The Letters of St. Jerome 150

St Jerome (AD 345–420) · Epistolae · PL 22, 327–1224

150 From Procopius to Jerome PL 22, 1224

This letter is extant also among those of Procopius of Gaza, to whose works it properly belongs. As this Procopius flourished a century later than Jerome, the letter cannot be addressed to him.

Procopius Hieronymo.

« Iterum Aegyptus et mollities, nosque tibi pauperes, et absentium ratio nulla. Nihil est istud, rideas modo auro fluentem spectans Nilum. Etiamsi magis etiamnum attolas supercilium, contemptum omnino patiemur. Erit enim tempus cum iterum videbis Elusam, et flebis arenam disjectam ventis et radice tenus vastantem [vites. Peregrinae aliquae et mari advenientes Nymphae et Jupiter] pluvius ibi nusquam. Tunc quidem ipse ridebo et subsannabo fortunam. Tu vero me nunc abjectum, tum beatum putabis. Verumtamen dum tibi Nilus deliciis vivere permittit, scribe tantummodo, et nos minutos et velut quosdam humo prorepentes appelles. Sic enim et te scribente fruemur, et tuam superbiam futuri exspectatione mollius feram.

Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.), New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890-1900. Public domain: English translation first published 1885-1900 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series). Latin: Migne, Patrologia Latina (1844-1855), public domain; transcription from Corpus Corporum (University of Zurich).