A Commentator's Complaint

Tertium ad Galatas, o Paula et Eustochium, volumen hoc cudimus: non ignari imbecillitatis nostrae, et exilis ingenii rivulum, vix parvo strepentem murmure sentientes. Jam enim et in Ecclesiis ista quaeruntur: omissaque apostolicorum simplicitate et puritate verborum, quasi ad Athenaeum, et ad auditoria convenitur, ut plausus circumstantium suscitentur: ut oratio rhetoricae artis fucata mendacio, quasi quaedam meretricula in publicum, non tam eruditura populos, quam favorem populi quaesitura, et in modum psalterii et tibiae dulce canentis, sensus demulceat audientium; ut vere illud prophetae Ezechielis nostris temporibus possit aptari, dicente Domino ad eum: Et factus es eis quasi vox citharae suave canentis, et bene compositae: et audiunt verba tua, et non faciunt ea. Verum quid agam? Taceamne? Sed scriptum est: Non apparebis in conspectu Domini tui vacuus. Et Isaias, sicut in Hebraeis tamen habetur voluminibus, ingemiscit: Vae mihi misero, quia tacui. Loquar? Sed omnem sermonis elegentiam, et Latini eloquii venustatem, stridor lectionis Hebraicae sordidavit. Nostis enim et ipsae, quod plus quam quindecim anni sunt, ex quo in manus meas numquam Tullius, numquam Maro, numquam gentilium litterarum quilibet Auctor ascendit: et si quid forte inde dum loquimur, obrepit, quasi antiqui per nebulam somnii recordamur. Quod autem profecerim ex linguae illius infatigabili studio, aliorum judicio derelinquo: ego qui in mea amiserem, scio. Accedit ad hoc, quia propter oculorum et totius corpusculi infirmitatem, manu mea ipse non scribo: nec labore et diligentia compensare queo eloquii traditatem: quod de Virgilio quoque tradunt, quia libros suos in modum ursorum feum lambendo figuraverit: verum accito notario, aut statim dicto quodcumque in buccam venerit: aut si paululum voluero cogitate, melius aliquid prolaturus, tunc me tacitus ille reprehendit, manum contrahit, frontem rugat, et se fustra adesse, toto gestu corprois contestatur. Oratio autem etsi de bonae indolis ingenio sit profecta, et distincta inventionibus, et oranta flore verborum: tamen nisi auctoris sui manu limata fuerit et polita, non est nitida, non habet mixtam cum decore gravitatem; sed in modum divitum rusticorum, opibus suis magis arguitur, quam exornatur. Quorsum ista? videlicet ut et vobis et caeteris, qui forte legere voluerint, sit responsum, me non panegyricum, aut controversiam scribere, sed commentarium, id est, hic habere propositum, non ut mea verba laudentur, sed ut quae ab alio bene dicta sunt, ita intelligantur ut dicta sunt. Offici mei est obscura disserere, manifesta perstringere, in dubiis immorari. Unde et a plerisque commentariorum opus, expalnation nominatur. Si quis eloquentiam quaerit, vel declamationibus delectatur, habet in utraque lingua Demosthenem et Tullium, Polemonem et Quintillianum. Ecclesia Christi non de Academia et Lyceo, sed de vili plebecula congregate est. Unde et Apostolus: Videte enim vocationem vestram, fratres, quia non multi sapientes secundum carnem, non multi potentes, non multi nobiles: sed quæ stulta sunt mundi elegit Deus, ut confundat sapientes: et infirma mundi elegit Deus, ut confundat fortia: et ignobilia mundi, et contemptibilia elegit Deus, et ea quæ non sunt, ut ea quæ sunt destrueret. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Epistolam ad Galatas, Liber III Source: Migne PL 26.399b-400d

We have pounded out this third volume on Galatians, Paula and Eustochium, not ignorant of our weakness, and feeling that the sound of the stream of our thin talent is scarcely a little murmur. For this is now found in the Churches: the simplicity of the Apostles and the purity of their words is laid aside for what is fitting to the Athenaeum and the lecture halls to arouse the applause of those who attend. So speech is painted with the lies of the rhetorical art, like a prostitute in the street, not to educate the people but to court their favour, and in the sweet manner of a psaltery and singing pipe it caresses the senses of the hearers. What the Lord said to the prophet Ezekiel suits our times: 'To them you are like the voice of a lute singing sweetly and well composed, and they hear your words but do not do them.' 1 And what shall I do? Shall I be silent? But it is written: 'You will not appear empty in the sight of the Lord.' 2 And Isaiah, as the Hebrew books have it, groans: 'Alas to me, a wretch, that I was silent.' 3 Shall I speak? But the grating of Hebrew reading has tarnished all elegance of speech and beauty of Latin eloquence. You yourselves know that it is more than fifteen years since my hands have picked up Cicero or Virgil or any author of Gentile letters; and if any should creep in while we speak, we recall them as if through the cloud of an old dream. What I might achieve from the indefatigable zeal for that tongue, I leave to the judgment of others; I know what I have lost in myself. Then it happens that because of the weakness of my eyes and the whole body, I do not write with my own hand, nor can I compensate for the dullness of my eloquence with labour and diligence, as they say about Vergil, that he fashioned his books like bears lick their young. With a scribe present, I either dictate immediately whatever comes into my mouth, or if I wish to think a little, that I might grasp something better, then he silently admonishes me, withdrawing his hand, furrowing his brow, and with every movement of his body proclaiming that there is no point him being there. Speech, though brought forth from a capable mind, and distinguished by invention, and adorned with the flower of words, unless it is smoothed and polished by the author's own hand, is not bright, it does not have gravity mixed with beauty, but in the manner of rustic wealth, it is more condemned by its riches than adorned. To what end is this? Let it be a response to you, and others who may wish to read it, that I do not write panegyric or polemic but commentary, that is, my intent is not that my words be praised but that what was well said by another should be understood as it was said. My duty is to discuss what is obscure, to bind together what is clear, to tarry over what is in doubt. That is why many name a work of commentary an explanation. If someone seeks eloquence or delights in declamation, he has in both languages Demosthenes and Cicero, Polemon and Quintilian. The Church of Christ is gathered not from the Academy and the Lycaeum, but from the common people. Whence the Apostle says: 'Consider your calling, brothers, that not many of you are wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong; God chose what is ignoble and contemptible in this world, the things that are not, that He destroy the things that are' 4 Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians, Book 3 1 Ezek 33.32 2 Exod.34.20 3 Isaiah 6.5 4 1 Cor 1.26-28