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Letter
CVIII. To Eustochium.
This, one of the longest of Jerome’s letters, was
written to console Eustochium for the loss of her mother who had
recently died. Jerome relates the story of Paula in detail; speaking
first of her high birth, marriage, and social success at Rome, and then
narrating her conversion and subsequent life as a Christian ascetic.
Much space is devoted to an account of her journey to the East which
included a visit to Egypt and to the monasteries of Nitria as well as a
tour of the most sacred spots in the Holy Land. The remainder of the
letter describes her daily routine and studies at Bethlehem, and
recounts the many virtues for which she was distinguished. It then
concludes with a touching description of her death and burial and gives
the epitaph placed upon her grave. The date of the letter is 404 a.d.
1. If all the members of my body were to be converted
into tongues, and if each of my limbs were to be gifted with a human
voice, I could still do no justice to the virtues of the holy and
venerable Paula. Noble in family, she was nobler still in holiness;
rich formerly in this world’s goods, she is now more
distinguished by the poverty that she has embraced for Christ. Of the
stock of the Gracchi and descended from the Scipios, the heir and
representative of that Paulus whose name she bore, the true and
legitimate daughter of that Martia Papyria who was mother to Africanus,
she yet preferred Bethlehem to Rome, and left her palace glittering
with gold to dwell in a mud cabin. We do not grieve that we have lost
this perfect woman; rather we thank God that we have had her, nay that
we have her still. For “all live unto” God,2731
and they who return unto the Lord are
still to be reckoned members of his family. We have lost her, it is
true, but the heavenly mansions have gained her; for as long as she was
in the body she was absent from the Lord2732
and would constantly complain with
tears:—“Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in
the tents of Kedar; my soul hath been this long time a
pilgrim.”2733
It was no
wonder that she sobbed out that
even she was in darkness (for this is the meaning of the word Kedar)
seeing that, according to the apostle, “the world lieth in the
evil one;”2734
and that,
“as its darkness is, so is its light;”2735
and that “the light shineth in
darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.”2736
She would frequently exclaim: “I
am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my fathers
were,”2737
and again, I desire “to
depart and to be with Christ.”2738
As
often too as she was troubled with bodily weakness (brought on by
incredible abstinence and by redoubled fastings), she would be heard to
say: “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;”2739
and “It
is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine;”2740
and “I humbled my soul with
fasting;”2741
and “thou
wilt make all” my “bed in” my
“sickness;”2742
and “Thy
hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of
summer.”2743
And when the
pain which she bore with such wonderful patience darted through her, as
if she saw the heavens opened2744
she would say
“Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away and
be at rest.”2745
2. I call Jesus and his saints, yes and the particular
angel who was the guardian and the companion of this admirable woman to
bear witness that these are no words of adulation and flattery but
sworn testimony every one of them borne to her character. They are,
indeed, inadequate to the virtues of one whose praises are sung by the
whole world, who is admired by bishops,2746
regretted by bands of virgins, and wept
for by crowds of monks and poor. Would you know all her virtues,
reader, in short? She has left those dependent on her poor, but not so
poor as she was herself. In dealing thus with her relatives and the men
and women of her small household—her brothers and sisters rather
than her servants—she has done nothing strange; for she has left
her daughter Eustochium—a virgin consecrated to Christ for whose
comfort this sketch is made—far from her noble family and rich
only in faith and grace.
3. Let me then begin my narrative. Others may go back a
long way even to Paula’s cradle and, if I may say so, to her
swaddling-clothes, and may speak of her mother Blæsilla and her
father Rogatus. Of these the former was a descendant of the Scipios and
the Gracchi; whilst the latter came of a line distinguished in Greece
down to the present day. He was said, indeed, to have in his veins the
blood of Agamemnon who destroyed Troy after a ten years siege. But I
shall praise only what belongs to herself, what wells forth from the
pure spring of her holy mind. When in the gospel the apostles ask their
Lord and Saviour what He will give to those who have left all for His
sake, He tells them that they shall receive an hundredfold now in this
time and in the world to come eternal life.2747
From which we see that it is not the
possession of riches that is praiseworthy but the rejection of them for
Christ’s sake; that, instead of glorying in our privileges, we
should make them of small account as compared with God’s faith.
Truly the Saviour has now in this present time made good His promise to
His servants and handmaidens. For one who despised the glory of a
single city is to-day famous throughout the world; and one who while
she lived at Rome was known by no one outside it has by hiding herself
at Bethlehem become the admiration of all lands Roman and barbarian.
For what race of men is there which does not send pilgrims to the holy
places? And who could there find a greater marvel than Paula? As among
many jewels the most precious shines most brightly, and as the sun with
its beams obscures and puts out the paler fires of the stars; so by her
lowliness she surpassed all others in virtue and influence and, while
she was least among all, was greater than all. The more she cast
herself down, the more she was lifted up by Christ. She was hidden and
yet she was not hidden. By shunning glory she earned glory; for glory
follows virtue as its shadow; and deserting those who seek it, it seeks
those who despise it. But I must not neglect to proceed with my
narrative or dwell too long on a single point forgetful of the rules of
writing.
4. Being then of such parentage, Paula married Toxotius
in whose veins ran the noble blood of Æneas and the Julii.
Accordingly his daughter, Christ’s virgin Eustochium, is called
Julia, as he Julius.
A name from great Iulus handed down.2748
I speak of these things not as of importance to those
who have them, but as worthy of remark in those who despise them. Men
of the world look up to persons who are rich in such privileges. We on
the other hand praise those who for the Saviour’s sake despise
them; and strangely depreciating all who keep them, we eulogize those
who are unwilling to do so. Thus nobly born, Paula through her
fruitfulness and her chastity won approval from all, from her husband
first, then from her relatives, and
lastly from the whole city. She bore five children; Blæsilla, for
whose death I consoled her while at Rome;2749
Paulina, who has left the reverend and
admirable Pammachius to inherit both her vows2750
| 2750 Of continence. See
Letter LXVI. 3. |
and property, to whom also I addressed a little book on her death;
Eustochium, who is now in the holy places, a precious necklace of
virginity and of the church; Rufina, whose untimely end overcame the
affectionate heart of her mother; and Toxotius, after whom she had no
more children. You can thus see that it was not her wish to fulfil a
wife’s duty, but that she only complied with her husband’s
longing to have male offspring.
5. When he died, her grief was so great that she nearly
died herself: yet so completely did she then give herself to the
service of the Lord, that it might have seemed that she had desired his
death.
In what terms shall I speak of her distinguished, and
noble, and formerly wealthy house; all the riches of which she spent
upon the poor? How can I describe the great consideration she shewed to
all and her far reaching kindness even to those whom she had never
seen? What poor man, as he lay dying, was not wrapped in blankets given
by her? What bedridden person was not supported with money from her
purse? She would seek out such with the greatest diligence throughout
the city, and would think it a misfortune were any hungry or sick
person to be supported by another’s food. So lavish was her
charity that she robbed her children; and, when her relatives
remonstrated with her for doing so, she declared that she was leaving
to them a better inheritance in the mercy of Christ.
6. Nor was she long able to endure the visits and
crowded receptions, which her high position in the world and her
exalted family entailed upon her. She received the homage paid to her
sadly, and made all the speed she could to shun and to escape those who
wished to pay her compliments. It so happened that at that time2751
the bishops of the East and West had been
summoned to Rome by letter from the emperors2752
| 2752 Theodosius and
Valentinian. | to deal with certain dissensions between
the churches, and in this way she saw two most admirable men and
Christian prelates, Paulinus bishop of Antioch and Epiphanius, bishop
of Salamis or, as it is now called, Constantia, in Cyprus. Epiphanius,
indeed, she received as her guest; and, although Paulinus was staying
in another person’s house, in the warmth of her heart she treated
him as if he too were lodged with her. Inflamed by their virtues she
thought more and more each moment of forsaking her home. Disregarding
her house, her children, her servants, her property, and in a word
everything connected with the world, she was eager—alone and
unaccompanied (if ever it could be said that she was so)—to go to
the desert made famous by its Pauls and by its Antonies. And at last
when the winter was over and the sea was open, and when the bishops
were returning to their churches, she also sailed with them in her
prayers and desires. Not to prolong the story, she went down to Portus
accompanied by her brother, her kinsfolk and above all her own children
eager by their demonstrations of affection to overcome their loving
mother. At last the sails were set and the strokes of the rowers
carried the vessel into the deep. On the shore the little Toxotius
stretched forth his hands in entreaty, while Rufina, now grown up, with
silent sobs besought her mother to wait till she should be married. But
still Paula’s eyes were dry as she turned them heavenwards; and
she overcame her love for her children by her love for God. She knew
herself no more as a mother, that she might approve herself a handmaid
of Christ. Yet her heart was rent within her, and she wrestled with her
grief, as though she were being forcibly separated from parts of
herself. The greatness of the affection she had to overcome made all
admire her victory the more. Among the cruel hardships which attend
prisoners of war in the hands of their enemies, there is none severer
than the separation of parents from their children. Though it is
against the laws of nature, she endured this trial with unabated faith;
nay more she sought it with a joyful heart: and overcoming her love for
her children by her greater love for God, she concentrated herself
quietly upon Eustochium alone, the partner alike of her vows and of her
voyage. Meantime the vessel ploughed onwards and all her
fellow-passengers looked back to the shore. But she turned away her
eyes that she might not see what she could not behold without agony. No
mother, it must be confessed, ever loved her children so dearly. Before
setting out she gave them all that she had, disinheriting herself upon
earth that she might find an inheritance in heaven.
7. The vessel touched at the island of Pontia ennobled
long since as the place of exile of the illustrious lady Flavia
Domitilla who under the Emperor Domitian was banished because she
confessed herself a Christian;2753
| 2753 Wife of Flavius
Clemens, believed to have been a Christian martyr. | and Paula,
when she saw the cells in which this lady passed the period of her long
martyrdom, taking to herself the wings of faith, more than ever desired
to see Jerusalem and the holy
places. The strongest winds seemed weak and the greatest speed slow.
After passing between Scylla and Charybdis2754
| 2754 i.e. the
straits of Messina. | she committed herself to the Adriatic
sea and had a calm passage to Methone.2755
| 2755 A port on the S.W.
coast of the Peloponnese. |
Stopping here for a short time to recruit her wearied frame
She stretched her dripping limbs upon the shore:
Then sailed past Malea and Cythera’s isle,
The scattered Cyclades, and all the lands
That narrow in the seas on every side.2756
| 2756 Virg. A. iii.
126–8. |
Then leaving Rhodes and Lycia behind her, she at last came in sight
of Cyprus, where falling at the feet of the holy and venerable
Epiphanius, she was by him detained ten days; though this was not, as
he supposed, to restore her strength but, as the facts prove, that she
might do God’s work. For she visited all the monasteries in the
island, and left, so far as her means allowed, substantial relief for
the brothers in them whom love of the holy man had brought thither from
all parts of the world. Then crossing the narrow sea she landed at
Seleucia, and going up thence to Antioch allowed herself to be detained
for a little time by the affection of the reverend confessor
Paulinus.2757
| 2757 At this time one
of the three bishops who claimed the see of Antioch. See Ep. xv. 2. | Then, such was the ardour of her
faith that she, a noble lady who had always previously been carried by
eunuchs, went her way—and that in midwinter—riding upon an
ass.
8. I say nothing of her journey through Cœle-Syria
and Phœnicia (for it is not my purpose to give you a complete
itinerary of her wanderings); I shall only name such places as are
mentioned in the sacred books. After leaving the Roman colony of
Berytus and the ancient city of Zidon she entered Elijah’s town
on the shore at Zarephath and therein adored her Lord and Saviour. Next
passing over the sands of Tyre on which Paul had once knelt2758
she came to Acco or, as it is now
called, Ptolemais, rode over the plains of Megiddo which had once
witnessed the slaying of Josiah,2759
and
entered the land of the Philistines. Here she could not fail to admire
the ruins of Dor, once a most powerful city; and Strato’s Tower,
which though at one time insignificant was rebuilt by Herod king of
Judæa and named Cæsarea in honour of Cæsar Augustus.2760
| 2760 A maritime city of
Palestine which subsequently to its restoration by Herod became first
the civil, and then the ecclesiastical, capital of Palestine. | Here she saw the house of Cornelius now
turned into a Christian church; and the humble abode of Philip; and the
chambers of his daughters the four virgins “which did
prophesy.”2761
She arrived
next at Antipatris, a small town half in ruins, named by Herod after
his father Antipater, and at Lydda, now become Diospolis, a place made
famous by the raising again of Dorcas2762
and the restoration to health of
Æneas.2763
Not far from this are
Arimathæa, the village of Joseph who buried the Lord,2764
and Nob, once a city of priests but now
the tomb in which their slain bodies rest.2765
Joppa too is hard by, the port of
Jonah’s flight;2766
which
also—if I may introduce a poetic fable—saw Andromeda bound
to the rock.2767
| 2767 Andromeda had
been chained to a rock by her father to assuage the wrath of Poseidon
who had sent a sea monster to ravage the country. Here she was found by
Perseus who slew the monster and effected her rescue. See Josephus B.
J. iii. ix. 3. | Again resuming her journey, she
came to Nicopolis, once called Emmaus, where the Lord became known in
the breaking of bread;2768
an action by
which He dedicated the house of Cleopas as a church. Starting thence
she made her way up lower and higher Beth-horon, cities founded by
Solomon2769
but subsequently destroyed by
several devastating wars; seeing on her right Ajalon and Gibeon where
Joshua the son of Nun when fighting against the five kings gave
commandments to the sun and moon,2770
where also
he condemned the Gibeonites (who by a crafty stratagem had obtained a
treaty) to be hewers of wood and drawers of water.2771
At Gibeah also, now a complete ruin,
she stopped for a little while remembering its sin, and the cutting of
the concubine into pieces, and how in spite of all this three hundred
men of the tribe of Benjamin were saved2772
that in after days Paul might be
called a Benjamite.
9. To make a long story short, leaving on her left the
mausoleum of Helena queen of Adiabene2773
| 2773 Josephus, A.J.
xx. ii. 6. | who in time of famine had sent corn
to the Jewish people, Paula entered Jerusalem, Jebus, or Salem, that
city of three names which after it had sunk to ashes and decay was by
Ælius Hadrianus restored once more as Ælia.2774
| 2774 Or more fully
Ælia Capitolina, a Roman colony from which all Jews were
expelled. | And although the proconsul of
Palestine, who was an intimate friend of her house, sent forward his
apparitors and gave orders to have his official residence2775
placed at her disposal, she chose a
humble cell in preference to it. Moreover, in visiting the holy places
so great was the passion and the enthusiasm she exhibited for each,
that she could never have torn herself away from one had she not been
eager to visit the rest. Before the Cross she threw herself down in
adoration as though she beheld the
Lord hanging upon it: and when she entered the tomb which was the scene
of the Resurrection she kissed the stone which the angel had rolled
away from the door of the sepulchre.2776
Indeed
so ardent was her faith that she even licked with her mouth the very
spot on which the Lord’s body had lain, like one athirst for the
river which he has longed for. What tears she shed there, what groans
she uttered, and what grief she poured forth, all Jerusalem knows; the
Lord also to whom she prayed knows. Going out thence she made the
ascent of Zion; a name which signifies either “citadel” or
“watch-tower.” This formed the city which David formerly
stormed and afterwards rebuilt.2777
Of its
storming it is written, “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel”—that
is, God’s lion, (and indeed in those days it was extremely
strong)—“the city which David stormed:”2778
and of its rebuilding it is said,
“His foundation is in the holy mountains: the Lord loveth the
gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.”2779
He does not mean the gates which we
see to-day in dust and ashes; the gates he means are those against
which hell prevails not2780
and through
which the multitude of those who believe in Christ enter in.2781
There was shewn to her upholding the
portico of a church the bloodstained column to which our Lord is said
to have been bound when He suffered His scourging. There was shewn to
her also the spot where the Holy Spirit came down upon the souls of the
one hundred and twenty believers, thus fulfilling the prophecy of
Joel.2782
10. Then, after distributing money to the poor and her
fellow-servants so far as her means allowed, she proceeded to Bethlehem
stopping only on the right side of the road to visit Rachel’s
tomb. (Here it was that she gave birth to her son destined to be not
what his dying mother called him, Benoni, that is the “Son of my
pangs” but as his father in the spirit prophetically named him
Benjamin, that is “the Son of the right hand).”2783
After this she came to Bethlehem and
entered into the cave where the Saviour was born.2784
| 2784 This legend of
the cave dates back to Justin Martyr. | Here, when she looked upon the inn
made sacred by the virgin and the stall where the ox knew his owner and
the ass his master’s crib,2785
and
where the words of the same prophet had been fulfilled “Blessed
is he that soweth beside the waters where the ox and the ass trample
the seed under their feet:”2786
when
she looked upon these things I say, she protested in my hearing that
she could behold with the eyes of faith the infant Lord wrapped in
swaddling clothes and crying in the manger, the wise men worshipping
Him, the star shining overhead, the virgin mother, the attentive
foster-father, the shepherds coming by night to see “the word
that was come to pass”2787
and thus
even then to consecrate those opening phrases of the evangelist John
“In the beginning was the word” and “the word was
made flesh.”2788
| 2788 Joh. i. 1; 14 λόγος the Vulg. has
‘verbum’ both here and in Luke. | She
declared that she could see the slaughtered innocents, the raging
Herod, Joseph and Mary fleeing into Egypt; and with a mixture of tears
and joy she cried: ‘Hail Bethlehem, house of bread,2789
| 2789 The name means
this in Hebrew. | wherein was born that Bread that came
down from heaven.2790
Hail Ephratah,
land of fruitfulness2791
| 2791 The name means
this in Hebrew. | and of
fertility, whose fruit is the Lord Himself. Concerning thee has Micah
prophesied of old, “Thou Bethlehem Ephratah art not2792
| 2792 The word
‘not’ is inserted by Paula from Matt. ii. 6. | the least among the thousands of Judah,
for out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in
Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Therefore wilt thou2793
| 2793 ‘Will
he’ A.V. following the Hebrew. | give them up,
until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the
remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of
Israel.”2794
For in thee
was born the prince begotten before Lucifer.2795
Whose birth from the Father is before
all time: and the cradle of David’s race continued in thee, until
the virgin brought forth her son and the remnant of the people that
believed in Christ returned unto the children of Israel and preached
freely to them in words like these: “It was necessary that the
word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it
from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles.”2796
For the Lord
hath said: “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.”2797
At that time
also the words of Jacob were fulfilled concerning Him, “A prince
shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until
He come for whom it is laid up,2798
| 2798 LXX. acc. to
one reading. | and He
shall be for the expectation of the nations.”2799
Well did David swear, well did he make
a vow saying: “Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my
house nor go up into my bed: I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or
slumber to my eyelids, or rest to the temples of my head,2800
| 2800 This clause comes
from the LXX. | until I find out a place for the Lord, an
habitation for the…God of Jacob.”2801
And immediately he explained the
object of his desire, seeing with prophetic eyes that He would come
whom we now believe to have come. “Lo we heard of Him at
Ephratah: we found Him in the fields of the wood.”2802
The Hebrew word Zo as have
learned from your lessons2803
| 2803 Jerome taught
Paula Hebrew. | means not
her, that is Mary the Lord’s mother, but him that
is the Lord Himself. Therefore he says boldly: “We will go into
His tabernacle: we will worship at His footstool.”2804
I too, miserable sinner though I am,
have been accounted worthy to kiss the manger in which the Lord cried
as a babe, and to pray in the cave in which the travailing virgin gave
birth to the infant Lord. “This is my rest” for it is my
Lord’s native place; “here will I dwell”2805
for this spot has my Saviour chosen.
“I have prepared a lamp for my Christ.”2806
“My soul shall live unto Him and
my seed shall serve Him.”2807
After this Paula went a short distance down the hill to
the tower of Edar,2808
that is
‘of the flock,’ near which Jacob fed his flocks, and where
the shepherds keeping watch by night were privileged to hear the words:
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward
men.”2809
While they were keeping their
sheep they found the Lamb of God; whose fleece bright and clean was
made wet with the dew of heaven when it was dry upon all the earth
beside,2810
and whose blood when sprinkled on
the doorposts drove off the destroyer of Egypt2811
and took away the sins of the world.2812
11. Then immediately quickening her pace she began to
move along the old road which leads to Gaza, that is to the
‘power’ or ‘wealth’ of God, silently meditating
on that type of the Gentiles, the Ethiopian eunuch, who in spite of the
prophet changed his skin2813
and whilst he
read the old testament found the fountain of the gospel.2814
Next turning to the right she passed
from Bethzur2815
| 2815 This town played
an important part in the wars of the Maccabees. | to Eshcol which means “a
cluster of grapes.” It was hence that the spies brought back that
marvellous cluster which was the proof of the fertility of the land2816
and a type of Him who says of Himself:
“I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the people there was
none with me.”2817
Shortly
afterwards she entered the home2818
| 2818 Cellulæ,
lit. ‘little cells.’ | of
Sarah and beheld the birthplace of Isaac and the traces of
Abraham’s oak under which he saw Christ’s day and was
glad.2819
And rising up from thence she went up
to Hebron, that is Kirjath-Arba, or the City of the Four Men. These are
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the great Adam whom the Hebrews suppose
(from the book of Joshua the son of Nun) to be buried there.2820
But many are of opinion that Caleb is
the fourth and a monument at one side is pointed out as his. After
seeing these places she did not care to go on to Kirjath-sepher, that
is “the village of letters;” because despising the letter
that killeth she had found the spirit that giveth life.2821
She admired more the upper springs and
the nether springs which Othniel the son of Kenaz the son of Jephunneh
received in place of a south land and a waterless possession,2822
and by the conducting of which he
watered the dry fields of the old covenant. For thus did he typify the
redemption which the sinner finds for his old sins in the waters of
baptism. On the next day soon after sunrise she stood upon the brow of
Capharbarucha,2823
that is,
“the house of blessing,” the point to which Abraham pursued
the Lord when he made intercession with Him.2824
And here, as she looked down upon the
wide solitude and upon the country once belonging to Sodom and
Gomorrah, to Admah and Zeboim, she beheld the balsam vines of Engedi
and Zoar. By Zoar I mean that “heifer of three years old”2825
which was formerly called Bela2826
and in Syriac is rendered Zoar that is
‘little.’ She called to mind the cave in which Lot found
refuge, and with tears in her eyes warned the virgins her companions to
beware of “wine wherein is excess;”2827
for it was to this that the Moabites
and Ammonites owe their origin.2828
12. I linger long in the land of the midday sun for it
was there and then that the spouse found her bridegroom at rest2829
and Joseph drank wine with his
brothers once more.2830
I will return
to Jerusalem and, passing through Tekoa the home of Amos,2831
I will look upon the glistening cross
of Mount Olivet from which the Saviour made His ascension to the
Father.2832
Here year by year a red heifer
was burned as a holocaust to the Lord and its ashes were used to purify
the children of Israel.2833
Here also
according to Ezekiel the Cherubim after leaving the temple founded the
church of the Lord.2834
After this Paula visited the tomb of Lazarus and beheld
the hospitable roof of Mary and Martha, as well as Bethphage,
‘the town of the priestly
jaws.’2835
| 2835 The jaw was the
priest’s portion and hence the epithet ‘priestly’: or
else Bethphage belonged to the priests. | Here it was that a restive foal
typical of the Gentiles received the bridle of God, and covered with
the garments of the apostles2836
offered its
lowly back2837
for Him to sit on. From this
she went straight on down the hill to Jericho thinking of the wounded
man in the gospel, of the savagery of the priests and Levites who
passed him by, and of the kindness of the Samaritan, that is, the
guardian, who placed the half-dead man upon his own beast and brought
him down to the inn of the church.2838
She
noticed the place called Adomim2839
or the
Place of Blood, so-called because much blood was shed there in the
frequent incursions of marauders. She beheld also the sycamore tree2840
of Zacchæus, by which is signified
the good works of repentance whereby he trod under foot his former sins
of bloodshed and rapine, and from which he saw the Most High as from a
pinnacle of virtue. She was shewn too the spot by the wayside where the
blind men sat who, receiving their sight from the Lord,2841
became types of the two peoples2842
| 2842 i.e. the
Jews and the Gentiles. | who should believe upon Him. Then
entering Jericho she saw the city which Hiel founded in Abiram his
firstborn and of which he set up the gates in his youngest son Segub.2843
She looked upon the camp of Gilgal
and the hill of the foreskins2844
suggestive of
the mystery of the second circumcision:2845
and she gazed at the twelve stones
brought thither out of the bed of Jordan2846
to be symbols of those twelve
foundations on which are written the names of the twelve apostles.2847
She saw also that fountain of the Law
most bitter and barren which the true Elisha healed by his wisdom
changing it into a well sweet and fertilising.2848
Scarcely had the night passed away
when burning with eagerness she hastened to the Jordan, stood by the
brink of the river, and as the sun rose recalled to mind the rising of
the sun of righteousness;2849
how the
priest’s feet stood firm in the middle of the river-bed;2850
how afterwards at the command of Elijah
and Elisha the waters were divided hither and thither and made way for
them to pass; and again how the Lord had cleansed by His baptism waters
which the deluge had polluted and the destruction of mankind had
defiled.
13. It would be tedious were I tell of the valley of
Achor, that is, of ‘trouble and crowds,’ where theft and
covetousness were condemned;2851
and of Bethel,
‘the house of God,’ where Jacob poor and destitute slept
upon the bare ground. Here it was that, having set beneath his head a
stone which in Zechariah is described as having seven eyes2852
and in Isaiah is spoken of as a
corner-stone,2853
he beheld a
ladder reaching up to heaven; yes, and the Lord standing high above
it2854
holding out His hand to such as were
ascending and hurling from on high such as were careless. Also when she
was in Mount Ephraim she made pilgrimages to the tombs of Joshua the
son of Nun and of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, exactly opposite
the one to the other; that of Joshua being built at Timnath-serah
“on the north side of the hill of Gaash,”2855
and that of Eleazar “in a hill
that pertained to Phinehas his son.”2856
She was somewhat surprised to find that
he who had had the distribution of the land in his own hands had
selected for himself portions uneven and rocky. What shall I say about
Shiloh where a ruined altar2857
is still
shewn to-day, and where the tribe of Benjamin anticipated Romulus in
the rape of the Sabine women?2858
Passing by
Shechem (not Sychar as many wrongly read2859
) or as it is now called Neapolis, she
entered the church built upon the side of Mount Gerizim around
Jacob’s well; that well where the Lord was sitting when hungry
and thirsty He was refreshed by the faith of the woman of Samaria.
Forsaking her five husbands by whom are intended the five books of
Moses, and that sixth not a husband of whom she boasted, to wit the
false teacher Dositheus,2860
| 2860 The founder of a
Samaritan sect akin to the Essenes. | she found the
true Messiah and the true Saviour. Turning away thence Paula saw the
tombs of the twelve patriarchs, and Samaria which in honour of Augustus
Herod renamed Augusta or in Greek Sebaste. There lie the prophets
Elisha and Obadiah and John the Baptist than whom there is not a
greater among those that are born of women.2861
And here she was filled with terror by
the marvels she beheld; for she saw demons screaming under different
tortures before the tombs of the saints, and men howling like wolves,
baying like dogs, roaring like lions, hissing like serpents and
bellowing like bulls. They twisted their heads and bent them backwards
until they touched the ground; women too were suspended head downward
and their clothes did not fall off.2862
Paula
pitied them all, and shedding tears over them prayed Christ to have
mercy on them. And weak as she was she climbed the mountain on foot;
for in two of its caves Obadiah in a time of persecution and famine had fed a hundred prophets with
bread and water.2863
Then she
passed quickly through Nazareth the nursery of the Lord; Cana and
Capernaum familiar with the signs wrought by Him; the lake of Tiberias
sanctified by His voyages upon it; the wilderness where countless
Gentiles were satisfied with a few loaves while the twelve baskets of
the tribes of Israel were filled with the fragments left by them that
had eaten.2864
She made the ascent of mount
Tabor whereon the Lord was transfigured.2865
| 2865 According to the
common tradition, but Hermon is more likely to have been the place. | In the distance she beheld the range of
Hermon;2866
| 2866 In the original
‘Hermon and the Hermons’; an allusion to the Hebrew text of
Ps. xlii. 6. | and the wide stretching plains
of Galilee where Sisera and all his host had once been overcome by
Barak; and the torrent2867
Kishon
separating the level ground into two parts. Hard by also the town of
Nain was pointed out to her, where the widow’s son was raised.2868
Time would fail me sooner than
speech were I to recount all the places to which the revered Paula was
carried by her incredible faith.
14. I will now pass on to Egypt, pausing for a while on
the way at Socoh, and at Samson’s well which he clave in the
hollow place that was in the jaw.2869
Here I
will lave my parched lips and refresh myself before visiting Moresheth;
in old days famed for the tomb of the prophet Micah,2870
and now for its church. Then skirting
the country of the Horites and Gittites, Mareshah, Edom, and Lachish,
and traversing the lonely wastes of the desert where the tracks of the
traveller are lost in the yielding sand, I will come to the river of
Egypt called Sihor,2871
that is
“the muddy river,” and go through the five cities of Egypt
which speak the language of Canaan,2872
and
through the land of Goshen and the plains of Zoan2873
on which God wrought his marvellous
works. And I will visit the city of No, which has since become
Alexandria;2874
| 2874 A mistake: No
is Thebes. | and Nitria, the town of the
Lord, where day by day the filth of multitudes is washed away with the
pure nitre of virtue. No sooner did Paula come in sight of it than
there came to meet her the reverend and estimable bishop, the confessor
Isidore, accompanied by countless multitudes of monks many of whom were
of priestly or of Levitical rank.2875
| 2875 i.e.
presbyters and deacons. Cf. § 29, infra. | On
seeing these Paula rejoiced to behold the Lord’s glory manifested
in them; but protested that she had no claim to be received with such
honour. Need I speak of the Macarii, Arsenius, Serapion,2876
| 2876 At that time
the most famous of the Egyptian hermits. | or other pillars of Christ! Was there
any cell that she did not enter? Or any man at whose feet she did not
throw herself? In each of His saints she believed that she saw Christ
Himself; and whatever she bestowed upon them she rejoiced to feel that
she had bestowed it upon the Lord. Her enthusiasm was wonderful and her
endurance scarcely credible in a woman. Forgetful of her sex and of her
weakness she even desired to make her abode, together with the girls
who accompanied her, among these thousands of monks. And, as they were
all willing to welcome her, she might perhaps have sought and obtained
permission to do so; had she not been drawn away by a still greater
passion for the holy places. Coming by sea from Pelusium to Maioma on
account of the great heat, she returned so rapidly that you would have
thought her a bird. Not long afterwards, making up her mind to dwell
permanently in holy Bethlehem, she took up her abode for three years in
a miserable hostelry; till she could build the requisite cells and
monastic buildings, to say nothing of a guest house for passing
travellers where they might find the welcome which Mary and Joseph had
missed. At this point I conclude my narrative of the journeys that she
made accompanied by Eustochium and many other virgins.
15. I am now free to describe at greater length the
virtue which was her peculiar charm; and in setting forth this I call
God to witness that I am no flatterer. I add nothing. I exaggerate
nothing. On the contrary I tone down much that I may not appear to
relate incredibilities. My carping critics must not insinuate that I am
drawing on my imagination or decking Paula, like Æsop’s
crow, with the fine feathers of other birds. Humility is the first of
Christian graces, and hers was so pronounced that one who had never
seen her, and who on account of her celebrity had desired to see her,
would have believed that he saw not her but the lowest of her maids.
When she was surrounded by companies of virgins she was always the
least remarkable in dress, in speech, in gesture, and in gait. From the
time that her husband died until she fell asleep herself she never sat
at meat with a man, even though she might know him to stand upon the
pinnacle of the episcopate. She never entered a bath except when
dangerously ill. Even in the severest fever she rested not on an
ordinary bed but on the hard ground covered only with a mat of
goat’s hair; if that can be called rest which made day and night
alike a time of almost unbroken prayer. Well did she fulfil the words
of the psalter: “All the night make I my bed to swim; I water my
couch with my tears”!2877
Her tears welled forth as it were from
fountains, and she lamented her slightest faults as if they were sins
of the deepest dye. Constantly did I warn her to spare her eyes and to
keep them for the reading of the gospel; but she only said: ‘I
must disfigure that face which contrary to God’s commandment I
have painted with rouge, white lead, and antimony. I must mortify that
body which has been given up to many pleasures. I must make up for my
long laughter by constant weeping. I must exchange my soft linen and
costly silks for rough goat’s hair. I who have pleased my husband
and the world in the past, desire now to please Christ.’ Were I
among her great and signal virtues to select her chastity as a subject
of praise, my words would seem superfluous; for, even when she was
still in the world, she set an example to all the matrons of Rome, and
bore herself so admirably that the most slanderous never ventured to
couple scandal with her name.2878
| 2878
Jerome’s own name had been coupled with Paula’s when they
both lived at Rome, but he was able to shew that his relations with her
were wholly innocent. | No mind
could be more considerate than hers, or none kinder towards the lowly.
She did not court the powerful; at the same time, if the proud and the
vainglorious sought her, she did not turn from them with disdain. If
she saw a poor man, she supported him: and if she saw a rich one, she
urged him to do good. Her liberality alone knew no bounds. Indeed, so
anxious was she to turn no needy person away that she borrowed money at
interest and often contracted new loans to pay off old ones. I was
wrong, I admit; but when I saw her so profuse in giving, I reproved her
alleging the apostle’s words: “I mean not that other men be
eased and ye burthened; but by an equality that now at this time your
abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may
be a supply for your want.”2879
I
quoted from the gospel the Saviour’s words: “he that hath
two coats, let him impart one of them to him that hath none”;2880
| 2880 Luke iii. 11. The word alteram, one of two
(therefore, Jerome means, retaining the second) is found in the Syriac
Version of Cureton. It is not found in the Vulgate. | and I warned her that she might not
always have means to do as she would wish. Other arguments I adduced to
the same purpose; but with admirable modesty and brevity she overruled
them all. “God is my witness,” she said, “that what I
do I do for His sake. My prayer is that I may die a beggar not leaving
a penny to my daughter and indebted to strangers for my winding
sheet.” She then concluded with these words: “I, if I beg,
shall find many to give to me; but if this beggar does not obtain help
from me who by borrowing can give it to him, he will die; and if he
dies, of whom will his soul be required?” I wished her to be more
careful in managing her concerns, but she with a faith more glowing
than mine clave to the Saviour with her whole heart and poor in spirit
followed the Lord in His poverty, giving back to Him what she had
received and becoming poor for His sake. She obtained her wish at last
and died leaving her daughter overwhelmed with a mass of debt. This
Eustochium still owes and indeed cannot hope to pay off by her own
exertions; only the mercy of Christ can free her from it.
16. Many married ladies make it a habit to confer gifts
upon their own trumpeters, and while they are extremely profuse to a
few, withhold all help from the many. From this fault Paula was
altogether free. She gave her money to each according as each had need,
not ministering to self-indulgence but relieving want. No poor person
went away from her empty handed. And all this she was enabled to do not
by the greatness of her wealth but by her careful management of it. She
constantly had on her lips such phrases as these: “Blessed are
the merciful for they shall obtain mercy:”2881
and “water will quench a
flaming fire; and alms maketh an atonement for sins;”2882
and “make to yourselves
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that…they may receive
you into everlasting habitations;”2883
and “give alms…and
behold all things are clean unto you;”2884
and Daniel’s words to King
Nebuchadnezzar in which he admonished him to redeem his sins by
almsgiving.2885
She wished to spend her money
not upon these stones, that shall pass away with the earth and the
world, but upon those living stones, which roll over the earth;2886
of which in the apocalypse of John
the city of the great king is built;2887
of
which also the scripture tells us that they shall be changed into
sapphire and emerald and jasper and other gems.2888
17. But these qualities she may well share with a few
others and the devil knows that it is not in these that the highest
virtue consists. For, when Job has lost his substance and when his
house and children have been destroyed, Satan says to the Lord:
“Skin for skin, yea all that a man hath, will he give for his
life. But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh,
and he will curse thee to thy face.”2889
We know that many persons while they
have given alms have yet given nothing which touches their bodily
comfort; and while they have held out a helping hand to those in need
are themselves overcome with sensual indulgences; they whitewash the outside but within they are
“full of dead men’s bones.”2890
Paula was not one of these. Her
self-restraint was so great as to be almost immoderate; and her fasts
and labours were so severe as almost to weaken her constitution. Except
on feast days she would scarcely ever take oil with her food; a fact
from which may be judged what she thought of wine, sauce, fish, honey,
milk, eggs, and other things agreeable to the palate. Some persons
believe that in taking these they are extremely frugal; and, even if
they surfeit themselves with them, they still fancy their chastity
safe.
18. Envy always follows in the track of virtue: as
Horace says, it is ever the mountain top that is smitten by the
lightning.2891
It is not surprising that I
declare this of men and women, when the jealousy of the Pharisees
succeeded in crucifying our Lord Himself. All the saints have had
illwishers, and even Paradise was not free from the serpent through
whose malice death came into the world.2892
So the Lord stirred up against Paula
Hadad the Edomite2893
to buffet
her that she might not be exalted, and warned her frequently by the
thorn in her flesh2894
not to be
elated by the greatness of her own virtues or to fancy that, compared
with other women, she had attained the summit of perfection. For my
part I used to say that it was best to give in to rancour and to retire
before passion. So Jacob dealt with his brother Esau; so David met the
unrelenting persecution of Saul. I reminded her how the first of these
fled into Mesopotamia;2895
and how the
second surrendered himself to the Philistines,2896
and chose to submit to foreign foes
rather than to enemies at home. She however replied as
follows:—‘Your suggestion would be a wise one if the devil
did not everywhere fight against God’s servants and handmaidens,
and did he not always precede the fugitives to their chosen refuges.
Moreover, I am deterred from accepting it by my love for the holy
places; and I cannot find another Bethlehem elsewhere. Why may I not by
my patience conquer this ill will? Why may I not by my humility break
down this pride, and when I am smitten on the one cheek offer to the
smiter the other?2897
Surely the
apostle Paul says “Overcome evil with good.”2898
Did not the apostles glory when they
suffered reproach for the Lord’s sake? Did not even the Saviour
humble Himself, taking the form of a servant and being made obedient to
the Father unto death, even the death of the cross,2899
that He might save us by His passion?
If Job had not fought the battle and won the victory, he would never
have received the crown of righteousness, or have heard the Lord say:
“Thinkest thou that I have spoken unto thee for aught else than
this, that thou mightest appear righteous.”2900
In the gospel those only are said to be
blessed who suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake.2901
My conscience is at rest, and I know that
it is not from any fault of mine that I am suffering; moreover
affliction in this world is a ground for expecting a reward
hereafter.’ When the enemy was more than usually forward and
ventured to reproach her to her face, she used to chant the words of
the psalter: “While the wicked was before me, I was dumb with
silence; I held my peace even from good:”2902
and again, “I as a deaf man heard not; and I was as a dumb man
that openeth not his mouth:”2903
and
“I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no
reproofs.”2904
When she felt
herself tempted, she dwelt upon the words in Deuteronomy: “The
Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul.”2905
In tribulations and afflictions she turned
to the splendid language of Isaiah: “Ye that are weaned from the
milk and drawn from the breasts, look for tribulation upon tribulation,
for hope also upon hope: yet a little while must these things be by
reason of the malice of the lips and by reason of a spiteful
tongue.”2906
This passage of
scripture she explained for her own consolation as meaning that the
weaned, that is, those who have come to full age, must endure
tribulation upon tribulation that they may be accounted worthy to
receive hope upon hope. She recalled to mind also the words of the
apostle, “we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation
worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope: and
hope maketh not ashamed”2907
and
“though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day
by day”:2908
and “our
light affliction which is but for a moment worketh in us2909
an eternal weight of glory; while we look
not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen:
for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not
seen are eternal.”2910
She used to say
that, although to human impatience the time might seem slow in coming,
yet that it would not be long but that presently help would come from
God who says: “In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a
day of salvation have I helped thee.”2911
We ought
not, she declared, to dread the deceitful lips and tongues of the
wicked, for we rejoice in the aid of the Lord who warns us by His
prophet: “fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid
of their revilings; for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and
the worm shall eat them like wool”:2912
and she quoted His own words, “In your patience ye shall win your
souls”:2913
as well as
those of the apostle, “the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
us”:2914
and in another place, “we are
to suffer affliction”2915
that we may be
patient in all things that befall us, for “he that is slow to
wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit
exalteth folly.”2916
19. In her frequent sicknesses and infirmities she used
to say, “when I am weak, then am I strong:”2917
“we have our treasure in earthen
vessels”2918
until
“this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal
shall have put on immortality”2919
and again
“as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation
also aboundeth by Christ:”2920
and then as
ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the
consolation.2921
In sorrow she used to sing:
“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted
within me? hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the
health of my countenance and my God.”2922
In the hour of danger she used to say:
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up
his cross and follow me:”2923
and again
“whosoever will save his life shall lose it,” and
“whosoever will lose his life for my sake the same shall save
it.”2924
When the exhaustion of her
substance and the ruin of her property were announced to her she only
said: “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world
and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul:”2925
and “naked came I out of my
mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord:”2926
and Saint John’s words,
“Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. For
all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the world passeth away and the lust thereof.”2927
I know that when word was sent to her
of the serious illnesses of her children and particularly of Toxotius
whom she dearly loved, she first by her self-control fulfilled the
saying: “I was troubled and I did not speak,”2928
and then cried out in the words of
scripture, “He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me.”2929
And she prayed
to the Lord and said: Lord “preserve thou the children of those
that are appointed to die,”2930
that is, of
those who for thy sake every day die bodily. I am aware that a
talebearer—a class of persons who do a great deal of
harm—once told her as a kindness that owing to her great fervour
in virtue some people thought her mad and declared that something
should be done for her head. She replied in the words of the apostle,
“we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to
men,”2931
and “we are fools for
Christ’s sake”2932
but “the
foolishness of God is wiser than men.”2933
It is for this reason she said that
even the Saviour says to the Father, “Thou knowest my
foolishness,”2934
and again
“I am as a wonder unto many, but thou art my strong
refuge.”2935
“I was as
a beast before thee; nevertheless I am continually with thee.”2936
In the gospel we read that even His
kinsfolk desired to bind Him as one of weak mind.2937
His opponents also reviled him saying
“thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil,”2938
and another time “he casteth
out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.”2939
But let us, she continued, listen to
the exhortation of the apostle, “Our rejoicing is this, the
testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and sincerity…by
the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world.”2940
And let us hear the Lord when He says to
His apostles, “If ye were of the world the world would love his
own; but because ye are not of the world…therefore the world
hateth you.”2941
And then she
turned to the Lord Himself, saying, “Thou knowest the secrets of
the heart,”2942
and “all
this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we
dealt falsely in thy covenant; our heart is not turned back.”2943
“Yea for thy sake are we killed
all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.”2944
But “the Lord is on my side: I
will not fear what man doeth unto me.”2945
She had read the words of Solomon, “My son, honour the Lord and
thou shalt be made strong; and beside the Lord fear thou no
man.”2946
These passages and others like
them she used as God’s armour against the assaults of wickedness,
and particularly to defend herself against the furious onslaughts of
envy; and thus by patiently enduring wrongs she soothed the violence of
the most savage breasts. Down to the very day of her death two things were conspicuous in
her life, one her great patience and the other the jealousy which was
manifested towards her. Now jealousy gnaws the heart of him who
harbours it: and while it strives to injure its rival raves with all
the force of its fury against itself.
20. I shall now describe the order of her monastery and
the method by which she turned the continence of saintly souls to her
own profit. She sowed carnal things that she might reap spiritual
things;2947
she gave earthly things that she
might receive heavenly things; she forewent things temporal that she
might in their stead obtain things eternal. Besides establishing a
monastery for men, the charge of which she left to men, she divided
into three companies and monasteries the numerous virgins whom she had
gathered out of different provinces, some of whom are of noble birth
while others belonged to the middle or lower classes. But, although
they worked and had their meals separately from each other, these three
companies met together for psalm-singing and prayer. After the chanting
of the Alleluia—the signal by which they were summoned to the
Collect2948
| 2948 The Gathering;
perhaps used, like the Greek σύνοδος, for the
Communion. The opening prayer came thus to be called The Collect. See
note on Letter LI. § 1. | —no one was permitted to
remain behind. But either first or among the first Paula used to await
the arrival of the rest, urging them to diligence rather by her own
modest example than by motives of fear. At dawn, at the third, sixth,
and ninth hours, at evening, and at midnight they recited the psalter
each in turn.2949
| 2949 For the canonical
hours see note on Letter XXII. § 37. | No sister was
allowed to be ignorant of the psalms, and all had every day to learn a
certain portion of the holy scriptures. On the Lord’s day only
they proceeded to the church beside which they lived, each company
following its own mother-superior. Returning home in the same order,
they then devoted themselves to their allotted tasks, and made garments
either for themselves or else for others. If a virgin was of noble
birth, she was not allowed to have an attendant belonging to her own
household lest her maid having her mind full of the doings of old days
and of the license of childhood might by constant converse open old
wounds and renew former errors. All the sisters were clothed alike.
Linen was not used except for drying the hands. So strictly did Paula
separate them from men that she would not allow even eunuchs to
approach them; lest she should give occasion to slanderous tongues
(always ready to cavil at the religious) to console themselves for
their own misdoing. When a sister was backward in coming to the
recitation of the psalms or shewed herself remiss in her work, Paula
used to approach her in different ways. Was she quick-tempered? Paula
coaxed her. Was she phlegmatic? Paula chid her, copying the example of
the apostle who said: “What will ye? Shall I come to you with a
rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness?”2950
Apart from food and raiment she allowed no
one to have anything she could call her own, for Paul had said,
“Having food and raiment let us be therewith content.”2951
She was afraid lest the custom of having
more should breed covetousness in them; an appetite which no wealth can
satisfy, for the more it has the more it requires, and neither opulence
nor indigence is able to diminish it.2952
When the sisters quarrelled one with another she reconciled them with
soothing words. If the younger ones were troubled with fleshly desires,
she broke their force by imposing redoubled fasts; for she wished her
virgins to be ill in body rather than to suffer in soul. If she chanced
to notice any sister too attentive to her dress, she reproved her for
her error with knitted brows and severe looks, saying; “a clean
body and a clean dress mean an unclean soul. A virgin’s lips
should never utter an improper or an impure word, for such indicate a
lascivious mind and by the outward man the faults of the inward are
made manifest.” When she saw a sister verbose and talkative or
forward and taking pleasure in quarrels, and when she found after
frequent admonitions that the offender shewed no signs of improvement;
she placed her among the lowest of the sisters and outside their
society, ordering her to pray at the door of the refectory instead of
with the rest, and commanding her to take her food by herself, in the
hope that where rebuke had failed shame might bring about a
reformation. The sin of theft she loathed as if it were sacrilege; and
that which among men of the world is counted little or nothing she
declared to be in a monastery a crime of the deepest dye. How shall I
describe her kindness and attention towards the sick or the wonderful
care and devotion with which she nursed them? Yet, although when others
were sick she freely gave them every indulgence, and even allowed them
to eat meat; when she fell ill herself, she made no concessions to her
own weakness, and seemed unfairly to change in her own case to
harshness the kindness which she was always ready to shew to
others.
21. No young girl of sound and vigorous constitution
could have delivered herself up to a regimen so rigid as that imposed
upon herself by Paula whose
physical powers age had impaired and enfeebled. I admit that in this
she was too determined, refusing to spare herself or to listen to
advice. I will relate what I know to be a fact. In the extreme heat of
the month of July she was once attacked by a violent fever and we
despaired of her life. However by God’s mercy she rallied, and
the doctors urged upon her the necessity of taking a little light wine
to accelerate her recovery; saying that if she continued to drink water
they feared that she might become dropsical. I on my side secretly
appealed to the blessed pope Epiphanius to admonish, nay even to compel
her, to take the wine. But she with her usual sagacity and quickness at
once perceived the stratagem, and with a smile let him see that the
advice he was giving her was after all not his but mine. Not to waste
more words, the blessed prelate after many exhortations left her
chamber; and, when I asked him what he had accomplished, replied,
“Only this that old as I am I have been almost persuaded to drink
no more wine.” I relate this story not because I approve of
persons rashly taking upon themselves burthens beyond their strength
(for does not the scripture say: “Burden not thyself above thy
power”?2953
) but because I
wish from this quality of perseverance in her to shew the passion of
her mind and the yearning of her believing soul; both of which made her
sing in David’s words, “My soul thirsteth for thee, my
flesh longeth after thee.”2954
Difficult
as it is always to avoid extremes, the philosophers2955
| 2955 e.g.
Aristotle, E.N. ii. 6. | are quite right in their opinion that
virtue is a mean and vice an excess, or as we may express it in one
short sentence “In nothing too much.”2956
| 2956 Ne quid nimis, in
Greek Μηδὲν
ἄγαν. | While thus unyielding in her contempt for
food Paula was easily moved to sorrow and felt crushed by the deaths of
her kinsfolk, especially those of her children. When one after another
her husband and her daughters fell asleep, on each occasion the shock
of their loss endangered her life. And although she signed her mouth
and her breast with the sign of the cross, and endeavoured thus to
alleviate a mother’s grief; her feelings overpowered her and her
maternal instincts were too much for her confiding mind. Thus while her
intellect retained its mastery she was overcome by sheer physical
weakness. On one occasion a sickness seized her and clung to her so
long that it brought anxiety to us and danger to herself. Yet even then
she was full of joy and repeated every moment the apostle’s
words: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?”2957
The careful reader may say that my words are an
invective rather than an eulogy. I call that Jesus whom she served and
whom I desire to serve to be my witness that so far from unduly
eulogizing her or depreciating her I tell the truth about her as one
Christian writing of another; that I am writing a memoir and not a
panegyric, and that what were faults in her might well be virtues in
others less saintly. I speak thus of her faults to satisfy my own
feelings and the passionate regret of us her brothers and sisters, who
all of us love her still and all of us deplore her loss.
22. However, she has finished her course, she has kept
the faith, and now she enjoys the crown of righteousness.2958
She follows the Lamb whithersoever he
goes.2959
She is filled now because once she was
hungry.2960
With joy does she sing: “as we
have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the
city of our God.”2961
O blessed
change! Once she wept but now laughs for evermore. Once she despised
the broken cisterns of which the prophet speaks;2962
but now she has found in the Lord a
fountain of life.2963
Once she wore
haircloth but now she is clothed in white raiment, and can say:
“thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with
gladness.”2964
Once she ate
ashes like bread and mingled her drink with weeping;2965
saying “my tears have been my meat
day and night;”2966
but now for all
time she eats the bread of angels2967
and
sings: “O taste and see that the Lord is good;”2968
and “my heart is overflowing
with a goodly matter; I speak the things which I have made touching the
king.”2969
She now sees fulfilled
Isaiah’s words, or rather those of the Lord speaking through
Isaiah: “Behold, my servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry:
behold, my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my
servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: behold, my servants
shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and
shall howl for vexation of spirit.”2970
I have said that she always shunned the broken cisterns: she did so
that she might find in the Lord a fountain of life, and that she might
rejoice and sing: “as the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so
panteth my soul after Thee, O God. When shall I come and appear before
God?”2971
23. I must briefly mention the manner in which she
avoided the foul cisterns of the heretics whom she regarded as no
better than heathen. A certain cunning knave, in his own estimation
both learned and clever, began without my knowledge to put to her such questions
as these: What sin has an infant committed that it should be seized by
the devil? Shall we be young or old when we rise again? If we die young
and rise young, we shall after the resurrection require to have nurses.
If however we die young and rise old, the dead will not rise again at
all: they will be transformed into new beings. Will there be a
distinction of sexes in the next world? Or will there be no such
distinction? If the distinction continues, there will be wedlock and
sexual intercourse and procreation of children. If however it does not
continue, the bodies that rise again will not be the same. For, he
argued, “the earthy tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth
upon many things,”2972
but the bodies
that we shall have in heaven will be subtle and spiritual according to
the words of the apostle: “it is sown a natural body: it is
raised a spiritual body.”2973
From all
of which considerations he sought to prove that rational creatures have
been for their faults and previous sins subjected to bodily conditions;
and that according to the nature and guilt of their transgression they
are born in this or that state of life. Some, he said, rejoice in sound
bodies and wealthy and noble parents; others have for their portion
diseased frames and poverty stricken homes; and by imprisonment in the
present world and in bodies pay the penalty of their former sins. Paula
listened and reported what she heard to me, at the same time pointing
out the man. Thus upon me was laid the task of opposing this most
noxious viper and deadly pest. It is of such that the Psalmist speaks
when he writes: “deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove unto the
wild beast,”2974
and
“Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds;”2975
creatures who write iniquity and speak
lies against the Lord and lift up their mouths against the Most High.
As the fellow had tried to deceive Paula, I at her request went to him,
and by asking him a few questions involved him in a dilemma. Do you
believe, said I, that there will be a resurrection of the dead or do
you disbelieve? He replied, I believe. I went on: Will the bodies that
rise again be the same or different? He said, The same. Then I asked:
What of their sex? Will that remain unaltered or will it be changed? At
this question he became silent and swayed his head this way and that as
a serpent does to avoid being struck. Accordingly I continued, As you
have nothing to say I will answer for you and will draw the conclusion
from your premises. If the woman shall not rise again as a woman nor
the man as a man, there will be no resurrection of the dead. For the
body is made up of sex and members. But if there shall be no sex and no
members what will become of the resurrection of the body, which cannot
exist without sex and members? And if there shall be no resurrection of
the body, there can be no resurrection of the dead. But as to your
objection taken from marriage, that, if the members shall remain the
same, marriage must inevitably be allowed; it is disposed of by the
Saviour’s words: “ye do err not knowing the scriptures nor
the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are
given in marriage but are as the angels.”2976
When it is said that they neither marry
nor are given in marriage, the distinction of sex is shewn to persist.
For no one says of things which have no capacity for marriage such as a
stick or a stone that they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but
this may well be said of those who while they can marry yet abstain
from doing so by their own virtue and by the grace of Christ. But if
you cavil at this and say, how shall we in that case be like the angels
with whom there is neither male nor female, hear my answer in brief as
follows. What the Lord promises to us is not the nature of angels but
their mode of life and their bliss. And therefore John the Baptist is
called an angel2977
even before
he is beheaded, and all God’s holy men and virgins manifest in
themselves even in this world the life of angels. When it is said
“ye shall be like the angels,” likeness only is promised
and not a change of nature.
24. And now do you in your turn answer me these
questions. How do you explain the fact that Thomas felt the hands of
the risen Lord and beheld His side pierced by the spear?2978
And the fact that Peter saw the Lord
standing on the shore2979
and eating a
piece of a roasted fish and a honeycomb.2980
If He stood, He must certainly have had
feet. If He pointed to His wounded side He must have also had chest and
belly for to these the sides are attached and without them they cannot
be. If He spoke, He must have used a tongue and palate and teeth. For
as the bow strikes the strings, so to produce vocal sound does the
tongue come in contact with the teeth. If His hands were felt, it
follows that He must have had arms as well. Since therefore it is
admitted that He had all the members which go to make up the body, He
must have also had the whole body formed of them, and that not a
woman’s but a man’s; that is to say, He rose again in the
sex in which He died. And if you cavil farther and say: We shall eat
then, I suppose, after the
resurrection; or How can a solid and material body enter in contrary to
its nature through closed doors? you shall receive from me this reply.
Do not for this matter of food find fault with belief in the
resurrection: for our Lord after raising the daughter of the ruler of
the synagogue commanded food to be given her.2981
And Lazarus who had been dead four days
is described as sitting at meat with Him,2982
the object in both cases being to shew
that the resurrection was real and not merely apparent. And if from our
Lord’s entering in through closed doors2983
you strive to prove that His body was
spiritual and aerial, He must have had this spiritual body even before
He suffered; since—contrary to the nature of heavy
bodies—He was able to walk upon the sea.2984
The apostle Peter also must be
believed to have had a spiritual body for he also walked upon the
waters with buoyant step.2985
The true
explanation is that when anything is done against nature, it is a
manifestation of God’s might and power. And to shew plainly that
in these great signs our attention is asked not to a change in nature
but to the almighty power of God, he who by faith had walked on water
began to sink for the want of it and would have done so had not the
Lord lifted him up with the reproving words, “O thou of little
faith wherefore didst thou doubt?”2986
I wonder that you can display such
effrontery when the Lord Himself said, “reach hither thy finger,
and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my
side: and be not faithless but believing,”2987
and in another place, “behold
my hands and my feet that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. And when he had thus
spoken he shewed them his hands and his feet.”2988
You hear Him speak of bones and
flesh, of feet and hands; and yet you want to palm off on me the
bubbles and airy nothings of which the stoics rave!2989
| 2989 Globos stoicorum
atque aëria quædam deliramenta. |
25. Moreover, if you ask how it is that a mere infant
which has never sinned is seized by the devil, or at what age we shall
rise again seeing that we die at different ages; my only
answer—an unwelcome one, I fancy—will be in the words of
scripture: “The judgments of God are a great deep,”2990
and “O the depth of the riches both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments,
and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord?
or who hath been his counsellor?”2991
No difference of age can affect the reality of the body. Although our
frames are in a perpetual flux and lose or gain daily, these changes do
not make us different individuals. I was not one person at ten years
old, another at thirty and another at fifty; nor am I another now when
all my head is gray.2992
| 2992 Jerome was at this
time about 60 years old. | According to
the traditions of the church and the teaching of the apostle Paul, the
answer must be this; that we shall rise as perfect men in the measure
of the stature of the fulness of Christ.2993
At this age the Jews suppose Adam to
have been created and at this age we read that the Lord and Saviour
rose again. Many other arguments did I adduce from both testaments to
stifle the outcry of this heretic.
26. From that day forward so profoundly did Paula
commence to loathe the man—and all who agreed with him in his
doctrines—that she publicly proclaimed them as enemies of the
Lord. I have related this incident less with the design of confuting in
a few words a heresy which would require volumes to confute it, than
with the object of shewing the great faith of this saintly woman who
preferred to subject herself to perpetual hostility from men rather
than by friendships hurtful to herself to provoke or to offend God.
27. To revert then to that description of her character
which I began a little time ago; no mind was ever more docile than was
hers. She was slow to speak and swift to hear,2994
remembering the precept, “Keep
silence and hearken, O Israel.”2995
The holy scriptures she knew by heart, and said of the history
contained in them that it was the foundation of the truth; but, though
she loved even this, she still preferred to seek for the underlying
spiritual meaning and made this the keystone of the spiritual building
raised within her soul. She asked leave that she and her daughter might
read over the old and new testaments2996
| 2996 Vetus et novum
instrumentum. | under my
guidance. Out of modesty I at first refused compliance, but as she
persisted in her demand and frequently urged me to consent to it, I at
last did so and taught her what I had learned not from myself—for
self-confidence is the worst of teachers—but from the
church’s most famous writers. Wherever I stuck fast and honestly
confessed myself at fault she would by no means rest content but would
force me by fresh questions to point out to her which of many different
solutions seemed to me the most probable. I will mention here another
fact which to those who are envious may well seem incredible. While I
myself beginning as a young man have with much toil and effort
partially acquired the Hebrew tongue and study it now unceasingly lest if I leave it, it also may
leave me; Paula, on making up her mind that she too would learn it,
succeeded so well that she could chant the psalms in Hebrew and could
speak the language without a trace of the pronunciation peculiar to
Latin. The same accomplishment can be seen to this day in her daughter
Eustochium, who always kept close to her mother’s side, obeyed
all her commands, never slept apart from her, never walked abroad or
took a meal without her, never had a penny that she could call her own,
rejoiced when her mother gave to the poor her little patrimony, and
fully believed that in filial affection she had the best heritage and
the truest riches. I must not pass over in silence the joy which Paula
felt when she heard her little granddaughter and namesake, the child of
Laeta and Toxotius—who was born and I may even say conceived in
answer to a vow of her parents dedicating her to virginity—when,
I say, she heard the little one in her cradle sing
“alleluia” and falter out the words
“grandmother” and “aunt.” One wish alone made
her long to see her native land again; that she might know her son and
his wife and child2997
| 2997 Toxotius, Laeta,
the younger Paula. Comp. Letter CVII. | to have
renounced the world and to be serving Christ. And it has been granted
to her in part. For while her granddaughter is destined to take the
veil, her daughter-in-law has vowed herself to perpetual chastity, and
by faith and alms emulates the example that her mother has set her. She
strives to exhibit at Rome the virtues which Paula set forth in all
their fulness at Jerusalem.
28. What ails thee, my soul? Why dost thou shudder to
approach her death? I have made my letter longer than it should be
already; dreading to come to the end and vainly supposing that by
saying nothing of it and by occupying myself with her praises I could
postpone the evil day. Hitherto the wind has been all in my favour and
my keel has smoothly ploughed through the heaving waves. But now my
speech is running upon the rocks, the billows are mountains high, and
imminent shipwreck awaits both you and me. We must needs cry out:
“Master; save us we perish:”2998
and “awake, why sleepest thou, O
Lord?”2999
For who could tell the tale of
Paula’s dying with dry eyes? She fell into a most serious illness
and thus gained what she most desired, power to leave us and to be
joined more fully to the Lord. Eustochium’s affection for her
mother, always true and tried, in this time of sickness approved itself
still more to all. She sat by Paula’s bedside, she fanned her,
she supported her head, she arranged her pillows, she chafed her feet,
she rubbed her stomach, she smoothed down the bedclothes, she heated
hot water, she brought towels. In fact she anticipated the servants in
all their duties, and when one of them did anything she regarded it as
so much taken away from her own gain. How unceasingly she prayed, how
copiously she wept, how constantly she ran to and fro between her
prostrate mother and the cave of the Lord! imploring God that she might
not be deprived of a companion so dear, that if Paula was to die she
might herself no longer live, and that one bier might carry to burial
her and her mother. Alas for the frailty and perishableness of human
nature! Except that our belief in Christ raises us up to heaven and
promises eternity to our souls, the physical conditions of life are the
same for us as for the brutes. “There is one event to the
righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the evil; to the clean
and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth
not: as is the good so is the sinner; and he that sweareth as he that
feareth an oath.”3000
Man and beast alike
are dissolved into dust and ashes.
29. Why do I still linger, and prolong my suffering by
postponing it? Paula’s intelligence shewed her that her death was
near. Her body and limbs grew cold and only in her holy breast did the
warm beat of the living soul continue. Yet, as though she were leaving
strangers to go home to her own people, she whispered the verses of the
psalmist: “Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the
place where thine honour dwelleth,”3001
and “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul
longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord,”3002
and “I had rather be an outcast in
the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”3003
When I asked her why she remained silent
refusing to answer my call,3004
| 3004 For the technical
meaning of inclamatio vide Virg. A. 1. 219, with
Conington’s note. | and whether she
was in pain, she replied in Greek that she had no suffering and that
all things were to her eyes calm and tranquil. After this she said no
more but closed her eyes as though she already despised all mortal
things, and kept repeating the verses just quoted down to the moment in
which she breathed out her soul, but in a tone so low that we could
scarcely hear what she said. Raising her finger also to her mouth she
made the sign of the cross upon her lips. Then her breath failed her
and she gasped for death; yet even when her soul was eager to break
free, she turned the death-rattle (which comes at last to all) into the praise of the Lord.
The bishop of Jerusalem and some from other cities were present, also a
great number of the inferior clergy, both priests and levites.3005
| 3005 i.e. presbyters
and deacons—see § 14 above. | The entire monastery was filled with bodies
of virgins and monks. As soon as Paula heard the bridegroom saying:
“Rise up my love my fair one, my dove, and come away: for, lo,
the winter is past, the rain is over and gone,” she answered
joyfully “the flowers appear on the earth; the time to cut them
has come”3006
and “I
believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the
living.”3007
30. No weeping or lamentation followed her death, such
as are the custom of the world; but all present united in chanting the
psalms in their several tongues. The bishops lifted up the dead woman
with their own hands, placed her upon a bier, and carrying her on their
shoulders to the church in the cave of the Saviour, laid her down in
the centre of it. Other bishops meantime carried torches and tapers in
the procession, and yet others led the singing of the choirs. The whole
population of the cities of Palestine came to her funeral. Not a single
monk lurked in the desert or lingered in his cell. Not a single virgin
remained shut up in the seclusion of her chamber. To each and all it
would have seemed sacrilege to have withheld the last tokens of respect
from a woman so saintly. As in the case of Dorcas,3008
the widows and the poor shewed the
garments Paula had given them; while the destitute cried aloud that
they had lost in her a mother and a nurse. Strange to say, the paleness
of death had not altered her expression; only a certain solemnity and
seriousness had overspread her features. You would have thought her not
dead but asleep.
One after another they chanted the psalms, now in Greek,
now in Latin, now in Syriac; and this not merely for the three days
which elapsed before she was buried beneath the church and close to the
cave of the Lord, but throughout the remainder of the week. All who
were assembled felt that it was their own funeral at which they were
assisting, and shed tears as if they themselves had died. Paula’s
daughter, the revered virgin Eustochium, “as a child that is
weaned of his mother,”3009
could not be torn
away from her parent. She kissed her eyes, pressed her lips upon her
brow, embraced her frame, and wished for nothing better than to be
buried with her.
31. Jesus is witness that Paula has left not a single
penny to her daughter but, as I said before, on the contrary a large
mass of debt; and, worse even than this, a crowd of brothers and
sisters whom it is hard for her to support but whom it would be
undutiful to cast off. Could there be a more splendid instance of
self-renunciation than that of this noble lady who in the fervour of
her faith gave away so much of her wealth that she reduced herself to
the last degree of poverty? Others may boast, if they will, of money
spent in charity, of large sums heaped up in God’s treasury,3010
of votive offerings hung up with cords of
gold. None of them has given more to the poor than Paula, for Paula has
kept nothing for herself. But now she enjoys the true riches and those
good things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have they
entered into the heart of man.3011
If we mourn, it is
for ourselves and not for her; yet even so, if we persist in weeping
for one who reigns with Christ, we shall seem to envy her her
glory.
32. Be not fearful, Eustochium: you are endowed with a
splendid heritage. The Lord is your portion; and, to increase your joy,
your mother has now after a long martyrdom won her crown. It is not
only the shedding of blood that is accounted a confession: the spotless
service of a devout mind is itself a daily martyrdom. Both alike are
crowned; with roses and violets in the one case, with lilies in the
other. Thus in the Song of Songs it is written: “my beloved is
white and ruddy;”3012
for, whether the
victory be won in peace or in war, God gives the same guerdon to those
who win it. Like Abraham your mother heard the words: “get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, unto a land that I will shew
thee;”3013
and not only that but the
Lord’s command given through Jeremiah: “flee out of the
midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul.”3014
To the day of her death she never returned
to Chaldæa, or regretted the fleshpots of Egypt or its
strong-smelling meats. Accompanied by her virgin bands she became a
fellow-citizen of the Saviour; and now that she has ascended from her
little Bethlehem to the heavenly realms she can say to the true Naomi:
“thy people shall be my people and thy God my God.”3015
33. I have spent the labour of two nights in dictating
for you this treatise; and in doing so I have felt a grief as deep as
your own. I say in ‘dictating’ for I have not been able to
write it myself. As often as I have taken up my pen3016
and have tried to fulfil my promise; my
fingers have stiffened, my hand has fallen, and my power over it has
vanished. The rudeness of the diction, devoid as it is of all elegance or charm, bears witness to the
feeling of the writer.
34. And now, Paula, farewell, and aid with your prayers
the old age of your votary. Your faith and your works unite you to
Christ; thus standing in His presence you will the more readily gain
what you ask. In this letter “I have built” to your memory
“a monument more lasting than bronze,”3017
| 3017 Horace, C. III.
xxx. 1. | which no lapse of time will be able to
destroy. And I have cut an inscription on your tomb, which I here
subjoin; that, wherever my narrative may go, the reader may learn that
you are buried at Bethlehem and not uncommemorated there.
The Inscription on Paula’s
Tomb.
Within this tomb a child of Scipio lies,
A daughter of the farfamed Pauline house,
A scion of the Gracchi, of the stock
Of Agamemnon’s self, illustrious:
Here rests the lady Paula, well-beloved
Of both her parents, with Eustochium
For daughter; she the first of Roman dames
Who hardship chose and Bethlehem for Christ.
In front of the cavern there is another inscription as
follows:—
Seest thou here hollowed in the rock a grave,
’Tis Paula’s tomb; high heaven has her
soul.
Who Rome and friends, riches and home forsook
Here in this lonely spot to find her rest.
For here Christ’s manger was, and here the
kings
To Him, both God and man, their offerings made.
35. The holy and blessed Paula fell asleep on the
seventh day before the Kalends of February, on the third day of the
week, after the sun had set. She was buried on the fifth day before the
same Kalends, in the sixth consulship of the Emperor Honorius and the
first of Aristænetus. She lived in the vows of religion five years
at Rome and twenty years at Bethlehem. The whole duration of her life
was fifty-six years eight months and twenty-one days. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
