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| From Jerome
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Letter CLXXII.
(a.d. 416.)
To Augustin, My Truly Pious Lord
and Father, Worthy of My Utmost Affection and Veneration, Jerome
Sends Greeting in Christ.
1. That honourable man, my brother, and your
Excellency’s son, the presbyter Orosius, I have, both on his own
account and in obedience to your request, made welcome. But a most
trying time has come upon us,2808
| 2808 The allusion is probably to the acquittal of
Pelagius in 415 by the Council of Diospolis (or Lydda, a place
between Joppa and Jerusalem). Augustin viewed this Council’s
decisions more favourably than Jerome, who denounces it without
measure as a pitiful assembly, which allowed itself to be imposed
upon by the evasions and feigned recantation of Pelagius; to this
he makes reference in the concluding sentence of this
paragraph. | in which I have found it better
for me to hold my peace than to speak, so that our studies have
ceased, lest what Appius calls “the eloquence of dogs” should
be provoked into exercise.2809
| 2809 We adopt here the reading found in Letter CCII.
bis, sec. 3, where this sentence is quoted by Augustin in
writing to Optatus, and we have “ne (instead of et)
juxta Appium canina facundia exerceretur.” On the phrase
“canina facundia,” see Lactantius, book vi. ch. 18. | For this reason I have not been
able at the present time to give to those two books dedicated to my
name—books of profound erudition, and brilliant with every charm
of splendid eloquence—the answer which I would otherwise have
given; not that I think anything said in them demands correction,
but because I am mindful of the words of the blessed apostle in
regard to the variety of men’s judgments, “Let every man be
fully persuaded in his own mind.”2810
| 2810 Rom. xiv. 5. Translated by Jerome:
“Unusquisque in suo sensu abundet.” | Certainly, whatever can be said on
the topics there discussed, and whatever can be drawn by commanding
genius from the fountain of sacred Scripture regarding them, has
been in these letters stated in your positions, and illustrated by
your arguments. But I beg your Reverence to allow me for a little
to praise your genius. For in any discussion between us, the object
aimed at by both of us is advancement in learning. But our rivals,
and especially heretics, if they see different opinions maintained
by us, will assail us with the calumny that our differences are due
to mutual jealousy. For my part, however, I am resolved to love
you, to look up to you, to reverence and admire you, and to defend
your opinions as my own. I have also in a dialogue, which I
recently published, made allusion to your Blessedness in suitable
terms. Be it ours, therefore, rather to rid the Church of that most
pernicious heresy which always feigns repentance, in order that it
may have liberty to teach in our churches, and may not be expelled
and extinguished, as it would be if it disclosed its real character
in the light of day.
2. Your pious and venerable daughters, Eustochium and Paula, continue to
walk worthy of their own birth and of your counsels, and they send
special salutations to your Blessedness: in which they are joined
by the whole brotherhood of those who with us labour to serve the
Lord our Saviour. As for the holy presbyter Firmus, we sent him
last year to go on business of Eustochium and Paula, first to
Ravenna, and afterwards to Africa and Sicily, and we suppose that
he is now detained somewhere in Africa. I beseech you to present my
respectful salutations to the saints who are associated with you. I
have also sent to your care a letter from me to the holy presbyter
Firmus; if it reaches you, I beg you to take the trouble of
forwarding it to him. May Christ the Lord keep you in safety, and
mindful of me, my truly pious lord and most blessed father.
(As a postscript.) We suffer in this
province from a grievous scarcity of clerks acquainted with the
Latin language; this is the reason why we are not able to comply
with your instructions, especially in regard to that version of the
Septuagint which is furnished with distinctive asterisks and
obelisks;2811
| 2811 Jerome probably alludes here to Augustin’s
request in Letter LXXI., sec. 3, 4; Letters, pp. 326,
327. | for we
have lost, through some one’s dishonesty, the most of the results
of our earlier labour.
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