ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines Jerome's stance towards Aramaic as a language and the use to which he put it in his exegesis and in his self-promotion as an expert philologist. It then surveys the phenomenon of Hieronymus Syrus and, in particular, the Syriac translation of the Life of Malchus. The chapter shows the reception of Jerome in the East differs somewhat from that in the West, but it does so in a way that might not have been entirely unsatisfactory to Jerome, especially in light of his own knowledge of and love for Aramaic. Jerome's 'trilingualism' has become a well-established fact in Hieronymian scholarship. Jerome's awareness of Syriac/Aramaic extends also, and more positively, to a strong appreciation for Christian Syriac literary productions. In De Viris Illustribus he mentions three Syriac authors, Bardesanes, Archelaus of Mesopotamia, and Ephrem. Jerome was well aware that too close an acquaintance with such a barbaric language could be a dangerous matter.
