A. D. 404-6. man, they despatched copies of his writings by the hands of Sisinnius, and earnestly entreated Jerome to put a stop to the mischief by an immediate reply to the arguments used by the offender. The monk complied with their request, and in one night drew up the treatise, which was to "crush the serpent." This was in the year 406, and the document which I now present to the reader, is the only historical fragment, which throws light on the great effort of Vigilantius to restore the Church of the fourth century to the purity and simplicity of the primitive worship. The translation is by Mr. Stevenson, to whom I am indebted for rendering the other invectives of Jerome, against the Gallic protester, into English. My reason for adopting the translations of this accomplished scholar, rather than my own, is, that there might not be a shadow of suspicion, as to their taking the colour of prejudice or of forced construction. Mr. Stevenson has used the latest edition of Jerome's works, that published by Dominic Villars, at Verona, in 1734-5. The Latin text, under the English, in this and in all cases when I have cited the original, is from the Benedictine edition, printed at Paris in 1706; the edition which Pagi, the authors of 'Histoire Littéraire de la France,' and the Oxford translators of Fleury (1842-1843) used, when they quoted Jerome. In the margin of the Latin text, of each of the three attacks upon Vigilantius, I have inserted the various readings which occur in the edition of Verona, and in an ancient MS. copy of Jerome pre served in the valuable manuscript library of the dean and chapter of Durham. The collation may prove useful, though the various readings are not very important. *The Book of St. Jerome the Presbyter against Vigilantius.t A. D. 406. A. D. 406. Isa. xiii. 21, Job iii. 8, & & xxxv. 7. xl. 15. viles Vigi 1. Many sorts of monsters have been born in the world. We read in Isaiah of centaurs and satyrs, owls and dragons. Job in mystic language describes the leviathan and the behemoth. The fables of the poets tell of Cerberus and the Stym- Jerome rephalidæ, of the Erymanthian boar and the Nemean lantius. lion, of the chimera and the many-headed hydra. Virgil describes Cacus. Spain gave birth to the three-formed Geryon. Gaul alone has had no monsters, but has always abounded in the bravest and most eloquent of men. Suddenly arose Vigilantius, or, as he may be more truly called, Dormitantius, who in his unclean spirit fights against the Spirit of Christ, and denies that the sepulchres Hoc opusculum dicimus Scriptum, anno Christi 406, vel circiter. * The observations on this Book are reserved for the next chapter. +HIERONYMUS ADVERSUS VIGILANTIUM. Multa in orbe monstra generata sunt. Centauros et Sirenas, ululas et onocrotalos in Isaia legimus. Job Leviathan et Behemoth mystico sermone describit. Cerberum et Stymphalidas, aprumque Erimanthium et leonem Nemæum, chimæram atque hydram multorum capitum Isa. xiii. et narrant fabulæ poetarum. Cacum describit Virgilius. Triformem Geryonem Hispaniæ prodiderunt. Sola Gallia monstra non habuit, sed viris semper fortibus et eloquentissimis abundavit. Exortus est subito Vigilantius, seu verius Dormitantius, qui immundo spiritu pugnet contra Christi Spiritum, et Martyrum neget sepulcra veneranda: XXXV. Æneid. 1. 8. et eloquentissimis abundavit semper. A. D. 406. of the martyrs are to be venerated; who asserts that vigils are to be condemned; that Halleluiah is never to be sung except in Easter; that continence is heresy; that chastity is the forcing-bed of lust. And as Euphorbus is said to have been born again in the person of Pythagoras, so has there been a resurrection of the depraved soul of Jovinian in Vigilantius, so that we are compelled to answer the wiles of the devil in the one as well as in the other. To whom it may justly be said, "Oh accursed offspring, prepare thy sons for the death, on account of the sins of thy father." The former, being condemned by the authority of the church of Rome, belched out rather than breathed out his spirit in the midst of pheasants and the flesh of swine. This latter fellow, an inn-keeper of Calagurris, and in perversion called the dumb Quinctilian, from the name of the village, adul2 Cor. ii. 17. terates the pure wine with water, and, employing Isa. xiv. 21. Isa. i. 22, cf. Errores Vigilantii et blasphemiæ, in eo Jovinianus surrexit. Isa. xiv. sec. lxx. * Vide Gennadium in Catalogo. Quintilianus, unde fuit ? the old-fashioned artifice, attempts to unite the poison of his heresy with the Catholic faith; to attack virginity, to hate chastity, and in the midst of the revels of the laity to exclaim against the damnandas dicit esse vigilias; numquam nisi in Pascha Alleluia cantandum; continentiam, hæresim; pudicitiam libidinis seminarium. Et quomodo Euphorbus in Pythagora renatus esse perhibetur, sic in isto Joviniani mens prava surrexit: ut et in illo, et in hoc diaboli respondere cogamur insidiis. Cui jure dicitur: Semen pessimum, para filios tuos occisioni peccatis patris tui. Ille Romanæ Ecclesiæ auctoritate damnatus,* inter phasides aves et carnes suillas non tam emisit spiritum quam eructavit. Iste caupo Calagurritanus et in perversum propter nomen viculi mutus Quintilianus, miscet aquam vino: et de artificio pristino, suæ venena perfidiæ Catholicæ fidei sociare conatur, impugnare virginitatem, odisse pudicitiam, in convivio sæcularium fasts of the saints. Whilst he philosophises in his cups, and feeds upon dainties, he is charmed with the melody of psalms, so that he condescends to hear the songs of David, and Idithun, and Asaph, and the sons of Chore, only in the midst of feasting. Unable any longer to restrain myself, and to turn a deaf ear to the wrong done to the apostles and martyrs, I have spoken as I have done, not in ridicule, but in sorrow. A. D. 406. encouraged '2. What wickedness! He is said to have bishops Vigilantius associated with him in his crime, if indeed those by bishops. persons are to be styled bishops who ordain no deacons except such as are already wedded, who give credit for chastity to no unmarried person, nay rather who demonstrate how saintly is the life of those who suspect evil of every one; and who confer not the sacraments unless they see that the wives of [their] clergy are pregnant, and that children are crying at their mothers' bosoms. What are the Eastern churches to do? what the churches of Egypt? what the church of the apos contra sanctorum jejunia proclamare; dum inter phialas philosophatur, et ad placentas liguriens, Psalmorum modulatione mulcetur: ut tantum inter epulas, David et Idithun, et Asaph et filiorum Chore cantica audire dignetur. Hæc dolentis magis effudi animo quam ridentis, dum me cohibere non possum ; et injuriam Apostolorum ac Martyrum surda nequeo aure transire. Proh nefas, episcopos sui sceleris dicitur habere consortes, si tamen episcopi nominandi sunt, qui non ordinant diaconos, nisi prius uxores duxerint nulli cœlibi credentes pudicitiam, imo ostendentes quam sancte vivant, qui male de omnibus suspicantur; et nisi prægnantes uxores viderint clericorum, infantesque de ulnis matrum vagientes, Christi sacramenta non tribuunt. Quid facient Orientis Ecclesiæ ? quid Ægypti, et sedis Apostolicæ, quæ aut virgines clericos accipiunt, corum. * * MS. accipit Caliba tus Cleri A. D. 406. tolic see? for they accept as clerks such [only] as are virgins, or are continent, or such as cease to be husbands although they have wives. This is the doctrine of Dormitantius, giving the reins to lust, and by his exhortations redoubling the natural warmth of the flesh, which for the most part burns fiercely during youth; or rather extinguishing it by intercourse with women; so that we differ in no respect from swine, from brute beasts, from horses, of which it is written, "They were as fed horses in the morning; every one neighed after his neighbour's wife." In regard to this the Holy Ps. xxxii. 9. Spirit speaketh by David," Be ye not as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding; and again, with reference to Dormitantius, "Whose mouth must be held with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee." Jer. v. 8. * Rufinus, see Præfat. in Op. Hier. tom. i. Ep. cxvii. editio Val. Verona, 3. But it is now time for us to quote his sayings, that we may answer them separately. For it might happen that the ill-natured interpreter should once more affirm that the affair had been invented by me for the purpose of giving it a de aut continentes ; aut si uxores habuerint, mariti esse desistunt? Hoc docuit Dormitantius, libidini frena permittens et naturalem carnis ardorem, qui in adolescentia plerumque fervescit, suis hortatibus duplicans, imo extinguens coïtu feminarum: ut nihil sit quo distemus a porcis, quo differamus a brutis animantibus, quo ab equis, de quibus scriptum est: Equi insanientes in feminas facti sunt mihi : unusquisque in uxorem proximi sui hinnebat. Hoc est quod loquitur per David Ps. xxxi. 9. Spiritus Sanctus: Nolite fieri sicut equus et mulus, quibus non est intellectus. Et rursum de Dormitantio et sociis ejus: In chamo et freno maxillas eorum constringe, qui non approximant ad te. Jer. v. 8. Sed jam tempus est ut ipsius verba ponentes ad singula respondere nitamur. Fieri enim potest, ut rursum malignus interpres dicat fictam |