Far from Stridonium, his semi-barbarous native place, whose austerity and vigor he never lost; far from Rome, where the study of literature and philosophy had not had sufficient ascendency to withhold him from the seductions of pleasure—the fear of God’s judgments had led him into the desert of Chalcia. There, under a burning sky, in the company of wild beasts, he for four years tormented his body with fearful macerations; and then, as a yet more efficacious remedy, and certainly a more meritorious mortification for one passionately fond of classical beauties, he sacrificed his ciceronian tastes to the study of the Hebrew language.
Mbali na Stridonium, nusu-shenzi wake uliotokea, ambaye ukali na nguvu yeye kamwe kupotea; mbali na Roma, ambapo utafiti wa fasihi na falsafa wasingalikuwa ascendency kutosha ili kuizuia naye kutoka seductions ya furaha-hofu ya hukumu ya Mungu alikuwa na kuongozwa naye katika jangwa la Chalcia. Huko, chini ya anga kuungua, katika kampuni ya wanyama pori, yeye kwa miaka minne anaumwa mwili wake kwa macerations waoga; na kisha, kama dawa bado zaidi efficacious, na kwa hakika kujitesa zaidi meritorious kwa moja passionately uzoefu wa beauties classical, akachinja ladha yake ciceronian na utafiti wa lugha ya Kiebrania.