LATXK
32
LATIN
era inventions as the railroad, etc., and also treated
strictly religious and light topics (e. g., in "The Flood",
"The Grievances of an Old Maid' ') . I^ XIII was the
last writer who wrote short epical poems in addition
to his odes. Baumgartner, the author of '* Weltliter-
atur", assigns to Latin Christian poetry the well-
merited pn*'se: "It still contains creative sugges-
tions and offers the noblest of intellectual enjo}'-
ment. '*
BADifQARTNER, Oeschichte der Weltliteratur, IV (Freibui^g, 1900); Salzer, JllustricrU Geschichte der deuUchen LUcratur ^Vienna), publication not yet completed; Drevks, Die Kirche xn ihren Liedem (Kemoten, 1908); Hartuno, Andreas Gryphius und daa Drama der Jesuiten (Halle, 1907); CREiZENACn, Oe- aehichte dee neueren Dramas, I, II (Halle, 1893-1901); Heinzel, Beschreibung des geistelichen Sehauspiels im deutschen Mittelalter (Hamburg, 1898); Goedkke, Grunariss (2nd ed.); Schmidt, Die aUhnenverhUltnisse des deutschen Schuldramas (Berlin, 1903); ScHEiD, Der Jesuit J. Masen (Cologne, 1898); Idem, Jakob Balde in HiUorische-politische BUiUer, CXIII, 19; Swoboda, Odonis ahbatis Ctuniacensis Occupatio (Leipzig, 1900).
N. SCHEID.
Latin Literature in the Ghurch, Classical. — I. This article deals only with the relations of the classical literature, chiefly Latin, to the Catholic Church. When Christianity at first appeared in Rome the instruction of youth was largely confined to the study of poets und historians, chief among whom at a very early date appear Horace and Virgil. Until the peace of the Church, early in the fourth century, the value and use of classical studies were, of course, not even questioned. The new converts to Christian- ity brought with them such mental cultivation as they had received while pagans. Their knowledge of my- thology and ancient traditions they used as a means of attacking paganism; their acqmrements as orators and writers were placed at the service of their new Faith. They coula not conceive how a thorough edu- cation could be obtained under conditions other than those under which they had grown up. Tertullian for- bade Christians to teach, but admitted that school attendance by Christian pupils was unavoidable (De idol., 10). In fact, his rigorous views were not carried out even so far as the prohibition of teaching is con- cerned. Arnobius taught rhetoric, and was very proud of having numerous Christian colleagues (Adv. nat., II, 4). One of his disciples was Lactantius, him- self a rhetorician and imperial professor at Nicomedia. Among the martyrs, we meet with school teachers like Cassianus (Prudent., "Perist.", 9) whom his pupils stabbed to death with a stylus; Gorgonis, another humble teacher, whose epitaph in the Roman cata- combs dates from the third century (De Rossi, "Roma Sotterranea", II, 810). During the fourth century, however, there sprang up an opposition between pro- fane literature and the Bible. This opposition is con- densed in the accepted translation, dating from St. Jerome, of Psalm Ixx, 15-16, *'Quoniam non cognovi litteraturam, introibo in potentias Domini; Domine memorabor justitise tuae solius". One of the va- riants of the (jireek text (ypafifMTias for wpaynarlas) was perpetuated in this translation. The opposition between Divine justice, i. e., the Law and literature, became gradually an accepted Christian idea.
The persecution of Julian led Christian writers to express more definitely their views on the subject. It produced httle effect in the West. However, Marius Victorinus, one of the most distinguished professors in Rome, chose "to give up the idle talk of the school rather than denv the Word of God" (Augustine. "Conf.", VIII, 5). Thenceforth, Christians studied more closely and more appreciatively their own litera- ture, i. e., the Biblical writings. St. Jerome discovers therein a Horace, a Catullus, an Alcjeus (Epist. 30). In his "De doctrina Christiana" St. Augustine shows how the Scriptures could be turned to account for the •tudy of eloquence; he analyses periods of the Prophet Amos, of St. Paul, and shows excellent examples of rhetorical figures io the Pauline Epistles (Doctr, chr..
IV, 6-7). The Church, therefore, it seemed ought to
have given up the study of pagan literature. She did
not do so. St. Augustme suggested his method only
to those who wish^ to become priests, and even for
these he did mean to make it obligatory. Men of less
marked ability were to use the ordinary method of in-
struction. The " De doctrina chrif tiana" was written
in the year 427, at which time his advancing age and
the increasing strictness of monastic life might have
inclined Augustine to a rigorous solution. St. Jerome's
scruples and the dream he relates in one of his letters
are quite well known. In this dream he saw an|;els
scourging him and saying : * * Thou art not a Christian,
thou art a Ciceronian" (Epist. 25). He finds fault
with ecclesiastics who find too keen a pleasure in the
reading of Virgil; he adds, nevertheless, that youths
are indeed compelled to study him (Epist. 21). In
his quarrel with Rufinus he declares that he has not
read the profane authors since he left school; **but I
admit that I read them while there. Must I then
drink the waters of Lethe that I may forget?" (Adv.
Ruf., I, 30).
In defending himself the first figure that occurs to him is taken from mythology. What these eminent men desired was not so much the separation but the combination of the treasures of profane literature and of Christian truths. St. Jerome recalls the precept of Deuteronomy: " If you desire to marry a captive, you must first shave her head and eyebrows, shave the hair on her body and cut her nails; so must it be done with profane literature, after having removed all that was earthly and idolatrous, unite with her and make her fruitful for the Lord" (Epist. 83). St. Augustine uses another Biblical allegory. For him, the Christian who seeks his knowledge in the pagan authors re- sembles the Israelites who de8[)oil the Egyptians of their treasures in order to build the tabernacle of God. As to St. Ambrose, he has no doubts whatever. He quotes quit€ freely from Seneca, V^irgil, and the " Con- solatio of Servius Sulpicius. lie accepts the earlier view handed down from the Hebrew apologists to their Christian successors, viz., that whatever is good in the literature of antiquity comes from the Sacred Books. Pythagoras was a Jew or, at least, had read Moses. The pagan poets owe their flashes of wisdom to David and Jol>. Tatian, following earlier Jews had learnedly confirmed this view, and it recurs, more or less developed, in the other Christian apologists. In the West Minucius Felix gathered carefully into his "Octavius" whatever seemed to show harmony be- tween the new doctrine and ancient learning. This was a convenient argument and served more than one purpose.
But this concession pre-supposed that pagan stud- ies were subordinate to Christian truth, the "He- braica Veritas". In the second book of his " De doc- trina Christiana", St. Augustine explains how pagan classics lead to a more perfect apprehension of the Scriptures, and are indeed an introduction to them. In this sense St. Jerome, in a lett-er to Magnus, pro- fessor of eloquence at Rome, recommends the use of profane authors; profane literature is a captive (Epist. 85). Indeed, men neither dared nor were able to do without classical teaching. Rhetoric continued to in- spire a kind of timid reverence. The panegyrists, for example, do not trouble themselves about the em- peror s religion, but addressed him as pagans would a pagan and draw their literary embellishments from mythology. Theodosius himself did not dare to ex- clude pagan authors from the school. A professor like Ausonius pursued the same methods as his pagan pred- ecessors. Ennodiiis, deacon of Milan under Theo- doric, and later Bishop of Pa via, inveighed against the impious person who carried a statue of Minerva to a disorderly house, and himself under pretext of an " epithalamium " wrote light and trivial verses. It is true that Christian society at the time of the barbarian
