4.
This is the hissing of the old serpent; by counsel such as this the dragon drove man from Paradise. For he promised that if they would prefer fulness to fasting they should be immortal, as though it were an impossibility for them to fall; and while he promises they shall be as Gods, he drives them from Paradise, with the result that they who, while naked and unhampered, and as virgins unspotted enjoyed the fellowship of the Lord were cast down into the vale of tears, and sewed skins together to clothe themselves withal. But, not to detain the reader any longer, I will keep to the division given above and taking his propositions one by one will rely chiefly on the evidence of Scripture to refute them, for fear he may chatter and complain that he was overcome by rhetorical skill rather than by force of truth. If I succeed in this and with the aid of a cloud of witnesses from both Testaments prove too strong for him, I will then accept his challenge, and adduce illustrations from secular literature. I will show that even among philosophers and distinguished statesmen, the virtuous are wont to be preferred by all to the voluptuous, that is to say men like 1 Pythagoras, 2 Plato and 3 Aristides, to 4 Aristippus, 5 Epicurus and 6 Alcibiades. I entreat virgins of both sexes and all such as are continent, the married also and the twice married, to assist my efforts with their prayers. Jovinian is the common enemy. For he who maintains all to be of equal merit, does no less injury to virginity in comparing it with marriage than he does to marriage, when he allows it to be lawful, but to the same extent as second and third marriages. But to digamists and trigamists also he does wrong, for he places on a level with them whoremongers and the most licentious persons as soon as they have repented; but perhaps those who have been married twice or thrice ought not to complain, for the same whoremonger if penitent is made equal in the kingdom of heaven even to virgins. I will therefore explain more clearly and in proper sequence the arguments he employs and the illustrations he adduces respecting marriage, and will treat them in the order in which he states them. And I beg the reader not to be disturbed if he is compelled to read Jovinian’s nauseating trash. He will all the more gladly drink Christ’s antidote after the devil’s poisonous concoction. Listen with patience, ye virgins; listen, I pray you, to the voice of the most voluptuous of preachers; nay rather close your ears, as you would to the Syren’s fabled songs, and pass on. For a little while endure the wrongs you suffer: think you are crucified with Christ, and are listening to the blasphemies of the Pharisees.
The philosopher of Crotona, in Italy, b.c. 580–510. See some of his sayings in Jerome’s Apology, iii. 39–40. ↩
The great teacher of the Academy at Athens; lived b.c. 428–389. ↩
Surnamed the “Just.” He was the opponent of Themistocles. He fought at Marathon (490), and although in exile did good service at Salamis (480). He was now recalled, and after commanding the Athenians at Platæa (479) died, probably in 468, so poor that he did not leave enough to pay for his funeral. ↩
Flourished about b.c. 370. A disciple of Socrates, and founder of the Cyrenaic School of Philosophy; he was luxurious in his life, and held pleasure to be the highest good. ↩
Epicurus ( b.c. 342–270), though a disciple of Aristippus, does not appear to have deserved the odium attached to his name by Jerome and many others. “Pleasure with him was not a mere momentary and transitory sensation, but something lasting and imperishable, consisting in pure and noble enjoyments, that is, in ἀταραξία and ἀπονία , or the freedom from pain and from all influences which disturb the peace of our mind, and thereby our happiness which is the result of it.” See Zeller’s Socrates and the Socratic Schools (Reichel’s translation), second ed., p. 337 sq. ↩
The famous Athenian, talented, reckless and unscrupulous; born about b.c. 450, assassinated 404. ↩
