Letter LXXIV. To Rufinus of Rome.
Rufinus, a Roman Presbyter (to be carefully
distinguished from Rufinus of Aquileia and Rufinus the Syrian), had
written to Jerome for an explanation of the judgment of Solomon (
1 Kings iii. 16–28
). This Jerome gives at length, treating
the narrative as a parable and making the false and true mothers types
of the Synagogue and the Church. The date of the letter is 398
a.d.