Letter CVI. To Sunnias and Fretela.
A long letter in which Jerome answers a number of
questions put to him by two sojourners in Getica, Sunnias and Fretela.
Diligent students of scripture, these men were at a loss to understand
the frequent differences between Jerome’s Latin psalter of 383
a.d.
(the so-called Roman psalter) and the
LXX, and accordingly sent him a long list of passages with a request
for explanation. Jerome in his reply deals fully with all these and
points out to his correspondents that they have been misled by their
edition of the LXX. (the “common” edition) which differs
widely from the critical text of Origen as given in the Hexapla and
used by himself. He also expresses his joy to find that even among the
Getæ the scriptures are now diligently studied. The date of the
letter is about 403
a.d.