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Paola Francesca Moretti

Jeromes Epistolary Portraits of Holy

Women: Some Remarks about Their
1
Alleged Multilingualism
This paper considers women either directly or indirectly portrayed in
Jeromes letters with a focus on the culture with which they are endowed
and especially their knowledge of languages. Their multilingualism obvi-
ously serves Jeromes purpose of implicitly legitimating himself as a spiri-
tual guide, and enhancing his own scriptural and doctrinal authority.
Nonetheless it should not be considered a strictly literary topos, stemming
from the classical tradition of the rhetorical praise of paideia. Moreover,
if the knowledge of Greek stands out as a feature common to both Chris-
tians and pagans of the fourth-century aristocratic elite, Jeromes womens
multilingualism in some respects must be related to a speci cally Christian
cultural background.

Jeromes epistolary corpus contains 123 letters, which were written through-
out his life, 2 from about 374, during his rst stay in the East, until his death
in Bethlehem, in 419 or 420.3 This extensive corpus covers a huge geographi-
cal area: Jerome exchanged correspondence while residing in Constantinople,
Antioch, and the desert of Chalcis, Rome, and Bethlehem, with people living
almost everywhere in the Roman Empire.

1
I wish to thank all those who have discussed these topics with me, both during the International
Workshop Linguistic and Cultural Alterity in the Roman Empire: Historiography and Panegy-
rics, held in Pamplona, Universidad de Navarra, in October 2012 (where I presented the paper:
Linguistic Otherness in Jeromes Epistolary Praises of Holy Women), and during the lecture I
held at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana), November 2012 (Portraits of Cultured Women
in Jeromes Epistolary Corpus). Heartfelt thanks also to the readers for JLA for their copious and
helpful suggestions.
2
I quote the Latin text of Hilberg 19101918, and the English translations by Cain 2013 (Ep.
108) and by Freemantle 1893 (all other letters, with slight changes).
3
On Jeromes life, see Cavallera 1922; Kelly 1975; Rebenich 2002, 359. On Jeromes letters, cf.
Conring 2001; Cain 2009.

280 Journal of Late Antiquity 7.2 (Fall): 280297 2014 Johns Hopkins University Press
 MORETTI ^ Jeromes Epistolary Portraits of Holy Women 281

Jeromes Correspondence with

Female Ascetics: An Overview
There are two ways in which women feature in Jeromes letters. Firstly, some
letters present the reader with portraits of praiseworthy women: often the
women described were deceased, as in Letters 23 (Lea, to Marcella), 39 (Ble-
silla, to Paula), 66 (Paulina, to her husband Pammachius), 77 (Fabiola, to
Oceanus), 108 (Paula, to her daughter Eustochium), 127 (Marcella, to Prin-
cipia); in others Jerome exhorts female addressees to the Christian and ascetic
lifestyle, although here too these letters often verge into portraits of ideal
females, distinguished as libelli de viduitate seu virginitate servanda (Letters
22, to Eustochium; 54, to Furia; 123, to Ageruchia; 130, to Demetrias) and
libelli de institutione virginum (Letters 107, about the younger Paula; 128,
about Pacatula). Secondly, women are his correspondents: about one-third
of the letters are directed to female friends and/or disciples, belonging to the
cultured Christian and ascetic aristocracy that in the late fourth century was
establishing itself as the true heir to the ancient Roman pagan aristocracy.4
Hence, the female portraits Jerome presents to us may be either explicit
laudationes of womenor implicit and indirectfor instance, when letters
contain certain learned explanations of Greek or Hebrew words, we presume
that the female reader understood these languages.
Both the great variety of Jeromes letters5 and the different ways in which
women feature in them are shown in a collection we might consider, following
Jeromes own suggestion, to be nearly self-contained: the ad Marcellam epistula-
rum librum unum that he lists among his own works in the De viris illustribus of
393.6 This liber is a collection of letters addressed to Marcella, the noble ascetic
widow described by Jerome, that is, from the founder of female asceticism in
Rome to one of his most brilliant disciples.7 It must have contained at least six-
teen letters.8 Here I describe briey some of them and their various features.

4
About these Roman aristocratic women, who, both in Rome and in the Holy Land, schufen
die Grundlage seines Erfolges als asketische Autoritt, als Bibelbersetzer und als Schiftexeget,
see Rebenich 1992, 15492, at 179. Cf. also Kelly 1975, 91103, 27382 and passim; Feichtinger
1995, 165235, 31723; Krumeich 1973.
5
The protean quality of epistolography puzzles modern scholars trying to de ne it, but makes
this genre uniquely serviceable for artful writers (Wilson 2001, 186), as Jerome was.
6
Jer. Vir. ill. 135. This chapter is pointedly de ned as an auto-bibliography by Cain 2009, 13;
cf. also Nautin 1984, 32930.
7
On Marcella, PCBE II/2, 135762, s.v. Marcella 1; Letsch-Brunner 1998; cf. also Feich-
tinger 1995, 16877; Krumeich 1993, 7079; and lastly, Graves 2011, who describes her as a
Christian grammatica (387) and argues that some features of the historical Marcella can be
inferred from Jeromes works.
8
See Letsch-Brunner 1998, 84171, and Cain 2009, 6898 (on their dates, Cavallera 1922, II,
2226). A full list includes Epp. 25, 26, 28, 29, 34, 37 (relating to the Old Testament), and Epp.
282 Journal of Late Antiquity

Firstly, the familiar exchange of exegetical letters (un feuilleton epistolaire)9

represented by Epp. 26 to 29: in Ep. 26 (),10 concerning some Hebrew
words that are preserved in the Latin Bible (alleluia, amen, maran atha), Jerome
refers to Marcellas question about the meaning of sela (Greek ) and
ephod; in Ep. 27 (), he justies his revision of the Latin Gospel using
its Greek original but apparently neglects to treat Marcellas questions; in Ep.
28 (), he evokes Ep. 26 and explains sela; while in Ep. 29 ()
he answers her second question. Secondly, some letters present short portraits
of ascetics: Ep. 23 (), a consolatory letter about the widow Lea,
contrasting her eternal destiny with that of her pagan contemporary Vettius
Agorius Praetextatus; Ep. 24 (), a panegyric of the virgin Asella; Ep.
38 (), a description of Blesillas illness and conversion to asceticism.
Marcellas portrait is then completed by her epitaphium, Ep. 127
(), addressed to the virgo Principia. This was written two years
after its protagonists death (411),11 and of course it could not be part of the
liber referred to by Jerome in 393. Marcella is praised both for her divinarum
Scripturarum ardor and for her ability to ask Jerome questions about the
Scriptures and to learn from him.12
Collections of letters concerning other women, like Paula and Fabiola,13
may be viewed as miniaturized versions of the ad Marcellam liber. Both Paula
and Fabiola received from their mentor complex exegeticalor otherwise eru-
diteletters: see for instance Ep. 33 to Paula, the catalogue of Origens works
compared to those of Varro, and Epp. 64 and 78 to Fabiola, two long treatises
about Hebrew priestly garments and ornaments, and about the campsites listed
in Num 33; and both women are praised in lengthy letters after their deaths.14

27, 40, 41, 42 (relating to the New Testament), most of them connected with his task as a biblical
translator; Epp. 23, 24, 38 (letters concerning other women: Blesilla, Lea, Asella); Epp. 32, 43, 44
(other subjects).
9
Canellis 2004, 370.
10
Jeromes letters are here de ned within the frame of late ancient epistolary theory, following
Cain 2009, 21119.
11
Cavallera 1922, II, 53.
12
Ep. 127.4, 7. Marcella is often mentioned elsewhere in the letters: see Epp. 47.3 and 48.4,
where she is said to preserve and disseminate her mentors works, and Ep. 65.2, where she is
described as a clever biblical scholar (her critical sense is praised by Jerome also at In Gal., prol.).
See Letsch-Brunner 1998.
13
PCBE II/2, 161726, s.v. Paula 1; PCBE II/1, 73435, s.v. Fabiola 1.
14
Paula is the addressee of Epp. 30, 33, 39 (dating from 384385, when Jerome was in Rome:
Cavallera 1922, II, 2326); Fabiola of Epp. 64, 78 (dating from 397 and 400: Cavallera 1922, II,
4446). Paulas epitaphium, Ep. 108 (; see now Cain 2013), is directed to Eustochium
in 404, while Fabiolas, Ep. 77 (), is written to Oceanus in 400 (Cavallera 1922, II,
46, 51). Ep. 78 is attached to 77, because Jerome, having been asked by Fabiola for an explanation
of Num 33, nished it only after Fabiolas death (cf. Ep. 77.7).
 MORETTI ^ Jeromes Epistolary Portraits of Holy Women 283

Jeromes Letters and Literary Self-Referentiality

There are clues that suggest Jeromes letters must be taken with a grain of salt
by those trying to infer historical elements from them. Jeromes epistolary
corpus is not haphazard, but was conceived and constructed as a literary self-
portrait. Jeromes letters15 may well be considered as sophisticated textual
performances, intended to advertise their author to his contemporaries and
posterity, an effect he also fostered by arranging epistolary texts into col-
lections.16 Jerome himself was clearly aware of the way he built single letters
into a corpus,17 as: (i) he presents many cross-references between different
epistles; (ii) he mentions some sub-collections (see chapter 135 of the De
viris illustribus, and passim in the letters); (iii) he refers to the publication and
the desired or unwelcome dissemination of his letters. In this way, he reminds
us of Pliny the Younger,18 who consciously embeds in his texts [to wit, his
letters] the self-portrait of a man of strenuous political activity and incessant
cultural commitment, a portrait that cannot be separated from the textual
corpus that articulates it.19 In the same way Jerome, portraying himself as
a champion of ascetics and an authoritative biblical scholar, constructs what
might be called an idealized epistolary self-presentation.20
Furthermore, Jeromes detailed knowledge of and extreme gusto for school
rhetoric reinforce the impression of the literarity of the corpus. Rhetoric
comes into play variously, as it is part of Jeromes scholastic education. Firstly,
the rhetoric of epistolography, a genre that on the one hand was characterized
by a strict etiquette, 21 and on the other hand was so uid in its boundaries
that it could also envelope other genres. Secondly, the rhetoric of panegy-
ric, namely the praise of a living person, 22 and of /laudatio

15
This, on the one hand, corresponds to the most recent trends in the study of ancient letter writ-
ing. By way of introduction to the theme, see Ebbeler 2009; 2012a; 2012b, 2023. It also matches
Jeromes personality very well, as often suggested by scholars: Vessey 1993; Conring 2001, 131
(his letters do not show wie Hieronymus ist, but wie er sich prsentiert, welches Bild von sich
er seinen Korrespondenzpartnern suggerieren mchte); Rebenich 2002, 159 (Jeromes works as
literarische Selbstdarstellung); and Cain 2009.
16
Ebbeler 2012a, 272; 2009, 470.
17
I do not mean, of course, to credit him with the publication of his letters as a corpus.
18
About Jeromes knowledge of Pliny, see Cain 2008.
19
Marchesi 2008, 212; cf. viii.
20
Cain 2009, 6.
21
Ancient theorists include, among others, Demetrius, De elocutione; Ps.-Demetrius, T
; Ps.-Libanius, E , all collected in Malherbe 1988. See also
Thraede 1970; Cugusi 1985; Gibson and Morello 2007.
22
Ancient theorists include Menander II, 36877 Sp., in Russell and Wilson 1981. See also
Pernot 1993, I, 15378; and Rees 2007. Some of Jeromes epistles, such as Ep. 130, should prob-
ably be included among those late ancient panegyrics of living subjects that would have surprised
or even dismayed Cicero, Quintilian, and other theoreticians from the late Republic and early
284 Journal of Late Antiquity

funebris, 23 which is often intertwined with panegyric. Jerome is conscious

that panegyrics of both kinds profess a twofold object: to praise, and to set
an example for emulation,24 while also pursuing a third aim, to enhance the
speakers reputation, even if this is never mentioned.25 Thirdly, Jerome makes
copious use of meta-rhetoric: calculated reection on the art of rhetoric
remains a part of rhetoric itself, we could say.26
Hence, Jerome often gives his readers more or less explicit clues about
being a conscious disciple of the rhetorical school and seems to be aware that
the more cultured and noble his women arewhether addressees or objects of
praisethe more effective his self-propaganda as a religious authority would
be. An outstanding example of this are the words with which Jerome, in about
405, addressed to the Gaul Algasia, who posed some scriptural quaestiones
(Ep. 121, praef.): Jerome makes a hyperbolic comparison between Algasia
and the Queen of Sheba, which obviously implies a comparison between him-
self and Solomon, so that we cannot avoid the impression that the praise of
Jeromes correspondent points back to Jerome himself.

Jerome and the Linguistic Erudition

of His Female Addressees
The women of Jeromes letters are accorded various cultural attributes by
their mentor, and by him alone.27 They appear to know grammar.28 They
are properly educated, especially concerning the Scriptures, and are required
to cultivate their knowledge throughout life, as lectio should be one of their
main occupations.29 Most importantly, they are eager to know Jeromes

Empire because of their being aunted as a recognizable stamp of Roman sophistication (Rees
2007, 139).
23
Ancient theorists include Menander II, 41822 Sp. See Kierdorf 1980; Rees 2007, 138;
Rebenich 1992, 18192 (on Jerome).
24
Pernot 1993, II, 71024 speaks of a function parnetique et idologique.
25
Hgg and Hgel 2000, 2.
26
Paraphrasing Hgg and Hgel 2000, 2 (on meta-panegyric); see also Menander II, passim.
27
In fact some of them are known to us also from other sources (for a full list, see PCBE s.vv.),
but these sources do not explicitly mention their cultural attainments.
28
As we can infer from discussion of the meaning of Latin active and passive participles (Ep.
34.3, to Marcella: excutientes vs. excussi), the metrics of biblical texts (Epp. 30.3, to Paula, and
130.18, to Demetrias), the use of technical grammar terms (Ep. 78.37, to Fabiola: ;
Ep. 121.8, to Algasia: hyperbolice), and references to scholarly etymologies (Ep. 40.2, to Marcella:
use of antiphrastic etymologies).
29
See for instance Ep. 22.37 (Eustochium must learn the Bible by heart); Ep. 54.11 (Furias daily
pensum must be the study of the Bible); Ep. 127.3 (Marcellas ardor Scripturarum) and 7 (her bibli-
cal knowledge, along with her modesty: she never appears to teach her male friends and mentors);
Ep. 128.3 (Pacatula should start to study the Bible when she reaches the age of seven).
 MORETTI ^ Jeromes Epistolary Portraits of Holy Women 285

answers to their Scriptural questions,30 although they are often warned that
curiosity, eagerness for biblical culture, and even reading itself can become
dangerous.31 Jerome reports that some of his female disciples request transla-
tions and exegetical works, and he dedicates these works to others.32 This
sheds light on his network of female followers and patrons. We must not
forget that throughout his life Jerome was skilled in weaving and preserving
networks of people (men and women), to support his exegetical, theological,
and translational enterprises.33
There are sceptics who have questioned the education (and even the exis-
tence!) of Jeromes women.34 However, the fact that their culture helped
Jeromeboth in spiritual and in material termsto position himself as a
religious authority should not lead us to question their learning.35
As a matter of fact their literacy consisted rst of all in being able to read
and write Latin with full mastery: theirs was highly functional literacy,
related to their roles as initiators, facilitators, and sustainers of a set of dis-
cursive exchanges.36 In fact, they both promoted their mentors activity and
circulated his works.
In light of this, we can also assume that their multilingualism,37 for
all that it enhances Jeromes self-presentation as an auctoritas, should not

30
This is true for Marcella (Epp. 25.1, 26.1, 28.1, 59.1; see also In Gal., prol.); Paula (Epp. 30.1,
34.3, 37.4); Fabiola (Ep. 64.8); Principia (Ep. 65.1); Hedibia (Ep. 120); Algasia (Ep. 121).
31
Ep. 75.3 (CSEL 55: 32), to Theodora: Jerome criticizes heretics who deceive women, quae
ducuntur variis desideriis semper discentes et numquam ad scientiam veritatis pervenientes [2
Tim 3:67] (he quotes the same Pauline text in Ep. 130.17, while warning against female curiosity);
see also Jeromes remark in Ep. 22.29 (CSEL 54: 187): melius est aliquid nescire securam, quam
cum periculo discere. Cf. Laurence 1997, 4067.
32
He dedicates to Paula and Eustochium: (i) his commentaries on Pauls epistles, which had been
requested by Marcella; (ii) his commentary on Ecclesiastes and his translations of Origens homilies
on the Gospel of Luke, both written at Blesillas request. To Eustochium he dedicates his com-
mentary on Isaiah, requested by Paula (he also dedicates to Eustochium the biblical translations of
Joshua, Judges with Ruth, and Esther after Paulas death). See Laurence, 1997, 4013.
33
In this respect, the best prosopographical study concerning such circles is still Rebenich 1992.
To Rebenichs work must be added Disselkamp 1997; Consolino 2006; 2013.
34
See for instance Vessey 1993, 144, where Marcella is labeled as essentially Jeromes crea-
ture; for a (partial) palinode, cf. Vessey 2005, 73.
35
So Rousseau 1995, who connects Jeromes female friends with a longstandingpagantradition
of learned women; Laurence 1997, 395440; Disselkamp 1997, 15470, who compares Marcellas
intellectual pursuits to those of the poetess Proba; Krumeich 1993, 21427; Rebenich 1992, 15470.
36
So Vessey 2005, 84, in a paper focusing on Augustines female correspondents, who, I should
remark, are not totally comparable to Jeromes. For instance, Vessey (contrary to Conybeare 2005)
is not willing to credit all of Augustines female correspondents with the ability to write and read
good Latin.
37
Here I adopt a minimalist de nition of bilingualism (viz. multilingualism), as embracing
an in nitely variable range of competences in the two [or more] languages, from native uency on
the one hand to imperfect competence verging on incompetence on the other (Adams 2003, 8).
286 Journal of Late Antiquity

necessarily be adjudged false. Jeromes women are endowed by him with

scriptural multilingualism: namely, a knowledge of LatinGreek, or even
LatinGreekHebrew, which enables them to read the Bible in its different
versions and to appreciate Jeromes talents for translation and exegesis.38 It is
a feature they share with their mentor, who, having experienced a linguis-
tic conversion (possibly symbolized by the famous dream spoken of in Ep.
22.30),39 is himself multilingual: he boasts of his knowledge of Latin, Greek,
Hebrew, and Aramaic (that is, Syriac).40 In this respect both Jerome and his
female disciples may be dened as bi(b)lingual (rather than bilingual), as their
multilingualism is closely connected to scriptural knowledge.
To understand this it is necessary to offer a brief survey on how bilin-
gualism features in Jeromes correspondence with women.41 Firstly, Jeromes
female friends sometimesbut not oftenare described as being uent in
Greek and (biblical) Hebrew. Remarkably in the epitaphium of Blesilla,42 the
young woman, who died shortly before Jeromes departure from Rome (385),
is praised for her trilingualism. Her linguistic talent allows her to sound Greek
to Greeks, and Roman to Latin speakers, and to learn Hebrew so promptly
as to be compared with another of Jeromes multilingual heroes, Origen:

Had you heard her speak Greek you would have deemed her ignorant of
Latin; yet when she used the tongue of Rome her words were free from a for-
eign accent. She even rivaled the great Origen in those acquirements which
won for him the admiration of Greece. For in a few months, or rather days,
she so completely mastered the difficulties of Hebrew as to emulate her moth-
ers zeal in learning and singing the psalms.43

38
On Greek, cf. Bardy 1948, 21423; Courcelle 1969, 14344; Rebenich 1992, 16667; Kru-
meich 1993, 21427; Laurence 1997, 41718. On Hebrew, cf. Brown 1992, 82, who admits Jerome
exaggerates a bit on this point; Rebenich 1992, 16677; Laurence 1997, 418.
39
See Adkin 2003, 28397, according to whom the dream, where God blames Jerome for being
Ciceronian (Ciceronianus es, non Christianus: Ep. 22.30, CSEL 54: 190), may be interpreted as
symbolizing Jeromes linguistic conversion towards a basically Christian scriptural multilingual-
ism, centered on the learning of Hebrew, rather than his condemnation of the study of rhetoric and
of classical pagan literature.
40
As he himself says (in 401402) at Adv. Ruf. 2.22 (CCSL 79: 58): Crimini ei [namely Epipha-
nius] dandum est quare Graecam et Syram et Hebraeam et Aegyptiacam linguam, ex parte et
Latinam noverit? Ergo et Apostolus et apostolici viri, qui linguis loquebantur, in crimine sunt, et
me trilinguem bilinguis ipse ridebis? On Latin, Greek and Hebrew, see Rebenich 1993; on Hebrew
and Syriac, Brown 1992, 7185; King 2009.
41
See also Laurence 1997, 41718.
42
PCBE I/1, 31011, s.v. Blesilla.
43
Ep. 39.1 (CSEL 54: 294): Si Graece audisses loquentem, Latine eam nescire iurasses; si in
Romanum sonum lingua se verterat, nihil omnino peregrinus sermo redolebat. Iam vero, quod
in Origene illo Graecia tota miratur, in paucis non dico mensibus, sed diebus ita Hebraeae
linguae vicerat diffi cultates, ut in ediscendis canendisque psalmis cum matre [namely Paula]
 MORETTI ^ Jeromes Epistolary Portraits of Holy Women 287

But it is Paulas epitaphium (Ep. 108) that should be considered as the great-
est tribute paid by Jerome to his heroinesand to his ownmultilingualism.
Paulas speech, on her arrival at the grotto of the Nativity, indirectly praises
Jerome, as she says she owes whatever Hebrew she knows to him, and she
displays her knowledge of Greek and Hebrew:

Hail, Bethlehem, house of bread [Hebrew etymology], where the Bread that
comes down from heaven was born. Hail, Ephrathah, an abundantly rich and
fruit-bearing [] area whose crop is God.... He [David] imme-
diately explained the object of his longing and with the eyes of a prophet he
foresaw the coming of the one whom we believe to have already come: We
heard about him in Ephratah, we have found him in the elds of the wooded
area. Now, the Hebrew word zoth, as I have learned from your instruc-
tion, does not mean her (), as in Mary the mother of the Lord, but him
(), as in the Lord himself. For this reason he condently says: We will
enter his dwelling place and worship in the place where his feet stood.44

Paula is credited with a prodigious memory; she knows the Bible by heart and,
most importantly, she learned Hebrew in a very short time, and her pronun-
ciation does not betray her Latin origins:

She wished to learn Hebrewwhich I learned imperfectly in my youth at

the cost of tremendous effort and exertion and which by means of tireless
study I make a point not to abandon, lest it abandon meand she mastered
it so thoroughly that she could sing the Psalms in Hebrew and enunciate her
words without the faintest trace of a Latin accent. The same accomplishment
can be seen to this day in her daughter Eustochium.45

The last words she speaks to Jerome are verses of the Psalms and some Greek
words reassuring him she is in peace, a detail suggesting her familiarity with

contenderet. This epistle, having been written before the outbreak of the Origenist controversy,
expresses a positive view of Origen. About the relationship between Jerome and Origen, see
Clark 1992, 12151.
44
Ep. 108.10 (CSEL 55: 31618): Salve, Bethlem, domus panis, in qua natus est ille panis, qui
de caelo descendit. Salve, Ephrata, regio uberrima atque , cuius fertilitas Deus est....
Et statim [David], quid desideraret, exposuit atque oculis prophetalibus, quem nos venisse iam
credimus, ille venturum esse cernebat: Ecce audivimus eum in Ephrata, invenimus eum in campis
silvae [Ps 131:6]. Zoth quippe sermo Hebraicus, ut te docente didici, non Mariam matrem
domini, hoc est , sed ipsum, id est , signi cat. Unde loquitur con denter: Introibi-
mus in tabernacula eius; adorabimus in loco, ubi steterunt pedes eius [Ps 131:7].
45
Ep. 108.26 (CSEL 55: 34445): Hebraeam linguam, quam ego ab adulescentia multo labore
ac sudore ex parte didici et infatigabili meditatione non desero, ne ipse ab ea deserar, discere
voluit et consecuta est ita, ut psalmos Hebraeice caneret et sermonem absque ulla Latinae linguae
proprietate resonaret. Quod quidem usque hodie in sancta lia eius Eustochio cernimus.
288 Journal of Late Antiquity

this language. Also her funeral is a sort of multilingual festival, as Psalms

are sung in languages of the people gathering from everywhere to mourn her
death.46
Secondly, Jeromes female friends must have known Greek and Hebrew,
because the most ambitious exegetical letterssuch as Epp. 28, 29, 34 (to
Marcella), 30 (to Paula), 64, 78 (to Fabiola)47contain an impressive number
of Hebrew words, each of them followed by Greek and Latin translations, and
spiritual interpretations. Marcella, Paula, Fabiola, and others would hardly
have appreciated the letters sent to them without knowing Greek and Hebrew.
For instance, Ep. 25 (requested by and directed to Marcella, see Ep. 25.1)
talks about Gods ten Hebrew names: each of them is quoted in Hebrew, and
explained by means of its Greek (Aquila, the Septuagint) and Latin trans-
lations. Greek words, when the meaning of scriptural text is involved, are
accompanied by their Latin translations, while Greek technical grammar
terms are not.48 This suggests that the addressee is sufficiently educated to
understand them.
GreekLatin bilingualism is hinted at by many elements that occur
throughout the epistles, sometimes broadly cultural rather than strictly
linguistic: (i) Paula can appreciate Origens works, thatin the manner of
Pliny Ep. 3.5 (on his uncles works)are fully listed for her in Ep. 33; (ii)
we nd a huge number of Greek loan-words, mostly glossed in Latin, inter-
spersed among the letters;49 (iii) Jerome sometimes hints at etymologies of
Greek names, for instance, the names of the genera monachorum explained
to Eustochium in Ep. 22.50
As for Hebrew, we cannot avoid the impression that the womens alleged
linguistic erudition gives Jerome the opportunity to display his own culture,
and that a full knowledge of this language in his female disciples is presum-
ably hoped for, rather than fully possessed by them.51 This would explain,
for instance, why Jerome remarks that Paula would easily forget his teach-
ings on the Hebrew alphabet, due to the barbaries of that language, unless

46
Ep. 108.2829.
47
We must bear in mind that Ep. 78, although completed after Fabiolas death (see above, n. 14),
was nonetheless written for her.
48
See Ep. 25.2 (CSEL 54: 21819): Primum Dei nomen est hel, quod Septuaginta Deum,
Aquila eius exprimens , id est fortem interpretatur.
49
See Ep. 79.9 (CSEL 55: 98), a consolatory epistle to Salvina (PLRE I, 799, s.v. Salvina), on
her husbands death: Diffi cile est, quin potius inpossibile, perturbationum initiis carere quempiam,
quas signi cantius Graeci vocant, nos, ut verbum vertamus e verbo, antepassiones
possumus dicere. Jer. Ep. 79 dates from 400401, see Cavallera 1922, II, 46.
50
Ep. 22.34 (CSEL 54: 196): coenobium, quod ... nos in commune viventes possumus appel-
lare; anachoretae ... ab eo, quod procul ab hominibus recesserint, nuncupantur.
51
See above, n. 38.
 MORETTI ^ Jeromes Epistolary Portraits of Holy Women 289

he writes them down (Ep. 30.2); and why Jerome always mentions Hebrew
names commented upon in Ep. 64 along with their Greek and Latin transla-
tions, and occasionally further explains these using a vulgar Latin syn-
onym.52 Hence, if knowledge of Greek is felt as necessary to every Christian
(virgin) woman, as shown in the prescriptions on the education of little Paula,
elder Paulas granddaughter, a child to be consecrated to God, knowledge of
Hebrew is peculiar to few prominent women, who are the subjects of a sort
of hero-worship.53
Thirdly, besides the famous Letters 57 (De optimo genere interpretandi,
which is addressed to Pammachius) and 106 (to the Gothic monks Sunnia and
Fretela, on Hebrew and Greek Psalters), even in letters addressed to women
we are often met with discussions about translation theory and practice. See,
for instance, Ep. 26, where Jerome explains the words alleluia, amen and
maran atha, addingin the wake of Origenthat the Septuagint translators
have not rendered them into Greek in order to preserve their power; Ep. 27, an
apology for Jeromes endeavor to emend the Latin text of the Gospel accord-
ing to the Greek original; Ep. 34, on Psalm 126, which also examines the
Hebrew text; Ep. 65, on Psalm 44, containing remarks on its Hebrew, Greek,
and Latin texts; Ep. 97, a preface to his own Latin translation of Theophiluss
epistula Paschalis (Ep. 98); Ep. 121.10, where, in explaining a Pauline passage
made obscure by the Latin translators (Col 2.1819), Jerome observes inter-
estingly that the Apostle himself was confronted with the problem of translat-
ing from Hebrew to Greek (although he knew Greek very well).
Fourthly, we should not forget the biblical commentaries and the
scriptural and non-scriptural translations Jerome dedicates to his female
correspondents.54
Hence, biblical erudition and linguistic skills coexist in womens portraits.
Bi(b)lingualism renders these women capable of understanding that translat-
ing is a difficult task, especially when the text of the Bible is at stake, and
hence of appreciating Jeromes endeavors in this eld.

52
Ep. 64.11 (CSEL 54: 598), about Hebrew cotonat, Greek : Volo pro legentis facilitae
abuti sermone vulgato: solent militantes habere lineas, quas camisas vocant; Ep. 64.14 (CSEL 54:
600): Reliqua quattuor [vestimenta] proprie ponti cum sunt, quorum primum est mail, id est
tunica talaris, tota hyacinthina, ex lateribus eiusdem coloris adsutas habens manicas et in superi-
ori parte, qua collo induitur, aperta, quod vulgo capitium vocant.
53
Ep. 107.9 (CSEL 55: 300): Reddat tibi pensum cotidie Scripturarum certum. Ediscat Grae-
corum versuum numerum. Sequatur statim et Latina eruditio; quae si non ab initio os tenerum
conposuerit, in peregrinum sonum lingua corrumpitur et externis vitiis sermo patrius sordidatur
(here Jerome clearly depends on Quint. 1.1.1214). On Paula, PCBE II/2, 162728, s.v. Paula 3.
On Epp. 107 and 128, see Petersen 1994.
54
See above, n. 32.
290 Journal of Late Antiquity

The Topos of Multilingualism

The praise of paideia is admittedly a quite common topos of panegyrics.
We encounter it in Menander, who recommends that the love of learning,
quickness, enthusiasm for study, and easy grasp[ing] of what is taught
should be praised.55 The intellectual skills of Blesilla (Ep. 39.1) and Paula (Ep.
108.26) are praised accordingly. But what is striking about them is that their
paideia also embraces a special, nearly prodigious talent for multilingualism:
they learn both quickly and perfectly, and Blesilla is praised for sounding
Greek to Greeks, and Roman to Latin speakers. Precedents for this sort of
praise of bilingualism are rare in earlier literature,56 but there is a passage by
Cornelius Nepos to which Jeromes literary description of Blesillas bilingual-
ism may be indebted. In his Life of Atticus, Cornelius Nepos, whom Jerome
quotes in the prologue of his De viris illustribus,57 reports that, when Atticus
spoke Greek or Latin, he sounded like a native speaker: Sic enim Graece loque-
batur, ut Athenis natus videretur; tanta autem suavitas erat sermonis Latini,
ut appareret in eo nativum quendam leporem esse, non ascitum.58 In fact
Atticus, a rened erudite, whose Latin and Greek works are listed by Nepos
(Att. 18), shares something else with Jeromes women: he owes his perennial
fame (also) to Ciceros epistolary corpus, mentioned in Att. 16.3. Atticus, who
exchanged letters with Cicero (but also with Caesar and Anthony, Att. 20), is
an epistolary hero, whose prole can be reconstructed by reading the letters
Cicero addressed to him. Accordingly, we cannot discount the possibility that
Neposs Atticus is a model for the portraits of Jeromes epistolary heroines,
whose erudition and linguistic achievements rival those of Ciceros cultured
male friend.
A nal observation regarding the literary presentation of bilingualism: the
description of Blesillas bilingualism is often coupled with that of Melania the
Younger,59 and hence disregarded as if it were a topos.60 But I suspect that,
if the bilingualism of late Roman aristocratic ascetics became a topos in the

55
, , ,
(Men. II, 372 Sp.). See also Pernot 1993, I, 16163.
56
See, for example, Ciceros judgment of Crassus, De or. 2.2: Graece sic loqui, nullam ut nosse
aliam linguam videretur; and theobviously exaggeratedremark about Mitridates at Gell.
17.17.2: Mitridates mastered twenty-two languages and, ut quemque ab eo appellari usus fuit,
proinde lingua et oratione ipsius non minus scite, quam si gentilis eius esset, locutus est. On the
questionable reliability of Roman estimates of their own knowledge of Greek, see Horsfall 1979.
57
Hagendahl 1958, 167 n. 2, gives evidence of Jerome possibly quoting Nepos Life of Cicero.
58
Corn. Nep. Att. 4.1; cf. Horsfall 1989, 6465.
59
VMel. 26; cf. PLRE I, 593, s.v. Melania 2; PCBE II/2, 148390, s.v. Melania 2.
60
Gorce 1962, 150 n. 1 ad loc., quoting Jeromes Ep. 39.1, observes: On nest peut-tre oblig
de prendre la lettre ce clich. Gerontius, arguably the author of the Vita Melaniae, wrote it about
452453.
 MORETTI ^ Jeromes Epistolary Portraits of Holy Women 291

Christian biographicalhagiographical tradition, this happened after Jerome.

In fact, it may have been through Jerome himself that the theme became a
commonplace: see, for instance, Jeromes reuse of the formulaalthough in a
sarcastically reversed formin his description of Ru nus.61

Contextualizing Late Antique Multilingualism

Multilingualism, embracing a full knowledge of Greek and an arguably func-
tional, even if imperfect, knowledge of Hebrew, must be placed within the
cultural and linguistic context of the late ancient GrecoRoman world at
large.62
The knowledge of Greek by native Latin speakers, since the fourth cen-
tury, is commonly thought to have been in steady decline,63 as demonstrated,
for instance, by the shortage of grammatici who could teach Greek in the
West and by the low salaries they were given.64 Nonetheless, Greek was no
doubt still being learned by the intellectual elite, both pagan and Christian, to
which such women belonged, so that Jeromes female friends are generally
and rightlycredited by scholars with a knowledge of Greek.65 Even bio-
graphical details would suggest that some of them should have known Greek:
Paula and Eustochium spent most of their lives in Bethlehem; Salvina, Gildos
daughter, whom Jerome consoles on her husband Nebridius death, was a
friend of John Chrysostoms;66 John Chrysostom sent letters to Proba and
Iuliana, the grandmother and the mother of the virgo Demetrias,67 to whom
Jeromes ep. 130 is addressed.68 In this respect, Jeromes women were not dif-
ferent from their aristocratic female contemporaries, pagan and Christian.

61
Hier. Adv. Ruf. 3.6 (CCSL 79: 79): Ego philosophus, rhetor, grammaticus, dialecticus,
Hebraeus, Graecus, Latinus, trilinguis? Hoc modo et tu bilinguis eris, quia tantam habes Graeci
Latinique sermonis scientiam ut et Graeci te Latinum, et Latini Graecum putent.
62
About which Bardy 1948 and Courcelle 1969 are still invaluable.
63
Bardy 1948, 155229, and, more drastically, Courcelle 1969. A more nuanced and problem-
atic view is presented by Gualandri forthcoming.
64
Cracco Ruggini 1993, 47.
65
Here I limit myself to quoting Nellen 1977, 12326. See above, n. 38.
66
See Pallad. Dial. 19.
67
About Proba, see PLRE I, 73233, s.v. Anicia Faltonia Proba 3, and PCBE II/2, 183133,
s.v. Anicia Faltonia Proba 2; about Iuliana, PLRE I, 468, s.v. Anicia Iuliana 2, and PCBE II/1,
116971, s.v. Anicia Iuliana 3. They are the addressees of John Chrysostoms Epp. 16869 (in
406) and they exchange letters with Augustine too, between 412 and 418 (cf. Aug. Epp. 130, 131,
188, 150). Jerome wrote Ep. 130 in 414: see Cavallera 1922, II, 54.
68
On correspondence between the Fathers and their female friends, see Clark 1979, 35106,
who examines the role played by these womens educations and intellectual concerns in pro-
moting ascetic friendships (7078); Conybeare 2005, and Vessey 2005, who deal with Augustine;
Militello 1992.
292 Journal of Late Antiquity

Moreover, their multilingualism in some respects should be related to a

specically Christian cultural background. It is praised in the case of these
women, but also in that of Jerome himself (and of his male friends) due to its
increasing importance within the Church: in fact knowing not only Hebrew
but also other languages served the purpose of studying and translating the
Scriptures, and spreading the Gospel by preaching. The situation of Christi-
anity in Jeromes times was paradoxical: Christianity encouraged the develop-
ment of a multilingual environment within which people, who spoke separate
languages and were tending ever more toward monolingualism,69 could not
help but be in contact with each other and in need of communication.70 We
should think, for instance, of Jeromes fellow monks in Bethlehem, that, to
judge by his sermons, included a sprinkling of Greek-speaking Orientals
and Latins.71 Likewise, in his letters, Jerome often describes a multilingual
Jerusalem;72 for that matter, the late fourthcentury pilgrim Egeria speaks
of Greek liturgy being translated into Syriac and Latin in the Church of the
Anastasis, for those who know only Syriac or Latin.73
In this context, knowing other languages and prodigiously acquiring them
here we are reminded of the talent for languages shown by Blesilla and Paula
are very much appreciated. They are viewed as gifts from the Holy Spirit, which
enable Gods Word to be spread without interpreters: so says Jerome himself,
when solving an alleged contradiction between John (John 20.2223) and Luke
(Luke 24.49 and Acts 1.48) about the descent of the Holy Spirit.74
To nd further examples of this basically Christian appreciation of multi-
lingualism, we should turn for instance to texts originating from monastic
especially Egyptianenvironments,75 some of which were known to Jerome.
In 404 he translated from Greek into Latin the Regula of Pachomius and
some of his letters, in order to make them accessible to Latin speakers living
in the Metanoia monastery, in Thebais.76 We know that Egyptian monks were

69
See statements above about the declining knowledge of Greek by Latin speakers.
70
On this subject, see Bardy 1948.
71
Kelly 1975, 13337, at 133.
72
Jer. Ep. 46.10. This letter was allegedly written by Paula and Eustochium, trying to persuade
Marcella to move to the Holy Land. It dates from 38889, Cavallera 1992, II, 43.
73
Itin. Eg. 47.34.
74
Ep. 120.9. The Holy Spirit is said to be given to the apostles after Christs resurrection (John
20.2223) and to be promised to them after his ascension (Luke 24.49). Jerome says the Holy Spirit
has different gifts (1 Cor 12.411): the gifts of Baptism and of forgiveness of sins are given to the
apostles by Christ after his resurrection, while the gratia linguarum is given to them at Pentecost.
75
Cf. Torallas Tovar 2010. That intense multilingualism, and the resulting practice of transla-
tion, were typical of this environment is shown also by the fact that we do not know the original
language of many texts stemming from it.
76
Jer. Pachom. Reg., praef. 1.
 MORETTI ^ Jeromes Epistolary Portraits of Holy Women 293

often confronted with the difficulty of living together while speaking differ-
ent languages (Coptic, Greek, and, more seldom, Latin). The monolingual
Coptic-speaker Anthony, the founder of Eastern monasticism, is said to have
spoken through an interpreter ();77 Jerome himself remarks that
Anthony used to write letters in Egyptian language (Aegyptiace), which
were later translated into Greek, and mentions the name of one of his inter-
preters, Isaac.78 In this environment miracles like the gratia linguarum at Pen-
tecost hopefully continue to happen, as we read in the Vita Pachomii altera
(85): the monolingual Coptic Pachomius is visited by a person who speaks
only Latin and Greek and does not want to use an interpreter; after three
hours of praying, Pachomius receives a small epistle from God; he reads it
and suddenly begins speaking the foreigners languages. Finally, when Jerome
says that Paulthe invented archegetes of monasticism in the desert of The-
bais79 is highly learned in both Greek and Egyptian letters,80 he is no
doubt propagat[ing] the concept of an educated Christian holy man,81 in
contrast to the uncultured Anthony, but he is also emphasizing the impor-
tance of multilingualism for the spread of the Christian message.

Conclusion
We should not be tempted to regard Jeromes female friends alleged cultural
attainments and multilingualism as merely a literary topos, deriving from the
classical rhetorical tradition.82 On the contrary, we should take his reports
seriously because (i) a good knowledge of Greek was arguably common to
many women of the intellectual elite, pagan and Christian; (ii) such bi(b)lin-
gualism, involving in some cases also a familiarity with Hebrew, on the one
hand enabled these women to appreciate their mentors efforts as a Christian
translator and exegete, and on the other hand was cultivated to aid in the
study of the Bible, which is part of the female ascetic gender model warmly
enhanced and propagated by Jerome.83

77
Athan. VAnt. 16.1, 74.2, 77.1. See also Pallad. Hist. Laus. 21.15.
78
Jer. Vir. ill. 88; VHilar. 20.13.
79
Rebenich 2009.
80
Jer. VPaul. 4.1: litteris tam Graecis quam Aegyptiacis adprime eruditus.
81
Rebenich 2009, 23.
82
The classical rhetorical tradition remains a pervading feature of school education during Late
Antiquity. This fact is expressed emblematically by the letter of the fth-century Christian Vic-
tor of Hermoupolis, demanding the return of his copy of and mentioning
(P.Berol. 21849): see Pernot 1993, II, 771; Maehler 1974.
83
In his view, the Bible should represent the true heart of those cultured womens lives, as I try
to point out in Moretti 2013.
294 Journal of Late Antiquity

Many of these issues can be brought into focus by closing with a look at
the letter Jerome addressed in 414 to the virgin Demetrias, the daughter of
the Christian Anicia Iuliana and granddaughter of Anicia Faltonia Proba (the
poetess granddaughter).84 Jerome does not know Demetrias personally, but
seems to rely on her famous relatives alleged bilingualism as he lls the letter
with multilingualmostly Greek, and not just scripturalerudition:85

We read in the book of Job ... : is there not a temptationor as the Hebrew
better gives ita warfare to man upon earth? . . . For the rest This one
thing, child of God, I lay on thee; Yea before all, and urge it many times: love
to occupy your mind with the reading of scripture. Do not in the good ground
of your breast gather only a crop of darnel and wild oats. Do not let an enemy
sow tares among the wheat when the householder is asleep (that is when the
mind [] which ever cleaves to God is off its guard).... It is a maxim of the
philosophers , , which in Latin might
sound: virtues are means, and all extremes are of the nature of vice.86

He nishes the letter with a warm exhortation:

Love the holy scriptures, and wisdom will love you. Love wisdom, and it will
keep you safe. Honor wisdom, and it will embrace you round about. Let the
jewels on your breast and in your ears be the gems of wisdom. Let your tongue
know no theme but Christ, let no sound pass your lips that is not holy.87

Universit degli Studi di Milano

paola.moretti@unimi.it

84
Jer. Ep. 130. See above, n. 67.
85
Cf. also Rousseau 1994, 138.
86
Ep. 130.7 (CSEL 56: 183): Legimus in volumine Iob: ... Temptatiosive, ut melius habetur
in Hebraeo, militiaest vita hominis super terram [Job 7:1]; Ep. 130.7 (CSEL 56: 18586): illud
tibi, nata Deo, proque omnibus unum praedicam et repetens iterumque iterumque monebo [Virg.
Aen. 2.43536], ut animum tuum sacrae lectionis amore occupes nec in bona terra pectoris tui
sementem lolii avenarumque suscipias, ne dormiente patre familiasqui est, , id est animus,
Deo semper adhaerensinimicus homo zizania superseminet; Ep. 130.11 (CSEL 56: 191): Philos-
ophorum quoque sententia est , , quod Latinus ita potest
sermo resonare: moderatas esse virtutes, excedentes modum atque mensuram inter vitia reputari.
87
Ep. 130.20 (CSEL 56: 201): Ama scripturas sanctas et amabit te sapientia. Dilige eam et
servabit te [Prov 4:8]; honora illam et amplexabitur te. Haec monilia in pectore et in auribus
tuis haereant. Nihil aliud noverit lingua nisi Christum, nihil possit sonare, nisi quod sanctum est.
 MORETTI ^ Jeromes Epistolary Portraits of Holy Women 295

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