[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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