that these miracles were performed in order that the kings by whom they were delivered to these punishments might believe that they worshipped the true God. For in His hidden counsel and mercy God was in this manner making provision for the salvation of these kings. It pleased Him, however, to make no such provision in the case of Antiochus the king, who cruelly put the Maccabees to death; but He punished the heart of the obdurate king with sharper severity through their most glorious sufferings. Yet read what was said by even one of them the sixth who suffered: "After him they brought also the sixth, who, being ready to die, said, 'Be not deceived without cause; for we suffer these things for ourselves, having sinned against God : therefore marvellous things are done unto us; but think not thou that takest in hand to strive against God and His law that thou shalt escape unpunished.'" You see how these also are wise in the exercise of humility and sincerity, confessing that they are chastened because of their sins by the Lord, of whom it is written: "Whom the Lord loveth He correcteth," 3 and "He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth ;”4 wherefore the Apostle says also, "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged; but when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." 5 2 curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against them. And He hath confirmed His words which He spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Thy truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth; for we obeyed not His voice. And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought Thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten Thee renown as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all Thy righteousness, I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy fury be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain, because, for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant, and His supplications, and cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary which is desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God, incline Thine ear, and hear; open Thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called 6. These things read faithfully, and proclaim by Thy name; for we do not present our sup- faithfully; and to the utmost of your power beplications before Thee for our righteousnesses, ware, and teach others that they must beware, but for Thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O of murmuring against God in these trials and Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do: defer tribulations. You tell me that good, faithful, not, for Thine own sake, O my God; for Thy and holy servants of God have been cut off by city and Thy people are called by Thy name. the sword of the barbarians. But what matters And while I was speaking, and praying, and it whether it is by sickness or by sword that they confessing my sin, and the sin of my people have been set free from the body? The Lord is Observe how he spoke first of his own careful as to the character with which His sersins, and then of the sins of his people. And vants go from this world—not as to the mere he extols the righteousness of God, and gives circumstances of their departure, excepting this, praise to God for this, that He visits even His that lingering weakness involves more suffering saints with the rod, not unjustly, but because of than a sudden death; and yet we read of this their sins. If, therefore, this be the language same protracted and dreadful weakness as the of men who by reason of their eminent sanctity lot of that Job to whose righteousness God Himfound even encompassing flames and lions harm- self, who cannot be deceived, bears such testiless, what language would befit men standing on mony. a level so low as we occupy, seeing that, whatever righteousness we may seem to practise, we are very far from being worthy of comparison with them? 5. Lest, however, any one should think that those servants of God, whose death at the hand of barbarians you relate, ought to have been delivered from them in the same manner as the three young men were delivered from the fire, and Daniel from the lions, let such an one know 1 Dan. ix. 3-20. 7. Most calamitous, and much to be bewailed, is the captivity of chaste and holy women; but their God is not in the power of their captors, nor does He forsake those captives whom He knows indeed to be His own. For those holy men, the record of whose sufferings and confessions I have quoted from the Holy Scriptures, being held in captivity by enemies who had car 2 2 Macc. vii. 18, 19. 3 Prov. ill. 12. 4 Heb. xii. 6. 5 1 Cor. xi. 31, 32. And grant that we may wholly go after Thee; for they shall not be confounded that put their trust in Thee. And now we follow Thee with all our heart: we fear Thee and seek Thy face. Put us not to shame, but deal with us after Thy loving-kindness, and according to the multitude of Thy mercies. Deliver us also according to Thy marvellous works, and give glory to Thy name, O Lord; and let all them that do Thy servants hurt be ashamed: and let them be confounded in all their power and might, and let their strength be broken: and let them know that Thou art Lord, the only God, and glorious over the whole world.” ' ried them away, uttered those words, which, pre- day. 8. Pray, therefore, to God for them, and beseech Him to enable them to say such things as the holy Azariah, whom we have mentioned, poured forth along with other expressions in his prayer and confession before God. For in the land of their captivity these women are in circumstances similar to those of the three Hebrew 9. When His servants use these words, and pray fervently to God, He will stand by them, as He has been wont ever to stand by His own, and will either not permit their chaste bodies to suffer any wrong from the lust of their enemies, or if He permit this, He will not lay sin to their charge in the matter. For when the soul is not defiled by any impurity of consent to such wrong, the body also is thereby protected from all participation in the guilt; and in so far as nothing was committed or permitted by lust on the part of her who suffers, the whole blame lies with him who did the wrong, and all the violence done to the sufferer will be regarded not as implying the baseness of wanton compliance, but as a wound blamelessly endured. For such is the worth of unblemished purity in the soul, that while it remains intact, the body also retains its purity unsullied, even although by violence its members may be overpowered. I beg your Charity to be satisfied with this letter, which is very long considering my other work (although too short to meet your wishes), and is somewhat hurriedly written, because the bearer is in haste to be gone. The Lord will furnish you with much more abundant consolation if you read attentively His holy word. LETTER CXV. (A.D. 410.) youths in that land in which they could not sac- TO FORTUNATUS, MY COLLEAGUE IN THE PRIEST HOOD, MY LORD MOST BLESSED, AND MY BROTHER rifice to the Lord their God in the manner prescribed they cannot either bring an oblation to the altar of God, or find a priest by whom their oblation may be presented to God. May God therefore grant them grace to say to Him what Azariah said in the following sentences of his Your Holiness is well acquainted with Favenprayer: "Neither is there at this time prince, tius, a tenant on the estate of the Paratian foror prophet, or leader, or burnt-offering, or sacri- est. He, apprehending some injury or other at fice, or oblation, or incense, or place to sacrifice the hands of the owner of that estate, took refbefore Thee, and to find mercy: nevertheless, uge in the church at Hippo, and was there, as in a contrite heart and humble spirit let us be accepted. Like as in the burnt-offerings of rams and bullocks, and like as in ten thousands of fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be in Thy sight this! fugitives are wont to do, waiting till he could get the matter settled through my mediation. Becoming every day, as often happens, less and I Song of the Three Children, vers. 15–22. LETTER CXVI. (ENCLOSED IN THE FOREGOING LETTER.) LORD, MY HONOURED AND MUCH-LOVED SON, less alarmed, and in fact completely off his guard, as if his adversary had desisted from his enmity, he was, when leaving the house of a friend after supper, suddenly carried off by one Florentinus, an officer of the Count, who used in this act of violence a band of armed men sufficient for the purpose. When this was made known to me, and as yet it was unknown by of your administration and your own illustrious whose orders or by whose hands he had been carried off, though suspicion naturally fell on the man from whose apprehended injury he had claimed the protection of the Church, I at once communicated with the tribune who is in com mand of the coast-guard. He sent out soldiers, but no one could be found. But in the morn Although the praises and favourable report good name always give me the greatest pleasure, because of the love which we feel due to casion have I hitherto been burdensome to your your merit and to your benevolence, on no ocvour from you, my much-loved lord and justlyExcellency as an intercessor requesting any faing we learned in what house he had passed the has learned from the letters which I have sent to honoured son. When, however, your Excellency night, and also that he had left it after cockcrowing, with the man who had him in custody; what has occurred in the town in which I serve my venerable brother and colleague, Fortunatus, I sent also to the place to which it was reported the Church of God, your kind heart will at once that he had been removed: there the officer above-named was found, but refused to allow perceive the necessity under which I have been time, already fully occupied. I am perfectly constrained to trespass by this petition on your assured that, cherishing towards us the feeling which, in the name of Christ, we are fully warranted to expect, you will act in this matter as becomes not only an upright, but also a Christian magistrate. LETTER CXVII. FROM DIOSCORUS TO AUGUSTIN. the presbyter whom I had sent to have even a sight of his prisoner. On the following day I sent a letter requesting that he should be allowed the privilege which the Emperor appointed in cases such as his, namely, that persons summoned to appear to be tried should in the municipal court be interrogated whether they desired to spend thirty days under adequate surveillance in the town, in order to arrange their affairs, or find funds for the expense of their trial, my expectation being that within that period of time we might perhaps bring his matters to some amicable settlement. Already, how- To you, who esteem the substance, not the ever, he had gone farther under charge of the style of expression, as important, any formal preofficer Florentinus; but my fear is, lest perchance, amble to this letter would be not only unnecesif he be brought before the tribunal of the ma- sary, but irksome. Therefore, without further gistrate,' he suffer some injustice. For although preface, I beg your attention. The aged Alypius the integrity of that judge is widely famed as had often promised, in answer to my request, that incorruptible, Faventius has for his adversary a he would, with your help, furnish a reply to a very man of very great wealth. To secure that money few brief questions of mine in regard to the may not prevail in that court, I beg your Holi- Dialogues of Cicero ; and as he is said to be at ness, my beloved lord and venerable brother, present in Mauritania, I ask and earnestly entreat to have the kindness to give the accompanying you to condescend to give, without his assistance, letter to the honourable magistrate, a man very those answers which, even had your brother been much beloved by us, and to read this letter also present, it would doubtless have fallen to you to him; for I have not thought it necessary to to furnish. What I require is not money, it is write twice the same statement of the case. I not gold; though, if you possessed these, you trust that he will delay the hearing of the case, would, I am sure, be willing to give them to me because I do not know whether the man is inno- for any fit object. This request of mine you can cent or guilty. I trust also that he will not over- grant without effort, by merely speaking. I might look the fact that the laws have been violated in importune you at a greater length, and through his having been suddenly carried off, without be- many of your dear friends; but I know your dising brought, as was enacted by the Emperor, position, that you do not desire to be solicited, before the municipal court, in order to his being but show kindness readily to all, if only there be asked whether he wished to accept the benefit nothing improper in the thing requested and of the delay of thirty days, so that in this way there is absolutely nothing improper in what I we may get the affair settled between him and ask. Be this, however, as it may, I beg you to his adversary. 1 Consularis. do me this kindness, for I am on the point of embarking on a voyage. You know how very painful it is to me to be burdensome to any one, and much more to one of your frank disposition; but God alone knows how irresistible is the pressure of the necessity under which I have made this application. For, taking leave of you, and committing myself to divine protection, I am about to undertake a voyage; and you know the ways of men, how prone they are to censure, and you see how any one will be regarded as illiterate and stupid who, when questions are addressed to him, can return no answer. Therefore, I implore you, answer all my queries without delay. Send me not away downcast. I ask this that so I may see my parents; for on this one errand I have sent Cerdo to you, and I now delay only till he return. My brother Zenobius has been appointed imperial remembrancer,' and has sent me a free pass for my journey, with provisions. If I am not worthy of your reply, let at least the fear of my forfeiting these provisions by delay move you to give answers to my little questions. May the most high God spare you long to us in health! Papas salutes your excellency most cordially. LETTER CXVIII. AUGUSTIN TO DIOSCORUS. impose the task of feeding and fostering your curiosity upon men among whose cares one of the greatest is to repress and curb those who are too inquisitive. For if time and pains are devoted to writing anything to you, how much better and more profitably are these employed in endeavours to cut off those vain and treacherous passions (which are to be guarded against with a caution proportioned to the ease with which they impose upon us, by their being disguised and cloaked under the semblance of virtue and the name of liberal studies), rather than in causing them to be, by our service, or rather obsequiousness, so to speak, roused to a more vehement assertion of the despotism under which they so oppress your excellent spirit. 2. For tell me what good purpose is served by the many Dialogues which you have read, if they have in no way helped you towards the discovery and attainment of the end of all your actions? For by your letter you indicate plainly enough what you have proposed to yourself as the end to be attained by all this most ardent study of yours, which is at once useless to yourself and troublesome to me. For when you were in your letter using every means to persuade me to answer the questions which you sent, you wrote these words: “I might importune you at greater length, and through many of your dear friends; but I know your disposition, that you do not CHAP. I.-I. You have sent suddenly upon desire to be solicited, but show kindness readily me a countless multitude of questions, by which to all, if only there be nothing improper in the you must have purposed to blockade me on thing requested: and there is absolutely nothing every side, or rather bury me completely, even improper in what I ask. Be this, however, as it if you were under the impression that I was may, I beg you to do me this kindness, for I am otherwise unoccupied and at leisure; for how on the point of embarking on a voyage." In could I, even though wholly at leisure, furnish these words of your letter you are indeed right the solution of so many questions to one in in your opinion as to myself, that I am desirous such haste as you are, and, in fact, as you write, of showing kindness to all, if only there be nothon the eve of a journey? I would, indeed, being improper in the request made; but it is not prevented by the mere number of the questions my opinion that there is nothing improper in to be resolved, even if their solution were easy. what you ask. For when I consider how a But they are so perplexingly intricate, and so bishop is distracted and overwrought by the hard, that even if they were few in number, and cares of his office clamouring on every side, it engaging me when otherwise wholly at leisure, does not seem to me proper for him suddenly, they would, by the mere time required, exhaust as if deaf, to withdraw himself from all these, my powers of application, and wear out my and devote himself to the work of expounding strength. I would, however, fain snatch you to a single student some unimportant questions forcibly away from the midst of those inquiries in the Dialogues of Cicero. The impropriety in which you so much delight, and fix you down among the cares which engage my attention, in order that you may either learn not to be unprofitably curious, or desist from presuming to " This officer, magister memoriæ," was a private secretary of the emperor, and had, among other privileges of his office, the right of granting liberty to private individuals to travel by the imperial conveyances along the great highways connecting Rome with the remotest boundaries of the provinces. See Suetonius, Vita August. chap. xlix., and Pliny, Letters, Books x.-xiv., and Codex Justiniani, Book xii. Title 51. 2 We conjecture from the context that this expresses the force of the obscure words, "saltem timeantur annona.' of this you yourself apprehend, although, carried away with zeal in the pursuit of your studies, you will by no means give heed to it. For what other construction can I put on the fact that, after saying that in this matter there is absolutely nothing improper, you have immediately subjoined: "Be this, however, as it may, I beg you to do me this kindness, for I am on the point of embarking on a voyage"? For this intimates that in your view, at least, there is no impropriety in your request, but that whatever impro priety may be in it, you nevertheless ask me to answer, you will be regarded by them as illitdo what you ask, because you are about to go on erate and stupid. O cause well worthy to oca voyage. Now what is the force of this sup-cupy the hours which bishops devote to study plementary plea-"I am on the point of em- while other men sleep! barking on a voyage"? Do you mean that, unless you were in these circumstances, I ought not to do you service in which anything improper may be involved? You think, forsooth, that the impropriety can be washed away by salt water. But even were it so, my share at least of the fault would remain unexpiated, because I do not propose undertaking a voyage. 66 4. You seem to me to be prompted to mental effort night and day by no other motive than ambition to be praised by men for your industry and acquisitions in learning. Although I have ever regarded this as fraught with danger to persons who are striving after the true and the right, I am now, by your case, more convinced of the danger than before. For it is due to no 3. You write, further, that I know how very other cause than this same pernicious habit that painful it is to you to be burdensome to any one, you have failed to see by what motive we might and you solemnly protest that God alone knows be induced to grant to you what you asked; for how irresistible is the necessity under which you as by a perverted judgment you yourself are make the application. When I came to this urged on to acquire a knowledge of the things statement in your letter, I turned my attention about which you put questions, from no other eagerly to learn the nature of the necessity; and, motive than that you may receive praise or escape behold, you bring it before me in these words: censure from men, you imagine that we, by a "You know the ways of men, how prone they like perversity of judgment, are to be influenced are to censure, and how any one will be regarded by the considerations alleged in your request. as illiterate and stupid who, when questions are Would that, when we declare to you that by addressed to him, can return no answer." On your writing such things concerning yourself we reading this sentence, I felt a burning desire to are moved, not to grant your request, but to rereply to your letter; for, by the morbid weak- prove and correct you, we might be able to ness of mind which this indicated, you pierced effect for you also complete emancipation from my inmost heart, and forced your way into the the influence of a boon so worthless and deceitmidst of my cares, so that I could not refuse to ful as the applause of men ! "It is the manner minister to your relief, so far as God might en- of men," you say, "to be prone to censure." able me not by devising a solution of your What then? Any one who can make no reply difficulties, but by breaking the connection be- when questions are addressed to him," you say, tween your happiness and the wretched support "will be regarded as illiterate and stupid." Beon which it now insecurely hangs, viz. the opin- hold, then, I ask you a question not concerning ions of men, and fastening it to a hold which is something in the books of Cicero, whose meanfirm and immovable. Do you not, O Dioscorus, ing, perchance, his readers may not be able to remember an ingenious line of your favourite find, but concerning your own letter and the Persius, in which he not only rebukes your folly, meaning of your own words. My question is: but administers to your boyish head, if you have Why did you not say, "Any one who can make only sense to feel it, a deserved correction, re- no reply will be proved to be illiterate and stustraining your vanity with the words, "To know pid," but prefer to say, "He will be regarded as is nothing in your eyes unless another knows illiterate and stupid"? Why, if not for this that you know"? You have, as I said before, reason, that you yourself already understand well read so many Dialogues, and devoted your atten- enough that the person who fails to answer such tion to so many discussions of philosophers-questions is not in reality, but only in the opintell me which of them has placed the chief end ion of some, illiterate and stupid? But I warn of his actions in the applause of the vulgar, or you that he who fears to be subjected to the edge in the opinion even of good and wise men? But of the pruning-hook by the tongues of such men you, and what should make you the more is a sapless log, and is therefore not only reashamed, you, when on the eve of sailing garded as illiterate and stupid, but is actually away from Africa, give evidence of your having such, and proved to be so. made signal progress, forsooth, in your studies here, when you affirm that the only reason why you impose the task of expounding Cicero to you upon bishops, who are already oppressed with work and engrossed with matters of a very different nature, is, that you fear that if, when questioned by men prone to censure, you cannot 1 "Scire tuum nihil est nisi te scire hoc sciat alter.""-- Persius, Sat. i. 27. 5. Perhaps you will say, "But seeing that I am not stupid, and that I am specially earnest in striving not to be stupid, I am reluctant even to be regarded as stupid." And rightly so; but I ask, What is your motive in this reluctance? For in stating why you did not hesitate to burden us with those questions which you wish to have solved and explained, you said that this was the reason, and that this was the end, and an end so |