III. LIFE OF JEROME.

For a full account of the Life, the translator must refer to an article (HIERONYMUS) written by him in Smith and Wace’s Dictionary of Christian Biography. A shorter statement may suffice here, since the chief sources of information are contained in this volume, and to this reference will be continually made.

A.D. 345

Childhood and Youth. Jerome was born at Stridon, near Aquileia, in the province of Pannonia, a place that was partially destroyed in the Gothic invasion of 377 (On Illustrious Men, 135, Vol. III, p. 304). Jerome’s own property, however, remained, though in a ruinous state, in 397 (140). His father, Eusebius, and his mother were Catholic Christians (492), but he was not baptized in infancy. The family was moderately wealthy, possessing houses (140) and slaves (Apology i. 30, Vol. III, p. 498), and was intimate with the wealthier family from which sprang Bonosus, Jerome’s foster brother and friend (6). The parents were still living in 373 when Jerome first went to the East (35), but they probably died during the destruction of Stridon. He had a brother, Paulinian, twenty years his junior (140, 173), as well as a sister (8, 9) and an aunt named Castorina (13).

He received a good education, though he confesses he was an idle boy (Vol. III, 498). He was attending a grammar school when the Emperor Julian died (Commentary on Habakkuk iii. 14), and shortly after, he traveled to Rome with his friend Bonosus (6). There, he studied rhetoric—at that time the most sought-after pursuit—under Ælius Donatus (Vol. III, 491), and frequented
363

the law courts (Commentary on Galatians, ii. 13). He fell into sin (9, 15, 78), but was brought into the company of young Christians who, on Sundays, visited the tombs of the
366

martyrs in the Catacombs (Commentary on Ezekiel, ch. 40, v. 5). He is believed to have been baptized by Pope Liberius in 366 (20). He was already a keen student, though he had little knowledge of Greek at this time (Rufinus, Apology ii. 9, Vol. III, p. 464), and had begun building a library (35).

From Rome, Jerome traveled with Bonosus to Gaul, passing through Northern Italy, where they made the acquaintance of Rufinus—likely at his native place,
366–370

Concordia (Epistola v. 2, compare with iii. 3, pp. 7, 11). He stayed at Treves (7), traveled in its neighborhood (394), copied manuscripts, and wrote a mystical Commentary on Obadiah (401).

Aquileia. Returning to Italy, likely by way of Vercellæ (1), he spent three years at Aquileia. There, he definitively began the dual pursuits of his life: Scriptural study and the fostering of asceticism. A society of like-minded individuals gathered around him, including Rufinus, Bonosus, Heliodorus (later Bishop of Altinum), Chromatius (later Bishop of Aquileia), his brother Eusebius, the Archdeacon Jovinus, the monk Chrysogonus, the sub-deacon Niceas, Innocentius, and Hylas—the freedman
370–373

of the wealthy but ascetic Roman lady, Melania—as well as Evagrius (later Bishop of Antioch), who had come to Italy with Eusebius, Bishop of Vercellæ, upon his return from exile. For mentions of these figures in Jerome’s works, please consult the Index. These ascetics did not form a monastery; there were no established orders or rules at this time. The vow was merely a “purpose” (propositum), which each individual took upon himself privately and defined on his own terms. While the Greek word Monachus (monk) was used, it only implied living a single or solitary life. Some were hermits (5, 9, 247), while others lived in cities (121, 250). Jovinian was a monk, despite being anti-ascetic (378); Heliodorus (91) and John of Jerusalem (174) were monks, though they were also bishops. Some members of the ascetic society at Aquileia may have lived in the same house, but there was no communal (cenobitic) discipline. Jerome visited Stridon and the neighboring town of Æmona (12) and perhaps resided at his native place for a time, but he complained of the worldliness of the local people and the opposition of their bishop, Lupicinus (8 n. 10). The friends at Aquileia were united in a very close bond. Rufinus’s baptism (7, Ruf. Apology i. 4, Vol. III, 436) and the writing of Jerome’s first letter on “the woman seven times struck with the axe” are the only events from this period that have survived. We know only that the society was dissolved by an event Jerome describes as “a sudden storm” and “a monstrous tearing apart” (5).

Jerome decided to go to the East with Evagrius and Heliodorus; Innocentius, Niceas, and Hylas accompanied him (1, 5, 6, 10). Chromatius, Eusebius, and Jovinus remained in Italy. Bonosus retired to an island in the Adriatic, where he lived as a hermit (5, 9). Rufinus traveled to Egypt and subsequently to Palestine in the company of Melania (6, 7).