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The Shepherd of Hermas
Preface
The Shepherd of Hermas is the name of a treatise highly esteemed in early times and once ranking next to the Holy
Scriptures. It is an ethical rather than a theological work, preaching repentance, and consisting of visions, behavior mandates, and parables. It is a particularly valuable as a contemporary record of 2nd century Christianity in Rome.
The authorship has been attributed to Hermas, mentioned by Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans, 14; but with more likelihood, to a brother of Pope Pius I.
- from The New Catholic Dictionary
Vision the First
Against Filthy and Proud Thoughts, and the
Carelessness of Hermas in Chastising His Sons
He who had brought me up, sold me to one Rhode in Rome.
Many years after this I recognized her, and I began to love her as a sister. Some time after, I saw her bathe in the river
Tiber; and I gave her my hand, and drew her out of the river.
The sight of her beauty made me think with myself, "I
should be a happy man if I could but get a wife as handsome and good as she is." This was the only thought that passed through me: this and nothing more. A short time after this, as I was walking on my road to the villages, and magnifying the creatures of God, and thinking how magnificent, and beautiful, and powerful they are, I fel…