A letter from Jerome (403)

Translated letter:

Ep. 107, To Laeta on the education of a girl

1. The blessed apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians and instructing Christ’s novice church in the ways of sacred discipline, among his other precepts laid down also the following rule: ‘The woman that hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the believing husband; else were your children unclean, but now they are holy.’ [1 Cor.7:13] If any one up till now has perchance considered that Paul relaxed the bonds of discipline too much, and in his teaching was over-inclined to indulgence, let him consider the household of your father, who is a man of the highest rank and learning, but still walking in darkness, and he will perceive that the apostle’s counsel has succeeded in making the sweetness of the fruit compensate for the bitterness of the parent tree, and has induced a common bush to exude precious balsam. You yourself are the child of a mixed marriage; but now you and my dear Toxotius are Paula’s parents. Who would ever have believed that the granddaughter of the Roman pontiff Albinus would be born in answer to a mother’s vows; that the grandfather would stand by and rejoice while the baby’s yet stammering tongue cried ‘Alleluia’; and that even the old man would nurse in his arms one of Christ’s own virgins? We did well to expect this happy issue. The one unbeliever is sanctified by a saintly household of believers. He is a candidate for the faith, who has around him a throng of believing sons and grandsons: (I, for my part, think that even Jove might well have believed in Christ if he had had kinsfolk of this kind). He may spit in scorn upon this letter, and cry out that I am a fool or a madman; but his son-in-law did the same before he became a believer. Christians are not born but made. The gilded Capitol today looks dingy, all the temples in Rome are covered with soot and cobwebs, the city is shaken to its foundations, and the people hurry past the ruined shrines and pour out to visit the martyrs’ graves. If knowledge does not compel faith, let shame at least do so. [2. Jerome tells her not to despair of her father’s salvation, that it is never too late for conversion, and he gives examples, from the bible and from Roman life. [3. Responding to her prayers and those of the holy (sanctae) Marcella, he will show her how to bring up her first-born child, Paula, whom she has dedicated to God.]
2. Thus must a soul be trained which is to be a temple of God. It must learn to hear nothing and to say nothing save what pertains to the fear of the Lord. It must have no comprehension of foul words, no knowledge of worldly songs, and its childish tongue must be imbued with the sweet music of the psalms. Let boys with their wanton frolics be kept far from Paula: let even her maids and attendants hold aloof from association with the worldly, lest they render their evil knowledge worse by teaching it to her. Have a set of letters made for her, of boxwood or of ivory, and tell her their names. Let her play with them, making play a road to learning, and let her not only grasp the right order of the letters and remember their names in a simple song, but also frequently upset their order and mix the last letters with the middle ones, the middle with the first. Thus she will know them all by sight as well as by sound. When she begins with uncertain hand to use the pen, either let another hand be put over hers to guide her baby fingers, or else have the letters marked on the tablet so that her writing may follow their outlines and keep to their limits without straying away. Offer her prizes for spelling, tempting her with such trifling gifts as please young children. Let her have companions too in her lessons, so that she may seek to rival them and be stimulated by any praise they win. You must not scold her if she is somewhat slow; praise is the best sharpener of wits. Let her be glad when she is first and sorry when she falls behind. Above all take care not to make her lessons distatsteful; a childish dislike often lasts longer than childhood. The very words from which she will get into the way of forming sentences should not be taken at haphazard but be definitely chosen and arranged on purpose. For example, let her have the names of the prophets and the apostles, and the whole list of patriarchs from Adam downwards, as Matthew and Luke give it. She will then be doing two things at the same time, and will remember them afterwards. For teacher you must choose a man of approved years, life and learning. Even a sage is not ashamed, methinks, to do for a relative or for a high-born virgin what Aristotle did for Philip’s son, when like some humble clerk he taught him his first letters. Things must not be despised as trifles, if without them great results are impossible. The very letters themselves, and so the first lesson in them, sound quite differently from the mouth of a learned man, and of a rustic. And so you must take care not to let women’s silly coaxing get your daughter into the way of cutting her words short, or of disporting herself in gold brocade and fine purple. The first habit ruins talk, the second character; and children should never learn what they will afterwads have to unlearn. We are told that the eloquence of the Gracchi was largely due to the way in which their mother talked to them as children, and it was by sitting on his father’s lap that Hortensius became a great orator. The first impression made on a young mind is hard to remove. The shell-dyed wool – who can bring back its pristine whiteness? A new jar keeps for a long time the taste and smell of its original contents. Greek history tells us that the mighty king Alexander, who subdued the whole world, could not rid himself of the tricks of manner and gait which in his childhood he had caught from his governor Leonides. For it is easy to imitate the bad, and you may soon copy the faults of those to whose virtue you can never attain. Let Paula’s foster-mother be a person neither drunken nor wanton nor fond of gossip: let her nurse be a modest woman, her foster-father a respectable man. When she sees her grandfather, she must leap into his arms, hang on his neck, and sing ‘Alleluia’ whether he likes it or not. Let her grandmother snatch her away, let her recognize her father with a smile, let her endear herself to all, so that the whole family may rejoice that they have such a rosebud among them. Let her learn too at once who is her other grandmother and her aunt, who is her captain and for whose army she is being trained as a recruit. Let her crave their company and threaten you that she will leave you for them. [5. Jerome tells her the child should have no worldly ornaments, jewelry, cosmetics. [6. He says the parent will be responsible if the child falls into vice, until the time the child comes to years of wisdom [7. He tells her to take the child to the temple but keep her away from the world’s highway. [8. He says she should not eat in public, that is with her parents’ guests, lest she be tempted by rich foods and wine, though strict abstinence is dangerous for young children.”If needs must, let her visit the baths, and take a little wine for the stomach’s sake, and have the support of a meat diet, lest her feet fail before the race begins.” But she should not hear musical instruments.]
3. Let her every day repeat to you a portion of the Scriptures as her fixed task. A good number of lines she should learn by heart in the Greek, but knowledge of the Latin should follow close after. If the tender lips are not trained from the beginning, the language is spoiled by a foreign accent and our native tongue debased by alien faults. You must be her feather, to you her childish ignorance must look for a model. Let her never see anything in you or her father which she would do wrong to imitate. Remember that you are a virgin’s parents and that you can teach her better by example than by words. Flowers quickly fade; violets, lilies, and saffron are soon withered by a baleful breeze. Let her never appear in public without you, let her never visit the churches and the martyrs’ shrines except in your company. Let no youth or curled dandy ogle her. Let our little virgin never stir a finger’s breadth from her mother when she attends a vigil or an all-night service. I would not let her have a favourite maid into whose ear she might frequently whisper: what she says to one, all ought to know. Let her choose as companion not a spruce, handsome girl, able to warble sweet songs in liquid notes, but one grave and pale, carelessly dressed and inclined to melancholy. Set before her as a pattern some aged virgin of approved faith, character, and chastity, one who may instruct her by word, and by example accustom her to rise from her bed at night for prayer and psalm singing, to chant hymns in the morning, at the third, sixth, and ninth hour,to take her place in the ranks as one of Christ’s amazons, and with kindled lamp to offer the evening sacrifice. So let he day pass, and so let the night find her still labouring. Let reading follow prayer and prayer follow reading. The time will seem short when it is occupied with such a diversity of tasks.
4. Let her learn also to make wool, to hold the distaff, to put the basket in her lap, to turn the spindle, to shape the thread with her thumb. Let her scorn silk fabrics, Chinese fleeces, and gold brocades. Let her have clothes which keep out the cold, not expose the limbs they pretend to cover. Let her food be vegetables and wheaten bread and occasionally a little fish. I do not wish here to give long rules for eating, since I have treated that subject more fully in another place; but let her meals always leave her hungry and able at once to begin reading or praying or singing the psalms. I disapprove, especially with young people, of long and immoderate fasts, when week is added to week and even oil in food and fruit are banned. I have learned by experience that the ass on the high road makes for an inn when it is weary. Leave such things to the worshippers of Isis and Cybele, who in gluttonous abstinence gobble up pheasants and turtle doves all smoking hot, of course to avoid contaminating the gift of Ceres. If you fast without a break, you must so arrange things that your strength lasts out the long journey: we must not run well for the first lap and then fall in the middle of the race. In Lent, however, as I have written previously, the sails of self-denial may be spread wide, and the charioteer may loosen the reins and let his horses go full speed. Not but what there is one rule for worldlings, and another for virgins and monks. The worldling in Lent digests again what remains in his crop, and like a snail lives on his own juice, while he gets his belly fit for the rich food and feasts that are to come. Not so with the monk and virgin: when they give their steeds the rein in Lent, they must remember that their race lasts for ever. Limited efforts are greater, unlimited more moderate: for there we have breathing space, here we never stop. [11. Jerome says do not leave her alone in Rome, or let her go to slaves’ weddings, or participate in noisy household games, and it is best to avoid the baths.]
5. Instead of jewels or silk let her love the manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures, and in them let her prefer correctness and accurate punctuation to gilding and Babylonian parchment with elaborate decorations. Let her learn the Psalter first, with these songs let her distract herself, and then let her learn lessons of life in the Proverbs of Solomon. In reading Ecclesiastes let her become accustomed to tread underfoot the things of this world; let her follow the examples of virtue and patience that she will find in Job. Let her then pass on to the Gospels and never again lay them down. Let her drink in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles with all the will of her heart. As soon as she has enriched her mind’s storehouse with these treasures, let her commit to memory the Prophets, the Heptateuch, the books of Kings and the Chronicles, and the rolls of Ezra and Esther. Then at last she may safely read the Song of Songs: if she were to read it at the beginning, she might be harmed by not perceiving that it was the song of a spiritual bridal expressed in fleshly language. Let her avoid all the apocryphal books, and if she ever wishes to read them, not for the truth of their doctrines but out of respect for their wondrous tales, let her realize that they are not really written by those to whom they are ascribed, that there are many faulty elements in them, and that it requires great skill to look for gold in mud. Let her always keep Cyprian’s works by her, and let her peruse the letters of Athanasius and the treatises of Hilary without fear of stumbling. She may take pleasure in the learned expositions of all such writers as maintain in their books a steady love of the faith. If she reads others, let it be as a critic rather than as a disciple.
6. You will answer: ‘How shall I, a woman of the world living in crowded Rome, be able to keep all these injunctions?’ Do not then take up a burden which you cannot bear. 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 her aunt. Set this most precious jewel in Mary’s chamber, and place her on the cradle where Jesus cried. Let her be reared in a monastery amid bands of virgins, where she will learn never to take an oath, and to regard a lie as sacrilege. Let her know nothing of the world, but live like the angels; let her be in the flesh and without the flesh, thinking all mankind to be like herself. Thus, to say nothing of other things, she will free you from the difficult task of watching over her and from all the responsibility of guardianship. It is better for you to regret her absence than every moment to be fearing what she is saying, to whom she is talking, whom she greets and whom she likes to see. Give to Eustochium the little child, whose very wailings are now a prayer on your behalf; give her, to be her companion today, to be the inheritor of her sanctity in the years to come. Let her gaze upon and love, let her ‘from her first years admire’ one whose words and gait and dress are an education in virtue. Let her grandmother take her on her lap and repeat to her grandchild the lessons she once taught her daughter. Long experience has taught her how to rear, instruct, and watch over virgins, and in her crown every day is woven the mystic hundred of chastity.* O happy virgin! O happy Paula, daughter of Toxotius! By the virtues of her grandmother and her aunt she is nobler in sanctity even than in lineage. Oh, if you could only see your mother-in-law and your sister, and know the mighty souls that dwell within their feeble bodies! Then I doubt not that you would obey your innate love of chastity and come to them even before your daughter, exchanging God’s first decree for the Gospel’s second dispensation. You would surely count as nothing your desire for other children and would rather offer yourself to God. But inasmuch as ‘there is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,’ and ‘the wife hath not power over her own body,’ and ‘every man should abide in the same calling wherein he was called’ in the Lord, and because he who is under the yoke ought so to run as not to leave his companion in the mire, pay back in your children all that you defer paying in your own person. When Hannah had brought to the tabernacle the son whom she had vowed to God, she never took him back again, thinking it improper that a future prophet should grow up in the house of one who still desired to have other sons. In fine, after she had conceived and borne him, she did not venture to visit the temple and appear before God empty-handed, but first paid her debt, and then after offering her great sacrifice returned home, and having borne her first son for God was then given five children for herself. Do you wonder at the happiness of that holy woman? Then imitate her faith. If you will send us Paula, I undertake to be both her tutor and her foster-father. I will carry her on my shoulders, and my old tongue shall train her stammering lips. And I shall take more pride in my task than did the world philosopher; for I shall not be teaching a Macedonian king, destined to die by poison in Babylon, but a handmaid and bride of Christ who one day shall be presented to the heavenly throne.

Original letter:

1. Beatus apostolus Paulus scribens ad Corinthios et rudem Christi ecclesiam sacris instruens disciplinis inter cetera mandata hoc quoque posuit dicens: si qua mulier habet uirum infidelem et hic consentit habitare cum ea, ne dimittat uirum. sanctificatus est enim uir infidelis in uxore fideli et sanctificata est mulier infidelis in fratre. alioquin filii uestri inmundi essent, nunc autem sancti sunt, sicui forte hactenus uidebantur nimium disciplinae uincula laxata et praeceps indulgentia praeceptoris, consideret domum patris tui, clarissimi quidem et eruditissimi uiri, sed adhuc ambulantis in tenebris, et intelleget consilium apostoli illuc profecisse, ut radicis amaritudinem dulcedo fructuum conpensaret et uiles uirgulae balsama pretiosa sudarent. tu es nata de inpari matrimonio: de te et Toxotio meo Paula generata est. quis hoc crederet, ut Albini pontificis neptis de repromissione matris nasceretur, ut praesente et gaudente auo paruulae adhuc lingua balbuttiens alleluia resonaret et uirginem Christi in suo gremio nutriret et senex? bene et feliciter expectauimus. sancta et fidelis domus unum sanctificat infidelem. candidatus est fidei, quem filiorum et nepotum credens turba circumdat. ego puto etiam ipsum Iouem, si habuisset talem cognationem, potuisse in Christum credere, despuat licet et inrideat epistulam meam et me uel stultum uel insanum clamitet, hoc et gener eius faciebat, antequam crederet. fiunt, non nascuntur Christiani. auratum squalet Capitolium, fuligine et aranearum telis omnia Romae templa cooperta sunt, mouetur urbs sedibus suis et inundans populus ante delubra semiruta currit ad martyrum tumulos. si non extorquet fidem prudentia, extorqueat saltim uerecundia. 2. Hoc Laeta, religiosissima in Christo filia, dictum sit, ut non desperes parentis salutem et eadem fide, qua meruisti filiam, et patrem recipias totaque domus beatitudine perfruaris sciens illud a domino repromissum: quae apud homines inpossibilia, apud deum possibilia sunt, numquam est sera conuersio. latro de cruce transiit ad paradisum; Nabuchodonosor, rex Babylonius, post efferationem et cordis et corporis et beluarum in heremo conuictum mentem recepit humanam. et, ut omittam uetera, ne apud incredulos nimis fabulosa uideantur, ante paucos annos propinquus uester Graccus nobilitatem patriciam nomine sonans, cum praefecturam regeret urbanam, nonne specu Mithrae et omnia portentuosa simulacra, quibus corax, cryphius, miles, leo, Perses, heliodromus, pater initiantur, subuertit, fregit, exussit et his quasi obsidibus ante praemissis inpetrauit baptismum Christi? solitudinem patitur et in urbe gentilitas, dii quondam nationum cum bubonibus et noctuis in solis culminibus remanserunt; uexilla militum crucis insignia sunt, regum purpuras et ardentes diadematum gemmas patibuli salutaris pictura condecorat. iam et Aegyptius Serapis factus est Christianus; Marnas Gazae luget inclusus et euersionem templi iugiter pertremescit. de India, Perside et Aethiopia monachorum cotidie turbas suscipimus; deposuit faretras Armenius, Huni discunt psalterium, Scythiae frigora feruent calore fidei; Getarum rutilus et flauus exercitus ecclesiarum circumfert tentoria et ideo forsitan contra nos aequa pugnat acie, quia pari religione confidunt. 3. Paene lapsus sum ad aliam materiam et currente rota, dum urceum facere cogito, amphoram finxit manus. propositum enim mihi erat sanctae Marcellae et tuis precibus inuitato ad matrem, id est ad te, sermonem dirigere et docere, quomodo instruere Paululam nostram debeas, quae prius Christo est consecrata quam genita, quam ante uotis quam utero suscepisti. uidimus aliquid temporibus nostris de prophetalibus libris: Anna sterilitatem alui fecunditate mutauit, tu luctuosam fecunditatem uitalibus liberis conmutasti. fidens loquor accepturam te filios, quae primum foetum domino reddidisti. ista sunt primogenita, quae offeruntur in lege, sic natus Samuel, sic ortus est Samson, sic Iohannes propheta ad introitum Mariae exultauit et lusit. audiebat enim per os uirginis uerba domini pertonantis et de utero matris in occursum eius gestiebat erumpere. igitur, quae de repromissione nata est, dignam habeat ortu suo institutionem parentum. Samuel nutritur in templo, Iohannes in solitudine praeparatur. ille sacro crine uenerabilis est, uinum et siceram non bibit, adhuc paruulus cum deo sermocinatur; hic fugit urbes, zona pellicia cingitur, lucustis alitur et melle siluestri et in typum paenitentiae praedicat tortuosissimi animalis uestitus exuuiis. 4. Sic erudienda est anima, quae futura est templum domini. nihil aliud discat audire, nihil loqui, nisi quod ad timorem dei pertinet. turpia uerba non intellegat, cantica mundi ignoret, adhuc tenera lingua psalmis dulcibus inbuatur. procul sit aetas lasciua puerorum, ipsae puellae et pedisequae a saecularium consortiis arceantur, ne, quod male didicerint, peius doceant fiant ei litterae uel buxeae uel eburneae et suis nominibus appellentur. ludat in eis, ut et lusus eius eruditio sit, et non solum ordinem teneat litterarum, ut memoria nominum in anticum transeat, sed ipse inter se crebro ordo turbetur et mediis ultima, primis media misceantur, ut eas non sonu tantum, sed et uisu nouerit. cum uero coeperit trementi manu stilum in cera ducere, uel alterius superposita manu teneri regantur articuli uel in tabella sculpantur elementa, ut per eosdem sulcos inclusa marginibus trahantur uestigia et foras non queant euagari. syllabas iungat ad praemium et, quibus illa aetas delectari potest, munusculis inuitetur. habeat et in discendo socias, quibus inuideat, quarum laudibus mordeatur. non est obiurganda, si tardior sit, sed laudibus excitandum ingenium; et uicisse se gaudeat et uictam doleat. cauendum in primis, ne oderit studia, ne amaritudo eorum percepta in infantia ultra rudes annos transeat. ipsa nomina, per quae consuescet paulatim uerba contexere, non sint fortuita, sed certa et coaceruata de industria, prophetarum uidelicet atque apostolorum, et omnis ab Adam patriarcharum series de Matheo Lucaque descendat, ut, dum aliud agit, futurae memoriae praeparetur. magister probae aetatis et uitae atque eruditionis est eligendus nec, puto, erubescit doctus uir id facere uel in propinqua uel in nobili uirgine, quod Aristoteles fecit in Philippi filio, ut ipse librariorum uilitate initia ei traderet litterarum. non sunt contemnenda quasi parua, sine quibus magna constare non possunt. ipse elementorum sonus et prima institutio praeceptoris aliter de erudito, aliter de rustico ore profertur. unde et tibi est prouidendum, ne ineptis blanditiis feminarum dimidiata dicere filiam uerba consuescas et in auro atque in purpura ludere, quorum alterum linguae, alterum moribus officit, ne discat in tenero, quod ei postea dediscendum est. Graecorum eloquentiae multum ab infantia sermo matris scribitur contulisse, Hortensiae oratio in paterno sinu coaluit. difficulter eraditur, quod rudes animi perbiberunt. lanarum conchylia quis in pristinum candorem reuocet? rudis testa diu et saporem retinet et odorem, quo primum imbuta est. Graeca narrat historia Alexandrum, potentissimum regem orbisque domitorem, et in moribus et in incessu Leonidis, paedagogi sui, non potuisse carere uitiis, quibus paruulus adhuc fuerat infectus. procliuis est enim malorum aemulatio et, quorum uirtutem adsequi nequeas, cito imitere uitia. nutrix ipsa non sit temulenta, non lasciua, non garrula; habeat modestam gerulam, nutricium grauem. cum auum uiderit, in pectus eius transiliat, e collo pendeat, nolenti alleluia decantet. rapiat eam auia, patrem risibus recognoscat, sit omnibus amabilis et uniuersa propinquitas rosam ex se natam gaudeat. discat statim, quam habeat et alteram auiam, quam amitam, cui imperatori, cui exercitui tiruncula nutriatur. illas desideret, ad illas tibi minitetur abscessum. 5. Ipse habitus et uestitus doceat eam, cui promissa sit. caue, ne aures perfores, ne cerussa et purpurisso consecrata Christo ora depingas, ne collum margaritis et auro premas, ne caput gemmis oneres, ne capillum inrufes et ei aliquid de gehennae ignibus auspiceris. habet alias margaritas, quibus postea uenditis emptura est pretiosissimum margaritum. Praetextata, nobilissima quondam femina, iubente uiro Hymetio, qui patruus Eustochiae uirginis fuit, habitum eius cultumque mutauit et neglectum crinem undanti gradu texuit uincere cupiens et uirginis propositum et matris desiderium. et ecce tibi eadem nocte cernit in somnis uenisse ad se angelum terribili facie minitantem poenas et haec uerba frangentem: ‘tune ausa es uiri imperium praeferre Christo? tu caput uirginis dei sacrilegis adtrectare manibus? quae iam nunc arescent, ut sentias excruciata, quid feceris, et finito mense quinto ad inferna ducaris. sin autem perseueraueris in scelere, et marito simul orbaberis et filiis’.omnia per ordinem expleta sunt et seram miserae paenitentiam uelox signauit interitus. sic ulciscitur Christus uiolatores templi sui, sic gemmas et pretiosissima ornamenta defendit. et hoc retuli, non quod insultare uelim calamitatibus infelicium, sed ut te moneam, cum quanto metu et cautione seruare debeas, quod domino spopondisti. 6. Heli sacerdos offendit dominum ob uitia liberorum; episcopus fieri non potest, qui filios habuerit luxuriosos et non subditos. at e contrario de muliere scribitur, quod salua fiet per filiorum generationem, si permanserit in fide et caritate et sanctificatione cum pudicitia. si perfecta aetas et sui iuris inputatur parentibus, quanto magis lactans et fragilis et quae iuxta sententiam domini ignorat dexteram aut sinistram, id est boni ac mali nescit differentiam! sollicita prouides, ne filia percutiatur a uipera; cur non eadem cura prouideas, ne, feriatur a malleo uniuersae terrae, ne bibat de aureo calice Babylonis, ne egrediatur cum Dina et uelit uidere filias regionis alienae, ne ludat pedibus, ne trahat tunicas? uenena non dantur nisi melle circumlita et uitia non decipiunt nisi sub specie umbraque uirtutum. ‘et quomodo’, inquies, ‘peccata patrum filiis non redduntur nec filiorum parentibus, sed anima, quae peccauerit, ipsa morietur?‘ hoc de his dicitur, qui possunt sapere, de quibus in euangelio scriptum est: aetatem habet, pro se 1oquatur. qui autem paruulus est et sapit ut paruulus, donec ad annos sapientiae ueniat et Pythagorae litterae eum perducant ad biuium, tam mala eius quam bona parentibus inputantur, nisi forte aestimas Christianorum filios, si baptisma non acceperint, ipsos tantum reos esse peccati et non scelus referri ad eos, qui dare noluerint, maxime eo tempore, quo contradicere non poterant, qui accepturi erant, sicut e regione salus infantium maiorum lucrum est. offerre necne filiam potestatis tuae fuit, quamquam alia sit tua condicio, quae prius eam uouisti, quam conceperis; ut autem oblatam neglegas, ad periculum tuum pertinet. qui claudam et mutilam et qualibet sorde maculatam obtulerit hostiam, sacrilegii reus est; quanto magis, qui partem corporis sui et inlibatae animae puritatem regiis amplexibus parat, si neglegens fuerit, punietur! 7. Postquam grandicula esse coeperit et in exemplum sponsi sui crescere sapientia, aetate et gratia apud deum et homines, pergat cum parentibus ad templum ueri patris, sed cum illis non egrediatur e templo. quaerant eam in itinere saeculi, inter turbas et frequentiam propinquorum et nusquam alibi repperiant nisi in adyto scripturarum prophetas et apostolos de spiritalibus nuptiis sciscitantem. imitetur Mariam, quam Gabriel solam in cubiculo suo repperit et ideo forsitan timore perterrita est, quia uirum, quem non solebat, aspexit. aemuletur eam, de qua dicitur: omnis gloria filiae regis ab intus; loquatur et ipsa electo caritatis iaculo uulnerata: introduxit me rex in cubiculum suum. numquam exeat foras, ne inueniant eam, qui circumeunt ciuitatem, ne percutiant et uulnerent et auferentes theristrum pudicitiae nudam in sanguine derelinquant; quin potius, cum aliquis ostium eius pulsauerit, dicat: ego murus et ubera mea turris. laui pedes meos, non possum inquinare eos. 8. Non uescatur in publico, id est in parentum conuiuio, nec uideat cibos, quos desideret. et licet quidam putent maioris esse uirtutis praesentem contemnere uoluptatem, tamen ego securioris arbitror continentiae nescire, quod quaeras. legi quondam in scholis puer: aegre reprehendas, quod sinas consuescere. discat iam tunc et uinum non bibere, in quo est luxuria. ante annos robustae aetatis periculosa est teneris grauis abstinentia. usque ad id tempus, si necessitas postularit, et balneas adeat et uino modico utatur propter stomachum et carnium edulio sustentetur, ne prius deficiant pedes, quam currere incipiant. et haec dico iuxta indulgentiam, non iuxta imperium, timens debilitatem, non docens luxuriam. alioquin, quod Iudaica superstitio ex parte facit in eiuratione quorundam animalium atque escarum, quod Indorum Bragmanae et Aegyptiorum gymnosophistae in polentae et orizae et pomorum solo obseruant cibo, cur uirgo Christi non faciat in toto? si tanti uitrum, quare non maioris sit pretii margaritum? quae nata est ex repromissione, sic uiuat, ut illi uixerunt, qui de repromissione generati sunt, aequa gratia aequum habeat et laborem. surda sit ad organa; tibia, lyra et cithara cur facta sint, nesciat. 9. Reddat tibi pensum cotidie scripturarum certum. ediscat Graecorum uersuum numerum. sequatur statim et Latina eruditio; quae si non ab initio os tenerum conposuerit, in peregrinum sonum lingua corrumpitur et externis uitiis sermo patrius sordidatur. te habeat magistram, te rudis miretur infantia. nihil in te et in patre suo uideat, quod si fecerit, peccet. mementote uos parentes uirginis et magis eam exemplis docere posse quam uoce. cito flores pereunt, cito uiolas et lilia et crocum pestilens aura corrumpit. numquam absque te procedat in publicum, basilicas martyrum et ecclesias sine matre non adeat. nullus ei iuuenis, nullus cincinnatus adrideat. uigiliarum dies et sollemnes pernoctationes sic uirguncula nostra celebret, ut ne transuersum quidem unguem a matre discedat. nolo de ancillulis suis aliquam plus diligat, cuius crebro auribus insusurret. quicquid uni loquitur, hoc omnes sciant. placeat ei comes non compta atque formosa, quae liquido gutture carmen dulce moduletur, sed grauis, pallens, sordidata, subtristis. praeponatur ei probae fidei et morum ac pudicitiae uirgo ueterana, quae illam doceat et adsuescat exemplo ad orationem et psalmos nocte consurgere, mane hymnos canere, tertia, sexta, nona hora quasi bellatricem Christi stare in acie accensaque lucernula reddere sacrificium uespertinum. sic dies transeat, sic nox inueniat laborantem. orationi lectio, lectioni succedat oratio. breue uidebitur tempus, quod tantis operum uarietatibus occupatur. 10. Discat et lanam facere, tenere colum, ponere in gremio calatum, rotare fusum, stamina pollice ducere. spernat bombycum telas, Serum uellera et aurum in fila lentescens. talia uestimenta paret, quibus pellatur frigus, non quibus corpora uestita nudentur. cibus eius holusculum sit et simila raroque pisciculi. et ne gulae praecepta longius traham, de quibus in alio loco plenius sum locutus, sic comedat, ut semper esuriat, ut statim post cibum possit legere, orare, psallere. displicent mihi in teneris uel maxime aetatibus longa et inmoderata ieiunia, quibus iunguntur ebdomades et oleum in cibo ac poma uitantur. experimento didici asellum in uia, cum lassus fuerit, diuerticula quaerere. faciant hoc cultores Isidis et Cybelae, qui gulosa abstinentia Fasides aues et fumantes turtures uorant, ne scilicet Cerealia dona contaminent. hoc in perpetuo ieiunio praeceptum sit, ut longo itineri uires perpetes supparentur, ne in prima mansione currentes corruamus in mediis. ceterum, ut ante scripsi, in quadragesima continentiae uela pandenda sunt et tota aurigae retinacula equis laxanda properantibus, quamquam alia sit condicio saecularium, alia uirginum ac monachorum. saecularis homo in quadragesima uentris ingluuiem decoquit et in coclearum morem suo uictitans suco futuris dapibus ac saginae aqualiculum parat; uirgo et monachus sic in quadragesima suos emittant equos, ut sibi meminerint semper esse currendum. finitus labor maior, infinitus moderatior est; ibi enim respiramus, hic perpetuo incedimus. 11. Si quando ad suburbana pergis, domi filiam non relinquas; nesciat sine te nec possit uiuere; cum sola fuerit, pertremescat. non habeat conloquia saecularium, non malarum uirginum contubernia, non intersit nuptiis seruulorum nec familiae perstrepentis lusibus misceatur. scio praecepisse quosdam, ne uirgo Christi cum eunuchis lauet, ne cum maritis feminis, quia alii non deponant animos uirorum, aliae tumentibus uteris praeferant foeditatem. mihi omnino in adulta uirgine lauacra displicent, quae se ipsam debet erubescere et nudam uidere non posse, si enim uigiliis et ieiuniis macerat corpus suum et in seruitutem redigit, si flammam libidinis et incentiua feruentis aetatis extinguere cupit continentiae frigore, si adpetitis sordibus turpare festinat naturalem pulchritudinem, cur e contrario balnearum fomentis sopitos ignes suscitat? 12. Pro gemmis aut serico diuinos codices amet, in quibus non auri et pellis Babyloniae uermiculata pictura, sed ad lidem placeat emendata et erudita distinctio. discat primum Psalterium, his se canticis auocet et in Prouerbiis Salomonis erudiatur ad uitam. in Ecclesiaste consuescat calcare, quae mundi sunt; in Iob uirtutis et patientiae exempla sectetur. ad Euangelia transeat numquam ea positura de manibus; Apostolorum Acta et Epistulas tota cordis inbibat uoluntate. cumque pectoris sui cellarium his opibus locupletarit, mandet memoriae Prophetas et Heptateuchum et Regum ac Paralipomenon libros Hesdraeque et Hester uolumina, ut ultimum sine periculo discat Canticum canticorum, ne, si in exordio legerit, sub carnalibus uerbis spiritalium nuptiarum epithalamium non intellegens uulneretur. caueat omnia apocrypha et, si quando ea non ad dogmatum ueritatem, sed ad signorum reuerentiam legere uoluerit, sciat non eorum esse, quorum titulis praenotantur, multaque his admixta uitiosa et grandis esse prudentiae aurum in luto quaerere. Cypriani opuscula semper in manu teneat, Athanasii epistulas et Hilarii libros inoffenso decurrat pede. illorum tractatibus, illorum delectetur ingeniis, in quorum libris pietas fidei non uacillet; ceteros sic legat, ut magis iudicet, quam sequatur. 13. Respondebis: ‘quomodo haec omnia mulier saecularis in tanta frequentia hominum Romae custodire potero?‘ noli ergo subire onus, quod ferre non potes, sed, postquam ablactaueris eam cum Isaac et uestieris cum Samuhele, mitte auiae et amitae. redde pretiosissimam gemmam cubiculo Mariae et cunis Iesu uagientis inpone. nutriatur in monasterio, sit inter uirginum choros, iurare non discat, mentiri sacrilegium putet, nesciat saeculum, uiuat angelice, sit in carne sine carne, omne hominum genus sui simile putet et, ut cetera taceam, certe te liberet seruandi difficultate et custodiae periculo. melius tibi est desiderare absentem quam pauere ad singula, cum quo loquatur, quid loquatur, cui adnuat, quem libenter aspiciat. trade Eustochio paruulam, cuius nunc et ipse uagitus pro te oratio est, trade comitem futuram sanctitatis heredem. illam uideat, illam amet, illam primis miretur ab annis, cuius et sermo et habitus et incessus doctrina uirtutum est. sit in gremio auiae, quae repetat in nepte, quidquid praemisit in filia, quae longo usu didicit nutrire, docere, seruare uirgines, in cuius corona centenarii cotidie numeri castitas texitur. felix uirgo, felix Paula Toxotii, quae per auiae amitaeque uirtutes nobilior est sanctitate quam genere! o si tibi contingeret uidere socrum et cognatam tuam et in paruis corpusculis ingentes animos intueri! pro insita tibi pudicitia non ambigerem, quin praecederes filiam et primam dei sententiam secunda euangelii lege mutares. ne tu parui penderes aliorum desideria liberorum et te ipsa magis offerres deo! sed quia tempus est amplexandi et tempus longe fieri a conplexibus et uxor non habet potestatem corporis sui et unusquisque in ea uocatione, qua uocatus est, in ea permaneat in domino et, qui sub iugo est, sic debet currere, ne in luto comitem derelinquat, totum redde in subole, quod in te interim distulisti. Anna filium, quem deo uouerat, postquam obtulit tabernaculo, numquam recepit indecens arbitrata, ut futurus propheta in huius domo cresceret, quae adhuc alios filios habere cupiebat. denique, postquam concepit et peperit, non est ausa ad templum accedere et uacua apparere coram domino, nisi prius redderet, quod debebat, talique inmolato sacrificio reuersa domum quinque liberos sibi genuit, quia primogenitum deo pepererat. miraris felicitatem sanctae mulieris? imitare fidem. ipse, si Paulam miseris, et magistrum et nutricium spondeo. gestabo humeris, balbutientia senex uerba formabo multo gloriosior mundi philosopho, qui non regem Macedonum Babylonio periturum ueneno, sed ancillam et sponsam Christi erudiam regnis caelestibus offerendam.

Historical context:

Laeta wrote to Jerome asking advice about the education of her daughter Paula and Jerome answered in the one letter we have addressed to Laeta. The letter offers sensible advice about the education of a child, much of it based on Quintilian, but particularly focused on religious training. I have cited much of the Wright translation, with summaries of the rest in brackets.

Scholarly notes:

• Wright cites Jerome against Jovinian 1.3, where the respective merits of the estates of marriage, widowhood and virginity are compared to the seeds which brought forth thirty, sixty and a hundred fold.

Printed source:

Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, ed. Isidorus Hilberg, 3 v. (New York: Johnson, 1970, CSEL repr.1910-18), 2.290-305, ep.107.  Translation, F. A. Wright, St. Jerome, Select Letters, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge:  Harvard University, 1980, reprint of 1933), 338-71, ep. 107.

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