Jerome. Lives of Illustrious Men pref
pref Preface PL 23, 601
II. Jerome.
Lives of Illustrious Men.
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Preface.
You have urged me, Dexter, to follow the example of Tranquillus in giving a systematic account of ecclesiastical writers, and to do for our writers what he did for the illustrious men of letters among the Gentiles, namely, to briefly set before you all those who have published any memorable writing on the Holy Scriptures, from the time of our Lord’s passion until the fourteenth year of the Emperor Theodosius. A similar work has been done by Hermippus the peripatetic, Antigonus Carystius, the learned Satyrus, and most learned of all, Aristoxenus the Musician, among the Greeks, and among the Latins by Varro, Santra, Nepos, Hyginus, and by him through whose example you seek to stimulate us,—Tranquillus.
But their situation and mine is not the same, for they, opening the old histories and chronicles could as if gathering from some great meadow, weave some small crown at least for their work. As for me, what shall I do, who, having no predecessor, have, as the saying is, the worst possible master, namely myself, and yet I must acknowledge that Eusebius Pamphilus in the ten books of his Church History has been of the utmost assistance, and the works of various among those of whom we are to write, often testify to the dates of their authors. And so I pray the Lord Jesus, that what your Cicero, who stood at the summit of Roman eloquence, did not scorn to do, compiling in his Brutus, a catalogue of Latin orators, this I too may accomplish in the enumeration of ecclesiastical writers, and accomplish in a fashion worthy of the exhortation which you made. But if, perchance any of those who are yet writing have been overlooked by me in this volume, they ought to ascribe it to themselves, rather than to me, for among those whom I have not read, I could not, in the first place, know those who concealed their own writings, and, in the second place, what is perhaps well known to others, would be quite unknown to me in this out of the way corner of the earth. But surely when they are distinguished by their writings, they will not very greatly grieve over any loss in our non-mention of them. Let Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian learn, rabid as they are against Christ, let their followers, they who think the church has had no philosophers or orators or men of learning, learn how many and what sort of men founded, built and adorned it, and cease to accuse our faith of such rustic simplicity, and recognize rather their own ignorance.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, farewell.
821 Hortaris me, Dexter, ut Tranquillum sequens, ecclesiasticos Scriptores in ordinem digeram et quod ille in enumerandis Gentilium litterarum Viris fecit Illustribus, ego [ Al. id ego] in nostris faciam, id est, ut a passione Christi usque ad decimum quartum Theodosii imperatoris annum, omnes qui de Scripturis sanctis memoriae aliquid prodiderunt, tibi breviter exponam. Fecerunt quidem hoc idem apud Graecos, Hermippus peripateticus, Antigonus Carystius, Satyrus doctus vir, et longe omnium doctissimus Aristoxenus musicus. Apud Latinos autem Varro, Santra, Nepos, Hyginus, et ad cujus nos exemplum provocas, Tranquillus. Sed non mea est et illorum similis conditio: illi enim historias veteres annalesque replicantes, potuerunt quasi de ingenti prato non parvam opusculi sui coronam texere. Ego quid aucturus, qui nullum praevium sequens, pessimum, ut dicitur, magistrum memetipsum habeo? Quamquam Eusebius Pamphili in decem ecclesiasticae Historiae libris, maximo nobis adjumento fuerit, et singulorum, de quibus scripturi sumus, volumina aetates auctorum suorum saepetestentur. Itaque Dominum Jesum Christum precor, ut quod Cicero tuus, qui 823 in arce Romanae eloquentiae stetit, non est facere dedignatus in Bruto, Oratorum Latinae linguae texens catalogum, id ego in ejus Ecclesiae Scriptoribus enumerandis, digne cohortatione tua impleam. Si qui autem de his qui usque hodie scriptitant [ Al. scripserunt], a me in hoc volumine praetermissi sunt, sibi magis quam mihi debebunt [ Al. debent] imputare. Neque enim celantes scripta sua, de his quae non legi, nosse potui, et quod aliis forsitan sit notum, mihi in hoc terrarum angulo ( Bethleemi ) fuerit ignotum. Certe cum scriptis suis claruerint, non magnopere nostri silentii dispendia [ Al. dispendio] suspirabunt. Discant ergo Celsus, Porphyrius, Julianus, rabidi adversus Christum canes, discant eorum sectatores (qui putant Ecclesiam nullos philosophos et eloquentes, nullos habuisse doctores) quanti et quales viri eam fundaverint, exstruxerint [ Al. struxerint], et adornaverint; et desinant fidem nostram rusticae tantum simplicitatis arguere, suamque potius imperitiam agnoscant. Vale in Domino Jesu Christo.
822 Προτρέπῃ, Δέξτρε, ὥστε Τραγκύλλῳ ἐπόμενόν με, τοὺς ἐκκλησιαστικοὺς συγγραφέας κατὰ τάξιν ἐκθέσθαι, καὶ ὅπερ ἐκεῖνος ἀπαριθμούμενος τοὺς περιφανεῖς ἄνδρας, τοὺς τὰ ἐθνικὰ συντάξαντας πεποίηκε, κᾀγὼ ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις ποιήσω, τοῦτ' ἐστιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ πάθους τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἄχρι τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτου ἔτους Θεοδοσίου τοῦ βασιλέως, πάντας τοὺς ἐκ τῶν θείων γραφῶν συγγραψαμένους τε, καὶ τῇ μνήμῃ παραδεδωκότας, διὰ βραχέων φανερώσω. Πεποιήκασι μὲν οὖν τοῦτο αὐτὸ, παρὰ τοῖς ἕλλησιν, Ἕρμιππος περιπατητικὸς, Ἀντίγονος Καρύστιος, Σάτυρος ἀνὴρ πολυμαθὴς, καὶ πολλῶν πάνυ διδασκαλικώτερος, Ἀριστόξενος μουσικός. Παρὰ δὲ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις Βάῤῥων, Σάντρας, Νέπως, Ὑγῖνος, καὶ οὗ εἰς ὑπόδειγμα ἡμᾶς προκαλεῖσθαι βούλει, Τράγκυλλος. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμοῦ κᾀκείνων ὁμοία ἡ αἵρεσις. Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ, παλαιὰς ἱστορίας καὶ τὰ ἑκάστου ἔτους ἀνακυλίοντες συντάγματα, ἐδυνήθησαν ὡσανεί ἐκ μεγάλου λειμῶνος, ἐλάχιστον γοῦν τοῦ οἰκείου ἔργου στέφανον πλέξαι. Ἐγὼ δὲ τί διαπράξομαι, ἡγουμένῳ ἑπόμενος οὐδενὶ, ἀλλ' ἐμαυτὸν κάκιστον, ὡς ὁ λόγος φησὶ, διδάσκαλον ἔχων; Εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα Εὐσέβιος ὁ Παμφίλου εἰς δέκα τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ἱστορίας βίβλους μεγίστην ἡμῖν παρέσχετο βοήθειαν, καὶ τὰ ἑκάστου, περὶ ὧν συγγράφειν μέλλομεν, τεύχη, ὑπὲρ τῶν οἰκείων τὴν μαρτυρίαν παρέξουσι χρόνων. Τοιγαροῦν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δέομαι, ἵν' ὅπερ ὁ σὸς Κικέρων, ὁ ἐν τῷ ἄκρῳ τῆς ῥωμαϊκῆς εὐγλωττίας ἱστάμενος, ποιῆσαι οὐκ ἀπηξίωσεν, 824 εἰς Βροῦτον, τὸν τῶν ῥητόρων τῇ ῥωμαϊκῇ γλώττῃ συντάττων κατάλογον, τοῦτο ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ ἀπαριθμήσασθαι τοὺς συγγραφέας τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησίας, ἐκπληρώσω διὰ τῆς σῆς προτροπῆς. Εἰ δέ τινες ἐκ τῶν ἄχρι τήμερον συγγεγραμμένων παρ' ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷδε τῷ τεύχει παρελείφθησαν, ἑαυτοῖς μᾶλλον ἢ μοὶ ἐπιγραφέτωσαν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀποκρυπτόντων αὐτῶν τὰ ἴδια συγγράμματα, γνῶναι ἐδυνήθην οἷς οὐκ ἐνέτυχον, καὶ ὅπερ ἄλλοις ἐσθ' ὅτε γνωστὸν τυγχάνει, ἐμοὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ κόσμου τοῦτου γωνίᾳ ἄγνωστον ὑπῆρξεν. Ὅμως ὅταν κατάδηλοι διὰ τῶν οἰκείων γένωνται συγγραμμάτων, οὐχ ὡς τὰ μέγιστα βλαβέντες τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐπιστενάξουσι σιωπήν. Μαθέτωσαν τοιγαροῦν Κέλσος, Πορφύριος, Ἰουλιανὸς οἱ λυσσώδεις κατὰ Χριστοῦ κύνες, μαθέτωσαν οἱ τούτων ἀκόλουθοι, οἱ νομίζοντες τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν μήτε φιλοσόφους καὶ εὐφραδεῖς, μήτε τινὰς ἐσχηκέναι διδασκάλους, ὅσοι καὶ πηλίκοι ἄνδρες ταύτην θεμελιώσαντες ᾠκοδόμησάν τε καὶ διεκόσμησαν, καὶ παύσωνται τὴν ἡμετέραν πίστιν ἀγροικῆς μόνον εὐθύνειν ἁπλότητος, οἰκείαν μᾶλλον ἀμαθίαν ἐπιγνωσόμενοι.