Jerome, Letters 33.1
created: This entry is taken from Letters 33.1 written by Jerome in ca. 384 CE. This work
edition published: 2022-10-19-05:00
language: la; la
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/324

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Jerome, Letters 33.1. This passage was written ca. ca. 384 CE possibly in Rome. Among the voluminous correspondence of St. Jerome is this letter, written at the end of his service to Pope Damasus I at Rome and addressed to Paula, a wealthy widow who belonged to his circle in the Imperial capital. At the opening he pairs Varro and Origen (Chalcenterus) as paragons of scholarly productivity, and criticizes a declining enthusiasm for classical learning (saeculares litterae). Origen flourished as a scholar and teacher at Caesarea.

Marcum Terentium Varronem miratur antiquitas, quod apud Latinos tam innumerabiles libros scripserit. Graeci Chalcenterum miris efferunt laudibus, quod tantos libros conposuerit, quantos quivis nostrum alienos sua manu describere non potest, et quia nunc otiosum est apud Latinos Graecorum voluminum indicem texere, de eo, qui Latine scripsit, aliqua commemorabo, ut intellegamus nos Epimenidis dormire somnum et studium, quod illi posuerunt in eruditione saecularium litterarum, in congregandis opibus ponere.

[Ed. Hilberg and Slovak 1996]

Antiquity marvels at Marcus Terentius Varro, because of the countless books which he wrote for Latin readers. Greek writers are extravagant in their praise of Brass-Guts, because he has written more works than one of us could so much as copy. But because now it would be tiresome for Latin readers to assemble a list of Greek writings, I shall confine myself to the one (sc. Varro) who wrote in Latin. I intend for us to understand that we are sleeping the sleep of Epimenides and devoting to the accrual of wealth the zeal that our predecessors gave to learning in secular literature.

[Rev. Fremantle 1893]

Works Cited

[...] 33 1
[...]

[Jerome, Letters 33.4-6]

[Rome]

[Epimenides

Origen (Chalcenterus)

Varro, Marcus Terentius]

[Christianity

Education (sacred)

Education (secular)

Greek Literature

Latin Literature

Philosophy

Society and Culture]