A letter from Jerome (384-6)

Translated letter:

The cause of my writing such a little letter is twofold: that the carrier was in a hurry and that detained by other work I did not want to stop for a trifle. You ask what could be so great, so necessary, that it excludes the reward of an epistolary chat. For a long time I have been comparing the edition of Aquila with Hebrew volumes, in case the synagogue changed anything out of hatred of Christ, and as I confess to a friendly mind, I find many things relevant to strengthening our faith. I have already gone through the Prophets, Solomon, the Psalter, and the books of Kings and now I have Exodus, which they call “ele smoth,” and am about to move into Leviticus. You see, therefore, that no task can be put before this work. But rather than let our Currentius go in vain, I am attaching to this little talk two letters which I sent to your sister Paula and her child Eustochium, so that while you read this you can find something learned and agreeable in them, and think they were also written for you. 2. I want to wish our common mother, Albina, good health — I speak of her body, knowing she is healthy in spirit — and I beseech you to greet her for me and to cherish her with the double piety that loves her both as a Christian and as a mother.

Original letter:

1. Ut tam paruam epistulam scriberem, causae duplicis fuit: quod et tabellarius festinabat et ego alio opere detentus hoc quasi parergio me occupare nolui. quaeras, quidnam illud sit tam grande, tam necessarium, quo epistolicae confabulationis munus exclusum sit. iam pridem cum uoluminibus Hebraeorum editionem Aquilae confero, ne quid forsitan propter odium Christi synagoga mutauerit, et, ut amicae menti fatear, quae ad nostram fidem pertineant roborandam, plura repperio. Nunc iam Prophetis, Salomone, Psalterio Regnorumque libris examussim recensetis Exodum teneo, quem illi ele smoth uocant ad Leuiticum transiturus. uides igitur, quod nullum officium huic operi praeponendum est. attamen, ne Currentius forte noster frustra cucurrerit, duas epistulas, quas ad sororem tuam Paulam eiusque pignus Eustochium miseram, huic sermunculo adnexui, ut, dum illa legis et in his aliquid doctrinae pariter ac leporis inueneris, putes tibi quoque scripta esse, quae scripta sunt. 2. Albinam, communem matrem, ualere cupio — de corpore loquor, quin spiritu ualeat, non ignorans — eamque per te salutari obsecro et duplici pietatis officio focilari, quo in una atque eadem Christiana simul diligatur et mater.

Historical context:

A letter from one scholar to another, apologizing for the brevity of his letter, using the excuse he knows she will understand, that he is engaged in a major scholarly project, comparing Aquila's Greek with the Jewish bible in Hebrew.

Printed source:

Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, ed. Isidorus Hilberg, 3 v. (New York: Johnson, 1970, repr. CSEL1910-18), ep.32

Date:

384-6