Letter 203: I received the letter of your Excellency, in which you ask me to write to you. This assuredly you would not have done unless you had esteemed acceptable and pleasant that which you suppose me capable of writing to you. In other words, I assume that, having desired the vanities of this life when you had not tried them, now, after the trial has be...
Augustine of Hippo→Unknown|c. 419 AD|Augustine of Hippo|Human translated
grief deathillness
Military conflict; Economic matters
I have received the letter of your Eminence, in which you asked me to write to you. You would not have desired this unless what you thought I could write would be welcome and pleasing to you. And that is this: that the vain things of this world — if you desired them before experiencing them — you should despise them now that you have experienced them. For the sweetness in such things is deceptive, the labor fruitless, the fear perpetual, and the eminence dangerous. Their beginning is without foresight, and their end is marked by regret. So it is with everything that in this misery of mortality is pursued more eagerly than wisely. But there is another hope for the devout, another fruit of labor, another reward for dangers. For in this world it is impossible not to fear, not to grieve, not to toil, not to face peril. But it makes all the difference for what cause, with what expectation, and toward what end each person endures these things. For my part, when I look at the lovers of this world, I do not know when there can be a fitting moment for wisdom to heal their hearts. When they have things that seem prosperous, they reject sound counsel out of pride and dismiss it as an old woman's tale. But when they are in adversity, they think more about escaping their present distress than about grasping what would cure them and bring them where they could suffer no distress at all. Yet sometimes certain people do bring the ears of their hearts close to the truth and attend to it — more rarely amid prosperity, more often amid adversity — but they are always few, for so they were foretold. Among these I desire you to be, because I love you truly, distinguished and most excellent and dearly wished-for son. Let this admonition be my return greeting to you, because although I do not want you to suffer hereafter such things as you have endured, I grieve still more that you have endured these very things without any change in your life for the better.
Letter 203 (A.D. 420)
To My Noble Lord and Most Excellent and Loving Son, Largus, Augustine Sends Greeting in the Lord.
I received the letter of your Excellency, in which you ask me to write to you. This assuredly you would not have done unless you had esteemed acceptable and pleasant that which you suppose me capable of writing to you. In other words, I assume that, having desired the vanities of this life when you had not tried them, now, after the trial has been made, you despise them, because in them the pleasure is deceitful, the labour fruitless, the anxiety perpetual, the elevation dangerous. Men seek them at first through imprudence, and give them up at last with disappointment and remorse. This is true of all the things which, in the cares of this mortal life, are coveted with more eagerness than wisdom by the uneasy solicitude of the men of the world. But it is wholly otherwise with the hope of the pious: very different is the fruit of their labours, very different the reward of their dangers. Fear and grief, and labour and danger are unavoidable, so long as we live in this world; but the great question is, for what cause, with what expectation, with what aim a man endures these things. When, indeed, I contemplate the lovers of this world, I know not at what time wisdom can most opportunely attempt their moral improvement; for when they have apparent prosperity, they reject disdainfully her salutary admonitions, and regard them as old wives fables; when, again, they are in adversity, they think rather of escaping merely from present suffering than of obtaining the real remedy by which they may be made whole, and may arrive at that place where they shall be altogether exempt from suffering. Occasionally, however, some open their ears and hearts to the truth — rarely in prosperity, more frequently in adversity. These are indeed the few, for such it is predicted that they shall be. Among these I desire you to be, because I love you truly, my noble lord and most excellent and loving son. Let this counsel be my answer to your letter, because though I am unwilling that you should henceforth suffer such things as you have endured, yet I would grieve still more if you were found to have suffered these things without any change for the better in your life.
EPISTOLA 203
Scripta forte a. 420.
A. Largum hortatur ut vanos saeculi honores expertus contemnat atque ex malorum perpessione melior evadat.
DOMINO INSIGNI ET PRAESTANTISSIMO, ET DESIDERANTISSIMO FILIO LARGO, AUGUSTINUS, IN DOMINO SALUTEM.
1. Accepi litteras Eximietatis tuae, quibus me ad te petisti ut scriberem. Quod quidem non desiderares, nisi et hoc quod me posse scribere existimasti, gratum haberes atque iucundum. Id autem est, ut vana saeculi huius, si inexperta concupisti, experta contemnas. Fallax est enim in eis suavitas, et infructuosus labor, et perpetuus timor, et periculosa sublimitas. Initium sine providentia, et finis cum poenitentia. Ita se habent omnia quae in ista mortalitatis aerumna cupidius quam prudentius appetuntur. Alia est autem spes piorum, alius laboris fructus, alia periculorum merces. Nam in hoc mundo non timere, non dolere, non laborare, non periclitari impossibile est: sed plurimum interest qua causa, qua exspectatione, quo termino ista quisque patiatur. Ego quidem cum amatores saeculi huius intueor, nescio quando possit esse ad eorum animos sanandos opportuna sapientia: quando enim res velut prosperas habent, fastu respuunt salubres monitus, et quasi anilem reputant cantilenam; quando autem in adversis agunt, magis cogitant evadere unde ad praesens anguntur, quam capere unde curentur, et unde perveniant ubi angi omnino non possint. Aliquando tamen quidam cordis aures admovent atque adhibent veritati, rarius inter prospera, crebrius inter adversa; sed tamen pauci sunt, ita enim praedicti sunt 1; inter quos te esse cupio, quia veraciter diligo, domine insignis et praestantissime, ac desiderantissime fili. Haec admonitio tibi sit mea resalutatio, quia etsi te deinceps talia perpeti qualia pertulisti, nolo; plus tamen doleo haec ipsa te sine aliqua in melius vitae mutatione fuisse perpessum.
◆
I have received the letter of your Eminence, in which you asked me to write to you. You would not have desired this unless what you thought I could write would be welcome and pleasing to you. And that is this: that the vain things of this world — if you desired them before experiencing them — you should despise them now that you have experienced them. For the sweetness in such things is deceptive, the labor fruitless, the fear perpetual, and the eminence dangerous. Their beginning is without foresight, and their end is marked by regret. So it is with everything that in this misery of mortality is pursued more eagerly than wisely. But there is another hope for the devout, another fruit of labor, another reward for dangers. For in this world it is impossible not to fear, not to grieve, not to toil, not to face peril. But it makes all the difference for what cause, with what expectation, and toward what end each person endures these things. For my part, when I look at the lovers of this world, I do not know when there can be a fitting moment for wisdom to heal their hearts. When they have things that seem prosperous, they reject sound counsel out of pride and dismiss it as an old woman's tale. But when they are in adversity, they think more about escaping their present distress than about grasping what would cure them and bring them where they could suffer no distress at all. Yet sometimes certain people do bring the ears of their hearts close to the truth and attend to it — more rarely amid prosperity, more often amid adversity — but they are always few, for so they were foretold. Among these I desire you to be, because I love you truly, distinguished and most excellent and dearly wished-for son. Let this admonition be my return greeting to you, because although I do not want you to suffer hereafter such things as you have endured, I grieve still more that you have endured these very things without any change in your life for the better.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
EPISTOLA 203
Scripta forte a. 420.
A. Largum hortatur ut vanos saeculi honores expertus contemnat atque ex malorum perpessione melior evadat.
DOMINO INSIGNI ET PRAESTANTISSIMO, ET DESIDERANTISSIMO FILIO LARGO, AUGUSTINUS, IN DOMINO SALUTEM.
1. Accepi litteras Eximietatis tuae, quibus me ad te petisti ut scriberem. Quod quidem non desiderares, nisi et hoc quod me posse scribere existimasti, gratum haberes atque iucundum. Id autem est, ut vana saeculi huius, si inexperta concupisti, experta contemnas. Fallax est enim in eis suavitas, et infructuosus labor, et perpetuus timor, et periculosa sublimitas. Initium sine providentia, et finis cum poenitentia. Ita se habent omnia quae in ista mortalitatis aerumna cupidius quam prudentius appetuntur. Alia est autem spes piorum, alius laboris fructus, alia periculorum merces. Nam in hoc mundo non timere, non dolere, non laborare, non periclitari impossibile est: sed plurimum interest qua causa, qua exspectatione, quo termino ista quisque patiatur. Ego quidem cum amatores saeculi huius intueor, nescio quando possit esse ad eorum animos sanandos opportuna sapientia: quando enim res velut prosperas habent, fastu respuunt salubres monitus, et quasi anilem reputant cantilenam; quando autem in adversis agunt, magis cogitant evadere unde ad praesens anguntur, quam capere unde curentur, et unde perveniant ubi angi omnino non possint. Aliquando tamen quidam cordis aures admovent atque adhibent veritati, rarius inter prospera, crebrius inter adversa; sed tamen pauci sunt, ita enim praedicti sunt 1; inter quos te esse cupio, quia veraciter diligo, domine insignis et praestantissime, ac desiderantissime fili. Haec admonitio tibi sit mea resalutatio, quia etsi te deinceps talia perpeti qualia pertulisti, nolo; plus tamen doleo haec ipsa te sine aliqua in melius vitae mutatione fuisse perpessum.