10

Malchus and his wife make it to a Roman camp. Malchus joins a monastery at Maroneia, and his wife joins a group of Christian virgins.

trānsāctā diē: ablative absolute

exīmus: probably historical present

ad vesperam: “towards evening” or “at nightfall” (Gray)

nimium: < nimius -a -um normally means “excessive” but here “very great, extraordinary” (OLD 4).

dromedāriōs < dromedārius -iī m., “dromedary” (LL); Greek δρομεδάριος means “runner.” These are the same kind of camels as those mentioned in 4.2; Jerome is simply giving another name for them (Gray).

volvere, et ... retrahere: acc. + inf. in indirect statement, depending on vidimusque. The camels were chewing the cud, though as Gray notes the information is given in the wrong order (hysteron proteron), since retrahere takes place before in ōre volvere. in alvum < alvus -ī m., “belly.”

Quibus ascēnsīs = quibus (camēlīs) ascēnsīs, ablative absolute.

novā sitarciā < sitarc(h)ia -ae f., “provisions for a journey” (the Greek cognate σιταρχία is rare, but based on the common word for food, σῖτος).

refocilātī: “having been revived” > LL fōcilō (1), “to revive, relieve, refresh” (DMBLS refocilare; a CL equivalent would be focillō)

10.2

pandimus: “we explained” < pandō -ere (LS II.B.2), historical present.

Sabīniānum, Mesopotamiae Ducem: a Dux in the late empire was a military commander of a province or border area. Sabinianus is mentioned in Ammianus Marcellinus 18.7.7 as operating near Edessa in 359 CE.

10.3

dormierat in Dominō: “had died,” euphemistic (DMLBS dormire 3).

haec … loca: “this region,” “here,” Maroneia in Syria. This brings us back to the setting in which Jerome heard the story.

hanc trādō virginibus: hanc refers to the woman Malchus escaped with; historical present (Gray).

non tamen eī mē crēdēns ut sorōrī: “but not entrusting myself to her as to a sister” (Gray). Malchus joins the local monastic community and entrusts his wife to the nuns. But he is afraid at this point of being tempted to take up a sexual relationship with her despite their vows of chastity, if they live together like brother and sister. This remark is an important part of the answer to the question raised in the beginning: quaenam esset eōrum cōpula. When and how they meet and start living as “spiritual” spouses is again left without an explanation (Šubrt 2014, 210).