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

Bad Books

Τίς σε οὐ κωμῳδήσει; τίς σε οὐκ ἐλεήσει, ἐν γαλήνῃ φιλοσοφίας τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου μαθητῶν καθεζόμενον, καὶ θόρυβον καὶ βρασμὸν Ἑλληνικῶν  συγγραφέων καὶ ποιητῶν ἐφελκόμενον; Τί γὰρ, εἰπε μοι, παρ' ἐκείνοις τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς προτισμότερον; Τί δὲ οὐ ψεύδους γέμει καὶ γέλωτος, ὦν ἐκεινοι σπουδάζουσιν; Οὐχ αἱ θεότητες ἐκ παθῶν; Οὐχ αἱ ανδρεῖαι ὑπὲρ παθῶν; Οὐχ οἱ ἀγῶνες ὑπὲρ παθῶν; Φεῦγε τοίνυν καὶ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν τῆς αἰσχρότητος. Δεινῶς γὰρ οἶδεν ἀναστομοῦν τοὺς τῶν τραυμάτων συνουλώσαντας μώλωπας· μήποτε ὑποστρεψῃ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς πονηρίας σφοδρότερον, καὶ χείρονά σοι τὴν ἥτταν τῆς προτέρας ἀγνοίας ἤ ῥᾳθυμίας ἐργάσηται. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΞΓ' Θαλελαιῳ Μονακῳ Source: Migne PG 78.224c

Who will not mark you as a comic figure? Who will not have you as a subject of tragedy, you who may sit in the peace of a disciple of the philosophy of Christ, yet you drag yourself off into the clamour and tumults of pagan tales and poetry? Why, tell me, do you prefer them to our works? Because there is no deceit and laughter on which they are so keen? Do Divine things come from depraved passions? Does fortitude over passion? Do struggles over passion? Since fearfully over the open wound the hard scab has already formed, flee your shameful reading, lest with greater vehemence the wicked spirit bear down on you, and on account of your prior ignorance and neglect, you be set to work on something worse and more wicked. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 63, To Thalelaios the Monk

Misunderstanding Flaws

Αὐτῷ ᾦ νομίζεις ἐλαττωματι ἀκόμπῳ καὶ ἀγραμμάτῳ τῶν ἱερῶν τοῦ Κυρίου μαθητῶν, ὑπερέχει τοῦ θείου Εὐαγγελίου ἡ δύναμις, δι' ἐκείνων κρατήσασα, δι ὦν ἄλλοι ἡττήθησαν. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, ,Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΞΖ', Παυλῳ

This which you think flawed by the lack of care and literary skill of the holy Apostles of the Lord, the power of the Divine Gospel makes superior, through which it prevailed, by which others were conquered.   Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 268, To Paul

A Book Collector Chastised

Βίβλους ἐκτήσω πλείστας, ὡς ἔμαθον, καὶ οἰήσει πλουτεῖς, ἀγνοῶν τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν, ταυτὸν τοιῶν τοῖς τὸν σῖτον κατέχουσι, καὶ τοὺς σῆτας τρέφουσι. Καὶ αὐταὶ μὲν γὰρ σντῶν μητέρες καὶ τροφοὶ, ὅταν δέδενται, γίνονται. Ἣ κέχρησο τοίνυν τῷ κτήματι, ἢ μὴ βλάπτε τὴν παίδευσιν, πολλὴν κἀνταῦθα κωμῳδίαν συνάγων, βιβλιοφόρος ἢ βιβλιοτάφος, καὶ σητοτρόφος καλούμενος· καὶ ἐπὶ Θεοῦ κατηγορίαν ἀθροίζων, ὡς μέγα τάλαντον ὠφελείας ἀποκρυψάμενος, ὅ ἄλλοις μὲν ἐπιστεύθη, καὶ σοφῶς ἐπειργάσθη, παρὰ σοῦ δὲ ἰταμῶς κατωρύχθη. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΡΚΖ', Σιμπλικιῳ

I have learned that you have procured for yourself many books and you think yourself enriched ignorant of the reading of them, like those who hoard food and the worms eat it, for books are the mothers and nurses of worms when shut up. Make use, then, of what you have acquired, lest you hinder learning, much comedy there gathering, being called 'book devourer,' 'book tomb', 'worm feeder', and in the presence of God amassing condemnation, as one who hides the great talent of gain, which others receiving wisely put to work, but by you was precipitately buried. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1 Letter 127, to Simplicius

Advice to a Younger Scholar

Absit autem a me, ut quidquam de libris tuae beatitutidinis attingere audeam. Sufficit enim mihi probare mea, et aliena non carpere. Caeterum optime novit prudentia tua, unumqueque in suo sensu abundare, et puerilis esse jactantiae, quod olim adolescentuli facere consueverant, accusando illustres viros, suo nomini fama quaerere. Nec tam stultus sum, ut diversitate explanationum tuarum me laedi putem: quia nec tu laederi, si nos contraria senserimus. Sed illa est vera inter amicos reprehensio, si nostram peram non videntes, aliorum, juxta Persium, manticam consideremus. Superest, ut diligas diligentem te; et in Scripturarum campo, juvenis senem non provoces. Nos nostra habuimus tempora, et cucurrimus quantum potuimus: nunc te currente et longa spatia transmeante, nobis debetur otium: simulque (ut cum honore tuo et venia dixerim) ne solus mihi de Poetis aliquid proposuisse videaris, memento Daretis et Entelli, et vulgaris proverbii: quod bos lassus fortius figat pedem. Tristes haec dictavimus: utinam mereremur complexus tuos, et collatione mutua vel doceremus aliqua, vel disceremus. Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistola CIII, Ad Augustinum

Far be it from me to dare to attack anything which your Grace has written. It is enough for me to present my own views without reviling those of others. But it is well known to one of your intelligence that every one delights in his own opinion and that it is puerile boastfulness, which young men are accustomed to fall into when seeking fame for their own name, to reproach famous men. I am not so stupid that I think myself harmed by the difference of your explanations, since neither are you harmed if you have felt ours to be contrary to yours. But it is true reproof between friends when not seeing his own pouch, he considers, as Persius says, the wallet borne by the other. Rise up that you may love one who loves you, and in the field of Scripture let not a youth provoke an elder. We have had our time and we have run as far as we were able, now we should rest while you run and cover great distances. At the same time, with your favour and without disrespect, lest it should seem to me that to quote from the poets is something which you alone can do, recall Dares and Entellus, and the common proverb, 'The weary ox fixes a firmer foot.'  With sorrow I have dictated this; would that I merited your embraces, and that by converse we might teach and learn. Saint Jerome, Letter 103, To Augustine

Book Hunting

Beatus Pamphilius Martyr, cujus vitam Eusebius Caeseriensis Episcopus, tribus ferme voluminibus explicavit, cum Demetrium Phalereum, et Pisistratrum in sacrae Bibliothecae studio vellet aequare, imaginesque ingeniorum, quae vera sunt, et aeterna monumenta, toto orbe perquireret, tunc vel maxime Origenis libros impensius prosecutus, Caeseriensi Ecclesiae dedicavit: quam ex parte corruptam, Acacius dehinc, et Euzoius ejusdem Ecclesiae sacerdotes in membranis instaurare conati sunt. Hic cum multa repererit, et inventorum nobis indicem dereliquerit, centesimi vigesimi sexti Psalmi Commentarium, et Phe litterae Tractatum, ex eo quod non inscripsit, confessus est non repertum. Non quod talis tantusque vir (Adamantium dicimus) aliquid praeterierit, sed quod negligentia posterorum ad nostram usque memoriam non durarit. Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistola XXXIV, Ad Marcellam Source: Migne PL 22 448

The blessed Martyr Pamphilus, whose life Eusebius the Bishop of Cæsarea set forth in near enough three volumes, wishing to equal Demetrius Phalereus and Pisistratus in his zeal for a sacred library, sought though out the whole world for images of great minds, which are true and everlasting monuments, but most of all, at great expense, he hunted down the books of Origen, and bestowed them on the church of Caesarea, a part of which was later destroyed, but Acacius and then Euzoius, priests of the same church, tried to reestablish the library in parchment volumes. The latter recovered many texts and he left to us an inventory of them, but in not writing of them he confesses that he could not find Origen's Commentary on the Hundred and Twenty Sixth Psalm and his Tract on the Letter Phe. Not that such an author (whom we call Adamantine) would have neglected something, but that through the negligence of those who came after him such works did not survive to our times. Saint Jerome, from Letter 34, To Marcella

A Literary Inheritance

Quod autem quaeris in calce epsitolae tuae, cur in opusculis nostris saecularium litterarum interdum ponamus exempla, et candorem Ecclesiae, Ethnicorum sordibus polluamus; breviter responsum habeto. Nunquam hoc quaeres, nisi te totum Tullius possideret; si Scripturas sanctas legeres, si Interpretes earum, omissio Volcatio, evolveres. Quis enim nesciat et in Moyse et in Prophetarum voluminibus quaedam assumpat de Gentilium libris, et Salomonem Philosophis Tyri et nonnulla proposuisse, et aliqua repondisse? Unde in exordio Proverbiorum commonet, ut intelligamus sermones prudentiae, versutiasque verborum, parabolas, et obscurum sermonem, dicta sapientum, et aenigmata, quae proprie dialecticorum et philosophorum sunt. Sed et Paulus Apostolus Epimenidis Poetae abusus versiculo est, scribens ad Titum: Cretenses semper mendacos, malae bestiae, ventres pigria. Cujus heroici hemistichium postea Callimachus usurpavit. Nec mirum si apud Latinos metrum non servet ad verbum expressa translatio, cum Homerus eadem linguam versus in prosam, vix cohaereat. In alia quoque Epistola, Menandri ponit senarium: Corrumpunt mores bonos confabulationes pessimae. Et apud Athenienses in Martis curia disputans, Aratum testem vocat. Ipsius enim et genus sumus, quod Graece dicitur: τοῦ γάρ και γένος ἐσμεν; et est clausula versus heroici. Ac ne parum hoc esset, ductor Christiani exercitus, et orator invictus pro Christo causam agens, etiam inscriptionem fortuitam, arte torquet in argumentum fidei. Didicerat enim a vero David, extorquere de manibus hostium gladium, et Goliae superbissimi caput proprio mucrone truncare. Legerat in Deuteromonio Domini voce praeceptum, mulieris captivae radendum caput, supercilia, omnes pilos, et ungues corporis amputandus, et sic eam habendem in coniugio. Quid ergo mirum, si et ego sapientiam saecularem propter eloquii venustatem, et membrorum pulchritudinem, de ancilla atque captiva Israelitidem facere capio? et si quidquid in ea mortuum est, idololatriae, voluptatis, erroris, libidinum, vel praecidio, vel rado; et mixtus purissimo corpori vernaculos ex ea genero Domino Sabaoth. Labor meus in familiam Christi proficit; stuprum in alienam, auget numerum conservorum. Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistola LXX, Ad Magnum Oratorem Urbis Romae Source: Migne PL 22 665-666

To what you ask at the end of your letter, that is, why it is that in my little works I sometimes place excerpts from secular literature and pollute the whiteness of the Church with the filth of the heathen, let me briefly respond. You would never have asked had not Cicero completely possessed you, if you had read the Scriptures, and turning to the interpreters of them, had ignored Volcatius. Who does not know that both in Moses and in the Prophets there are certain things taken from Gentile books, and that Solomon not only proposed questions to the philosophers of Tyre but even answered them? At the beginning of Proverbs he exhorts us to understand prudent speech and shrewd words, parables and obscure discourse, the words of the wise and their mysteries, all of which are proper to the dialecticians and the philosophers. And the Apostle Paul, writing to Titus, makes use of a line of the poet Epimenides: 'The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, sluggish in their bellies.'1 A Hemistych of which line was afterwards employed by Callimachus. It is no surprise that a literal rendering of the words into Latin should fail to preserve the metre, since Homer translated into the same tongue is barely coherent even in prose. In another letter Paul includes a line of Menander: 'Evil communications corrupt good manners.' 2 And when disputing with the Athenians on the Areopagus he calls as witness Aratus: 'For we are also his offspring' 1 which in Greek is τοῦ γάρ και γένος ἐσμεν, the close of a heroic verse. And as if this were not enough, that leader of the Christian army, that unconquered orator for the cause of Christ, skilfully turns a chance inscription into an argument of the faith. Indeed he had learned from the true David to wrest the sword of the enemy out of his hand and with that very same blade to cut off the head of the proud Goliath. He had read in Deuteronomy the precept given by the voice of the Lord that when a captive woman had had her head, her eyebrows and all her hair shaved, and her nails pared, she might then be taken in marriage. Is it then to be wondered if I, on account of the charm of the eloquence of the wisdom of the world, desire to make it a captive and a handmaid of Israel? And if whatever in her is dead, such as idolatry, pleasure, error, or lust, has been cut away or shaved off, and having mingled with this handmaid of purest body, I beget by her a generation for the Lord of Sabaoth? My labour profits Christ's family; by breeding with a foreigner the number of my fellow servants is increased. Saint Jerome, from Letter 70, To Magnus an Orator of Rome 1 Titus 1.12 2 1 Cor 15.33 3 Acts 17.28

Lost Books

Quod vero sequitur: Sicut scriptum est in libro justorum, ipsum librum hodie nusquam, neque apud ipsos Hebraeos inveniri posse asseverant, sicut nec librum bellorum Domini, cujus in libro Numeroorum mentio est; neque carmina Salomonis, neque disputationes ejus sapientissimas de lignorum, herbarumque omnium, item jumentorum, volucrum, reptilium, piscium; vel quo in libro Verborum dierum dicitur: Reliqua vero operum Salomonis priorum et novissimorum scripta sunt in verbis Nathan prophetae, et in libris Abiae Silonitis. In visione quoque Addo videntis contra Jeroboam filium Nabath, et multa hujusmodi volumina, quae Scriptura quidem fuisse probat, sed hodie constat non esse.  Sanctus Beda, In Libros Regum, Quaestionum XXX

And it follows: 'As it is written in the Book of the Righteous,'1 which book no longer exists today, nor indeed can it be found among the Hebrews, and likewise with the Book of the Wars of the Lord which is mentioned in Numbers, and neither is to be found the Odes of Solomon, nor his wise discussions of trees and every herb and beast and bird and reptile and fish, nor that book of which it is said in Chronicles, 'The rest of the first and later deeds of Solomon are written in the words of the prophet Nathan in the books of Ahia the Silonite and in the vision of seer Addo against Jeroboam son of Nabat,' and so with many other volumes which were once deemed Scripture but today do not exist. Saint Bede, On the Books of Kings, Thirty Questions 1 2 Kings 1.18

A Little Literary Criticism

Έκεῖνο γὰρ πάντως συνεϊδε σου ἡ ἀρχίνοια, ὃτι καὶ τῶν ἐξωθεν φιλοσόφων οἱ τοὺς διαλόγους συγγάψαντες, Ἀριστοτέλης μὲν καὶ Θεόφραστος, εὐθυς αὐτῶν ἤψαντο τῶν πραγμάτων, διὰ τὸ συνειδέναι ἐαυτοϊς τῶν Πλατωνικῶν χαρίτων τὴν ἔνδειαν· Πλάτων δέ τῇ ἐχουσίᾳ τοῦ λόγου ὁμοῦ μὲν τοῖς δόγμαστων, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ παρακωμῳδεῖ τὰ πρόσωπα, Θρασυμάχου μὲν τὸ θρασὺ καὶ ἰταμὸν διαβάλλων, Ἰππιου δὲ τὸ κοῦφον τῆς διανοίας καὶ χαϋνον, καὶ Πρωταγόρου τὸ ἀλαζονικον καὶ ὑπέρογκον. Ὁπου δὲ ἀόριστα πρόσωπα ἐπεισάγει τοῖς διαλόγοις, τῆς μὲν εὐκρινείας ἒνεκεν τῶν πραγμάτων κέχρηται τοῖς προσδιαλεγομένος οὐδεν δὲ ἒτερον ἐα τῶν προσώπων ἐπεισκυκλεῖ ταῖς ὑποθέσεσεν· ὅπερ ἐποίησεν έν τοῖς Νόμοις. Δεῖ οὖν καὶ ἡμάς τοὺς οὐ κατὰ φιλοτιμίαν ἐρχομένους ἐπὶ τὸ γράφειν, ἀλλ᾽ ὑποθήκας καταλιμπάνειν ὼφελίμων λόγων τῇ ἀδελφότητι προελομένους, ἐὰν μέν τι πάαι προκεκηρυγμένον ἐπι αὐθαδείᾳ τρόπου πρόσωπου ὑποβαλλώμεθα, τινὰ καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου ποιοτητος παραπλέκειν τῷ λόγῳ, εἴπερ ὅλως ἐπιβάλλει ἡμῖν διαβάλλειν ἀνθρώπους, τῶν πραγμάτων ἀφεμένους. Ἐὰν δὲ ἀόριστον ῇ το διαλεγόμενον, αἰ πρός τὰ πρόσωπα διαστασεις τὴν μὲν συνάφειαν διακόπτουσι, πρὸς οὐδὲν δὲ πέρας χρήσιμον ἀπαντῶσι. Ταῦτα εἴπον ἵνα δειχθῇ, ὅτι οὐκ εἰς κόλακος χεῖρας ἀπέστειλάς σου τοὺς πόνους, ἀλλὰ ἀδελφῷ τῷ γνησιωτατῷ ἐκοινώνησας τῶν καμάτων. Ἐῖπον δὲ οὐ πρὸς ἐπανόρθωθιν τῶν γεγραμμένων, ἀλλὰ πρὸς φυλακὴν τῶν μελλόντων. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος Καισαρείας, Ἐπιστολη Διοδώρῳ, πρεσβυτέρῳ Ἀντιοχείας Source: Migne PG 32.572c-573a

I know that a man of your high intelligence is well aware that the philosophers apart from us composed dialogues, Aristotle and Theophrastus going straight to the heart of the matter, because they were aware of not being endowed with the graces of Plato. But Plato with his talent forwriting, at the same time disputes opinions and makes fun of his characters, criticising the rashness and recklessness of Thrasymachus, the lightness and silliness of mind of Hippias, and the bluster and pride of Protagoras. 1 But when he introduces unknown characters into his dialogues he uses them to make the point clearly and does not admit anything else pertaining to their characters; he does this in the Laws. It is well for us who do not write from vain ambition but from the obligation to give counsel, if we introduce a character well known for willfulness, to include in the piece something that pertains to the character, yet of course we are bound not to slander men. But if the subject is general, digressions directed against individuals break the flow and tend to no useful purpose. This I have said to show that you did not send your work into the hands of a flatterer, but have shared your labour with an understanding brother. And I have spoken not for the correction of what has been written, but as a precaution for the future. Saint Basil of Caesarea, from Letter 135, To Diodoros a Presbyter of Antioch 1 In The Republic, The Greater And Lesser Hippias, and the Protagoras

Translating a Heretic

Timotheus, exstincto ab Alexandrinis Proterio epsicopo, tumultuante adhuc plebe aut voluit, aut passus est se ab uno episcopo in locum occisi episcopum fieri. Et ne contra legem factus merito abjiceretur, ad gratiam plebis, quae Proterium exosum habuerat, omnes quibus ille communicaverat, Nestorianos esse pronuntiat: et maculam conscientiae, temeritate abluendam praesumens, scripsit ad Leonem imperatorem libellum valde suasorium, quem pravo sensu Patrum testimoniis in tantum roborare conatus est, ut ad decipiendum imperatorem, et suam haeresin constituendam, pene Leonem, urbis Romae pontificem et Chalcedonensem synodum, ac totos Occidentales episcopos aliorum adminiculo Nestorianos ostenderet. Sed, favente Deo, a Chalcedonensi concilio hostis Ecclesiae arguitur et confutatur. Vivere adhuc in exsilio iam haeresiarcha dicitur et habetur. Hunc ipsum libellum noscendi gratia ego, rogatus fratribus, in Latinum transtuli, et cavendum praetitulavi.  Gennadius Massiliensis, Liber De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis

Timotheus, the previous bishop Proterius having been slain by the Alexandrians, in response to the tumults of the people, willingly or under duress, allowed himself to be made bishop by a single bishop in place of the one who had been killed. And lest he who had been appointed contrary to the law should be deservedly deposed at the will of the people who had hated Proterius, he pronounced all those who had communicated with him to be Nestorians, and boldly presuming to wash out the stain on his conscience, he wrote a very persuasive book to the Emperor Leo, which he tried to fortify by testimonies of the Fathers, used in a perverted sense, for the sake of deceiving the Emperor and establishing his heresy, that Leo, pontiff of Rome, and the synod of Chalcedon, and all the Western bishops were little less than Nestorians. But by the grace of God, the enemy of the church was denounced and refuted at the Council of Chalcedon. He is said to be living in exile, still an heresiarch, and it is likely so. This book of his for learning's sake, by request of the brethren, I translated into Latin and prefixed a warning. Gennadius of Massilia, Book of Ecclesiastical Writers

A Charitable Scholar

Ipse enim Eusebius amator et praeco et contubernalis Pamphili tres libros scripsit elegantissimos, vitam Pamphili continentes: in quibus cum catera miris laudibus praedicaret, humilitatemque eius ferret in coelum, etiam hoc in tertio libro addidit: Quis studiosorum amicus non fuit Pamphili? Si quos videbat ad victum necessariis indigere, praebebat large quae poterat. Scripturas quoque sanctas non ad legendum tantum, sed et ad habendum, tribuebat promptissime. Nec solum viris, sed et feminis, quas vidisset lectioni deditas. Unde et multos codices praeparabat, ut cum necessitas poposcisset, volentibus largiretur. Et ipse quidem proprii operis nihil omnino scripsit, exceptis epistolis, quas ad amicos forte mittebat; in tantum se humilitate dejecerat. Veterum autem tractatus scriptorum legebat studiosissime, et in eorum meditatione jugiter versabatur. Sanctus Hieronymus, Apologia Adversus Libros Rufini, Liber Primus Source: Migne PL 23.404a-b

Eusebius himself, a close friend, herald and companion of Pamphilus, wrote three most elegant books containing the life of Pamphilus in which he proclaims with praise other admirable traits and lifts to the sky his humility, and in the third book he says further: 'What lover of study was not a friend of Pamphilus? If he knew of any of them being in want of the necessaries of life, he helped them to the utmost of his power. He would not only provide them copies of the Holy Scriptures to read, but to keep, and that most readily. And he gave not only to men, but to women also if he saw that they were given to reading. He therefore kept many volumes, so that when necessity pressed he could give to those who asked. He himself however, wrote nothing of his own, except letters which he sent to friends, so humble he judged himself. But the works of the old writers he read most diligently and was constantly occupied in meditation upon them.' St Jerome, from the Apology Against The Books Of Rufinus, Book 1