|
To Innocent / Innocentius |
Ad innocentium de
muliere septies percussa |
|
Not only the first of the letters but probably
the earliest extant composition of Jerome (c. A.D. 370). Innocent, to whom
it is addressed, was one of the little band of enthusiasts whom Jerome
gathered round him in Aquileia. He followed his friend to Syria, where
Innocent
died in A.D. 374 (See
Letter 3, 3.)
(Note: This English synopsis is not a translation
of the Latin version.) |
Hieronymus Innocentii precibus historiam
cujusdam miraculi refert; quod Vercellis in Liguria sua aetate acciderat.
Quaedam mulier a viro adulterii falso accusata, atque una delatus juvenis
tormentis ad eliciendam veritatem cruciantur. Hic impatiens confitetur
quod non admiserat, ista constanter negans, nulla vi ad confessionem non
admissi sceleris adduci potest. Ducitur uterque ad supplicium, et juvenis
quidem occiditur, mulier vero saepius icta mori non potest. Demum cum
videretur necem occubuisse, sublatum cadaver revivit, et cum denuo ad
supplicium requireretur, Evagrius ei ab Imperatore veniam suis precibus
impetrat. |
|
1. You have frequently asked me, dearest Innocent, not
to pass over in silence the marvellous event which has happened in our
own day. I have declined the task from modesty and, as I now feel, with
justice, believing myself to be incapable of it, at once because bureau
language is inadequate to the divine praise, and because inactivity, acting
like rust upon the intellect, has dried up any little power of expression
that I have ever had. You in reply urge that in the things of God we must
look not at the work which we are able to accomplish, but at the spirit
in which it is undertaken, and that he can never be at a loss for words
who has believed on the Word.
|
1. Saepe a me, Innocenti carissime,
postulasti, ut de ejus rei miraculo, quae nostra aetate acciderat, non
tacerem. Cumque ego id verecunde et vere, ut nunc experior, negarem, meque
assequi posse diffiderem; sive quia omnis sermo humanus inferior est laude
coelesti: sive quia otium quasi quaedam ingenii rubigo, parvulam licet
facultatem pristini siccasset eloquii: tu e contrario asserebas, in
divinis rebus non possibilitatem inspici debere, sed animum; neque posse
eum verba deficere, qui credidisset in Verbum. |
|
2. What, then, must I do? The task is beyond me, and yet
I dare not decline it. I am a mere unskilled passenger, and I find myself
placed in charge of a freighted ship. I have not so much as handled a rowboat
on a lake, and now I have to trust myself to the noise and turmoil of the
Euxine. I see the shores sinking beneath the horizon, "sky and sea on every
side"; darkness lowers over the water, the clouds are black as night, the
waves only are white with foam. You urge me to hoist the swelling sails,
to loosen the sheets, and to take the helm. At last I obey your commands,
and as charity can do all things, I will trust in the Holy Ghost to guide
my course, and I shall console myself, whatever the event. For, if our
ship is wafted by the surf into the wished-for haven, I shall be content
to be told that the pilotage was poor. But, if through my unpolished diction
we run aground amid the rough cross-currents of language, you may blame
my lack of power, but you will at least recognize my good intentions. |
2. Quid igitur faciam? quod implere non
possum, negare non audeo. Super onerariam navem rudis vector imponor. Et
homo, qui necdum scalmum in lacu rexi, Euxini maris credor fragoribus.
Nunc mihi evanescentibus terris, coelum undique et undique pontus
(Aeneid. lib. V): nunc unda tenebris inhorrescit, et caeca nocte
nimborum spumei fluctus canescunt. Hortaris, ut tumida malo vela
suspendam, rudentes explicem, clavum regam. Pareo jam jubenti, et quia
caritas omnia potest, Spiritu Sancto cursum prosequente confidam,
habiturus in utraque parte solatium; si me ad optatos portus aestus
impulerit, gubernator putabor infirmior; si inter asperos orationis
anfractus impolitus sermo substiterit, facultatem forsitan quaeras,
voluntatem certe flagitare non poteris. |
|
3. To begin, then: Vercellae is a Ligurian town, situated
not far from the base of the Alps, once important, but now sparsely peopled
and fallen into decay. When the consular was holding his visitation there,
a poor woman and her paramour were brought before him—the charge of adultery
had been fastened upon them by the husband—and were both consigned to
the penal horrors of a prison. Shortly after an attempt was made to elicit
the truth by torture, and when the blood-stained hook smote the young man's
livid flesh and tore furrows in his side, the unhappy wretch sought to
avoid prolonged pain by a speedy death. Falsely accusing his own passions,
he involved another in the charge; and it appeared that he was of all men
the most miserable, and that his execution was just inasmuch as he had
left to an innocent woman no means of self-defence. But the woman, stronger
in virtue if weaker in sex, though her frame was stretched upon the rack,
and though her hands, stained with the filth of the prison, were tied behind
her, looked up to heaven with her eyes, which alone the torturer had been
unable to bind, and while the tears rolled down her face, said: "Thou art
witness, Lord Jesus, to whom nothing is hid, who triest the reins and the
heart. Thou art witness that it is not to save my life that I deny this
charge. I refuse to lie because to lie is sin. And as for you, unhappy
man, if you are bent on hastening your death, why must you destroy not
one innocent person, but two? I also, myself, desire to die. I desire to
put off this hated body, but not as an adulteress. I offer my neck; I welcome
the shining sword without fear; yet I will take my innocence with me. He
does not die who is slain while purposing so to live."
|
3. Vercellae Ligurum civitas. — Igitur
Vercellae Ligurum civitas haud procul a radicibus Alpium sita, olim
potens, nunc raro est habitatore semiruta. Hanc quum ex more Consularis
inviseret, oblatam sibi quamdam mulierculam una cum adultero (nam hoc
crimen maritus impegerat) poenali carceris horrore circumdedit. Neque
multo post, quum lividas carnes ungula cruenta pulsaret, et sulcatis
lateribus dolor quaereret veritatem, infelicissimus juvenis volens
compendio mortis longos cruciatus vitare, dum in suum mentitur sanguinem,
accusavit alienum; solusque omnium miser, merito visus est percuti, quia
non reliquit innoxiae, unde posset negare. At vero mulier sexu infirmior,
virtute fortior, quum eculeus corpus extenderet, et sordidas foetore
carceris manus post tergum vincula cohiberent, oculis, quos tantum tortor
alligare non poterat, suspexit ad coelum, et evolutis per ora lacrymis:
Tu, inquit, testis es, Domine Jesu, cui occultum nihil est, qui es
scrutator renum et cordis, non ideo me negare velle, ne peream, sed ideo
mentiri nolle, ne peccem. At tu miserrime homo, si interire festinas, cur
duos interimis innocentes? Equidem et ipsa cupio mori, cupio invisum
[Mss. infirmum] hoc corpus exuere, sed non quasi adultera. Praesto
jugulum, micantem intrepida excipio mucronem, innocentiam tamen [Mss.
tantum] mecum leram. Non moritur, quisquis sic victurus occiditur. |
|
4. The consular, who had been feasting his eyes upon the
bloody spectacle, now, like a wild beast, which after once tasting blood
always thirsts for it, ordered the torture to be doubled, and cruelly gnashing
his teeth, threatened the executioner with like punishment if he failed
to extort from the weaker sex a confession which a man's strength had not
been able to keep back.
|
4. Igitur Consularis pastis cruore luminibus,
ut fera, quae gustatum semel sanguinem semper sitit, duplicari tormenta
jubet, et saevum dentibus frendens, similem carnifici minitatus est
poenam, nisi confiteretur sexus infirmior, quod non potuerat robur virile
reticere. |
|
5. Send help, Lord Jesus. For this one creature of Thine
every species of torture is devised. She is bound by the hair to a stake,
her whole body is fixed more firmly than ever on the rack; fire is brought
and applied to her feet; her sides quiver beneath the executioner's probe;
even her breasts do not escape. Still the woman remains unshaken; and,
triumphing in spirit over the pain of the body, enjoys the happiness of
a good conscience, round which the tortures rage in vain. The cruel judge
rises, overcome with passion. She still prays to God. Her limbs are wrenched
from their sockets she only turns her eyes to heaven. Another confesses
what is thought their common guilt. She, for the confessor's sake, denies
the confession, and, in peril of her own life, clears one who is in peril
of his.
|
5. Succure, Domine Jesu: ad unum hominem tuum
quam plura sunt inventa supplicia. Crines ligantur ad stipitem, et toto
corpore ad eculeum fortius alligato, vicinus pedibus ignis apponitur,
utrumque latus carnifex fodit, nec papillis dantur induciae: immota mulier
manet, et a dolore corporis, spiritu superato, dum conscientiae bono
fruitur, vetuit circa se saevire tormenta. Judex crudelis, quasi superatus
attollitur: illa Deum deprecatur; solvuntur membra compagibus: illa oculos
ad coelum tendit; quasi de communi scelere alius confitetur: illa pro
confitente negat, et periclitans ipsa, alium vindicat periclitantem. |
|
6. Meantime she has but one thing to say "Beat me, burn
me, tear me, if you will; I have not done it. If you will not believe my
words, a day will come when this charge shall be carefully sifted. I have
One who will judge me." Wearied out at last, the torturer sighed in response
to her groans; nor could he find a spot on which to inflict a fresh wound.
His cruelty overcome, he shuddered to see the body he had torn. Immediately
the consular cried, in a fit of passion, "Why does it surprise you, bystanders,
that a woman prefers torture to death? It takes two people, most assuredly,
to commit adultery; and I think it more credible that a guilty woman should
deny a sin than that an innocent young man should confess one."
|
6. Una interim vox est: Caede, ure, lacera,
non feci. Si dictis tollitur fides, veniet dies, quae hoc crimen
diligenter disentiat, habeo [al. habebo] judicem meum. Jam lassus
tortor suspirabat in gemitum, nec erat novo vulneri locus. Jam victa
saevitia, corpus quod laniarat, horrebat. Extemplo ira excitus Consularis:
quid miramini, inquit, circumstantes, si torqueri mulier mavult, quam
perire? Adulterium certe sine duobus committi non potest [al. potuit],
et esse credibilius reor, noxiam ream negare de scelere, quam innocentem
juvenem confiteri. |
|
7. Like sentence, accordingly, was passed on both, and
the condemned pair were dragged to execution. The entire people poured
out to see the sight; indeed, so closely were the gates thronged by the
out-rushing crowd, that you might have fancied the city itself to be migrating.
At the very first stroke of the sword the head of the hapless youth was
cut off, and the headless trunk rolled over in its blood. Then came the
woman's turn. She knelt down upon the ground, and the shining sword was
lifted over her quivering neck. But though the headsman summoned all his
strength into his bared arm, the moment it touched her flesh the fatal
blade stopped short, and, lightly glancing over the skin, merely grazed
it sufficiently to draw blood. The striker saw, with terror, his hand unnerved,
and, amazed at his defeated skill and at his drooping sword, he whirled
it aloft for another stroke. Again the blade fell forceless on the woman,
sinking harmlessly on her neck, as though the steel feared to touch her.
The enraged and panting officer, who had thrown open his cloak at the neck
to give his full strength to the blow, shook to the ground the brooch which
clasped the edges of his mantle, and not noticing this, began to poise
his sword for a fresh stroke. "See," cried the woman, "a jewel has fallen
from your shoulder. Pick up what you have earned by hard toil, that you
may not lose it."
|
7. Pari igitur prolata in utrumque sententia,
damnatos carnifex trahit. Totus ad spectaculum populus effunditur, ut
prorsus quasi migrare civitas putaretur; stipatis proruens portis turba
densatur. Et quidem miserrimi juvenis ad primum statim ictum amputatur
gladio caput, truncumque in suo sanguine volutatur cadaver. Postquam vero
ad feminam ventum est, et flexis in terram poplitibus, super trementem
cervicem micans elevatus est gladius, et exertam carnifex dexteram totis
viribus concitavit ad primum corporis tactum stetit mucro lethalis, et
leviter perstringens cutem, rasurae modicae sanguinem aspersit. Imbellem
manum percursor expavit, et victam dexteram gladio marcescente miratus, in
secundos impetus torquet. Languidus rursus in feminam mucro delabitur, et
quasi ferrum eam timeret attingere, circa cervicem torpet innoxium. Itaque
furens et anhelans lictor, paludamento in cervicem retorto, dum totas
expendit [al. expedit et expetit] vires, fibulam quae chlamydis
mordebat oras, in humum excussit, ignarusque rei, ensem librabat in
vulnus. En tibi, ait mulier, ex humero aurum ruit, collige multo quaesitum
labore, ne pereat. |
|
8. What, I ask, is the secret of such confidence as this?
Death draws near, but it has no terrors for her. When smitten she exults,
and the executioner turns pale. Her eyes see the brooch, they fail to see
the sword. And, as if intrepidity in the presence of death were not enough,
she confers a favor upon her cruel foe. And now the mysterious Power of
the Trinity rendered even a third blow vain. The terrified soldier, no
longer trusting the blade, proceeded to apply the point to her throat,
in the idea that though it might not cut, the pressure of his hand might
plunge it into her flesh. Marvel unheard of through all the ages! The sword
bent back to the hilt, and in its defeat looked to its master, as if confessing
its inability to slay.
|
8. Proh,
rogo,
quae est ista securitas? Impendentem non timet mortem, laetatur percussa;
carnifex pallet; oculi gladium non videntes, tantum fibulam vident; et ne
parum esset, quod non formidabat inreritum praestat beneficium saevienti.
Jam igitur et tertium ictum sacramentum frustraverat Trinitatis. Jam
spiculator exterritus et non credens ferro, mucronem aptabat in jugulum,
ut qui secare non poterat, saltem premente manu, corpori conderetur. O
omnibus res inaudita saeculis! Ad capulum gladius reflectitur, et velut
dominum suum victus aspiciens, confessus est se ferire non posse. |
|
9. Let me call to my aid the example of the three children,
who, amid the cool, encircling fire, sang hymns, instead of weeping, and
around whose turbans and holy hair the flames played harmlessly. Let me
recall, too, the story of the blessed Daniel, in whose presence, though
he was their natural prey, the lions crouched, with fawning tails and frightened
mouths. Let Susannah also rise in the nobility of her faith before the
thoughts of all; who, after she had been condemned by an unjust sentence,
was saved through a youth inspired by the Holy Ghost. In both cases the
Lord's mercy was alike shewn; for while Susannah was set free by the judge,
so as not to die by the sword, this woman, though condemned by the judge,
was acquitted by the sword.
|
9. Huc huc mihi trium exempla puerorum, qui
inter frigidos flammarum globos hymnos edidere pro fletibus (Dan. 3):
circa quorum saraballa, sanctamque caesariem innoxium lusit incendium. Huc
beati Danielis revocetur historia, juxta quem adulantibus caudis, praedam
suam leonum ora timuerunt. Nunc Susanna nobilis fide, omnium subeat
mentibus, quae iniquo damnata judicio, Spiritu Sancto puerum replente,
salvata est. Ecce non dispar in utraque misericordia Domini. Illa liberata
per judicem, ne iret ad gladium: haec a judice damnata, absoluta per
gladium est. |
|
10. Now at length the populace rise in arms to defend
the woman. Men and women of every age join in driving away the executioner,
shouting round him in a surging crowd. Hardly a man dares trust his own
eyes. The disquieting news reaches the city close at hand, and the entire
force of constables is mustered. The officer who is responsible for the
execution of criminals bursts from among his men, and Staining his hoary
hair with soiling dust, exclaims: "What! citizens, do you mean to seek
my life? Do you intend to make me a substitute for her? However much your
minds are set on mercy, and however much you wish to save a condemned woman,
yet assuredly I—I who am innocent—ought not to perish." His tearful appeal
tells upon the crowd, they are all benumbed by the influence of sorrow,
and an extraordinary change of feeling is manifested. Before it had seemed
a duty to plead for the woman's life, now it seemed a duty to allow her
to be executed.
|
10. Tandem ergo ad feminam vindicandam populus
armatur. Omnis aetas, omnis sexus carnificem fugat, et coetu in circulum
coeunte exclamat. Non credit pene unusquisque quod videt. Turbatur tali
nuncio urbs propinqua; et tota lictorum caterva glomeratur. E quibus
medius, ad quem damnatorum cura pertinebat, erumpens, et Canitiem
immundam perfuso pulvere turpans (Aeneid. lib. XII): Quin meum,
inquit, o cives, petitis caput? me illi vicarium datis? Si estis
misericordes, si clementes estis, si vultis servare damnatam; innocens
certe perire non debeo. Quo fletu vulgi concussus est animus, moetusque se
per omnes torpor insinuat, et mirum in modum voluntate mutata, quum
pietatis fuisset, quod ante defenderant, pietatis visum est genus, ut
paterentur occidi. |
|
11. Accordingly a new sword is fetched, a new headsman
appointed. The victim takes her place, once more strengthened only with
the favor of Christ. The first blow makes her quiver, beneath the second
she sways to and fro, by the third she falls wounded to the ground. Oh,
majesty of the divine power highly to be extolled! She who previously had
received four strokes without injury, now, a few moments later, seems to
die that an innocent man may not perish in her stead.
|
11. Novus igitur ensis, novus percussor
apponitur. Stat victima, Christo tantum favente munita. Semel percussa
concutitur, iterum repetita quassatur, tertio vulnerata prosternitur. O
divinae potentiae sublimanda majestas! quae prius fuerat quarto percussa,
nec laesa, ideo post paululum visa est mori, ne pro ea periret innoxius. |
|
12. Those of the clergy whose duty it is to wrap the blood-stained
corpse in a winding-sheet, dig out the earth and, heaping together stones,
form the customary tomb. The sunset comes on quickly, and by God's mercy
the night of nature arrives more swiftly than is its wont. Suddenly the
woman's bosom heaves, her eyes seek the light, her body is quickened into
new life. A moment after she sighs, she looks round, she gets up and speaks.
At last she is able to cry: "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What
can man do unto me?"
|
12. Clericorum officium in sepeliendis
cadaveribus. — Clerici, quibus id officii erat, cruentum linteo
cadaver obvolvunt, et fossam humum lapidibus construentes, ex more tumulum
parant. Festinato sol cursu occasum petit, et misericordia Domini,
celeriore cursu naturae nox advenit. Subito feminae palpitat pectus, et
oculis quaerentibus lumen, corpus animatur ad vitam: jam spirat [al. suspirat],
jam videt, jam sublevatur, et loquitur. Jam in illam potest vocem
erumpere: Dominus auxiliator meus, non timebo quid faciat mihi homo
(Psal. 117). |
|
13. Meantime an aged woman, supported out of the funds
of the church, gave back her spirit to heaven from which it came. It seemed
as if the course of events had been thus purposely ordered, for her body
took the place of the other beneath the mound. In the gray dawn the devil
comes on the scene in the form of a constable, asks for the corpse of her
who had been slain, and desires to have her grave pointed out to him. Surprised
that she could have died, he fancies her to be still alive. The clergy
show him the fresh turf, and meet his demands by pointing to the earth
lately heaped up, taunting him with such words as these: "Yes, of course,
tear up the bones which have been buried! Declare war anew against the
tomb, and if even that does not satisfy you, pluck her limb from limb for
birds and beasts to mangle! Mere dying is too good for one whom it took
seven strokes to kill."
|
13. Anus interim quaedam, quae Ecclesiae
sustentabatur opibus, debitum coelo spiritum reddidit, et quasi de
industria ordine currente rerum, vicarium tumulo corpus operitur. Dubia
adhuc luce, in lictore diabolus occurrit, quaerit cadaver occisae,
sepulcrum sibi monstrari petit: vivere putat, quam mori potuisse miratur.
Recens a Clericis cespes ostenditur, et dudum superjecta humus cum his
vocibus ingeritur flagitanti. Erue scilicet ossa jam condita. Infer novum
sepulcro bellum; et si hoc parum est, avibus ferisque lanianda membra
discerpe. Septies percussa debet aliquid plus morte perpeti. |
| 14.
Before such opprobrious words the executioner retires
in confusion, while the woman is secretly revived at home. Then, lest the
frequency of the doctor's visits to the church might give occasion for
suspicion, they cut her hair short and send her in the company of some
virgins to a sequestered country house. There she changes her dress for
that of a man, and scars form over her wounds. Yet even after the great
miracles worked on her behalf, the laws still rage against her. So true
is it that, where there is most law, there, there is also most injustice.
|
14. Tali ergo
invidia carnifice confuso, clam domi mulier refocillatur. Et ne forte
creber medici ad Ecclesiam commeatus suspicionis panderet viam, cum
quibusdam virginibus ad secretiorem villulam secto crine transmittitur.
Ibi paulatim virili habitu, veste mutata, in cicatricem vulnus
obducitur. Et, o vere Jus summum, summa malitia! post tanta miracula
adhuc saeviunt leges. |
| 15. But now see whither the progress of my story has brought
me; we come upon the name of our friend Evagrius. So great have his exertions
been in the cause of Christ that, were I to suppose it possible adequately
to describe them, I should only show my own folly; and were I minded deliberately
to pass them by, I still could not prevent my voice from breaking out into
cries of joy. Who can fittingly praise the vigilance which enabled him
to bury, if I may so say, before his death Auxentius of Milan, that curse
brooding over the church? Or who can sufficiently extol the discretion
with which he rescued the Roman bishop from the toils of the net in which
he was fairly entangled, and showed him the means at once of overcoming
his opponents and of sparing them in their discomfiture? But
Such topics
I must leave to other bards,
Shut out by envious straits of time and space.
I am satisfied now to record the conclusion of my tale. Evagrius seeks
a special audience of the Emperor; importunes him with his entreaties,
wins his favor by his services, and finally gains his cause through his
earnestness. The Emperor restored to liberty the woman whom God had restored
to life.
|
15. En quo me
gestorum ordo protraxit. Jam enim ad Evagrii nostri nomen advenimus.
Cujus ego pro Christo laborem, si arbitrer a me dici posse, non sapiam;
si penitus tacere velim, voce in gaudium erumpente, non possim. Quis
enim valeat digno canere praeconio, Auxentium Mediolani incubantem,
hujus excubiis sepultum pene ante quam mortuum? Romanum Episcopum (Damasum)
jam pene factionis laqueis irretitum et vicisse adversarios, et non
nocuisse superatis? Verum haec ipse equidem spatiis exclusus iniquis.
Praetereo, atque aliis post me memoranda reliquo (Georgic.
lib. IV). Praesentis tantum rei fine contentus sum. Imperatorem (Valentinianum)
de industria adit, precibus fatigat, merito lenit, sollicitudine
promeretur; ut redditam vitae, redderet libertati. |
Source:
-
New Advent, Fathers of the Church, Letters of St. Jerome -
Letter 1
|
Source:
|
Note: The Latin word
rogo (I ask) is the same in
Istro-Romanian. |
