In the earlier editions the letters of Jerome are grouped together according to their subjects, and are for the most part ranked under three great heads : Theologicae, Polemicae, Morales. This system being altogether vague and unsatisfactory, the Benedictines selected from the mass eighteen, including one from Pope Damasus, which refer directly to the interpretation of the Old Testament, and these they distinguished by the epithet Criticae or Exegeticae, placing them immediately before the commentaries on the Scriptures. (Ed. Bened. vol. ii. p. 561-711.) The remainder they endeavoured to arrange according to their dates, dividing them into six classes, corresponding to the most remarkable epochs in the life of the author, to which a seventh class was added, containing those of which the time is uncertain ; an eighth class, containing five epistles dedicatory, prefixed to various translations from the Greek; and a ninth class, containing some letters neither by nor to Jerome, but which in former editions had been mixed up with the rest. (Ed. Bened. vol. iv. p. ii. p. 1 .... ad fin.) In the second class, however, they have thought fit to include all the biographical tracts of Jerome; and in the third class all his polemical and apologetical works; while in the fifth they have departed from their plan, for the purpose of presenting at one view the correspondence with Theophilus and Augustin, although of these epistles a few were written before some of those in the fourth class, and a few after some of those in the sixth class. Vallarsi has, moreover, pointed out several serious inaccuracies ; and after a minute investigation, in the course of which many letters hitherto received without suspicion have been rejected as spurious, and others undoubtedly authentic collected, for the first time, from various sources, has adopted the chronological order for the whole, distributing them into five periods or classes. The first embraces those written from A. D. 370, before Jerome betook himself to the desert, up to 381, when he quitted his solitude and repaired to Rome; the second those written during his residence at Rome from 382 until he quitted the city in 385, and sailed for Jerusalem ; the third those written at the monastery of Bethlehem, from 386 until the condemnation of Origen by the Alexandrian synod in 400; the fourth those written from 401 until his death in 420; the fifth those the date of which cannot be fixed with precision. The total number of epistles, including those written to, as well as those written by Jerome, is in the Benedictine edition 126, in the edition of Vallarsi 150.

Of these the larger portions have nothing of that easy and familiar tone which we expect to find in the correspondence even of the most learned, and are in fact letters in name and form only, and not in substance. Several, as we have seen above, are devoted to the criticism and interpretation of certain parts of the Bible, while many others are lengthened disquisitions on abstruse questions of doctrine and discipline. A general idea of their contents will be obtained from the following table, in which they follow each other according to the arrangement of Vallarsi, the probable date being appended to each, and also the number which it bears in the Benedictine and the earlier editions. A. D.Ordo Veterum Editionum.  Ordo Editionis Vallarsianae.Ordo Editionis Benedictinae.37049 I.17 37438 II.3 37441 III.1 3745 IV.2 3746 V.4 37437 VI.6 37443 VII.7 37442 VIII.8 37444 IX.9 37421 X.10 37439 XI.12 37445 XII.11 37436 XIII.13 3741 XIV.5 37657 XV.14 37658 XVI.16 37977 XVII.15 381--Divisa in 142 et 143XVIII.Inter Commentar. tom. 3.383124 XIX.Inter Criticas, tom. 4. I.383145 XX.Ibid. II.383146 XXI.Ibid. III.38422 XXII.18 38424 XXIII.20 38415 XXIV.21 384136 XXV.Inter Criticas, tom. 2. XIV384137 XXVI.Ibid. XV.384102 XXVII.25 384138 XXVIII.Inter Criticas, tom. 2. XVI384130 XXIX.Ibid. VII.384155 XXX.Ibid. XVII.38419 XXXI.23 38474 XXXII.24 384--VacatXXXIII.29 334141 XXXIV.Inter Criticas,tom.2.XVIII384124 XXXV.Ibid. I.384125 XXXVI.Ibid. II.384133 XXXVII.Ibid. X.38423 XXXVIII.19 38425 XXXIX.22 384100 XL.26 38454 XLI.27 384149 XLII.Inter Criticas, tom. 4. VI.38518 XLIII.45 38520 XLIV.46 38599 XLV.28 38617 XLVI.44 393154 XLVII.48 39350 XLVIII.30 39352 XLIX.31 39351 L.32 39460 LI.110 3942 LII.34 394103 LIII.50 39410 LIV.47 394147 LV.Inter Criticas, tom. 4. IV.39486 LVI.65 395101 LVII.33 39513 LVIII.49 395148 LIX.Inter Criticas, tom. 4. V.3963 LX.35 39675 LXI.36 396(7)76 LXII.56 39768 LXIII.58 397128 LXIV.Inter Criticas, tom. 2. V.397140 LXV.Ibid. XII.39726 LXVI.54 39787 LXVII.67 39733 LXVIII.100 39783 LXIX.82 39784 LXX.83 39828 LXXI.52 398132 LXXII.Inter Criticas, tom. 2. IX.398126 LXXIII.Ibid. III.398131 LXXIV.Ibid. VIII.39929 LXXV.53 39932 LXXVI.55 39930 LXXVII.84 399127 LXXVIII.Inter Criticas, tom. 2. IV399(400)9 LXXIX.85 399--DesideraturLXXX.Numero caret.39966 LXXXI.42 399--Abest.61, 62 LXXXII.39 39964 LXXXIII.40 40065 LXXXIV.41 400153 LXXXV.51 40070 LXXXVI.59 40069 LXXXVII.60 40071 LXXXVIII.61 40072 LXXXIX.62 40067 XC.111 40073 XCI.63 400--IneditaXCII.Inedita.400--IneditaXCIII.Inedita.400--IneditaXCIV.Inedita.400--IneditaXCV.Inedita.401--Numero caretXCVI.Numero caret.40278 XCVII.87 402--Numero caretXCVIII.Numero caret.40231 XCIX.64 402--Numero caretC.Numero caret.40290 CI.68 40291 CII.69 40398 CIII.66 40388 CIV.70 40392 CV.71 403135 CVI.Inter Criticas, tom. 2. XI.4037 CVII.57 40427 CVIII.86 40453 CIX.37 40493 CX.72 40495 CXI.73 40489 CXII.74 405--Numero caretCXIII.88 405--Superiori juneta in un.CXIV.Superiori juncta in un.40596 CXV.75 40597 CXVI.76 40547 CXVII.89 40634 CXVIII.92 406152 CXIX.Inter Criticas, tom. 4. IX.407150 CXX.Ibid. VII.407151 CXXI.Ibid. VIII.40846 CXXII.90 40911 CXXIII.91 41059 CXXIV.94 4114 CXXV.95 41182 CXXVI.78 41216 CXXVII.96 41312 CXXVIII.98 414129 CXXIX.Inter Criticas, tom. 2. VI.4148 CXXX.97 415--VacatCXXXI.Vacat.415--VacatCXXXII.Vacat.Numero caretCXXXIII.43 41694 CXXXIV.79 417 {CXXXV.}Non habentur.417--Non habenturCXXXVI.417 CXXXVII.41755 CXXXVIII.102 41756 CXXXIX.103 418139 CXL.Inter Criticas, tom. 2. XIII.41880 CXLI.80 41881 CXLII.77 41979 CXLIII.81 420--Desideratur CXLIV.Desideratur.Incert.35 CXLV.99 Incert.85 CXLVI.101 Incert.48 CXLVII.103 Falso adscriptae 14 CXLVII.Ad Celantiam109 Inedita  CXLIX.De solennitatibus PaschaeInedita.Non habetur CL., Graece et LatineUltima absque numero.

These in the older editions are mixed up at random with the epistles. Erasmus, Victorinus, and the Benedictines, although not agreeing with each other, have sought to establish some sort of order, by attaching the tracts to such epistles as treat of kindred subjects, but unfortunately this is practicable to a very limited extent only. Vallarsi has merely collected them together, without attempting any regular classification.

We now come to the largest and most important section of the works of Hieronymus, to which the two preceding tracts may be considered as introductory, viz.--

The most important contribution by Jerome to the cause of religion was his Latin version of the Old and New Testament. A Latin translation, or perhaps several Latin translations, existed in the second century, as we learn from the quotations of Tertullian, but in the course of two hundred years the text had fallen into lamentable confusion. A multitude of passages had been unscrupulously omitted or interpolated or altered by successive transcribers, to suit their own fancy or for the sake of supporting or of overturning particular doctrines, so that scarcely two copies could be found exactly alike, and in many cases the discrepancies were of a most serious character. Such a state of things had reasonably excited the greatest alarm among all sincere believers, when Jerome, who was admirably qualified for the task, undertook, at the earnest solicitation of his friend and patron, Pope Damasus, to remedy the evil.

He commenced his labours with the four Evangelists, comparing carefully the existing Latin translations with each other and with the original Greek, his object being to retain the existing expressions as far as possible, and to introduce new phraseology in those places only where the true sense had entirely disappeared. Prefixed is an introduction explaining the principle by which he had been guided, and ten synoptical tables, exhibiting a complete analysis and harmony of the whole. The remaining books of the New Testament were published subsequently upon the same plan, but from the absence of any introduction it has been doubted by some critics whether the translation of these was really executed by Jerome. His own words, however, elsewhere, are so explicit as to leave no rational ground for hesitation upon this point. (See the catalogue given by himself of his own works de Viris Ill. 100.135, Epist. lxxi., and Vallarsi, Praef. vol. x. p. xx.)

The Latin version of the Old Testament, as it existed at that epoch, had not been derived directly from the Hebrew, but from the Septuagint, and at first Jerome did not contemplate any thing more than a simple revision and correction of this version by comparing it with the Greek. Accordingly, he began with the book of Psalms, which he improved from an ordinary copy of the LXX, but here his work ended for the time. But when residing at Bethlehem in 390-391, he became acquainted with the Hexapla of Origen, in which the Greek text had been carefully corrected from the original Hebrew, and with this in his hands lie revised the whole of the Old Testament. But of this improved translation no portion has descended to us except the Psalms and Job, together with the Prologues to the Verba Dierum or Chronicles, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Solomon's Song. Indeed, the above-named were the only books ever published, the MS. of the remainder having been lost by the carelessness or abstracted by the treachery of some one who had gained possession of them. (See Epist. cxxxiv. " Pleraque enim prioris laboris fraude cujusdam amisimus.")

Nothing daunted by this misfortune, Jerome resolved to recommence his toil upon a different and far more satisfactory basis. Instead of translating a translation, he determined to have recourse at once to the original, and accordingly, after long and patient exertion, he finished in A. D. 405 an entirely new translation made directly from the Hebrew. This is in substance the Latin translation of the Old Testament now in circulation, but it was not received into general use until formally sanctioned by Pope Gregory the Great, for a strong prejudice prevailed in favour of every thing connected with the ancient Septuagint, which at that period was universally believed to have been the result of a miracle.

Jerome did not translate any part of the Apocrypha, with the exception of Tobit and Judith, which he rendered, at the request of Chromatius and Heliodorus, from the Chaldaean, not literally, as he himself informs us, but in such a manner as to convey the general sense. Indeed, his knowledge of Chaldaean could not have been very profound, since all he knew was obtained in the course of a single day from the instructions of one versed in that tongue. (See Pref. to Tobit.)

The history of the Vulgate, therefore, as it now exists, is briefly this:--

1. The Old Testament is a translation made directly from the original Hebrew by Jerome. 2. The New Testament is a translation formed out of the old translations carefully compared and corrected from the original Greek of Jerome. 3. The Apocrypha consists of old translations with the exception of Tobit and Judith freely translated from the original Chaldaean by Jerome.

In addition to the contents of the Vulgate, we find in the works of Jerome two translations of the Psalms, and a translation of Job, the origin of which we have already explained. The first translation of the Psalms was adopted soon after its appearance by the Church in Rome, and hence is called Psalterium Romanum ; the second by the Church in Gaul, and hence is called Psalterium Gallicanum, and these are still commonly employed, not having been superseded by the translation in the Vulgate, since the introduction of the latter would have involved a complete change of the sacred music established by long use.

In conclusion, we may remark that the Vulgate in its present form is by no means the same as when it issued from the hands of its great editor. Numerous alterations and corruptions crept in during the middle ages, which have rendered the text uncertain. A striking proof of this fact has been adduced by bishop Marsh, who states that two editions published within two years of each other, in 1590 and 1592, both printed at Rome, both under papal authority, and both formally pronounced authentic, differ materially from each other in sense as well as in words.

The Old Testament, or the was anciently divided into three orders, Primus Ordo, Legis, comprehending the Pentateuch ; Secundus Ordo, Prophetarum, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, I. and II., Kings, I. and II., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets ; Tertius Ordo, Hagiographorum, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Solomon's Song, Daniel, Verba Dierum, or Chronicles I. and II., Ezra, and Esther; to which are sometimes added a fourth ordo, including the books of the Apocrypha. In like manner the New Testament was divided into the containing Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and Ordo Apostolicus, containing the remainder, from the Acts to the Apocalypse.

The lost works of Jerome are divided by Vallarsi into two classes: I. Those which unquestionably existed at one period; II. Those of which the existence at any time is very doubtful. To the first class belong,--