Second Division.

Letters Which Were Written by Augustin After His Becoming Bishop of Hippo, and Before the Conference Held with the Donatists at Carthage, and the Discovery of the Heresy of Pelagius in Africa (a.d. 396–410).

Letter XXXI.

(a.d. 396.)

To Brother Paulinus and to Sister Therasia, Most Beloved and Sincere, Truly Most Blessed and Most Eminent for the Very Abundant Grace of God Bestowed on Them Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord.

1. Although in my longing to be without delay near you in one sense, while still remote in another, I wished much that what I wrote in answer to your former letter (if, indeed, any letter of mine deserves to be called an answer to yours) should go with all possible expedition to your Grace,108    Charitas. my delay has brought me the advantage of a second letter from you. The Lord is good, who often withholds what we desire, that He may add to it what we would prefer. For it is one pleasure to me that you will write me on receiving my letter, and it is another that, through not receiving it at once, you have written now. The joy which I have felt in reading this letter would have been lost to me if my letter to your Holiness had been quickly conveyed to you, as I intended and earnestly desired. But now, to have this letter, and to expect a reply to my own, multiplies my satisfaction. The blame of the delay cannot be laid to my charge; and the Lord, in His more abundant kindness, has done that which He judged to be more conducive to my happiness.

2. We welcomed with great gladness in the Lord the holy brothers Romanus and Agilis, who were, so to speak, an additional letter from you, capable of hearing and answering our voices, whereby most agreeably your presence was in part enjoyed by us, although only to make us long the more eagerly to see you. It would be at all times and in every way impossible for you to give, and unreasonable for us to ask, as much information from you concerning yourself by letter as we received from them by word of mouth. There was manifest also in them (what no paper could convey) such delight in telling us of you, that by their very countenance and eyes while they spoke, we could with unspeakable joy read you written on their hearts. Moreover, a sheet of paper, of whatever kind it be, and however excellent the things written upon it may be, enjoys no benefit itself from what it contains, though it may be unfolded with great benefit to others; but, in reading this letter of yours—namely, the minds of these brethren—when conversing with them, we found that the blessedness of those upon whom you had written was manifestly proportioned to the fulness with which they had been written upon by you. In order, therefore, to attain to the same blessedness, we transcribed in our own hearts what was written in theirs, by most eager questioning as to everything concerning you.

3. Notwithstanding all this, it is with deep regret that we consent to their so soon leaving us, even to return to you. For observe, I beseech you, the conflicting emotions by which we are agitated. Our obligation to let them go without delay was increased according to the vehemence of their desire to obey you; but the greater the vehemence of this desire in them, the more completely did they set you forth as almost present with us, because they let us see how tender your affections are. Therefore our reluctance to let them go increased with our sense of the reasonableness of their urgency to be permitted to go. Oh insupportable trial, were it not that by such partings we are not, after all, separated from each other,—were it not that we are “members of one body, having one Head, enjoying the effusion of the same grace, living by the same bread, walking in the same way, and dwelling in the same home!”109    Letter XXX. p. 257. You recognise these words, I suppose, as quoted from your own letter; and why should not I also use them? Why should they be yours any more than mine, seeing that, inasmuch as they are true, they proceed from communion with the same head? And in so far as they contain something that has been specially given to you, I have so loved them the more on that account, that they have taken possession of the way leading through my breast, and would suffer no words to pass from my heart to my tongue until they went first, with the priority which is due to them as yours. My brother and sister, holy and beloved in God, members of the same body with us, who could doubt that we are animated by one spirit, except those who are strangers to that affection by which we are bound to each other?

4. Yet I am curious to know whether you bear with more patience and ease than I do this bodily separation. If it be so, I do not, I confess, take any pleasure in your fortitude in this respect, unless perhaps because of its reasonableness, seeing that I confess myself much less worthy of your affectionate longing than you are of mine. At all events, if I found in myself a power of bearing your absence patiently, this would displease me, because it would make me relax my efforts to see you; and what could be more absurd than to be made indolent by power of endurance? But I beg to acquaint your Charity with the ecclesiastical duties by which I am kept at home, inasmuch as the blessed father Valerius (who with me salutes you, and thirsts for you with a vehemence of which you will hear from our brethren), not content with having me as his presbyter, has insisted upon adding the greater burden of sharing the episcopate with him. This office I was afraid to decline, being persuaded, through the love of Valerius and the importunity of the people, that it was the Lord’s will, and being precluded from excusing myself on other grounds by some precedents of similar appointments. The yoke of Christ, it is true, is in itself easy, and His burden light;110    Matt. xi. 30. yet, through my perversity and infirmity, I may find the yoke vexatious and the burden heavy in some degree; and I cannot tell how much more easy and light my yoke and burden would become if I were comforted by a visit from you, who live, as I am informed, more disengaged and free from such cares.111    Paulinus was then at Nola, having gone thither from Barcelona in A.D. 393 or 394. He became Bishop of Nola in 409. I therefore feel warranted in asking, nay, demanding and imploring you to condescend to come over into Africa, which is more oppressed with thirst for men such as you are than even by the well-known aridity of her soil.112    Nobilitate siccitatis.

5. God knoweth that I long for your visiting this country, not merely to gratify my own desire, nor merely on account of those who through me, or by public report, have heard of your pious resolution;113    This refers to the voluntary poverty which Paulinus and Therasia, though of high rank and great wealth, embraced, selling all that they had in order to give to the poor. I long for it for the sake of others also who either have not heard, or, hearing, have not believed the fame of your piety, but who might be constrained to love excellence of which they could then be no longer in ignorance or doubt. For although the perseverance and purity of your compassionate benevolence is good, more is required of you; namely, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may behold your good works, and may glorify your Father which is in heaven.”114    Matt. v. 16. The fishermen of Galilee found pleasure not only in leaving their ships and their nets at the Lord’s command, but also in declaring that they had left all and followed Him.115    Matt. xix. 27. And truly he despises all who despises not only all that he was able, but also all that he was desirous to possess. What may have been desired is seen only by the eyes of God; what was actually possessed is seen also by the eyes of men. Moreover, when things trivial and earthly are loved by us, we are somehow more firmly wedded to what we have than to what we desire to have. For whence was it that he who sought from the Lord counsel as to the way of eternal life, went away sorrowful upon hearing that, if he would be perfect, he must sell all, and distribute to the poor, and have treasure in heaven, unless because, as the Gospel tells us, he had great possessions?116    Luke xviii. 22, 23. For it is one thing to forbear from appropriating what is wanting to us; it is another thing to rend away that which has become a part of ourselves: the former action is like declining food, the latter is like cutting off a limb. How great and how full of wonder is the joy with which Christian charity beholds in our day a sacrifice cheerfully made in obedience to the Gospel of Christ, which that rich man grieved and refused to make at the bidding of Christ Himself!

6. Although language fails to express that which my heart has conceived and labours to utter, nevertheless, since you perceive with your discernment and piety that the glory of this is not yours, that is to say, not of man, but the glory of the Lord in you (for you yourselves are most carefully on your guard against your Adversary, and most devoutly strive to be found as learners of Christ, meek and lowly in heart; and, indeed, it were better with humility to retain than with pride to renounce this world’s wealth);—since, I say, you are aware that the glory here is not yours, but the Lord’s, you see how weak and inadequate are the things which I have spoken. For I have been speaking of the praises of Christ, a theme transcending the tongue of angels. We long to see this glory of Christ brought near to the eyes of our people; that in you, united in the bonds of wedlock, there may be given to both sexes an example of the way in which pride must be trodden under foot, and perfection hopefully pursued. I know not any way in which you could give greater proof of your benevolence, than in resolving to be not less willing to permit your worth to be seen, than you are zealous to acquire and retain it.

7. I recommend to your kindness and charity this boy Vetustinus, whose case might draw forth the sympathy even of those who are not religious: the causes of his affliction and of his leaving his country you will hear from his own lips. As to his pious resolution—his promise, namely, to devote himself to the service of God—it will be more decisively known after some time has elapsed, when his strength has been confirmed, and his present fear is removed. Perceiving the warmth of your love for me, and encouraged thereby to believe that you will not grudge the labour of reading what I have written, I send to your Holiness and Charity three books: would that the size of the volumes were an index of the completeness of the discussion of so great a subject; for the question of free-will is handled in them! I know that these books, or at least some of them, are not in the possession of our brother Romanianus; but almost everything which I have been able for the benefit of any readers to write is, as I have intimated, accessible to your perusal through him, because of your love to me, although I did not charge him to carry them to you. For he already had them all, and was carrying them with him: moreover, it was by him that my answer to your first letter was sent. I suppose that your Holiness has already discovered, by that spiritual sagacity which the Lord has given you, how much that man bears in his soul of what is good, and how far he still comes short through infirmity. In the letter sent through him you have, as I trust, read with what anxiety I commended himself and his son to your sympathy and love, as well as how close is the bond by which they are united to me. May the Lord build them up by your means! This must be asked from Him rather than from you, for I know how much it is already your desire.

8. I have heard from the brethren that you are writing a treatise against the Pagans: if we have any claim on your heart, send it at once to us to read. For your heart is such an oracle of divine truth, that we expect from it answers which shall satisfactorily and clearly decide the most prolix debates. I understand that your Holiness has the books of the most blessed father117    Beatissimi papæ. Ambrose, of which I long greatly to see those which, with much care and at great length, he has written against some most ignorant and pretentious men, who affirm that our Lord was instructed by the writings of Plato.118    These books of Ambrose are lost.

9. Our most blessed brother Severus, formerly of our community, now president119    Antistes. of the church in Milevis, and well known by the brethren in that city, joins me in respectful salutation to your Holiness. The brethren also who are with me serving the Lord salute you as warmly as they long to see you: they long for you as much as they love you; and they love you as your eminent goodness merits. The loaf which we send you will become more rich as a blessing through the love with which your kindness receives it. May the Lord keep you for ever from this generation,120    See Ps. xii. 7. my brother and sister most beloved and sincere, truly benevolent, and most eminently endowed with abundant grace from the Lord.

SECUNDA CLASSIS. Epistolae quas Augustinus jam episcopus, ante collationem Carthaginensem cum Donatistis habitam, et ante detectam in Africa Pelagii haeresim scripsit, ab anno Christi 396 ad 410.

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EPISTOLA XXXI . Paulino pro secundis litteris ab eo receptis, grati animi obsequium exhibet, seque Valerio coepiscopum Hipponensem ordinatum esse renuntians, exoptat ut in Africam trajicere ipse velit, magno cum sibi solatio, tum caeteris christianis exemplo futurus.

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Dominis dilectissimis et sincerissimis, vere beatissimis atque abundantissima Dei gratia praestantissimis fratribus, PAULINO et THERASIAE, AUGUSTINUS, in Domino salutem.

1. Cum litteras meas, quibus respondi prioribus vestris, si tamen vestris litteris ullo modo a me responderi potest, celerrime optaverim venire in vestrae Charitatis manus, ut quoquo pacto absens cito possem esse vobiscum, lucrum mihi vestrae epistolae contulit tarditas mea. Bonus Dominus, qui non tribuit saepe quod volumus, ut quod mallemus attribuat. Aliud enim est, quod accepta epistola mea scripturi estis, aliud quod non accipiendo scripsistis. Quod cum laetissime legerimus, defuisset nobis certe ista laetitia, si, ut optavimus maximeque voluimus, cito ad vestram Sanctitatem nostrae litterae permeassent. Nunc vero 0122 et haec habere scripta, et illa sperare rescripta, gaudio cumulatiore delectat. Ita nec nostra culpa accusari potest, et Domini largior benignitas fecit quod nostro desiderio conducibilius esse judicavit.

2. Sanctos fratres Romanum et Agilem, aliam epistolam vestram, audientem voces atque reddentem, et suavissimam partem vestrae praesentiae, sed qua vobis visendis inhiaremus avidius, cum magna in Domino jucunditate suscepimus. Unde, aut quando, aut quomodo vel vos praestare, vel nos possemus exigere, ut nos de vobis tanta scribendo doceretis, quanta eorum ore didicimus? Aderat etiam, quod nulli chartae adesse potest, tantum in narrantibus gaudium, ut per ipsum etiam vultum oculosque loquentium, vos in cordibus eorum scriptos cum ineffabili laetitia legeremus. Hoc quoque amplius erat, quod pagina quaelibet quantacumque bona scripta contineat, nihil ipsa proficit, quamvis ad profectum explicetur aliorum: hanc autem epistolam vestram, fraternam scilicet animam, sic in eorum colloquio legebamus, ut tanto beatior appareret nobis, quanto uberius conscripta esset ex vobis. Itaque illam ad ejusdem beatitatis imitationem, studiosissime de vobis omnia percunctando, in nostra corda transcripsimus.

3. Nec ideo tamen eos tam cito a nobis, licet ad vos remeantes, sine molestia passi sumus. Videte 0123 enim, quaeso vos, quibus qualiebamur affectibus. Tanto utique dimittendi erant velocius, quanto vobis impensius obedire cupiebant; sed quanto id cupiebant magis, tanto vos nobis praesentius exhibebant: eo quippe indicabant quam chara vestra viscera essent; tanto igitur eos minus dimittere volebamus, quanto justius ut dimitterentur instabant. O rem non ferendam, nisi a nobis ista discessione non discederemus, nisi unius essemus corporis membra, unum haberemus caput, una perfunderemur gratia, uno pane viveremus, una incederemus via, eadem habitaremus domo! Cur enim non eisdem etiam verbis uteremur? Agnoscitis enim, credo, haec esse ex epistola vestra . Sed cur potius haec vestra sint verba quam mea, quae utique quam vera sunt, tam nobis ab ejusdem capitis communione proveniunt? Et si aliquid proprium vobis donatum habent, tanto magis ea sic dilexi, ut obsiderent viam pectoris mei, neque a corde ad linguam meam verba transire sinerent, donec tanto priora , quanto sunt vestra, procederent. Sancti fratres et dilecti Deo, nostraque invicem membra, quis dubitet nos uno spiritu vegetari, nisi qui non sentit qua nobis dilectione vinciamur?

4. Vellem tamen scire, utrum hanc absentiam corporalem vos patientius quam nos faciliusque toleretis? Si ita est, fateor, non amo istam fortitudinem vestram, nisi forte quia nos tales sumus, ut minus a vobis desiderari, quam vos desiderare debeamus. In me certe si esset patientia vestrae absentiae perferendae, displiceret mihi; segniter enim agerem ut vos viderem: quid autem absurdius, quam fortitudine fieri segniorem? Sed qua Ecclesiae cura tenear, ex hoc vestra charitas oportet attendat, quod beatissimus pater Valerius, qui, vos nobiscum quantum salutet, quantumque sitiat, audietis ex fratribus, nec presbyterum me esse suum passus est, nisi majorem mihi coepiscopatus sarcinam imponeret . Quod quidem quia tanta ejus charitate, tantoque populi studio Dominum id velle credidi, nonnullis jam exemplis praecedentibus, quibus mihi omnis excusatio claudebatur, vehementer timui excusare. Sed quanquam jugum Christi per seipsum lene sit, et sarcina levis (Matth. XI, 30); tamen propter nostram asperitatem atque infirmitatem, si quid me mordet hoc vinculum, atque urget hoc onus, ineffabiliter mihi aliquanto vestrae praesentiae solatio, tolerabilius et portabilius redderetur, quos audio curis ejusmodi expeditiores liberioresque vivere . Quare 0124 non impudenter ego rogo vos, et postulo, et flagito, ut in Africam majore talium hominum siti, quam siccitatis nobilitate laborantem, venire dignemini.

5. Scit Deus quia non solum propter desiderium, meum, neque solum propter eos qui vel per nos vestrum propositum, vel undecumque fama praedicante didicerunt, sed etiam propter caeteros qui partim non audiunt, partim audita non credunt, tamen possunt comperta diligere, vos istis terris etiam corporaliter adesse cupimus. Quamvis enim sedulo atque misericorditer id agitis, tamen etiam coram hominibus regionum nostrarum luceant opera vestra, ut videant bona facta vestra, et glorificent Patrem vestrum, qui in coelis est (Id., V, 16). Piscatores vocante Domino, quod naviculas et retia dimiserunt, omnia se dimisisse, et Dominum secutos esse, etiam commemorando laetati sunt (Id., XIX, 27). Et revera omnia contemnit, qui non solum quantum potuit, sed etiam quantum voluit habere, contemnit. Sed in eo quod cupiebatur, oculi Dei testes sunt; in eo quod habebatur, et hominum. Nescio quo autem modo, cum superflua et terrena diliguntur, arctius adepta quam concupita constringunt. Nam unde tristis ille discessit, qui consilium vitae aeternae consequendae quaerebat a Domino, cum audisset vendenda esse omnia sua, et distribuenda pauperibus, et habendum thesaurum in coelo, si vellet esse perfectus, nisi quia magnas, ut Evangelium loquitur, habebat divitias? (Luc. XVIII, 22, 23.) Aliud est enim, nolle incorporare quae desunt, aliud jam incorporata divellere: illa velut cibi repudiantur, illa velut membra praeciduntur. Quanto igitur et quantum mirabili gaudio nostris temporibus christiana charitas conspicit, per Domini Evangelium cum laetitia fieri, quod ex ore Domini cum tristitia dives audivit?

6. Quanquam nullis verbis explicem conceptionem ac parturitionem cordis mei; tamen quia prudenter et pie intelligitis non esse istam vestram, hoc est humanam, sed in vobis Domini gloriam; nam et inimicum cautissime intuemini, devotissimeque agitis, ut tanquam discipuli Christi humiles corde ac mites sitis; utilius enim terrena opulentia tenetur humiliter, quam superbe relinquitur: quia ergo recte intelligitis non hanc esse vestram, sed Domini gloriam, videtis quam parva et exigua dixerim. Dixi enim de laudibus Christi, quibus sunt linguae impares Angelorum. Hanc ergo Christi gloriam etiam oculis nostrorum hominum cupimus admoveri, in uno conjugio proposita utrique sexui calcandae superbiae, non desperandae perfectionis exempla. Nescio si quidquam misericordius agitis, quam si tantum nolitis latere, quod tales estis, quantum tales esse voluistis.

7. Vetustinum impiis quoque miserabilem puerum vestrae benignitati charitatique commendo: causas calamitatis et peregrinationis ejus audietis ex ipso. Nam et propositum ejus, quo serviturum se esse pollicetur 0125 Deo, tempus prolixius, et aetas robustior, et transactus timor certius indicabunt. Tres libros, atque utinam tam grandis quaestionis ita explicatores ut grandes, tanto minus metuens in te laborem legendi, quanto ardorem perspicio diligendi, misi Sanctitati et Charitati tuae; nam quaestio eorum de Libero Arbitrio est. Hos autem non habere, aut omnes non habere fratrem Romanianum scio, per quem prope omnia, quae quibuslibet auribus accommodata scribere potui, studio in nos tuo non apportanda dedi, sed legenda indicavi. Habebat enim jam ille omnia, secumque gestabat: per eum autem prima rescripta transmisi . Credo jam expertam Sanctitatem tuam sagacitate spirituali, quam tibi Dominus tribuit, quid ille vir boni animo gerat, et quae in illo infirmitate pars claudicet. Unde humanitati et charitati tuae tam ipsum quam filium ejus, legisti, ut spero, qua sollicitudine commendaverim, et quanta mihi necessitudine copulati sint. Aedificet eos per te Dominus. Quod ab illo magis petendum est: nam id tu quam velis novi.

8. Adversus Paganos te scribere didici ex fratribus: si quid de tuo pectore meremur, indifferenter mitte ut legamus. Nam pectus tuum tale Domini oraculum est, ut ex eo nobis tam placita, et adversus loquacissimas quaestiones explicatissima dari responsa praesumamus. Libros beatissimi papae Ambrosii credo habere Sanctitatem tuam, eos autem multum desidero, quos adversus nonnullos imperitissimos et superbissimos, qui de Platonis libris Dominum profecisse contendunt, diligentissime et copiosissime scripsit .

9. Beatissimus frater Severus de condiscipulatu nostro Milevitanae antistes Ecclesiae, bene apud eamdem civitatem fratribus cognitus, debito nobiscum officio Sanctitatem vestram salutat. Fratres quoque omnes nobiscum Domino servientes, tam id faciunt quam vos desiderant; tam vos desiderant, quam vos diligunt, et tam diligunt, quam estis boni. Panis quem misimus, uberior benedictio fiet, dilectione accipientis vestrae benignitatis. Custodiat vos Dominus ab ista generatione in aeternum (Psal. XI, 8), domini dilectissimi et sincerissimi, vere benigni, et abundantissima Domini gratia praestantissimi fratres.