| Keywords |
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| ID |
5581 |
| Text |
None |
| Quotation |
Cetera taceo, ne uidear de dei desperare dementia, olim a mari Pontico usque ad Alpes Iulias non erant nostra, quae nostra sunt, et per annos triginta fracto Danubii limite in mediis Romani imperii regionibus pugnabatur. aruerant uetustate lacrimae; praeter paucos senes omnes in captiuitate et obsidione generati non desiderabant, quam non nouerant, libertatem. quis hoc crederet, quae digno sermone historiae conprehenderent Romani in gremio suo non pro gloria sed pro salute pugnare, immo ne pugnare quidem sed auro et cuncta superlectili uitam redimere? quod non uitio principum, qui uel religiosissimi sunt, sed scelere semibarbari accidit proditoris, qui nostris contra nos opibus armauit inimicos. aeterno quondam dedecore Romanum laborabat imperium, quod Gallis cuncta uastantibus fusoque apud Alliam exercitu Romam Brennus intrasset, nec pristinam abolere poterat ignominiam, donec et Gallias, genitale Gallorum solum, et Gallograeciam, in qua consederant occidentis orientisque uictores, suo imperio subiugasset. Hannibal, de Hispaniae finibus orta tempestas, cum uastasset ltaliam, uidit urbem nec ausus est obsidere. Pyrrhum tanta tenuit Romani nominis reuerentia, ut deletis omnibus e propinquo recederet loco nec auderet uictor aspicere, quam regum didicerat ciuitatem. et tamen pro hac iniuria — non enim dicam superbiam, quae bonos exitus habuit — alter toto orbe fugitiuus tandem Bithyniae mortem ueneno repperit, alter reuersus in patriam in suo regno occubuit; et utriusque prouinciae Romani populi uectigales sunt, nunc, ut omnia prospero fine eueniant, praeter nostra, quae amisimus, non habemus, quod uictis hostibus auferamus. potentiam Romanae urbis ardens poeta describens ait: quid satis est, si Roma parum est? quod nos alio mutemus elogio: quid saluum est, si Roma perit? non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum , ferrea uox, omnes captorum dicere poenas, omnia caesorum percurrere nomina possim. et haec ipsa, quae dixi, periculosa sunt tam loquenti quam audientibus, ut ne gemitus quidem liber sit nolentibus, immo nec audentibus nobis flere, quae patimur. |
| Translation |
I remain silent about the rest so as not to seem to despair of God´s mercy. That which is ours now, from the Pontic Sea to the Julian Alps, was not ours before; for thirty years, after the barrier of the Danube was broken, there was fighting in the middle of the Roman Empire. The long duration dried our tears; with the exception of a few old men, everyone born in captivity or during a siege did not miss a freedom that they had never known. Who would believe this? What histories would accurately discuss that Rome fought on her own soil not for glory, but for safety? Or, rather, that Rome was not fighting, but acquiring life for the price of gold and all of her goods? This did not occur through the fault of the princes, who are very devout men indeed, but through the wickedness of the half-barbarian traitor who armed our enemies against us with our resources. From a long time back, the Roman Empire endured an ongoing shame because after the army had been placed around Allia and everything had been destroyed, Brennus and the Gauls marched upon Rome. And Rome was unable to dispel this long-standing disgrace until Gaul, the birthplace of the Gauls, and Gallic Greece, where Eastern and Western conquerors settled, were placed under her yoke. When Hannibal, like a storm that swept through from the borders of Spain, laid waste to Italy, he saw the city and did not dare to besiege it. Pyrrhus, too, held the name of Rome in such high regard that after he had destroyed everything he withdrew from the area and, even though he was the victor, did not dare to look upon the city that he had learned was the city of kings. Nevertheless, in return for this offense - for I would not call it pride, which had good outcomes - one became a fugitive of the whole world and at last found death through poison in Bithynia while the other, having returned to his homeland, lay dead in his own kingdom; the lands of both men became tributaries of Rome. Now, even if everything should turn out well, we gain nothing by taking from our conquered enemy outside of what we originally lost to them. The ardent poet [Lucan], upon seeing the power of Rome, speaks of it writing, “What is enough, if Rome be too little?” Let us alter it slightly and ask “What is safe, if Rome should perish?” [Or, Virgil:] “If I should have a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, and a throat of iron, I would not be able to speak of all the punishments of the captives or run through all the names of the fallen” [Aen.6:625-27]. Even what I have said is full of danger both for me, the speaker, and whoever is listening; thus, we can no longer lament freely and are unwilling, no, are fearful of weeping for what we suffer. |
| Quotation source |
Jerome, Letter 123, c. 16, to Geruchia; translation: https://epistolae.ctl.columbia.edu/letter/1222.html, Sancti Eusebii Hieronvmi Epistulae, ed. Isidorus Hilberg, 3 v. (New York: Johnson, 1970, CSEL, repr.1910-18), ep.123, 16 |
| Temporal Coverage |
409 - 409 |
| Associated use case(s) |
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| Comment |
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