Letter 65: A commentary on Ps. XLV. addressed to Marcella's friend and companion Principia (see Letter CXXVII.).
Letter 65: To Principia, On Psalm 45 (397 AD)
[A commentary on Psalm 45 addressed to Principia, the friend and companion of the aristocratic Marcella. Jerome prefaces his exegesis with a pointed defense of his practice of writing for women — a habit that had drawn sneers from his critics. He addresses the same subject in his dedication of the Commentary of Sophronius. The fact that Jerome's most devoted and intellectually serious correspondents were women is one of the striking features of his career; that it scandalized many of his contemporaries tells us as much about them as about him.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
This letter is really a memoir of Marcella (for whom see note on Letter XXIII.) addressed to her greatest friend. After describing her history, character, and favourite studies, Jerome goes on to recount her eminent services in the cause of orthodoxy at a time when, through the efforts of Rufinus, it seemed likely that Origenism would prevail at...
1. Your summons to the Council reached me on the fifth day before the Ides of November, in the evening, and found me very much indisposed, so that I could not possibly attend. However, I submit to your pious and wise judgment whether certain perplexities which the summons occasioned were due to my own ignorance or to sufficient grounds.