A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

HIERONYMUS. HIERONYMUS. 461
irally useful than the article Hieronymus, by Clln, although of these epistles a few were written before'in the Encyclopadie of Ersch and Gruber. some of those in the fourth class, and a few after
In giving a short account of the works of Jerome, some of those in the sixth class. Vallarsi has,
which may be classed under the four heads - I. moreover, pointed out several serious inaccuracies;
EPISTOLAE; II. TRACTATUS; III. COMMEN- and after a minute investigation, in the course of
TARII BiBLICI; IV. BIBLIOTHECA DIVINA, we which many letters hitherto received without susshall follow closely the order adopted in the edition picion have been rejected as spurious, and others
of Vallarsi, the best which has yet appeared. undoubtedly authentic collected, for the first time,
from various sources, has adopted the chronological
VOL. I. order for the whole, distributing them into five
I. EPISTOLAE. In the earlier editions the periods or classes. The first embraces those written
fetters of Jerome are grouped together accord- from A. D. 370, before Jerome betook himself to
ing to their subjects, and are for the most part the desert, up to 381, when he quitted hissolitude
ranked under three great *heads: Theologicae, and repaired to Rome; the second those written
Polemicae, 1Morales. This system being altogether during his residence at Rome from 382 until he
vague and unsatisfactory, the Benedictines selected quitted the city in 385, and sailed for Jerusalem;
from the mass eighteen, including one from Pope the third those written at the monastery of BethDamasus, which refer directly to the interpretation lehem, from 386 until the condemnation of Origen
of the Old Testament, and these they distinguished by the Alexandrian synod in 400; the fourth those
by the epithet Criticae or Exegeticae, placing them written from 401 until his death in 420; the fifth
immediately before the commentaries on the Scrip- those the date of which cannot be fixed with pretures. (Ed. Bened. vol. ii. p. 561-711.) The cision. The total number of epistles, including
remainder they endeavoured to arrange according those written to, as well as those written by
to their dates, dividing them into six classes, cor- Jerome, is in the Benedictine edition 126, in the.responding to the most remarkable epochs in the edition of Vallarsi 150.
life of the author, to which a seventh class was Of these the larger portions have nothing of that
added, containing those of which the time is un- easy and familiar tone which we expect to find in
certain; an eighth class, containing five epistles the correspondence even of the most learned, and
dedicatory, prefixed to various translations from are in fact letters in name and form only, and not
the Greek; and a ninth class, containing some in substance. Several, as we have seen above, are
letters neither by nor to Jerome, but which in devoted to the criticism and interpretation of cerformer editions had been mixed up with the rest. tain parts of the Bible, while many others are:
(Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 1.... ad fin.) In lengthened disquisitions on abstruse questions of
the second class, however, they have thought fit to doctrine and discipline. A general idea of their
include all the biographical tracts of Jerome; and contents will be obtained from the following table,
in the third class all his polemical and apologetical in which they follow each other according to the
works; while in the fifth they have departed from arrangement of Vallarsi, the probable date being
their plan, for the purpose of presenting at one view appended to each, and also the number which it
the correspondence with Theophilus and Augustin, bears in the Benedictine and the earlier editions.
Ordo Veterum Ordo Editionis
A.D. Editionum. Ordo Editionis Vallarsianae. Benedictinae.
370 49 I. Ad Innocentium, de muliere septies
percussa... 17
374 38 II. Ad Theodosium et ceteros Anchoretas 3
374 41 III. Ad Ruffinum Monachum.. 1
374 5 IV. Ad Florentium.. 2
374 6 V. Ad eumdem. 4
374 37 VI. Ad Julianumn... 6
374 43 VII. Ad Chromatium, Jovinum et Euse
bium.. 7
374 42 VWII. Ad Niceam Hypodiaconum.. 8
374 44 IX. Ad Chrysogonum... 9
374 21 X. Ad Paulumrn Concordiensem.. 10
374 39 XI. Ad Virgines Almonenses. 12
374 45 XII. Ad Antonium Monachum. 11
374 36 XIII. Ad Castorinam Materteram.. 13
374 1 XIV. Ad Heliodorum... 5
376 57 I XV. Ad Damasum Papam de Hypostasibus 14
376 58 XVI. Ad eumdem.. 16
379 77 XVII. Ad Marcum Presbyterum. 15
381-Divisa in 142 et 143 XVJII. Ad Damasum de Seraphim. Inter Commentar. tom. 3.
383 124 XIX. Damasi ad Hieronymum de Osanna. Inter Criticas, tom. 4. I.
383 145 XX. Ad Damasum de Osanna.. Ibid. ii.
383 146 XXI. Ad eumdem de duobus filiis, frngi et
iuxurioso. Ibid. III.
384 22 XXII. Ad Eustochium de Virginitate. 18
384 - 24 XXIII. Ad Marcellamn de exitu Leae. 20
384 15 XXIV. Ad eamdem de laudibus Asellae. 21
384 136 XXV. Ad eamdem de decem Dei nominibus Inter Criticas, tom. 2. XIV
384 137 XXVI, Ad eamdem de quibusdam Hebraeis: vocibus... Ibid. XV.