Texts quoted from and discussed at length in E. M. Forster's Commonplace Book (1942) include St Jerome, Letters ('Loeb'), with closing remarks: 'Now farewell St Jerome for ever, but I must not ignore some similarities between us: we both decline to concentrate on the political catastrophe. Your obsession with virginity helps you, for it is in danger whether there's peace or war.' [in notes, Forster expresses disapprobation for Jerome's attitudes to sexuality in particular, describing Letter 117 (p.136; on female modesty) as 'terrifying in its blindness and vigour']