Augustine of Hippo, Letters

1. Up to the time of my writing this reply, I had received three letters from your Grace, of which the first asked urgently a letter from me, the second intimated that what I wrote in answer had reached you, and the third, which conveyed the assurance of your most benevolent solicitude for our interest in the matter of the house belonging to that most illustrious and distinguished young man Julian, which is in immediate contact with the walls of our Church. To this last letter, just now received, I lose no time in promptly replying, because your Excellency’s agent has written to me that he can send my letter without delay to Rome. By his letter we have been greatly distressed, because he has taken pains to acquaint us880 Tillemont (vol. xiii. note 44) conjectures that the word “non” before “nobis insinuare curavit” should not be in the text,—a conjecture which commends itself to our judgment, though it is unsupported by Mss. with the things which are taking place in the city (Rome) or around its walls, so as to give us reliable information concerning that which we were reluctant to believe on the authority of vague rumours. In the letters which were sent to us previously by our brethren, tidings were given to us of events, vexatious and grievous, it is true, but much less calamitous than those of which we now hear. I am surprised beyond expression that my brethren the holy bishops did not write to me when so favourable an opportunity of sending a letter by your messengers occurred, and that your own letter conveyed to us no information concerning such painful tribulation as has befallen you,—tribulation which, by reason of the tender sympathies of Christian charity, is ours as well as yours. I suppose, however, that you deemed it better not to mention these sorrows, because you considered that this could do no good, or because you did not wish to make us sad by your letter. But in my opinion, it does some good to acquaint us even with such events as these: in the first place, because it is not right to be ready to “rejoice with them that rejoice,” but refuse to “weep with them that weep;” and in the second place, because “tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”881 Rom. xii. 15 and v. 3–5.

2. Far be it, therefore, from us to refuse to hear even of the bitter and sorrowful things which befall those who are very dear to us! For in some way which I cannot explain, the pain suffered by one member is mitigated when all the other members suffer with it.882 1 Cor. xii. 26. And this mitigation is effected not by actual participation in the calamity, but by the solacing power of love; for although only some suffer the actual burden of the affliction, and the others share their suffering through knowing what these have to bear, nevertheless the tribulation is borne in common by them all, seeing that they have in common the same experience, hope, and love, and the same Divine Spirit. Moreover, the Lord provides consolation for us all, inasmuch as He hath both forewarned us of these temporal afflictions, and promised to us after them eternal blessings; and the soldier who desires to receive a crown when the conflict is over, ought not to lose courage while the conflict lasts, since He who is preparing rewards ineffable for those who overcome, does Himself minister strength to them while they are on the field to battle.

3. Let not what I have now written take away your confidence in writing to me, especially since the reason which may be pled for your endeavouring to lessen our fears is one which cannot be condemned. We salute in return your little children, and we desire that they may be spared to you, and may grow up in Christ, since they discern even in their present tender age how dangerous and baneful is the love of this world. God grant that the plants which are small and still flexible may be bent in the right direction in a time in which the great and hardy are being shaken. As to the house of which you speak, what can I say beyond expressing my gratitude for your very kind solicitude? For the house which we can give they do not wish; and the house which they wish we cannot give, for it was not left to the church by my predecessor, as they have been falsely informed, but is one of the ancient properties of the church, and it is attached to the one ancient church in the same way as the house about which this question has been raised is attached to the other.883 We have no further information regarding this affair. The prospect of an amicable settlement seems remote.

EPISTOLA XCIX . Ex Romanorum calamitate susceptum animo dolore commiserationemque significat.

Religiosissimae atque in Christi membris merito sancteque laudabili famulae Dei ITALICAE, AUGUSTINUS, in Domino salutem.

0365 1. Tres epistolas tuae Benignitatis acceperam, cum ista rescripsi. Unam quae adhuc meas litteras exigebat, alteram quae ad te jam pervenisse indicabat, tertiam quae benevolentissimam pro nobis curam tuam etiam de domo clarissimi et egregii juvenis Juliani, quae nostris adhaeret parietibus, continebat. Qua accepta continuo respondere non distuli, quia procurator Eximietatis tuae cito se Romam posse mittere, scripsit: cujus litteris graviter contristati sumus, quod ea quae illic in Urbe vel circa Urbem geruntur , non nobis insinuare curavit, ut certum apud nos fieret quod incertae famae credere nolebamus. Fratrum quippe litteris ante transmissis, quamvis molesta et dura, multo tamen leviora nuntiata sunt. Plus sane quam dici potest miratus sum, quod nec tanta occasione hominum tuorum fratres sancti episcopi scripserint, nec epistola tua quidquam nobis de tantis tribulationibus vestris insinuaverit; quae utique per viscera charitatis et nostrae sunt; nisi forte faciendum non putasti, quod nihil prodesse duxisti, aut nos tuis litteris moestificari noluisti. Prodest aliquid, quantum ego arbitror, etiam ista cognoscere. Primo, quia injustum est gaudere velle cum gaudentibus, et flere non velle cum flentibus (Rom. XII, 15): deinde, quia tribulatio patientiam operatur, patientia probationem, probatio spem, spes autem non confundit, quia charitas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis (Id. V, 3-5).

2. Absit itaque ut recusemus audire etiam quae amara et tristia sunt erga charissimos nostros. Nescio quo enim modo minus fit quod patitur unum membrum, si compatiuntur alia membra (I Cor. XII, 26). Nec ipsa mali relevatio fit per communionem cladis, sed per solatium charitatis, ut quamvis alii ferendo patiuntur, alii cognoscendo compatiuntur, communis sit tamen tribulatio, quibus probatio, spes, dilectio, spiritusque communis est. Omnes autem nos Dominus consolatur, qui et haec temporalia mala praedixit, et post haec bona aeterna promisit: nec debet cum praeliatur infringi, qui vult post praelium coronari, vires illo subministrante certantibus, qui praeparat ineffabilia dona victoribus.

3. Rescripta illa nostra non tibi ad nos auferant scribendi fiduciam, praesertim quia timorem nostrum non improbabili defensione lenistri. Parvulos tuos resalutamus, et in Christo tibi grandescere optamus, qui jam in hac aetate cernunt quam sit amor hujus saeculi periculosus et noxius; atque utinam cum magna et dura quatiuntur , parva et flexibilia corrigantur. De domo illa quid dicam, nisi benignissimae tuae curae gratias agam? Nam eam, quam dare possumus, nolunt; quam volunt autem, dare non possumus. Neque 0366 enim sicut falso audierunt, a decessore meo relicta est Ecclesiae, sed inter antiqua ejus praedia possidetur et antiquae alteri ecclesiae sic cohaeret, quemadmodum ista de qua agitur, alteri.