Complete Works of Saint Jerome, Vol. IV

than they were exercised for battle in towns and villages; but they were dedicated to the cultivation of fields, with the labor of war delegated only to soldiers and Roman legions against barbarian nations: at that time was fulfilled that song of the angels: Glory to God in the highest, 1 and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke 2:14); and in his days righteousness and a multitude of peace have arisen.

(Verse 5, 6.) "O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord: for thou hast cast off thy people, the house of Jacob." After the calling of the Gentiles and the revelation of the mountain of the Lord above the top of the mountains, the Prophet turns to his own people, that is, the people of the Jews, who are called the house of Jacob, and exhorts them, so that those who are involved in the darkness of error may receive the light of truth and walk in the light of the Lord. And in a way he sings that Davidic psalm: Come ye to him and be enlightened: and your faces shall not be confounded (Psalm 33:6). For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works be reproved. But you, O house of Jacob, house of my people, come with me, and let us walk together in the light of the Lord: let us receive the Gospel of Christ, let us be enlightened by him who says: I am the light of the world (John 8:12). And when he had spoken this to the people of the Jews, seeing their unrepentant heart and a soul hardened by disbelief, he makes an apostrophe to the Lord and says: Therefore I exhort them to come to you and to enjoy your light with me, because for the merit of their sins you have abandoned your people, the house that was once Jacob's.

(Verse 7.) "For they have been filled as in the beginning, and have had soothsayers, 2 as the Philistines." Instead of Philistines, the Septuagint The Greek translation of the Old Testament. always interpret the term as "aliens," a common name for a proper one, which is the nation of the Palestinians today, as it were the Philistines, because the Hebrew language does not have the letter P; but it uses PH in Greek for it. Hence that which is said in the Psalms, with the enumeration of other nations: The aliens have been subject to me (Psalm 59:10), signifies not all foreign nations, but specifically the Palestinians. And he gives the reasons why God cast off his people, the house of Jacob; because they are filled, he says, as they were in the beginning, with soothsayers, 3 and omens, and all the filth of idolatry. We know, as Moses writes, that omens and soothsaying, which the nations had—the Canaanites, the Amorites, and the Hittites, whom the Lord cast out from the face of Israel—are not to be heeded. 4 Interpreters of the Church explain this place in various ways. For some wish this to be signified: that once the people of the Jews were cast off, the Roman army entered the land that was once promised; and with the Jews ejected, aliens have lived in Judea, who are residents from the whole world of diverse nations, brought by Titus, Vespasian, Hadrian, and other princes. Others, however, think this does not pertain to Roman times, but to earlier ones, before they were devastated by the Babylonians, which they are narrated to have been under impious kings, 5 and were abandoned by the Lord.

"And they have adhered to strange children." For which the Septuagint translated: And many strange children have been born to them. Symmachus: And they have applauded with strange children. For which it is written in Hebrew Jespiscu (ישפיקו), which the Hebrews interpret as they were squeezed, and we translate as they adhered, so that the multitude of vices in the Jewish nation might be shown. Moreover, the Greeks and Romans formerly labored under this vice to such an extent that even the most illustrious philosophers of Greece had 6 concubines publicly; and Hadrian, learned in the arts of philosophy, consecrated Antinous as a god, and instituted a temple, sacrifices, and priests for him, Antinous was the lover of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who deified him after his death in the Nile. and from him the city and region of Egypt received its name. Among the prostitutes, also in the brothels of the theaters, boys stood exposed to public lust; until under 7 the Emperor Constantine, with the Gospel of Christ shining forth, both the infidelity of all nations and this filth were deleted. Furthermore, the Septuagint signify that their wives were violated, while they generated strange children for the Jews. Symmachus, by a certain circumlocution and honest speech of those applauding,

1. The same manuscripts read "and on earth peace among men," etc. Moreover, compare the Eusebius-Jerome Chronicle to the 42nd year of Augustus, which is the first of Christ.
2. The Septuagint translate as "aliens," etc. Modern critics babble many inanities about this place, who wish to teach us from it that in the book of Hebrew Names the letter P should be thrown away, and the Greek PHI, φ, should be used for it; not attending to the fact that Jerome in the aforementioned book followed the order of the Latin elements, and accepted the letters P and PH interchangeably. MARTIAN. See what we have said about the letter P both elsewhere and in the book of Names.
3. "And omens." Instead of the word "omens," previously published books read "dreams," against the consensus of the manuscript codices. MARTIAN.
4. Vatican [codex]: "dreams," which name the old editions of book I and above prefer instead of "omens."
5. Two manuscripts: "they are narrated to have done."
6. "Had publicly," etc. Refer here to what Jerome himself has about Xenocrates and Socrates, in chapter I of Hosea. Regarding Hadrian, these things are read in the Eusebian Chronicle: "Hadrian, most learned in both languages, but little continent in the love of boys." And again: "Antinous, a royal boy of extraordinary beauty, dies in Egypt; whom Hadrian, desiring him vehemently (for he had him in his delights), refers to the gods; from whose name also the city was called." Let whoever wishes consult the Notes of Isaac Casaubon on Spartianus regarding this Catamite. The Roman Martyrology mentions the city of Antinoe on September 22 and March 8, where it is called "Antinopolis." MARTIAN. See in Against Jovinianus, book II, page 356, note.
7. "Until under Constantine," etc. In the Tripartite History, book I, chapter 8, these things are read from Sozomen: "Induced by this cause, Constantine restrained the intemperate and libidinous copulations, which before were not forbidden, as can be easily understood from the laws enacted about them, if it be anyone’s concern to know this." MARTIAN. The fact that this was done first by the law of Constantine against intemperate and dissolute couplings is narrated by Sozomen, book I, chapter 8, at the end: "He restrained the intemperate and dissolute copulations, which were not previously prohibited, as it is permitted to detect from the laws that were enacted concerning them." See the Law on the rape of virgins and widows, which is held in the Theodosian Code, book XXIX, title 24. See also Valesius on the lauded place of Sozomen.