Jerome Practices the Perjury He Charges

Now that I have satisfied you on my own account, and backed my opinion with an anathema, I would like to make this further point plain to you: that he himself declares that perjury is practiced by the initiates and members of certain secret rites and mystical societies to which he belongs. There is a sure and true saying of our God, “By their fruits you will know them,” and this one too, “A tree is known by its fruit.” Very well. He says that I have accepted this doctrine of perjury. If, then, I have been trained in this practice, and this evil tree really has its roots in me, it is impossible that matching fruit should not have grown on me, and that I should not have gathered some society of mystic associates around me. As for myself, the one person he tries to injure in everything he writes, I will not bear witness to myself. Nor will I say that there are cases of necessity in which it is right to swear, for I would rather keep clear of blame, out of timidity if not out of prudence. In any case, if I fall short in obeying the command, I will admit my error. So I will make no boast of this. But whether I have erred or acted prudently, he at any rate can point to no act of mine by which to convict me. I, on the other hand, can show from his writings that he not only holds this doctrine of perjury, but practices this foul vice as a sacred duty. I will bring nothing against him that has been trumped up out of ill will, as he does against me. I will bring him and his writings forward as witnesses against himself, so that it may be clear that it is not his enemies who accuse him, but he who convicts himself. [a]