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St. Jerome's Preface
to the Vulgate Version of the New Testament
Addressed to Pope
Damasus, A.D. 383.
You urge me to revise
the old Latin version, and, as it were, to sit in judgment on the copies of the
Scriptures which are now scattered throughout the whole world; and, inasmuch as
they differ from one another, you would have me decide which of them agree with
the Greek original. The labour is one of love, but at the same time both
perilous and presumptuous; for in judging others I must be content to be judged
by all; and how can I dare to change the language of the world in its hoary old
age, and carry it back to the early days of its infancy? Is there a man,
learned or unlearned, who will not, when he takes the volume into his hands,
and perceives that what he reads does not suit his settled tastes, break out
immediately into violent language, and call me a forger and a profane person
for having the audacity to add anything to the ancient books, or to make any
changes or corrections therein? Now there are two consoling reflections which
enable me to bear the odium—in the first place, the command is given by you who
are the supreme bishop; and secondly, even on the showing of those who revile
us, readings at variance with the early copies cannot be right. For if we are
to pin our faith to the Latin texts, it is for our opponents to tell us which;
for there are almost as many forms of texts as there are copies. If, on the other
hand, we are to glean the truth from a comparison of many, why not go back to
the original Greek and correct the mistakes introduced by inaccurate
translators, and the blundering alterations of confident but ignorant critics,
and, further, all that has been inserted or changed by copyists more asleep
than awake?
I am not discussing
the Old Testament, which was turned into Greek by the Seventy elders, and has
reached us by a descent of three steps. I do not ask what Aquila and Symmachus
think, or why Theodotion takes a middle course between the ancients and the
moderns. I am willing to let that be the true translation which had apostolic
approval. I am now speaking of the New Testament. This was undoubtedly composed
in Greek, with the exception of the work of Matthew the Apostle, who was the
first to commit to writing the Gospel of Christ, and who published his work in
Judæa in Hebrew characters. We must confess that as we have it in our language
it is marked by discrepancies, and now that the stream is distributed into
different channels we must go back to the fountainhead. I pass over those
manuscripts which are associated with the names of Lucian and Hesychius, and
the authority of which is perversely maintained by a handful of disputatious
persons. It is obvious that these writers could not amend anything in the Old
Testament after the labours of the Seventy; and it was useless to correct the
New, for versions of Scripture which already exist in the languages of many
nations show that their additions are false. I therefore promise in this short
Preface the four Gospels only, which are to be taken in the following order,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, as they have been revised by a comparison of the
Greek manuscripts. Only early ones have been used. But to avoid any great
divergences from the Latin which we are accustomed to read, I have used my pen
with some restraint, and while I have corrected only such passages as seemed to
convey a different meaning, I have allowed the rest to remain as they are.
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