Letter 233: Augustine asks Longinianus what he believes about worshiping God and following Christ.

Longinianus, Augustine. They say that one of the ancients used to say that for people who had been sufficiently persuaded to prefer nothing to being good men, the rest of teaching was easy. That saying, if I remember rightly, is Socratic. But a prophetic saying much older than it had already gone further, teaching a human being briefly and at once not only to prefer nothing to being good, but also where goodness comes from: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind"; and, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." For someone persuaded of this, the rest of teaching is not merely easy; it is the whole of useful and saving teaching. There are many other teachings, if they deserve the name, that are either unnecessary or harmful. Christ, bearing witness to the ancient books, says, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." So, because in our conversation I think I saw, as in a mirror, that you prefer nothing to being a good man, I dare to ask how you believe God should be worshiped - God, than whom nothing is better, and from whom the human soul draws what makes it good. That you believe he should be worshiped, I already hold as certain. I also ask what you think about Christ. I noticed that you do not treat him lightly. But do you think that the blessed life can be reached by that way, and that way alone, which he has shown? If so, are you not neglecting to enter it, but delaying for some reason? Or do you think there is another way, or other ways, to that rich possession desirable above all things, and that you are already entering one of them? I want to know this, as I think, without impertinence. I love you for the reason I said above, and I do not rashly suppose that I am loved by you. Among people who know one another in good will, no conversation is more fruitful, whether offered, requested, given, or received, than one about how we become good and blessed.

EPISTOLA 233 Scripta post a. 395. A. Longiniano, philosopho pagano, ad scribendum provocans quonam modo Deum colendum credat, quidve de Christo sentiat. Longiniano Augustinus 1. Solere aiunt quemdam veterum dicere, quibus satis persuasum esset ut nihil mallent se esse quam viros bonos, his reliquam facilem esse doctrinam. Hanc sententiam (nam, si rite recolo, Socratica est) longe antiquior prophetica iam praecesserat, praecipiens homini breviter et simul, non tantum ut se nihil malit esse quam bonum, verum etiam unde fiat bonus: Diliges, inquit: Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota mente tua 1; et: Diliges proximum tuum tamquam teipsum 2. Hoc cui persuasum esset, non ei reliquam facilem, sed eam totam esse doctrinam dumtaxat utilem ac salubrem. Multae enim doctrinae sunt, si tamen doctrinae dicendae sunt, vel superfluae, vel noxiae. Veterum Libris Christus attestans: In his, inquit, duobus praeceptis tota lex pendet et Prophetae 3. Proinde, quia mihi videor inspexisse tamquam in speculo sermocinationis mecum tuae, nihil te esse malle quam virum bonum; Deum, quo nihil est melius, et unde humanus animus haurit ut bonus sit, quonam modo colendum credas, audeo percontari: nam quod eum colendum credas, iam teneo. Quaero etiam quid de Christo sentias. Quod enim eum non parvipendas, adverti: sed utrum ea et sola via quae ab illo demonstrata est, ad vitam beatam perveniri posse existimes, et aliqua ex causa non eam neglegas ire, sed differas; an et aliam vel alias ad tam opimam et prae omnibus appetendam possessionem vias esse arbitreris, et aliquam earum iam te ingredi credas, nosse cupio, ut opinor, non impudenter. Diligo enim te propter id quod supra dixi, meque abs te diligi non temere existimo; nec ulla de re alia inter eos qui se benevole noverunt, sermo fructuosior, vel impenditur, vel reposcitur, vel accipitur, vel recipitur, quam unde boni beatique sumus.