Letter CI.

(a.d. 409.)

To Memor,887    We regard Memori, not Memorio, as the true reading.My Lord Most Blessed, and with All Veneration Most Beloved, My Brother and Colleague Sincerely Longed For, Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord.

1. I ought not to write any letter to your holy Charity, without sending at the same time those books which by the irresistible plea of holy love you have demanded from me, that at least by this act of obedience I might reply to those letters by which you have put on me a high honour indeed, but also a heavy load. Albeit, while I bend because of the load, I am raised up because of your love. For it is not by an ordinary man that I am loved and raised up and made to stand erect, but by a man who is a priest of the Lord, and whom I know to be so accepted before Him, that when you raise to the Lord your good heart, having me in your heart, you raise me with yourself to Him. I ought, therefore, to have sent at this time those books which I had promised to revise. The reason why I have not sent them is that I have not revised them, and this not because I was unwilling, but because I was unable, having been occupied with many very urgent cares. But it would have shown inexcusable ingratitude and hardness of heart to have permitted the bearer, my holy colleague and brother Possidius, in whom you will find one who is very much the same as myself, either to miss becoming acquainted with you, who love me so much, or to come to know you without any letter from me. For he is one who has been by my labours nourished, not in those studies which men who are the slaves of every kind of passion call liberal, but with the Lord’s bread, in so far as this could be supplied to him from my scanty store.

2. For to men who, though they are unjust and impious, imagine that they are well educated in the liberal arts, what else ought we to say than what we read in those writings which truly merit the name of liberal,—“if the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”888    John viii. 36. For it is through Him that men come to know, even in those studies which are termed liberal by those who have not been called to this true liberty, anything in them which deserves the name. For they have nothing which is consonant with liberty, except that which in them is consonant with truth; for which reason the Son Himself hath said: “The truth shall make you free.”889    John viii. 38. The freedom which is our privilege has therefore nothing in common with the innumerable and impious fables with which the verses of silly poets are full, nor with the fulsome and highly-polished falsehoods of their orators, nor, in fine, with the rambling subtleties of philosophers themselves, who either did not know anything of God, or when they knew God, did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; so that, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts, and to creeping things, or who, though not wholly or at all devoted to the worship of images, nevertheless worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.890    Rom. i. 21–25. Far be it, therefore, from us to admit that the epithet liberal is justly bestowed on the lying vanities and hallucinations, or empty trifles and conceited errors of those men—unhappy men, who knew not the grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, by which alone we are “delivered from the body of this death,”891    Rom. vii. 24, 25. and who did not even perceive the measure of truth which was in the things which they knew. Their historical works, the writers of which profess to be chiefly concerned to be accurate in narrating events, may perhaps, I grant, contain some things worthy of being known by “free” men, since the narration is true, whether the subject described in it be the good or the evil in human experience. At the same time, I can by no means see how men who were not aided in their knowledge by the Holy Spirit, and who were obliged to gather floating rumours under the limitations of human infirmity, could avoid being misled in regard to very many things; nevertheless, if they have no intention of deceiving, and do not mislead other men otherwise than so far as they have themselves, through human infirmity, fallen into a mistake, there is in such writings an approach to liberty.

3. Forasmuch, however, as the powers belonging to numbers892    Quid numeri valeant. in all kinds of movements are most easily studied as they are presented in sounds, and this study furnishes a way of rising to the higher secrets of truth, by paths gradually ascending, so to speak, in which Wisdom pleasantly reveals herself, and in every step of providence meets those who love her,893    Wisd. vi. 17. desired, when I began to have leisure for study, and my mind was not engaged by greater and more important cares, to exercise myself by writing those books which you have requested me to send. I then wrote six books on rhythm alone, and proposed, I may add, to write other six on music,894    De melo. as I at that time expected to have leisure. But from the time that the burden of ecclesiastical cares was laid upon me, all these recreations have passed from my hand so completely, that now, when I cannot but respect your wish and command,—for it is more than a request,—I have difficulty in even finding what I had written. If, however, I had it in my power to send you that treatise, it would occasion regret, not to me that I had obeyed your command, but to you that you had so urgently insisted upon its being sent. For five books of it are all but unintelligible, unless one be at hand who can in reading not only distinguish the part belonging to each of those between whom the discussion is maintained, but also mark by enunciation the time which the syllables should occupy, so that their distinctive measures may be expressed and strike the ear, especially because in some places there occur pauses of measured length, which of course must escape notice, unless the reader inform the hearer of them by intervals of silence where they occur.

The sixth book, however, which I have found already revised, and in which the product of the other five is contained, I have not delayed to send to your Charity; it may, perhaps, be not wholly unsuited to one of your venerable age.895    Gravitatem tuam. As to the other five books, they seem to me scarcely worthy of being known and read by Julian,896    Julian, son of Memor, afterwards a leading supporter of the Pelagian heresy. our son, and now our colleague, for, as a deacon, he is engaged in the same warfare with ourselves. Of him I dare not say, for it would not be true, that I love him more than I love you; yet this I may say, that I long for him more than for you. It may seem strange, that when I love both equally, I long more ardently for the one than the other; but the cause of the difference is, that I have greater hope of seeing him; for I think that if ordered or sent by you he come to us, he will both be doing what is suitable to one of his years, especially as he is not yet hindered by weightier responsibilities, and he will more speedily bring yourself to me.

I have not stated in this treatise the kinds of metre in which the lines of David’s Psalms are composed, because I do not know them. For it was not possible for any one, in translating these from the Hebrew (of which language I know nothing), to preserve the metre at the same time, lest by the exigencies of the measure he should be compelled to depart from accurate translation further than was consistent with the meaning of the sentences. Nevertheless, I believe, on the testimony of those who are acquainted with that language, that they are composed in certain varieties of metre; for that holy man loved sacred music, and has more than any other kindled in me a passion for its study.

May the shadow of the wings of the Most High be for ever the dwelling-place897    Ps. xci. 1. of you all, who with oneness of heart occupy one home,898    Ps. lxviii. 6, Septuagint. father and mother, bound in the same brotherhood with your sons, being all the children of the one Father. Remember us.

EPISTOLA CI . Augustinus Memorio episcopo libros ipsius de Musica flagitanti, sextum librum mittit, et caeteros si repererit, mittendos pollicetur; eaque occasione agit de disciplinis, quas falso liberales dici ostendit, nisi adsit studium christianae pietatis.

Domino beatissimo et venerabiliter charissimo, et sinceriter desiderantissimo fratri et coepiscopo MEMORIO , AUGUSTINUS, in Domino salutem.

1. Nullas jam reddere debui litteras sanctae Charitati tuae sine his libris, quos a me sancti amoris jure violentissimo flagitasti, ut hac saltem obedientia responderem epistolis tuis, quibus me magis onerare quam honorare dignatus es. Quanquam ubi succumbo, 0368 quia oneror; ibi etiam, quia diligor, sublevor. Neque enim a quolibet diligor, sublevor, eligor ; sed ab eo viro et Domini sacerdote, quem sic acceptum Deo sentio, ut cum animam tuam tam bonam levas ad Dominum, quoniam in illa me habes, leves et me. Debui ergo nunc libros mittere, quos emendaturum me esse promiseram: et ideo non misi, quia non emendavi; non quia nolui, sed quia non potui, curis videlicet multis et multum praevalentibus occupatus. Nimis autem ingratum ac ferreum fuit, ut te qui nos sic amas, hic sanctus frater et collega noster Possidius, in quo nostram non parvam praesentiam reperies, vel non disceret, vel sine litteris nostris disceret. Est enim per nostrum ministerium non litteris illis, quas variarum servi libidinum liberales vocant, sed dominico pane nutritus, quantus ei potuit per nostras angustias dispensari.

2. Quid enim aliud dicendum est eis, qui cum sint iniqui et impii, liberaliter sibi videntur eruditi, nisi quod in litteris vere liberalibus legimus: Si vos Filius liberaverit, tunc vere liberi eritis? Per eum namque praestatur ut ipse etiam, quae liberales disciplinae ab eis qui in libertatem vocati non sunt appellantur, quid in se habeant liberale noscatur. Neque enim habent congruum libertati, nisi quod habent congruum veritati: unde ille ipse Filius, Et veritas, inquit, liberabit vos (Joan. VIII, 36, 32). Non ergo illae innumerabiles et impiae fabulae, quibus vanorum plena sunt carmina poetarum, ullo modo nostrae consonant libertati; non oratorum inflata et expolita mendacia; non denique ipsorum philosophorum garrulae argutiae, qui vel Deum prorsus non cognoverunt vel cum cognovissent Deum, non sicut Deum glorificaverunt, aut gratias egerunt, sed evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis, et obscuratum est insipiens cor eorum, et dicentes se esse sapientes, stulti facti sunt: et immutaverunt gloriam incorrupti Dei in similitudinem imaginis corruptibilis hominis et volucrum atque quadrupedum et serpentium; vel qui istis simulacris non dediti, aut non nimis dediti, coluerunt tamen et servierunt creaturae potius quam Creatori (Rom. I, 21-25). Absit omnino ut istorum vanitates et insaniae mendaces, ventosae nugae ac superbus error, recte liberales litterae nominentur, hominum scilicet infelicium, qui Dei gratiam per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum, qua sola liberamur de corpore mortis hujus (Id. VII, 24, 25), non cognoverunt, nec in eis ipsis quae vera senserunt . historia sane, cujus scriptores fidem se praecipue narrationibus suis debere profitentur fortassis habeat aliquid cognitione dignum liberis, cum sive bona sive mala hominum, tamen vera narrantur. Quamvis in eis cognoscendis, qui Spiritu sancto non adjuti sunt, rumoresque colligere ipsa humanae infirmitatis conditione compulsi sunt, quemadmodum non fallerentur in plurimis, omnino non video: est tamen in eis aliqua propinquitas libertatis, si voluntatem mentiendi non habent, 0369 nec homines fallunt, nisi cum ab hominibus humana infirmitate falluntur.

3. Verum quia in omnibus rerum motibus quid numeri valeant, facilius consideratur in vocibus, eaque consideratio quibusdam quasi gradatis itineribus nititur ad superna intima veritatis, in quibus viis ostendit se sapientia hilariter, et in omni providentia occurrit amantibus (Sap. VI, 17): initio nostri otii cum a curis majoribus magisque necessariis vacabat animus, volui per ista, quae a nobis desiderasti, scripta proludere, quando conscripsi de solo rhythmo sex libros, et de melo scribere alios forsitan sex, fateor, disponebam, cum mihi otium futurum sperabam. Sed posteaquam mihi curarum ecclesiasticarum sarcina imposita est, omnes illae deliciae fugere de manibus, ita ut vix nunc ipsum codicem inveniam, quoniam tuam voluntatem, nec petitionem sed jussionem, contemnere nequeo. Quod sane opusculum si potuero mittere, non quidem me tibi obtemperasse, verumtamen te hoc a me tantopere flagitasse poenitebit. Difficillime quippe intelliguntur in eo quinque libri, si non adsit qui non solum disputantium possit separare personas, verum etiam pronuntiando ita sonare morulas syllabarum, ut eis exprimantur sensumque aurium feriant genera numerorum: maxime quia in quibusdam etiam silentiorum dimensa intervalla miscentur, quae omnino sentiri nequeunt, nisi auditorem pronuntiator informet.

4. Sextum sane librum quem emendatum reperi, ubi est omnis fructus caeterorum, non distuli mittere Charitati tuae: fortassis ipse tuam non multum refugiet gravitatem. Nam superiores quinque vix filio nostro et condiacono Juliano, quoniam et ipse jam nobiscum commilitat, lectione et cognitione digni videbuntur. Quem quidem non audeo dicere, plus amo quam te, quia nec veraciter dico, sed tamen audeo dicere, plus desidero quam te. Mirum videri potest quemadmodum quem pariter amo, amplius desiderem; sed hoc mihi facit spes amplior videndi eum: puto enim quod si ad nos te jubente vel mittente venerit, et hoc faciet quod adolescentem decet, maxime quia nondum curis majoribus detinetur, et teipsum mihi expeditius apportabit. Quibus numeris consistant versus Davidici non scripsi, quia nescio. Neque enim ex hebraea lingua, quam ignoro, potuit etiam numeros interpres exprimere, ne metri necessitate ab interpretandi veritate amplius quam ratio sententiarum sinebat, digredi cogeretur: certis tamen eos constare numeris, credo illis qui eam linguam probe callent. Amavit enim vir ille sanctus musicam piam et in ea studia nos magis ipse quam ullus alius auctor accendit. Habitetis omnes in aeternum in adjutorio Altissimi (Psal. XC, 1), qui habitatis unanimes in domo (Psal. LXVII, 7), pater materque fratres filiorum, et cuncti unius Patris filii, memores nostri.

DE SEQUENTE EPISTOLA. (LIB. II RETRACT., CAP. XXXI.)

Inter haec missae sunt mihi a Carthagine quaestiones sex, quas proposuit amicus quidam, quem cupiebam fieri 0370christianum, ut contra Paganos solverentur, praesertim quia nonnullas earum a Porphyrio philosopho propositas dixit. Sed non eum esse arbitror Porphyrium Siculum illum, cujus celeberrima est fama. Harum quaestionum disputationes in unum librum contuli, non prolixum, cujus est titulus: «Sex quaestiones contra Paganos expositae.» Earum autem prima est de Resurrectione, secunda de tempore christianae religionis, tertia de sacrificiorum distinctione, quarta de eo quod scriptum est, «In qua mensura mensi fueritis, remetietur vobis» (Matth. VII, 2), quinta de Filio Dei secundum Salomonem, sexta de Jona propheta. In quarum secunda quod dixi, «Salus religionis hujus, per quam solam veram salus vera veraciterque promittitur, nulli unquam defuit, qui dignus fuit, et cui defuit, dignus non fuit,» non ita dixi tanquam ex meritis suis quisquam dignus fuerit, sed quemadmodum ait Apostolus, «Non ex operibus, sed ex vocante dictum esse, Major serviet minori» (Rom. IX, 12, 13): quam vocationem ad Dei propositum asserit pertinere. Unde dicit: «Non secundum opera nostra, sed secundum suum propositum et gratiam» (II Tim. I, 9). Unde item dicit: «Scimus quia diligentibus Deum omnia cooperantur in bonum, iis qui secundum propositum vocati sunt sancti» (Rom. VIII, 28). De qua vocatione ait: «Ut dignos vos habeat vocatione sua sancta» (II Thess. I, 11). Hic liber post epistolam, quae postmodum a capite addita est, sic incipit: «Movet quosdam, et requirunt.»