HIERONYMUS. rally useful than the article Hierovyimi$^ by Colin, in the Encydop'ddie of Ersch and Gruber. In giving a short account of the works of Jerome, which may be classed under the four heads — I. Epistolae ; II. Tractatos ; III. Commen- TARII BlBLICI ; IV. BiBLIOTHECA DiVlNA, we shall follow closely the order adopted in the edition of Vallarsi, the best which has yet appeared. Vol. I. I. Epistolae. In the earlier editions the letters of Jerome are grouped together accord- ing to their subjects, and are for the most part ranked under three great heads : Theologicae^ Folemicae, Morales. This system being altogether vague and unsatisfactory, the Benedictines selected from the mass eighteen, including one from Pope Damasus, which refer directly to the interpretation of the Old Testament, and these they distinguished by the epithet Criticae or Exegeticae^ placing them immediately before the commentaries on the Scrip- tures. (Ed. Bened. vol. ii. p. 561— 711.) The remainder they endeavoured to arrange according to their dates, dividing them into six classes, cor- responding to the most remarkable epochs in the life of the author, to which a seventh class was added, containing those of which the time is un- certain ; an eighth class, containing five epistles dedicatory, prefixed to various translations from the Greek ; and a ninth class, containing some letters neither by nor to Jerome, but which in fonner editions had been mixed up with the rest. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 1 . . . . ad fin.) In the second class, however, they have thought fit to include all the biographical ti-acts of Jerome ; and in the third class all his polemical and apologetical works ; while in the fifth they have departed from their plan, for the purpose of presenting at one view the correspondence with Theophilus and Augustin, Ordo Veterum HIERONYMUS. 461 although of these epistles a few were written before some of those in the fourth class, and a few after some of those in the sixth class. Vallarsi has, moreover, pointed out several serious inaccuracies ; and after a minute investigation, in the course of which many letters hitherto received without sus- picion have been rejected as spurious, and otliers undoubtedly authentic collected, for the first time, from various sources, has adopted the chronological order for the whole, distributing them into five periods or classes. The first embraces those written from A. D. 370, before Jerome betook himself to the desert, up to 381, when he quitted his solitude and repaired to Rome ; the second those written during his residence at Rome from 382 until he quitted the city in 385, and sailed for Jerusalem ; the third those written at the monastery of Beth- lehem, from 386 until the condemnation of Origen by the Alexandrian synod in 400 ; the fourth those written from 401 until his death in 420 ; the fifth those the date of which cannot be fixed with pre- cision. The total number of epistles, including those written to, as well as those v/ritten by Jerome, is in the Benedictine edition 126, in the edition of Vallarsi 150. Of these the larger portions have nothing of that easy and familiar tone which we expect to find in the correspondence even of the most learned, and are in fact letters in name and form only, and not in substance. Several, as we have seen above, are devoted to the criticism and interpretation of cer- tain parts of the Bible, while many others are lengthened disquisitions on abstruse questions of doctrine and discipline. A general idea of their contents will be obtained from the following table, in which they follow each other according to the arrangement of Vallarsi, the probable date being appended to each, and also the number which it bears in the Benedictine and the earlier editions. A.D. 370 374 374 374 374 374 374 374 374 374 374 374 374 374 376 376 379 381- 383 383 383 384 384 384 3H4 384 Editiouum. 49 38 41 5 6 37 43 42 44 21 39 45 36 1 57 58 77 Ordo Editionis Vallarsianae. I. Ad Innocentium, de muliere septies percussa .... II. Ad Theodosium et ceteros Anchoretas III. Ad Ruffinum Monachum IV. Ad Florentiura V. Ad euradem . VI. Ad Julianum VII. Ad Chromatium, Jovinum et Euse- bium .... VIIT. Ad Niceam Hypodiaconum . IX. Ad Chrysogonum . . . X. Ad Paulura Concordiensem . XI. Ad Virgines Almonenses XII. Ad Antoniura Monachum . XIII. Ad Castorinam Materteram . XIV. Ad Heliodorum . . . XV. Ad Damasum Papam de Hypostasibus 14 Ordo Editionis Benedictinae. 17 3 2 4 6 7 8 9 10 12 11 13 5 XVI. Ad eumdem XVII. Ad Marcum Presbyterura -Divisa in 1 42 et 1 43 XVIII. Ad Damasum de Seraphim 16 15 Inter Coramentar. tom. 3. Inter Criticas, tom. 4. I. Ibid. II. 124 XIX. Damasi ad Hieronymum de Osanna . 145 XX. Ad Damasum de Osanna 146 XXI. Ad eumdem de duobus filiis, fnigi et mxurioso .... Ibid. III. 22 XXII. Ad Eustochium de Virginitate .18 24 XXIII. Ad Marcellam de exitu Leae , 20 15 XXIV. Ad eamdem de laudibus Asellae .21 136 XXV. Ad eamdem de decern Dei nominibus Inter Criticas, tom. 2. XIV 137 XXVI. Ad eamdem de quibusdara Hebraeis vocibus • • . . Ibid. XV>
