This paper analyses Jerome's treatment of quotations from Virgil, whose works had a status as the collective memory of antiquity in the Latin West in the fourth century. Four central topics in Jerome's letter collection are examined: language, chastity, barbarian invasions, and asceticism. Examples from famous letters like Ep. 22 to Eustochium, Ep. 123 to Geruchia, Ep. 14 and 60 to Heliodorus, and others, show how and in which context Jerome uses such pagan quotations to approach and connect with the pagan heritage. The stories of Aeneas and Dido, the Tartarus, or the fall of Troy are used as bona or mala exempla and role models for Christian and everyday life and as rhetorical tools in Jerome's argumentation for their general educational value. For Jerome, Virgil serves as an authority for language and knowledge and moral questions. Herein Jerome finds the best argument for a connection between pagan ideas and the Christian faith.