A letter from Jerome (391-392)

Translated letter:

The second year of Darius, king of the Persians, son of Hystaspes, was the seventieth year of the abandonment of the temple which Jeremiah had foretold and the prophet Zechariah also witnessed, who when he set the inscription of his vision on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, Shebat, of the second year of that king [Zech.1:7], added: "O lord of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah with which you have been angry these seventy years?" [Zech.1:12]. And Ezra, when only the altar was erected and the foundations of the temple had been laid, relates the forbidding of the work to the letter of king Artaxerxes: "at that time the work on the house of God was interrupted in Jerusalem and would not be resumed until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of the Persians" [Ezra 4:24]. And immediately he adds: "Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel; then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set out to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem, and with them were the prophets of God helping them" [Ezra 5:1-2]. At that time Tarquinius the Proud seventh after Romulus ruled among the Romans, in the twenty-seventh year of his dominion, who was driven out by Brutus eight years later; and then consuls administered the republic for 464 years until Julius Caesar. We have said this, o Paula and Eustochium, so that you might know from the title immediately in what age Haggai the prophet sang. And it should be known that according to the letter Haggai and Zechariah were prophets of great spirit and ordered the temple to be erected against the edict of king Artaxerxes and all the Samaritan people around who were hindering the building of the temple. Zerubbabel also and Jeshua son of Jozadak and the people who were with them were of no less faith, as they listened more to the prophets ordering than to the power of the king prohibiting. . . . I beseech you, reader, to ignore my swift speech in dictating, and not to look for beauty of eloquence, which I have long since lost by the study of the Hebrew language; though Alecto asserts that I have always been an infant [unable to speak] and mute, I say to that "the Lord will give the word to those who preach, with great strength" [Ps.67:12].

Original letter:

Secundo anno Dariis, regis Persarum filii Hystaspis, septuagesimum annum desolationis templi fuisse completum, quem Hieremias vaticinatus est, Zacharias quoque propheta testis est, qui cum visionis suae titulum in secundo anno eiusdem regis undecimo mense Sabat, vicesima quarta die preposuisset, adiecit, dicens: Domine exercituum, usquequo non misereberis Hierusalem et urbium Iuda, quibus iratus es? Iste septuagesimus annus est. Sed et Esdras, exstructo tantum altari, et iactis fundamentis templi, ad litteras regis Artaxerxis prohibitum opus refert: Tunc intermissum est opus domus Dei in Hierusalem, et non fiebat usque ad annum secundum regni Darii, regis Persarum. Statim addidit: Prophetaverunt autem Aggaeus propheta et Zacharias filius Addo prophetantes ad Iudaeos qui erant in Iudaea et Hierusalem, in nomine Domini Israel: Tunc surrexerunt Zorobabel filius Salathiel, et Iesus filius Iosedec, et coeperunt aedificare templum Dei in Hierusalem, et cum eis prophetae Dei adiuvantes eos. Quo tempore apud Romanos septimus a Romula regnabat Tarquinius Superbus, habens annum imperii vicesimum septimum, qui post octo annos expulsus est a Bruto; ac deinde rem publicam per annos quadringentos sexaginta quattuor, usque ad Iulium Caesarem consules administraverunt. Hoc propterea, o Paula et Eustochium, diximus, ut de ipso statim titulo, qua aetate Aggaeus propheta cecinerit agnoscatis. Sciendumque est interim, iuxta litteram, magni spiritus et Aggaeum fuisse et Zachariam prophetas, ut adversum Artaxerxis regis edictum, et Samaritanos gentesque cunctas per circuitum, aedificationem templi impedientes, iuberent templum exstrui. Zorobabel quoque et Iesum filium Iosedec, et populum qui cum eis erat, non minoris fidei, ut prophetas magis audirent iubentes, quam prohibentis regis imperium. . . . Obsecro te, lector, ut ignoscas celeri sermone dictanti, nec requiras eloquii venustatem, quam multo tempore Hebraeae linguae studio perdidi; quamquam me Alecto semper infantem ac mutum fuisse autumet, cui ego dicam: Dominus dabit verbum evangelizantibus, virtute multa.

Historical context:

Jerome sets Haggai in its historic context in the prologue, and apologizes for his Latin style in a little note to the reader at the end. Jerome began his commentaries on the twelve minor prophets at the request of Paula and Eustochium, doing them not in the order in which they are found in the old testament but in the order they were requested, as he explains in the third book on Amos addressed to Pammachius (CCSL76, 300). But even in the prologue to Joel, Jerome remembers Paula's role, offering Pammachius "what we promised your holy and venerable relative, Paula, take it as her pious heir" (CCSL 76, 160).

Printed source:

Commentariorum in Aggaeum Prophetam ad Paulam et Eustochium, Prologus, CCSL 76a, 713, and 746

Date:

391-392