[B-Greek] slightly OT: Jerome's Greek
David Sugg
davidsugg at comcast.net
Thu Jan 20 22:23:34 EST 2005
In his biography on Jerome, J.N. D. Kelly discusses Jerome's education
in Rome under Aelius Donatus in Chapter 2. On page 14 Kelly states:
"Did Jerome's curriculum at this stage include Greek, of which he
may have picked up a smattering at Stridon? Years later, when the two
were locked in pamphlet warfare, Rufinus was by implication to deny it:
'Before his conversion [to the ascetic life] he was, like me, completely
ignorant of Greek language and literature." (Apol. c. Hier. 2,9) Having
been a fellow-student at Rome, Rufinus should have known the facts. But
he was making a controversial point, and his words should not be taken
literally. We know that Augustine, to his pain and grief, had to
struggle with Homer at his relatively modest grammar school in north
Africa; it is hard to believe that the smartest academy in the capital
offered poorer facilities. It is true, the study of Greek in the west
had declined sharply since the days of Cicero, or even Quintilian, when
education was virtually bilingual; but it had not died out. What is
certain that Jerome did not acquire at school (indeed, in spite of his
numerous references to it, was never to acquire) a first-hand knowledge
of Greek classical literature. This is not really surprising, for in the
fourth century instruction in Greek usually did not continue beyond the
grammar school. It is agreed that not until almost thirty years later,
when he was residing in Antioch in Syria, that Jerome was to get down to
the systematic study of the language. Even so, he must have been able to
follow spoken Greek when he got there, for (as we shall see) he attended
lectures by Apollinarius of Laodicea. He was, we have every reason to
suppose, a first class linguist, but the most natural explanation is
that he had obtained a sufficient working knowledge of Greek while at
school. This surmise gains support from the facts that Donatus
interspersed his commentaries with Greek words and phrases, clearly
assuming that his pupils would understand them, and that the rhetorical
studies which followed required some basic grasp of Greek technical
terms." ( J.N.D. Kelly, "Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies."
Hendrikson Publishers, Peabody, MA, 1998)
Kelly cites a work by P. Courcelle, "Late Latin Writers and their Greek
Sources." ET, Cambridge, MA, 1969, pp58-89. Kelly writes in footnote
21(p14) "For the much discussed question of Jerome's knowledge of Greek
see especially Courcelle, op. cit., chapter 2."
Not sure if this helps answer your question, but it was the first thing
that came to mind.
David Sugg
3200 Raye Road
Thorndale, PA 19372
Jeffrey B. Gibson wrote:
>I see that Jerome got his Greek training in Antioch. What sort of
>schools where there in the 4th century? Was the Greek taught there
>consciously Atticist?
>
>Would Jerome have had any Greek from his teacher Aelius Donatus?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Yours,
>
>Jeffrey
>
>
>
>--
>
>Jeffrey B. Gibson, D.Phil. (Oxon.)
>
>1500 W. Pratt Blvd. #1
>Chicago, IL 60626
>
>jgibson000 at comcast.net
>---
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