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| To Marcella.
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Letter
XLIII. To Marcella.
Jerome draws a contrast between his daily life and that
of Origen, and sorrowfully admits his own shortcomings. He then
suggests to Marcella the advantages which life in the country offers
over life in town, and hints that he is himself disposed to make trial
of it. Written at Rome in 385 a.d.
1. Ambrose who supplied Origen, true man of adamant and
of brass,904
| 904 For the meaning of
these epithets as applied to Origen see Letter XXXIII. § 1. | with money, materials and amanuenses
to bring out his countless books—Ambrose, in a letter to his
friend from Athens, states that they never took a meal together without
something being read, and never went to bed till some portion of
Scripture had been brought home to them by a brother’s voice.
Night and day, in fact, were so ordered that prayer only gave place to
reading and reading to prayer.
2. Have we, brute beasts that we are, ever done the
like? Why, we yawn if we read for over an hour; we rub our foreheads
and vainly try to suppress our languor. And then, after this great
feat, we plunge for relief into worldly business once more.
I say nothing of the meals with which we dull our
faculties, and I would rather not estimate the time that we spend in
paying and receiving visits. Next we fall into conversation; we waste
our words, we attack people behind their backs, we detail their way of
living, we carp at them and are carped at by them in turn. Such is the
fare that engages our attention at dinner and afterwards. Then, when
our guests have retired, we make up our accounts, and these are sure to
cause us either anger or anxiety. The first makes us like raging lions,
and the second seeks vainly to make provision for years to come. We do
not recollect the words of the Gospel: “Thou fool, this night thy
soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which
thou hast provided?”905
The clothing which we
buy is designed not merely for use but for display. Where there is a
chance of saving money we quicken our pace, speak promptly, and keep
our ears open. If we hear of household losses—such as often
occur—our looks become dejected and gloomy. The gain of a penny906
| 906 Nummus. Sc. Sestertius
= 4 cents = 2 pence. | fills us with joy; the loss of a
half-penny907
| 907 Obolus = 3 1–2
cents = 1 penny 3 farthings. | plunges us into sorrow. One man is of so many minds that the
prophet’s prayer is: “Lord, in thy city scatter their
image.”908
For created as we are in the image
of God and after His likeness,909
it is our own
wickedness which makes us assume masks.910
| 910 These were worn by both
Greek and Roman actors. | Just
as on the stage the same actor now figures as a brawny Hercules, now
softens into a tender Venus, now shivers in the role of Cybele; so
we—who, if we were not of the world, would be hated by the
world911
—for every sin that we commit have a
corresponding mask.
3. Wherefore, seeing that we have journeyed for much of
our life through a troubled sea, and that our vessel has been in turn
shaken by raging blasts and shattered upon treacherous reefs, let us,
as soon as may be, make for the haven of rural quietude. There such
country dainties as milk and household bread, and greens watered by our
own hands, will supply us with coarse but harmless fare. So living,
sleep will not call us away from prayer, nor satiety from reading. In
summer the shade of a tree will afford us privacy. In autumn the
quality of the air and the leaves strewn under foot will invite us to
stop and rest. In springtime the fields will be bright with flowers,
and our psalms will sound the sweeter for the twittering of the birds.
When winter comes with its frost and snow, I shall not have to buy
fuel, and, whether I sleep or keep vigil, shall be warmer than in town.
At least, so far as I know, I shall keep off the cold at less expense.
Let Rome keep to itself its noise and bustle, let the cruel shows of
the arena go on, let the crowd rave at the circus, let the playgoers
revel in the theatres and—for I must not altogether pass over our
Christian friends—let the House of Ladies912
hold its daily sittings. It is good for us to cleave to the Lord,913
| 913 Senatus Matronarum.
Comp. Letter XXXIII. 4: “Rome calls together its senate to
condemn him.” | and to put our hope in the Lord God, so
that when we have exchanged our present poverty for the kingdom of
heaven, we may be able to exclaim: “Whom have I in heaven but
thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.”914
Surely if we can find such blessedness in
heaven we may well grieve to have sought after pleasures poor and
passing here upon earth. Farewell.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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