Hi.
I recently discovered this passage in Saint Jerome’s “On Illustrious Men”, its 3rd chapter (included here in full) which is a biography of Matthew the Apostle. My question really concerns the bolded sentence. I have seen a translation given to the effect “the Nazarenes described it to me” and others as “they allowed me to copy it.” I understand the verb can mean either, and just want to get more information on reading this accurately.
The translation beneath this is from textexcavation.com.
Jerome, On Illustrious Men chapter 3:
Matthaeus, qui et Levi, ex publicano apostolus, primus in Iudaea propter eos qui ex circumcisione crediderant evangelium Christi Hebraicis litteris composuit; quod quis postea in Graecum transtulerit non satis certum est. porro ipsum Hebraicum habetur usque hodie in Caesariensi bibliotheca quam Pamphilus martyr studiosissime confecit. mihi quoque a Nazaraeis, qui in Beroea urbe Syriae hoc volumine utuntur, describendi facultas fuit; in quo animadvertendum quo ubicumque evangelista, sive ex persona sua sive ex domini salvatoris, veteris scripturae testimoniis abutitur, non sequatur septuagint translatorum auctoritatem, sed Hebraicum. e quibus illa duo sunt: Ex Aegypto vocavi filium meum, et: Quoniam Nazaraeus vocabitur.
Matthew, who is also Levi, the ex-publican apostle, first composed in Hebrew letters the gospel of Christ in Judea on account of those who had believed from among the circumcision; who afterward translated it into Greek is not sufficiently certain. Furthermore, this Hebrew [text] is held even until today in the Caesarean library which Pamphilus the martyr studiously put together. There was an opportunity for me from the Nazoraeans to copy this volume, which is used in Beroea, a city of Syria. In which [gospel] it must be noted that, wherever the evangelist, whether from his own person or from the Lord and savior, makes use of testimonies of the old scriptures, he does not follow the authority of the seventy translators, but the Hebrew. From which things two are: From Egypt did I call my son, and: For he shall be called a Nazarene.