I impress upon you and frequently
repeat, that you may forget those things which are behind and reach forth unto
those things which are before.(2) You have widows like yourself worthy to be your
models, Judith renowned in Hebrew story and Anna the daughter of Phanuel famous
in the gospel. Both these lived day and night in the temple and preserved the
treasure of their chastity by prayer and by fasting. One was a type of the
Church which cuts off the head of the devil(3) and the other first received in her
arms the saviour of the world and had revealed to her the holy mysteries which
were to come.(4) In conclusion I beg you to attribute the shortness of my
letter not to want of language or scarcity of matter but to a deep sense of modesty
which makes me fear to force myself too long upon the ears of a stranger, and
causes me to dread the secret verdict of those who read my words.
LETTER LXXX.
FROM RUFINUS TO MACARIUS.
Rufinus on his return from Bethlehem to Rome published a Latin version of
Origen's treatise <greek>peri</greek> A<greek>rkpn</greek>, On First Principles.
To this he prefixed the preface which is here printed among Jerome's letters.
Professing to take as his model Jerome's own translations of Origen's
commentaries which he greatly praises, he declares that, following his example, he has
paraphrased the obscure passages of the treatise and has paraphrased the
obscure passages of the treatise and has omitted as due to interpolators such parts
as seem heretical. This preface with its insincere praise of Jerome (whose name,
however, is not mentioned) and its avowed manipulation of Origen's text caused
much perplexity at Rome (see Letters LXXXI., LXXXIII., and LXXXIV.), and gave
rise to the controversy between Rufinus and Jerome described in the
Prolegomena, and given at length in vol. iii. of this Series. The date is 398 A.D.
1. Large numbers of the brethren have, I know, in their zeal for the
knowledge of the scriptures begged learned men skilled in Greek literature to make
Origen a Roman by bringing home his teaching to Latin ears. One of these
scholars, a dear brother and associate,(5) at the request of bishop Damasus translated
from Greek into Latin his two homilies on the Song of Songs and prefaced the
work with an eloquent and eulogistic introduction such as could not fail to
arouse in all an ardent desire to read and to study Origen. To the soul of that
just man--so he declared--the words of the Song were applicable: "the king hath
brought me into his chambers;"(1) and he went on to speak thus: "while in his
other books Origen surpasses all former writers, in dealing with the Song of
Songs he surpasses himself." In his preface he pledges himself to give to Roman
ears these homilies of Origen and as many of his other works as he can. His style
is certainly attractive but I can see that he aims at a more ambitious task
than that of a mere translator. Not content with rendering the words of Origen he
desires to be himself the teacher.(2) I for my part do but follow up an
enterprise which he has sanctioned and commenced, but I lack his vigorous eloquence
with which to adorn the sayings of this great man. I am even afraid lest my
deficiencies and inadequate command of Latin may detract seriously from the
reputation of one whom this writer has deservedly termed second only to the apostles
as a teacher of the Church in knowledge and in wisdom.
2. Often turning this over in my mind I held my peace and refused to
listen to the brethren when--as frequently happened--they urged me to undertake the
work. But your persistence, most faithful brother Macarius, is so great that
even want of ability cannot resist it. Thus, to escape the constant importunings
to which you subject me, I have given way contrary to my resolution; yet only
on these terms that, so far as is possible, I am to be free to follow the rules
of translation laid down by my predecessors, and particularly those acted upon
by the writer whom I have just mentioned. He has rendered into Latin more than
seventy of Origen's homiletical treatises and a few also of his commentaries
upon the apostle; (3) and in these wherever the Greek text presents a stumbling
block, he has smoothed it down in his version and has so emended the language
used that a Latin writer can find no word that is at variance with our faith. In
his steps, therefore, I propose to walk, if not displaying the same vigorous
eloquence at least observing the same rules. I shall not reproduce passages in
Origen's books which disagree with or contradict his own statements elsewhere.
The reason of these inconsistencies I have put more fully before you in the
defence of Origen's writings composed by Pamphilianus(1) which I have supplemented
by a short treatise of my own. I have given what I consider plain proofs that
his books have been corrupted in numbers of places by heretics and ill-disposed
persons, and particularly those which you now urge me to translate. The books
<greek>peri</greek> A<greek>rkpn</greek>, that is of Principles or of Powers, are
in fact in other respects extremely obscure and difficult. For they treat of
subjects on which the philosophers have spent all their days and yet have been
able to discover nothing. In dealing with these themes Origen has done his best
to make belief in a Creator and a rational account of things created
subservient to religion and not, as with the philosophers, to irreligion. Wherever then
in his books I have found a statement concerning the Trinity contrary to those
which in other places he has faithfully made on the same subject, I have either
omitted the passage as garbled and misleading or have substituted that view of
the matter which I find him to have frequently asserted. Again, wherever--in
haste to get on with his theme--he is brief or obscure relying on the skill and
intelligence of his readers, I, to make the passage clearer, have sought to
explain it by adding any plainer statements that I have read on the point in his
other books. But I have added nothing of my own. The words used may be found in
other parts of his writings: they are his, not mine. I mention this here to take
from cavillers all pretext for once more(2) finding fault. But let such
perverse and contentious persons look well to what they are themselves doing.
3. Meantime I have taken up this great task--if so be that God will grant
your prayers--not to stop the mouths of slanderers (an impossible feat except
perhaps to God) but to give to those who desire it the means of making progress
in knowledge.
In the sight of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,(3) I adjure
and require everyone who shall either read or copy these books of mine, by his
belief in a kingdom to come, by the mystery of the resurrection from the dead,
by the eternal fire which is "prepared for the devil and his angels;(4) as he
hopes not to inherit eternally that place where "there is weeping and gnashing
of teeth,"(5) and where "their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched,"(6)
let him add nothing to what is written, let him subtract nothing, let him
insert nothing, let him alter nothing, but let him compare his transcript with the
copies from which it is made, let him correct it to the letter and let him
punctuate it aright. Every manuscript that is not properly corrected and punctuated
he must reject: for otherwise the difficulties in the text arising from the
want of punctuation will make obscure arguments still more obscure to those who
read them.
LETTER LXXXI.
TO RUFINUS.
A friendly letter of remonstrance written by Jerome to Rufinus on receipt
of his version of the <greek>peri</greek> A<greek>rkpn</greek> see the
preceding letter). Being sent m the first instance to Pammachius this latter
treacherously suppressed it and thus put an end to all hope of the reconciliation of the
two friends. The date of the letter is 399 A.D.
1. That you have lingered some time at Rome your own language shews. Yet I
feel sure that a yearning to see your spiritual parents(1) would have drawn
you to your native country,(2) had not grief for your mother deterred you lest a
sorrow scarce bearable away might have proved unbearable at home.
As to your complaint that men listen only to the dictates of passion and
refuse to acquiesce in your judgement and mine; the Lord is witness to my
conscience that since our reconciliation I have harboured no rancour in my breast to
injure anyone; on the contrary I have taken the utmost pains to prevent any
chance occurrence being set down to ill-will. But what can I do so long as
everyone supposes that Ire has a right to do as he does and thinks that in publishing
a slander he is requiting not originating a calumny? True friendship ought
never to conceal what it thinks.
The short preface to the books <greek>peri</greek> A<greek>rkpn</greek>
which has been sent to me I recognize as yours by the style. You know best with
what intention it was written; but even a fool can see how it must necessarily
be understood. Covertly or rather openly I am the person aimed at. I have often
myself reigned a controversy to practise declamation.(3) Thus I might now
recall this well-worn artifice and praise you in your own method.(4) But far be it
from me to imitate what I blame in you. In fact I have so far restrained my
feelings that I make no charge against you, and, although injured, decline for my
part to injure a friend. But another time, if you wish to follow any one, pray
be satisfied with your own judgement. The objects which we seek are either good
or bad. If they are good, they need no help from another; and if they are bad,
the fact that many sin together is no excuse. I prefer thus to expostulate with
you as a friend rather than to give public vent to my indignation at the wrong
I have suffered. I want you to see that when I am reconciled to anyone I
become his sincere friend and do not--to borrow a figure from Plautus(1)--while
offering him bread with one hand, hold a stone in the other.
2. My brother Paulinian has not yet returned from home and I fancy that
you will see him at Aquileia at the house of the reverend pope Chromatius.(2) I
am also sending the reverend presbyter Rufinus(3) on business to Milan by way of
Rome, and have requested him to communicate to you my feelings and respects.
I am sending the same message to the rest of my friends; lest, as the apostle
says, ye bite and devour one another, ye be consumed one of another.(4) It only
remains for you and your friends to shew your moderation by giving no offence
to those who are disinclined to put up with it. For you will hardly find
everyone like me. There are few who can be pleased with pretended eulogies.
LETTER LXXXII.
TO THEOPHILUS BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA.
Two years after his former attempt (see Letter LXIII.) Theophilus again
wrote to Jerome urging him to be reconciled with John of Jerusalem. Jerome
replies that there is nothing he desires more earnestly than peace but that this must
be real and not a hollow truce. He speaks very bitterly of John who has, he
alleges, intrigued to procure his banishment from Palestine. He also deals with
the ordination of his brother Paulinian (for which see Letter LI.)and defends
himself for having translated Origen's commentaries by adducing the example of
Hilary of Poitiers. This letter should be compared with the Treatise "Against
John of Jerusalem" in this volume. Its date is 399 A.D.
1. Your letter shews you to possess that heritage of the Lord of which
when going to the Father he said to the apostles, "peace I leave with you, my
peace I give unto you,"(5) and to own the happiness described in the words,
"blessed are the peace-makers."(6) You coax as a father, you teach as a master, you
enjoin as a bishop. You come to me not with a rod and severity but in a spirit of
kindness, gentleness, and meekness.(7) Your opening words echo the humility of
Christ who saved men not with thunder and lightning(8) but as a wailing babe
in the manger and as a silent sufferer upon the cross. You have read the
prediction made in one who was a type of Him, "Lord, remember David and all his
meekness,"(1) and you know how it was fulfilled afterwards in Himself. "Learn of
me," He said, "for I am meek and lowly in heart."(2) You have quoted many passages
from the sacred books in praise of peace, you have flitted like a bee over the
flowery fields of scripture, you have culled with cunning eloquence all that
is sweet and conducive to concord. I was already running after peace, but you
have made me quicken my pace: my sails were set for the voyage but your
exhortation has filled them with a stronger breeze. I drink in the sweet streams of
peace not reluctantly and with aversion but eagerly and with open mouth.
2. But what can I do, I who can only wish for peace and have no power to
bring it about? Even though the wish may win its recompense with God, its
futility must still sadden him who cherishes it. When the apostle said, "as much as
lieth in you, live peaceably with all men,"(3) he knew quite well that the
realisation of peace depends upon the consent of two parties. The prophet truly
cries "They say Peace, peace: and yet there is no peace."(4) To overthrow peace by
actions while professing it in words is not hard. To point out its advantages
is one thing and to strive for it another. Men's speeches may be all for unity
but their actions may enforce bondage. I wish for peace as much as others; and
not only do I wish for it, I ask for it. But the peace which I want is the peace
of Christ; a true peace, a peace without rancour, a peace which does not
involve war, a peace which will not reduce opponents but will unite friends. How can
I term domination peace? I must call things by their right names. Where there
is hatred there let men talk of feuds; and where there is mutual esteem, there
only let peace be spoken of. For my part I neither rend the church nor separate
myself from the communion of the fathers. From my very cradle, I may say, I
have been reared on Catholic milk; and no one can be a better churchman than one
who has never been a heretic. But I know nothing of a peace that is without
love or of a communion that is without peace. In the gospel I read:--"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."(5) If then we l may not
offer gifts that are our own unless, we are at peace with our brothers; how
much less can we receive the body of Christ if we cherish enmity in our hearts?
How can I conscientiously approach Christ's eucharist and answer the Amen(1) if
I doubt the charity of him who ministers it?
3. Hear me, I beg you with patience and do not take truthfulness for
flattery. Is any man reluctant to communicate with you? Does any turn his face away
when you hold out your hand? Does any at the holy banquet offer you the kiss of
Judas?(2) At your approach the monks instead of trembling rejoice. They race
to meet you and leaving their dens in the desert are fain to master you by their
humility. What compels them to come forth? Is it not their love for you? What
draws together the scattered dwellers in the desert? Is it not the esteem in
which they hold you? A parent ought to love his children; and not only a parent
but a bishop ought to be loved by his children. Neither ought to be feared.
There is an old saying:(3) "whom a man fears he hates; and whom he hates, he would
fain see dead." Accordingly, while for the young the holy scripture makes fear
the beginning of knowledge,(4) it also tells us that "perfect love casteth out
fear."(5) You exact no obedience from them; therefore the monks obey you. You
offer them a kiss; therefore they bow the neck. You shew yourself a common
soldier; therefore they make you their general. Thus from being one among many you
become one above many. Freedom is easily roused if attempts are made to crush
it. No one gets more from a free man than he who does not force him to be a
slave. I know the canons of the church; I know what rank her ministers hold; and
from men and books I have daily up to the present learned and gathered many
things. The kingdom of the mild David was quickly dismembered by one who chastised
his people with scorpions and fancied that his fingers were thicker than his
father's loins.(6) The Roman people refused to brook insolence even in a king.(7)
Moses was leader of the host of Israel; he brought ten plagues upon Egypt; sky,
earth, and sea alike obeyed his commands: yet he is spoken of as "very meek
above all the men which were" at that time "upon the face of the earth."(8) He
maintained his forty-years' supremacy because he tempered the insolence of office
with gentleness and meekness. When he was being stoned by the people he made
intercession for them;(1) nay more he wished to be blotted out of God's book
sooner than that the flock committed to him should perish.(2) He sought to imitate
the Shepherd who would, he knew, carry on his shoulders even the wandering
sheep. "The good Shepherd"--they are the Lord's own words--"layeth down his life
for the sheep."(3) One of his disciples can wish to be anathema from Christ for
his brethren's sake, his kinsmen according to the flesh who were Israelites.(4)
If then Paul can desire to perish that the lost may not be lost, how much
should good parents not provoke their children to wrath(5) or by too great severity
embitter those who are naturally mild.
4. The limits of a letter compel me to restrain myself; otherwise,
indignation would make me diffuse. In an epistle which its writer regards as
conciliatory but which to me appears full of malice my opponent(6) admits that I have
never calumniated him or accused him of heresy. Why then does he calumniate me by
spreading a rumour that I am infected with that awful malady and am in revolt
against the Church? Why is he so ready to spare his real assailants and so
eager to injure me who have done nothing to injure him? Before my brother's
ordination he said nothing of any dogmatic difference between himself and pope
Epiphanius. What then can have "forced" him--I use his own word--publicly to argue a
point which no one had yet raised? One so full of wisdom as you knows well the
danger of such discussions and that silence is in such cases the safest course;
except, indeed, on some occasion which renders it imperative to deal with great
matters. What ability and eloquence it must have needed to compress into a
single sermon--as he boasts to have done(7)--all the topics which the most learned
writers have treated in detail in voluminous treatises! But this is nothing to
me: it is for the hearers of the sermon to notice and for the writer of the
letter to realize. But as for me he ought of his own accord to acquit me of
bringing the charge against him. I was not present and did not hear the sermon. I
was only one of the many, indeed hardly one of them; for while others were crying
out I held my peace. Let us confront the accused and the accuser, and let us
give credit to him whose services, life, and doctrine are seen to be the best.
5. You see, do you not, that I shut my eyes to many things and touch upon
others only in the most cursory manner, hinting at what I suppose rather than
saying out what I think.
I understand and approve your manoeuvres;(1) how in the interests of the
peace of the Church you stop your ears when you come within range of the Sirens.
Moreover, trained as you have been from childhood in sacred studies, you know
exactly what is meant by each expression which you use. You knowingly employ
ambiguous terms and carefully balanced sentences so as not to condemn others(2)
or repudiate us.(3) But it is not a pure faith and a frank confession which look
for quibbles or circumlocutions. What is simply believed must be professed
with equal simplicity. For my part I could cry out--though it were amid the swords
and fires of Babylon, "why does the answer evade the question? why is there no
frank, straightforward declaration?" From beginning to end all is shrinking,
compromise, ambiguity: as though he were trying to walk on spikes of corn. His
blood boils with eagerness for peace; yet he will not give a straightforward
answer! others are free to insult him; for, when he is insulted, he does not
venture to retaliate. I meantime hold my peace: for the present I shall let it be
thought that I am too busy, or ignorant, or afraid; for how would he treat me
were I to accuse him, if when I praise him--as he admits himself that I do--he
secretly traduces me?
6. His whole letter is less an exposition of his faith than a mass of
calumnies aimed at myself. Without any of those mutual courtesies which men may use
towards each other without flattery, he takes up my name again and again,
flouts it, and bandies it about as though I were blotted out of the book of the
living. He thinks that he has beaten me black and blue with his letter; and that I
live for the trifles at which he aims, I who from my boyhood have been shut up
in a monastic cell, and have always made it my aim to be rather than to seem a
good man. Some of us, it is true, he mentions with respect, but only that he
may afterwards wound us more deeply. As if, forsooth, we too have no open
secrets to reveal! One of his charges is that we have allowed a slave to be ordained.
Yet he himself has clergymen of the same class, and he must have read of
Onesimus who, being made regenerate by Paul in prison,(4) from a slave became a
deacon. Then he throws out that the slave in question was a common informer; and,
lest he should be compelled to prove the charge, declares he has it from hearsay
only! Why, if I had chosen to repeat the talk of the crowd and to listen to
scandal-mongers, he would have learned before now that I too know what all the
world knows and have heard the same stories as other people. He declares farther
that ordination has been given to this slave as a reward for a slander spread
abroad by him. Does not such cunning and subtlety appal one? And is there any
answer to eloquence so overwhelming? Which is best, to spread a calumny or to
suffer from one? To accuse a man whose love you may afterwards wish for, or to
pardon a sinner? And is it more tolerable that a common informer should be made a
consul than that he should be made an aedile?(1) He knows what I pass over in
silence and what I say; what I myself have heard and what--from the fear of
Christ--I perhaps refuse to believe.
7. He charges me with having translated Origen into Latin. In this I do
not stand alone for the confessor Hilary has done the same, and we are both at
one in this that while we have rendered all that is useful, we have cut away all
that was harmful. Let him read our versions for himself, if he knows how (and
as he constantly converses and daily associates with Italians,(2) I think he
cannot be ignorant of Latin); or else, if he cannot quite take it in, let him use
his interpreters and then he will come to know that I deserve nothing but
praise for the work on which he grounds a charge against me. For, while I have
always allowed to Origen his great merit as an interpreter and critic of the
scriptures, I have invariably denied the truth of his doctrines. Is it I then that
let him loose upon the crowd? Is it I that act sponsor to other preachers like
him? No, for I know that a difference must be made between the apostles and all
other preachers. The former always speak the truth; but the latter being men
sometimes go astray. It would be a strange defence of Origen surely to admit his
faults and then to excuse them by saying that other men have been guilty of
similar ones! As if, when you cannot venture to defend a man openly, you may hope
to shield him by imputing his mistake to a number of others! As for the six
thousand volumes of Origen of which he speaks, it is impossible that any one should
have read books which have never been written: and I for my part find it
easier to suppose that this falsehood is due to the man who professes to have heard
it rather than to him who is said to have told it.(3)
8. Again he avers that my brother(1) is the cause of the disagreement
which has arisen, a man who is content to stay in a monastic cell and who regards
the clerical office as onerous rather than honourable. And although up to this
very day he has spoon-fed us with insincere protestations of peace, he has
caused commotion in the minds of the western bishops(2) by telling them that a mere
youth, hardly more than a boy, has been ordained(3) presbyter of Bethlehem in
his own diocese. If this is the truth, all the bishops of Palestine must be
aware of it. For the monastery of the reverend pope Epiphanius--called the old
monastery--where my brother was ordained presbyter is situated in the district of
Eleutheropolis(4) and not in that of lia.(5) Furthermore his age is well known
to your Holiness; and as he has now attained to thirty years I apprehend that no
blame can attach to him on that score. Indeed this particular age is stamped
as full and complete by the mystery of Christ's assumed manhood. Let him call to
mind the ancient law, and he will see that after his twenty-fifth rear a
Levite might be chosen to the priesthood;(6) or if in this passage he prefers to
follow the Hebrew he will find that candidates for the priesthood must be thirty
years old. And that he may not venture to say that "old things are passed away;
and, behold, all things are become new,"(7) let him hear the apostle's words to
Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth."(8) Certainly when my opponent was
himself ordained bishop, he was not much older than my brother is now. And if he
argues that youth is no hindrance to a bishop but that it is to a presbyter
because a young elder(9) is a contradiction in terms, I ask him this question: Why
has he himself ordained a presbyter of this age or younger still, and that too
to minister in another man's church? But if he cannot be at peace with my
brother unless he consents to submit and to renounce the bishop who has ordained
him, he shews plainly that his object is not peace but revenge, and that he will
not rest satisfied with the quietude of repose and peace unless he is able to
inflict to the full every penalty that he now threatens. Had he himself ordained
my brother, it would have made no difference to this latter. So dearly does he
love seclusion that he would even then have continued to live quietly and would
not have exercised his office. And should the bishop have seen fit to rend the
church on that score, he would then have owed him nothing save the respect
which is due to all who offer sacrifice.(1)
9. So much for his prolix defence of himself or I should rather say his
attack on me. In this letter I have only answered him briefly and cursorily that
from what I have said he may perceive what I do not say, and may know that as I
am a human being I am a rational animal and well able to understand his
shrewdness, and that I am not so obtuse or brutish as to catch only the sound of his
words and not their meaning. I now ask of you to pardon my chagrin and to allow
that if it is arrogant to answer back, it is yet more arrogant to bring
baseless charges. Yet my answer has indicated what I might have said rather than has
actually said it. Why do men look for peace at a distance? and why do they wish
to have it enforced by word of command? Let them shew themselves peacemakers,
and peace will follow at once. Why do they use the name of your holiness to
terrorize us, when your letter--strange contrast to their harsh and menacing
words--breathes only peace and meekness? For that the letter which Isidore the
presbyter has brought for me from you does make for peace and harmony I know by
this, that these insincere professors of a wish for peace have refused to deliver
it to me. Let them choose whichever alternative they please. Either I am a good
man or I am a bad one. If I am a good one let them leave me in quiet if I am a
bad one, why do they desire to be in bad company? Surely my opponent has learnt
by experience the value of humility. He who now tears asunder things which,
formerly separate, he of his own will put together, proves that in severing now
what he then joined, he is acting at the instigation of another.(2)
10. Recently he sought and obtained a decree of exile against me, and I
only wish that he had been able to carry it out,(3) so that, as the will is
imputed to him for the deed, so I, too not in will only but in deed might wear the
crown of exile. The church of Christ has been founded by shedding its own blood
not that of others, by enduring outrage not by inflicting it. Persecutions
have made it grow; martyrdoms have crowned it. Or if the Christians among whom I
live are unique in their love of severity and know only how to persecute and not
how to undergo persecution, there are Jews here, there are heretics professing
various false doctrines, and in particular the foulest of all, I mean,
Manichaeism. Why is it that they do not venture to say a word against them? Why am I
the only person they wish to drive into exile? Am I who communicate with the
church the only person of whom it can be said that he rends the church? I put it
to you, is it not a fair demand either that they should expel these others as
well as myself, or that, if they keep them, they should keep me too? All the same
they honour men by sending them into exile, for by so doing they separate them
from the company of heretics. It is a monk,(1) shame to say, who menaces monks
and obtains decrees of exile against them; and that too a monk who boasts that
he holds an apostolic chair. But the monastic tribe does not succumb to
terrorism: it prefers to expose its neck to the impending sword rather than to allow
its hands to be tied. Is not every monk an exile from his country? Is he not an
exile from the whole world? Where is the need for the public authority, the
cost of a rescript, the journeyings up and down the earth to obtain one? Let him
but touch me with his little finger, and I will go into exile of myself. "The
earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof."(2) Christ is not shut up in any
one spot.
11. Moreover when he writes that, though I seem to be separated from
communion with him, I in reality hold communion with him through you and through the
church of Rome: he need not go so far afield, for I am connected with him in
the same way also here in Palestine. And lest even this should appear distant,
in this village of Bethlehem I hold communion with his presbyters as much as I
can. Thus it is clear that a private chagrin is not to be taken for the cause of
the church, and that one man's choler, or even that of several stirred up by
him, ought not to be styled the displeasure of the church. Accordingly I now
repeat what I said at the beginning of my letter that I for my part am desirous of
Christ's peace, that I pray for harmony, and that I request you to admonish
him not to exact peace but to purpose it. Let him be satisfied with the pain
which he has caused by the insults that he has inflicted upon me in the past. Let
him efface old wounds by a little new charity. Let him shew himself what he was
before, when of his own choice he bestowed upon me his esteem. Let his words no
longer be tinged with a gall that flows from the heart of another. Let him do
what he wishes himself, and not what others force him to wish. Either as a
pontiff, let him exercise authority over all alike, or as a follower of the
apostle, let him serve all for the salvation of all.(1) If he will shew himself such,
I am ready freely to yield and to hold out my arms; he will find me a friend
and a kinsman, and will perceive that in Christ I am submissive to him as to all
the saints. "Charity," writes the apostle, "suffereth long and is kind; charity
envieth not; ... is not puffed up ... beareth all things, believeth all
things." (2) Charity is the mother of all virtues, and the apostle's words about
faith hope and charity(3) are like that threefold cord which is not quickly
broken.(4) We believe we hope, and through our faith and hope we are joined together
in the bond of charity.(5) It is for these virtues that I and others have left
our homes, it is for these that we would live peaceably without any contention
in the fields and alone; paying all due veneration to Christ's pontiffs--so long
as they preach the right faith--not because we fear them as lords but because
we honour them as fathers deferring also to bishops as bishops, but refusing to
serve under compulsion, beneath the shadow of episcopal authority, men whom we
do not choose to obey. I am not so much puffed up in mind as not to know what
is due to the priests of Christ. For he who receives them, receives not them
but Him, whose bishops they are.(6) But let them be content with the honour which
is theirs. Let them know that they are fathers and not lords, especially in
relation to those who scorn the ambitions of the world and count peace and repose
the best of all things. And may Christ who is Almighty God grant to your
prayers that I and my opponent may be united not in a feigned and hollow peace but
in true and sincere mutual esteem, lest biting and devouring one another we be
consumed one of another.(7)
LETTER LXXXIII.
FROM PAMMACHIUS AND OCEANUS.
A letter from Pammachius and Oceanus in which they express the, perplexity
into which they have been thrown by Rufinus s version of Origen's treatise, On
First Principles (see Letter LXXX.) and request Jerome to make for them a
literal translation of the work. Written in 399 or 400 A .D .
1. Pammachius and Oceanus to the presbyter Jerome, health.
A reverend brother has brought to us sheets containing a certain person's
translation into Latin of a treatise by Origen--entitled <greek>peri</greek>
<greek>arkpn</greek>. These contain many things which disturb our poor wits and
which appear to us to be uncatholic. We suspect also that with a view of
clearing the author many passages of his books have been removed which had they been
left would have plainly proved the irreligious character of his teaching. We
therefore request your excellency to be so good as to bestow upon this particular
matter an attention which will benefit not only ourselves but all who reside
in the city; we ask you to publish in your own language the abovementioned
book of Origen exactly as it was brought out by the author himself; and we desire
you to make evident the interpolations which his defender has introduced. You
will also confute and overthrow all statements in the sheets which we have sent
to your holiness that are ignorantly made or contradict the Catholic faith. The
writer in the preface to his work has, with much subtlety but without
mentioning your holiness's name, implied that he has done no more than complete a work
which you had yourself promised, thus indirectly suggesting that you agree with
him. Remove then the suspicions men cannot help feeling and confute your
assailant; for, if you ignore his implications, people will say that you admit their
truth.