Jerome on Virginity

This is a major new commentary on Jerome's Libellus de virginitate servanda , the first in any language to be devoted to this work. Written in Rome in 384, this treatise sets out the manner of life appropriate to a Christian virgin. It takes the form of a letter to a specific person, Eustochium, the teenage daughter of an aristocratic family, encouraging her to persevere in her intention of remaining a virgin. The Libellus , however, is more than just a friendly lecture on morality; it is an extensive academic treatise, forty-one chapters long, covering many aspects of virginity. Although the practice of unacknowledged quotation was common and acceptable throughout antiquity, Neil Adkin's commentary shows how far Jerome went in his borrowings from his Greek and Latin patristic predecessors and contemporaries, and also demonstrates how Jerome's brilliance as a writer enhanced his stolen material.