Letter 218: 1. Your life of eminent fortitude and fruitfulness towards the Lord our God has brought to us great joy. For you have made choice of instruction from your youth upwards, that you may still find wisdom even to grey hairs; Sirach 6:18 for wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age; Wisdom 4:9 which may the Lord, who knows h...
Augustine of Hippo→Palatinus|c. 422 AD|Augustine of Hippo|Human translated
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Your turning to the Lord our God, stronger and more fruitful now, has brought us great joy. For you have chosen learning from your youth, that you may find wisdom even unto old age. Gray hairs, then, are the good sense of a person, and the age of old age is an unblemished life. May the Lord grant this to you as you ask, seek, and knock — he who knows how to give good gifts to his children. For although you have no shortage of those who exhort you, and exhortations toward the way of salvation and eternal glory — above all the very grace of Christ, which has spoken so wholesomely in your heart — still, we too, out of the duty of love we owe you, offer something by way of exhortation in this reply of ours: not to rouse you from sluggishness or sleep, but to spur and urge you onward as you run.
You must be wise, my son, so as to persevere, since you were wise enough to choose. Let this itself be your wisdom: to know whose gift this is. Commit your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will act; he will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like the noonday. He will make your paths straight and lead your journeys forward in peace. Just as you spurned what you had hoped for in the world — lest you glory in the abundance of riches, which you had begun to desire in the manner of the children of this age — so now, in taking up the yoke of the Lord and his burden, do not trust in your own strength; and the yoke will be easy, and the burden light. For equally condemned in the Psalm are those who trust in their own strength and those who glory in the abundance of their riches. The glory of riches, then — which you did not yet possess but wished to have — you have most wisely despised. Beware lest it creep upon you to trust in your own strength, for you are a human being, and cursed is everyone who places his hope in a human being. But trust wholeheartedly in your God, and he himself will be your strength, in whom you may trust with piety and gratitude, saying to him humbly and faithfully: I will love you, O Lord, my strength. For that very love of God, which when perfect casts out fear, is not poured into our hearts by our own powers — that is, human powers — but, as the Apostle says, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Be watchful, then, and pray that you do not enter into temptation. For prayer itself reminds you that you need the help of your Lord, lest you place the hope of living well in yourself. You pray now not to receive the riches and honors of this present age, or any human vanity, but that you may not enter into temptation — which, if a person could provide for himself by willing alone, would not need to be sought through prayer. Therefore, if the will were sufficient for us not to enter into temptation, we would not pray; yet if the will were absent, we could not even pray. Let it be present, then, so that we may will; but let us pray that we may accomplish what we have willed, when by his gift we have rightly understood. Since you have already begun this good, you have reason to give thanks. For what do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, beware lest you boast as though you had not received it — that is, as though you could have had it of yourself. Knowing, then, from whom you received it, ask from him that it be brought to completion, by whom it was given to be begun. Work out your salvation, therefore, with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both the willing and the accomplishing, according to his good will — since the will is prepared by the Lord, and by him the steps of a person are directed, and he shall desire his way. This holy reflection will preserve you, so that your wisdom may be piety: that is, that you may be good through God, and not ungrateful to the grace of Christ.
Your parents long for you, faithfully rejoicing in the better hope that you have begun to hold in the Lord. We, however, desire to hold you — whether absent or present in body — in the one Spirit through whom love is poured into our hearts, so that wherever our flesh may be, our souls can in no way be separated. We most gratefully received the hair shirts you sent, in which you yourself were the first to remind us about the practice and preservation of humility in prayer.
Letter 218 (A.D. 426)
To Palatinus, My Well-Beloved Lord and Son, Most Tenderly Longed For, Augustine Sends Greeting.
1. Your life of eminent fortitude and fruitfulness towards the Lord our God has brought to us great joy. For you have made choice of instruction from your youth upwards, that you may still find wisdom even to grey hairs; Sirach 6:18 for wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age; Wisdom 4:9 which may the Lord, who knows how to give good gifts unto His children, give to you asking, seeking, knocking. Matthew 7:11 Although you have many counsellors and many counsels to direct you in the path which leads to eternal glory, and although, above all, you have the grace of Christ, which has so effectually spoken in saving power in your heart, nevertheless we also, as in duty bound by the love which we owe to you, offer to you, in hereby reciprocating your salutation, some words of counsel, designed not to awaken you as one hindered by sloth or sleep, but to stimulate and quicken you in the race which you are already running.
2. You require wisdom, my son, for steadfastness in this race, as it was under the influence of wisdom that you entered on it at first. Let this then be a part of your wisdom, to know whose gift it is. Wisdom 8:20 Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass: and He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday. He will make straight your path, and guide your steps in peace. As you despised your prospects of greatness in this world, lest you should glory in the abundance of riches which you had begun to covet after the manner of the children of this world, so now, in taking up the yoke of the Lord and His burden, let not your confidence be in your own strength; so shall His yoke be easy, and His burden light. Matthew 11:30 For in the book of Psalms those are alike censured who trust in their strength, and who boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. Therefore, as formerly you did not seek glory in riches, but most wisely despised that which you had begun to desire, so now be on your guard against insidious temptation to trust in your strength; for you are but man, and cursed is every one that trusts in man. Jeremiah 17:5 But by all means trust in God with your whole heart, and He will Himself be your strength, wherein you may trust with piety and thankfulness, and to Him you may say with humility and boldness, I will love you, O Lord, my strength; because even the love of God, which, when it is perfect, casts out fear, 1 John 4:18 is shed abroad in our hearts, not by our strength, that is, by any human power, but, as the apostle says, by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Romans 5:5
3. Watch, therefore, and pray that you enter not into temptation. Mark 14:38 Such prayer is indeed in itself an admonition to you that you need the help of the Lord, and that you ought not to rest upon yourself your hope of living well. For now you pray, not that you may obtain the riches and honours of this present world, or any unsubstantial human possession, but that you may not enter into temptation, a thing which would not be asked in prayer if a man could accomplish it for himself by his own will. Wherefore we would not pray that we may not enter into temptation if our own will sufficed for our protection and yet if the will to avoid temptation were wanting to us, we could not so pray. It may, therefore, be present with us to will, Romans 7:18 when we have through his own gift been made wise, but we must pray that we may be able to perform that which we have so willed. In the fact that you have begun to exercise this true wisdom, you have reason to give thanks. For what have you which you have not received? But if you have received it, beware that you boast not as if you had not received it, 1 Corinthians 4:7 that is, as if you could have had it of yourself. Knowing, however, whence you have received it, ask Him by whose gift it was begun to grant that it may be perfected. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it is God that works in you, both to will and to do, of His good pleasure; Philippians 2:12-13 for the will is prepared by God, and the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Holy meditation on these things will preserve you, so that your wisdom shall be piety, that is, that by God's gift you shall be good, and not ungrateful for the grace of Christ.
4. Your parents, unfeignedly rejoicing with you in the better hope which in the Lord you have begun to cherish, are longing earnestly for your presence. But whether you be absent from us or present with us in the body, we desire to have you with us in the one Spirit by whom love is shed abroad in our hearts, so that, in whatever place our bodies may sojourn, our spirits may be in no degree sundered from each other.
We have most thankfully received the cloaks of goat's-hair cloth which you sent to us, in which gift you have yourself anticipated me in admonition as to the duty of being often engaged in prayer, and of practising humility in our supplications.
EPISTOLA 218
Scripta ca. a. 427/428.
A. Palatino, hortans ut in christiana sapientia proficiat ac perseveret, id summopere cavens ne spem bene vivendi collocat in propriis viribus (nn. 1-2) sed vigilet atque oret ne intret in tentationem (nn. 3-4).
DOMINO DILECTISSIMO, ET DESIDERATISSIMO FILIO PALATINO, AUGUSTINUS.
In christiana sapientia progrediendum.
1. Conversatio tua fortior atque fructuosior ad Dominum Deum nostrum, magnum nobis attulit gaudium. Elegisti enim a iuventute doctrinam, ut invenias usque ad canos sapientiam 1. Cani sunt ergo sensus hominis, et senectutis aetas vita immaculata 2. Quam donet tibi Dominus petenti, quaerenti atque pulsanti, qui novit bona data dare filiis suis 3. Quamvis enim abundent tibi exhortatores et exhortationes ad viam salutis et gloriae sempiternae, maxime ipsa gratia Christi, quae tibi tam salubriter in corde tuo locuta est; tamen etiam nos pro dilectionis officio, quam tibi debemus, afferimus aliquid exhortationis in hac resalutatione nostra, qua te non pigrum vel dormientem excitemus, sed provocemus incitemusque currentem 4.
Non suae virtuti sed Deo fidendum.
2. Sapere te oportet, fili, ut perseveres, quia sapuisti ut eligeres. Sit hoc ipsum sapientiae tuae, scire cuius donum hoc est. Revela ad Dominum viam tuam, et spera in eum: et ipse faciet, et deducet velut lumen iustitiam tuam, et iudicium tuum velut meridiem 5. Ipse faciet rectos cursus tuos, et itinera tua in pace producet 6. Sicut sprevisti quod sperabas in saeculo, ne in abundantia divitiarum gloriareris, quas more filiorum saeculi huius concupiscere coeperas; ita nunc ad tollendum iugum Domini et sarcinam eius, in virtute tua non confidas; et illud lene erit, et haec levis 7. Pariter quippe improbantur in Psalmo et qui confidunt in virtute sua, et qui in abundantia divitiarum suarum gloriantur 8. Ergo divitiarum gloriam non iam habebas, sed quam habere cupiebas, prudentissime contempsisti. Cave ne tibi subrepat in tua virtute confidere; homo es enim, et maledictus omnis qui spem suam ponit in homine 9. Sed plane in Deo tuo toto corde confide, et ipse erit virtus tua, in qua pius gratusque confidas, cui dicas humiliter et fideliter: Diligam te, Domine, virtus mea 10: quia et ipsa caritas Dei, quae perfecta foras mittit timorem 11, non per vires nostras, id est humanas, diffunditur in cordibus nostris, sed sicut dicit Apostolus, per Spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis 12.
Ad peccatum vitandum non sufficere voluntatem.
3. Vigila ergo et ora, ne intres in tentationem 13. Ipsa quippe oratio admonet te quod indigeas adiutorio Domini tui, ne spem bene vivendi in te ponas. Oras enim non iam ut accipias divitias et honores praesentis saeculi, aut aliquid vanitatis humanae, sed ne intres in tentationem: quod utique si homo sibi praestare posset volendo, non posceretur orando. Quapropter, ut non intremus in tentationem, si voluntas sufficeret, non oraremus; quae tamen si deesset, nec orare possemus. Adsit ergo ut velimus, oremus autem ut valeamus quod voluerimus, cum ipso donante recte sapuerimus. Quod bonum quoniam iam coepisti, est unde gratias agas. Quid enim habes quod non accepisti? Si autem accepisti, cave ne glorieris quasi non acceperis 14, hoc est, quasi ex te ipso habere potueris. Sciens autem unde acceperis, ab illo pete ut perficiatur, a quo datum est ut inciperetur. Cum timore itaque et tremore tuam salutem operare. Deus est enim qui operatur in te et velle, et perficere, pro bona voluntate 15: quoniam praeparatur voluntas a Domino 16, atque ab ipso gressus hominis diriguntur, et viam eius volet 17. Haec cogitatio sancta servabit te, ut sapientia tua pietas sit 18; id est, ut ex Deo sis bonus, et Christi gratiae non ingratus.
Animorum communio perfecta in Dei Spiritu.
4. Desiderant te parentes tui, fideliter congratulantes meliori spei tuae quam in Domino habere coepisti 19. Nos autem te sive absentem corpore sive praesentem, in uno spiritu habere cupimus, per quem diffunditur caritas in cordibus nostris 20, ut quolibet loco fuerit caro nostra, nullo modo separata possit esse anima nostra. Gratissime accepimus cilicia quae misisti, ubi nos de frequentanda et servanda humilitate orationum prior ipse monuisti.
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Your turning to the Lord our God, stronger and more fruitful now, has brought us great joy. For you have chosen learning from your youth, that you may find wisdom even unto old age. Gray hairs, then, are the good sense of a person, and the age of old age is an unblemished life. May the Lord grant this to you as you ask, seek, and knock — he who knows how to give good gifts to his children. For although you have no shortage of those who exhort you, and exhortations toward the way of salvation and eternal glory — above all the very grace of Christ, which has spoken so wholesomely in your heart — still, we too, out of the duty of love we owe you, offer something by way of exhortation in this reply of ours: not to rouse you from sluggishness or sleep, but to spur and urge you onward as you run.
You must be wise, my son, so as to persevere, since you were wise enough to choose. Let this itself be your wisdom: to know whose gift this is. Commit your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will act; he will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like the noonday. He will make your paths straight and lead your journeys forward in peace. Just as you spurned what you had hoped for in the world — lest you glory in the abundance of riches, which you had begun to desire in the manner of the children of this age — so now, in taking up the yoke of the Lord and his burden, do not trust in your own strength; and the yoke will be easy, and the burden light. For equally condemned in the Psalm are those who trust in their own strength and those who glory in the abundance of their riches. The glory of riches, then — which you did not yet possess but wished to have — you have most wisely despised. Beware lest it creep upon you to trust in your own strength, for you are a human being, and cursed is everyone who places his hope in a human being. But trust wholeheartedly in your God, and he himself will be your strength, in whom you may trust with piety and gratitude, saying to him humbly and faithfully: I will love you, O Lord, my strength. For that very love of God, which when perfect casts out fear, is not poured into our hearts by our own powers — that is, human powers — but, as the Apostle says, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Be watchful, then, and pray that you do not enter into temptation. For prayer itself reminds you that you need the help of your Lord, lest you place the hope of living well in yourself. You pray now not to receive the riches and honors of this present age, or any human vanity, but that you may not enter into temptation — which, if a person could provide for himself by willing alone, would not need to be sought through prayer. Therefore, if the will were sufficient for us not to enter into temptation, we would not pray; yet if the will were absent, we could not even pray. Let it be present, then, so that we may will; but let us pray that we may accomplish what we have willed, when by his gift we have rightly understood. Since you have already begun this good, you have reason to give thanks. For what do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, beware lest you boast as though you had not received it — that is, as though you could have had it of yourself. Knowing, then, from whom you received it, ask from him that it be brought to completion, by whom it was given to be begun. Work out your salvation, therefore, with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both the willing and the accomplishing, according to his good will — since the will is prepared by the Lord, and by him the steps of a person are directed, and he shall desire his way. This holy reflection will preserve you, so that your wisdom may be piety: that is, that you may be good through God, and not ungrateful to the grace of Christ.
Your parents long for you, faithfully rejoicing in the better hope that you have begun to hold in the Lord. We, however, desire to hold you — whether absent or present in body — in the one Spirit through whom love is poured into our hearts, so that wherever our flesh may be, our souls can in no way be separated. We most gratefully received the hair shirts you sent, in which you yourself were the first to remind us about the practice and preservation of humility in prayer.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
EPISTOLA 218
Scripta ca. a. 427/428.
A. Palatino, hortans ut in christiana sapientia proficiat ac perseveret, id summopere cavens ne spem bene vivendi collocat in propriis viribus (nn. 1-2) sed vigilet atque oret ne intret in tentationem (nn. 3-4).
DOMINO DILECTISSIMO, ET DESIDERATISSIMO FILIO PALATINO, AUGUSTINUS.
In christiana sapientia progrediendum.
1. Conversatio tua fortior atque fructuosior ad Dominum Deum nostrum, magnum nobis attulit gaudium. Elegisti enim a iuventute doctrinam, ut invenias usque ad canos sapientiam 1. Cani sunt ergo sensus hominis, et senectutis aetas vita immaculata 2. Quam donet tibi Dominus petenti, quaerenti atque pulsanti, qui novit bona data dare filiis suis 3. Quamvis enim abundent tibi exhortatores et exhortationes ad viam salutis et gloriae sempiternae, maxime ipsa gratia Christi, quae tibi tam salubriter in corde tuo locuta est; tamen etiam nos pro dilectionis officio, quam tibi debemus, afferimus aliquid exhortationis in hac resalutatione nostra, qua te non pigrum vel dormientem excitemus, sed provocemus incitemusque currentem 4.
Non suae virtuti sed Deo fidendum.
2. Sapere te oportet, fili, ut perseveres, quia sapuisti ut eligeres. Sit hoc ipsum sapientiae tuae, scire cuius donum hoc est. Revela ad Dominum viam tuam, et spera in eum: et ipse faciet, et deducet velut lumen iustitiam tuam, et iudicium tuum velut meridiem 5. Ipse faciet rectos cursus tuos, et itinera tua in pace producet 6. Sicut sprevisti quod sperabas in saeculo, ne in abundantia divitiarum gloriareris, quas more filiorum saeculi huius concupiscere coeperas; ita nunc ad tollendum iugum Domini et sarcinam eius, in virtute tua non confidas; et illud lene erit, et haec levis 7. Pariter quippe improbantur in Psalmo et qui confidunt in virtute sua, et qui in abundantia divitiarum suarum gloriantur 8. Ergo divitiarum gloriam non iam habebas, sed quam habere cupiebas, prudentissime contempsisti. Cave ne tibi subrepat in tua virtute confidere; homo es enim, et maledictus omnis qui spem suam ponit in homine 9. Sed plane in Deo tuo toto corde confide, et ipse erit virtus tua, in qua pius gratusque confidas, cui dicas humiliter et fideliter: Diligam te, Domine, virtus mea 10: quia et ipsa caritas Dei, quae perfecta foras mittit timorem 11, non per vires nostras, id est humanas, diffunditur in cordibus nostris, sed sicut dicit Apostolus, per Spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis 12.
Ad peccatum vitandum non sufficere voluntatem.
3. Vigila ergo et ora, ne intres in tentationem 13. Ipsa quippe oratio admonet te quod indigeas adiutorio Domini tui, ne spem bene vivendi in te ponas. Oras enim non iam ut accipias divitias et honores praesentis saeculi, aut aliquid vanitatis humanae, sed ne intres in tentationem: quod utique si homo sibi praestare posset volendo, non posceretur orando. Quapropter, ut non intremus in tentationem, si voluntas sufficeret, non oraremus; quae tamen si deesset, nec orare possemus. Adsit ergo ut velimus, oremus autem ut valeamus quod voluerimus, cum ipso donante recte sapuerimus. Quod bonum quoniam iam coepisti, est unde gratias agas. Quid enim habes quod non accepisti? Si autem accepisti, cave ne glorieris quasi non acceperis 14, hoc est, quasi ex te ipso habere potueris. Sciens autem unde acceperis, ab illo pete ut perficiatur, a quo datum est ut inciperetur. Cum timore itaque et tremore tuam salutem operare. Deus est enim qui operatur in te et velle, et perficere, pro bona voluntate 15: quoniam praeparatur voluntas a Domino 16, atque ab ipso gressus hominis diriguntur, et viam eius volet 17. Haec cogitatio sancta servabit te, ut sapientia tua pietas sit 18; id est, ut ex Deo sis bonus, et Christi gratiae non ingratus.
Animorum communio perfecta in Dei Spiritu.
4. Desiderant te parentes tui, fideliter congratulantes meliori spei tuae quam in Domino habere coepisti 19. Nos autem te sive absentem corpore sive praesentem, in uno spiritu habere cupimus, per quem diffunditur caritas in cordibus nostris 20, ut quolibet loco fuerit caro nostra, nullo modo separata possit esse anima nostra. Gratissime accepimus cilicia quae misisti, ubi nos de frequentanda et servanda humilitate orationum prior ipse monuisti.