A Warning About Inferior Studies

Οὐ καλῶς τὰς Ἀθήνας θαυμάζεις, καὶ Στοὰν, καὶ Περίπατον, καὶ Ἀττικὴν φαντασίαν, οἶς διὰ μάθησιν φλυαρίας πάλαι προσεκαρτέρεις, ὁ τὰ γήῖνα περιφρονήσας, καὶ μηδὲν ἀγαπᾷν τῶν ἐνταῦθα κεκελευσμένος. Εἰ συνηγέρθης οὖν τῷ Χριστῷ, τὰ ἄνω φρόνει, οὐ ἐστιν αὐτός. Οἰ γὰρ τὴν εὐτελῆ ἐσθῆτὰ σου ὁρῶντες, καὶ φιλοσοφίαν ἐν μόνῳ σχήματὶ προσοῦσαν, περπερείαν δὲ γνώμης, καὶ γλώσσης ἀλαζονείαν, κατὰ τῆς θειοτάτης θρησκείας βλασφημοῦσι.  Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΚΖ', Φλωρεντιῳ Source: Migne PG 78. 324d

You do not do well to admire Athens, and the Stoa and the Peripatetics and Attic pomp, worthless studies in which you were once so attentive, contemplating things of the earth, nothing of which here you have been commanded to love. 1 If, then, you have risen with Christ, think on things above, where He is. 2 For they seeing your tawdry garb and pursuit of philosophy in solitary state, with vainglorious mind and boastful tongue will blaspheme against the most Divine religion.  Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 227, to Florentius 1 1 Jn 2.15 2 Colos 3.2

Wisdom And Fools

Dicentes enim se esse sapientes, stulti facti sunt. Sapientes enim se arbitrantur, quia rationes physicas investigasse se putant, scrutantes cursus siderum, et qualitates elementorum, dominum autem horum spernentes; ideo stulti sunt; cum si haec laudanda sint, quanto magis creator illorum. Solent tamen pudorem passi, neglecti Dei misera uti excusatione, dicentes per istos posse ire ad Deum, sicut per comites pervenitur ad regem. Age, numquid tam demens est aliquis, aut salutis suae immemor, ut honorificentiam regis vindicet comiti; cum de hac re si qui etiam tractare fuerint inventi, jure ut rei damnentur majestatis? Et isti se non putant reos, qui honorem nominis Dei deferunt creaturae, et relicto Domino, conservos adorant; quasi sit aliquid plus, quod reservetur Deo. Nam et ideo ad regem per tribunos aut comites itur; quia homo utique est rex, et nescit quibus debeat rempublicam credere. Ad Deum autem, quem utique nihil latet, omnium enim merita novit, promerendum, suffragatore non opus est, sed mente devota.  Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Ad Romanos, Caput Primum Migne PL 17 58

'For saying that they are wise they have become fools.' 1 For they judge themselves wise because they think themselves to have investigated material matters, scrutinizing the courses of the stars and the qualities of the elements; yet the Lord of these things they spurn, therefore they are made stupid having these things as more praiseworthy than their Lord. However, they are accustomed to be moved by modesty and have wretched excuse for their neglect of God, saying that by these things they can come to God as one approaches a king through counts. Well indeed, no one is so mad or forgetful of salvation that he would proclaim the glory of the king by a count, for truly if someone were found arguing this, would they not be one who slights his majesty? And yet these do not think themselves guilty who claim to honour the name of God through his creatures, and forsaking the Lord, adore fellow servants, and all the more because it holds them back from God. For even if the way to a king here is through tribunes and counts, that is because here the king is a man, who does not know to whom he should entrust affairs of state. However to God, to whom nothing is hidden, since He knows the merits of all, one approaches, not by the the work of a representative, but by a devout mind. Ambrosiaster, On The Epistle To The Romans, Chapter 1 1 Rom 1.22

Unlettered Men

Comperto quod homines essent sine litteris et idiotae, admirabantur. Illitterati mittuntur ad praedicandum, ne fides credentium, non virtute Dei, sed eloquentia atque doctrina fieri putaretur, ut Apostolus ait, Non in sapientia verbi, ut non evacuetur crux Christi. Idiotae enim dicebantur, qui propria tantum lingua, naturallique scienti contenti, litterarum studia nesciebant. Sanctus Beda, Super acta Apostolorum Expositio, Caput III Migne PL 92 953

'Knowing that they were men without letters and learning, they wondered.' 1 Unlettered they were sent to preach, lest the faith of the believers be thought to be on account of the eloquence and learning of men and not by the virtue of God, as the Apostle says, 'Not in the cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ not be emptied.' 2 Thus they are said to be without learning, for with their own tongue alone and their own natural knowledge they had striven, knowing not the study of letters. Saint Bede, from the Commentary on the Acts of The Apostles, Chap 3 1 Acts 4.13 2 1 Cor 1.17

The Rise of a Scholar

Velut lampade quamdam divina luce fulgentem Didymum Dominus accednit. De cujus vita, atque institutis, quoniam ad Ecclesiae gloriam Dei munere concessus creditur, licet in transcursu, necessario tamen commemoranda nobis pauca videntur. Is namque in parva aetate, cum adhuc etiam prima litterarum ignoraret elementa, luminibus orbatus, majore desiderio scientiae veri luminis inflammatur: nec desperationem cupita adipiscedni passus est, cum audisset scriptum in Evangelio: Quod apud homines impossiblie est, possibile est apud Deum.  Hac igitur  divina  pollicitatione confisus indesinenter Dominum deprecabatur, non ut oculorum carnalium visum, sed ut illuminationem cordis acciperet. Miscebat tamen precibus studi ac laborem, et juges continuatasque vigilas, non ad legendum, sed ad audiendum adhibebat, ut quod aliis visus, hoc illi conferret auditus. Cum vero post lucubrationis laborem, somnus, ut fieri solet, legentibus advenisset, Didymus silentium illud non ad quietem, vel otium datum ducens, tanquam animal ruminans cibum, quem ceperat, ex integro revocabat, et ea quae dudum, percurrentibus aliis, ex librorum lectione cognoverat, memoria et animo retexebat, ut non tam audisse quae lecta fuerant, quam descripsisse ea mentis suae paginis videretur. Ita brevi, Deo docente, in tantam divinarum humanarumque rerum eruditionem ac scientiam venit, ut scholae ecclesiasticae, doctor exsisteret, Athanasio episcopo, caeterisque sapientibus in Ecclesia viris Dei admodum probatus. Rufinus Aquileiensis, Historia Ecclesiasticae, Lib II, Cap VII

The Lord kindled Didymus as a lamp shining with Divine light. Of his life and character, since it is believed that he was given by God for the glory of the Church, it seems necessary to us make brief mention. When he was of few years, while he was yet ignorant of the elements of letters, he was deprived of light, yet he was inflamed by a greater desire for the true light of knowledge, nor was he afflicted with despair of gaining what he desired, since he had heard that it was written in the Gospel, 'What is impossible for men is possible for God.' 1 Trusting in this Divine promise, he prayed to the Lord unceasingly, not that he might receive sight in his physical eyes, but that he might have illumination of heart. He combined labour with prayers and study and took to the toil of continuous vigils, not for reading but listening, that what sight gave to others hearing might give to him. But when after their work as usual sleep had come over the readers, Didymus, deeming that silence was given neither for rest nor idleness, like a clean animal chewing the cud, 2 what he had taken in, he would recall entire, and these things which others had raced through in their reading of books, in his mind and memory he would turn over and over, so that he seemed not so much to have heard what was read as to have written it out on the pages of his mind. Thus in a short time, with God teaching, he arrived at such erudition of Divine and human things that he became a teacher of the ecclesiastical school, having won the approval of bishop Athanasius and other wise men in the church of God. Rufinus of Aquileia, Ecclesiastical History, Book 2, Chap 7 1 Lk 18.27 2 Lev 11.3

An Errant Academic

Μὴ παῥῥησιάζου, ὦ ἄνθρωπε. Αἰσχύνεσθαι γὰρ ὀφείλεις κατὰ κράτος, καθ' ὅτι τὰς μοιχείας ἐπαινεῖς τῶν Θεῶν σου, καὶ τὰς παιδοφθορίας, καὶ προσκυνεῖς τὰ ὀλέθρια πάθη τῆς αἰσχρουργίας, καὶ οὐδὲν παντελῶς δύνῃ ὑπὲρ τὸ σῶμα διανοεῖσθαι Ἅγιος Νειλος, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ Ϛ' Ἡφαιστῳ Σκολαστικῳ

Do not speak freely, O man. Rather you should be ashamed of your achievements, for the gods you praise are adultery and the corruption of boys, and you venerate the ruinous passion of disgraceful deeds, and nothing more you are able to conceive than the body. Saint Nilus of Sinai, Book 1, Letter 6 To Hephaestus the Academic

The Old and the New

Τὰς Ἐλλήνων Θεοποιίας, καὶ ἂς καλοῦσι θεογονίας, Ὀρφεύς τε καὶ Ὅμηερος καὶ Ἡσίοδος, καὶ ὅσοι κατ' ἐκείνους ἐδίδαξαν, πολλὰς καὶ βίβλους καὶ δόξας συνείραντες, Τὴν ἡμετέραν δὲ θρησκείαν δύο πυκταὶ διδάξουσιν, ἂς ἐπέμψαμεν, ὦν ἡ μὲν Πρεσβυτέρα, ἡ δὲ Νέα Διαθήκη προσαγορεύεται. Εἰ δὲ ἀληθεύουσιν αὖται μᾶλλον ἐκείνων καὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι καὶ τοῖς πράγμασιν, εὑρήσειας, πέπεισμαι, καὶ κρατήσειας τί ἄμεινον. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΚΑ', Ἀμμωνιῳ Σκολαστικῳ

Of the deeds of the Gods of the the Gentiles and those things which they call theogonies, Orpheus and Homer and Hesiod and many others like them have spoken, in many books and collections of compact sayings. Our religion has two books of teachings, which we send to you, one which is named the Old and the other the New Testament. Whether these with names and deeds incline more to truth you may discover. I am persuaded that you'll hold fast to what is better. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 21, to the Scholar Ammonius

A Pleasing Harmony

Λόγων ἔχεις συναγωγὴν, ὡς μανθάνω, ἀκοὴν μὲν τερπόντων, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν οὐ τρεφόντων. Λόγον δὲ τοῦ ζῶντός σοι δεῖ, οὖ ὁ χηρεύων κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον ἐστίν. Εἰ τοίνυν ἐκεῖνον προσλάβοις, ὄργανον ἔσῃ ἡδύφθογγον καὶ Θεῷ καὶ ᾀνθρώποις εὐάρμοστον. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΡΗ' Προαιρεσιῳ Σκολαστικῳ

I have learned that you have lots of words with which to delight the ear but that you do not nourish the soul. You must attend to the word of life, for he who lacks it is but a clanging cymbal.1 If you heed that, a sweet instrument of song you will become, a pleasing harmony to God and men. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 108, To The Scholar Proaeresius 1 1 Cor 13.1

Against the Philosophers

Atque utinam nullas haereses oportuisset existere, ut probabiles quique emicarent. Nihil omnino cum philosophis super anima quoque experiremur, patriarchis, ut ita dixerim, haereticorum, siquidem et ab apostolo iam tunc philosophia concussio ueritatis prouidebatur; Athenis enim expertus linguatam ciuitatem cum omnes illic sapientiae atque facundiae caupones degustasset, inde concepit praemonitorium illud edictum.  Proinde enim et animae ratio per philosophatas doctrinas hominum miscentes aquas uino: alii immortalem negant animam, alii plus quam immortalem adfirmant, alii de substantia, alii de forma, alii de unaquaque dispositione disceptant; hi statum eius aliunde deducunt, hi exitum aliorsum abducunt, prout aut Platonis honor aut Zenonis uigor aut Aristotelis tenor aut Epicuri stupor aut Heracliti maeror aut Empedoclis furor persuaserunt. Deliquit, opinor, diuina doctrina ex Iudaea potius quam ex Graecia oriens. Errauit et Christus piscatores citius quam sophistam ad praeconium emittens. Si qua igitur in hunc modum de nidoribus philosophiae candidum et purum aerem ueritatis infuscant, ea erunt Christianis enubilanda et percutientibus argumentationes originales, id est philosophicas, et opponentibus definitiones caelestes, id est dominicas, ut et illa quibus ethnici a philosophia capiuntur, destruantur, et haec quibus fideles ab haeresi concutiuntur, retundantur.  Tertullianus, De Anima

Would to God that no heresies had existed that the approved might be made manifest. We should then never about the soul have to grapple with philosophers, those patriarchs, for so they may be entitled, of heretics. The Apostle in his own time foresaw that philosophy would do injury to the truth. Having experienced that chattering city of Athens, having tasted all its wisdom and the hawkers of it he coined that monitory edict. This is the account of the soul according to the doctrines of such philosophical men, who mix water with wine: some deny the immortality of the soul, others affirm that it is more than immortal, others give judgement about its substance, others about its form, others about its faculties. One group draws it forth from various sources, while another leads it off to different destinations.In so far as they honour Plato, or the vigour of Zeno, or the way of Aristotle, or the stupor of Epicurus, or the mourning of Heraclitus, or the madness of Empedocles, so are they persuaded. The Divine doctrine errs, I suppose, because it arose in Judea rather than Greece. And Christ made a mistake in sending forth fishermen to preach rather than intellectuals. Therefore whatever fumes of philosophy obscure the bright and pure air of truth, it will be for Christians to clear the clouds by piercing the original arguments, that is, the philosophical ones, and by opposing to them heavenly definitions, that is, those of the Lord, thus that by which philosophy captivates the Gentiles may be destroyed, and that by which the faithful are shaken by heretics may be blunted. Tertullian, On the Soul

The Unwise Wise

Quomodo dicitis, sapientes sumus, et Lex Domini nobiscum est? Vere mendacium operatus est stylus mendax scribarum.   Ad scribas loquitur et Pharisaees, qui Legis jactant notitiam et scribentes scribunt inquitatem. Quodque ait: Confusi sunt sapientes, perterriti et capti sunt. Verbum enim Domini projecerunt et sapientia nulla est in eis:   Non quo sapientes sint qui ista faciunt; sed sapientes vocat, ut sub judicio condemnentur: et e contrario sapientia eorum convincatur stultitia, dicente Paulo apostolo: Qui doces alium, teipsum non doces? Et quia verbum Domini projecerunt: ideo nulla sapientia est in eis. Frustra igitur jactant Legis scientiam, qui doctrinam operibus destruunt. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Jeremiam Propheta, Lib II

How can you say, 'We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us?' Truly the deceitful pen of the scribes has made it a lie. He speaks to the scribes and the Pharisees who boast of the knowledge of the Law and write iniquity when they write. And he says: The wise shall be shamed, they shall be dismayed and seized. The word of the Lord they have thrown aside and wisdom is not in them. Not that those who do such things are wise but he calls them wise that they might be condemned by their judgement and that foolishness might overcome their wisdom, which the Apostle Paul says: 'You who teach another will you not teach yourself?' And because they have thrown aside the Word of the Lord, therefore no wisdom is in them. Vainly do they boast of knowledge of the Law who destroy teaching with works. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, Book 2

Capturing Pupils

Συνδήσασθαι πάντα τρόπον ἐμηχανήσατο· πάντας λόγους στρέφων, καὶ πάντα κάλων, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ τοῦ λόγου, κινῶν, καὶ πάσας τὰς δυνάμεις αὐτοῦ προχειριζόμενος· ἐπαινῶν μὲν φιλοσοφίας ἐραστὰς, μακροῖς τοῖς ἐπαίνοις καὶ πολλοῖς τοῖς τε προσήκουσι· τούτους μόνους ζῇν ὅντως τὸν λογικοῖς προσήκοντα βίον, λέγων, τοὺς ὀρθῶς βιοῦν ἐπιτηδεύοντας, ἑαυτούς τε γινώσκοντας, πρῶτον οἴτινές εἰσι, κὰπειτα τὰ ὅντως ἀγαθὰ ἂ μεταδιώκειν ἄνθρωπον χρὴ καὶ τὰ ἀληθῶς κακὰ ὦν ἀποτρέχειν δεῖ ψέγωεν δὲ τὴν ἀμαθίαν, καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀμαθεῖς· πολλοὶ δὲ οὖτοι ὅσοι θρεμμάτων δίκην τυφλώττοντες τὸν νοῦν, οὐδ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο ὅπερ εἰσὶν ἐγνωκότες, ὥσπερ ἄλογοι πεπλανημένοι, ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστιν, ὅλως οὔτε εἰδότες αὐτοὶ, οὐτε μαθεῖν θέλοντες, ὡς ἐπὶ ἀγαθὸν ᾄττουσι καὶ ἐπτόηνται, χρήματα καὶ δόξας καὶ τιμὰς τὰς ἀπὸ τῶν πολλῶν καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος εὐεξίαν· αὐτά τε περὶ πολλοῦ καὶ τοῦ παντὸς τιθέμενοι, καὶ τῶν τεχνῶν ὅσαι ταῦτα ἐκπορίζεσθαι δύνανται, καὶ ρῶν βίων ὅσοι ταῦτα παρέξονται, στρατιὰς καὶ τὴν δικανικὴν καὶ ἐκμάθησιν τὴν τῶν νόμων· ταῦθ' ἄπερ ἡμᾶς ἀνέσειε, μάλιστα λέγων καὶ μάλα τεχνικῶς, τοῦ κυριωτάτου, φησὶ, τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν λόγον ἀμελήσαντας. Οὐκ ἔχω νῦν ἐγὼ λέγειν, ὅσας τοιαύτας ἐξήχει φωνὰς, προτρέπων φιλοσοφεῖν· οὐ μιᾶς ἡμέρας μόνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλειόνων ὅσωεν αὐτῷ προσήειμεν τῶν πρώτων, βεβλημένοι μὲν ὥσπερ τινὶ βέλει τῷ παρ' αὐτοῦ λόγῳ καὶ ἐκ πρώτης ἡλικίας, ἥν γάρ πως καὶ ἡδείᾳ τινὶ χάριτι καὶ πειθοῖ καὶ τινι ἀναγκῃ μεμιγμένος, στρεφόμενοι δέ πως ἔτι καὶ λογιζόμενοι· καὶ φιλοσοφεῖν μὲν προσκαρτερήσαντες οὐδέπω πάντη πεπεισμένοι, ἀφίστασθαι δὲ πάλιν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως, οὐ δυνάμενοι· ἀεὶ δὲ ὥσπερ ὑπό τισιν ἀνάγκαις μείζοσι τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλκόμενοι.   Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ θαυματουργός, Εἰς Ὀριγένην Προσφώνητικος

He strove by all means to associate us with him, turning to all arguments, and putting every rope in motion, as the saying goes, and bringing all his powers to bear. He praised the lovers of philosophy with many long speeches, praising those only who live truly a reasonable life, those who pursue an upright life and knowledge of themselves, saying first what sort of persons they are and then the things that are truly good which man should pursue and then the the things that are truly evil which one should flee, and ignorance and all the unlearned, the many who are blind in their minds like cattle, not knowing who they are, like those who wander lacking reason,  knowing not what is good and what is evil, nor do they wish to know, but for their good they strive for riches and glory and glory and honour from the crowd, and the comforts of the body, for they place great value on all such things, or even deem them worth everything, and also the arts by which these things can be acquired, and the ways of life which bring them: the military, the juridical, and the study of law. With pressing and skilful words he said to us that such things would ruin us when we have no care for the reason which should be master of us. I cannot tell now all the speeches like this with which he inclined us to philosophy, nor was it only for a day but for many days that he dealt with us so, as often as we went to him from the first, and we were transfixed as by a shaft by his reasoning from the beginning, for he was possessed of a mix of sweetness and grace and persuasiveness and restraint, and though we still wavered and pondered the matter, not being fully persuaded to be attached to philosophy, yet we were not able to draw ourselves away, for we were always drawn towards him, as by some necessity, by the greatness of his reasons. Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, Oration to Origen

An Argument over Teachers

Illud autem minimum quidem est, et responsione vix dignum, quod enumerans doctores suos, quos se de synagoga dicit esse mercatum, stimulans nos, subjungit: Neque enim, inquit, ipse me docui, sicut quidam; nos sine dubio intuens, in quos omne ab initio lacertionis suae pondus invexit. Et miror hoc eum dicere voluisse, cum majorem in me et veriorem haberet obtrecrandi materiam, quod magis inter multos et praeclaros magistros diu moratus, nihil dignum eorum, vel magistero, vel institutionibus habeam. Caeterum iste qui in tota vita sua non totos triginta dies Alexandriae, ubi erat, Didymus commoratus est, per totos pene libellos suos longe lateque se jactat. Didymi videntis esse dicipulum, et katheghten, id est praeceptorem, in scripturis sanctis habuisse Didymum. Et omnis ista jactantia in uno mense quaesita est. Ego qui sex annis Dei causa commoratus sum, et iterum post intervallum aliquod, aliis duobus, ubi Didymus, de quo tu solo te jactas, et ubi alii nihilominus illo non inferiores, quos tu ne facie tenus quidem nosti, Serapion et Menites, viri natura et moribus et eruditione germani: ubi Paulus senex Petri Martyris discipulus: et ut ad eremi magistros veniam, quibus et attentius et frequentius vacabamus, ubi Macarius Antonii discipulus et alter Macarius et Isidorus et Pambas, omnes amici Dei, qui nos haec docebant, quae ipsi a Deo discebant: quantum ego, si hoc ita deceret, aut expediret, de his omnibus habere jactantiae materiam possem? Sed erubesco, haec etiam retexens, dum volo tibi ostendere, non, ut tu dicis, nostro ingenio magistros, sed quod plus doleo, magistris defuisse magis ingenium nostrum. Rufinus Aquileiensis, Apologiae In Hieronimum

It is a trivial thing and scarcely worthy of response, that, relating the various teachers whom he hired from the synagogue, he concludes, thus to needle me, 'Indeed I have not been my own teacher, like some,' without doubt meaning me, for he brings the whole weight of his assault against me from beginning to end. But I am amazed that he should have chosen to speak of this when he had available a more grave and more fearful matter to disparage me, that though I tarried for so long among many eminent teachers I possess nothing worthy of their teaching or their training. He indeed has not in his whole life stayed more than thirty days at Alexandria, when he dwelt with Didymus, yet through almost all his books he boasts, at length and at large, of it, that he was seen to be the pupil of Didymus the blind and that for his preceptor in the Holy Scriptures he had Didymus. And the material for all this boasting was acquired in a single month. But I, for the cause of God, stayed six years, and again, after a certain interval, for two more, where Didymus lived, of whom alone you boast, and where others also lived who were in no way inferior to him, but whom you did not know even the faces of, Serapion and Menites, men like twins in nature and conduct and learning, and there was Paul the Old, pupil of Peter the Martyr, and, to come to the teachers of the desert, to whom I listened frequently and attentively, Macarius the disciple of Anthony, and the other Macarius, and Isidore and Pambas, all friends of God, who taught me those things which they had learned from God. How much material, if I thought it decent or expedient to boast, would I have from all these men? But I blush even while I weave these things together, which I do wishing to show you, not, as you say, my masters' talents, but, what I grieve over, that my talents fell short of my masters. Rufinus of Aquileia, Apology against Jerome

On a Proverb

Bos lassus fortius figat pedem Divus Hieronymus oppido quam elegens adagium usurpavit ad beatum Aurelium Augustinum scribens eumque deterre cupiens, ne juvenis senem provocet. Propterea quod tardius quidem ad pugnam excitantur hi, qui jam sunt aetate quasi fessi, verum iidem gravius saeviunt atque urgent, si quando senilis illa virtus irritata recaluit: Memento, inquit, Daretis et Entelli et vulgaris proverbii, quod bos lassus fortius figat pedem. A veteri triturae more ductum apparet, cum circumactis a bubus super manipulos plaustris grana excutiebantur, partim a rotis in hoc armatis, partim a taurorum ungulis. Et lex illa Mosaica, quam citat apostolus Paulus ad Timotheum, vetat, ne bovi trituranti os obligetur. Itaque bos lassus, quoniam gravius figit pedem, magis est ad trituram idoneus. At non item equus ad cursum. Potest allusum videri et ad hoc, quod juvenes corporis agilitate praepollent, senes in stataria pugna ac viribus superiores sunt, id quod et Vergilius in Daretis et Entelli congressu declarat. Nec admodum hinc abludit illud, quod in Graecorum collectaneis positum reperio, Ἀρτέμας Βοῦς, id est, Lente bos, subaudiendum movet pedem. Nam sensim quidem movet, at gravius premit. Adagia,I,47, Erasmus

The weary ox fixes a firmer foot. Saint Jerome with more utility than elegance took up the adage when he wrote to the Blessed Aurelius Augustine wishing to deter him lest youth provoke old age. Accordingly those who are already wearied with years are more slowly roused to fight but greater is their violence and drive when the strength of their old age is warmed by anger. 'Remember,' he says, 'Dares and Entellus and the common proverb that the weary ox fixes a firmer foot.' It seems that of old it was the custom to use oxen to thresh the bundles of the threshing floor, partly by binding them to a millstone and partly by use of the hooves of the creatures. And the Mosaic Law, which the Apostle Paul cites to Timothy, prohibits the binding of the mouth of the ox so used. Thus a weary ox, because he treads more heavily is better able to thresh the wheat. One does not use the same horse for every race. It seems that for games that the body of a youth would excel but in a toe to toe fight the elder man is superior, which is what Virgil declares in the encounter of Dares and Entellus. Nor does he sing out of tune in that, for in the Greek collections I find it is given as 'Slowly the Ox', by which should be understood its step, for prudently it moves and it presses down mightily.  The Adages, I, 47, Erasmus

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

Advice On Starting The Study Of Scripture

Διὰ γὰρ τοὺτο τοσαῦτα προειπὼν, οὐδέπω καθῆκα εἰς τὰς ῥήσεις ταὺτας, ἵνα ἔκαστος πάντα ἀποθέμενος ἀῥῥωστίας τρόπον, ὥσπερ εἰς αὐτὸν εἰσιὼν τὸν οὐρανὸν, οὕτως εἰσίῃ καθαρὸς καὶ θυμοῦ, καὶ φροντίδος, καὶ ἀγωνίας βιωτικῆς, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπηλλαγμένος παθῶν. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐτερως κερδᾶναι τι μὲγα ἐντεῦθεν, μὴ πρότερον οὕτως ἀνακαθάραντα τὴν ψυχήν. Καὶ μὴ μοι λεγέτω τις ὅτι βραχὺς ὁ καιρὸς ὁ μεταξὺ τῆς συνάξεως τῆς μελλούσης. Ἔξεστι γὰρ οὐχι ἐν πέντε μόνον ἡμέραις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν μιᾷ ῥοπῇ μεταθέσθαι τὸν βίον ἄπαντα. Τί γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, λῃστοῦ καὶ ἀνδροφόνου χεῖρον; οὐχὶ τὸ ἔσχατόν τοῦτο τῆς κακίας εἶδός ἐστιν; Ἀλλ’ ὅμως εἰς τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ἀρετῆς εὐθέως ἔφθασε, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐχώρησε τὸν παράδεισον· οὐχ ἡμερῶν δεηθεὶς, οὐχ ἡμίσους ἡμέρας, άλλὰ βραχείας ῥοπῆς. Ὥστε ἔξεστιν ἄφνω μεταθέσθαι, καὶ γενέσθαι χρύσεον ἀντὶ πηλίνου.  Ὁμῖλία Α' ,Ὑπόμνημα Εἰς την προς Ἁγιον Ἰωάννην, Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος

For addressing such things, I have not yet in an way mediated on the words of the Gospel of John in order that everyone may put aside all manner of infirmities, as though one were entering into heaven, so that one may enter upon this matter guiltless, distant from anger and the cares and struggles of this life, and all other passions. For it is not otherwise that one may profit greatly from this text, except that first a soul be cleansed. And let it not be said to me that the time to the future communion is short. For it is possible, not only in five days, but in one moment, to change a whole life. Tell me what is worse than a thief and a murderer? Is not this final kind of wickedness? Yet such a man came quickly to the height of virtue, and went forward into Paradise itself, not needing days, nor half a day, but one short moment. So it is that a man may change suddenly, and become gold instead of clay. Saint John Chrysostom, from the First Homily on John

Correcting Errors

Multi anni sunt quod ab adolescentia usque ad hanc aetatem, diversa scripsi opuscula, semperque habui studio audientibus loqui, quod publice in Ecclesia didiceram: nec Philosophorium argumenta sectari, sed Apostolorum simplicitati aequiesere, sciens illud scriptum: Perdam sapientiam sapientium, et prudentiam prudentium reprobabo. Et: Fatuum Dei, sapientius est hominibus. Cum haec se ita habeant, provoco adversaries, ut omnes retro chartulas ex integro discutiant, et si quid in meo ingenioio vitii repererint, proferant in medium. Aut enim bona erunt, et contradiciam eorum calumniae: aut reprehensibilia, et confitebor errorem: malens emendare quam perseverare in pravitate sententiae. Et tu ergo, doctor egregie, aut defende quod locutus es, et sententiarum tuarum acumine astrue eloquio subsequenti, ne quando tibi placuerit, neges quod locutus es: aut si certe errasti, quasi homo, libere confitere, et discordantiam inter se redde concordiam. In mentem tibi veniat, tunicam Salvatoris nec a militibus fuisse conscissam. Fratrem inter se cernis jurgia, et rides aeque laetaris, quod alii tuo nomine, alii Christi appellentur. Imitare Jonam, et dicito: Si propter me est ista tempestae, tollite me, et mittite in mare.  Humilitate dejectus est in profundum, ut in typum Domini gloriosus resurgeret. Tu per superbiam ad astra sustolleris, ut de loquatur Jesus: 'Videbam Satanam sicut fulgor cadentem de caelo.' Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistola CXXXIII, Ad Ctesiphontem

For many years from my youth up until this age I have written various works and I have always tried to teach my hearers the doctrine that I have been taught publicly in church; I have not chased after the arguments of the philosophers but have preferred to find rest in the simplicity of the Apostles, knowing that it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and denounce the understanding of the prudent,'1 and ' The foolishness of God is wiser than men.'2 This being so, I challenge my adversaries to tear apart all my past writings, and if they track down anything in my thought that is faulty, to bring it forward. Thus either my works will be found good and I shall confute their calumny, or the works will be found at fault and I shall confess my error; for I am one who prefers to correct an error than persevere in a defective opinion. And so you also, outstanding teacher, defend what you have said, and support your opinions with corresponding eloquence, and do not, when it pleases you, deny what you have said, but if, as a man may do, you have obviously erred, confess it openly and turn discord back into harmony. May it come to mind that even the soldiers did not rend the coat of the Saviour, and yet when you see disputes between brothers you laugh and are glad that some are called by your name and others by that of Christ. Rather imitate Jonah and say: 'If this tempest is on account of me, take me and cast me into the sea.'3 He in humility was thrown into the deep that he might rise again a glorious type of the Lord. You by pride are lifted up to the stars, about which Jesus said: 'I beheld Satan falling like lightning from heaven.'4 Saint Jerome Letter 133, To Ctesiphon  1. 1 Cor 1.19  2. 1 Cor 1.25   3. Jon 1. 12  4 Lk 10.18

Something About Nothing

Omnibus fidelibus et domni nostri serenissimi principis Caroli in sacro ejus palatio consistentibus Fredigysius diaconus.  Agitatem diutissime a quampluribus quaestionem de nihilo, quam indiscussam inexaminatamque veluti impossibilem ad explicandum reliquerunt, mecum sedulo volvens, atque pertractens, tandem visum mihi fuit aggredi; eamque nodis vehementibus, quibus videbatur implicata, disruptis absolvi atque enodavi, deterosque nubilo in lucem restitui; memoriae quoque posteritatis cunctis in futurum saeculis mandandam praevidi. Quaestio autem hujusmodi est, nihilne aliquid sit, an non. Si quis responderit, Videtur mihi nihil esse, ipsa ejus quam putat negatio compellit eum fateri aliquid esse nihil. Quod tale est quasi dicat, Videtur mihi nihil quiddam esse. Quod si aliquid esse videtur ut non sit quodam modo videri non potest. Quocirca relinquitur ut aliquid esse videatur. Si vero hujusmodi fiat responsio, Videtur mihi nihil nec aliquid esse, huic responsioni obviandum est, primum ratione, in quantum hominis ratio patitur, deinde auctoritate, non qualibet, sed ratione duntaxat, quae sola auctoritas est, solaque immobilem obtinet firmitatem. Agamus itaque ratione. Omne itaque nomen finitum aliquid significat, ut homo, lapis, lignum. Haec enim ubi dicta fuerint, simul res quas fuerint significant intelligimus. Quippe hominis nomen praeter differentiam aliquam positum universalitatem hominum designat. Lapis et lignum suam similiter generalitatem complectuntur. Igitur nihil ad id quod significat refertur. Ex hoc etiam probatur non posse aliquid non esse. Omnis significatio est quod est. Nihil autem aliquid significat. Igitur nihil ejus significatio est quid est, id est, rei existentis. Epistola De Nihilo et Tenebris, Ad Proceres Palatii, Fredegesius Turonensis

To all the faithful and to our most serene prince Charles, gathered together at his sacred palace, Fredegesius the deacon. For a very long time the question about nothing being troublesome to many people, it has been undiscussed and unexamined as a thing about which it is almost impossible to give an explanation, but carefully considering it in myself and drawing it out until at last I saw it as something approachable, the strong knots in which it appeared to be bound loosening and dissolving, I then from such a cloud restored it to the light, and thought it prudent to commit it into the memory of all the ages to come. The question is: Whether nothing is something or not? If someone responds, 'It seems to me to be nothing,' by this denial itself he is compelled to admit that something is nothing. It is as if he were to say, 'It seems to me that nothing is a certain thing.' But if it seems to be something it is unable not to appear to be in any way. Thus it remains that it seems to be something. If then this is the response: 'It seems to me to be nothing not something,' this answer is opposed first by reasoning, insofar as human reason permits, next by authority, but not any authority, but only insofar as it accords with reason, which alone is an authority and which alone obtains immovable strength. Let us act, therefore, in accordance with reason. Every finite name signifies something, so: man, stone, wood. When these are said, at the same time we understand the things they signify. Of course, the name man without any qualifier designates the universal term man and stone and wood in similar fashion are grasped. Therefore nothing signifies something to which it refers. By which it is proved that it is not able to be something which does not exist. Every signification is of something and even nothing signifies something. Therefore, nothing signifies something which is, that is, an existing thing. Letter on Nothing and Darkness, To the Nobles of the Palace, Fredegesius of Tours

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

Education And Virtue

Ἐιπέ τις τῷ μακαρίῳ Ἀρσενίῳ· Πῶς ἡμεὶς ἀπὸ τοσαύτης παιδεύσεως καὶ σοφίας οὐδὲν ἔχομεν, οὖτοι δὲ οἱ ἀγροῖκοι καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι τοσαύτας ἀρετὰς κέκτηνται; Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ ἀββᾶς Ἀρσένιος· Ἡμεὶς ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου παιδεύσεως οὐδὲν ἔχομεν· οὖτοι δὲ οἱ ἀγροὶκοι καὶ Αἰγύπτοι ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων πόνων ἐκτήσαντο τὰς ἀρετὰς. ᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος Source: Migne PG 65.88d-89a

Someone said to the blessed Arsenius, 'How is it that we for all our education and knowledge have nothing, yet these peasants and Egyptians have acquired such virtue?' Father Arsenius said to him, 'We have nothing from our worldly education, but these peasants and Egyptians by their own travails have acquired virtue.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia

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

Using The Royal Time

Prava corrigere, et recta corroborare, et sancta subliminare omni intentione studeat, et nomen Domini Dei excelsi per multa terrarum spatia diltare guadeat, et catholicae fidei lumen in extremis mundi partibus incendere conetur. Haec est, o dulcissime David, gloria, laus et merces tuae in judicio diei magni, et in perpetuo sanctorum consortio; ut diligentissime populum, excellentiae vestrae Deo comissum, corrigere studeas, et ignorantiae tenebris diu animas obcaecatas ad lumen verae fidei deducere coneris. Nunquam optimis voluntatibus, vel bonis conatibus remuneratio divina deerit: sed qui plus laborat in voluntate Dei, plus mercedis recipiet in regno Dei. Tempus hujus vitae velocitar currit, fugit et non revertitur; ineffabilis vero Dei pietas humano praevidebat generi breviter laborare et aeternaliter coronari. Ideo pretiosa debent esse nobis tempora, ne perdamus per negligentiam quod per bonae vitae exercitium habere poterimus aeternum. Alcuinus, Epistola XLIII Ad Carolum Magnum Source: Migne PL 100.207c-208a

One should strive with every effort to improve the depraved and to strengthen the righteous and to edify the holy, and one should rejoice to spread the name of the Lord God Most High through all the span of the earth, and one should try to bring the light of the Catholic faith to the furthest ends of the earth. This is, O beloved David, glory and praise and reward on the great day of judgement, and the perpetual company of the saints, that you should try to lead to the light of faith those who are blind of soul in the darkness of ignorance. Never does the Divine fail to remunerate the best of wills or good efforts, but he who labours more to do the will of God shall receive more in the kingdom of God. Our time of life quickly runs on, it flies off and it will not return. Yet in truth the ineffable piety of God provides for the brief labour of man an eternal crown. Thus should our time be precious to us, lest we destroy by negligence the eternity which with a good life of exertions we were able to have. Alcuin of York, from Letter 43, To Charlemagne