Saint Jerome, Complete Works, Vol. II

and more noble among the Christians, returning with her husband and three children from the blessed Anthony, was delayed in Gaza due to their infirmity. For there, whether because of the polluted air, or (as later became clear) for the glory of Hilarion, the servant of God, they were seized at the same time by a hemitritæo a semi-tertian fever, and all were given up for dead by the physicians. The mother lay wailing, and running as if between the three corpses of her sons, she did not know whom to mourn first. Having learned, however, that there was a certain monk in the nearby wilderness, she forgot her matronly pomp (she knew herself only as a mother) and went, accompanied by maids and eunuchs or "home-born slaves": and she was scarcely persuaded by her husband to proceed while seated on a donkey. When she had arrived at him, she said: I pray to you, through Jesus our most merciful God: I beseech you through his cross and blood, that you restore my three sons to me; and that the name of the Lord Savior may be glorified in the city of the gentiles, and his servant may enter Gaza, and the idol original: "idolum" Marnas A local deity of Gaza may fall. Upon his refusing, and saying that he had never gone out from his cell, nor did he have the habit of entering even a small village, let alone a city, she threw herself on the ground, crying out repeatedly: Hilarion, servant of Christ, restore my children to me. Let those whom Anthony kept in Egypt be preserved by you in Syria. All who were present wept, but he himself, even while refusing, wept also. Why say more? The woman did not depart until he promised that he would enter Gaza after sunset. After he came there, he signed i.e., made the sign of the cross over the beds of each one and their burning original: "ardentia" limbs, and called upon Jesus. And, O marvelous power! sweat erupted from them as if from three fountains: at the same hour they took food, and recognizing their mourning mother, and blessing God, they kissed the hands of the saint. After this was heard, and spread far and wide, they flocked to him in competition from Syria and Egypt: so that many believed in Christ, and professed themselves monks. For there were no monasteries in Palestine at that time, nor had anyone in Syria known of a monk before the holy Hilarion. He was the founder and instructor of this manner of life and study in this province. The Lord Jesus had the elder Anthony in Egypt: he had the younger Hilarion in Palestine.

1 Hemitritæo. Hemitritæum is a semi-tertian fever, a semi-tertian fever, as Galen notes in his work to Glauco: an imperfect tertian that approaches a quotidian, because it recurs more quickly than a true tertian. See Celsus on the types of fevers.
MARTIAN.

2 Two Vatican manuscripts have the more elegant: "I beseech you, he said, through Jesus, etc."

3 Our manuscripts do not acknowledge the word "idol." Regarding Marnas, our author speaks again below, and in the letter to Læta; and Arnobius, and Marinus in the Life of Proclus speak of him. Epiphanius in the Anchoratus, ch. 108: "Marnas, a slave of Asterius of Crete, is honored by the Gazans." Shortly after, it was "egressurum" [was about to go out] instead of "egressum" [having gone out], which all manuscripts have.

4 In others it is "arentia" [dry], but "ardentia" [burning] is more fitting, referring to the limbs affected by the semi-tertian or sesquitertian fever. That was a shameful error in previously published books.

15. The blind woman of ten years. — Facidia is a small village original: "viculus" in the city of Rhinocorura in Egypt. From this village, a woman who had been blind for ten years original: "decem jam annis" was brought to the blessed Hilarion: and being offered to him by the brothers (for many monks were now with him), she said that she had spent all her substance on physicians. He replied to her: If you had given to the poor what you wasted on physicians, the true physician Jesus would have cured you. But as she cried out and begged for mercy, he spat into her eyes: and immediately the same power followed the example of the Savior.

16. The Gazan charioteer. — A Gazan charioteer also, struck by a demon in his chariot, became entirely stiff: so that he could not move his hand, nor turn his neck. Therefore, having been brought in on a bed, while he could only move his tongue in prayer, he heard that he could not be healed unless he believed in Jesus and promised to renounce his former art. He believed, he promised, and he was healed: and he rejoiced more for the salvation of his soul than for his body.

17. Marsitas, a very strong youth. — Furthermore, a very strong youth named Marsitas original: "Marsitas" from the territory of Jerusalem prided himself so much on his strength that he would carry fifteen bushels of grain for a long time and distance, and considered it the palm of his strength if he could outdo donkeys. This man, being afflicted by a wicked demon, could not endure chains, nor fetters, nor the locked doors of houses: he had bitten off the noses and ears of many: he had broken the feet of some and the legs original: "crura" of others. And he had struck such terror into everyone that, laden with chains and ropes pulled in different directions, he was dragged to the monastery like the most ferocious bull; when the brothers saw him, they were terrified (for he was of marvelous size) and reported it to the father. Just as he sat there, he ordered him to be dragged to him and released. And when he was freed, he said: Incline your head, and come. He began to tremble, and to bend his neck, and not daring to look up, having laid aside all ferocity, he began to lick the feet of the one sitting there. Thus, the demon that had possessed the youth was adjured and tortured, and it departed on the seventh day.

18. Orion, a leading man. — But neither should that be left untold, which concerns Orion original: "Orion", a leading man

original: "peccatum est, quod considerans legunt pro consignans, quod est crucis signo notans, aut benedicens apud ecclesiasticos scriptores, estque in omnibus quod consuluimus mss." It is a mistake that they read "considerans" [contemplating] instead of "consignans" [signing/making the sign of the cross], which is the marking with the sign of the cross, or blessing, among ecclesiastical writers, and it is in all the manuscripts we have consulted.

5 It was quite ridiculously "vicula" [little village] instead of "viculus," which we have restored from all manuscripts. Shortly after, in the old editions, it was falsely "there are ten years now," which Rosweydus corrected, and the manuscripts confirm.

6 "For ten years now." The old editions deceive the reader, where it is read (there are ten years now), as if the miracle of the healing of the blind woman were said to have happened ten years ago.
MARTIAN.

7 Three of our codices have "Messicas," others "Mesitas": a little later "afflatus" [inspired] for "affectus" [affected]: but the older editions incorrectly have "afflictus" [afflicted].

8 Previously it held "gulam" [throat] instead of "crura" [legs], which we thought to correct from two Vatican manuscripts; for one, having retained both readings, wrote that he had broken the throats of some and the feet or legs of others.