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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadChurch Fathers: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 06: 26.01.29 Letters LXXVIII - LXXXI
TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 06 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 26.01.29 Letters LXXVIII - LXXXI
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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,"hyperlink 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,"hyperlink a precept given lest under pretext of shewing pitywe should judge unjust judgment. For each individualis 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"hyperlink 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.hyperlink Lastly-and this is a stronger reason than the others-because I have failed to say no to my son Avitus.hyperlink With an importunacy surpassing that of the widow towards the unjust judgehyperlink 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 empresshyperlink 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,hyperlink 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."hyperlink 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."hyperlink 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."hyperlink As a soldierNebridius 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."hyperlink 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;hyperlink yet so dear was he to God that, alone of all the patriarchs, he became the father of two tribes.hyperlink 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"hyperlink 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."hyperlink 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 Godhyperlink 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."hyperlink We have learned how a camel can pass through a needle's eye, how an animal with a hump on its back,hyperlink when it has laid down its packs, can take to itself the wings of a dovehyperlink and rest in the branches of the tree which has grown from a grain of mustard seed.hyperlink 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.hyperlink On like typical camels the Ishmaelitish merchantmenhyperlink bring down to the Egyptians perfume and incense and balm (of the kind that grows in Gilead good for the healing of woundshyperlink ); and so fortunate are they that in the purchase and sale of Joseph they have for their merchandise the Saviour of the world.hyperlink And Aesop's fable tells us of a mouse which after eating its fill can no longer creep out as before it crept in.hyperlink
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."hyperlink 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."hyperlink 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.hyperlink He did not once for all cast away his brethren, as did the apostles who forsook father and nets and ship,hyperlink 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.hyperlink 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.hyperlink 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."hyperlink 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?hyperlink Was there ever a young man whose garment his Egyptian mistress did not seize?hyperlink Was there ever a eunuch'shyperlink 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?"hyperlink But wonderful to say Nebridius, though bred up in a palace as a companion and fellow pupil of the Augustihyperlink (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, forscandalous 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."hyperlink The dust has returned to the dust.hyperlink 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."hyperlink "In a short time he" has "fulfilled a long time."hyperlink 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.hyperlink
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.hyperlink
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 Emperorhyperlink does not disdain to hold her in his arms, and the Empresshyperlink 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."hyperlink 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."hyperlink 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 chastityhyperlink 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,"hyperlink 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.hyperlink 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,hyperlink 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."hyperlink "O Timothy," cries the apostle, "keep thyself pure."hyperlink 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."hyperlink So speaks the "chosen vessel"hyperlink and the words are brought out from his treasure who could boldly say: "Do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?"hyperlink 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."hyperlink 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."hyperlink If Paul is afraid, which of us can venture to be confident? If David the friend of God and Solomon who loved Godhyperlink 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.hyperlink 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."hyperlink But the same apostle says: "it is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine,"hyperlink and in another place: "be not drunk with wine wherein is excess."hyperlink "Every creature of God is good"-the precept is intended for those who are careful how they may please their husbands.hyperlink 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 poethyperlink puts into the mouth of a chaste widow:hyperlink
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?hyperlink 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 diligencehyperlink 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 propaqeiai 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."hyperlink It is clear from the testimony of another book that "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth,"hyperlink and that the soul wavers between the works of the flesh and of the spirit enumerated by the apostle,hyperlink 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.hyperlink
And, to quote the same poet,
At moles men cavil when they mark fair skins.hyperlink
To the same effect in different words the prophet says:-"I am so troubled that I cannot speak,"hyperlink and in the same book, "Be ye angry and sin not."hyperlink So Archytas of Tarentumhyperlink 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."hyperlink Now what is here said of one form of perturbation may be applied to all. Just as anger 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."hyperlink 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."hyperlink 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."hyperlink 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.hyperlink It was in Egypt that she was first deflowered and there that her teats were bruised.hyperlink 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,"hyperlink she received statutes that were not good and commandments that were altogether evil whereby she should not livehyperlink 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,"hyperlink 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, dearest 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.hyperlink 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 devilhyperlink 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.hyperlink 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 peri'Arxwn, 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,hyperlink 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;"hyperlink 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.hyperlink 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;hyperlink 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 Pamphilianushyperlink 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 peri'Arxwn, 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 morehyperlink 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,hyperlink 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;"hyperlink as he hopes not to inherit eternally that place where "there is weeping and gnashing of teeth,"hyperlink and where "their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched,"hyperlink 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 peri0Arxwn see the preceding letter). Being sent in 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 parentshyperlink would have drawn you to your native country,hyperlink 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 he 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 peri0Arxwn 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.hyperlink Thus I might now recall this well-worn artifice and praise you in your own method.hyperlink 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 Plautushyperlink -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.hyperlink I am also sending the reverend presbyter Rufinushyperlink 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.hyperlink 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.
Footnotes
2388 Matt. xi. 29.
2389 Lev. xix. 15.
2390 Isa. xli. 8; Jas. ii. 23.
2391 Also named Nebridius, Prefect of Gaul, then of the East.
2392 See letter CXXIV.
2393 Luke xviii. 1-5.
2394 Aelia Flaccilla, the wife of Theodosius who is here called "the unvanquished emperor."
2395 Salvina was the daughter of Gildo who at the time was tributary king of Mauritania.
2396 Acts x. 1, Acts x. 2.
2397 Wisdom iv. 11, Wisdom iv. 14.
2398 Acts x. 34, Acts x. 35.
2399 Matt. viii. 10.
2400 Gen. xli. 42-44.
2401 Gen. xli. 50-52.
2402 Eccl. vii. 12.
2403 Matt. xix. 23, Matt. xix. 24.
2404 Mark x. 27.
2405 1 Tim. vi. 17-19: AV. has "eternal life" in the last verse.
2406 Animal tortuosum. The epithet recurs in Letter CVII.
2407 Ps. lv. 6.
2408 Matt. xiii. 31, Matt. xiii. 32.
2409 Isa. lx. 6.
2410 Gen. xxxvii. 25.
2411 Jer. viii. 22.
2412 So the Vulgate renders Zaphnath-Paaneah the name given to Joseph by Pharaoh. (Gen. xli. 45).
2413 Horace, Epist. I. vii. 30, 31.
2414 1 Tim. vi. 9.
2415 Matt. xix. 21.
2416 Luke xvi. 9.
2417 Matt. iv. 18-22.
2418 2 Cor. viii. 14.
2419 1 Tim. vi. 8.
2420 Ecclus. iii. 30.
2421 Cf. Dan. iii. 25.
2422 Gen. xxxix. 12.
2423 The allusion is to the word "officer" in Gen. xxxvii. 36. See AV. margin.
2424 Rom. vii. 23.
2425 Arcadius and Honorius.
2426 Isa. xl. 6.
2427 Gen. iii. 19.
2428 Wisd. iv. 9.
2429 Wisd. iv. 13.
2430 Virg. A. iii. 490.
2431 Virg. G. iv. 82.
2432 Arcadius.
2433 Eudoxia.
2434 Ps. cxxvii. 3.
2435 1 Tim. v. 9, 1 Tim. v. 10.
2436 The three degrees of chastity are those of a virgin, a widow, and a wife.
2437 1 Tim. iv. 12.
2438 Gal. ii. 9, Gal. ii. 10.
2439 Cf. 1 Tim. v. 3.
2440 1 Tim. ii. 15. AV. has `sobriety
0' for `chastity.
0'
2441 1 Tim. v. 22.
2442 1 Tim. v. 6.
2443 Acts ix. 15.
2444 2 Cor. xiii. 3, Vulg.
2445 Rom. vii. 19.
2446 1 Cor. ix. 27.
2447 1 K. iii. 3.
2448 Many drew a distinction between the flesh of quadrupeds and that of birds, abstaining from the former but using the latter.
2449 1 Tim. iv. 4.
2450 Rom. xiv. 21.
2451 Eph. v. 18.
2452 1 Cor. vii. 34.
2453 Virgil, Aen. iv. 28, 29.
2454 Dido, queen of Carthage.
2455 Quoted from Tertullian (ad Mart. IV.). The same words recur in Letters CVII. and CXXX.
2456 Prov. iv. 23.
2457 Matt. xv. 19.
2458 Gen. viii. 21.
2459 Gal. v. 19-23.
2460 Horace, Sat. I iii. 68, 69.
2461 Horace, Sat. I. vi. 66.
2462 Ps. lxxvii. 4.
2463 Ps. iv. 4, LXX. Quoted Eph. iv. 26.
2464 A pythagorean philosopher, mathematician, general, and statesman. He was a contemporary of Plato.
2465 Jas. i. 20.
2466 1 Cor. vii. 9.
2467 Heb. xiii. 4.
2468 1 Tim. v. 14, 1 Tim. v. 15.
2469 Ezek. xvi. 25.
2470 Ezek. xxiii. 3.
2471 Exod. xxxii. 4.
2472 Ezek. xx. 25.
2473 1 Tim. v. 11, 1 Tim. v. 12.
2474 Phil. iii. 13.
2475 As Judith cut off the head of Holofernes (Judith xiii.).
2476 Luke ii. 36-38.
2477 i.e. Jerome.
2478 Cant. i. 4. See the Preface to Origen on the Canticles translated in this volume.
2479 Rem maioris gloriae sequitur ut pater verbi sit potius quam interpres.
2480 i.e. St. Paul.
2481 Or Pamphilus.
2482 See this treatise in vol. iii. of this series. Rufinus with John of Jerusalem had been already accused of Origenism. See Letter LI. 6.
2483 For this adjuration comp. Rev. xxii. 18, Rev. xxii. 19, and Stieren's Irenaeus i. 821.
2484 Matt. xxv. 41.
2485 Matt. xxii. 13.
2486 Mark ix. 44.
2487 Chromatius and Eusebius of Aquileia.
2488 Concordia, near Aquileia.
2489 See the introduction to Letter CXVII.