Unknown→Rufinus, of Ephesus|c. 427 AD|paulinus nola
From: Paulinus, bishop of Nola
To: Rufinus, monk and scholar
Date: ~427 AD
Context: Paulinus thanks Rufinus for a short letter, discusses his struggle to learn Greek, and asks for help interpreting the patriarchal blessings in Genesis.
Brother Rufinus,
Even a short letter from you is a great comfort to us — like a parched field revived by the slightest dew after a long drought. Your brief note, carried to us by the boy our children share, refreshed us. And yet it also left us anxious, because you report that you are still in Rome, caught up in the stress of uncertainty and delays. May the Lord soon give us reason to rejoice over your situation, so that as we have shared in your worries, we may also share in your happiness — and begin to hope for the joy of seeing you in person, once you have some certainty about your plans and the Lord's will for you.
As for your kind suggestion — born from the same love with which you care for us as you do for yourself — that I should pursue Greek studies more earnestly: I gratefully accept the advice, but I cannot follow through on it unless the Lord grants my wish to spend more time in your company. How can I make progress in a language I do not know if I have no one to learn from? I believe that in my translation of Saint Clement's work, beyond my other intellectual shortcomings, you must have noticed above all this poverty of mine: that in several passages where I could neither understand nor properly render the words, I grasped — or rather guessed at — the meaning and translated accordingly. All the more reason I need God's mercy to give me more of your time. For a poor man, even gathering the crumbs that fall from a rich man's table would count as wealth.
Now, as it happens, while I was writing this letter, a passage from Genesis fell open before my eyes — the chapter where Jacob blesses Judah [Genesis 49]. Since the Lord had provided such a timely occasion, I thought I would knock at the door of your heart, even at this late hour. So if you love me — and I know you love me greatly — please write and tell me how you understand the patriarchal blessings, and whatever you know in them that is difficult to grasp and worth knowing. In particular, I would like to understand that passage: "Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine" [Genesis 49:11] — whose foal is it? What does the donkey represent, and who is the donkey's colt? And why is his own foal bound to the vine, while the donkey's colt is bound to the rough garment?
XXXXVI. PAVLINVS RVFINO FRATRI SALVTEM.
Vel breues nobis ab unanimitate tua litterae magno refrigerio
sunt, sicuti in paenuria pluuiarum ager sitiens rore
recreatur, unde refectos nos quamuis breui epistula tua, attamen
tua, per puerum communium filiorum fatemur, sed tamen
rursus adfectos, quia etiam nunc uos in aestu sollicitudinis
et incerto morarum Romam pati indicastis. det nobis dominus
a domino laetificari quam primum de actu uestro, ut
sicut anxiis conpatimur, ita congaudeamus hilaratis et incipiamus
tamen sperare fructum praesentiae uestrae, si uos certi
esse de uestra sententia uel domini circa uos placito coeperitis.
Sane, quod admonere dignaris affectu illo, quo nos sicut
te diligis, ut studium in Graecas litteras adtentius sumam,
libenter accipio; sed inplere non ualeo, nisi forte desideriis
meis adnuat dominus, ut diutius consortio tuo perfruar. nam
quomodo profectum capere potero sermonis ignoti, si desit a
quo ignorata condiscam? credo enim in translatione sancti
Clementis praeter alias ingenii mei defectiones hanc te potissimum
imperitiae meae paenuriam considerasse, quod aliqua,
in quibus intellegere uel exprimere uerba non potui, sensu
1 rescrita C peterit (et om.) Y sexta C 2 an CY, uel tC Rosw .
3 huius (modi om.) CY testimonium Y imo f eplc epif sci paulini
ad scffi aug C, explicit Y .
S,. — 9 uel 8, ut f breuis 8 unianimitate 8 10 fluuiorum
Bosto . 11 pr . tua om. cdd. Ruf adtamen 8 13 etiam nunc SE,
etiamnum nunc Bosw . solicitudinis, 14 pati E, peti SRosto . iudicastis
Rosw . 15 nostro RoStV . 16 hilaritati Rosw . 19 admoneri E
21 desideria mea adiuuat Rosw .
25*
potius adprehensa uel, ut uerius dicam, opinata transtulerim.
quo magis egeo misericordia dei, ut pleniorem mihi copiam
tui tribuat, quia pro diuitiis erit pauperi uel micas a diuitis
mensa cadentes auido famelici cordis ore colligere.
In tempore sane, quo scripta haec scribebantur, cecidit
sub oculis incidens proposita lectione capitulum illud ex Genesi,
(a) Iacob quo ludas benedicitur. et quia dominus oportunissimam
hanc occasionem dederat, pulsare post tempus
fores cordis tui placuit. ergo si me amas, immo quia multum
amas, rogo ut scribas mihi, ut intellegis ipsas patriarcharum
benedictiones et si qua ipse scis in eis ardua sensu et digna
cognitione, scire me uelis; specialiter tamen de capitulo illo
in quo ait: alligans ad uitem pullum suum et ad cilicium
pullum asinae suae, qui suus sit pullus quaeue
asina uel qui asinae pullus? et cur suus ad uitem, asinae uero
pullus ad cilicium alligetur?
◆
From:Paulinus, bishop of Nola
To:Rufinus, monk and scholar
Date:~427 AD
Context:Paulinus thanks Rufinus for a short letter, discusses his struggle to learn Greek, and asks for help interpreting the patriarchal blessings in Genesis.
Brother Rufinus,
Even a short letter from you is a great comfort to us — like a parched field revived by the slightest dew after a long drought. Your brief note, carried to us by the boy our children share, refreshed us. And yet it also left us anxious, because you report that you are still in Rome, caught up in the stress of uncertainty and delays. May the Lord soon give us reason to rejoice over your situation, so that as we have shared in your worries, we may also share in your happiness — and begin to hope for the joy of seeing you in person, once you have some certainty about your plans and the Lord's will for you.
As for your kind suggestion — born from the same love with which you care for us as you do for yourself — that I should pursue Greek studies more earnestly: I gratefully accept the advice, but I cannot follow through on it unless the Lord grants my wish to spend more time in your company. How can I make progress in a language I do not know if I have no one to learn from? I believe that in my translation of Saint Clement's work, beyond my other intellectual shortcomings, you must have noticed above all this poverty of mine: that in several passages where I could neither understand nor properly render the words, I grasped — or rather guessed at — the meaning and translated accordingly. All the more reason I need God's mercy to give me more of your time. For a poor man, even gathering the crumbs that fall from a rich man's table would count as wealth.
Now, as it happens, while I was writing this letter, a passage from Genesis fell open before my eyes — the chapter where Jacob blesses Judah [Genesis 49]. Since the Lord had provided such a timely occasion, I thought I would knock at the door of your heart, even at this late hour. So if you love me — and I know you love me greatly — please write and tell me how you understand the patriarchal blessings, and whatever you know in them that is difficult to grasp and worth knowing. In particular, I would like to understand that passage: "Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine" [Genesis 49:11] — whose foal is it? What does the donkey represent, and who is the donkey's colt? And why is his own foal bound to the vine, while the donkey's colt is bound to the rough garment?
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.