Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/478

464 HIERONYMUS. Ordo Vetftrum Editiuimm. A.D. 420 — Desideratur Incert. 35 Incert. 85 Incert. 48 HIERONYMaS. Ovdo Editiouia Benedictiuae. 14 Inedita Non habetur Ordo Editionis Vallarsianae CXLIV. Augustini ad Optatum de Hieronymo Desideratur. CXLV. Ad Exsuperantium . . " . 99 CXLVI. Ad Evangelum . . .101 CXLVII. Ad Sabinianum . . .103 Falso adscriptae CXLVIII. Ad Celaniiam . . .109 CXLIX. De solennitatibtis Paschae , , Inedita. CL. Procopii, Graece et Latine . . Ultima absque numcro. Vol. II. Par. 1 II. Opuscula s. Tractatus. These in the older editions are mixed up at random with the epistles. Erasmus, Victorinus, and the Benedic- tines, although not agreeing with each other, have sought to establish some sort of order, by attaching the tracts to such epistles as treat of kindred sub- jects, but unfortunately this is practicable to a very limited extent only. Vallarsi has merely col- lected them together, without attempting any regu- lar classification. 1. Vita S. Fault primi Ereniitae, who at the age of sixteen fled to the deserts of the Thebaid to avoid the persecutions of Decius and Valerian, and lived in solitude for ninety-eight years. Written about a. d. 375, while Jerome was in the desert of Chalcis. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 68.) 2. Vita S. Hilarionis Ereniitae, a monk of Pa- lestine, a disciple of the great St. Anthony. Written about a. d. 390. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 74.) 3. Vita MalcJd Monadii captivi. Belonging to the same period as the preceding. A certain So- phronius, commemorated in the De Viris Illustribus (c. 134) wrote a Greek translation, now lost, of the lives of St. Hilario and St. Malchus, a strong proof of the estimation in which the biographies were held at the time they were composed. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 90.) 4. Regula S. PacJiomii, the founder of Egyptian monasticism. Written originally in Syriac, trans- lated from Syrian into Greek by some unknown hand, and translated from Greek into Latin by Jerome about A. D. 405, after the death of Paula. 5. S. Pacliomii et S. TJieodorid Epidolae et Verba Mystica. An appendix to the foregoing. 6. Didymi de Spiritu Sancto Liber III. This translation from the Greek was commenced at Rome in 382, at the request of Damasus, but not finished until 384, at Jerusalem. See Praef. and Ep. xxxvi. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. i. App. p. 493.) 7. Allercatio Ludferiani et Orthodoon. The followers of Lucifer of Cagliari [Lucifer] main- tained that the Arian bishops, when received into the church, after an acknowledgment of error, ought not to retain their rank, and that the baptism administered by them while they adhered to their heresy was nidi and void. Written at Antioch about A. D. 378. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 289.) 8. Adversus Helvidium Liber. A controversial tract on the perpetual virginity of the mother of God, against a certain Helvidius, who held that Mary had borne children after the birth of our Saviour. Written at Rome about A. d. 382. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 130.) 9. Adversus Jovinianum Libri II. Jovinianus was accused of having revived many of the here- tical doctrines of the Gnostic Basilides, but his chief crime seems to have been an attempt to check superstitious observances, and to resist the encroach- ing spirit of monachism (Milman, History of Chris- tianity, vol. iii. p. 332), which was now seeking to tyrannise over the whole church. Written about A. D. 393. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 144. These editors have subjoined, p. 229, the epistle of Jerome, entitled Apologeticics ad Pammachiuni pro Libris adversus Jovinianum.) 10. Contra Vigilanlium Liber, The alleged he- resies of Vigilantius were of the same character with those of Jovinianus ; in particular, he denied that the relics of martyrs ought to be regarded as objects of worship, or that vigils ought to be kept at their tombs. Written about A. D. 406. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 280.) 11. Contra Joannem Hierosolymitanum. John, bishop of Jerusalem, was accused of having adopted some of the views of Origen. Written about a. p. 399, (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 336, where it is considered as an Epistola ad PammacJdum, and numbered xxxviii. of the series.) 1 2. Apologetici adversus Rujinum Libri III. See RuFiNus. Written about a. d. 402. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 349.) Vol. II. Par. 2. 13. Dialogi contra Pelagianos, in three books. See Pelagius. Written about a. d. 415. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 483.) 1 4. De Viris Illustribus s. De Scripforibus Ec- clesiasticis (see Epist. cxii.), a series of 1 35 short sketches of the lives and writings of the most dis- tinguished advocates of Christianity, beginning with the apostles Peter and James, the brother (or cousin) of our Lord, and ending with Hieronyrnus himself, who gives a few particulars with regard to his own life, and subjoins a catalogue of the works which he had published at the date when this tract was concluded, in the fourteenth year, namely, of Theodosius, or a. d. 392. The importance of these biographies, as materials towards a history of the church, has always been acknowledged, and can scarcel}' be overrated, since they form the only- source of accurate information with regard to many persons and many books connected with the early- history of Christianity. A Greek version was printed for the first time by Erasmus, professing to be taken from an ancient MS., and to have been executed by a certain Sophronius, who is com- monly supposed to be the same with the individual of that name mentioned in the De Viris Illustribus (c. 1 34), but certain barbarisms in style, and errors in translation, have induced many critics to assign a much later date to the piece, and have even led some, among whom is Vossius, to imagine that Eras- mus was either imposed upon himself or wilfully- sought to palm a forgery upon the literary world. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. lib. v. c. 10.^