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Letter
LVIII. To Paulinus.
In this his second letter to Paulinus of Nola Jerome
dissuades him from making a pilgrimage to the Holy Places, and
describes Jerusalem not as it ought to be but as it is. He then gives
his friend counsels for his life similar to those which he has
previously addressed to Nepotian, praises Paulinus for his Panegyric
(now no longer extant) on the Emperor Theodosius, compares his style
with those of the great writers of the Latin Church, and concludes with
a commendation of his messenger, that Vigilantius who was soon to
become the object of his bitterest contempt. Written about the year 395
a.d.
1. “A good man out of the good treasure of the
heart bringeth forth good things,”1732
and “every tree is known by his
fruit.”1733
You measure
me by the scale of your own virtues and because of your own greatness
magnify my littleness. You take the lowest room at the banquet that the
goodman of the house may bid you to go up higher.1734
For what is there in me or what
qualities do I possess that I should merit praise from a man of
learning? that I, small and lowly as I am, should be eulogized by lips
which have pleaded on behalf of our most religious sovereign? Do not,
my dearest brother, estimate my worth by the number of my years. Gray
hairs are not wisdom; it is wisdom which is as good as gray hairs. At
least that is what Solomon says: “wisdom is the gray hair unto
men.”1735
Moses too in choosing the seventy
elders is told to take those whom he knows to be elders indeed, and to
select them not for their years but for their discretion.1736
And, as a boy, Daniel judges old men
and in the flower of youth condemns the incontinence of age.1737
Do not, I repeat, weigh faith by
years, nor suppose me better than yourself merely because I have
enlisted under Christ’s banner earlier than you. The apostle
Paul, that chosen vessel framed out of a persecutor,1738
though last in the apostolic order is
first in merit. For though last he has laboured more than they all.1739
To Judas it was once said: thou art a
man who didst take sweet food with me, my guide and mine acquaintance;
we walked in the house of God with company:”1740
| 1740 Ps. lv. 13: Consessu substituted for
consensu of the Vulgate. | yet the Saviour accuses him of betraying
his friend and master. A line of Virgil well describes his end:
From a high beam he knots a hideous death.1741
| 1741 Virgil, Æn.
xii. 603. |
The dying robber, on the contrary, exchanges the cross for paradise
and turns to martyrdom the penalty of murder. How many there are
nowadays who have lived so long that they bear corpses rather than
bodies and are like whited sepulchres filled with dead men’s
bones!1742
A newly kindled heat is more
effective than a long continued lukewarmness.
2. As for you, when you hear the Saviour’s
counsel: “if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast,
and give to the poor, and come follow me,”1743
you translate his words into action;
and baring yourself to follow the bare cross1744
| 1744 Compare Letter
LII. § 5. | you mount Jacob’s ladder the
easier for carrying nothing. Your dress changes with the change in your
convictions, and you aim at no showy shabbiness which leaves your purse
as full as before. No, with pure hands and a clear conscience you make
it your glory that you are poor both in spirit and in deed. There is
nothing great in wearing a sad or a disfigured face, in simulating and
in showing off fasts, or in wearing a cheap cloak while you retain a
large income. When Crates the Theban—a millionaire of days gone
by—was on his way to Athens to study philosophy, he cast away
untold gold in the belief that wealth could not be compatible with
virtue. What a contrast he offers to us, the disciples of a poor
Christ, who cram our pockets with gold and cling under pretext of
almsgiving to our old riches. How can we faithfully distribute what
belongs to another when we thus timidly keep back what is our own?1745
When the stomach is full, it is easy to
talk of fasting. What is praiseworthy is not to have been at Jerusalem
but to have lived a good life while there.1746
| 1746 Cicero, pro
Murena, V. | The city which we are to praise and to
seek is not that which has slain the prophets1747
and shed the blood of Christ, but that
which is made glad by the streams of the river,1748
which is set upon a mountain and so
cannot be hid,1749
which the
apostle declares to be a mother of the saints,1750
and in which he rejoices to have his citizenship with the righteous.1751
3. In speaking thus
I am not laying myself open to a charge of inconsistency or condemning
the course which I have myself taken. It is not, I believe, for nothing
that I, like Abraham, have left my home and people. But I do not
presume to limit God’s omnipotence or to restrict to a narrow
strip of earth Him whom the heaven cannot contain. Each believer is
judged not by his residence in this place or in that but according to
the deserts of his faith. The true worshippers worship the Father
neither at Jerusalem nor on mount Gerizim; for “God is a spirit,
and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth.”1752
“Now the
spirit bloweth where it listeth,”1753
and “the earth is the Lord’s
and the fulness thereof.”1754
When the
fleece of Judæa was made dry although the whole world was wet with
the dew of heaven,1755
and when many
came from the East and from the West1756
and sat in
Abraham’s bosom:1757
then God ceased
to be known in Judah only and His name to be great in Israel alone;1758
the sound of the apostles went out into
all the earth and their words into the ends of the world.1759
The Saviour Himself speaking to His
disciples in the temple1760
| 1760 Only the second
sentence was spoken in the temple: the first was uttered in the chamber
of the last supper. | said:
“arise, let us go hence,”1761
and to the Jews: “your house is left unto you desolate.”1762
If heaven and earth must pass away,1763
obviously all things that are earthly
must pass away also. Therefore the spots which witnessed the
crucifixion and the resurrection profit those only who bear their
several crosses, who day by day rise again with Christ, and who thus
shew themselves worthy of an abode so holy. Those who say “the
temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,”1764
should give ear to the words of the
apostle: “ye are the temple of the Lord,”1765
and the Holy Ghost “dwelleth in
you.”1766
Access to the courts of heaven is
as easy from Britain as it is from Jerusalem; for “the kingdom of
God is within you.”1767
Antony and the
hosts of monks who are in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Pontus, Cappadocia, and
Armenia, have never seen Jerusalem: and the door of Paradise is opened
for them at a distance from it. The blessed Hilarion, though a native
of and a dweller in Palestine, only set eyes on Jerusalem for a single
day, not wishing on the one hand when he was so near to neglect the
holy places, nor yet on the other to appear to confine God within local
limits. From the time of Hadrian to the reign of Constantine—a
period of about one hundred and eighty years1768
| 1768 Hadrian died in
138 a.d.; Constantine became Emperor in 306
a.d. | —the spot which had witnessed the
resurrection was occupied by a figure of Jupiter; while on the rock
where the cross had stood, a marble statue of Venus was set up by the
heathen and became an object of worship. The original persecutors,
indeed, supposed that by polluting our holy places they would deprive
us of our faith in the passion and in the resurrection. Even my own
Bethlehem, as it now is, that most venerable spot in the whole world of
which the psalmist sings: “the truth hath sprung out of the
earth,”1769
was
overshadowed by a grove of Tammuz,1770
that is of
Adonis; and in the very cave1771
where the
infant Christ had uttered His earliest cry lamentation was made for the
paramour of Venus.1772
| 1772 Adonis, killed by
a boar and spending half his time in the upper, half in the lower
world, is a type of summer overcoming and overcome by winter. |
4. Why, you will say, do I make these remote allusions?
To assure you that nothing is lacking to your faith although you have
not seen Jerusalem and that I am none the better for living where I do.
Be assured that, whether you dwell here or elsewhere, a like recompense
is in store for your good works with our Lord. Indeed, if I am frankly
to express my own feelings, when I take into consideration your vows
and the earnestness with which you have renounced the world, I hold
that as long as you live in the country one place is as good as
another. Forsake cities and their crowds, live on a small patch of
ground, seek Christ in solitude, pray on the mount alone with Jesus,1773
keep near to holy places: keep out of
cities, I say, and you will never lose your vocation. My advice
concerns not bishops, presbyters, or the clergy, for these have a
different duty. I am speaking only to a monk who having been a man of
note in the world has laid the price of his possessions at the
apostles’ feet,1774
to shew men
that they must trample on their money, and has resolved to live a life
of loneliness and seclusion and always to continue to reject what he
has once rejected. Had the scenes of the Passion and of the
Resurrection been elsewhere than in a populous city with court and
garrison, with prostitutes, playactors, and buffoons, and with the
medley of persons usually found in such centres; or had the crowds
which thronged it been composed of monks; then a city would be a
desirable abode for those who have embraced the monastic life. But, as
things are, it would be the height of folly first to renounce the
world, to forswear one’s
country, to forsake cities, to profess one’s self a monk; and
then to live among still greater numbers the same kind of life that you
would have lived in your own country. Men rush here from all quarters
of the world, the city is filled with people of every race, and so
great is the throng of men and women that here you will have to
tolerate in its full dimensions an evil from which you desired to flee
when you found it partially developed elsewhere.
5. Since you ask me as a brother in what path you should
walk, I will be open with you. If you wish to take duty as a presbyter,
and are attracted by the work or dignity which falls to the lot of a
bishop, live in cities and walled towns,1775
and by so doing turn the salvation of
others into the profit of your own soul. But if you desire to be in
deed what you are in name—a monk,1776
| 1776 Monachus, lit.
“a solitary.” Men frequently at this time made vows,
especially those of celibacy, without entering a monastery. | that is, one who lives alone, what have
you to do with cities which are the homes not of solitaries but of
crowds? Every mode of life has its own exponents. For instance, let
Roman generals imitate men like Camillus, Fabricius, Regulus, and
Scipio. Let philosophers take for models Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato,
and Aristotle. Let poets strive to rival Homer, Virgil, Menander, and
Terence. Let writers of history follow Thucydides, Sallust, Herodotus
and Livy. Let orators find masters in Lysias, the Gracchi, Demosthenes,
and Tully. And, to come to our own case, let bishops and presbyters
take for their examples the apostles or their companions; and as they
hold the rank which these once held, let them endeavour to exhibit the
same excellence. And last of all let us monks take as the patterns
which we are to follow the lives of Paul, of Antony, of Julian, of
Hilarion, of the Macarii. And to go back to the authority of scripture,
we have our masters in Elijah and Elisha, and our leaders in the sons
of the prophets; who lived in fields and solitary places and made
themselves tents by the waters of Jordan.1777
The sons of Rechab too are of the
number who drank neither wine nor strong drink and who abode in tents;
men whom God’s voice praises through Jeremiah,1778
and to whom a promise is made that
there shall never be wanting a man of their stock to stand before
God.1779
This is probably what is meant by the
title of the seventy-first psalm: “of the sons of Jonadab and of
those who were first led into captivity.”1780
| 1780 This title occurs
only in the LXX. | The person intended is Jonadab the son
of Rechab who is described in the book of Kings1781
as having gone up into the chariot of
Jehu. His sons having always lived in tents until at last (owing to the
inroads made by the Chaldean army) they were forced to come into
Jerusalem, are described1782
as being the
first to undergo captivity; because after the freedom of their lonely
life they found confinement in a city as bad as imprisonment.
6. Since you are not wholly independent but are bound to
a wife who is your sister in the Lord, I entreat you—whether here
or there—that you will avoid large gatherings, visits official
and complimentary, and social parties, indulgences all of which tend to
enchain the soul. Let your food be coarse—say cabbage and
pulse—and do not take it until evening. Sometimes as a great
delicacy you may have some small fish. He who longs for Christ and
feeds upon the true bread cares little for dainties which must be
transmuted into ordure. Food that you cannot taste when once it has
passed your gullet might as well be—so far as you are
concerned—bread and pulse. You have my books against Jovinian
which speak yet more largely of despising the appetite and the palate.
Let some holy volume be ever in your hand. Pray constantly, and bowing
down your body lift up your mind to the Lord. Keep frequent vigils and
sleep often on an empty stomach. Avoid tittle-tattle and all
self-laudation. Flee from wheedling flatterers as from open enemies.
Distribute with your own hand provisions to alleviate the miseries of
the poor and of the brethren. With your own hands, I say, for good
faith is rare among men. You do not believe what I say? Think of Judas
and his bag. Seek not a lowly garb for a swelling soul. Avoid the
society of men of the world, especially if they are in power. Why need
you look again on things contempt for which has made you a monk? Above
all let your sister1783
| 1783 Therasia, the
wife of Paulinus is meant. | hold aloof
from married ladies. And, if women round her wear silk dresses and gems
while she is meanly attired, let her neither fret nor congratulate
herself. For by so doing she will either regret her resolution or sow
the seeds of pride. If you are already famed as a faithful steward of
your own substance, do not take other people’s money to give
away. You understand what I mean, for the Lord has given you
understanding in all things. Be simple as a dove and lay snares for no
man: but be cunning as a serpent and let no man lay snares for you.1784
For a Christian who allows others to
deceive him is almost at much at fault as one who tries to deceive
others. If a man talks to you always or nearly always about money
(except it be about alms-giving, a topic which is open to all) treat
him as a broker rather than a monk. Besides food and clothing and
things manifestly necessary give no
man anything; for dogs must not eat the children’s bread.1785
7. The true temple of Christ is the believer’s
soul; adorn this, clothe it, offer gifts to it, welcome Christ in it.
What use are walls blazing with jewels when Christ in His poor1786
is in danger of perishing from hunger?
Your possessions are no longer your own but a stewardship is entrusted
to you. Remember Ananias and Sapphira who from fear of the future kept
what was their own, and be careful for your part not rashly to squander
what is Christ’s. Do not, that is, by an error of judgment give
the property of the poor to those who are not poor; lest, as a wise man
has told us,1787
| 1787 Cicero, de Off.
II. xv. | charity prove the death of
charity. Look not upon
Gay trappings or a Cato’s empty name.1788
| 1788 Probably a
quotation from memory incorrectly made up from Lucan’s
‘Nomina vana Catonis’ (i. 313). |
In the words of Persius, God says:—
I know thy thoughts and read thine inmost soul.1789
To be a Christian is the great thing, not merely to seem one. And
somehow or other those please the world most who please Christ least.
In speaking thus I am not like the sow lecturing Minerva; but, as a
friend warns a friend, so I warn you before you embark on your new
course. I would rather fail in ability than in will to serve you; for
my wish is that where I have fallen you may keep your footing.
8. It is with much pleasure that I have read the book
which you have sent to me containing your wise and eloquent defence of
the emperor Theodosius; and your arrangement of the subject has
particularly pleased me. While in the earlier chapters you surpass
others, in the latter you surpass yourself. Your style is terse and
neat; it has all the purity of Tully, and yet it is packed with
meaning. For, as someone has said,1790
| 1790 Quintilian, Inst.
Or. viii. Proem. | that speech
is a failure of which men only praise the diction. You have been
successful in preserving both sequence of subjects and logical
connexion. Whatever sentence one takes, it is always a conclusion to
what goes before or an introduction to what follows. Theodosius is
fortunate in having a Christian orator like you to plead his cause. You
have made his purple illustrious and have consecrated for future ages
his useful laws. Go on and prosper, for, if such be your first ventures
in the field, what will you not do when you become a trained soldier?
Oh! that it were mine to conduct a genius like you, not (as the poets
sing) through the Aonian mountains and the peaks of Helicon but through
Zion and Tabor and the high places of Sinai. If I might teach you what
I have learned myself and might pass on to you the mystic rolls of the
prophets, then might we give birth to something such as Greece with all
her learning could not shew.
9. Hear me, therefore, my fellow-servant, my friend, my
brother; give ear for a moment that I may tell you how you are to walk
in the holy scriptures. All that we read in the divine books, while
glistening and shining without, is yet far sweeter within. “He
who desires to eat the kernel must first break the nut.”1791
| 1791 Plautus, Curc. I.
i. 55. | “Open thou mine eyes,” says
David, “that I may behold wondrous things out of thy
law.”1792
Now, if so great a prophet
confesses that he is in the darkness of ignorance; how deep, think you,
must be the night of misapprehension with which we, mere babes and
unweaned infants, are enveloped! Now this veil rests not only on the
face of Moses,1793
but on the
evangelists and the apostles as well.1794
| 1794 i.e., the
new testament as well as the old may have its true meaning concealed
from some. | To the multitudes the Saviour spoke only
in parables and, to make it clear that His words had a mystical
meaning, said:—“he that hath ears to hear, let him
hear.”1795
Unless all things that are written
are opened by Him “who hath the key of David, who openeth and no
man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth,”1796
no one can undo the lock or set them
before you. If only you had the foundation which He alone can give;
nay, if even His fingers were but passed over your work; there would be
nothing finer than your volumes, nothing more learned, nothing more
attractive, nothing more Latin.
10. Tertullian is packed with meaning but his style is
rugged and uncouth. The blessed Cyprian like a fountain of pure water
flows softly and sweetly but, as he is taken up with exhortations to
virtue and with the troubles consequent on persecution, he has nowhere
discussed the divine scriptures. Victorinus, although he has the glory
of a martyr’s crown, yet cannot express what he knows. Lactantius
has a flow of eloquence worthy of Tully: would that he had been as
ready to teach our doctrines as he was to pull down those of others!
Arnobius is lengthy and unequal, and often confused from not making a
proper division of his subject. That reverend man Hilary gains in
height from his Gallic buskin; yet, adorned as he is with the flowers
of Greek rhetoric, he sometimes entangles himself in long periods and
offers by no means easy reading to the less learned brethren. I say
nothing of other writers whether
dead or living; others will hereafter judge them both for good and for
evil.1797
11. I will come to yourself, my fellow-mystic, my
companion, and my friend; my friend, I say, though not yet personally
known: and I will ask you not to suspect a flatterer in one so
intimate. Better that you should think me mistaken or led astray by
affection than that you should hold me capable of fawning on a friend.
You have a great intellect and an inexhaustible store of language, your
diction is fluent and pure, your fluency and purity are mingled with
wisdom. Your head is clear and all your senses keen. Were you to add to
this wisdom and eloquence a careful study and knowledge of scripture, I
should soon see you holding our citadel against all comers; you would
go up with Joab upon the roof of Zion,1798
and sing upon the housetops what you
had learned in the secret chambers.1799
Gird up, I
pray you, gird up your loins. As Horace says:—
Life hath no gifts for men except they toil.1800
| 1800 Horace, Sat. I. ix.
59, 60. |
Shew yourself as much a man of note in the church, as
you were before in the senate. Provide for yourself riches which you
may spend daily yet they will not fail. Provide them while you are
still strong and while as yet your head has no gray hairs: before, in
the words of Virgil,
Diseases creep on you, and gloomy age,
And pain, and cruel death’s inclemency.1801
| 1801 Virgil, Georg. iii.
67, 68. |
I am not content with mediocrity for you: I desire all that you do
to be of the highest excellence.
How heartily I have welcomed the reverend presbyter
Vigilantius,1802
| 1802 Afterwards noted as
an assailant of Jerome’s ascetic doctrines. See the introduction
to Letter LXI. | his own lips will tell you better
than this letter. Why he has so soon left us and started afresh I
cannot say; and, indeed, I do not wish to hurt anyone’s
feelings.1803
| 1803 The allusion seems
to be to the behaviour of Vigilantius during an earthquake which
occurred when he was at Bethlehem. His fright on the occasion exposed
him to the ridicule of the community there. (Against Vig., i. 11.) | Still, mere passer-by as he was,
in haste to continue his journey, I managed to keep him back until I
had given him a taste of my friendship for you. Thus you can learn from
him what you want to know about me. Kindly salute your reverend
sister1804
| 1804 As before,
Therasia, the wife of Paulinus is meant. | and fellow-servant, who with you
fights the good fight in the Lord.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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