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Another, one of the more prudent, might have been suspicious; but I was not afraid to write to you, I who am too old-fashioned and foolish. The letter grieved you, but as I say, not rightly nor justly, but even excessively so. 59.2 And you did not confess your grief, but you did not hide it, although you did this wisely, as if covering the face of grief with a mask of reverence. 59.3 But if I did this deceitfully and maliciously, I will be harmed not so much by your grief as by the truth; but if simply and with my customary goodwill, I will blame my own errors, not your disposition. Except that it would have been better to correct these things rather than to be vexed with your advisors. 59.4 You yourself, then, will see to your own affairs, being capable of advising others on such matters; but you have me ready, if God grants, to be present and to contend with you and to contribute what I can. For who will shrink back? And who will not be bold, under you and with you, speaking and contending for the truth? 60.T TO THE SAME 60.1 For your command to be fulfilled, some of it is in our power; but indeed, I think, the greater part is in your piety. In our power is the impulse and the readiness; for we have never at any other time fled from a meeting with you (what then?), but we always pursue it so much, and now we desire it more. 60.2 But in your holiness is the correction of our affairs; for we are attending our lady mother who has long been weary from illness. And if we were not about to leave her in a doubtful state, we would not, be sure of it, be deprived of our visit. Only help with your prayers, for her, towards health, and for us, towards our journey.

61.T TO AERIUS AND ALYPIUS 61.1 Just as the first-fruits of the threshing-floor and of the wine-press and

of children, it is both just and holy for those who truly love children to dedicate them to God, because from Him are both we ourselves and our possessions, so also of a new inheritance, that the part given readily may provide security for the greater part. 61.2 Do not then wait to be good to us after all others, but before all to God, on whose account you are good to all, and casting aside the external laws, be subject to ours, bearing this fruit from yourselves: readiness. 61.3 For what was left behind we shall have from others, but readiness we shall have from you, to whom God is able to give back many times what you now give, not only in this temporary and fleeting life, but also in the eternal and abiding one; to which alone it is safe to look, and in which to place all our hopes. 61.4 Since, therefore, you will find God to be towards you just as you yourselves are towards the poor, not mean-spiritedly nor stingily, but very generously and readily, fulfill the wish of her who is departed, whom you should consider to be present with you and to see what is happening, and give her rest through your gift, so that you may not only have the money from her, but may also obtain a mother's blessing that establishes the houses of children, 61.5 considering this, that 20a small portion with righteousness is better20, according to what is written, than 20a wider one with stinginess20 (that I may not say something blasphemous) and that many have endured even the selling of entire houses for the sake of the churches, while others have even given up all their substance of their own accord and have engaged in the finest trade, to become poor for the sake of the wealth that is there. 61.6 Therefore do not sow sparingly, that you may reap bountifully, but grant this good inheritance both to yourselves and to your dearest ones, taking away nothing of what is written, but giving or rendering all with pleasure and cheerfulness as belonging to God, as gaining only that which you spend for the sake of your souls. 61.7 For why is it necessary to lay up treasures for robbers and thieves and changes of times which at one time transfer unstable wealth to others and at another scatter it, and not to lay it up in the safe storehouses that are stronger than those who plot against them? 61.8 The

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ἄλλος μὲν ἄν τις ὑπείδετο τῶν συνετωτέρων· ἐγὼ δὲ οὐκ ἔδεισα πρὸς σὲ γράφων, ὁ λίαν ἀρχαῖος καὶ μάταιος. Ἐλύπησέ σε τὰ γράμματα, ὡς δὲ ἐγώ φημι οὐκ ὀρθῶς οὐδὲ δικαίως, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν περιττῶς. 59.2 Καὶ τὴν λύπην οὐχ ὡμολόγησας μέν, οὐκ ἔκρυψας δέ, εἰ καὶ σοφῶς τοῦτο ἐποίησας, ὥσπερ τινὶ προσωπείῳ τῇ αἰδοῖ τὸ τῆς λύπης καλύπτων πρόσωπον. 59.3 Ἐγὼ δὲ εἰ μὲν δολερῶς καὶ κακοήθως τοῦτο ἐποίησα, οὐχ ὑπὸ τῆς σῆς λύπης μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἀληθείας βλαβήσομαι· εἰ δὲ ἁπλῶς καὶ μετὰ τῆς συνήθους εὐνοίας, τὰς ἐμὰς ἁμαρτίας, οὐ τὴν σὴν διάθεσιν αἰτιάσομαι. Πλήν γε ὅτι διορθώσασθαι ταῦτα μᾶλλον εἶχε καλῶς ἢ πρὸς τοὺς συμβουλεύοντας δυσχεραίνειν. 59.4 Τὸ μὲν οὖν σὸν καὶ αὐτὸς ὄψει, καὶ ἄλλοις συμβουλεύειν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἱκανὸς ὤν· ἐμὲ δὲ προθύμως ἔχεις, ἐὰν διδῷ Θεός, καὶ παρεσό μενον καὶ συναγωνιούμενον καὶ τὰ δυνατὰ συνεισοίσοντα. Τίς γὰρ ἀναδύσεται; Τίς δὲ οὐ θαρρήσει ὑπὸ σοὶ καὶ μετὰ σοῦ περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας λέγων καὶ ἀγωνιζόμενος; 60.Τ ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ 60.1 Τοῦ πληρωθῆναί σοι τὸ ἐπίταγμα, τὸ μέν τί ἐστιν ἐφ' ἡμῖν· τὸ δέ γε καί, οἶμαι, τὸ πλέον, ἐπὶ τῇ σῇ εὐλαβείᾳ. Ἐφ' ἡμῖν μέν, τὸ τῆς ὁρμῆς καὶ τῆς προθυμίας· οὔτε γὰρ ἄλλοτέ ποτε τὴν σὴν συντυχίαν ἐφύγομεν (τί μὲν οὖν;), ἀλλ' ἀεὶ τοσοῦτον ταύτην μεταδιώκομεν καὶ νῦν πλέον ταύτην ποθοῦμεν. 60.2 Ἐπὶ δὲ τῇ σῇ ὁσιότητι τὸ διορθωθῆναι τὰ ἡμέτερα· προσεδρεύομεν γὰρ τῇ κυρίᾳ τῇ μητρὶ πολὺν ἤδη καμνούσῃ χρόνον ἐξ ἀρρωστίας. Καὶ εἰ μὴ μέλλοιμεν ἀμφιβόλως αὐτὴν καταλείψειν, οὐ ζημιωθησόμεθα, εὖ ἴσθι, τὴν παρουσίαν. Μόνον ταῖς εὐχαῖς τῇ μὲν πρὸς ὑγείαν, ἡμῖν δὲ πρὸς τὴν ὁδὸν ἐπικού ρησον.

61.Τ ΑΕΡΙΩΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΛΥΠΙΩΙ 61.1 Ὥσπερ ἀπαρχὰς ἀλῶνός τε καὶ ληνοῦ καὶ

τέκνων τοὺς ἀληθῶς φιλοτέκνους ἀνατιθέναι Θεῷ δίκαιόν τε καὶ ὅσιον, ὅτι παρ' αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα, οὕτω καὶ νέας κληρονομίας, ἵνα τὸ μέρος προθύμως δοθὲν παράσχῃ τῷ πλείονι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν. 61.2 Μὴ τοίνυν ἀναμείνητε μετὰ πάντας ἡμῖν γενέσθαι χρηστοί, ἀλλὰ πρὸ πάντων Θεῷ δι' ὃν καὶ πᾶσι, καὶ τοὺς ἔξω ῥίψαντες νόμους τοῖς ἡμετέροις δουλεύσατε, τοῦτο παρ' ὑμῶν αὐτῶν καρποφοροῦντες, τὴν προθυμίαν. 61.3 Τὰ μὲν γὰρ καταλειφθέντα παρ' ἄλλων, τὸ δὲ πρόθυμον παρ' ὑμῶν ἕξομεν, οἷς δυνατὸς ὁ Θεὸς ἀντιδοῦναι πολυπλάσια ὧν νῦν ἐπιδώσετε, οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ προσκαίρῳ τούτῳ βίῳ καὶ ῥέοντι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ αἰωνίῳ καὶ μένοντι· πρὸς ὃν μόνον ὁρᾶν ἀσφαλὲς καὶ εἰς ὃν πάσας τείνειν ἡμῶν τὰς ἐλπίδας. 61.4 Ὡς οὖν τοιούτου τευξόμενοι τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ ὑμᾶς, οἷοί περ ἂν αὐτοὶ γένησθε τοῖς πτωχοῖς, μὴ μικρο ψύχως μηδὲ μικρολόγως, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν φιλοτίμως τε καὶ προθύμως πληρώσατε τῇ κατοιχομένῃ τὴν βούλησιν, ἣν παρεῖναί τε ὑμῖν νομίσαντες καὶ ὁρᾶν τὰ γινόμενα, διὰ τῆς ἐπιδόσεως ἀναπαύσατε, ἵνα μὴ τὰ χρήματα μόνον ἔχητε παρ' αὐτῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ στηρίζουσαν οἴκους τέκνων μητρὸς εὐλογίαν πορίσησθε, 61.5 τοῦτο ἐνθυμη θέντες ὅτι 20βελτίων μικρὰ μερὶς μετὰ δικαιο σύνης20, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ἢ 20πλατυτέρα μετὰ μικρολογίας20 (ἵνα μὴ λέγω τι βλάσφημον) καὶ ὅτι πολλοὶ καὶ οἴκων ὅλων ἐκποιουμένων εἰς ἐκκλησίας ἠνέσχοντο, οἳ δὲ καὶ παρ' ἑαυτῶν πᾶσαν προήκαντο τὴν οὐσίαν καὶ τὴν καλλίστην ἐπραγματεύοντο πραγ ματείαν, γενέσθαι διὰ τὸν ἐκεῖ πλοῦτον πένητες. 61.6 Μὴ τοίνυν σπείρητε φειδομένως, ἵνα πλουσίως θερίσητε, ἀλλ' ἀγαθὸν κλῆρον καὶ ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς φιλτάτοις ὑμῶν τοῦτον χαρίσασθε, μηδὲν ὑφελόντες τῶν γεγραμμένων, ἀλλὰ πάντα μεθ' ἡδονῆς καὶ φαιδρότητος ἐπιδόντες ἢ ἀποδόντες ὡς οἰκεῖα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς τοῦτο μόνον κερδα νοῦντες ὅ τι ἂν ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν ἀναλώσητε. 61.7 Τί γὰρ δεῖ θησαυρίζειν λῃσταῖς καὶ κλέπταις καὶ καιρῶν μεταβολαῖς ἄλλοτε εἰς ἄλλους μετατιθέντων καὶ ῥιπι ζόντων τὴν ἄστατον εὐπορίαν, ἀλλὰ μὴ εἰς τὰς ἀσφαλεῖς ἀποθήκας ἀποτίθεσθαι καὶ τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων ἰσχυρο τέρας; 61.8 Τὸ