12. Let her treasures be not silks or gems but manuscripts of the holy scriptures; and in these let her think less of gilding, and Babylonian parchment, and arabesque patterns, [2716] than of correctness and accurate punctuation. Let her begin by learning the psalter, and then let her gather rules of life out of the proverbs of Solomon. From the Preacher let her gain the habit of despising the world and its vanities. [2717] Let her follow the example set in Job of virtue and of patience. Then let her pass on to the gospels never to be laid aside when once they have been taken in hand. Let her also drink in with a willing heart the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. As soon as she has enriched the storehouse of her mind with these treasures, let her commit to memory the prophets, the heptateuch, [2718] the books of Kings and of Chronicles, the rolls also of Ezra and Esther. When she has done all these she may safely read the Song of Songs but not before: for, were she to read it at the beginning, she would fail to perceive that, though it is written in fleshly words, it is a marriage song of a spiritual bridal. And not understanding this she would suffer hurt from it. Let her avoid all apocryphal writings, and if she is led to read such not by the truth of the doctrines which they contain but out of respect for the miracles contained in them; let her understand that they are not really written by those to whom they are ascribed, that many faulty elements have been introduced into them, and that it requires infinite discretion to look for gold in the midst of dirt. Cyprian's writings let her have always in her hands. The letters of Athanasius [2719] and the treatises of Hilary [2720] she may go through without fear of stumbling. Let her take pleasure in the works and wits of all in whose books a due regard for the faith is not neglected. But if she reads the works of others let it be rather to judge them than to follow them.
13. You will answer, How shall I, a woman of the world, living at Rome, surrounded by a crowd, be able to observe all these injunctions?' In that case do not undertake a burthen to which you are not equal. When you have weaned Paula as Isaac was weaned and when you have clothed her as Samuel was clothed, send her to her grandmother and aunt; give up this most precious of gems, to be placed in Mary's chamber and to rest in the cradle where the infant Jesus cried. Let her be brought up in a monastery, let her be one amid companies of virgins, let her learn to avoid swearing, let her regard lying as sacrilege, let her be ignorant of the world, let her live the angelic life, while in the flesh let her be without the flesh, and let her suppose that all human beings are like herself. To say nothing of its other advantages this course will free you from the difficult task of minding her, and from the responsibility of guardianship. It is better to regret her absence than to be for ever trembling for her. For you cannot but tremble as you watch what she says and to whom she says it, to whom she bows and whom she likes best to see. Hand her over to Eustochium while she is still but an infant and her every cry is a prayer for you. She will thus become her companion in holiness now as well as her successor hereafter. Let her gaze upon and love, let her "from her earliest years admire" [2721] one whose language and gait and dress are an education in virtue. [2722] Let her sit in the lap of her grandmother, and let this latter repeat to her granddaughter the lessons that she once bestowed upon her own child. Long experience has shewn Paula how to rear, to preserve, and to instruct virgins; and daily inwoven in her crown is the mystic century which betokens the highest chastity. [2723] O happy virgin! happy Paula, daughter of Toxotius, who through the virtues of her grandmother and aunt is nobler in holiness than she is in lineage! Yes, Laeta: were it possible for you with your own eyes to see your mother-in-law and your sister, and to realize the mighty souls which animate their small bodies; such is your innate thirst for chastity that I cannot doubt but that you would go to them even before your daughter, and would emancipate yourself from God's first decree of the Law [2724] to put yourself under His second dispensation of the Gospel. [2725] You would count as nothing your desire for other offspring and would offer up yourself to the service of God. But because "there is a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing," [2726] and because "the wife hath not power of her own body," [2727] and because the apostle says "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called" [2728] in the Lord, and because he that is under the yoke ought so to run as not to leave his companion in the mire, I counsel you to pay back to the full in your offspring what meantime you defer paying in your own person. When Hannah had once offered in the tabernacle the son whom she had vowed to God she never took him back; for she thought it unbecoming that one who was to be a prophet should grow up in the same house with her who still desired to have other children. Accordingly after she had conceived him and given him birth, she did not venture to come to the temple alone or to appear before the Lord empty, but first paid to Him what she owed; and then, when she had offered up that great sacrifice, she returned home and because she had borne her firstborn for God, she was given five children for herself. [2729] Do you marvel at the happiness of that holy woman? Imitate her faith. Moreover, if you will only send Paula, I promise to be myself both a tutor and a foster father to her. Old as I am I will carry her on my shoulders and train her stammering lips; and my charge will be a far grander one than that of the worldly philosopher; [2730] for while he only taught a King of Macedon who was one day to die of Babylonian poison, I shall instruct the handmaid and spouse of Christ who must one day be offered to her Lord in heaven.
[2663] 1 Cor. vii. 13, 14, the word believing' is twice inserted by Jerome.
[2664] Luke xviii. 27.
[2665] Cf. Luke xxiii. 42, 43.
[2666] Dan. iv. 33-37.
[2667] The Persian sun-god, at this time one of the most popular deities of the Roman pantheon. Gracchus appears to have done this as Urban Prætor, A. C. 378.
[2668] In the year 389 a.d. the temple of Serapis at Alexandria had been pulled down and a Christian church built upon its site.
[2669] Elsewhere (Life of Hilarion § 20) Jerome relates an extraordinary story about the discomfiture of this demon.'
[2670] A well-known Thracian tribe not to be confounded with the Goths.
[2671] Cf. Hor. A.P., 21, 22. Amphora caepit Institui: currente rota cur urceus exit?
[2672] The books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings are called in the Hebrew Bible the Former Prophets.
[2673] Ex. xiii. 2.
[2674] Luke i. 41.
[2675] Matt. iii. 4.
[2676] Cf. Letter LXXIX. § 3. Apparently Jerome means that the difficulty of penitence is as great as that of the camel passing through the eye of a needle. John, he implies, by wearing the camel's hair shows that he has surmounted this.
[2677] Quintilian, Inst. I. 1.
[2678] Quint. Inst. I. 1.
[2679] The contemporary and rival of Cicero.
[2680] Horace, Epist. I. ii. 69.
[2681] Quint. Inst. I. 1.
[2682] Matt. xiii. 46.
[2683] Inferna.
[2684] Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 17.
[2685] 1 Sam. ii. 27-36.
[2686] 1 Tim. iii. 4.
[2687] 1 Tim. ii. 15 A.V. has sobriety' for chastity' but Jerome deliberately prefers the latter word.
[2688] Jon. iv. 11.
[2689] Babylon, the world-power. Jer. l. 23.
[2690] Gen. xxxiv.
[2691] Lucretius, I. 936, sqq.
[2692] Ezek. xviii. 20.
[2693] John ix. 21.
[2694] The letter Y used by Pythagoras to symbolize the diverging paths of good and evil. Cf. Persius. iii. 56.
[2695] Deut. xv. 21.
[2696] Luke ii. 52.
[2697] Cf. Luke ii. 43-46.
[2698] Luke i. 29.
[2699] Ps. xlv. 13.
[2700] Cant. i. 4.
[2701] Cant. v. 7.
[2702] Cf. Ezek. xvi. 1-10.
[2703] Cant. v. 2.
[2704] Cant. viii. 10.
[2705] Cant. v. 3.
[2706] Again quoted in Letter CXXVIII. § 4.
[2707] Eph. v. 18.
[2708] 1 Tim. v. 23.
[2709] Cp. Letter LXXIX, § 7. The heathen sage is glass, the Christian virgin the pearl.
[2710] See note on Letter XXII. § 37.
[2711] A Virgilian expression, 9, II., 121.
[2712] Simila, but as elsewhere (L. 52, 6) this is spoken of as a luxury, perhaps we should read similia = and such like.'
[2713] Jerome refers to his second book against Jovinian.
[2714] Cf. the dying words of S. Francis (which have a similar reference) I have sinned against my brother the ass.'
[2715] i.e. having vowed to abstain from bread, they indemnify themselves with flesh.
[2716] Vermiculata pictura.
[2717] Jerome tells us that he read the book with Blaesilla for this purpose.
[2718] i.e. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges.
[2719] Of these a large number are still extant. Over twenty of them are "festal epistles" announcing to the churches the correct day on which to celebrate Easter.
[2720] These include commentaries on many parts of Scripture and a work on the Trinity.
[2721] Virgil, A. viii. 507.
[2722] Comp. Ecclus. xix. 30.
[2723] The number 100 denotes virginity to which in her own person Paula could have no claim. See note on Letter XLVIII. § 2.
[2724] Gen. i. 28.
[2725] 1 Cor. vii. 1.
[2726] Eccl. iii. 5.
[2727] 1 Cor. vii. 4.
[2728] 1 Cor. vii. 20.
[2729] 1 Sam. ii. 21.
[2730] The allusion is to Aristotle who was tutor to Alexander, King of Macedon.