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JEROME’S PREFACE.

...the book of Jesus, son of Sirach, and Judith, and Tobit, and the first book of Maccabees, I found in Hebrew. The second is Greek, which can be proven from its very style. Since this is the case, I beseech you, Reader, do not consider my labor a reproach to the ancients. In the temple of God, each person offers what they can: some offer gold, silver, and precious stones; others offer fine linen, purple, scarlet, and hyacinth blue. It is well enough for us if we offer skins and goat hair. And yet the Apostle judges our more contemptible things to be more necessary. Hence all that beauty of the Tabernacle—and the distinction of the Church, both present and future, through every species—is covered by skins and hair-cloth; those things which are cheaper ward off the heat of the sun and the injury of the rains. Read, therefore, first my Samuel and my Kings; mine, I say, mine. For whatever we have learned and hold onto by frequent translating and careful correcting is our own. And when you understand what you did not know before, either consider me an Interpreter, if you are grateful, or a Paraphraser, if you are ungrateful—though I am not at all conscious of having changed anything from the Hebrew truth. Certainly, if you are incredulous, read the Greek and Latin manuscripts and compare them with these little works which we have recently emended. And wherever you see them differ, ask any of the Hebrews Jerome frequently consulted Jewish scholars to ensure the accuracy of his Latin translation relative to the original Hebrew text. whom you should trust more. If they confirm our version, I think you will not judge him a mere guesser, seeing that he "divined" in the same place just as I did. But I also ask you, handmaidens of Christ Jerome is addressing his patrons and students, the noblewomen Paula and Eustochium.—who anoint the head of the reclining Lord with the most precious myrrh of faith, who by no means seek the Savior in the tomb, and for whom Christ has already ascended to the Father—that you oppose the shields of your prayers against the barking dogs who rage against me with rabid mouths. They go about the city and think themselves learned if they disparage others. I, knowing my own humility, will always remember that sentiment:

Psalm 38.

I said, I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue. I have set a guard upon my mouth, while the sinner stood against me. I became dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things.

JEROME TO PAULINUS.

Brother Ambrose, bringing me your little gifts, delivered at the same time those most sweet letters which, from the very beginning of our friendship, displayed a loyalty of already proven faith and old affection. For that is true necessity, joined by the glue of Christ, which is conciliated not by household utility, nor the presence of bodies alone, nor by crafty and stroking flattery, but by the fear of God and the study of the Divine Scriptures. We read in ancient histories that certain men traversed provinces, visited new peoples, and crossed seas, so that they might see face-to-face those whom they knew from books. Thus Pythagoras visited the prophets of Memphis; thus Plato traveled through Egypt and to Archytas of Tarentum, and that coast of Italy which was once called Great Greece, most laboriously, so that he who was a master and powerful at Athens—and whose teachings echoed in the gymnasiums of the Academy—might become a pilgrim and a disciple, preferring

to learn the things of others modestly than to thrust his own forward impudently. Finally, while he pursued letters as if they were fleeing across the whole world, he was captured by pirates and sold, and even served a most cruel tyrant—a captive, bound, and a slave. Yet, because he was a philosopher, he was greater than the one who bought him. We read that certain nobles came from the farthest ends of Spain and Gaul to Titus Livy, who flowed from a milky fountain of eloquence; and those whom Rome had not drawn to contemplate itself were led there by the fame of a single man. That age possessed a miracle unheard of in all centuries and to be celebrated: that upon entering such a great city, they sought something else outside the city. Apollonius Apollonius of Tyana, a famous 1st-century philosopher and traveler often compared to Jesus in antiquity.—whether he was a magus, as the common people say, or a philosopher, as the Pythagoreans hand down—entered Persia, crossed the Caucasus, and penetrated the Albanians, Scythians, Massagetae, and the wealthiest kingdoms of India. At last, having crossed the very wide Phison river, he reached the Brahmans, so that he might hear Iarchas sitting on a golden throne and drinking from the fountain of Tantalus, teaching among a few disciples about nature, the movements of the stars, and the course of the days. Then, returning through the Elamites, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, Assyrians, Parthians, Syrians, Phoenicians, Arabs, and Palestinians to Alexandria, he proceeded to Ethiopia to see the Gymnosophists Literally "naked philosophers," a group of ancient Indian ascetics known for their endurance and wisdom. and the most famous "Table of the Sun" in the sand. That man found everywhere something to learn, and always progressing, he always became better than himself. Philostratus wrote most fully about this in eight volumes.

II. Acts 9.

Why should I speak of men of the world, when the Apostle Paul—the chosen vessel and teacher of the Gentiles, who spoke from the conscience of such a great guest within him—says:

2 Cor. 13.

"Do you seek a proof of Him who speaks in me, Christ?"

Gal. 1.

After Damascus and the journey through Arabia, he went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him for fifteen days. For by this mystery of the seven and the eight, the future preacher of the nations was to be instructed.

Gal. 2.

And again after fourteen years, taking Barnabas and Titus, he explained the Gospel to the Apostles, lest perhaps he should run, or had run, in vain. For the living voice has I know not what latent energeias original: 'ἐνεργείας' - Greek for 'energy' or 'active power.' Jerome refers to the living power of the spoken word over written text., and when poured into the ears of the disciple from the mouth of the author, it sounds more strongly. Hence also Aeschines, when he was in exile at Rhodes and that oration of Demosthenes was read which he had delivered against him, while everyone was wondering and praising it, he said with a sigh: "What if you had heard the beast himself sounding out his own words?"

III.

I do not say these things because there is anything such in me that you could hear from me or wish to learn, but because your ardor and zeal for learning ought to be approved in themselves even without us. A teachable mind is praiseworthy even without a teacher. We consider not what you find, but what you seek. Soft wax, easy to mold, even if the hands of the craftsman and modeler are absent, is still by its nature everything that it can become.

Acts 22.

The Apostle Paul boasts that he learned the law of Moses and the Prophets at the feet of Gamaliel, so that, armed with spiritual weapons, he might later say confidently:

2 Cor. 10.

"The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but powerful from God for the destruction of strongholds, destroying counsels and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every intellect into captivity to obey Christ, and ready to subjugate all disobedience."