Roman Letters

Nectarius

pagan notable of Calama; correspondent of Augustine|Calama (Guelma)
Nectarius was a distinguished pagan notable of Calama in Numidia (modern Guelma, Algeria) and a correspondent of Augustine of Hippo. In 408 AD, after a violent clash in which Calama's pagans rioted against Christians in defiance of imperial anti-pagan legislation, Nectarius wrote to Augustine pleading for clemency toward his fellow citizens, appealing to the love every good man owes his native city. The exchange that followed (Augustine, Letters 90, 91, 103, and 104) is a notable late-antique dialogue on civic loyalty, justice, and mercy between an educated pagan and a Christian bishop, in which Augustine balances the demand for accountability against the call for forbearance. (Note: the corpus links this name to both the Augustine and Basil collections; the substantive, well-attested figure is the Calama correspondent of Augustine. A separate Nectarius appears in connection with Basil of Caesarea's circle and should not be conflated with him.)
3
Letters sent
4
Letters received
7
Total letters
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Correspondents

Top correspondents

Augustine of Hippo5Basil of Caesarea2

All letters (7)

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From Basil of Caesareac. 357 AD

1. I heard of your unendurable loss, and was much distressed. Three or four days went by, and I was still in some doubt because my informant was not able to give me any clear details of the melancholy event.

basil caesarea #5←
From Basil of Caesareac. 374 AD

May many blessings rest on those who encourage your excellency in maintaining a constant correspondence with me! And regard not such a wish as conventional merely, but as expressing my sincere conviction of the value of your utterances. Whom could I honour above Nectarius — known to me from his earliest days as a child of fairest promise, who no...

basil caesarea #290→
To Augustine of Hippoc. 401 AD

I do not dwell upon the strength of the love men bear to their native land, for you know it. It is the only emotion which has a stronger claim than love of kindred. If there were any limit or time beyond which it would be lawful for right-hearted men to withdraw themselves from its control, I have by this time well earned exemption from the burd...

augustine hippo #90←
From Augustine of Hippoc. 401 AD

1. I do not wonder that, though your limbs are chilled by age, your heart still glows with patriotic fire. I admire this, and, instead of grieving, I rejoice to learn that you not only remember, but by your life and practice illustrate, the maxim that there is no limit either in measure or in time to the claims which their country has upon the c...

augustine hippo #91→
To Augustine of Hippoc. 401 AD

1. I have learned, not only by your letter, but also by the statements of the person who brought it to me, that you earnestly solicit a letter from me, believing that you may derive from it very great consolation. What you may gain from my letter it is for yourself to judge; I at least felt that I should neither refuse nor delay compliance with ...

augustine hippo #92→
To Augustine of Hippoc. 403 AD

1. In reading the letter of your Excellency, in which you have overthrown the worship of idols and the ritual of their temples, I seemed to myself to hear the voice of a philosopher, not of such a philosopher as the academician of whom they say, that having neither new doctrine to propound nor earlier statements of his own to defend, he was won...

augustine hippo #103←
From Augustine of Hippoc. 403 AD

1. I have read the letter which you kindly sent in answer to mine. Your reply comes at a very long interval after the time when I dispatched my letter to you.

augustine hippo #104