Abstract
The article explores the metapoetic (self-)reflections on Christian authorship in the framing text passages of Jerome’s Epistula 1. The analysis shows that this literary debut, in which the author’s purported inability is offset by the brilliance of his writing, is, in fact, a literary showpiece of Jerome, which refutes the irrelevance of aesthetics in Christian themes. The analysis of quotations from the classics in particular underlines that he defines Christian writing through Christian themes and religious beliefs while at the same time holding on to the aesthetic norms of classical antiquity and thus - through rhetorical elegantia - recommending himself to a lettered and demanding audience. In an age which technically does not allow for professional poets being supported by patronage and remuneration as was common during the classical period, Jerome virtually wants to establish himself as a Christian Virgil of prose writing.
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