Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. VI:
The Letters of St. Jerome.: Letter LXX

p. 149 Letter LXX. To Magnus an Orator of Rome.

Jerome thanks Magnus, a Roman orator, for his services in bringing a young man named Sebesius to apologize to him for some fault that he had committed. He then replies to a criticism of Magnus on his fondness for making quotations from profane writers, a practice which he defends by the example of the fathers of the church and of the inspired penmen of scripture. He ends by hinting that the objection really comes not from Magnus himself but from Rufinus (here nicknamed Calpurnius Lanarius). The date of the letter is 397 a.d.

1. That our friend Sebesius has profited by your advice I have learned less from your letter than from his own penitence. And strange to say the pleasure which he has given me since his rebuke is greater than the pain he caused me from his previous waywardness. There has been indeed a conflict between indulgence in the father, and affection in the son; while the former is anxious to forget the past, the latter is eager to promise dutiful behaviour in the future. Accordingly you and I must equally rejoice, you because you have successfully put a pupil to the test, I because I have received a son again.

2. You ask me at the close of your letter why it is that sometimes in my writings I quote examples from secular literature and thus defile the whiteness of the church with the foulness of heathenism. I will now briefly answer your question. You would never have asked it, had not your mind been wholly taken up with Tully; you would never have asked it had you made it a practice instead of studying Volcatius 2128 to read the holy scriptures and the commentators upon them. For who is there who does not know that both in Moses and in the prophets there are passages cited from Gentile books and that Solomon proposed questions to the philosophers of Tyre and answered others put to him by them. 2129 In the commencement of the book of Proverbs he charges us to understand prudent maxims and shrewd adages, parables and obscure discourse, the words of the wise and their dark sayings; 2130 all of which belong by right to the sphere of the dialectician and the philosopher. The Apostle Paul also, in writing to Titus, has used a line of the poet Epimenides: “The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.” 2131 Half of which line was afterwards adopted by Callimachus. It is not surprising that a literal rendering of the words into Latin should fail to preserve the metre, seeing that Homer when translated into the same language is scarcely intelligible even in prose. In another epistle Paul quotes a line of Menander: “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” 2132 And when he is arguing with the Athenians upon the Areopagus he calls Aratus as a witness citing from him the words “For we are also his offspring;” 2133 in Greek τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμεν, the close of a heroic verse. And as if this were not enough, that leader of the Christian army, that unvanquished pleader for the cause of Christ, skilfully turns a chance inscription into a proof of the faith. 2134 For he had learned from the true David to wrench the sword of the enemy out of his hand and with his own blade to cut off the head of the arrogant Goliath. 2135 He had read in Deuteronomy the command given by the voice of the Lord that when a captive woman had had her head shaved, her eyebrows and all her hair cut off, and her nails pared, she might then be taken to wife. 2136 Is it surprising that I too, admiring the fairness of her form and the grace of her eloquence, desire to make that secular wisdom which is my captive and my handmaid, a matron of the true Israel? Or that shaving off and cutting away all in her that is dead whether this be idolatry, pleasure, error, or lust, I take her to myself clean and pure and beget by her servants for the Lord of Sabaoth? My efforts promote the advantage of Christ’s family, my so-called defilement with an alien increases the number of my fellow-servants. Hosea took a wife of whoredoms, Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and this harlot bore him a son called Jezreel or the seed of God. 2137 Isaiah speaks of a sharp razor which shaves “the head of sinners and the hair of their feet;” 2138 and Ezekiel shaves his head as a type of that Jerusalem which has been an harlot, 2139 in sign that whatever in her is devoid of sense and life must be removed.

3. Cyprian, a man renowned both for his eloquence and for his martyr’s death, was assailed—so Firmian tells us 2140 —for having used in his treatise against Demetrius passages from the Prophets and the Apostles which the latter declared to be fabricated and made up, instead of passages from the philosophers and poets whose authority he, as a heathen, could not well gainsay. Celsus 2141 and Porphyry 2142 have written against us and have been ably answered, the former by Origen, the latter by Methodius, Eusebius, and Apollinaris. 2143 Origen wrote a treatise in eight books, the work of p. 150 Methodius 2144 extended to ten thousand lines while Eusebius 2145 and Apollinaris 2146 composed twenty-five and thirty volumes respectively. Read these and you will find that compared with them I am a mere tyro in learning, and that, as my wits have long lain fallow, I can barely recall as in a dream what I have learned as a boy. The emperor Julian 2147 found time during his Parthian campaign to vomit forth seven books against Christ and, as so often happens in poetic legends, only wounded himself with his own sword. Were I to try to confute him with the doctrines of philosophers and stoics you would doubtless forbid me to strike a mad dog with the club of Hercules. It is true that he presently felt in battle the hand of our Nazarene or, as he used to call him, the Galilæan, 2148 and that a spear-thrust in the vitals paid him due recompense for his foul calumnies. To prove the antiquity of the Jewish people Josephus 2149 has written two books against Appio a grammarian of Alexandria; and in these he brings forward so many quotations from secular writers as to make me marvel how a Hebrew brought up from his childhood to read the sacred scriptures could also have perused the whole library of the Greeks. Need I speak of Philo 2150 whom critics call the second or the Jewish Plato?

4. Let me now run through the list of our own writers. Did not Quadratus 2151 a disciple of the apostles and bishop of the Athenian church deliver to the Emperor Hadrian (on the occasion of his visit to the Eleusinian mysteries) a treatise in defence of our religion. And so great was the admiration caused in everyone by his eminent ability that it stilled a most severe persecution. The philosopher Aristides, 2152 a man of great eloquence, presented to the same Emperor an apology for the Christians composed of extracts from philosophic writers. His example was afterwards followed by Justin 2153 another philosopher who delivered to Antoninus Pius and his sons 2154 and to the senate a treatise Against the Gentiles, in which he defended the ignominy of the cross and preached the resurrection of Christ with all freedom. Need I speak of Melito 2155 bishop of Sardis, of Apollinaris 2156 chief-priest of the Church of Hierapolis, of Dionysius 2157 bishop of the Corinthians, of Tatian, 2158 of Bardesanes, 2159 of Irenæus 2160 successor to the martyr Pothinus; 2161 all of whom have in many volumes explained the uprisings of the several heresies and tracked them back, each to the philosophic source from which it flows. Pantænus, 2162 a philosopher of the Stoic school, was on account of his great reputation for learning sent by Demetrius bishop of Alexandria to India, to preach Christ to the Brahmans and philosophers there. Clement, 2163 a presbyter of Alexandria, in my judgment the most learned of men, wrote eight books of Miscellanies 2164 and as many of Outline Sketches, 2165 a treatise against the Gentiles, and three volumes called the Pedagogue. Is there any want of learning in these, or are they not rather drawn from the very heart of philosophy? Imitating his example Origen 2166 wrote ten books of Miscellanies, in which he compares together the opinions held respectively by Christians and by philosophers, and confirms all the dogmas of our religion by quotations from Plato and Aristotle, from Numenius 2167 and Cornutus. 2168 Miltiades 2169 also wrote an excellent treatise against the Gentiles. Moreover Hippolytus 2170 and a Roman senator named Apollonius 2171 have each compiled apologetic works. The books of Julius Africanus 2172 who wrote a history of his own times are still extant, as also are those of Theodore who was afterwards called Gregory, 2173 p. 151 a man endowed with apostolic miracles as well as with apostolic virtues. We still have the works of Dionysius 2174 bishop of Alexandria, of Anatolius 2175 chief priest of the church of Laodicea, of the presbyters Pamphilus, 2176 Pierius, 2177 Lucian, 2178 Malchion; 2179 of Eusebius 2180 bishop of Cæsarea, Eustathius 2181 of Antioch and Athanasius 2182 of Alexandria; of Eusebius 2183 of Emisa, of Triphyllius 2184 of Cyprus, of Asterius 2185 of Scythopolis, of the confessor Serapion, 2186 of Titus 2187 bishop of Bostra; and of the Cappadocians Basil, 2188 Gregory, 2189 and Amphilochius. 2190 All these writers so frequently interweave in their books the doctrines and maxims of the philosophers that you might easily be at a loss which to admire most, their secular erudition or their knowledge of the scriptures.

5. I will pass on to Latin writers. Can anything be more learned or more pointed than the style of Tertullian? 2191 His Apology and his books Against the Gentiles contain all the wisdom of the world. Minucius Felix 2192 a pleader in the Roman courts has ransacked all heathen literature to adorn the pages of his Octavius and of his treatise Against the astrologers (unless indeed this latter is falsely ascribed to him). Arnobius 2193 has published seven books against the Gentiles, and his pupil Lactantius 2194 as many, besides two volumes, one on Anger and the other on the creative activity of God. If you read any of these you will find in them an epitome of Cicero’s dialogues. The Martyr Victorinus 2195 though as a writer deficient in learning is not deficient in the wish to use what learning he has. Then there is Cyprian. 2196 With what terseness, with what knowledge of all history, with what splendid rhetoric and argument has he touched the theme that idols are no Gods! Hilary 2197 too, a confessor and bishop of my own day, has imitated Quintilian’s twelve books both in number and in style, and has also shewn his ability as a writer in his short treatise against Dioscorus the physician. In the reign of Constantine the presbyter Juvencus 2198 set forth in verse the story of our Lord and Saviour, and did not shrink from forcing into metre the majestic phrases of the Gospel. Of other writers dead and living I say nothing. Their aim and their ability are evident to all who read them. 2199

6. You must not adopt the mistaken opinion, that while in dealing with the Gentiles one may appeal to their literature in all other discussions one ought to ignore it; for almost all the books of all these writers—except those who like Epicurus 2200 are no scholars—are extremely full of erudition and philosophy. I incline indeed to fancy—the thought comes into my head as I dictate—that you yourself know quite well what has always been the practice of the learned in this matter. I believe that in putting this question to me you are only the mouthpiece of another who by reason of his love for the histories of Sallust might well be called Calpurnius Lanarius. 2201 Please beg of him not to envy eaters their teeth because he is toothless himself, and not to make light of the eyes of gazelles because he is himself a mole. Here as you see there is abundant material for discussion, but I have already filled the limits at my disposal.

Footnotes

Either a teacher of civil law mentioned by Pliny (viii. 40), or else one of the writers of the Augustan History.

The authority for this is Josephus.

Prov. i. 1-6.

Tit. i. 12.

1 Cor. xv. 33. The line is also attributed to Euripides.

Acts xvii. 28.

Acts xvii. 22.

Cf. 1 Sam. 17:50, 51.

Deut. xxi. 10-13.

Hos. i. 2-4.

Isa. vii. 20.

Ezek. v. 1-5.

i.e. Lactantius, vide Inst. v. 4.

The author of a polemical treatise against Christianity, fragments of which are still preserved in Origen’s reply. He was a Platonist.

A neoplatonist writer who flourished in the third century.

See note on Letter XLVIII. § 13.

Contemporary with Eusebius the historian. His Symposium still extant proves him to have been a warm admirer of Plato.

The learned bishop of Cæsarea (a.d. 260–340). His Church History and other works are translated or described in Vol. i. of this series.

Probably the learned Bishop of Laodicea, whose views were condemned at Constantinople in 381.

Julian was emperor from a.d. 261 to a.d. 263. He reverted from Christianity to paganism and did all in his power to harass the Church.

According to Theodoret (H. E. iii. 25) Julian’s last words were “Thou hast conquered, O Galilæan.”

A Jew born at Jerusalem a.d. 37. His historical works, still extant, are of great value.

See note on Letter XXII. § 35.

The author of an apology for the Christians presented to the Emperor Hadrian. Only small fragments of the work are now extant. See for him and Aristides Jerome’s Book on Famous Men, in Vol. iii. of this series, c. xix. xx.

Another Athenian apologist contemporary with Quadratus. His Apology has lately been published. Cambridge, Eng., 1891.

Commonly called Justin Martyr. Born in Samaria of Greek parents, he is said to have undergone martyrdom at Rome. Fl. a.d. 140–150.

Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

Fl. a.d. 170. He composed an Apology addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

A highly esteemed writer, from 171 a.d. onwards, who wrote many treatises, amongst which were an apology addressed to Marcus Aurelius, and several works against Montanism.

Fl. a.d. 171, the writer of several pastoral letters to other churches famous in their day but no longer extant.

See note on Letter XLVIII. § 3.

Born at Edessa c. 155 a.d. died 223 a.d. A mystical theologian of a gnostic type who held a high position at the court of the Abgars. His writings have perished.

Bishop of Lyons in the latter half of the second century. He was a native of Asia Minor and his younger days had known Polycarp.

Bishop of Lyons, suffered martyrdom under Marcus Aurelius.

A convert from stoicism to Christianity in the latter part of the second century who as the head of the catechetical school at Alexandria was the instructor of Clement.

Head of the catechetical school at Alexandria a.d. 190–203.

στρωματέις .

ὑποτυπώσεις .

See Letter XXXIII. Of Origen’s Miscellanies only a few fragments remain. ‘They appear to have discussed various topics in the light of ancient philosophy and scripture.’—Westcott.

A neoplatonic and neopythagorean philosopher who flourished in the age of the Antonines.

A Stoic philosopher, the friend and teacher of the poet Persius. Having criticised Nero’s literary style too freely he was banished by that emperor.

An active Christian writer of the reign of Commodus.

Fl. a.d. 200–225, the first antipope. His Refutation of All Heresies is of great interest and value.

Fl. a.d. 186. Accused of being a Christian, he delivered in the senate an apology for the faith.

A writer of the third century who compiled a Chronicle of the world’s history from the creation to his own day. It has long since perished.

Surnamed Thaumaturgus or Wonderworker. One of Origen’s pupils, he wrote a Panegyric (extant) on his master. Fl. 233–270.

Head of the catechetical school, and afterwards bishop, of Alexandria. He died a.d. 265.

Trained in the school of Alexandria and praised by Eusebius for his great learning.

The intimate friend of Eusebius of Cæsarea and founder of the famous library in that city.

See note on Letter XLVIII. § 3.

A presbyter of Antioch and apparently a pupil of Malchion. He suffered martyrdom at Nicomedia a.d. 311.

A presbyter of Antioch in the reign of Aurelian. He took part in the proceedings against Paul of Samosata.

See note on § 3 above.

Bishop of Antioch at the time of the Nicene Council. One of the earliest and most vigorous opponents of Arianism.

Bishop of Alexandria from a.d. 326 to a.d. 373. The great champion of the diversity of Christ again Arius and the followers.

Flor. a.d. 341–359. After studying at Alexandria he lived for some time at Antioch where he took part in an Arian council.

A famous lawyer of Berytus converted to Christianity by Spyridon a bishop in Cyprus.

Bishop of Amasea in Pontus, a constant student of Demosthenes and himself no mean orator.

An Egyptian bishop the friend of Antony and Athanasius. Some of his writings are still extant.

This bishop is best known through the Emperor Julian’s vain attempt to expel him from his see.

a.d. 329–379. Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia and a strenuous champion of orthodoxy. His works are still extant.

Gregory of Nazianzus. Bishop of Sasima and for a short time of Constantinople (a.d. 379–381).

Flor. a.d. 350–400. Archbishop of Iconium. A friend of Basil and of Gregory Nazianzen.

An African writer who in his last days became a Montanist. Flor. a.d. 175–225.

A Roman lawyer of the second century. His Apology—a Dialogue entitled Octavius—is extant.

Fl. a.d. 300. A professor of rhetoric at Sicca in Africa and a heathen. He composed his apology to prove the reality of his conversion.

An African rhetorician and apologist of the fourth century. His works are extant.

A celebrated man of letters at Rome in the middle of the fourth century, the story of whose conversion is told in Augustine’s Confessions (viii. 2–5).

Bishop of Carthage. He suffered martyrdom a.d. 358. His works are extant.

Bishop of Poitiers (died a.d. 368). A champion of the orthodox faith against Arianism.

A Spanish Christian of the fourth century. His “Story of the Gospels,” a life of Christ in hexameter verse, still exists.

For most of the writers mentioned in this section see also Jerome’s Book of Famous Men translated in Vol. iii. of this series.

For an account of Epicurus see Letter V. § 5, note. He professed to have read but little.

That Rufinus is the person meant is plain from a reference made to this passage in Apol. adv. Rufinum, i. 30 and also from Letter CII. § 3. Jerome is however mistaken in connecting this Calpurnius with Sallust. He is mentioned by Plutarch as a treacherous friend. Sallust does mention a certain Calpurinus Bestia, and Jerome has probably confounded the two.