Letter XXXVIII.

(a.d. 397.)

To His Brother Profuturus Augustin Sends Greeting.

1. As for my spirit, I am well, through the Lord’s good pleasure, and the strength which He condescends to impart; but as for my body, I am confined to bed. I can neither walk, nor stand, nor sit, because of the pain and swelling of a boil or tumour.163    Rhagas vel exochas. But even in such a case, since this is the will of the Lord, what else can I say than that I am well? For if we do not wish that which He is pleased to do, we ought rather to take blame to ourselves than to think that He could err in anything which He either does or suffers to be done. All this you know well; but what shall I more willingly say to you than the things which I say to myself, seeing that you are to me a second self? I commend therefore both my days and my nights to your pious intercessions. Pray for me, that I may not waste my days through want of self-control, and that I may bear my nights with patience: pray that, though I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, the Lord may so be with me that I shall fear no evil.

2. You have heard, doubtless, of the death of the aged Megalius,164    Megalius, Bishop of Calama and Primate of Numidia, by whom two years before Augustin had been ordained Bishop of Hippo. The reflections upon anger which follow the allusion here to the death of Megalius were probably suggested by the remembrance of an incident in the life of that bishop. While Augustin was a presbyter, Megalius had written in anger a letter to him for which he afterwards apologized, formally retracting calumny which it contained. for it is now twenty-four days since he put off this mortal body. I wish to know, if possible, whether you have seen, as you proposed, his successor in the primacy. We are not delivered from offences, but it is equally true that we are not deprived of our refuge; our griefs do not cease, but our consolations are equally abiding. And well do you know, my excellent brother, how, in the midst of such offences, we must watch lest hatred of any one gain a hold upon the heart, and so not only hinder us from praying to God with the door of our chamber closed,165    Matt. vi. 6. but also shut the door against God Himself; for hatred of another insidiously creeps upon us, while no one who is angry considers his anger to be unjust. For anger habitually cherished against any one becomes hatred, since the sweetness which is mingled with what appears to be righteous anger makes us detain it longer than we ought in the vessel, until the whole is soured, and the vessel itself is spoiled. Wherefore it is much better for us to forbear from anger, even when one has given us just occasion for it, than, beginning with what seems just anger against any one, to fall, through this occult tendency of passion, into hating him. We are wont to say that, in entertaining strangers, it is much better to bear the inconvenience of receiving a bad man than to run the risk of having a good man shut out, through our caution lest any bad man be admitted; but in the passions of the soul the opposite rule holds true. For it is incomparably more for our soul’s welfare to shut the recesses of the heart against anger, even when it knocks with a just claim for admission, than to admit that which it will be most difficult to expel, and which will rapidly grow from a mere sapling to a strong tree. Anger dares to increase with boldness more suddenly than men suppose, for it does not blush in the dark, when the sun has gone down upon it.166    Eph. iv. 26. You will understand with how great care and anxiety I write these things, if you consider the things which lately on a certain journey you said to me.

3. I salute my brother Severus, and those who are with him. I would perhaps write to them also, if the limited time before the departure of the bearer permitted me. I beseech you also to assist me in persuading our brother Victor (to whom I desire through your Holiness to express my thanks for his informing me of his setting out to Constantina) not to refuse to return by way of Calama, on account of a business known to him, in which I have to bear a very heavy burden in the importunate urgency of the elder Nectarius concerning it; he gave me his promise to this effect. Farewell!

EPISTOLA XXXVIII . Augustinus Profuturo, de toleranda adversa valetudine; de morte Megalii, et de cohibenda ira.

Fratri PROFUTURO AUGUSTINUS.

1. Secundum spiritum, quantum Domino placet, atque vires ipse praebere dignatur, recte sumus; corpore autem, ego in lecto sum. Nec ambulare enim, nec stare, nec sedere possum, rhagadis vel exochadis dolore et tumore . Sed etiam sic, quoniam id Domino placet, quid aliud dicendum est, nisi quia recte sumus? Potius enim si id nolumus quod ille vult, nos culpandi sumus, quam ille non recte aliquid 0153 vel facere vel sinere existimandus est. Nosti haec omnia: sed quia mihi es alter ego, quid libentius tecum loquerer, nisi quod mecum loquor? Commendamus ergo sanctis orationibus tuis et dies et noctes nostras, ut oretis pro nobis, ne diebus intemperanter utamur, ut noctes aequo animo toleremus, ut etiamsi ambulemus in medio umbrae mortis, nobiscum sit Dominus ne timeamus mala.

2. Quod senex Megalius defunctus sit, jam vos audisse quis dubitet? Erant enim a depositione corporis ejus, cum haec scriberem, dies ferme viginti quatuor. Utrum jam videris , disponebas enim, successorem primatus ejus, si fieri potest, nosse volumus. Non desunt scandala, sed neque refugium; non desunt moerores, sed neque consolationes. Atque inter haec quam vigilandum sit, ne cujusquam odium cordis intima teneat, neque sinat ut oremus Deum in cubiculo nostro clauso ostio (Matth. VI, 6), sed adversus ipsum Deum claudat ostium, nosti, optime frater: subrepit autem, dum nulli irascenti ira sua videtur injusta. Ita enim inveterascens ira fit odium, dum quasi justi doloris admixta dulcedo, diutius eam in vase detinet, donec totum acescat, vasque corrumpat. Quapropter multo melius, nec juste cuiquam irascimur, quam velut juste irascendo in alicujus odium irae occulta facilitate delabimur. In recipiendis enim hospitibus ignotis, solemus dicere, multo esse melius malum hominem perpeti, quam forsitan per ignorantiam excludi bonum, dum cavemus ne recipiatur malus: sed in affectibus animi contra est. Nam incomparabiliter salubrius est etiam irae juste pulsanti non aperire penetrale cordis, quam admittere non facile recessuram, et perventuram de surculo ad trabem. Audet quippe impudenter etiam crescere citius quam putatur. Non enim erubescit in tenebris, cum super eam sol occiderit (Eph. IV, 26). Recolis certe qua cura et quanta sollicitudine ista scripserim, si recolis quid mecum nuper in itinere quodam locutus sis.

3. Fratrem Severum, et qui cum eo sunt, salutamus. Etiam fortasse ipsis scriberemus, si per festinationem perlatoris liceret. Peto autem ut apud eumdem fratrem nostrum Victorem, cui ago etiam apud tuam Sanctitatem gratias quod Constantinam cum pergeret indicavit, petendo adjuves propter negotium quod ipse novit, de quo gravissimum pondus pro ea re multum deprecantis Nectarii majoris patior, per Calamam remeare ne gravetur: sic enim promisit mihi. Vale.