Author Description

The last two decades have seen a growing interest in Jerome’s epistolary, with the publication of several commentaries on single letters; however, no full-scale study has so far been devoted to Epistle 107, Ad Laetam de institutione filiae. This didactic and parenetic letter, addressed to the Roman noblewoman Laeta around 401-402 AD, is indeed among the most relevant pieces of Jerome’s letter collection, and while it has aroused the interest of scholars interested in the problems of Late Antique pedagogy and female virginity, it has so far received limited attention on a philological and literary level. Aiming to fill this gap, the present volume provides an introduction that addresses the main issues related to the letter (addressee, dating, typology, use of classical and biblical sources, manuscript tradition and reception), the critically revised Latin text, a new Italian translation, and a full-scale lemmatic commentary.