Letter LIX.

(a.d. 401.)

To My Most Blessed Lord and Venerable Father Victorinus, My Brother in the Priesthood, Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord.

1. Your summons to the Council reached me on the fifth day before the Ides of November, in the evening, and found me very much indisposed, so that I could not possibly attend. However, I submit to your pious and wise judgment whether certain perplexities which the summons occasioned were due to my own ignorance or to sufficient grounds. I read in that summons that it was written also to the districts of Mauritania, which, as we know, have their own primates. Now, if these provinces were to be represented in a Council held in Numidia, it was by all means proper that the names of some of the more eminent bishops who are in Mauritania should be attached to the circular letter; and not finding this, I have been greatly surprised. Moreover, to the bishops of Numidia it has been addressed in such a confused and careless manner, that my own name I find in the third place, although I know my proper order to be much further down in the roll of bishops. This wrongs others, and grieves me. Moreover, our venerable father and colleague, Xantippus of Tagosa, says that the primacy belongs to him, and by very many he is regarded as the primate, and he issues such letters as you have sent. Even supposing that this be a mistake, which your Holiness can easily discover and correct, certainly his name should not have been omitted in the summons which you have issued. If his name had been placed in the middle of the list, and not in the first line, I would have wondered much; how much greater, then, is my surprise, when I find in it no mention whatever made of him who, above all others, behoved to be present in the Council, that by the bishops of all the Numidian churches this question of the order of the primacy might be debated before any other!

2. For these reasons, I might even hesitate to come to the Council, lest the summons in which so many flagrant mistakes are found should be a forgery; even were I not hindered both by the shortness of the notice, and manifold other important engagements standing in the way. I therefore beg you, most blessed prelate, to excuse me, and to be pleased to give attention, in the first instance, to bring about between your Holiness and the aged Xantippus a cordial mutual understanding as to the question which of you ought to summon the Council; or at least, as I think would be still better, let both of you, without prejudging the claim of either, conjointly call together our colleagues, especially those who have been nearly as long in the episcopate as yourselves, who may easily discover and decide which of you has truth on his side,422    The primacy in Numidia belonged not to the bishop of the most important town, but to the oldest bishop. that this question may be settled first among a few of you; and then, when the mistake has been rectified, let the younger bishops be gathered together, who, having no others whom it would be either possible or right for them to accept as witnesses in this matter but yourselves, are meanwhile at a loss to know to which of you the preference is to be given.

I have sent this letter sealed with a ring which represents a man’s profile.

EPISTOLA LIX . Augustinus Victorino concilium convocanti, excusatoria, quare ad concilium non venturus sit: rogans ut prius cum Xantippo super jure primatus et concilii convocandi placide componat.

Domino beatissimo et venerabili patri et consacerdoti VICTORINO, AUGUSTINUS, in Domino salutem.

1. Tractoria ad me quinto idus novembris venit, jam finito die, et me valde indispositum invenit, ut occurrere omnino non possem. Verumtamen sive imperitiam meam moverit, sive juste motus sim, tuae Sanctitatis et Gravitatis est arbitrari. Legi in eadem tractoria etiam ad Mauritanias esse scriptum, quas provincias scimus suos habere primates. Quod si et ex eis ad Numidiam convocandum esset concilium, oportuit utique ut aliquorum Maurorum episcoporum, qui illic priores sunt, nomina in tractoria ponerentur; quod in ista tractoria non reperiens, multum miratus sum. Deinde ad ipsos Numidas ita perturbato et neglecto ordine scriptum, ut nomen meum tertio loco invenerim, qui novi quam post multos episcopos factus sim. Quae res et aliis injuriosa est satis, et mihi invidiosa. Praeterea venerabilis frater et collega noster, Xantippus Tagosensis , dicit quod eum primatus ipse contingat, et erga plurimos sic habetur, et tales mittit epistolas. Qui etiam error si facile inter vestram Sanctitatem cognosci et corrigi potest, non debuit tamen 0227 in tractoria quam misit Venerabilitas tua, nomen ejus praetermitti. Quod si in mediis locis conscriberetur, et non in primo poneretur, multum mirarer; quanto magis mirandum est quod nulla ibi ejus admemoratio facta est, qui maxime ad concilium venire debuit, ut de ipso primatus ordine, coram omnium Numidarum episcopis Ecclesiarum primitus ageretur?

2. His de causis etiam venire dubitarem, ne forte falsa esset tractoria, qua tanta perversitas appareret; quanquam et angustia temporis et aliae graves necessitates me multipliciter impedirent. Unde peto Beatitudinem tuam ut mihi ignoscas, et primo instare digneris, ut inter tuam Sanctimoniam et senem Xantippum concorditer constet, quis vestrum debeat convocare concilium: aut certe, quod salubrius arbitror, sine cujusquam praejudicio ambo convocate collegas nostros, eos maxime qui vobis episcopatus aetate vicini sunt, qui facile quis vestrum verum dicat agnoscant, ut inter vos paucos eadem prae caeteris quaestio dirimatur, et errore sublato minores a caeteris convocentur, qui nec possunt nec debent, nisi vobis in hac re tanquam prioribus credere, et nunc ignorant cui vestrum potissimum credant. Hanc epistolam signatam misi annulo qui exprimit faciem hominis attendentis in latus.