The sun., 1905-09-03

lations nominAlly Christian, or even on
classes that professed TO aspire to peculiar
sanctity Of life. The fact provokes Prof Dill
TO inquire, .Cau the religion Of the Cross
have left men no better than II found themP'
He sdds that IT We may reasonably distrust
the unmeasured invective OF Christian
writer against his coreligionists. there
are even stronger grounds for hesitating
to accept the judgment OF an enemy, In \
period Of fierce controversy. on the moral
state Of heathendom." The views held by
st. Jerome a. to the ideal Of virtue, and es-
pecially Of sexual virtue, we're Of the ex-
treme monastic type. To him, as to many
other Christians in that day, the world was
90 full Of alurcments, the fesh was 80 weak
and sensual, the devil was 40 cunning IN
laying snares for the soul. that the only
chance Of escape, seemed to lie In absolute
remuneration. The Greek ideal OF moral
perfection. a. . middle state between ex-
GEES and defoct Of passion, seemed to the
ascedc impracticable or unworthy. Ava
rice could only be conquered by selling all
ones possessions and giving to the poor.
Luxury In drsss and food must be replaced
by saokcloth and herbs. and even by an
avoidance OF the bath. The pleasures
Of love. which were looked upon as merely
sensual, must be utterly rejected as de-
basing to the soul Of the elect. Honorable
marriage ranked below the purity Of intact
virginity and the recovered chastity OF
widowhood. Nothing can exceed the ex-
travagance With which St. Jerome, who
was m experienced man OF the world, cele-
brated In IA the self-devotion Of Demetrias
10 the virgin state.
Throughout st. Jerome's pages women are
stigmatized a. the great offenders. Their
gaudy turbans and elaborate coihuree.
their costly silks, art!sticany applied Co.'S
metioe and blazing wealth OF Jewels are
described with Q scorn which makes the
authors minute observation OF details
somewhat surprising. The saint often
warns his female disciples against the dan
ger OF appearing among the fashionable
and snowy crowd. The danger to female
innocence seemed to him 30 great that the
only safety for a woman lay in cutting
herself OF absolutely from the world. Our
author, for his part, 10 slow to believe that
the reserve and delicacy Of % many genera
lions OF social culture should have grown
20 helpless In the face OF evil. He suggests
that the warm imagination Of st. Jerome
pronounced incredible that the high minded.
stately and cultivated ladies. 90 many OF
whom are known to US In their later lives
through tho annals Of the Church, should
have been % exposed In their youth to the
contamination OF grossness that they could
not observe the limit between harmless
natural enjoyment and sensual indulgence.
The truth il that @St. Jerome lie not only
q monk, but an artist In words; and his
horror Of evil, his vivid imagination and
his passion for literary effect occasionally
carry him beyond the region of sober fact
There was much TO amend in the morals of
the Roman world. But We, must not take
the leader OF a great moral reformation
as q cool and dispassionate observer
What is true OF st. jerome, who died in
A. D. 40, Is equally true Of Salvianus. who
wrote at considerably later period. While
he does not deny that overwhelming disaster
may have driven men here and there to
drown their sorrow in wild and vicious
excitement, Prof. Dill declines to credit
the charge Of universal and shameless
immortality which Salvianus makes against
the men Of his province. That the slave
system Is dangerous to the morals Of the
masters has been the experience Of all ages,
but what IL dangerous to some need not
be fatal to all. Yet Salvianus makes no
exception in his impeaohmentof the morals
Of Southern Gaul. Every estate is a scene
Of prostitution. Aquitaine is one vast
lupanar. Conjugal faithfulness ia un-
known. Except in the ranks OF those who
had taken the vow Of remuneration. Sal
vianus will not allow the existence Of a
single virtue" With regard to this whole
sale arraignment, our author comedies
that 1t is never possible to say how whole
population has lived. He submits, how
ever, that this is as true Of the attack as
OF the defence Of moral character. We
can form only hesitating judgment on
the scanty evidence which has come down
to US, and on general probability based or
experience Of human nature. AS matter
OF fact, the indictment by Salvianus can.
not be reconciled with the contemporary
picture OF society which we have in the
letters OF Sidonius. Moreover, IL Sal
vianus were accurate, the Church mus'
be held to have utterly failed in raising
the mass Of the Gallo people to higher
life. There must have been no mean, nc
intermediate category between the small
class Of men and women who bad renounoeo
fortune and family ties at the call Of Christ
on the one hand. and the monsters Of crue
rapacity and unbridled lust described by
Salvianus on the other. Now we know
mnutely the state Of the society Of Bor.
deaux sixty years before Salyianus's treatise
appeared. In the cultivated circle Of tina,
city at that time there was. to be sure
little trace Of ardent Christian belief. There
was also little trace of shameless vice
The contemporary society Of Symmachut
at Rome was severely respectable in spite
OF it's pagan sympathies. II. then, Aqui'
tanian morals In the time Of salvianus
were as thoroughly corrupt az he says they
were. it follows that, -in spite Of the spiritua
triumphs Of st. Martin, in spite Of the ef.
forts Of a highly organized Church. rulec
by many bishops Of sanity character anG
great popular influence. the tone Of pro.
vincial society must have fallen below
the level Of Ausonius and his friends ano
OF those grave and strict provincial Sen
ators who, ten generations before Au
sonius. were regarded by Taoitus as the
salt Of the Roman world. salvianus like
St. Jerome. judged the men Of his time by q