In search of a life of solitude and asceticism he moved the same summer (374) to the desert of ChalcLs, east of Antioch, where he passed five years in strict self-discipline ami diligent study, a Rahbi who had been converted to Christianity teaching him Hebrew. But this period also saw the beginning of the correspondence and warm friendship with pope Damasus, which afterwards led to the request that Jerome would undertake to put forward an authoritative Latin version of the Scriptures. The correspondence began [Epp. xv., xvi., written about 376-378) on doctrinal, but was a few j'ears after renewed on biblical questions (Epp. xviii., xix., xx., xxi., .<cxxv., xxxvi., written during the years 381-384), Jerome giving Dama-sus the information he li.ad desired on such questions as the meaning of the word Hosnnna, the inter- pretation of Gil 4'°, the reason why Abraham re- ceived circumcision as a sign of faith, etc.
In 379 Jerome moved to Antioch, where he was ordained presbyter, and then to Constantinople, where he listened to the expositions of Gregory Nazianzen (Epp. 1. 1, lii. 8), and probably con- tinued the systematic study of Greek ; and in 382 he returned to Rome. Here he spent nearly three years in close connexion with Damasus (Ep. cxxvii. 7), whose confidence and allection he thoroughly enjoyed, lie refers witli naive self- .satisfaclion to his popularity in Koine at this time : ' Totius in me urhis studia consonabant. Omnium pa;ne judicio dignus suiiimo sacerdotio decernebar. Beatte memoria,' Damasus mens sermo erat. Dicehar sanctus ; dicebar humilis et disertus ' (Eji. xlv. 3, written on leaWng Home, Aug. 385).
The inconveniences from which the Western Church sufl'ered owing to the absence of one authorized Latin version of the Bible, had long been felt. ' Tot exemplaria pajne quot codices ' was Jerome's description of the state of things ; and the confusion caused by a number of inde- pendent and auonynious translations of the NT was worse confoundol by the carelessness of scribes and copyists.t Whether in private study or in
* Victorinus was converted to Christianity in old n^e, and \t known amongst Patristic writers as Victorinus Afer ; Zockler (p. :io) doubts whether Jerome studied under him.
t This is a point of which Jerome constantly conii>lains ; see Ep. Ixxl. 6, Comin. in Malt. ii. 5, iii. 3, vi. 1(1. etc.; alw iii the books ol the OT, I'rt^. in litir. Chrun. iuzta i.V.V.
874
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VULGATE
public preaching, in controversy with heretics or in litui'gical use, this ' Latinorum interpretuni inlinita varietas'* must have been almost in- tolerably confusing to the more cultivated mem- bers of the Churcii, though the common folk felt it not, and were angered at any change. Damasus therefore initiated a valuable and much-needed reform when he commissioned Jerome to under- take the preparation of a revised and autlioritative Latin version of the NT. He could not have placed the work in better hands. Jerome's quali- lications were unique : he was fully sensible of the urgency and importance of such a revision ; lie was a good Latin scholar, writing a style that Avas both pure and vigorous ; he had been studying Greek carefully, and had already a fair knowledge of Hebrew ; t in later years, when he was trans- lating the OT from the original, he had attained a tliorough knowledge of that language, wliile long residence and travel in the East had given him that first-hand acquaintance with the country and its customs which must be invaluable to any one undertaking a task of this nature. His abilities also as a scholar and writer were well known ; and Damasus must have argued that a version proceeding from an authority so eminent, and backed by the influence and power of the Roman see, could not faU to obtain a wide acceptance.
Jerome undertook the task proposed to him by Damasus, we may well believe somewhat gladly, though in the letter to the pope which forms his preface to the Gos]iels, he professed reluctance to face so great a task, with the odium and the opposition to which he would be exposed from those who were used to the older translations. His fears were well grounded. Even his very s]iaring emendations in the Gospels were attackecf, and he was accused of tampering with our Lord's own words, and denying the inspiration of Scrip- ture (Ep. xxvii. 1) ; though, in Africa, Augustine welcomed this part of Jerome's work. J It was his translation of the OT, however, wliicli brouglit on him the fiercer storm of indignation and opposition (see below, p. 876'').
The exact date of the pope's commission to Jerome is not known ; but the first instalment of the revised text, consisting of the four Gospels, appeared in 383 ; and this was apparently fol- lowed, either the same year, or shortly after, by the Acts and the rest of the NT. It has indeed been doubted whether Jerome ever did revise more than the Gospels; the Latin of the other books sliows verj' few marks of having been emended by liim, and there is a rather suspicious absence of tlic prefaces which usually accompany his emended translations of the books of the Bible ; § while the preface he affixed to the Gospels promises ' quattuor taiitum Evangelia,' and Augustine, in his well- known letter written in 403, || speaks with favour of Jerome's translation of the Gospel, not of the New Testament. Against this, however, we must set the fact that Jerome more than once definitely asserts that he revised the whole New Testament, IT