30. No weeping or lamentation followed her death, such as are the custom of the world; but all present united in chanting the psalms in their several tongues. The bishops lifted up the dead woman with their own hands, placed her upon a bier, and carrying her on their shoulders to the church in the cave of the Saviour, laid her down in the centre of it. Other bishops meantime carried torches and tapers in the procession, and yet others led the singing of the choirs. The whole population of the cities of Palestine came to her funeral. Not a single monk lurked in the desert or lingered in his cell. Not a single virgin remained shut up in the seclusion of her chamber. To each and all it would have seemed sacrilege to have withheld the last tokens of respect from a woman so saintly. As in the case of Dorcas, [3008] the widows and the poor shewed the garments Paula had given them; while the destitute cried aloud that they had lost in her a mother and a nurse. Strange to say, the paleness of death had not altered her expression; only a certain solemnity and seriousness had overspread her features. You would have thought her not dead but asleep.
One after another they chanted the psalms, now in Greek, now in Latin, now in Syriac; and this not merely for the three days which elapsed before she was buried beneath the church and close to the cave of the Lord, but throughout the remainder of the week. All who were assembled felt that it was their own funeral at which they were assisting, and shed tears as if they themselves had died. Paula's daughter, the revered virgin Eustochium, "as a child that is weaned of his mother," [3009] could not be torn away from her parent. She kissed her eyes, pressed her lips upon her brow, embraced her frame, and wished for nothing better than to be buried with her.
31. Jesus is witness that Paula has left not a single penny to her daughter but, as I said before, on the contrary a large mass of debt; and, worse even than this, a crowd of brothers and sisters whom it is hard for her to support but whom it would be undutiful to cast off. Could there be a more splendid instance of self-renunciation than that of this noble lady who in the fervour of her faith gave away so much of her wealth that she reduced herself to the last degree of poverty? Others may boast, if they will, of money spent in charity, of large sums heaped up in God's treasury, [3010] of votive offerings hung up with cords of gold. None of them has given more to the poor than Paula, for Paula has kept nothing for herself. But now she enjoys the true riches and those good things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have they entered into the heart of man. [3011] If we mourn, it is for ourselves and not for her; yet even so, if we persist in weeping for one who reigns with Christ, we shall seem to envy her her glory.
32. Be not fearful, Eustochium: you are endowed with a splendid heritage. The Lord is your portion; and, to increase your joy, your mother has now after a long martyrdom won her crown. It is not only the shedding of blood that is accounted a confession: the spotless service of a devout mind is itself a daily martyrdom. Both alike are crowned; with roses and violets in the one case, with lilies in the other. Thus in the Song of Songs it is written: "my beloved is white and ruddy;" [3012] for, whether the victory be won in peace or in war, God gives the same guerdon to those who win it. Like Abraham your mother heard the words: "get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, unto a land that I will shew thee;" [3013] and not only that but the Lord's command given through Jeremiah: "flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul." [3014] To the day of her death she never returned to Chaldæa, or regretted the fleshpots of Egypt or its strong-smelling meats. Accompanied by her virgin bands she became a fellow-citizen of the Saviour; and now that she has ascended from her little Bethlehem to the heavenly realms she can say to the true Naomi: "thy people shall be my people and thy God my God." [3015]
33. I have spent the labour of two nights in dictating for you this treatise; and in doing so I have felt a grief as deep as your own. I say in dictating' for I have not been able to write it myself. As often as I have taken up my pen [3016] and have tried to fulfil my promise; my fingers have stiffened, my hand has fallen, and my power over it has vanished. The rudeness of the diction, devoid as it is of all elegance or charm, bears witness to the feeling of the writer.
34. And now, Paula, farewell, and aid with your prayers the old age of your votary. Your faith and your works unite you to Christ; thus standing in His presence you will the more readily gain what you ask. In this letter "I have built" to your memory "a monument more lasting than bronze," [3017] which no lapse of time will be able to destroy. And I have cut an inscription on your tomb, which I here subjoin; that, wherever my narrative may go, the reader may learn that you are buried at Bethlehem and not uncommemorated there.
The Inscription on Paula's Tomb.
Within this tomb a child of Scipio lies,
A daughter of the farfamed Pauline house,
A scion of the Gracchi, of the stock
Of Agamemnon's self, illustrious:
Here rests the lady Paula, well-beloved
Of both her parents, with Eustochium
For daughter; she the first of Roman dames
Who hardship chose and Bethlehem for Christ.
In front of the cavern there is another inscription as follows:--
Seest thou here hollowed in the rock a grave,
'Tis Paula's tomb; high heaven has her soul.
Who Rome and friends, riches and home forsook
Here in this lonely spot to find her rest.
For here Christ's manger was, and here the kings
To Him, both God and man, their offerings made.
35. The holy and blessed Paula fell asleep on the seventh day before the Kalends of February, on the third day of the week, after the sun had set. She was buried on the fifth day before the same Kalends, in the sixth consulship of the Emperor Honorius and the first of Aristænetus. She lived in the vows of religion five years at Rome and twenty years at Bethlehem. The whole duration of her life was fifty-six years eight months and twenty-one days.
[2731] Luke xx. 38.
[2732] 2 Cor. v. 6.
[2733] Ps. cxx. 5, 6 acc. to Jerome's latest version.
[2734] 1 Joh. v. 19.
[2735] Ps. cxxxix. 12, A.V. marg.
[2736] Joh. i. 5.
[2737] Ps. xxxix. 12.
[2738] Phil. i. 23.
[2739] 1 Cor. ix. 27.
[2740] Rom. xiv. 21.
[2741] Ps. xxxv. 13.
[2742] Ps. xli. 3.
[2743] Ps. xxxii. 4.
[2744] Cf. Acts vii. 56.
[2745] Ps. lv. 6.
[2746] Sacerdotes.
[2747] Mark x. 28-30.
[2748] Virg. A. i. 292.
[2749] See Letter XXXIX.
[2750] Of continence. See Letter LXVI. 3.
[2751] a.d. 382.
[2752] Theodosius and Valentinian.
[2753] Wife of Flavius Clemens, believed to have been a Christian martyr.
[2754] i.e. the straits of Messina.
[2755] A port on the S.W. coast of the Peloponnese.
[2756] Virg. A. iii. 126-8.
[2757] At this time one of the three bishops who claimed the see of Antioch. See Ep. xv. 2.
[2758] Acts xxi. 5.
[2759] 2 Kings xxiii. 29.
[2760] A maritime city of Palestine which subsequently to its restoration by Herod became first the civil, and then the ecclesiastical, capital of Palestine.
[2761] Acts xxi. 8, 9.
[2762] Acts ix. 36-41.
[2763] Acts ix. 32-34.
[2764] John xix. 38.
[2765] 1 Sam. xxii. 17-19.
[2766] Jon. i. 3.
[2767] Andromeda had been chained to a rock by her father to assuage the wrath of Poseidon who had sent a sea monster to ravage the country. Here she was found by Perseus who slew the monster and effected her rescue. See Josephus B. J. iii. ix. 3.
[2768] Luke xxiv. 13, 28-31.
[2769] 2 Chr. viii. 5.
[2770] Josh. x. 12-14.
[2771] Josh. ix.
[2772] Judges xix. xx. According to Judges xx. 47 the number of Benjamites who escaped was six hundred.
[2773] Josephus, A.J. xx. ii. 6.
[2774] Or more fully Ælia Capitolina, a Roman colony from which all Jews were expelled.
[2775] Prætorium. The word occurs in John xviii. 28.
[2776] Matt. xxviii. 2.
[2777] 2 Sam. v. 7, 9.
[2778] Isa. xxix. 1. Vulg.
[2779] Ps. lxxxvii. 1, 2.
[2780] Matt. xvi. 18.
[2781] Rev. xxii. 14.
[2782] Acts ii. 16-21.
[2783] Gen. xxxv. 18, 19.
[2784] This legend of the cave dates back to Justin Martyr.
[2785] Isa. i. 3.
[2786] Isa. xxxii. 20, LXX.
[2787] Luke ii. 15, rema.
[2788] Joh. i. 1, 14 logos the Vulg. has verbum' both here and in Luke.
[2789] The name means this in Hebrew.
[2790] Joh. vi. 51.
[2791] The name means this in Hebrew.
[2792] The word not' is inserted by Paula from Matt. ii. 6.
[2793] Will he' A.V. following the Hebrew.
[2794] Mic. v. 2, 3: Cf. Matt. ii. 6.
[2795] Ps. cx. 3, Vulg.
[2796] Acts xiii. 46.
[2797] Matt. xv. 24.
[2798] LXX. acc. to one reading.
[2799] Gen. xlix. 10, LXX.
[2800] This clause comes from the LXX.
[2801] Ps. cxxxii. 2-5.
[2802] Ps. cxxxii. 6, Vulg.
[2803] Jerome taught Paula Hebrew.
[2804] Ps. cxxxii. 7.
[2805] Ps. cxxxii. 14.
[2806] Ps. cxxxii. 17, Vulg.
[2807] Ps. xxii. 29, 30, LXX.
[2808] Gen. xxxv. 21; Mic. iv. 8.
[2809] Luke ii. 14.
[2810] Jud. vi. 37.
[2811] Ex. xii. 21-23.
[2812] Joh. i. 29.
[2813] Jer. xiii. 23.
[2814] Acts viii. 27-39.
[2815] This town played an important part in the wars of the Maccabees.
[2816] Nu. xiii. 23, 24.
[2817] Isa. lxiii. 3.
[2818] Cellulæ, lit. little cells.'
[2819] Joh. viii. 56: cf. Gen. xviii. 1, R.V.--q.v.
[2820] Josh. xiv. 15. In Hebrew Adam' and man' are the same word. Hence the mistake.
[2821] 2 Cor. iii. 6.
[2822] Jud. i. 13-15.
[2823] Perhaps identical with "the valley of Berachah" mentioned in 2 Chr. xx. 26.
[2824] Gen. xviii. 23-33.
[2825] Isa. xv. 5.
[2826] Gen. xiv. 2.
[2827] Eph. v. 18.
[2828] Gen. xix. 30-38.
[2829] Cant. i. 7.
[2830] Gen. xliii. 16.
[2831] Amos i. 1.
[2832] Luke xxiv. 50, 51; Acts i. 9-12.
[2833] Nu. xix. 1-10.
[2834] Ezek. x. 18, 19.
[2835] The jaw was the priest's portion and hence the epithet priestly': or else Bethphage belonged to the priests.
[2836] Matt. xxi. 1-7.
[2837] Humilia.
[2838] Luke x. 30-35.
[2839] Strictly Dâmim.
[2840] Luke xix. 4.
[2841] Matt. xx. 30-34.
[2842] i.e. the Jews and the Gentiles.
[2843] 1 Kings xvi. 34.
[2844] Josh. v. 3.
[2845] Rom. ii. 28, 29.
[2846] Josh. iv. 3, 20.
[2847] Rev. xxi. 14.
[2848] 2 Kings ii. 19-22, type and antitype are, as often, here confounded.
[2849] Mal. iv. 2.
[2850] Josh. iii. 17.
[2851] Josh. vii. 24-26.
[2852] Zech. iii. 9.
[2853] Isa. xxviii. 16.
[2854] Gen. xxviii. 12, 13.
[2855] Josh. xxiv. 30.
[2856] Josh. xxiv. 33.
[2857] Cf. 1 Sam. i. 3.
[2858] Judg. xxi. 19-23: cf. Liv. i. 9.
[2859] From Joh. iv. 5.
[2860] The founder of a Samaritan sect akin to the Essenes.
[2861] Luke vii. 28.
[2862] Other authorities for these strange phenomena are Hilary, Sulpicius, and Paulinus.
[2863] 1 Kings xviii. 4.
[2864] Matt. xiv. 13-21.
[2865] According to the common tradition, but Hermon is more likely to have been the place.
[2866] In the original Hermon and the Hermons'; an allusion to the Hebrew text of Ps. xlii. 6.
[2867] Jud. v. 21, Vulg.
[2868] Luke vii. 11-15.
[2869] Jud. xv. 17-19, R.V.
[2870] Micah i. 1, 14.
[2871] Jer. ii. 18.
[2872] Isa. xix. 18.
[2873] Ps. lxxviii. 12.
[2874] A mistake: No is Thebes.
[2875] i.e. presbyters and deacons. Cf. § 29, infra.
[2876] At that time the most famous of the Egyptian hermits.
[2877] Ps. vi. 6.
[2878] Jerome's own name had been coupled with Paula's when they both lived at Rome, but he was able to shew that his relations with her were wholly innocent.
[2879] 2 Cor. viii. 13, 14.
[2880] Luke iii. 11. The word alteram, one of two (therefore, Jerome means, retaining the second) is found in the Syriac Version of Cureton. It is not found in the Vulgate.
[2881] Matt. v. 7.
[2882] Ecclus. iii. 30.
[2883] Luke xvi. 9.
[2884] Luke xi. 41.
[2885] Dan. iv. 27, LXX.
[2886] Zech. ix. 16, LXX.
[2887] Rev. xxi. 14.
[2888] Rev. xxi. 19-21.
[2889] Job ii. 4, 5.