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Letter
CXXX. To Demetrias.
Jerome writes to Demetrias, a highborn lady of Rome who
had recently embraced the vocation of a virgin. After narrating her
life’s history first at Rome and then in Africa, he goes on to
lay down rules and principles to guide her in her new life. These which
cover the whole field of ascetic practice and include the duties of
study, of prayer, of fasting, of obedience, of giving up money for
Christ, and of constant industry, are in substance similar to those
which thirty years before Jerome had suggested to Eustochium (Letter
XXII.). The tone of the letter is however milder and less fanatical;
the asceticism recommended is not so severe; there is less of rhapsody
and more of common sense. This letter should also be compared with the
letter addressed to Demetrias by Pelagius, which is given in Vol. xi.
of Jerome’s works (Migne’s Patr. Lat. xxx. ed.). The date
is 414 a.d.
1. Of all the subjects that I have treated from my youth
up until now, either with my own
pen or that of my secretaries I have dealt with none more difficult
than that which now occupies me. I am going to write to Demetrias a
virgin of Christ and a lady whose birth and riches make her second to
none in the Roman world. If, therefore, I employ language adequate to
describe her virtue, I shall be thought to flatter her; and if I
suppress some details on the score that they might appear incredible,
my reserve will not do justice to her undoubted merits. What am I to do
then? I am unequal to the task before me, yet I cannot venture to
decline it. Her grandmother and her mother are both women of mark, and
they have alike authority to command, faith to seek and perseverance to
obtain that which they require. It is not indeed anything very new or
special that they ask of me; my wits have often been exercised upon
similar themes. What they wish for is that I should raise my voice and
bear witness as strongly as I can to the virtues of one who—in
the words of the famous orator3615
| 3615 Cicero in his
Dialogue on the Republic. Cf. Or. xxx. | —is to be
praised less for what she is than for what she gives promise of being.
Yet, girl though she is, she has a glowing faith beyond her years, and
has started from a point at which others think it a mark of signal
virtue to leave off.
2. Let detraction stand aloof and envy give way; let no
charge of self seeking be brought against me. I write as a stranger to
a stranger, at least so far as the personal appearance is concerned.
For the inner man finds itself well known by that knowledge whereby the
apostle Paul knew the Colossians and many other believers whom he had
never seen. How high an esteem I entertain for this virgin, nay more
what a miracle of virtue I think her, you may judge by the fact that
being occupied in the explanation of Ezekiel’s description of the
temple—the hardest piece in the whole range of
scripture—and finding myself in that part of the sacred edifice
wherein is the Holy of Holies and the altar of incense, I have chosen
by way of a brief rest to pass from that altar to this, that upon it I
might consecrate to eternal chastity a living offering acceptable to
God3616
and free from all stain. I am aware that
the bishop3617
has with words of prayer covered
her holy head with the virgin’s bridal-veil, reciting the while
the solemn sentence of the apostle: “I wish to present you all as
a chaste virgin to Christ.”3618
She
stood as a queen at his right hand, her clothing of wrought gold and
her raiment of needlework.3619
Such was the
coat of many colours, that is, formed of many different virtues, which
Joseph wore; and similar ones were of old the ordinary dress of
king’s daughters. Thereupon3620
| 3620 i.e. After
receiving the veil. | the bride
herself rejoices and says: “the king hath brought me into his
chambers,”3621
and the choir
of her companions responds: “the king’s daughter is all
glorious within.”3622
Thus she is a
professed virgin. Still these words of mine will not be without their
use. The speed of racehorses is quickened by the applause of
spectators; prize fighters are urged to greater efforts by the cries of
their backers; and when armies are drawn up for battle and swords are
drawn, the general’s speech does much to fire his soldiers’
valour. So also is it on the present occasion. The grandmother and the
mother have planted, but it is I that water and the Lord that giveth
the increase.3623
3. It is the practice of the rhetoricians to exalt him
who is the subject of their praises by referring to his forefathers and
the past nobility of his race, so that a fertile root may make up for
barren branches and that you may admire in the stem what you have not
got in the fruit. Thus I ought now to recall the distinguished names of
the Probi and of the Olybrii, and that illustrious Anician house, the
representatives of which have seldom or never been unworthy of the
consulship. Or I ought to bring forward Olybrius our virgin’s
father, whose untimely loss Rome has had to mourn. I fear to say more
of him, lest I should intensify the pain of your saintly mother, and
lest the commemoration of his virtues should become a renewing of her
grief. He was a dutiful son, a loveable husband, a kind master, a
popular citizen. He was made consul while still a boy;3624
| 3624 In the year 395
a.d. | but the goodness of his character made
him more illustrious as a senator. He was happy in his death3625
| 3625 Which took place
before the fall of Rome in 410 a.d. | for it saved him from seeing the ruin of
his country; and happier still in his offspring, for the distinguished
name of his great grandmother Demetrias has become yet more
distinguished now that his daughter Demetrias has vowed herself to
perpetual chastity.
4. But what am I doing? Forgetful of my purpose and
filled with admiration for this young man, I have spoken in terms of
praise of mere worldly advantages; whereas I should rather have
commended our virgin for having rejected all these, and for having
determined to regard herself not as a wealthy or a high born lady, but
simply as a woman like other women. Her strength of mind almost passes
belief. Though she had silks and jewels freely at her disposal, and
though she was surrounded by crowds
of eunuchs and serving-women, a bustling household of flattering and
attentive domestics, and though the daintiest feasts that the abundance
of a large house could supply were daily set before her; she preferred
to all these severe fasting, rough clothing, and frugal living. For she
had read the words of the Lord: “they that wear soft clothing are
in kings’ houses.”3626
She was filled
with admiration for the manner of life followed by Elijah and by John
the Baptist; both of whom confined and mortified their loins with
girdles of skin,3627
while the
second of them is said to have come in the spirit and power of Elijah
as the forerunner of the Lord.3628
As such he
prophesied while still in his mother’s womb,3629
and before the day of judgment won the
commendation of the Judge.3630
She admired
also the zeal of Anna the daughter of Phanuel, who continued even to
extreme old age to serve the Lord in the temple with prayers and
fastings.3631
When she thought of the four
virgins who were the daughters of Philip,3632
she longed to join their band and to
be numbered with those who by their virginal purity have attained the
grace of prophecy. With these and similar meditations she fed her mind,
dreading nothing so much as to offend her grandmother and her mother.
Although she was encouraged by their example, she was discouraged by
their expressed wish and desire; not indeed that they disapproved of
her holy purpose, but that the prize was so great that they did not
venture to hope for it, or to aspire to it. Thus this poor novice in
Christ’s service was sorely perplexed. She came to hate all her
fine apparel and cried like Esther to the Lord: “Thou knowest
that I abhor the sign of my high estate”—that is to say,
the diadem which she wore as queen—“and that I abhor it as
a menstruous rag.”3633
Among the
holy and highborn ladies who have seen and known her some have been
driven by the tempest which has swept over Africa, from the shores of
Gaul to a refuge in the holy places. These tell me that secretly night
after night, though no one knew of it but the virgins dedicated to God
in her mother’s and grandmother’s retinue, Demetrias,
refusing sheets of linen and beds of down, spread a rug of goat’s
hair upon the ground and watered her face with ceaseless tears. Night
after night she cast herself in thought at the Saviour’s knees
and implored him to accept her choice, to fulfil her aspiration, and to
soften the hearts of her grandmother and of her mother.
5. Why do I still delay to relate the sequel? When her
wedding day was now close at hand and when a marriage chamber was being
got ready for the bride and bridegroom; secretly without any witnesses
and with only the night to comfort her, she is said to have nerved
herself with such considerations as these: “What ails you,
Demetrias? Why are you so fearful of defending your chastity? What you
need is freedom and courage. If you are so panic-stricken in time of
peace, what would you do if you were called on to undergo martyrdom? If
you cannot bear so much as a frown from your own, how would you steel
yourself to face the tribunals of persecutors? If men’s examples
leave you unmoved, at least gather courage and confidence from the
blessed martyr Agnes3634
who
vanquished the temptations both of youth and of a despot and by her
martyrdom hallowed the very name of chastity. Unhappy girl! you know
not, you know not to whom your virginity is due. It is not long since
you have trembled in the hands of the barbarians and clung to your
grandmother and your mother cowering under their cloaks for safety. You
have seen yourself a prisoner3635
| 3635 See § 7 for
the cruelties of the Count Herælian. | and your
chastity not in your own power. You have shuddered at the fierce looks
of your enemies; you have seen with secret agony the virgins of God
ravished. Your city, once the capital of the world, is now the grave of
the Roman people; and will you on the shores of Libya, yourself an
exile, accept an exile for a husband? Where will you find a matron to
be present at your bridal?3636
| 3636 Quam habitura
pronubam? | Whom will you
get to escort you home? No tongue but a harsh Punic one will sing for
you the wanton Fescennine verses.3637
| 3637 Wedding songs
so called from the place of their origin, Fescennia in Etruria. See
Catullus LXI. for the several customs here mentioned. | Away
with all hesitations! ‘Perfect love’ of God ‘casteth
out fear.’3638
Take to
yourself the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the
helmet of salvation,3639
and sally
forth to battle. The preservation of your chastity involves a martyrdom
of its own. Why do you fear your grandmother? Why do you dread your
mother? Perhaps they may themselves wish for you a course which they do
not think you wish for yourself.” When by these and other
arguments she had wrought herself to the necessary pitch of resolution,
she cast from her as so many hindrances all her ornaments and worldly
attire. Her precious necklaces,
costly pearls, and glowing gems she put back in their cases. Then
dressing herself in a coarse tunic and throwing over herself a still
courser cloak she came in at an unlooked for moment, threw herself down
suddenly at her grandmother’s knees, and with tears and sobs
shewed her what she really was. That staid and holy woman was amazed
when she beheld her granddaughter in so strange a dress. Her mother was
completely overcome for joy. Both women could hardly believe that true
which they had longed to be true. Their voices stuck in their
throats,3640
and, what with blushing and turning
pale, with fright and with joy, they were a prey to many conflicting
emotions.
6. I must needs give way here and not attempt to
describe what defies description. In the effort to explain the
greatness of that joy past all belief, the flow of Tully’s
eloquence would run dry and the bolts poised and hurled by Demosthenes
would become spent and fall short. Whatever mind can conceive or speech
can interpret of human gladness was seen then. Mother and child,
grandmother and granddaughter kissed each other again and again. The
two elder women wept copiously for joy, they raised the prostrate girl,
they embraced her trembling form. In her purpose they recognized their
own mind, and congratulated each other that now a virgin was to make a
noble house more noble still by her virginity. She had found they said,
a way to benefit her family and to lessen the calamity of the ruin of
Rome. Good Jesus! What exultation there was all through the house! Many
virgins sprouted out at once as shoots from a fruitful stem, and the
example set by their patroness and lady was followed by a host both of
clients and servants. Virginity was warmly espoused in every house and
although those who made profession of it were as regards the flesh of
lower rank than Demetrias they sought one reward with her, the reward
of chastity. My words are too weak. Every church in Africa danced for
joy. The news reached not only the cities, towns, and villages but even
the scattered huts. Every island between Africa and Italy was full of
it, the glad tidings ran far and wide, disliked by none. Then Italy put
off her mourning and the ruined walls of Rome resumed in part their
olden splendour; for they believed the full conversion of their
fosterchild to be a sign of God’s favour towards them. You would
fancy that the Goths had been annihilated and that that concourse of
deserters and slaves had fallen by a thunderbolt from the Lord on high.
There was less elation in Rome when Marcellus won his first success at
Nola3641
| 3641 Over Hannibal,
b.c. 216. Jerome is quoting from Cicero,
Brutus, III. | after thousands of Romans had fallen at
the Trebia, Lake Thrasymenus, and Cannæ. There was less joy among
the nobles cooped up in the capitol, on whom the future of Rome
depended, when after buying their lives with gold they heard that the
Gauls had at length been routed.3642
| 3642 The reference is
to the siege of the Capitol by Brennus and the Gauls, b.c. 390. | The news
penetrated to the coasts of the East, and this triumph of Christian
glory was heard of in the remote cities of the interior. What Christian
virgin was not proud to have Demetrias as a companion? What mother did
not call Juliana’s womb blessed? Unbelievers may scoff at the
doubtfulness of rewards to come. Meantime, in becoming a virgin you
have gained more than you have sacrificed. Had you become a man’s
bride but one province would have known of you; while as a Christian
virgin you are known to the whole world. Mothers who have but little
faith in Christ are unhappily wont to dedicate to virginity only
deformed and crippled daughters for whom they can find no suitable
husbands. Glass beads, as the saying goes, are thought equal to
pearls.3643
| 3643 See note on
Letter LXXIX. § 7. | Men who pride themselves on
their religion give to their virgin daughters sums scarcely sufficient
for their maintenance, and bestow the bulk of their property upon sons
and daughters living in the world. Quite recently in this city a rich
presbyter left two of his daughters who were professed virgins with a
mere pittance, while he provided his other children with ample means
for self-indulgence and pleasure. The same thing has been done, I am
sorry to say, by many women who have adopted the ascetic life. Would
that such instances were rare, but unfortunately they are not. Yet the
more frequent they are the more blessed are those who refuse to follow
an example which is set them by so many.
7. All Christians are loud in their praises of
Christ’s holy yokefellows,3644
| 3644 i.e.
Juliana and Proba, the mother and grandmother of Demetrias. | because
they gave to Demetrias when she professed herself a virgin the money
which had been set apart as a dowry for her marriage. They would not
wrong her heavenly bridegroom; in fact they wished her to come to Him
with all her previous riches, that these might not be wasted on the
things of the world, but might relieve the distress of God’s
servants.
Who would believe it? That Proba, who of all persons of
high rank and birth in the Roman
world bears the most illustrious name, whose holy life and universal
charity have won for her esteem even among the barbarians, who has made
nothing of the regular consulships enjoyed by her three sons, Probinus,
Olybrius, and Probus,—that Proba, I say, now that Rome has been
taken and its contents burned or carried off, is said to be selling
what property she has and to be making for herself friends of the
mammon of unrighteousness, that these may receive her into everlasting
habitations!3645
Well may the church’s
ministers, whatever their degree, and those monks who are only monks in
name, blush for shame that they are buying estates, when this noble
lady is selling them.
Hardly had she escaped from the hands of the barbarians,
hardly had she ceased weeping for the virgins whom they had torn from
her arms, when she was overwhelmed by a sudden and unbearable
bereavement, one too which she had had no cause to fear, the death of
her loving son.3646
| 3646 i.e.
Olybrius, the father of Demetrias. | Yet as one who
was to be grandmother to a Christian virgin, she bore up against this
death-dealing stroke, strong in hope of the future and proving true of
herself the words of the lyric:
“Should the round world in fragments burst, its
fall
May strike the just, may slay, but not appal.”3647
| 3647 Horace, Carm.
iii. 3. 7, 8. |
We read in the book of Job how, while the first messenger of evil
was yet speaking, there came also another;3648
and in the same book it is written:
“is there not a temptation”—or as the Hebrew better
gives it—“a warfare to man upon earth?”3649
It is for this end that we labour, it
is for this end that we risk our lives in the warfare of this world,
that we may be crowned in the world to come. That we should believe
this to be true of men is nothing wonderful, for even the Lord Himself
was tempted,3650
and of Abraham the scripture bears
witness that God tempted him.3651
It is for this
reason also that the apostle says: “we glory in
tribulations.…knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and
patience experience; and experience hope; and hope maketh not
ashamed;”3652
and in another
passage: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril
or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day
long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”3653
The prophet Isaiah comforts those in
like case in these words: “ye that are weaned from the milk, ye
that are drawn from the breasts, look for tribulation upon tribulation,
but also for hope upon hope.”3654
For, as
the apostle puts it “the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
us.”3655
Why I have here brought together
all these passages the sequel will make plain.
Proba who had seen from the sea the smoke of her native
city and had committed her own safety and that of those dear to her to
a fragile boat, found the shores of Africa even more cruel than those
which she had left. For one3656
| 3656 Heraclian, Count
of Africa. | lay in wait for
her of whom it would be hard to say whether he was more covetous or
heartless, one who cared for nothing but wine and money, one who under
pretence of serving the mildest of emperors3657
stood forth as the most savage of all
despots. If I may be allowed to quote a fable of the poets, he was like
Orcus3658
| 3658 i.e.
Pluto, king of the lower world. | in Tartarus. Like him too he had with
him a Cerberus,3659
| 3659 Sabinus, the
son-in-law of Heraclian. | not three
headed but many headed, ready to seize and rend everything within his
reach. He tore betrothed daughters from their mothers’ arms3660
and sold high-born maidens in marriage to
those greediest of men, the merchants of Syria. No plea of poverty
induced him to spare either ward or widow or virgin dedicated to
Christ. Indeed he looked more at the hands than at the faces of those
who appealed to him. Such was the dread Charybdis and such the
hound-girt Scylla which this lady encountered in fleeing from the
barbarians; monsters who neither spared the shipwrecked nor heeded the
cry of those made captive. Cruel wretch!3661
| 3661 Jerome here
apostrophizes Heraclian. | at least imitate the enemy of the Roman
Empire. The Brennus of our day3662
took only what
he found, but you seek what you cannot find.
Virtue, indeed, is always exposed to envy, and cavillers
may marvel at the secret agreement by which Proba purchased the
chastity of her numerous companions. They may allege that the count who
could have taken all would not have been satisfied3663
| 3663 Reading
dedignatus for dignatus. | with a part; and that she could not
have questioned his claim since in spite of her rank she was but a
slave in his despotic hands. I perceive also that I am laying myself
open to the attacks of enemies and that I may seem to be flattering a
lady of the highest birth and distinction. Yet these men will not be
able to accuse me when they learn
that hitherto I have said nothing about her. I have never either in the
lifetime of her husband or since his decease praised her for the
antiquity of her family or for the extent of her wealth and power,
subjects which others might perhaps have improved in mercenary
speeches. My purpose is to praise the grandmother of my virgin in a
style befitting the church, and to thank her for having aided with her
goodwill the desire which Demetrias has formed. For the rest my cell,
my food and clothing, my advanced years, and my narrow circumstances
sufficiently refute the charge of flattery. In what remains of my
letter I shall direct all my words to Demetrias herself, whose holiness
ennobles her as much as her rank, and of whom it may be said that the
higher she climbs the more terrible will be her fall.
For the rest
This one thing, child of God, I lay on thee;
Yea before all, and urge it many times:3664
Love to occupy your mind with the reading of scripture. Do not in
the good ground of your breast gather only a crop of darnel and wild
oats. Do not let an enemy sow tares among the wheat when the
householder is asleep3665
(that is when
the mind which ever cleaves to God is off its guard); but say always
with the bride in the song of songs: “By night I sought him whom
my soul loveth. Tell me where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock
to rest at noon;”3666
and with the
psalmist: “my soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand
upholdeth me;”3667
and with
Jeremiah: “I have not found it hard.…to follow
thee,”3668
for “there is no grief in
Jacob neither is there travail in Israel.”3669
When you were in the world you loved
the things of the world. You rubbed your cheeks with rouge and used
whitelead to improve your complexion. You dressed your hair and built
up a tower on your head with tresses not your own. I shall say nothing
of your costly earrings, your glistening pearls from the depths of the
Red Sea,3670
| 3670 i.e. The
Indian Ocean. | your bright green emeralds, your
flashing onyxes, your liquid sapphires,—tones which turn the
heads of matrons, and make them eager to possess the like. For you have
relinquished the world and besides your baptismal vow have taken a new
one; you have entered into a compact with your adversary and have said:
“I renounce thee, O devil, and thy world and thy pomp and thy
works.” Observe, therefore, the treaty that you have made, and
keep terms with your adversary while you are in the way of this world.
Otherwise he may some day deliver you to the judge and prove that you
have taken what is his; and then the judge will deliver you to the
officer—at once your foe and your avenger—and you will be
cast into prison; into that outer darkness3671
which surrounds us with the greater
horror as it severs us from Christ the one true light.3672
And you shall by no means come out
thence till you have paid the uttermost farthing,3673
that is, till you have expiated your
most trifling sins; for we shall give account of every idle word in the
day of judgment.3674
8. In speaking thus I do not wish to utter an ill-omened
prophecy against you but only to warn you as an apprehensive and
prudent monitor who in your case fears even what is safe. What says the
scripture? “If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee,
leave not thy place.”3675
We must always
stand under arms and in battle array, ready to engage the foe. When he
tries to dislodge us from our position and to make us fall back, we
must plant our feet firmly down, and say with the psalmist, “he
hath set my feet upon a rock”3676
and
“the rocks are a refuge for the conies.”3677
In this latter passage for
‘conies’ many read ‘hedgehogs.’ Now the
hedgehog is a small animal, very shy, and covered over with thorny
bristles. When Jesus was crowned with thorns and bore our sins and
suffered for us, it was to make the roses of virginity and the lilies
of chastity grow for us out of the brambles and briers which have
formed the lot of women since the day when it was said to Eve,
“in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall
be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee.”3678
We are told that the bridegroom
feeds among the lilies,3679
that is,
among those who have not defiled their garments, for they have remained
virgins3680
and have hearkened to the precept
of the Preacher: “let thy garments be always white.”3681
As the author and prince of virginity
He says boldly of Himself: “I am the rose of Sharon and the lily
of the valleys.”3682
“The
rocks” then “are a refuge for the conies” who when
they are persecuted in one city flee into another3683
and have no fear that the prophetic
words “refuge failed me”3684
will be
fulfilled in their case. “The high hills are a refuge for the
wild goats,”3685
and their
food are the serpents which a little child draws out of their holes.
Meanwhile the leopard lies down with the kid and the lion eats straw like the ox;3686
not of course that the ox may learn
ferocity from the lion but that the lion may learn docility from the
ox.
But let us turn back to the passage first quoted,
“If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy
place,” a sentence which is followed by these words: “for
yielding pacifieth great offences.”3687
The meaning is, that if the serpent
finds his way into your thoughts you must “keep your heart with
all diligence”3688
and sing
with David, “cleanse thou me from secret faults: keep back thy
servant also from presumptuous sins,” and come not to “the
great transgression”3689
which is sin
in act. Rather slay the allurements to vice while they are still only
thoughts; and dash the little ones of the daughter of Babylon against
the stones3690
where the serpent can leave no
trail. Be wary and vow a vow unto the Lord: “let them not have
dominion over me: then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from
the great transgression.”3691
For
elsewhere also the scripture testifies, “I will visit the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation.”3692
That is to
say, God will not punish us at once for our thoughts and resolves but
will send retribution upon their offspring, that is, upon the evil
deeds and habits of sin which arise out of them. As He says by the
mouth of Amos: “for three transgressions of such and such a city
and for four I will not turn away the punishment thereof.”3693
9. I cull these few flowers in passing from the fair
field of the holy scriptures. They will suffice to warn you that you
must shut the door of your breast and fortify your brow by often making
the sign of the cross. Thus alone will the destroyer of Egypt find no
place to attack you; thus alone will the first-born of your soul escape
the fate of the first-born of the Egyptians;3694
thus alone will you be able with the
prophet to say: “my heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I
will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and
harp.”3695
For, sin stricken as she is, even
Tyre is bidden to take up her harp3696
and to do
penance; like Peter she is told to wash away the stains of her former
foulness with bitter tears. Howbeit, let us know nothing of penitence,
lest the thought of it lead us into sin. It is a plank for those who
have had the misfortune to be shipwrecked;3697
| 3697 See Letter
CXXII. § 4. | but an inviolate virgin may hope to
save the ship itself. For it is one thing to look for what you have
cast away, and another to keep what you have never lost. Even the
apostle kept under his body and brought it into subjection, lest having
preached to others he might himself become a castaway.3698
Heated with the violence of sensual
passion he made himself the spokesman of the human race: “O
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?” and again, “I know that in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to
perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I do
not: but the evil which I would not, that I do;”3699
| 3699 Rom. vii. 24, 18, 19. | and once more: “they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you.”3700
10. After you have paid the most careful attention to
your thoughts, you must then put on the armour of fasting and sing with
David: “I chastened my soul with fasting,”3701
and “I have eaten ashes like
bread,”3702
and “as
for me when they troubled me my clothing was sackcloth.”3703
Eve was expelled from paradise because
she had eaten of the forbidden fruit. Elijah on the other hand after
forty days of fasting was carried in a fiery chariot into heaven. For
forty days and forty nights Moses lived by the intimate converse which
he had with God, thus proving in his own case the complete truth of the
saying, “man doth not live by bread only but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.”3704
The Saviour of the world, who in His
virtues and His mode of life has left us an example to follow,3705
was, immediately after His baptism, taken
up by the spirit that He might contend with the devil,3706
and after crushing him and overthrowing
him might deliver him to his disciples to trample under foot. For what
says the apostle? “God shall bruise Satan under your feet
shortly.”3707
And yet after
the Saviour had fasted forty days, it was through food that the old
enemy laid a snare for him, saying, “If thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread.”3708
Under the law, in the seventh month
after the blowing of trumpets and on the tenth day of the month, a fast
was proclaimed for the whole Jewish people, and that soul was cut off
from among his people which on that day preferred self-indulgence to
self-denial.3709
In Job it is written of behemoth
that “his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel
of his belly.”3710
Our foe uses the heat of youthful passion
to tempt young men and maidens and “sets on fire the wheel of our
birth.”3711
He thus fulfils
the words of Hosea, “they are all adulterers, their heart is like
an oven;”3712
an oven which
only God’s mercy and severe fasting can extinguish. These are
“the fiery darts”3713
with which
the devil wounds men and sets them on fire, and it was these which the
king of Babylon used against the three children. But when he made his
fire forty-nine cubits high3714
he did but
turn to his own ruin3715
| 3715 Dan. iv. 16, 25, 32" id="v.CXXX-p125.1" parsed="|Dan|4|16|0|0;|Dan|4|25|0|0;|Dan|4|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.16 Bible:Dan.4.25 Bible:Dan.4.32">Dan. iv. 16, 25, 32. | the seven weeks
which the Lord had appointed for a time of salvation.3716
And as then a fourth bearing a form
like the son of God slackened the terrible heat3717
and cooled the flames of the blazing
fiery furnace, until, menacing as they looked, they became quite
harmless, so is it now with the virgin soul. The dew of heaven and
severe fasting quench in a girl the flame of passion and enable her
soul even in its earthly tenement to live the angelic life. Therefore
the chosen vessel3718
declares
that concerning virgins he has no commandment of the Lord.3719
For you must act against nature or
rather above nature if you are to forswear your natural function, to
cut off your own root, to cull no fruit but that of virginity, to
abjure the marriage-bed, to shun intercourse with men, and while in the
body to live as though out of it.
11. I do not, however, lay on you as an obligation any
extreme fasting or abnormal abstinence from food. Such practices soon
break down weak constitutions and cause bodily sickness before they lay
the foundations of a holy life. It is a maxim of the philosophers that
virtues are means, and that all extremes are of the nature of vice;3720
| 3720 See Letter CVIII.
§ 20. | and it is in this sense that one of the
seven wise men propounds the famous saw quoted in the comedy, “In
nothing too much.”3721
| 3721 Μηδὲν
᾽άγαν quoted by Terence (Andria,
61). | You must not
go on fasting until your heart begins to throb and your breath to fail
and you have to be supported or carried by others. No; while curbing
the desires of the flesh, you must keep sufficient strength to read
scripture, to sing psalms, and to observe vigils. For fasting is not a
complete virtue in itself but only a foundation on which other virtues
may be built. The same may be said of sanctification and of that
chastity without which no man shall see the Lord.3722
Each of these is a step on the upward
way, yet none of them by itself will avail to win the virgin’s
crown. The gospel teaches us this in the parable of the wise and
foolish virgins; the former of whom enter into the bridechamber of the
bridegroom, while the latter are shut out from it because not having
the oil of good works3723
| 3723 See
Jerome’s commentary on the parable. | they allow
their lamps to fail.3724
This subject
of fasting opens up a wide field in which I have often wandered
myself,3725
| 3725 See Letters
XXII., LII., etc. | and many writers have devoted
treatises to the subject. I must refer you to these if you wish to
learn the advantages of self-restraint and on the other hand the evils
of over-feeding.
12. Follow the example of your Spouse:3726
be subject to your grandmother and to
your mother. Never look upon a man, especially upon a young man, except
in their company. Never know a man whom they do not know. It is a maxim
of the world that the only sure friendship is one based on an identity
of likes and dislikes.3727
You have
been taught by their example as well as instructed by the holy life of
your home to aspire to virginity, to recognize the commandments of
Christ, to know what is expedient for you and what course you ought to
choose. But do not regard what is your own as absolutely your own.
Remember that part of it belongs to those who have communicated their
chastity to you and from whose honourable marriages and beds
undefiled3728
you have sprung up like a
choice flower. For you are destined to produce perfect fruit if only
you will humble yourself under the mighty hand of God,3729
always remembering that it is written:
“God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.”3730
Now where there is grace, this is not
given in return for works but is the free gift of the giver, so that
the apostles’ words are fulfilled: “it is not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth
mercy.”3731
And yet it is
ours to will and not to will; and all the while the very liberty that
is ours is only ours by the mercy of God.
13. Again in selecting for yourself eunuchs and maids
and servingmen look rather to their characters than to their good
looks; for, whatever their age or sex, and even if mutilation ensures
in them a compulsory chastity, you must take account of their
dispositions, for these cannot be operated on save by the fear of
Christ. When you are present buffoonery and loose talk must find no
place. You should never hear an improper word; if you do hear one, you
must not be carried away by it. Abandoned men often make use of a
single light expression to try the
gates of chastity.3732
| 3732 Cf. Letter
XXII. § 24. | Leave to
worldlings the privileges of laughing and being laughed at. One who is
in your position ought to be serious. Cato the Censor, in old time a
leading man in your city, (the same who in his last days turned his
attention to Greek literature without either blushing for himself as
censor or despairing of success on account of his age) is said by
Lucilius3733
| 3733 The fragment
of Lucilius (preserved by Cic. de Fin. V. 30) says nothing of Cato:
possibly therefore the text is here corrupt. See for Cato Letter LII.
§ 3. | to have laughed only once in
his life, and the same remark is made about Marcus Crassus. These men
may have affected this austere mien to gain for themselves reputation
and notoriety. For so long as we dwell in the tabernacle of this body
and are enveloped with this fragile flesh, we can but restrain and
regulate our affections and passions; we cannot wholly extirpate them.
Knowing this the psalmist says: “be ye angry and sin
not;”3734
which the apostle explains
thus: “let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”3735
For, if to be angry is human, to put
an end to one’s anger is Christian.
14. I think it unnecessary to warn you against
covetousness since it is the way of your family both to have riches and
to despise them. The apostle too tells us that covetousness is
idolatry,3736
and to one who asked the Lord
the question: “Good Master what good thing shall I do that I may
have eternal life?” He thus replied: “If thou wilt be
perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.”3737
Such is the climax of complete and
apostolic virtue—to sell all that one has and to distribute to
the poor,3738
and thus freed from all
earthly encumbrance to fly up to the heavenly realms with Christ. To
us, or I should rather say to you, a careful stewardship is entrusted,
although in such matters full freedom of choice is left to every
individual, whether old or young. Christ’s words are “if
thou wilt be perfect.” I do not compel you, He seems to say, I do
not command you, but I set the palm before you, I shew you the prize;
it is for you to choose whether you will enter the arena and win the
crown. Let us consider how wisely Wisdom has spoken. “Sell that
thou hast.” To whom is the command given? Why, to him to whom it
was said, “if thou wilt be perfect.” Sell not a part of thy
goods but “all that thou hast.” And when you have sold
them, what then? “Give to the poor.” Not to the rich, not
to your kinsfolk, not to minister to self indulgence; but to relieve
need. It does not matter whether a man is a priest or a relation or a
connexion, you must think of nothing but his poverty. Let your praises
come from the stomachs of the hungry and not from the rich banquets of
the overfed. We read in the Acts of the Apostles how, while the blood
of the Lord was still warm and believers were in the fervour of their
first faith, they all sold their possessions and laid the price of them
at the apostles’ feet (to shew that money ought to be trampled
underfoot) and “distribution was made unto every man according as
he had need.”3739
But Ananias
and Sapphira proved timid stewards, and what is more, deceitful ones;
therefore they brought on themselves condemnation. For having made a
vow they offered their money to God as if it were their own and not His
to whom they had vowed it; and keeping back for their own use a part of
that which belonged to another, through fear of famine which true faith
never fears, they drew down on themselves suddenly the avenging stroke,
which was meant not in cruelty towards them but as a warning to
others.3740
In fact the apostle Peter by no
means called down death upon them as Porphyry3741
| 3741 A philosopher of
the Neoplatonic school (fl. 232–300 a.d.). Of his books against Christianity only small
fragments remain. | foolishly says. He merely announced
God’s judgment by the spirit of prophecy, that the doom of two
persons might be a lesson to many. From the time of your dedication to
perpetual virginity your property is yours no longer; or rather is now
first truly yours because it has come to be Christ’s. Yet while
your grandmother and mother are living you must deal with it according
to their wishes. If, however, they die and rest in the sleep of the
saints (and I know that they desire that you should survive them); when
your years are riper, and your will steadier, and your resolution
stronger, you will do with your money what seems best to you, or rather
what the Lord shall command, knowing as you will that hereafter you
will have nothing save that which you have here spent on good works.
Others may build churches, may adorn their walls when built with
marbles, may procure massive columns, may deck the unconscious capitals
with gold and precious ornaments, may cover church doors with silver
and adorn the altars with gold and gems. I do not blame those who do
these things; I do not repudiate them.3742
| 3742 But see Letter
LII. § 10. | Everyone must follow his own judgment.
And it is better to spend one’s money thus than to hoard it up
and brood over it. However your
duty is of a different kind. It is yours to clothe Christ in the poor,
to visit Him in the sick, to feed Him in the hungry, to shelter Him in
the homeless, particularly such as are of the household of faith,3743
to support communities of virgins, to
take care of God’s servants, of those who are poor in spirit, who
serve the same Lord as you day and night, who while they are on earth
live the angelic life and speak only of the praises of God. Having food
and raiment they rejoice and count themselves rich. They seek for
nothing more, contented if only they can persevere in their design. For
as soon as they begin to seek more they are shewn to be undeserving
even of those things that are needful.
The preceding counsels have been addressed to a virgin
who is wealthy and a lady of rank.
15. But what I am now going to say will be addressed to
the virgin alone. I shall take into consideration, that is, not your
circumstances but yourself. In addition to the rule of psalmody and
prayer which you must always observe at the third, sixth, and ninth
hours, at evening, at midnight, and at dawn,3744
| 3744 See note on
Letter XXII. § 37. | you should determine how much time you
will bind yourself to give to the learning and reading of scripture,
aiming to please and instruct the soul rather than to lay a burthen
upon it. When you have spent your allotted time in these studies, often
kneeling down to pray as care for your soul will impel you to do; have
some wool always at hand, shape the threads into yarn with your thumb,
attach them to the shuttle, and then throw this to weave a web, or roll
up the yarn which others have spun or lay it out for the weavers.
Examine their work when it is done, find fault with its defects, and
arrange how much they are to do. If you busy yourself with these
numerous occupations, you will never find your days long; however late
the summer sun may be in setting, a day will always seem too short on
which something remains undone. By observing such rules as these you
will save yourself and others, you will set a good example as a
mistress, and you will place to your credit the chastity of many. For
the scripture says: “the soul of every idler is filled with
desires.”3745
Nor may you
excuse yourself from toil on the plea that God’s bounty has left
you in want of nothing. No; you must labour with the rest, that being
always busy you may think only of the service of the Lord. I shall
speak quite plainly. Even supposing that you give all your property to
the poor, Christ will value nothing more highly than what you have
wrought with your own hands. You may work for yourself or to set an
example to your virgins; or you may make presents to your mother and
grandmother to draw from them larger sums for the relief of the
poor.
16. I have all but passed over the most important point
of all. While you were still quite small, bishop Anastasius of holy and
blessed memory ruled the Roman church.3746
| 3746 Anastasius was
pope from 398 to 402 a.d. | In his days a terrible storm of
heresy3747
| 3747 That of the
Origenists. | came from the East and strove
first to corrupt and then to undermine that simple faith which an
apostle has praised.3748
However the
bishop, rich in poverty and as careful of his flock as an apostle, at
once smote the noxious thing on the head, and stayed the hydra’s
hissing. Now I have reason to fear—in fact a report has reached
me to this effect—that the poisonous germs of this heresy still
live and sprout in the minds of some to this day. I think, therefore,
that I ought to warn you, in all kindness and affection, to hold fast
the faith of the saintly Innocent, the spiritual son of Anastasius and
his successor in the apostolic see; and not to receive any foreign
doctrine, however wise and discerning you may take yourself to be. Men
of this type whisper in corners and pretend to inquire into the justice
of God. Why, they ask, was a particular soul born in a particular
province? What is the reason that some are born of Christian parents,
others among wild beasts and savage tribes who have no knowledge of
God? Wherever they can strike the simple with their scorpion-sting and
form an ulcer fitted to their purpose, there they diffuse their venom.
“Is it for nothing, think you,”—thus they
argue—“that a little child scarcely able to recognize its
mother by a laugh or a look of joy,3749
which
has done nothing either good or evil, is seized by a devil or
overwhelmed with jaundice or doomed to bear afflictions which godless
men escape, while God’s servants have to bear them?” Now if
God’s judgments, they say, are “true and righteous
altogether,”3750
and if
“there is no unrighteousness in Him,”3751
we are compelled by reason to believe
that our souls have pre-existed in heaven, that they are condemned to
and, if I may so say, buried in human bodies because of some ancient
sins, and that we are punished in this valley of weeping3752
for old misdeeds. This according to
them is the prophet’s reason for saying: “Before I was
afflicted I went astray,”3753
and
again, “Bring my soul out of prison.”3754
They explain in the same way the
question of the disciples in the gospel: “Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born
blind?”3755
and other
similar passages.
This godless and wicked teaching was formerly ripe in
Egypt and the East; and now it lurks secretly like a viper in its hole
among many persons in those parts, defiling the purity of the faith and
gradually creeping on like an inherited disease till it assails a large
number. But I am sure that if you hear it you will not accept it. For
you have preceptresses under God whose faith is a rule of sound
doctrine. You will understand what I mean, for God will give you
understanding in all things. You must not ask me on the spot to give
you a refutation of this dreadful heresy and of others worse still; for
were I to do so I should “criticize where I ought to
forbid,”3756
| 3756 A phrase borrowed
from Cicero (p. Sext. Rosc.). | and my present
object is not to refute heretics but to instruct a virgin. However, I
have defeated their wiles and counterworked their efforts to undermine
the truth in a treatise3757
| 3757 Apparently
Letter CXXIV. concerning Origen’s book on First
Principles. | which by
God’s help I have written; and if you desire to have this, I
shall send it to you promptly and with pleasure. I say, if you desire
to have it, for as the proverb says, wares proffered unasked are little
esteemed, and a plentiful supply brings down prices, which are always
highest where scarcity prevails.
17. Men often discuss the comparative merits of life in
solitude and life in a community; and the preference is usually given
to the first over the second. Still even for men there is always the
risk that, being withdrawn from the society of their fellows, they may
become exposed to unclean and godless imaginations, and in the fulness
of their arrogance and disdain may look down upon everyone but
themselves, and may arm their tongues to detract from the clergy or
from those who like themselves are bound by the vows of a solitary
life.3758
| 3758 Cf. Letter
CXXV. § 9. | Of such it is well said by the
psalmist, “as for the children of men their teeth are spears and
arrows and their tongue a sharp sword.”3759
Now if all this is true of men, how
much more does it apply to women whose fickle and vacillating minds, if
left to their own devices, soon degenerate. I am myself acquainted with
anchorites of both sexes who by excessive fasting have so impaired
their faculties that they do not know what to do or where to turn, when
to speak or when to be silent. Most frequently those who have been so
affected have lived in solitary cells, cold and damp. Moreover if
persons untrained in secular learning read the works of able church
writers, they only acquire from them a wordy fluency and not, as they
might do, a fuller knowledge of the scriptures. The old saying is found
true of them, although they have not the wit to speak, they cannot
remain silent. They teach to others the scriptures that they do not
understand themselves; and if they are fortunate enough to convince
them, they take upon themselves airs as men of learning.3760
| 3760 Cf. Letters LIII.
§ 7, and LXVI. § 9. | In fact, they set up as instructors of
the ignorant before they have gone to school themselves. It is a good
thing therefore to defer to one’s betters, to obey those set over
one, to learn not only from the scriptures but from the example of
others how one ought to order one’s life, and not to follow that
worst of teachers, one’s own self-confidence. Of women who are
thus presumptuous the apostle says that they “are carried about
with every wind of doctrine,3761
ever learning
and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”3762
18. Avoid the company of married women who are devoted
to their husbands and to the world, that your mind may not become
unsettled by hearing what a husband says to his wife, or a wife to her
husband. Such conversations are filled with deadly venom. To express
his condemnation of them the apostle has taken a verse of a profane
writer and has pressed it into the service of the church. It may be
literally rendered at the expense of the metre: “evil
communications corrupt good manners.”3763
| 3763 1 Cor. xv. 33; the words are quoted from a lost comedy
of Menander. | No; you should choose for your
companions staid and serious women, particularly widows and virgins,
persons of approved conversation, of few words, and of a holy modesty.
Shun gay and thoughtless girls, who deck their heads and wear their
hair in fringes, who use cosmetics to improve their skins and affect
tight sleeves, dresses without a crease, and dainty buskins; and by
pretending to be virgins more easily sell themselves into destruction.
Moreover, the character and tastes of a mistress are often inferred
from the behaviour of her attendants. Regard as fair and lovable and a
fitting companion one who is unconscious of her good looks and careless
of her appearance; who does not expose her breast out of doors or throw
back her cloak to reveal her neck; who veils all of her face except her
eyes, and only uses these to find her way.
19. I hesitate about what I am going to say but, as
often happens, whether I like it or not, it must be said; not that I
have reason to fear anything of the
kind in your case, for probably you know nothing of such things and
have never even heard of them, but that in advising you I may warn
others. A virgin should avoid as so many plagues and banes of chastity
all ringletted youths who curl their hair and scent themselves with
musk; to whom may well be applied the words of Petronius Arbiter,
“too much perfume makes an ill perfume.”3764
| 3764 The words are
not extant in Petronius but occur in Martial ii. 12. 4. | I need not speak of those who by their
pertinacious visits to virgins bring discredit both on themselves and
on these; for, even if nothing wrong is done by them, no wrong can be
imagined greater than to find oneself exposed to the calumnies and
attacks of the heathen. I do not here speak of all, but only of those
whom the church itself rebukes, whom sometimes it expels, and against
whom the censure of bishops and presbyters is not seldom directed. For,
as it is, it is almost more dangerous for giddy girls to shew
themselves in the abodes of religion than even to walk abroad. Virgins
who live in communities and of whom large numbers are assembled
together, should never go out by themselves or unaccompanied by their
mother.3765
| 3765 i.e. the
head of the community. | A hawk often singles out one of a
flight of doves, pounces on it and tears it open till it is gorged with
its flesh and blood. Sick sheep stray from the flock and fall into the
jaws of wolves. I know some saintly virgins who on holy days keep at
home to avoid the crowds and refuse to go out when they must either
take a strong escort, or altogether avoid all public places.
It is about thirty years since I published a treatise
on the preservation of virginity,3766
| 3766 Letter XXII. to
Eustochium. | in which I felt constrained to oppose
certain vices and to lay bare the wiles of the devil for the
instruction of the virgin to whom it was addressed. My language then
gave offence to a great many, for everyone applied what I said to
himself and instead of welcoming my admonitions turned away from me as
an accuser of his deeds. Was it any use, do you ask, thus to arm a host
of remonstrants and to show by my complaints the wounds which my
conscience received? Yes, I answer, for, while they have passed away,
my book still remains. I have also written short exhortations to
several virgins and widows, and in these smaller works I have gathered
together all that there is to be said on the subject. So that I am
reduced to the alternative of repeating exhortations which seem
superfluous or of omitting them to the serious injury of this treatise.
The blessed Cyprian has left a noble work on virginity;3767
| 3767 See Letter
XXII. § 22 ante. | and many other writers, both Greek
and Latin, have done the same. Indeed the virginal life has been
praised both with tongue and pen among all nations and particularly
among the churches. Most, however, of those who have written on the
subject have addressed themselves to such as have not yet chosen
virginity, and who need help to enable them to choose aright. But I and
those to whom I write have made our choice; and our one object is to
remain constant to it. Therefore, as our way lies among scorpions and
adders, among snares and banes, let us go forward staff in hand, our
loins girded and our feet shod;3768
that
so we may come to the sweet waters of the true Jordan, and enter the
land of promise and go up to the house of God. Then shall we sing with
the prophet: “Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and
the place where thine honour dwelleth;”3769
and again: “one thing have I
desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life.”3770
Happy is the soul, happy is the virgin in whose heart
there is room for no other love than the love of Christ. For in Himself
He is wisdom and chastity, patience and justice and every other virtue.
Happy too is she who can recall a man’s face without the least
sigh of regret, and who has no desire to set eyes on one whom, after
she has seen him, she may find herself unwilling to give up. Some there
are, however, who by their ill-behaviour bring discredit on the holy
profession of virginity and upon the glory of the heavenly and angelic
company who have made it. These must be frankly told either to marry if
they cannot contain, or to contain if they will not marry. It is also a
matter for laughter or rather for tears, that when mistresses walk
abroad they are preceded by maids better dressed than themselves;
indeed so usual has this become that, if of two women you see one less
neat than the other, you take her for the mistress as a matter of
course. And yet these maids are professed virgins. Again not a few
virgins choose sequestered dwellings where they will not be under the
eyes of others, in order that they may live more freely than they
otherwise could do. They take baths, do what they please, and try as
much as they can to escape notice. We see these things and yet we put
up with them; in fact, if we catch sight of the glitter of gold, we are
ready to account of them as good works.
20. I end as I began, not content to have given you but a single warning. Love the holy
scriptures, and wisdom will love you. Love wisdom, and it will keep you
safe. Honour wisdom, and it will embrace you round about.3771
| 3771 Cf. Letter LII.
§ 3. | Let the jewels on your breast and in
your ears be the gems of wisdom. Let your tongue know no theme but
Christ, let no sound pass your lips that is not holy, and let your
words always reproduce that sweetness of which your grandmother and
your mother set you the example. Imitate them, for they are models of
virtue.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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