Letter 41
To a Friend.
I have hired a ship for you with a crew of capable sailors — men who trust skill more than luck in navigation. These Carpathian vessels [from the island of Carpathos] have a reputation for almost being intelligent, like the legendary ships of the Phaeacians [in Homer's Odyssey, which could navigate themselves] — before the gods' anger fell on that island.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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1. O excellent man and excellent brother, there was a time when you were unknown to my mind; and I charge my mind to bear patiently your being still unknown to my eyes, but it almost — nay, altogether — refuses to obey. Does it indeed bear this patiently?
An apology for the two books against Jovinian which Jerome had written a short time previously, and of which he had sent copies to Rome. These Pammachius and his other friends had withheld from publication, thinking that Jerome had unduly exalted virginity at the expense of marriage. He now writes to make good his position, and to do this makes ...