書信集（CSEL） 第 1 章 第 30/85 段

And how is it said to the synagogue and to the Israelite people: 'Dismiss your people and the house of your father'? Does she then forsake the Hebrew nation and Abraham, her ancient father? If they say that Abraham is signified by the calling, because he left the Chaldeans, who is this King who is to love Abraham's beauty? Surely it is another who speaks, 'Hearken, daughter,' and another of whom it is said, 'The King will desire your beauty.' This other is not only King but also Lord and God, who is to be adored. 'The daughter of Tyre, the rich of the people shall entreat your face with gifts.' In the Hebrew: 'And, O daughter of the strongest one, the rich of the people shall entreat your face with gifts.'

The Hebrew word 'sor,' which we read in Ezekiel according to the Septuagint, can be interpreted both 'Tyre' and 'tribulation' and 'strongest' or 'strongest (fem.)' and 'flint,' that is, the hardest stone. Whence in the present passage an error arose; for Aquila and the Septuagint and Theodotion and the fifth edition interpreted it 'Tyre,' the sixth put the Hebrew word 'sor,' Symmachus put krataian, that is, 'strongest (fem.).' We have referred it to God himself, so that she to whom he had said above:

'Hearken, daughter, and see,' should be called the daughter of the strongest, or at least be herself the strongest, because she has imitated her strong Father, whose face the rich of the people will entreat with diverse gifts—the rich in all good works and in knowledge, or those who are reckoned rich in the world, the wise of this world and trained in the disciplines of the philosophers, or—what is better—those who were formerly rich, having the oracles of God and the covenants and the prophets, that is, from the people of Israel.

For just as before the coming of the Savior those who were of Tyre, that is, of the Gentile people, and desired to be proselytes, would entreat the rich people of Israel and through them were brought into the temple, so after the coming of the Lord, whoever of Israel wished to believe—once rich in the intimacy and protection of God—will come to the daughter of Tyre and, offering various gifts of virtues and of confession in Christ, will entreat her, that the salvation which they lost in Judea they may find among the Gentiles. 'All the glory of the king's daughter is from within, in golden fringes clothed about with varieties.' In the Hebrew: 'all the glory of the king's daughter is within, she is clothed with golden bands.'

In place of what is written in the Septuagint 'esothen,' and which we translated either 'from within' or 'inwardly,' in certain copies is found 'esebon,' which means 'thoughts.' From this it is shown that all the glory of the Church—to whom it was said above, 'Hearken, daughter, and see,' and, 'O daughter of Tyre,' and who is now called the king's daughter—is inward and in her thoughts, that is, in the inner man and in the circumcision made not by hand but by the Spirit, her conscience having confidence before God, and all her beauty placed rather in the meaning of the words than in the flower of the words.

But just as in the warp, from which the fringes hang, the woof is interwoven, and the whole strength of the garment lies in the warp, so in the golden meanings of the Scriptures, in which the whole vesture of the Church is woven, there are mingled some things from nature, some from morals; and this very thing is signified by the garment of Aaron woven of gold, purple, scarlet, fine linen, and blue, which the women made to whom God gave wisdom for weaving. And that we may understand all the adornment of the king's daughter to be inward, she herself speaks in the Song: 'The King has brought me into his chamber,' in which, the door of the lips being shut, we are bidden to pray to God the Father. In the ninth Psalm too the title is inscribed: 'For the hidden things of the son.'

Joseph too had a coat of many colors, which his mother the Church wove for him. Of these fringes of the Savior the woman with the issue of blood touched one and was healed. But what is written in the Hebrew, 'she is clothed with golden bands,' signifies the very same thing as above, 'all the glory of the king's daughter is within'; with the bands of divine meanings the inner members of the Church are wrapped about, and all the compass of her womb is covered. Of these bands the bride, according to Jeremiah, cannot be forgetful, because they bind the breasts and protect the bosom, in which the thoughts reside. 'Virgins shall be brought to the King after her, her companions shall be brought (to you. They shall be brought) in gladness and exultation, they shall be led into the temple of the King.'

According to the Septuagint, the former little verse is still sung concerning the adornment of the daughter, the latter is directed to the Bridegroom and King himself. But according to the Hebrew, the whole is spoken to the bride up to the place where it is written: 'You shall set them as princes over all the earth,' and it reads: 'in embroidered raiment she shall be led to the King, virgins shall follow her, her friends shall be led thither. They shall be led in gladness and exultation, they shall enter the chamber of the King.' That there is a great difference among the souls that believe in Christ, the Song of Songs shows, in which it is written: 'There are sixty queens and eighty concubines and maidens without number. One is my dove, my perfect one, my nearest,' of whom it is said:

'The daughters saw her and the queens and concubines called her blessed and praised her.' She then who is perfect and holy in body and spirit and deserves to be called a dove and 'nearest,' this is the daughter of whom it was said above: 'The queen stood at your right hand in gilded raiment.' But those who have passed beyond the six days of the world and sigh for the kingdoms to come are called queens. But if any has indeed the circumcision of the eighth day, yet has not yet come to the marriage, she is called a concubine. And the diverse multitude of believers, which cannot yet be joined to the Bridegroom's embraces nor bear children by him, is called a maiden.

I think that of those virgins who follow the Church and are placed in the first rank, both you are one and all who persevere in virginity of body and soul; but that the 'nearest' and the 'friends' are the widows and those living in continence within marriage—all of whom are led with gladness and exultation into the temple and into the chamber of the King: into the temple as priests of God, into the chamber as brides of the King and of the Bridegroom. This temple John too saw in the Apocalypse, and the prophet desires it: 'One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.' And again: 'Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house and the place of the habitation of your glory.' And in another place:

'For I shall pass over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God, with the voice of exultation and confession, with the sound of those who keep festival.' The embroidered garments, with which the queen is adorned for her bridegroom, are the very things which in the Septuagint we read as 'clothed about with variety.' 'For your fathers, sons are born to you; you shall set them as princes over all the earth.' In the Hebrew: 'For your fathers, sons shall be to you; you shall set them as princes in all the earth.' And from the person of the Father, this speech can be understood by no means concerning the daughter, but again as directed to the daughter, and from the Holy Spirit and from the sons of Korah. If therefore the speech is directed to the bride, and the bride is gathered from the nations, to whom it is said above:

'Forget your people and the house of your father,' we ought to know the bride's fathers, so that consequently we may also know the sons. 'For your fathers, of whom you spoke in Jeremiah: How false the idols our fathers possessed! and: There is none among them who can send rain, in place of Plato, in place of the other masters of diverse doctrines and errors, sons are born to you, whom you have set up as your princes and made teachers among the peoples.' Or certainly otherwise: 'O Church, your sons, whom you have begotten to yourself, shall be turned into your fathers, when you have made them teachers out of disciples and placed them, by the testimony of all, in the priestly rank.'

But if we understand as fathers of the Church Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the rest of the patriarchs, let us understand as the sons who are born to her in the honor of fathers the apostles, who were sent by the Lord to preach unto the end of the earth and to baptize believers in the name of the Trinity. But it is asked, how can the Church from the Gentiles have as fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when it was said to her above: 'Forget your people and the house of your father'? Let us read the Gospel: 'Do not say: We have Abraham as father; God is able of these stones'—that is, of the hard heart of the Gentiles—'to raise up sons to Abraham,' and in another place: 'If you were sons of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham.' And in Genesis God speaks to Abraham himself:

'In your seed shall all the nations be blessed.' For just as he was justified by faith while in uncircumcision, so we too shall be justified in the same faith, if we have the faith and the works of our father Abraham. This same thing can also be said to the Savior, either by the Father or by the choir of prophets and by the Holy Spirit: 'For your fathers, namely the stock of the Jews, who forsook and denied you, sons are born to you—the apostles and believers from the nations—whom you have set as princes in all the earth.' 'I will be mindful of your name in every generation and generation. Therefore the peoples shall confess to you for ever and unto ages of ages.' In the Hebrew: 'I will remember your name in every generation and generation.'

'Therefore the peoples shall confess to you for ever and unto eternity.' What we interpreted as 'they shall confess to you,' Symmachus translated 'they shall praise you.' The queen, who had stood at the right hand of the King in gilded raiment and had been bidden to forget her people and the house of her father, and to whom again it had been said: 'For your fathers sons are born to you; you shall set them as princes over all the earth,' understanding with how great glory she is to be adorned and with what rewards uplifted, turns her voice to the Bridegroom and promises that she will ever remember the name of the Bridegroom in every generation and generation. What she promised, we see fulfilled.

She herself, being Christian, imposed upon us all the name of Christians, a new name, in which all the families of the nations are blessed. But she remembers not in one generation, but in all, either signifying all the nations, or two generations, of the Jews and of the Gentiles. And because this is too little, if she remember the name of the Lord in two generations, therefore the peoples who shall be in the Church will confess and praise the Lord for ever and unto ages of ages. When you also, O daughter Principia, mingled with the choir of the saints, are led among the virgins to the King, and out of ivory houses delight the Bridegroom in your honor, then remember me too, who by the Lord's revelation have granted you the understanding of this psalm, and say:

'I will be mindful of your name,' so that you, who have understood a part of the song, may understand—if life be a companion—the whole Song of Songs also. LETTER 66. TO PAMMACHIUS, ON THE DEATH OF PAULINA. If medicine should refuse to restore its color to a healed wound and to the skin drawn over into a scar, while it seeks the beauty of the body, it renews the blow of pain. So I too, a late comforter, who have inopportunely kept silent for two years, fear that now I may speak still more inopportunely, and, touching the wound of your breast, which has been cured by time and reason, may by the reminder inflame it afresh. For what ears are so hard, what heart cut from flint and nourished on the milk of Hyrcanian tigers, that could hear the name of your Paulina without tears?

Who could look with equal eyes upon the rose bringing forth its bud and the budding cluster, cut down untimely before the circle is poured into the basket and the whole compass of the reddening petals is spread open, and see it wither? The most precious pearl is broken, the green gem of the emerald is crushed. What good health has, sickness shows. We felt more keenly what we had, after we ceased to have it. In the field of good earth we read of three fruits, the hundredfold, the sixtyfold, and the thirtyfold; in three women joined by both blood and virtue I recognize the three rewards of Christ. Eustochium reaps the flowers of virginity, Paula treads the laborious threshing-floor of widowhood, Paulina preserves the chaste bed of matrimony.

Such a mother, upheld by the company of such daughters, claims wholly for herself on earth what Christ has promised in heaven. And that one house might send forth a four-horse chariot of holiness, and that men might correspond to the virtues of the women, there is added as a companion Pammachius, a true cherub of Ezekiel—kinsman, son-in-law, husband, nay rather most loving brother, since holy fellowships do not retain the names of marriage. Over this chariot Jesus presides; of these horses Habakkuk too sings: 'You will mount upon your horses, and your riding is salvation.' In equal course, with equal spirit, they press toward the palm. The horses are of different colors, but concordant in will they draw the one yoke of the charioteer, not awaiting the lashes of the whip, but glowing at the encouragements of the voice. Let us say something also of the philosophers.

The Stoics describe four virtues so linked and mutually cohering that whoever lacks one lacks all: prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance. All these may you so have that yet you excel in each singly. Prudence is proclaimed in you, justice in the mother, fortitude in the virgin, temperance in the wife. For what is wiser than he who, despising the folly of the world, has followed Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God? What is more just than the mother, who, having distributed her wealth among her children, taught by despising riches what riches her children ought to love? [what riches sons ought to love?]

What is braver than Eustochium, who by her virginal resolve broke down the gates of nobility and the arrogance of a consular lineage, and in the first city first subjugated the first rank to chastity? What is more temperate than Paulina, who, reading that saying of the Apostle, 'Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled,' and daring to seek neither the felicity of her sister nor the continence of her mother, chose rather to proceed safely among the humbler things than to be tossed on a pendulous step among the loftier? Although, once marriage was entered upon, she thought of nothing else day and night except that, the fruit of marriage being rendered, she might seize the second degree of chastity, and, a woman the leader of so great a deed, might join her husband to her own resolve, not leaving behind but awaiting a companion of salvation.

And while, by frequent miscarriages and having experienced the fruitfulness of conceptions, she does not despair of children, and sets her mother-in-law's eagerness and her husband's sadness before her own weakness, she suffered something after the example of Rachel, and for the son of sorrow and of the right hand bore to the man of her desire an heir. And from trustworthy authorities I have learned that she wished to serve neither the first sentence of God, 'Increase and multiply and fill the earth,' nor the conjugal duty, but desired sons for this end, that she might bear virgins to Christ. We read also that the wife of the priest Phinehas, on hearing of the captivity of the ark of the Lord, was suddenly seized with the pain of the womb and brought forth a son, Ichabod, and among the hands and offices of the women sent forth her soul together with her offspring.

From the first is born Benjamin, that is, 'son of virtue and of the right hand'; from the second is born, from the surname of the ark, a renowned priest of God. For us, after the falling-asleep and slumber of Paulina, the Church has borne, as a posthumous child, Pammachius the monk—patrician by the nobility both of father and of consort, rich in almsgiving, sublime in humility. The Apostle writes to the Corinthians: 'Behold, brothers, your calling, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble.' This the rudiments of the nascent Church demanded, that the grain of mustard seed might little by little grow into a tree, that the leaven of the Gospel might gradually raise up higher the whole mass of the Church. In our times Rome possesses what the world before knew not.

Then Christians who were wise, powerful, noble were rare; now many monks are wise, powerful, noble. Than all of whom my Pammachius is wiser, more powerful, more noble: great among the great, first among the first, the archistrategos (commander-in-chief) of the monks. Such children did Paulina by her death bring forth for us, whom while living she had desired to possess. 'Rejoice, barren one, who do not bear; break forth and cry, you who do not travail,' for as many as are the poor at Rome, so many sons have you suddenly begotten. The burning gems with which before her neck and face were adorned now satisfy the bellies of the needy; the silken garments and the gold drawn out into thread have been changed into soft woolen clothing, by which the cold may be repelled, not by which vanity may be laid bare;

the furnishings once of luxuries virtue consumes. That blind man stretching out his hand and often crying out where no one is, is the heir of Paulina, the co-heir of Pammachius; that man maimed in his feet and dragging himself with his whole body, a girl's tender hand supports. The doors, which before disgorged crowds of those paying court, are now besieged by the wretched. One with swollen belly is in travail with death; another, tongueless and mute, and not even having wherewith to ask, asks the more because he cannot ask; this one, crippled from childhood, does not beg alms for himself; that one, rotted with the royal disease (jaundice), outlives his own corpse: 'not, if I had a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths, could I run through all the names of the sufferings.'

Accompanied by this army he goes forth; in these he cherishes Christ; by their filth he is made white; a giver of gifts to the poor, a candidate of the needy, thus he hastens to heaven. Other husbands scatter over the tombs of their wives violets, roses, lilies, and purple flowers, and console the grief of their breast with these offices: our Pammachius waters the holy ashes and venerable bones with the balsams of almsgiving. With these pigments and odors he cherishes the resting ashes, knowing that it is written: 'As water quenches fire, so almsgiving quenches sins.'

How great virtues mercy has, and with what rewards it is to be endowed, both the blessed Cyprian sets forth in a great volume, and Daniel's counsel proves it, who knew that a most impious king, if he had been willing to listen to him, would be saved by the sustaining of the poor. A mother rejoices in such a daughter's heir, and does not grieve that her wealth has passed to another, which she sees dispensed to the very same ends to which she herself had wished. Nay rather she rejoices that her vows are fulfilled without her own labor; for it is not a diminution of substance, but a change of the workman. Who would believe this, that the great-grandson of consuls and the ornament of the Furian stock should walk among the purples of senators clad in a dark tunic, that he should not blush before the eyes of his companions, that he himself should laugh at those deriding him?

There is a shame that leads to death, and there is a shame that leads to life. The first virtue of a monk is to despise the judgments of men and always to remember the Apostle saying: 'If I still wished to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.' Something like this the Lord too speaks to the prophets: that he set their face as a bronze city and an adamantine stone and an iron column, that they might not tremble at the injuries of the people, but might wear down the shamelessness of the scoffers by the hardness of their brow. Talents liberally educated are more easily overcome by modesty than by fear, and those whom torments do not conquer, sometimes shame conquers.

It is no small thing for a noble man, an eloquent man, and a wealthy man to avoid the retinue of the powerful in the streets, to mingle with the crowds, to cleave to the poor, to be joined with rustics, from a prince to become one of the common people. But the more humble, the more sublime he is. The pearl shines amid filth, and the splendor of the purest gem radiates even in mud. This is what the Lord promised again: 'Those who glorify me I will glorify.' Let others understand this of the future, when mourning is turned into joy and, the world passing away, the crown of the saints does not pass away: I see the promises fulfilled even in the present. Before he served Christ with his whole mind, he was known in the senate, but many others too had the proconsular insignia. The whole world is full of honors of this kind.

He was first, but among the first; he preceded others in dignity, but he also followed others. Although honor is bright, it becomes cheap in a crowd, and among good men dignity itself becomes unworthy, which many unworthy men possess. Whence Tully says excellently of Caesar: 'While he wished,' he says, 'to adorn certain men, he did not honor them, but disgraced the ornaments themselves.' But now all the churches of Christ speak of Pammachius. The world marvels at a poor man whom hitherto it knew not to be rich. What is more illustrious than the consulship? It is an annual honor, and after another has succeeded, the former ceases. Laurels lie hidden in the multitude, and triumphs are sometimes polluted by the baseness of those who triumph.

What before was handed down through the hands to patricians and nobility alone possessed—that for which Marius, conqueror of Numidia, of the Teutons and the Cimbri, was on account of the newness of his family reckoned unworthy, that which Scipio earned beyond his years for his valor—now mere military service possesses, and the gleaming palm-embroidered robe surrounds bodies but lately rustic. We have received, therefore, more than we gave. We have dismissed small things and possess great ones; with hundredfold interest are the promises of Christ repaid. In such a field Isaac too once sowed, who, prepared for death, bore the evangelical cross before the Gospel. 'If you wish,' he says, 'to be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come, follow me.' 'If you wish to be perfect': great things are always placed in the judgment of the hearers.

And therefore the Apostle does not command virginity, because the Lord, discoursing about the eunuchs who had made themselves such for the kingdom of heaven, at the last added: 'He who can receive it, let him receive it.' For it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. 'If you wish to be perfect': no necessity is imposed upon you, that the will may attain the reward. If therefore you wish to be perfect and desire to be what the prophets were, what the apostles were, what Christ is, sell not a part of your substance, lest the fear of want become an occasion of unbelief, and you perish with Ananias and Sapphira, but all that you possess. And when you have sold it, give to the poor, not to the rich, not to the proud. Give that need may be sustained, not that wealth may be increased.

And when you read that word of the Apostle: 'You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain,' and 'The laborer is worthy of his hire,' and 'They who serve at the altar partake of the altar,' remember also this saying: 'Having food and clothing, with these we are content.' When you see dishes steaming and Phasian pheasants slowly stewed in gentle vapors, when you see a weight of silver, spirited ponies, long-haired page-boys, costly garments, embroidered tapestries — when he to whom the gift is to be given is richer than the giver — it is part of sacrilege to give what belongs to the poor to those who are not poor. And yet it is not enough for a perfect and consummate man to despise wealth, to scatter and cast away money, which in a moment can both be lost and found.

Crates the Theban did this, Antisthenes did it, very many did it, of whom we read as most renowned. The disciple of Christ ought to render more than the disciple of the world. The philosopher is a creature of glory, a slave put up for sale to popular breath and to rumor. For you it is not enough to despise wealth, unless you follow Christ. And he follows Christ who forgives sins and is a companion of the virtues. We know Christ to be Wisdom. This treasure springs up in the field of the Scriptures; this gem is bought with many pearls. But if you have fallen in love with a captive woman — that is, secular wisdom — and have been taken by her beauty, shave her head, and cut away the allurements of her hair and the ornaments of her words together with her dead nails.

Wash her with prophetic lye, and then, resting with her, say: 'His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.' The captive will bear you many offspring, and from a Moabitess she will be made an Israelite. Christ is sanctification, without which no one shall see the face of God; Christ is redemption, himself both Redeemer and price; Christ is all things, so that he who has forsaken all things for Christ's sake may find the One in place of all, and may freely proclaim: 'The Lord is my portion.' I perceive that you burn with the divine teachings, and that you do not, with the rashness of certain men, teach what you do not know, but first learn what you are about to teach. Your unadorned letters smell of the prophets and taste of the apostles.

You do not affect a buskined eloquence, nor, after the manner of boys, do you build clever little epigrams into your clauses. Swelling foam quickly subsides, and however great a swelling may be, it is contrary to health. Well known is that saying of Cato: 'Soon enough, if well enough' — which we, once as young lads, laughed at when it was uttered by a prefect-orator in a little preface. I think you remember our shared blunder, when the whole Athenaeum rang with the voices of the students: 'Soon enough, if well enough.' 'The arts,' says Fabius, 'would be fortunate, if artists alone judged concerning them.' No one can know a poet unless he can construct a verse; no one understands the philosophers unless he knows the varieties of doctrines; things made by hand and open to the eyes, craftsmen are better able to judge.

How hard our necessity is, you can perceive from this: that one must abide by the judgment of the crowd, and that man is to be feared in the throng whom, when you see him alone, you would despise. These things I have touched on in passing, so that, content with learned ears, you may not greatly care what little rumors the ignorant bandy about concerning your talent, but may daily drink the marrow of the prophets — an initiate of Christ, a fellow-initiate of the patriarchs. Whether you read or write, whether you keep vigil or sleep, let the love of Jesus ever sound as a trumpet in your ears; let this clarion rouse your soul; frenzied with this love, seek upon your bed him whom your soul desires, and say confidently: 'I sleep, but my heart keeps watch.' And when you have found him and held him fast, do not let him go.

And if, while you doze a little, he slips out of your hands, do not straightway despair. Go out into the streets, adjure the daughters of Jerusalem; you will find him lying at midday, weary, inebriated, drenched with the dew of night, amid flocks of his companions, among varieties of spices, among the fruits of paradise. There give him your breasts; let him suck from your learned bosom and rest among the midst of the lots — 'the wings of the dove covered with silver, and her hinder parts in the gleam of gold.' This little one and boy, who is fed with butter and honey, who was nourished among the cheese-bearing mountains, quickly grows into a young man, swiftly despoils your enemies, betimes plunders Damascus and conquers the Assyrian king.