Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: playing the part of the fidus Achates—-the faithful companion and trusted helper, whose life is absorbed in the more vigorous life, whose work is to round off and complete the outlines of the master workman. Bonosus we already know as the foster-brother of Jerome; it would seem that at the end of their studentship in Rome he had returned home, while Jerome went to Treves. Heliodorus was a young man of noble and wealthy Aquileian fam1ly, who had been an officer in the army, but had retired from the service in order to lead a religious life. He will reappear several times in the subsequent history. Ultimately he was elected Bishop of Altinum in Venetia. Chromatius, Eusebius, and Jovinus afterwards entered into holy orders, and in the end became bishops. Nicias was at present a deacon of the church of Aquileia; he and Innocentius will shortly reappear in the history. Hylas was a liberated slave, enfranchised by Melania before her departure from Rome, who had attached himself to Jerome. The genius and enthusiasm of Jerome, and his recent experience of the ascetic life in the highest ranks of the church at Rome must have given him a great influence among these Aquileian youths, and it was probably his force of character which led them at once to put their ascetic notions into practice. Some of them, including Rufinus, formed themselves into a religious community in the city itself; one undertook the hardships of a hermit's life in the neighbouringAlps; Bonosus on a desert island off the neighbouring coast. Jerome and his brother retired to their paternal home at Strido, and there gave themselves up to the austerities of an ascetic life. We may be sure that Jerome proclaimed his ascetic notions with enthusiastic eloquence, and set himself with characteristic vigour ...