Letter II.

(a.d. 386.)

To Zenobius Augustin Sends Greeting.6    Zenobius was the friend to whom Augustin dedicated his books De Ordine. In book i. ch. 1 and 2, we have a delightful description of the character of Zenobius.

1. We are, I suppose, both agreed in maintaining that all things with which our bodily senses acquaint us are incapable of abiding unchanged for a single moment, but, on the contrary, are moving and in perpetual transition, and have no present reality, that is, to use the language of Latin philosophy, do not exist.7    Ut latiné loquar, non esse. Accordingly, the true and divine philosophy admonishes us to check and subdue the love of these things as most dangerous and disastrous, in order that the mind, even while using this body, may be wholly occupied and warmly interested in those things which are ever the same, and which owe their attractive power to no transient charm. Although this is all true, and although my mind, without the aid of the senses, sees you as you really are, and as an object which may be loved without disquietude, nevertheless I must own that when you are absent in body, and separated by distance, the pleasure of meeting and seeing you is one which I miss, and which, therefore, while it is attainable, I earnestly covet. This my infirmity (for such it must be) is one which, if I know you aright, you are well pleased to find in me; and though you wish every good thing for your best and most loved friends, you rather fear than desire that they should be cured of this infirmity. If, however, your soul has attained to such strength that you are able both to discern this snare, and to smile at those who are caught therein, truly you are great, and different from what I am. For my part, as long as I regret the absence of any one from me, so long do I wish him to regret my absence. At the same time, I watch and strive to set my love as little as possible on anything which can be separated from me against my will. Regarding this as my duty, I remind you, in the meantime, whatever be your frame of mind, that the discussion which I have begun with you must be finished, if we care for each other. For I can by no means consent to its being finished with Alypius, even if he wished it. But he does not wish this; for he is not the man to join with me now in endeavouring, by as many letters as we could send, to detain you with us, when you decline this, under the pressure of some necessity to us unknown.

EPISTOLA II . Zenobio desiderium exponit suum, ut disputationem inter se coeptam, inter se finiant.

ZENOBIO AUGUSTINUS.

1. Bene inter nos convenit, ut opinor, omnia quae corporeus sensus attingit, ne puncto quidem temporis eodem modo manere posse, sed labi, effluere et praesens nihil obtinere, id est, ut latine loquar, non esse. Horum itaque perniciosissimum amorem, poenarumque plenissimum, vera et divina philosophia monet frenare atque sopire; ut se toto animus, etiam dum hoc corpus agit, in ea quae semper ejusdem modi sunt, nec peregrino pulchro placent, feratur atque aestuet. Quae cum ita sint, et cum te verum ac simplicem, qualis sine ulla sollicitudine amari potes, in semetipsa mens videat, fatemur tamen congressum istum atque conspectum tuum, cum a nobis corpore discedis, locisque sejungeris, quaerere nos, eoque dum licet cupere. Quod profecto vitium, si te bene novi, amas in nobis; et cum omnia bona optes charissimis et familiarissimis tuis, ab hoc eos sanari metuis. Si autem tam potenti animo es, ut et agnoscere hunc laqueum, et eo captos irridere valeas, nae tu magnus atque alius. Ego quidem quamdiu desidero absentem, desiderari me volo. Invigilo tamen, quantum queo, et enitor, ut nihil amem quod abesse a me invito potest. Quocum officio commoneo te interim, qualiscumque sis, inchoatam tecum disputationem perficiendam, si curae nobismetipsis sumus. Nam eam cum Alypio perfici nequaquam sinerem, etiamsi vellet. Non vult autem. Non enim est humanitatis ejus nunc mecum operam dare, ut in quam multis possemus litteris te nobiscum teneamus, nescio qua necessitate fugientem.