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| To Marcella.
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Letter
XLIV. To Marcella.
Marcella had sent some small articles as a present
(probably to Paula and Eustochium) and Jerome now writes in their name
to thank her for them. He notices the appropriateness of the gifts, not
only to the ladies, but also to himself. Written at Rome in 385 a.d.
When absent in body we are wont to converse together in
spirit.915
Each of us does what he or she can. You send
us gifts, we send you back letters of thanks. And as we are virgins who
have taken the veil,916
| 916 Cf. Letter CXXX.
§ 2. | it is our duty to
show that hidden meanings lurk under your nice presents. Sackcloth,
then, is a token of prayer and fasting, the chairs remind us that a
virgin should never stir abroad, and the wax tapers that we should look
for the bridegroom’s coming with our lights burning.917
The cups also warn us to mortify the flesh
and always to be ready for martyrdom. “How bright,” says
the psalmist, “is the cup of the Lord, intoxicating them that
drink it!”918
Moreover, when
you offer to matrons little fly-flaps to brush away mosquitoes, it is a
charming way of hinting that they should at once check voluptuous
feelings, for “dying flies,” we are told, “spoil
sweet ointment.”919
In such presents,
then, as these, virgins can find a model, and matrons a pattern. To me,
too, your gifts convey a lesson, although one of an opposite kind. For
chairs suit idlers, sackcloth does for penitents, and cups are wanted
for the thirsty. And I shall be glad to light your tapers, if only to
banish the terrors of the night and the fears of an evil
conscience.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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