St. Jerome

St. Jerome, the greatest biblical scholar of ancient times after his model, Origen, could be described as a man of great passions as well as skills.  He could not abide anyone he considered a fool, but could not praise too highly a person whose character or accomplishments he appreciated.  In the prologue to the Latin edition he translated and revised of Philo’s book, ‘On the Hebrew Names’, we see Jerome, the man of letters, at work; his esteem for Origen; and his humble consideration of his own talent:

“Philo, a most eloquent Jew, is confirmed, by the testimony of Origen, to have written the book, ‘On the Hebrew Names’, on the etymologies of their names, in alphabetical order.  It was our desire to translate it into the Latin language since it was a common text among the Greeks and filled the libraries of the world.  However, I found the copies to differ so greatly among themselves, and thus their order so confused, that I considered it better to keep silent than to write something worthy of a reprimand.  But at the urging of my friends Lupulian and Valerian, who thought me as somewhat proficient in the Hebrew language, I ran through each volume of the Scriptures in its order, moved by the usefulness of a book such as this.  I think that I have renewed an old edifice with new care, which the Greeks should desire.  Therefore, if anything is omitted, let the reader know that this has been reserved for another work.  For, I now have in hand a book called, ‘Hebrew Questions’, a new work, as much for the Greeks as for the Latins, and even for places unheard of.  Not that I am extolling my hard work in a haughty fashion, but that, conscious of my sweat, I may alert those unaware of this in their reading.  If anyone wishes to have that book, the present volume, or ‘The Book of Places’, which I am about to edit, he should pay little attention to the belching and nausea of the Jews.  And lest perhaps after the edifice had been completed the last section of it would be missing, I have interpreted the words and names of the New Testament.  In this, I wished to imitate Origen, whom no one, except an ignorant person, would deny to be the master of the Scriptures, after the Apostles.  For, he labored on distinguished books and on this one, among others, with his own skill, so that what Philo omitted, as a Jew, he would complete, as a Christian.”