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TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 06 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 26.01.09 Letters XXIII-XXXVIII
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Letter XXIII. To Marcella.
Jerome writes to Marcella to console her for the loss of a friend who, like herself, was the head of a religious society at Rome. The news of Lea's death had first reached Marcella when she was engaged with Jerome in the study of the 73d psalm. Later in the day he writes this letter in which, after extolling Lea, he contrasts her end with that of the consul-elect, Vettius Agorius Praetextatus,a man of great ability and integrity, whom he declares to be now "in Tartarus." Written at Rome in 384 a.d.
1. To-day, about the third hour, just as I was beginning to read with you the seventy-second psalmhyperlink -the first, that is, of the third books-and to explain that its title belonged partly to the second book and partly to the third-the previous book, I mean, concluding with the words "the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended,"hyperlink and the next commencing with the words "a psalm of Asaph"hyperlink -and just as I had come on the passage in which the righteous man declares: "If I say, I will speak thus; behold I should offend against the generation of thy children,"hyperlink a verse which is differently rendered in our Latin version:hyperlink -suddenly the news came that our most saintly friend Lea had departed from the body. As was only natural, you turned deadly pale; for there are few persons, if any, who do not burst into tears when the earthen vessel breaks.hyperlink But if you wept it was not from doubt as to her futurelot, but only because you had not rendered to her the last sad offices which are due to the dead. Finally, as we were still conversing together, a second message informed us that her remains had been already conveyed to Ostia.
2. You may ask what is the use of repeating all this. I will reply in the apostle's words, "much every way."hyperlink is now in Tartarus.hyperlink
Who can sufficiently eulogize our dear Lea's mode of living? So complete was her conversion to the Lord that, becoming the head of a monastery, she showed herself a true motherhyperlink to the virgins in it, wore coarse sackcloth instead of soft raiment, passed sleepless nights in prayer, and instructed her companions even more by example than by precept. So great was her humility that she, who had once been the mistress of many, was accounted the servant of all; and certainly, the less she was reckoned an earthly mistress the more she became a servant of Christ. She was careless of her dress, neglected her hair, and ate only the coarsest food. Still, in all that she did, she avoided ostentation that she might not have her reward in this world.hyperlink
3. Now, therefore, in return for her short toil, Lea enjoys everlasting felicity; she is welcomed into the choirs of the angels; she is comforted in Abraham's bosom. And, as once the beggar Lazarus saw the rich man, for all his purple, lying in torment, so does Lea see the consul, not now in his triumphal robe but clothed in mourning, and asking for a drop of water from her little finger.hyperlink How great a change have we here! A few days ago the highest dignitaries of the city walked before him as he ascended the ramparts of the capitol like a general celebrating a triumph; the Roman people leapt up to welcome and applaud him, and at the news of his death the whole city was moved. Now he is desolate and naked, a prisoner in the foulest darkness, and not, as his unhappy wifehyperlink falsely asserts, set in the royal abode of the milky way.hyperlink On the other hand Lea, who was always shut up in her one closet, who seemed poor and of little worth, and whose life was accounted madness,hyperlink now follows Christ and sings, "Like as we have heard, so have we seen in the city of our God."hyperlink
4. And now for the moral of all this, which, with tears and groans, I conjure you to remember. While we run the way of this world, we must not clothe ourselves with two coats, that is, with a twofold faith, or burthen ourselves with leathern shoes, that is, with dead works; we must not allow scrips filled with money to weigh us down, or lean upon the staff of worldly power.hyperlink We must not seek to possess both Christ and the world. No; things eternal must take the place of things transitory;hyperlink and since, physically speaking, we daily anticipate death, if we wish for immortality we must realize that we are but mortal.
Letter XXIV. To Marcella.
Concerning the virgin Asella. Dedicated to God before her birth, Marcella's sister had been made a church-virgin at the age of ten. From that time she had lived a life of the severest asceticism, first as a member and then as the head of Marcella's community upon the Aventine. Jerome, who subsequently wrote her a letter (XLV) on his departure from Rome, now holds her up as a model to be admired and imitated. Written at Rome a.d. 384.
1. Let no one blame my letters for the eulogies and censures which are contained in them. To arraign sinners is to admonish those in like case, and to praise the virtuous is to quicken the zeal of those who wish to do right. The day before yesterday I spoke to you concerning Lea of blessed memory,hyperlink and I had hardly done so, when I was pricked in my conscience. It would be wrong for me, I thought, to ignore a virgin after speaking of one who, as a widow, held a lower place. Accordingly, in my present letter, I mean to give you a brief sketch of the life of our dear Asella. Please do not read it to her; for she is sure to be displeased with eulogies of which she is herself the object. Show it rather to the young girls of your acquaintance, that they may guide themselves by her example, and may take her behavior as the pattern of a perfect life.
2. I pass over the facts that, before her birth, she was blessed while still in her mother's womb, and that, virgin-like, she was delivered to her father in a dream in a bowl of shining glass brighter than a mirror. And I say nothing of her consecration to the blessed life of virginity, a ceremony which took place when she was hardly more than ten years old, a mere babe still wrapped in swaddling clothes. For all that comes before works should be counted of grace;hyperlink although, doubtless, God foreknew the future when He sanctitled Jeremiah as yet unborn,hyperlink when He made John to leap in his mother's womb,hyperlink and when, before the foundation of the world, He set apart Paul to preach the gospel of His son.hyperlink
3. I come now to the life which after her twelfth year she, by her own exertion, chose, laid hold of, held fast to, entered upon, and fulfilled. Shut up in her narrow cell she roamed through paradise. Fasting was her recreation and hunger her refreshment. If she took food it was not from love of eating, but because of bodily exhaustion; and the bread and salt and cold water to which she restricted herself sharpened her appetite more than they appeased it.
But I have almost forgotten to mention that of which I should have spoken first. When her resolution was still fresh she took her gold necklace made in the lamprey pattern (so called because bars of metal are linked together so as to form a flexible chain), and sold it without her parents' knowledge. Then putting on a dark dress such as her mother had never been willing that she should wear, she concluded her pious enterprise by consecrating herself forthwith to the Lord. She thus showed her relatives that they need hope to wring no farther concessions from one who, by her very dress, had condemned the world.
4. To go on with my story, her ways were quiet and she lived in great privacy. In fact, she rarely went abroad or spoke to a man. More wonderful still, much as she loved her virgin sister,hyperlink she did not care to see her. She worked with her own hands, for she knew that it was written: "If any will not work neither shall he eat."hyperlink To the Bridegroom she spoke constantly in prayer and psalmody. She hurried to the martyrs' shrines unnoticed. Such visits gave her pleasure, and the more so because she was never recognized. All the year round she observed a continual fast, remaining without food for two or three days! at a time; but when Lent came she hoisted-if I may so speak-every stitch of canvas and fasted well-nigh from week's end to week's end with "a cheerful countenance."hyperlink Whatwould perhaps be incredible, were it not that "with God all things are possible,"hyperlink is that she lived this life until her fiftieth year without weakening her digestion or bringing on herself the pain of colic. Lying on the dry ground did not affect her limbs, and the rough sackcloth that she wore failed to make her skin either foul or rough. With a sound body and a still sounder soulhyperlink she sought all her delight in solitude, and found for herself a monkish hermitage in the centre of busy Rome.
5. You are better acquainted with all this than I am, and the few details that I have given I have learned from you. So intimate are you with Asella that you have seen, with your own eyes, her holy knees hardened like those of a camel from the frequency of her prayers. I merely set forth what I can glean from you. She is alike pleasant in her serious moods and serious in her pleasant ones: her manner, while winning, is always grave, and while grave is always winning. Her pale face indicates continence but does not betoken ostentation. Her speech is silent and her silence is speech. Her pace is neither too fast nor too slow. Her demeanor is always the same. She disregards refinement and is careless about her dress. When she does attend to it it is without attending. So entirely consistent has her life been that here in Rome. the centre of vain shows, wanton license, and idle pleasure, where to be humble is to be held spiritless, the good praise her conduct and the bad do not venture to impugn it. Let widows and virgins imitate her, let wedded wives make much of her, let sinful women fear her, and let bishopshyperlink look up to her.
Letter XXV. To Marcella.
An explanation of the ten names given to God in the Hebrew Scriptures. The ten names are El, Elohim, Sabaoth, Elion, Asher yeheyeh (Ex. iii. 14), Adonai, Jah, the tetragram Jhvh, and Shaddai. Written at Rome 384 a.d.
Letter XXVI. To Marcella.
An explanation of certain Hebrew words which have been left untranslated in the versions. The words are Alleluia, Amen, Maran atha. Written at Rome 384 a.d.
Letter XXVII. To Marcella.
In this letter Jerome defends himself against the charge of having altered the text of Scripture, and shows that he has merely brought the Latin Version of the N.T. into agreement with the Greek original. Written at Rome 384 a.d.
1. After I had written my former letter,hyperlink containing a few remarks on some Hebrew words, a report suddenly reached me that certain contemptible creatures were deliberately assailing me with the charge that I had endeavored to correct passages in the gospels, against the authority of the ancients and the opinion of the whole world. Now, though I might-as far as strict right goes-treat these persons with contempt (it is idle to play the lyre for an asshyperlink ), yet, lest they should follow their usual habit and reproach me with superciliousness, let them take my answer as follows: I am not so dull-wilted nor so coarsely ignorant (qualities which they take for holiness, calling themselves the disciples of fishermen as if men were made holy by knowing nothing)-I am not, I repeat, so ignorant as to suppose that any of the Lord's words is either in need of correction or is not divinely inspired; but the Latin manuscripts of the Scriptures are proved to be faulty by the variations which all of them exhibit, and my object has been to restore them to the form of the Greek original, from which my detractors do not deny that they have been translated. If they dislike water drawn from the clear spring, let them drink of the muddy streamlet, and when they come to read the Scriptures. let them lay asidehyperlink the keen eye which they turn on woods frequented by game-birds and waters abounding in shellfish. Easily satisfied in this instance alone, let them, if they will, regard the words of Christ as rude sayings, albeit that over these so many great intellects have labored for so many ages rather to divine than to expound the meaning of each single word. Let them charge the great apostle with want of literary skill, although it is said of him that much learning made him mad.hyperlink
2. I know that as you read these words you will knit your brows, and fear that my freedom of speech is sowing the seeds of fresh quarrels; and that, if you could, you would gladly put your finger on my mouth to prevent me from even speaking of things which others do not blush to do. But, I ask you, wherein have I used too great license? Have I ever embellished my dinner plates with engravings of idols? Have I ever, at a Christian banquet, set before the eyes of virgins the polluting spectacle of Satyrs embracing bacchanals? or have I ever assailed any one in too bitter terms? Have I ever complained of beggars turned millionaires? Have I ever censured heirs for the funerals which they have given to their benefactors?hyperlink The one thing that I have unfortunately said has been that virgins ought to live more in the company of women than of men,hyperlink and by this I have made the whole city look scandalized and caused every one to point at me the finger of scorn. "They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head,"hyperlink and I am become "a proverb to them."hyperlink Do you suppose after this that I will now say anything rash?
3. But "when I set the wheel rolling I began to form a wine flagon; how comes it that a waterpot is the result?"hyperlink Lest Horace laugh at me I come back to my two-legged asses, and din into their ears, not the music of the lute, but the blare of the trumpet.hyperlink They may say if they will, "rejoicing in hope; serving the time," but we will say"rejoicing in hope; serving the Lord."hyperlink They may see fit to receive an accusation against a presbyter unconditionally; but we will say in the words of Scripture, "Against an eiderhyperlink receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke before all."hyperlink They may choose to read, "It is a man's saying, and worthy of all acceptation;" we are content to err with the Greeks, that is to say with the apostle himself, who spoke Greek. Our version, therefore, is, it is "a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation."hyperlink Lastly, let them take as much pleasure as they please in their Gallican "geldings;"hyperlink we will be satisfied with the simple "ass" of Zechariah, loosed from its halter and made ready for the Saviour's service, which received the Lord on its back, and so fulfilled Isaiah's prediction: "Blessed is he that soweth beside all waters, where the ox and the ass tread under foot."hyperlink
Letter XXVIII. To Marcella.
An explanation of the Hebrew word Selah. This word, rendered by the LXX. dia/yalma and by Aquila a0ei/, was as much a crux in Jerome's day as it is in ours. "Some," he writes, "make it a `change of metre,' others `a pause for breath,' others `the beginning of a new subject.' According to yet others it has something to do with rhythm or marks a burst of instrumental music." Jerome himself inclines to follow Aquila and Origen, who make the word mean "forever," and suggests that it betokens completion, like the "explicit" or "feliciter" in contemporary Latin mss. Written at Rome a.d. 384.
Letter XXIX. To Marcella.
An explanation of the Hebrew words Ephod bad (1 Sam. ii. 18) and Teraphim (Judges xvii. 5).Written at Rome to Marcella, also at Rome a.d. 384.
Letter XXX. To Paula
Some account of the so-called alphabetical psalms (XXXVII., CXI., CXII., CXIX., CXLV.). After explaining the mystical meaning of the alphabet, Jerome goes on thus: "What honey is sweeter than to know the wisdom of God? nothers, if they will, may possess riches, drink from a jewelled cup, shine in silks, and try in vain to exhaust their wealth in the most varied pleasures. Our riches are to meditate in the law of the Lord day and night,hyperlink to knock at the closed door,hyperlink to receive the `three loaves' of the Trinity,hyperlink and, when the Lord goes before us, to walk upon the water of the world."hyperlink Written at Rome a.d. 384.
Letter XXXI. To Eustochium.
Jerome writes to thank Eustochium for some presents sent to him by her on the festival of St. Peter. He also moralizes on the mystical meaning of the articles sent. The letter should be compared with Letter XLIV., of which the theme is similar. Written at Rome in 384 a.d. (on St. Peter's Day).
1. Doves, bracelets, and a letter are outwardly but small gifts to receive from a virgin, but the action which has prompted them enhances their value. And since honey may not be offered in sacrifice to God,hyperlink you have shown skill in taking off their overmuch sweetness and making them pungent-if I may so say-with a dash of pepper. For nothing that is simply pleasurable or merely sweet can please God. Everything must have in it a sharp seasoning of truth. Christ's passover must be eaten with bitter herbs.hyperlink
2. It is true that a festival such as the birthdayhyperlink of Saint Peter should be seasoned with more gladness than usual; still our merriment must not forget the limit set by Scripture, and we must not stray too far from the boundary of our wrestling-ground. Your presents, indeed, remind me of the sacred volume, for in it Ezekiel decks Jerusalem with bracelets,hyperlink Baruch receives letters from Jeremiah,hyperlink and the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove at the baptism of Christ.hyperlink But to give you, too, a sprinkling of pepper and to remind you of my former letter,hyperlink I send you to-day this three-fold warning. Cease not to adorn yourself with good works-the true bracelets of a Christian woman.hyperlink Rend not the letter written on your hearthyperlink as the profane king cut with his penknife that delivered to him by Baruch.hyperlink Let not Hosea say to you as to Ephraim, "Thou art like a silly dove."hyperlink
My words are too harsh, you will say, and hardly suitable to a festival like the present. If so, you have provoked me to it by the nature of your own gifts. So long as you put bitter with sweet, you must expect the same from me, sharp words that is, as well as praise.
3. However, I do not wish to make light of your gifts, least of all the basket of fine cherries, blushing with such a virgin modesty that I can fancy them freshly gathered by Lucullushyperlink himself. For it was he who first introduced the fruit at Rome after his conquest of Pontus and Armenia; and the cherry tree is so called because he brought it from Cerasus. Now as the Scriptures do not mention cherries, but do speak of a basket of figs,hyperlink I will use these instead to point my moral. May you be made of fruits such as those which grow before God's temple and of which He says,"Behold they are good, very good."hyperlink The Saviour likes nothing that is half and half, and, while he welcomes the hot and does not shun the cold, he tells us in the Apocalypse that he will spew the lukewarm out of his mouth.hyperlink Wherefore we must be careful to celebrate our holy day not so much with abundance of food as with exultation of spirit. For it is altogether unreasonable to wish to honor a martyr by excess who himself, as you know, pleased God by fasting. When you take food always recollect that eating should be followed byreading, and also by prayer. And if, by taking this course, you displease some, repeat to yourself the words of the Apostle: "If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ"hyperlink
Letter XXXII. To Marcella.
Jerome writes that he is busy collating Aquila's Greek version of the Old Testament with the Hebrew, inquires after Marcella's mother, and forwards the two preceding letters (XXX., XXXI.). Written at Rome in 384 a.d.
1. There are two reasons for the shortness of this letter, one that its bearer is impatient to start, and the other that I am too busy to waste time on trifles. You ask what business can be so urgent as to stop me from a chat on paper. Let me tell you, then, that for some time past I have been comparing Aquila's versionhyperlink of the Old Testament with the scrolls of the Hebrew, to see if from hatred to Christ the synagogue has changed the text; and-to speak frankly to a friend-I have found several variations which confirm our faith. After having exactly revised the prophets, Solomon,hyperlink the psalter, and the books of Kings, I am now engaged on Exodus (called by the Jews, from its opening words, Eleh shemôthhyperlink ), and when I have finished this I shall go on to Leviticus. Now you see why I can let no claim for a letter withdraw me from my work. However, as I do not wish my friend Currentiushyperlink to run altogether in vain, I have tacked on to this little talk two lettershyperlink which I am sending to your sister Paula, and to her dear child Eustochium. Read these, and if you find them instructive or pleasant, take what I have said to them as meant for you also.
2. I hope that Albina, your mother and mine, is well. In bodily health, I mean, for I doubt not of her spiritual welfare. Pray salute her for me, and cherish her with double affection, both as a Christian and as a mother.
Letter XXXIII. To Paula.
A fragment of a letter in which Jerome institutes a comparison between the industry as writers of M. T. Varro and Origen. It is noteworthy as passing an unqualified eulogium upon Origen, which contrasts strongly with the tone adopted by the writer in subsequent years (see, e.g., Letter LXXXIV.). Its date is probably 384 a.d.
1. Antiquity marvels at Marcus Terentius Varro,hyperlink because of the countless books which he wrote for Latin readers; and Greek writers are extravagant in their praise of their man of brass,hyperlink because he has written more works than one of us could so much as copy. But since Latin ears would find a list of Greek writings tiresome, I shall confine myself to the Latin Varro. I shall try to show that we of to-day are sleeping the sleep of Epimenides,hyperlink and devoting to the amassing of riches the energy which our predecessors gave to sound, if secular, learning.
2. Varro's writings include forty-five books of antiquities, four concerning the life of the Roman people.
3. But why, you ask me, have I thus mentioned Varro and the man of brass? Simply to bring to your notice our Christian man of brass, or, rather, man of adamanthyperlink -Origen, I mean-whose zeal for the study of Scripture has fairly earned for him this latter name. Would you learn what monuments of his genius he has left us? The following list exhibits them. His writings comprise thirteen books on Genesis, two books of Mystical Homilies, notes on Exodus, notes on Leviticus, * * * * also single books,hyperlink four books on First Principles, two books on the Resurrection, two dialogues on the same subject.hyperlink
4. So, you see, the labors of this one man have surpassed those of all previous writers, Greek and Latin. Who has ever managed to read all that he has written? Yet what reward have his exertions brought him? He stands condemned by his bishop, Demetrius,hyperlink only the bishops of Palestine, Arabia, Phenicia, and Achaia dissenting. Imperial Rome consents to his condemnation, and even convenes a senate to censure him,hyperlink not-as the rabid hounds who now pursue him cry-because of the novelty or heterodoxy of his doctrines, but because men could not tolerate the incomparable eloquence and knowledge which, when once he opened his lips, made others seem dumb.
5. I have written the above quickly and incautiously, by the light of a poor lantern. You will see why, if you think of those who to-day represent Epicurus and Aristippus.hyperlink
Letter XXXIV. To Marcella.
In reply to a request from Marcella for information concerning two phrases in Ps. cxxvii. ("bread of sorrow," v. 2, and "children of the shaken off," A.V. "of the youth," v. 4). Jerome, after lamenting that Origen's notes on the psalm are no longer extant, gives the following explanations:
The Hebrew phrase "bread of sorrow" is rendered by the LXX. "bread of idols"; by Aquila, "bread of troubles"; by Symmachus, "bread of misery." Theodotion follows the LXX. So does Origen's Fifth Version, The Sixth renders "bread of error." In support of the LXX. the word used here is in Ps. cxv. 4, translated "idols." Either the troubles of life are meant or else the tenets of heresy.
With the second phrase he deals at greater length. After showing that Hilary of Poitiers's view (viz. that the persons meant are the apostles, who were told to shake the dust off their feet, Matt. x. 14) is untenable and would require "shakers off" to be substituted for "shaken off," Jerome reverts to the Hebrew as before and declares that the true rendering is that of Symmachus and Theodotion, viz. "children of youth." He points out that the LXX. (by whom the Latin translators had been misled) fall into the same mistake at Neh. iv. 16. Finally he corrects a slip of Hilary as to Ps. cxxviii. 2, where, through a misunderstanding of the LXX., the latter had substituted "the labors of thy fruits" for "the labors of thy hands." He speaks throughout with high respect of Hilary, and says that it was not the bishop's fault that he was ignorant of Hebrew. The date of the letter is probably a.d. 384.
Letter XXXV. From Pope Damasus.
Damasus addresses live questions to Jerome with a request for information concerning them. They are:
1. What is the meaning of the words "Whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold"? (Gen. iv. 5.)
2. If God has made all things good, how comes it that He gives charge to Noah concerning unclean animals, and says to Peter, "What God hath cleansed that call not thou common"? (Acts x. 15.)
3. How is Gen. xv. 16, "in the fourth generation they shall come hither again," to be reconciled with Ex. xiii. 18, Ex. xiii LXX, "in the fifth generation the children of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt"?
4. Why did Abraham receive circumcision as a seal of his faith? (Rom. iv. 11.)
5. Why was Isaac, a righteous man and dear God, allowed by God to become the dupe of Jacob? (Gen. xxvii.) Written at Rome 384 a.d.
Letter XXXVI. To Pope Damasus.
Jerome's reply to the foregoing. For the second and fourth questions he refers Damasus to the writings of Tertullian, Novatian, and Origen. The remaining three he deals with in detail.
Gen. iv. 15, he understands to mean "the slayer of Cain shall complete the sevenfold vengeance which is to be wreaked upon him."Exodus xiii. is, he proposes to reconcile with Gen. xv. 16, by supposing that in the one place the tribe of Levi is referred to, in the other the tribe of Judah. He suggests, however, that the words rendered by the LXX. "in the fifth generation" more probably mean "harnessed" (so A.V.) or "laden." In reply to the question about Isaac he says: "No man save Him who for our salvation has deigned to put on flesh has full knowledge and a complete grasp of the truth. Paul, Samuel, David, Elisha, all make mistakes, and holy men only know what God reveals to them." He then goes on to give a mystical interpretation of the passage suggested by the martyr Hippolytus. Written the day after the previous letter.
Letter XXXVII. To Marcella.
Marcella had asked Jerome to lend her a copy of a commentary by Rhetitius, bishop of Augustodunum (Autun), on the Song of Songs. He now refuses to do so on the ground that the work abounds with errors, of which the two following are samples: (1) Rhetitius identifies Tharshish with Tarsus, and (2) he supposes that Uphaz (in the phrase "gold of Uphaz") is the same as Cephas. Written at Rome a.d. 384.
Letter XXXVIII. To Marcella.
Blaesilla, the daughter of Paula and sister of Eustochium, had lost her husband seven months after her marriage, A dangerous illness had then led to her conversion, and she was now famous throughout Rome for the length to which she carried her austerities. Many censured her for what they deemed her fanaticism, and Jerome, as her spiritual adviser, came in for some of the blame. In the present letter he defends her conduct, and declares that persons who cavil at lives like hers have no claim to be considered Christians. Written at Rome in 385 a.d.
1. When Abraham is tempted to slay his son the trial only serves to strengthen his faith.hyperlink When Joseph is sold into Egypt, his sojourn there enables him to support his father and his brothers.hyperlink When Hezekiah is panic-stricken at the near approach of death, his tears and prayers obtain for him a respite of fifteen years,hyperlink If the faith of the apostle, Peter, is shaken by his Lord's passion, it is that, weeping bitterly, he may hear the soothing words: "Feed my sheep."hyperlink If Paul, that ravening wolf,hyperlink that little Benjamin,hyperlink is blinded in a trance, it is that he may receive his sight, and may be led, by the sudden horror of surrounding darkness, to call Him Lord Whom before he persecuted as man.hyperlink
2. So is it now, my dear Marcella, with our beloved Blaesilla. The burning fever from which we have seen her suffering unceasingly for nearly thirty days has been sent to teach her to renounce her over-great attention to that body which the worms must shortly devour. The Lord Jesus has come to her in her sickness, and has taken her by the hand, and behold, she arises and ministers unto Him.hyperlink Formerly her life savored somewhat Of carelessness; and, fast bound in the bands of wealth, she lay as one dead in the tomb of the world. But Jesus was moved with indignation,hyperlink and was troubled in spirit, and cried aloud and said, Blaesilla, come forth.hyperlink She, at His call, has arisen and has come forth, and sits at meat with the Lord.hyperlink The Jews, if they will, may threaten her in their wrath; they may seek to slay her, because Christ has raised her up.hyperlink It is enough that the apostles give God the glory. Blaesilla knows that her life is due to Him who has given it back to her. She knows that now she can clasp the feet of Him whom but a little while ago she dreaded as her judge.hyperlink Then life had all but forsaken her body, and the approach of death made her gasp and shiver. What succour did she obtain in that hour from her kinsfolk? What comfort was there in their words lighter than smoke? She owes no debt to you, ye unkindly kindred, now that she is dead to the world and alive unto Christ.hyperlink The Christian must rejoice that it is so, and he that is vexed must admit that he has no claim to be called a Christian.
3. A widow who is "loosed from the law of her husband"hyperlink has, for her one duty, to continue a widow. But, you will say, a sombre dress vexes the world. In that case, John the Baptist would vex it, too; and yet, among those that are born of women, there has not been a greater than he.hyperlink He was called an angel;hyperlink he baptized the Lord Himself, and yet he was clothed in raiment of camel's hair, and girded with a leathern girdle.hyperlink Is the world displeased because a widow's food is coarse? Nothing can be coarser than locusts, and yet these were the food of John. The women who ought to scandalize Christians are those who paint their eyes and lips with rouge and cosmetics; whose chalked faces, unnaturally white, are like those of idols; upon whose cheeks every chance tear leaves a furrow; who fail to realize that years make them old; who heap their heads with hair not their own; who smooth their faces, and rub out the wrinkles of age; and who, in the presence of their grandsons, behave like trembling school-girls. A Christian woman should blush to do violence to nature, or to stimulate desire by bestowing care upon the flesh. "They that are in the flesh," the apostle tells us, "cannot please God."hyperlink
4. In days gone by our dear widow was extremely fastidious in her dress, and spent whole days before her mirror to correct its deficiencies. Now she boldly says: "We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord."hyperlink In those days maids arranged her hair, and her head, which had done no harm, was forced into a waving head-dress. Now she leaves her hair alone, and her only head-dress is a veil. In those days the softest feather-bed seemed hard to her, and she could scarcely find rest on a pile of mattresses. Now she rises eager for prayer, her shrill voice cries Alleluia before every other, she is the first to praise her Lord. She kneels upon the bare ground, and with frequent tears cleanses a face once defiled with white lead. After prayer comes the singing of psalms, and it is only when her neck aches and her knees totter, and her eyes begin to close with weariness, that she gives them leave reluctantly to rest. As her dress is dark, lying on the ground does not soil it. Cheap shoes permit her to give to the poor the price of gilded ones. No gold and jewels adorn her girdle; it is made of wool, plain and scrupulously clean. It is intended to keep her clothes right, and not to cut her waist in two. Therefore, if the scorpion looks askance upon her purpose, and with alluring words tempts her once more to eat of the forbidden tree, she must crush him beneath her feet with a curse, and say, as he lies dying in his allotted dust:hyperlink "Get thee behind me, Satan."hyperlink Satan means adversary,hyperlink and one who dislikes Christ's commandments, is more than Christ's adversary; he is anti-christ.
5. But what, I ask you, have we ever done that men should be offended at us? Have we ever imitated the apostles? We are told of the first disciples that they forsook their boat and their nets, and even their aged father.hyperlink The publican stood up from the receipt of custom and followed the Saviour once for all.hyperlink And when a disciple wished to return home, that he might take leave of his kinsfolk, the Master's voice refused consent.hyperlink A son was even forbidden to bury his father,hyperlink as if to show that it is sometimes a religious duty to be undutiful for the Lord's sake.hyperlink With us it is different. We are held to be monks if we refuse to dress in silk. We are called sour and severe if we keep sober and refrain from excessive laughter. The mob salutes us as Greeks and impostorshyperlink if our tunics are fresh and clean. They may deal in still severer witticisms if they please; they may parade every fat paunchhyperlink they can lay hold of, to turn us into ridicule. Our Blaesilla will laugh at their efforts, and will bear with patience the taunts of all such croaking frogs, for she will remember that men called her Lord, Beelzebub.hyperlink
Footnotes
677 In the English Version Ps. lxxiii.
678 Ps. lxxii. 20.
679 Ps. lxxiii. title.
680 Ps. lxxiii. 15.
681 I.e. the Old Latin Version superseded by Jerome's Vulgate.
682 2 Cor. iv. 7.
683 Rom. iii. 2.
684 One of the most distinguished men of his day, Praetextatus, had filled the high position of Prefect of Rome. As such he ironically assured Damasus that, if he could hope to obtain the papacy, he would immediately embrace the Christian religion (Jerome, Against John of Jerusalem,
685 De suis saeculis detrahentem. The text is clearly corrupt, and no satisfactory emendation has yet been suggested.
686 So the author of II. Peter speaks of God "tartartizing the angels that sinned" (ii. 4).
687 I.e. her conduct justified her official title.
688 Cf. Matt. vi. 2.
689 Luke xvi. 19-24.
690 Paulina, chief priestess of Ceres.
691 In the Roman mythology the abode of gods and heroes. Cf. Ovid, M. i. 175, 176.
692 Wisd. v. 4.
693 Ps. xlviii. 8.
694 Matt. x. 10.
695 2 Cor. iv. 18.
696 Vide the preceding Letter.
697 Rom. xi. 6.
698 Jer. i. 5.
699 Luke i. 41.
700 Eph. i. 4.
701 Probably Marcella before she was married.
702 2 Thess. iii. 10.
703 Matt. vi. 17.
704 Matt. xix. 26.
705 Cf. Juvenal, Sat. x. 356.
706 Sacerdotes.
707 XXVI.
708 #Onw lura was a Greek proverb.
709 Reading nec diligentiam instead of et.
710 Acts xxvi. 24.
711 Haereditarias sepulturas.
712 The reference is to Letter XXII.
713 Ps. lxix. 4.
714 Ps. lxix. 11.
715 Hor. A. P. 21, 22.
716 Perhaps an allusion to the Greek proverb, onoj luraj hkouse kai salpiggoj uj. "The ass listened to the lyre, and the pig to the trumpet."
717 Rom. xii. 11, Rom. xii. 12. The reading kuriw "Lord" is probably correct. The R.V. says, "Some ancient authorities read the opportunity," (kairw).
718 I.e. a "presbyter."
719 1 Tim. v. 19, 1 Tim. v. 20.
720 1 Tim. i. 15.
721 Jerome's detractors suggested this word instead of the simpler "ass" in Zech. ix. 9 and Matt. xxi. 2-5. The phrase "Gallican geldings" appears to be a quotation from Plaut. Aul. iii. 5, 21.
722 Isa. xxxii. 20, LXX.
723 Ps. i. 2.
724 Matt. vii. 7.
725 Luke xi. 5-8.
726 Matt. xiv. 25-33.
727 Lev. ii. 11.
728 Ex. xii. 8.
729 I.e. the day of his martyrdom, his heavenly nativity.
730 Ezek. xvi. 11.
731 Jer. xxxvi.; Baruch vi.
732 Matt. iii. 16.
733 Letter XXII.
734 Tim. ii. 10.
735 2 Cor. iii. 2.
736 Jer xxxvi. 23.
737 Hos vii. 11.
738 Celebrated for his campaigns against Mithridates, and also as a prince of epicures.
739 Jer. xxiv. 1-3.
740 Jer. xxiv. 3.
741 Rev. iii. 15, Rev. iii. 16.
742 Gal. i. 10.
743 This version, made in the reign of Hadrian by a Jewish proselyte who is said by some to have been a renegade Christian, was marked by an exaggerated literalism and a close following of the Hebrew original. By the Church it was regarded with suspicion as being designedly anti-Christian. Jerome, however, here acquits Aquila of the charge brought against him.
744 I.e. all the sapiential books, viz. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom.
745 Exod. i. 1, twmy hl)
A.V., "these are the names."
746 The name means runner. Hence the allusion to Gal. ii. 2.
747 XXX., XXXI.
748 Of the 490 books composed by this voluminous writer only two are extant, a treatise on husbandry and an essay on the Latin language.
749 The epithet xalkenteroj, "heart of brass," is applied by Suidas to the grammarian Didymus, who, according to Athenaeus, wrote 3,500 books. Of these not one is extant.
750 Which lasted 57 years.
751 'Adamontioj-Origen is so called by Eusebius (H. E. vi. 14, 10). It appears to have been his proper name.
752 "They may have been detached essays on particular subjects."-Westcott.
753 All the works mentioned have perished except the treatise on First Principles, and this in its completeness is extant only in the Latin version of Rufinus. The version made by Jerome has perished.
754 Origen left Alexandria for good in 231 a.d., and it was in that or the following year that Demetrius convoked the synod which condemned not so much his writings as his conduct. He appears to have been excommunicated as a heretic.
755 For Origen's condemnation in a synod held at Rome this passage is the principal authority. It is more than doubtful whether such a synod ever met; if it did it must have been when Pontianus was pope, in 231 or 232 a.d. Jerome may only mean that the great men of Rome all agreed in this condemnation.
756 Both these philosophers were hedonists, and the latter was a sensualist as well. Jerome is probably satirizing the worldly clergy of Rome, just as in after-years he nicknames his opponent Jovinian "the Christian Epicurus."
757 Gen. xxii.
758 Gen. xxxvii., Gen. xlvi.
759 2 K xx.; Isa. xxxviii.
760 Luke xxii. 54-62; Joh. xxi. 16.
761 Gen. xlix. 27.
762 Ps. lxviii. 27.
763 Acts ix. 3-18.
764 Cf. Mark i. 30, Mark i. 31.
765 John xi. 38, R.V. marg.
766 Joh. xi. 38-44.
767 Joh. xii. 2.
768 Joh. xii. 10.
769 Luke vii. 38.
770 Rom. vi. 11.
771 Rom. vii. 2.
772 Luke vii. 28.
773 Luke vii. 27. The word "angel" means "messenger."
774 Matt. iii. 4.
775 Rom. viii. 8.
776 2 Cor. iii. 18, R.V.
777 Gen. iii. 14.
778 Matt. xvi. 23.
779 1 Pet. v. 8.
780 Matt. iv. 18-22.
781 Matt. ix. 9.
782 Luke ix. 61, Luke ix. 62.
783 Matt. viii. 21.
784 Luke xiv. 26.
785 Cf. Letter LIV.
786 Pinguis aqualiculus-Pers. i. 57.
787 Matt. x. 25.