Nisi modum epistolici characteris excederem : Jerome and epistolary brevitas

Jerome\u2019s quoting epistolary brevitas in letter 26 to Marcella could betray his knowledge of Origen\u2019s letter to Julius Africanus on the canonicity of the book of Daniel. This hypothesis is supported by a lexical similarity, which should not be regarded as coincidental. Moreover, it would fit very well with what we know of Jerome: in the years prior to 393, before the Origenian controversy broke out, he made many efforts to fashion himself after Origen, making the Alexandrian the hero of the letters collected in the ad Marcellam liber. This is why he may reasonably have exploited Origen\u2019s epistolary self-propaganda in order to fashion himself as a champion of scriptural philology, and to present himself \u2013 so to say \u2013 as an \u2018origenized\u2019 Jerome