again one book On the First Psalm, one book On the second, one book On the third, one book On the fourth, one book On the fifth, one book On the sixth, one book On the seventh, one book On the eighth, one book On the ninth, one book On the tenth, one book On the eleventh, one book On the twelfth, one book On the thirteenth, one book On the fourteenth, one book On the fifteenth, one book On the sixteenth, one book On the twentieth, one book On the twenty-fourth, one book On the twenty-ninth, one book On the thirty-eighth, one book On the fortieth, two books On the forty-third, three books On the forty-fourth, one book On the forty-fifth, one book On the forty-sixth, two books On the fiftieth, one book On the fifty-first, one book On the fifty-second, one book On the fifty-third, one book On the fifty-seventh, one book On the fifty-eighth, one book On the fifty-ninth, one book On the sixty-second, one book On the sixty-third, one book On the sixty-fourth, one book On the sixty-fifth, one book On the sixty-eighth, one book On the seventieth, one book On the seventy-first, one book On the beginning of the seventy-second, two books On the hundred and third;
On Proverbs, three books; excerpts On Ecclesiastes; On the Song of Songs, ten books, and two other volumes which he wrote in his youth; On the Lamentations of Jeremiah, five books; likewise the Monobibla; the Periarchon (On First Principles), four books; On the Resurrection, two books, and two other dialogues On the Resurrection; On certain questions of Proverbs, one book; a Dialogue against Candidus the Valentinian; a book On Martyrdom. Concerning the New Testament:
On Matthew, twenty-five books; On John, thirty-two books; on certain parts of John, one book of excerpts; On Luke, fifteen books; On the epistle of Paul the apostle to the Romans, fifteen books; On the epistle to the Galatians, fifteen books; On the epistle to the Ephesians, three books; On the epistle to the Philippians, one book; On the epistle to the Colossians, two books; On the first epistle to the Thessalonians, three books; On the second epistle to the Thessalonians, one book; On the epistle to Titus, one book; On the epistle to Philemon, one book. Again, of homilies on the Old Testament:
On Genesis, seventeen homilies; On Exodus, eight homilies; On Leviticus, eleven homilies; On Numbers, twenty-eight homilies; On Deuteronomy, thirteen homilies; On Joshua the son of Nun, twenty-six homilies; On the book of Judges, nine homilies; On the Passover, eight homilies; On the first book of Kingdoms, four homilies; On Job, twenty-two homilies; On Proverbs, seven homilies; On Ecclesiastes, eight homilies; On the Song of Songs, two homilies; On Isaiah, thirty-two homilies; On Jeremiah, fourteen homilies; On Ezekiel, twelve homilies. On the Psalms:
On Psalm 3, one homily; on Psalm 4, one homily; on Psalm 8, one homily; on Psalm 12, one homily; on Psalm 13, one homily; on Psalm 15, three homilies; on Psalm 16, one homily; on Psalm 18, one homily; on Psalm 22, one homily; on Psalm 23, one homily; on Psalm 24, one homily; on Psalm 25, one homily; on Psalm 26, one homily; on Psalm 27, one homily; on Psalm 36, five homilies; on Psalm 37, two homilies; on Psalm 38, two homilies; on Psalm 39, two homilies; on Psalm 49, one homily; on Psalm 51, one homily; on Psalm 52, two homilies; on Psalm 54, one homily; on Psalm 67, seven homilies; on Psalm 71, two homilies; on Psalm 72, three homilies; on Psalm 73, three homilies; on Psalm 74, one homily; on Psalm 75, one homily; on Psalm 76, three homilies; on Psalm 77, nine homilies; on Psalm 78, four homilies; on Psalm 80, two homilies; on Psalm 81, one homily; on Psalm 82, three homilies; on Psalm 83, one homily; on Psalm 84, two homilies.
On Psalm 85, one homily; on Psalm 87, one homily; on Psalm 108, one homily; on Psalm 110, one homily; on Psalm 118, three homilies; on Psalm 120, one homily; on Psalm 121, two homilies; on Psalm 122, two homilies; on Psalm 123, two homilies; on Psalm 124, two homilies; on Psalm 125, one homily; on Psalm 126, one homily; on Psalm 128, one homily; on Psalm 129, one homily; on Psalm 131, one homily; on Psalm 132, two homilies; on Psalm 133, two homilies; on Psalm 134, two homilies; on Psalm 135, four homilies; on Psalm 137, two homilies; on Psalm 138, four homilies; on Psalm 139, two homilies; on Psalm 144, three homilies; on Psalm 145, one homily; on Psalm 146, one homily; on Psalm 147, one homily; on Psalm 149, one homily; excerpts on the whole Psalter. Homilies on the New Testament:
On the gospel according to Matthew, twenty-five homilies; on the gospel according to Luke, thirty-nine homilies; on the Acts of the Apostles, seventeen homilies; on the second epistle to the Corinthians, eleven homilies; on the epistle to the Thessalonians, two homilies; on the epistle to the Galatians, seven homilies; on the epistle to Titus, one homily; on the epistle to the Hebrews, eighteen homilies.
On peace, one homily; an Exhortation to Pionia; On fasting; On monogamists and trigamists, two homilies; At Tarsus, two homilies — of Origen, Firmianus, and Gregory; likewise Excerpts of Origen and of various letters addressed to him, two books; a letter concerning the case of Origen in the second book; of his Letters to various persons, nine books; of other Letters, two books; likewise a Letter in defense of his own works, two books. Do you not see how both the Greeks and the Latins alike have been surpassed by the labor of a single man? For who could ever read as much as he himself composed? For this sweat, what reward did he receive? He is condemned by Demetrius the bishop;
except for the priests of Palestine, Arabia, Phoenicia, and Achaia, the whole world consents to his condemnation; Rome herself convenes a senate against him — not on account of novelty of doctrines, not on account of heresy, as now the rabid dogs pretend against him, but because they could not endure the glory of his eloquence and knowledge, and while he spoke all others were reckoned mute. Why I have written these things, and dictated them hastily but with unguarded speech beside the little flame of a poor lamp, you can understand if you call to mind the Epicuruses and Aristippuses. XXXIV. To Marcella. The blessed martyr Pamphilus, whose life Eusebius of Caesarea
bishop of Caesarea, set forth in nearly three volumes. When he wished to rival Demetrius of Phalerum and Pisistratus in zeal for a sacred library, and to seek out through the whole world the images of great minds — which are the true and eternal monuments — then most of all, having very diligently pursued the books of Origen, he dedicated them to the church of Caesarea, [which, being in part corrupted, Acacius and then Euzoius, priests of that same church, attempted to restore upon parchment]. He, though he discovered many things and left us an index of what he had found, confessed that the commentary on the one hundred and twenty-sixth psalm, and the treatise on the letter Phe, out of that which he had not entitled, were not to be found;
not that so great and so mighty a man — I mean Adamantius [Origen] — had passed anything over, but that through the negligence of later men it did not endure down to our memory. This I say, therefore, so that — since you set before me a question about that same psalm, namely what was the 'bread of sorrow' in the passage where it is said: 'in vain is it for you to rise before the light, to rise after you have sat, you who eat the bread of sorrow' — I might show that I do not have from Origen's commentaries what he thought of it. Whence, having recourse to the Hebrew, I found written for 'bread of sorrow' 'lehem asabim', which Aquila rendered ἄρτον τῶν διαπονημάτων, that is 'bread of labors'; Symmachus, ἄρτον κακοπαθούμενον, which is expressed 'bread of toil'; and the fifth edition and Theodotion,
who in other respects agree with the seventy translators, 'bread of idols'; the sixth edition, πλάνης, that is 'of error'. Nor is it to be wondered at concerning Aquila, if he puts διαπονήματα for 'idols', since they are the works of men's hands, and the people is prophetically reproached for rising at dawn in vain to the temple and hastening after rest to the sanctuary, while they venerate idols with the honor due to God — according to what Ezekiel wrote, that within the very temple the priests sacrifice to idols. But that you may be more fully persuaded that idols are set for 'sorrow' in the Hebrew, this very word — that is 'asabim' — is also written in the one hundred and thirteenth psalm, and there too the Seventy rendered it 'idols'. For in that place where we read:
'the idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands', the Hebrew has 'asabim', which Aquila rendered 'their labors'. Whence, since the truth stands thus, in vain do certain people understand the bread of sorrow either as the sacraments of heretics, or interpret it as the toil of this wretched and burdensome life, in which we eat our bread in the sweat of our face, and the nourishments of this brief life are born amid thorns and thistles. About that same psalm you also deigned to ask who are the sons of the shaken-off (filii excussorum).
I am surprised that you have not read in Hilary's commentaries that the sons of the shaken-off are interpreted as the believing peoples — because, namely, he supposed the apostles to be called by that name, since it was commanded them in the gospels that, into whatever city they entered and were not received, they should shake off the dust of their feet as a testimony against the unbelievers — although you shrewdly forewarn that the apostles cannot be understood under the name of the 'shaken-off,' since it is one thing to be of those who shake off (excutientes), another to be of those who are shaken off (excussi). For those who shake off are the ones who do the shaking, whereas the shaken-off are shaken off by others; and it is incongruous that the apostles should be taken as shaken-off, who ought rather to be called shakers-off. What then shall I do?
I do not dare to censure so great a man, and the most eloquent of his times, who — both by the merit of his confession, and by the diligence of his life, and by the brilliance of his eloquence — is praised wherever the Roman name is found. Yet the fault ought not to be ascribed to him, who was ignorant of the Hebrew tongue and had caught but a slight breath of Greek letters as well, but rather to Heliodorus the presbyter, whom he intimately consulted, inquiring of him those things which he could not understand — how they had been expressed by Origen. And Heliodorus, because he could not find Origen's commentary on this psalm, chose rather to insinuate his own opinion than to confess his ignorance; and Hilary, having taken up that opinion, expounded it in lucid speech and set forth another man's error the more eloquently.
It remains, therefore, that we again have recourse to the fountain of the Hebrew tongue and see how it is written. Where we have 'sons of the shaken-off,' there is read 'ken bne hanne'urim,' which Aquila rendered thus, 'sons of the times of puberty'; Symmachus and Theodotion thus, 'sons of youth'; the sixth edition, ἠκονημένοι, which we may render 'of sharpened sense.' From which it is manifest that the Christian peoples of a fresh youth are to be understood, according to that image whereby God is said to stretch out his saints in the manner of a bow and arrows — as in the prophet Zechariah: 'for I have bent you for myself, O Judah, as a bow'; and the Savior, of himself: 'he made me as a chosen arrow, and hid me in his quiver.'
Finally, in the following verse, except for the Seventy, who translated otherwise, both in the Hebrew and in all the editions I found it thus: 'blessed is the man who has filled his quiver from them' — so that, because he had once taken up the metaphor of arrows, the translation might be preserved also in the quiver. Moreover, the custom of human speech also calls the 'shaken-off' the 'vigorous,' the 'robust,' and the 'ready'; and the seventy translators themselves, in the book of Ezra, rendered it for 'young men,' where it is thus written: 'and it came to pass from that day that half of the shaken-off did the work, and half of them held spears and shields and bows and breastplates, and the princes were behind the whole house of Judah of those who were building on the wall.'
From which we observe that in the present passage too the 'shaken-off' are set for young men and youths — not, as he supposed, for the apostles, who are said to be 'shaken-off' from the shaking of their feet. I have also read a certain man's book, and found in it an elegant sense: that the Jews are called 'shaken-off' from the temple, the law, and the grace of the Lord, in the sense of 'reprobate'; and that the apostles are their sons, begotten of their very seed, held in the likeness of arrows in the hand of the Lord. In the following psalm too Heliodorus rather than our Hilary went astray, who, concerning the passage in which it is written:
'you shall eat the labors of your fruits' — having formed various opinions, he asserted that the sense stands better if it be written that someone eats 'the fruits of labors' and not 'the labors of fruits,' and that hence a spiritual understanding ought to be sought out.
And taking this occasion to launch into a lengthy disputation, he employed as much elaborateness in pressing what he wished to be understood as falsehood always requires in order to appear true — whereas in this place it was not the seventy translators, but the Latins, deceived by the ambiguity of the Greek word, who rendered χαρποὺς as 'fruits' rather than 'hands,' although χαρποὶ are also called 'hands.' In the Hebrew there is set 'kaphaka' (your palms), and Symmachus and the fifth edition rendered it 'of your hands,' so as to escape the ambiguity of the former word.
While the swift hand of my secretary was setting these things down by stolen labor, as they say, for a little nightly study as I dictated, and I was minded to say yet more, already nearly the fourth hour of the night had passed; and suddenly, roused by certain pangs of an aching stomach, I broke forth into prayer, that at least for the remaining span of hours my weakness might be cheated by creeping sleep. XXXV. A LETTER OF DAMASUS TO JEROME. To his most beloved son Jerome, Damasus. I have resolved to rouse you — sleeping, and now for a long time reading rather than writing — by sending you these little questions: not that you ought not to read (for by reading, as by daily food, prayer is nourished and grows fat), but that the fruit of your reading may consist in this, that you write.
And so, since yesterday too, when the courier was sent back to me, you said you now had no letters remaining except those which you had once dictated in the desert, and which I read and copied down with all eagerness; and since you further promised that, if I wished, you could dictate somewhat by the stolen labors of your nights — I gladly accept from one who offers what I would have begged for had you refused. Nor indeed do I think any converse of our discussion would be more worthy than if we should discourse together about the Scriptures — that is, that I ask and you answer. Than which manner of life I think nothing in this light more delightful, since by that food of the soul all honey is surpassed. 'How sweet,' says the prophet, 'are your words to my throat, above honey to my mouth.'
For since — as the foremost orator says — we differ from the beasts in this, that we are able to speak, of what praise is he worthy who surpasses the rest in that very thing wherein men excel the beasts? Gird yourself, therefore, and expound to me the matters that are set below, preserving on either side a due measure, so that neither may the things proposed lack their solution, nor the letter its brevity. For I confess to you that those books of Lactantius which you gave me long ago I do not gladly read, both because very many of his letters are drawn out to the length of a thousand lines, and because they seldom dispute concerning our doctrine;
whence it comes about both that their length breeds weariness in the reader, and that whatever brief pieces there are are more suited to schoolmen than to us, since he disputes about meters and the situation of regions and about philosophers. What is the meaning of that which is written in Genesis: 'everyone who kills Cain shall pay seven vengeances'? If God made all things very good, why did he command Noah concerning clean and unclean animals, since nothing unclean can be good? And in the New Testament, after the vision that had been shown to Peter, when he said, 'far be it, Lord, for the common and unclean has never entered into my mouth,' the voice from heaven answered: 'what God has cleansed, do not you call common'?
Why does God tell Abraham that in the fourth generation the children of Israel would return from Egypt, and yet afterward Moses writes: 'in the fifth generation the children of Israel went out from the land of Egypt'? — which, unless it be explained, certainly appears contradictory. Why did Abraham receive the sign of his faith in circumcision? Why did Isaac, a just man and dear to God, bless not the one whom he wished, but the one whom he did not wish, deceived by an error? XXXVI. TO DAMASUS. To the most blessed pope Damasus, Jerome. After I had received the letter of your holiness, at once I summoned a secretary to take it down, and gave him his charge; and when he was prepared for the task, I first sketched out in thought what I was about to utter with my voice.
Meanwhile I was already moving my tongue and he his finger, when suddenly a Hebrew came in, bringing not a few volumes which he had received from the synagogue as though to read. 'And now you have,' he says, 'what you had demanded'; and, finding me doubtful and not knowing what to do, he so alarmed me by his haste that, all else set aside, I flew over to the task of writing — which indeed I am doing up to the present moment.
But because yesterday, when a deacon had been sent to me, you said you were awaiting — as you think, a letter; as I judge, a commentary — desiring a brief response to matters each of which requires great volumes, I have improvised these things for you (ταῦτά σοι ἐσχεδίασα), passing over only the little questions — not that I could not have answered something to those as well, but because they have been published by most eloquent men, namely our own Tertullian and Novatian, in the Latin tongue, and if I should wish to bring forward anything new, the matter would have to be disputed at greater length. I certainly await what may please you: whether you would have the opinions set out for you with epistolary brevity, or books composed on each several point.
For Origen, in his fourth book on Paul's epistle to the Romans, disputed magnificently about circumcision, and in Leviticus discussed at length about clean and unclean animals — so that, even if I myself should be able to find nothing, I might yet borrow from his fountains. And, to speak more truly, I have in my hands Didymus's book on the Holy Spirit, which I desire, when translated, to dedicate to you, lest you suppose that I only doze — you who reckon reading without a pen to be but sleep. Therefore, taking up the problems which you had appended to your letter, I have added what seemed right to me, begging pardon alike for my haste and for my delay: for the haste, because I wished to dictate the matter of many days in a single night's little study;
and for the tardiness, because, being detained by another work, I did not at once write back to your questions. What is the meaning of that which is written in Genesis: 'everyone who kills Cain shall pay seven vengeances'? Before we speak about the question, it seems fitting that we set out the editions of the several translators alongside the Hebrew itself, so that the sense of Scripture may more easily be understood: 'vaiomer lo adonai lachen kol horeg cain shivatayim yuqqam'; Aquila: 'and the Lord said to him, therefore everyone who kills Cain shall be avenged sevenfold'; Symmachus: 'and the Lord said to him, not so, but everyone who kills Cain — the seventh (hebdomatos) shall be avenged'; the Seventy and Theodotion: 'and the Lord said to him:
說遲延，是因為我被另一件工作絆住，未能立即回覆你的問題。創世記中所記「凡殺該隱的，必遭報七倍」這句話是什麼意思呢？在論及此問題之前，似乎應當先把各位譯者的版本與希伯來原文本身並列出來，好使聖經的意思更易明白：「vaiomer lo adonai lachen kol horeg cain shivatayim yuqqam」；亞居拉譯作：「主對他說，所以凡殺該隱的，必受七倍的報復」；西馬庫斯譯作：「主對他說，不是這樣，凡殺該隱的，第七者（hebdomatos）必遭報復」；七十子與提阿多田譯作：「主對他說：
not so, but everyone who kills Cain shall pay seven vengeances.' After Cain had killed his brother, being questioned by the Lord, 'where is Abel your brother?', he had answered contemptuously, 'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?' Wherefore, condemned by a curse to live groaning and trembling upon the earth, he was unwilling to beg pardon, but, heaping sins upon sins, he judged so great a crime to be one that could not be forgiven him by the Lord. At length he answered to the Lord: 'my guilt is greater than that I should be forgiven' — that is, 'I have sinned more than I deserve to be absolved.' 'Behold, you cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from your face, and I shall be groaning and trembling upon the earth; and it shall come to pass that everyone who finds me will kill me.'
'I am cast out,' he says, 'from your sight; and, unable to endure the very light because of the consciousness of my crime, I shall be hidden, that I may lurk in concealment. And it shall come to pass that everyone who finds me will kill me, when from the trembling of my body and the agitation of my frenzied mind he perceives me to be one who deserves to be slain.' But God, unwilling to end his torments by the shortcut of death, nor handing him over to the penalty by which he had condemned himself, said: 'not so' — that is:
'you shall not, as you suppose, die and receive death as a remedy; but you shall live down to the seventh generation and be tormented by the fire of your conscience, so that whoever kills you — according to the twofold understanding — shall set you free either in the seventh generation or by the seventh punishment.' Not that he himself who strikes Cain is to be subjected to seven vengeances, but that the slayer, by killing him who had been left alive for punishment, discharges the seven vengeances which had run their course in Cain over so long a time. But, that what we say may be made plainer, let us set forth an example of everyday usage. Let a slave say to his master amid the lashes:
'because I have burned down your house and destroyed all your substance, kill me!' — and let the master answer: 'you shall not die, as you wish, and end your punishments by death; but you shall be kept alive for a long time, and shall pass your days so wretchedly in this light that whoever kills you will confer a benefit upon the slain, since he frees you from so many torments.' And according to the Septuagint edition, indeed, this sense seems right to us. But as to that which Aquila rendered 'sevenfold,' and Symmachus 'the seventh (hebdomatos) or the seventh shall be avenged,' this is the opinion of our forefathers: that they think Cain was slain in the seventh generation by Lamech.
For Adam begot Cain, Cain begot Enoch, Enoch begot Gaidad, Gaidad begot Maleleel, Maleleel begot Mathusalam, Mathusalam begot Lamech — who, being seventh from Adam, killed Cain, not deliberately, as is written in a certain Hebrew volume. And he himself afterward confesses: 'for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my bruising; for if Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy times seven.' And indeed, concerning Cain, that he was slain in the seventh generation and, according to another exposition, paid the penalty of his crime, I think nothing obscure has remained. Now that which you had not asked has crept in while we are doing another thing: what are the seventy-seven vengeances which are to be discharged upon Lamech.
They say that from Adam to Christ there are seventy-seven generations. Read again Luke the evangelist, and you will find it to be as we say. As, therefore, in the seventh generation the sin of Cain was dissolved — for the Lord will not take vengeance twice upon the same thing, and he who once received his evils in his life shall not suffer the same torments in death that he suffered in life — so also the sin of Lamech, that is, of the whole world and of the blood that has been shed, shall be dissolved by the coming of Christ, who takes away the sins of the world; who washed his robe in the blood of the grape and trod the winepress alone; who, ascending ruddy from Edom to heaven, offered a marvel to the crying angels: 'lift up your gates, O princes, and the King of glory shall enter in,' and so forth.
A certain Hebrew reported to me that in the apocryphal books seventy-seven souls of the progeny of Lamech are found, which were destroyed in the flood, and that in this number the vengeance upon Lamech was fulfilled, because his stock endured down to the cataclysm. Others surmise various things about the seven vengeances of Cain, and assert that his first sin was that he did not divide rightly; the second, that he envied his brother; the third, that he acted deceitfully, saying, 'let us pass over into the field'; the fourth, that he committed the murder; the fifth, that he impudently denied it: 'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?'; the sixth, that he condemned himself: 'my guilt is greater than that I should be forgiven';
the seventh, that even when condemned he did not do penance after the manner of the Ninevites and of Hezekiah king of Judah, who by their tears deferred impending death. And they say that he was therefore deferred by the most merciful God down to the seventh generation, so that, at least when driven by the very evils and by the grief of a long life, he might do penance and deserve to be absolved. Some interpret the sevenfold number as full and perfect, gathering testimonies from many places of the Scriptures, and hold that this is the sense which we touched upon above: that whoever kills Cain frees him from an enormous penalty surpassing all punishments. But there are those who also cite from the gospel the question of Peter: 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?
up to seven times?' Jesus says to him: 'I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.' And they think that death and sin kept sabbath in the seventh generation, when Enoch was taken up and was not found, because God translated him; but concerning the seventy-seven they follow that exposition: that at the coming of Christ the sting of death and of sin was shattered. I will set forth yet another opinion also, lest I should seem to have passed anything by.
Certain persons interpret in many ways the seventh year of remission, the fiftieth of jubilee, and the four hundred and ninetieth — which they would have understood as 'seventy times seven' — asserting that for this cause the debtor of the fiftieth and five-hundredth number is sacredly set forth in the gospel, and the fiftieth psalm of penitence, which is completed by seven weeks of sevens and bursts forth into the beginning of the octave. But lest the discourse proceed further, let it suffice to have spoken thus far upon this matter, since even from these things which we have but sprinkled you will be able yourself to construct a vast forest of disputation — knowing that Origen dictated his twelfth and thirteenth books on Genesis on this question alone.
Why does God tell Abraham that in the fourth generation the children of Israel would return from the land of Egypt, and yet afterward Moses writes: 'in the fifth generation the children of Israel went up from the land of Egypt'? — which, unless it be explained, certainly appears contradictory. But when I had read this problem, I began silently to seethe within myself, and, running at once over Genesis and Exodus, I found the passages in which are written the things that seem to raise the question. And at first I reckoned, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, that it was insoluble, as indeed are many others. For Mathusalam too is written to have lived fourteen years after the flood, and yet did not enter the ark with Noah; and, although God himself had spoken to Abraham:
'knowing you shall know, that your seed shall be a stranger in a land not its own, and they shall reduce them into servitude and afflict them and humble them for four hundred years' — afterward Moses writes in Exodus: 'and it came to pass, after four hundred and thirty years, that all the host of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.' Hagar too carries Ishmael upon her shoulders as though a suckling and tender child, though he is found to be nearly eighteen years old and more, and it is absurd that so grown a youth should have sat upon his mother's shoulders.