Augustine of Hippo, Letters

1. The good works which spring from the grace of Christ in you have given you a claim to be esteemed by us His members, and have made you as truly known and as much beloved by us as you could be. For even were I daily seeing your face, this could add nothing to the completeness of the acquaintance with you which I now have, when in the shining light of one of your actions I have seen your inner being, fair with the loveliness of peace, and beaming with the brightness of truth. Seeing this has made me know you, and knowing you has made me love you; and therefore, in addressing you, I write to one who, notwithstanding our distance from each other, has become known to me, and is my beloved friend. The bond which binds us together is indeed of earlier date, and we were living united under One Head: for had you not been rooted in His love, the Catholic unity would not have been so dear to you, and you would not have dealt as you have done with your African tenants420 Coloni. settled in the midst of the consular province of Numidia, the very country in which the folly of the Donatists began, addressing them in such terms, and encouraging them with such enthusiasm, as to persuade them with unhesitating devotion to choose that course which they believed that a man of your character and position would not adopt on other grounds than truth ascertained and acknowledged, and to submit themselves, though so remote from you, to the same Head; so that along with yourself they are reckoned for ever as members of Him by whose command they are for the time dependent upon you.

2. Embracing you, therefore, as known to me by this transaction, I am moved by joyful feelings to congratulate you in Christ Jesus our Lord, and to send you this letter as a proof of my heart’s love towards you; for I cannot do more. I beseech you, however, not to measure the amount of my love by this letter; but by means of this letter, when you have read it, pass on by the unseen inner passage which thought opens up into my heart, and see what is there felt towards you. For to the eye of love that sanctuary of love shall be unveiled which we shut against the disquieting trifles of this world when there we worship God; and there you will see the ecstasy of my joy in your good work, an ecstasy which I cannot describe with tongue or pen, glowing and burning in the offering of praise to Him by whose inspiration you were made willing, and by whose help you were made able to serve Him in this way. “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift!”421 1 Cor. ix. 15.

3. Oh how we desire in Africa to see such work as this by which you have gladdened us done by many, who are, like yourself, senators in the State, and sons of the holy Church! It is, however, hazardous to give them this exhortation: they may refuse to follow it, and the enemies of the Church will take advantage of this to deceive the weak, as if they had gained a victory over us in the minds of those who disregarded our counsel. But it is safe for me to express gratitude to you; for you have already done that by which, in the emancipation of those who were weak, the enemies of the Church are confounded. I have therefore thought it sufficient to ask you to read this letter with friendly boldness to any to whom you can do so on the ground of their Christian profession. For thus learning what you have achieved, they will believe that that, about which as an impossibility they are now indifferent, can be done in Africa. As to the snares which these heretics contrive in the perversity of their hearts, I have resolved not to speak of them in this letter, because I have been only amused at their imagining that they could gain any advantage over your mind, which Christ holds as His possession. You will hear them, however, from my brethren, whom I earnestly commend to your Excellency: they fear lest you should disdain some things which to you might seem unnecessary in connection with the great and unlooked for salvation of those men over whom, in consequence of your work, their Catholic Mother rejoices.

EPISTOLA LVIII . Augustinus Pammachio viro senatori gratulatur, quod suos apud Numidiam colonos donatistas adhortationibus suis adduxerit ad Ecclesiam catholicam.

Domino eximio et merito suscipiendo, atque in Christi visceribus dilectissimo filio PAMMACHIO , AUGUSTINUS, in Domino salutem.

1. Bona opera tua Christi gratia germinantia, te nobis in membris ejus honorandum, et plane notissimum dilectissimumque fecerunt. Neque enim si quotidie faciem tuam viderem, notior mihi esses, quam cum interiorem tuum pacis decore pulchrum ac veritatis luce radiantem, in unius tui facti candore conspexi, conspexi et agnovi, agnovi et amavi. Huic nunc loquor, huic scribo, dilecto amico meo, qui mihi corpore absenti absens innotuit. Verumtamen jam simul eramus, et conjuncti sub uno capite vivebamus, in cujus charitate nisi radicatus esses, non tibi tam dilecta catholica unitas foret, nec colonos tuos Afros, eo terrarum unde Donatistarum furor exortus est, hoc est in media consulari Numidia constitutos, tali admoneres alloquio, tanto fervore spiritus animares, ut devotione promptissima ad sequendum eligerent, quod te talem ac tantum virum non nisi agnita veritate sequi cogitarent, et tam longe a te locorum intervallis remoti, irent sub idem caput, atque in ejus membris in aeternum tecum deputarentur, cujus praecepto tibi temporaliter serviunt.

2. In hoc ergo tuo facto te cognitum amplectens, exsultavi ut gratularer tibi in Christo Jesu Domino nostro, tibique has gratulatorias litteras mitterem qualecumque specimen cordis et amoris erga te mei; neque enim amplius potui. Sed quaeso ne tu hactenus quidquid te diligo metiaris: perlectam transi hanc epistolam transitu invisibili qui intus fit, et perge cogitando in pectus meum, et cerne quid illic de te agatur. Patebit enim oculo charitatis cubiculum charitatis, quod claudimus adversus nugas tumultuosas saeculi, cum illic Deum adoramus; et videbis ibi delicias laetitiae meae de tam bono opere tuo, quas nec lingua effari, nec stilo exprimere valeo, calentes atque flagrantes in sacrificio laudis ejus, quo inspirante hoc 0226 voluisti, et quo adjuvante potuisti. Gratias Deo super inenarrabili dono ejus. (II Cor. IX, 15.)

3. O quam multorum tecum pariter senatorum, pariterque sanctae Ecclesiae filiorum, tale opus desideramus in Africa, de quali tuo laetamur! Sed illos periculosum est exhortari, tibi securum est congratulari. Illi enim forte non facient, et tanquam nos in animo eorum vicerint inimici Ecclesiae, decipiendis insidiabuntur infirmis. Tu vero jam fecisti, unde inimici Ecclesiae liberatis confundantur infirmis. Proinde sufficere visum est, ut ipse quibus christiano jure potueris, amica fiducia istam epistolam legas. Sic enim ex tuo facto fieri posse in Africa credent, quod forte dum putant fieri non posse, pigrescunt. Insidias autem quas ipsi haeretici distorto corde moliuntur, quoniam risi eos arbitratos valere aliquid in possessione Christi, animo tuo, nec scribere volui. Audies tamen haec a fratribus meis, quos plurimum commendo Eximietati tuae, ne in tam magna tamque inopinata salute hominum, de quibus per te Catholica mater exsultat, aspernere etiam superflua metuentes.