snobbery in the Saint's attitude to them. When Paula died and was buried at Bethlehem, Jerome
composed an epitaph for her tomb:
Within this tomb a child of Scipio lies, A daughter of the far-famed Pauline house, A scion of
the Gracchi, of the stock Of Agamemnon's self, illustrious: Here rests the lady Paula, well-
beloved Of both her parents, with Eustochium For daughter; she the first of Roman dames Who
hardship chose and Bethlehem for Christ. *
Some of Jerome's letters to Eustochium are curious. He gives her advice on the preservation of
virginity, very detailed and frank; he explains the exact anatomical meaning of certain
euphemisms in the Old Testament; and he employs a kind of erotic mysticism in praising the
joys of conventual life. A nun is the Bride of Christ; this marriage is celebrated in the Song of
Solomon. In a long letter written at the time when she took the vows, he gives a remarkable
message to her mother: "Are you angry with her because she chooses to be a king's [Christ's]
wife and not a soldier's? She has conferred on you a high privilege; you are now the mother-in-
law of God." â€
To Eustochium herself, in the same letter (XXII), he says:
"Ever let the privacy of your chamber guard you; ever let the Bridegroom sport with you within.
Do you pray? You speak to the Bridegroom. Do you read? He speaks to you. When sleep
overtakes you He will come behind and put His hand through the hole of the door, and your
heart shall be moved for Him; and you will awake and rise up and say: 'I am sick of love.' Then
He will reply: 'A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.'"
In the same letter he relates how, after cutting himself off from relations and friends, "and--
harder still--from the dainty food to which I had been accustomed," he still could not bear to be
parted from his library, and took it with him to the desert. "And so, miserable man that I was, I
would fast only that I might afterwards read Cicero." After days and nights of remorse, he
would fall again, and read Plautus. After such indulgence, the style of the prophets seemed
* Ibid., p. 212.â
€
Ibid., p. 30.