Letter XXVIII.

(a.d. 394 OR 395.)

To Jerome, His Most Beloved Lord, and Brother and Fellow-Presbyter, Worthy of Being Honoured and Embraced with the Sincerest Affectionate Devotion, Augustin Sends Greeting.81    [The letters to Jerome, and Jerome’s replies, are among the most interesting and important in this correspondence, especially those parts which relate to Jerome’s revision of the Latin version of the Bible, and his interpretation of Gal. ii. 11–14. See Letters 40, 71, 72, 73, 75, 81, 82, 172, 195, 202. Augustin was inferior to Jerome in learning, especially as a linguist, but superior in Christian temper and humility. Jerome’s false interpretation of the dispute between Paul and Peter at Antioch, which involved both apostles in hypocrisy, offended Augustin’s keener sense of veracity. He here protests against it in this letter (ch. iii. ), and again in Letter 40, and thereby provokes Jerome’s irritable temper. His last letters to Augustin, however, show sincere esteem and affection.—P. S.]

Chap. I.

1. Never was the face of any one more familiar to another, than the peaceful, happy, and truly noble diligence of your studies in the Lord has become to me. For although I long greatly to be acquainted with you, I feel that already my knowledge of you is deficient in respect of nothing but a very small part of you,—namely, your personal appearance; and even as to this, I cannot deny that since my most blessed brother Alypius (now invested with the office of bishop, of which he was then truly worthy) has seen you, and has on his return been seen by me, it has been almost completely imprinted on my mind by his report of you; nay, I may say that before his return, when he saw you there, I was seeing you myself with his eyes. For any one who knows us may say of him and me, that in body only, and not in mind, we are two, so great is the union of heart, so firm the intimate friendship subsisting between us; though in merit we are not alike, for his is far above mine. Seeing, therefore, that you love me, both of old through the communion of spirit by which we are knit to each other, and more recently through what you know of me from the mouth of my friend, I feel that it is not presumptuous in me (as it would be in one wholly unknown to you) to recommend to your brotherly esteem the brother Profuturus, in whom we trust that the happy omen of his name (Good-speed) may be fulfilled through our efforts furthered after this by your aid; although, perhaps, it may be presumptuous on this ground, that he is so great a man, that it would be much more fitting that I should be commended to you by him, than he by me. I ought perhaps to write no more, if I were willing to content myself with the style of a formal letter of introduction; but my mind overflows into conference with you, concerning the studies with which we are occupied in Christ Jesus our Lord, who is pleased to furnish us largely through your love with many benefits, and some helps by the way, in the path which He has pointed out to His followers.

Chap. II.

2. We therefore, and with us all that are devoted to study in the African churches, beseech you not to refuse to devote care and labour to the translation of the books of those who have written in the Greek language most able commentaries on our Scriptures. You may thus put us also in possession of these men, and especially of that one whose name you seem to have singular pleasure in sounding forth in your writings [Origen]. But I beseech you not to devote your labour to the work of translating into Latin the sacred canonical books, unless you follow the method in which you have translated Job, viz. with the addition of notes, to let it be seen plainly what differences there are between this version of yours and that of the LXX., whose authority is worthy of highest esteem. For my own part, I cannot sufficiently express my wonder that anything should at this date be found in the Hebrew Mss. which escaped so many translators perfectly acquainted with the language. I say nothing of the LXX., regarding whose harmony in mind and spirit, surpassing that which is found in even one man, I dare not in any way pronounce a decided opinion, except that in my judgment, beyond question, very high authority must in this work of translation be conceded to them. I am more perplexed by those translators who, though enjoying the advantage of labouring after the LXX. had completed their work, and although well acquainted, as it is reported, with the force of Hebrew words and phrases, and with Hebrew syntax, have not only failed to agree among themselves, but have left many things which, even after so long a time, still remain to be discovered and brought to light. Now these things were either obscure or plain: if they were obscure, it is believed that you are as likely to have been mistaken as the others; if they were plain, it is not believed that they [the LXX.] could possibly have been mistaken. Having stated the grounds of my perplexity, I appeal to your kindness to give me an answer regarding this matter.

Chap. III.

3. I have been reading also some writings, ascribed to you, on the Epistles of the Apostle Paul. In reading your exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians, that passage came to my hand in which the Apostle Peter is called back from a course of dangerous dissimulation. To find there the defence of falsehood undertaken, whether by you, a man of such weight, or by any author (if it is the writing of another), causes me, I must confess, great sorrow, until at least those things which decide my opinion in the matter are refuted, if indeed they admit of refutation. For it seems to me that most disastrous consequences must follow upon our believing that anything false is found in the sacred books: that is to say, that the men by whom the Scripture has been given to us, and committed to writing, did put down in these books anything false. It is one question whether it may be at any time the duty of a good man to deceive; but it is another question whether it can have been the duty of a writer of Holy Scripture to deceive: nay, it is not another question—it is no question at all. For if you once admit into such a high sanctuary of authority one false statement as made in the way of duty,82    Officiosum mendacium. there will not be left a single sentence of those books which, if appearing to any one difficult in practice or hard to believe, may not by the same fatal rule be explained away, as a statement in which, intentionally, and under a sense of duty, the author declared what was not true.

4. For if the Apostle Paul did not speak the truth when, finding fault with the Apostle Peter, he said: “If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?”—if, indeed, Peter seemed to him to be doing what was right, and if, notwithstanding, he, in order to soothe troublesome opponents, both said and wrote that Peter did what was wrong;83    Gal. ii. 11–14.—if we say thus, what then shall be our answer when perverse men such as he himself prophetically described arise, forbidding marriage,84    1 Tim. iv. 3. if they defend themselves by saying that, in all which the same apostle wrote in confirmation of the lawfulness of marriage,85    1 Cor. vii. 10–16. he was, on account of men who, through love for their wives, might become troublesome opponents, declaring what was false,—saying these things, forsooth, not because he believed them, but because their opposition might thus be averted? It is unnecessary to quote many parallel examples. For even things which pertain to the praises of God might be represented as piously intended falsehoods, written in order that love for Him might be enkindled in men who were slow of heart; and thus nowhere in the sacred books shall the authority of pure truth stand sure. Do we not observe the great care with which the same apostle commends the truth to us, when he says: “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain: yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ; whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.”86    1 Cor. xv. 14, 15. If any one said to him, “Why are you so shocked by this falsehood, when the thing which you have said, even if it were false, tends very greatly to the glory of God?” would he not, abhorring the madness of such a man, with every word and sign which could express his feelings, open clearly the secret depths of his own heart, protesting that to speak well of a falsehood uttered on behalf of God, was a crime not less, perhaps even greater, than to speak ill of the truth concerning Him? We must therefore be careful to secure, in order to our knowledge of the divine Scriptures, the guidance only of such a man as is imbued with a high reverence for the sacred books, and a profound persuasion of their truth, preventing him from flattering himself in any part of them with the hypothesis of a statement being made not because it was true, but because it was expedient, and making him rather pass by what he does not understand, than set up his own feelings above that truth. For, truly, when he pronounces anything to be untrue, he demands that he be believed in preference, and endeavours to shake our confidence in the authority of the divine Scriptures.

5. For my part, I would devote all the strength which the Lord grants me, to show that every one of those texts which are wont to be quoted in defence of the expediency of falsehood ought to be otherwise understood, in order that everywhere the sure truth of these passages themselves may be consistently maintained. For as statements adduced in evidence must not be false, neither ought they to favour falsehood. This, however, I leave to your own judgment. For if you apply more thorough attention to the passage, perhaps you will see it much more readily than I have done. To this more careful study that piety will move you, by which you discern that the authority of the divine Scriptures becomes unsettled (so that every one may believe what he wishes, and reject what he does not wish) if this be once admitted, that the men by whom these things have been delivered unto us, could in their writings state some things which were not true, from considerations of duty;87    Aliqua officiose mentiri. unless, perchance, you propose to furnish us with certain rules by which we may know when a falsehood might or might not become a duty. If this can be done, I beg you to set forth these rules with reasonings which may be neither equivocal nor precarious; and I beseech you by our Lord, in whom Truth was incarnate, not to consider me burdensome or presumptuous in making this request. For a mistake of mine which is in the interest of truth cannot deserve great blame, if indeed it deserves blame at all, when it is possible for you to use truth in the interest of falsehood without doing wrong.

Chap. IV.

6. Of many other things I would wish to discourse with your most ingenuous heart, and to take counsel with you concerning Christian studies; but this desire could not be satisfied within the limits of any letter. I may do this more fully by means of the brother bearing this letter, whom I rejoice in sending to share and profit by your sweet and useful conversation. Nevertheless, although I do not reckon myself superior in any respect to him, even he may take less from you than I would desire; and he will excuse my saying so, for I confess myself to have more room for receiving from you than he has. I see his mind to be already more fully stored, in which unquestionably he excels me. Therefore, when he returns, as I trust he may happily do by God’s blessing, and when I become a sharer in all with which his heart has been richly furnished by you, there will still be a consciousness of void unsatisfied in me, and a longing for personal fellowship with you. Hence of the two I shall be the poorer, and he the richer, then as now. This brother carries with him some of my writings, which if you condescend to read, I implore you to review them with candid and brotherly strictness. For the words of Scripture, “The righteous shall correct me in compassion, and reprove me; but the oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head,”88    Ps. cxli. 5, translated from the Septuagint. I understand to mean that he is the truer friend who by his censure heals me, than the one who by flattery anoints my head. I find the greatest difficulty in exercising a right judgment when I read over what I have written, being either too cautious or too rash. For I sometimes see my own faults, but I prefer to hear them reproved by those who are better able to judge than I am; lest after I have, perhaps justly, charged myself with error, I begin again to flatter myself, and think that my censure has arisen from an undue mistrust of my own judgment.

EPISTOLA XXVIII . Augustinus Hieronymo, de nova post LXX Veteris Testamenti versione; deque Petro reprehenso a Paulo ad Galat. II, expostulans de suscepto hinc patrocinio mendacii officiosi.

Domino dilectissimo, et cultu sincerissimo charitatis obsequendo atque amplectendo fratri et compresbytero HIERONYMO, AUGUSTINUS.

CAPUT PRIMUM.

1. Nunquam aeque quisquam tam facie cuilibet innotuit, quam mihi tuorum in Domino studiorum quieta, laeta , et vere exercitatio liberalis. Quanquam ergo percupiam omnino te nosse; tamen exiguum quiddam tui minus habeo, praesentiam videlicet corporis: quam ipsam etiam posteaquam te beatissimus nunc episcopus, tum vero jam episcopatu dignus, frater Alypius vidit, remeansque a me visus est, negare non possum magna ex parte mihi esse relatu ejus impressam; et ante reditum, cum te ille ibi videbat, ego videbam, sed oculis ejus. Non enim animo me atque illum, sed corpore duos, qui noverit, dixerit, concordia duntaxat et familiaritate fidissima, non meritis quibus ille antecellit. Quia ergo me primitus communione spiritus quo in unum nectimur, deinde illius ex ore jam diligis; nequaquam impudenter quasi aliquis ignotus commendo Germanitati tuae fratrem Profuturum , quem nostris conatibus, deinde adjutorio tuo vere profuturum speramus; nisi forte quod 0112 talis est, ut ipse tibi per eum fiam commendatior, quam ille per me. Hactenus fortasse scribere debuerim, si esse vellem epistolarum solemnium more contentus; sed scatet animus in loquelas communicandas tecum de studiis nostris, quae habemus in Christo Jesu Domino nostro; qui nobis multas utilitates et viatica quaedam demonstrati a se itineris, etiam per tuam charitatem non mediocriter ministrare dignatur.

CAPUT II.

2. Petimus ergo, et nobiscum petit omnis Africanarum Ecclesiarum studiosa societas, ut interpretandis eorum libris, qui graece Scripturas nostras quam optime tractaverunt, curam atque operam impendere non graveris. Potes enim efficere ut nos quoque habeamus tales illos viros, et unum potissimum, quem tu libentius in tuis litteris sonas. De vertendis autem in latinam linguam sanctis Litteris canonicis laborare te nollem, nisi eo modo quo Job interpretatus es; ut signis adhibitis quid inter hanc tuam et Septuaginta, quorum est gravissima auctoritas, interpretationem distet, appareat. Satis autem nequeo mirari, si aliquid adhuc in hebraeis exemplaribus invenitur, quod tot interpretes illius linguae peritissimos fugerit. Omitto enim Septuaginta, de quorum vel consilii vel spiritus majore concordia, quam si unus homo esset, non audeo in aliquam partem certam ferre sententiam, nisi quod eis praeeminentem auctoritatem in hoc munere sine controversia tribuendam existimo. Illi me plus movent, qui cum posteriores interpretarentur, et verborum locutionumque hebraearum viam atque regulas mordicus , ut fertur, tenerent, non solum inter se non consenserunt, sed etiam reliquerunt multa, quae tanto post eruenda et prodenda remanerent. Et aut obscura sunt, aut manifesta: si enim obscura sunt, te quoque in eis falli potuisse creditur; si manifesta, illos in eis falli potuisse non creditur. Hujus igitur rei pro tua charitate, expositis causis, certum me facias obsecraverim.

CAPUT III. Perniciosa simulatio.

3. Legi etiam quaedam scripta, quae tua dicerentur, in Epistolas apostoli Pauli; quarum ad Galatas, cum enodare velles, venit in manus locus ille, quo apostolus Petrus a perniciosa simulatione revocatur. Ibi patrocinium mendacii susceptum esse vel abs te tali viro, vel a quopiam, si alius illa scripsit, fateor, non mediocriter doleo, donec refellantur (si forte refelli possunt), ea quae me movent. Mihi enim videtur exitiosissime credi, aliquod in Libris sanctis haberi mendacium; id est eos homines, per quos nobis illa Scriptura ministrata est atque conscripta, aliquid in libris suis fuisse mentitos. Alia quippe quaestio est, sitne aliquando mentiri viri boni; et alia quaestio est, utrum scriptorem sanctarum Scripturarum mentiri oportuerit: imo vero non alia, sed nulla quaestio est. Admisso enim semel in tantum auctoritatis fastigium 0113 officioso aliquo mendacio, nulla illorum librorum particula remanebit, quae non ut cuique videbitur vel ad mores difficilis vel ad fidem incredibilis, eadem perniciosissima regula ad mentientis auctoris consilium officiumque referatur.

4. Si enim mentiebatur apostolus Paulus cum apostolum Petrum objurgans diceret, Si tu cum sis Judaeus, gentiliter et non judaice vivis, quemadmodum gentes cogis judaizare? et recte illi videbatur Petrus fecisse, quem non recte fecisse et dixit et scripsit, ut quasi animos tumultuantium deliniret (Gal. II, 11-14); quid respondebimus, cum exsurrexerint perversi homines, prohibentes nuptias, quos futuros ipse praenuntiavit (I Tim. IV, 3), et dixerint totum illud, quod idem apostolus de matrimoniorum jure firmando locutus est (I Cor. VII, 10-16), propter homines qui dilectione conjugum tumultuari poterant, fuisse mentitum; scilicet non quod hoc senserit, sed ut illorum placaretur adversitas? Non opus est multa commemorare. Possunt enim videri etiam de laudibus Dei esse officiosa mendacia, ut apud homines pigriores dilectio ejus ardescat; atque ita nusquam certa erit in Libris sanctis castae veritatis auctoritas. Nonne attendimus eumdem apostolum cum ingenti cura commendandae veritatis dicere: Si autem Christus non resurrexit, inanis est praedicatio nostra, inanis est et fides vestra: invenimur autem et falsi testes Dei; quia testimonium diximus adversus Deum, quod suscitavit Christum, quem non suscitavit (Id. XV, 1415)? Si quis huic diceret: Quid in hoc mendacio perhorrescis, cum id dixeris, quod etiam si falsum sit, ad laudem Dei maxime pertinet? Nonne hujus detestatus insaniam, quibus posset verbis et significationibus, in lucem penetralia sui cordis aperiret, clamans non minore aut fortasse etiam majore scelere in Deo laudari falsitatem, quam vituperari veritatem? Agendum est igitur ut ad cognitionem divinarum Scripturarum talis homo accedat, qui de sanctis Libris tam sancte et veraciter existimet, ut nolit aliqua eorum parte delectari per officiosa mendacia, potiusque id, quod non intelligit, transeat, quam cor suum praeferat illi veritati. Profecto enim cum hoc dicit, credi sibi expetit, et id agit, ut divinarum Scripturarum auctoritatibus non credamus.

5. Et ego quidem qualibuscumque viribus, quas Dominus suggerit, omnia illa testimonia, quae adhibita sunt astruendae utilitati mendacii, aliter oportere intelligi ostenderem, ut ubique eorum firma veritas doceretur. Quam enim testimonia mendacia esse non debent, tam non debent favere mendacio. Sed hoc intelligentiae relinquo tuae. Admota enim lectioni diligentiori consideratione, multo id fortasse facilius videbis quam ego. Ad hanc autem considerationem coget te pietas, qua cognoscis fluctuare auctoritatem Scripturarum divinarum, ut in eis quod vult quisque credat, quod non vult non credat, si semel fuerit persuasum aliqua illos viros, per quos nobis haec ministrata sunt, in scripturis suis officiose potuisse mentiri. Nisi forte regulas quasdam daturus es, quibus noverimus ubi oporteat mentiri, ubi non oporteat. 0114 Quod si fieri potest, nullo modo mendacibus dubiisque rationibus id explices, quaeso; nec me onerosum aut impudentem judices, per humanitatem veracissimam Domini nostri. Nam, ut non dicam nulla, certe non magna culpa meus error veritati favet, si recte in te potest veritas favere mendacio.

CAPUT IV.

6. Multa alia cum sincerissimo corde tuo loqui cuperem, et de christiano studio conferre; sed huic desiderio meo nulla epistola satis est. Uberius idipsum possum per fratrem, quem miscendum et alendum dulcibus atque utilibus sermocinationibus tuis misisse me gaudeo. Et tamen, quantum vellem, nec ipse (quod pace ejus dixerim) forsitan capit; quanquam nihilo me illi praetulerim. Ego enim me fateor tui capaciorem; sed ipsum video fieri pleniorem, quo me sine dubitatione antecellit: et posteaquam redierit, quod Domino adjuvante prosperatum iri spero, cum ejus pectoris abs te cumulati particeps fuero, non est impleturus, quod in me adhuc vacuum erit atque avidum sensuum tuorum. Ita fiet ut et ego etiam tunc egentior sim, ille copiosior. Sane idem frater aliqua scripta nostra fert secum; quibus legendis si dignationem adhibueris, etiam sinceram atque fraternam severitatem adhibeas quaeso. Non enim aliter intelligo quod scriptum est, Emendabit me justus in misericordia, et arguet me; oleum autem peccatoris non impinguet caput meum (Psal. CXL, 5); nisi quia magis amat objurgator sanans, quam adulator unguens caput. Ego autem difficillime bonus judex lego quod scripserim, sed aut timidior recto, aut cupidior. Video etiam interdum vitia mea; sed haec malo audire a melioribus , ne cum me recte fortasse reprehendero, rursus mihi blandiar, et meticulosam potius mihi videar in me, quam justam tulisse sententiam.