Letter 246: 1. On the subject of Fate and Fortune, by which, as I perceived when I was with you, and as I now know in a more gratifying and more reliable way by your own letter, your mind is seriously disturbed, I ought to write you a considerable volume; the Lord will enable me to explain it in the manner which He knows to be best fitted to preserve your f...
Augustine of Hippo→Lampadius|c. 426 AD|Augustine of Hippo|Human translated
women
Military conflict; Literary culture; Economic matters
Augustine to Lampadius.
How fatal it is to ascribe sins to fate.
1. Concerning the question of fate and fortune, by which I noticed your mind was no lightly troubled both when I was present in person and now have learned more clearly and certainly from your letter, I owe you a reply of no small length. The Lord will grant that I may set it forth in whatever way He knows to be fitting for the health of your faith. For it is no small evil when people are led by perverse opinions not only to commit sin through the enticement of pleasure, but also to defend their sin and so are turned away from the remedy of confession.
The will, not the stars, is the cause of sinning.
2. Know this at least quickly and briefly: all laws and all institutions of discipline, all praise and blame, exhortations and threats, rewards and punishments, and everything else by which the human race is governed and directed, are thoroughly undermined and overturned, and no justice whatsoever remains in any of them, unless the will is the cause of sinning. How much more freely and fairly, then, should we condemn the errors of the astrologers, rather than be compelled to condemn and cast aside the divine laws or even the management of our own households — which not even the astrologers themselves do? For when one of them has sold foolish fates to wealthy clients, as soon as he turns his eye from his ivory tablets back to the governance and care of his own house, he corrects his wife not only with words but even with blows — I do not say if he catches her flirting too boldly, but even if he notices her gazing too freely out the window. And yet if she should say to him, "Why do you beat me? Beat Venus, if you can, for she compels me to do this," then indeed he pays no attention to whatever empty words he composes for deceiving strangers, but rather to what just blows he should lay upon his own household to correct them.
Even astrologers pay no attention to fate when managing their own households.
3. Therefore, whenever anyone, upon being rebuked, shifts the blame onto fate and refuses to be held at fault because he claims he was compelled by fate to do what he is accused of, let him apply this consistently in his own household: let him not punish a thieving slave, let him not complain about a disrespectful son, let him not threaten an unjust neighbor. For in doing any of these things, how does he act justly if all those from whom he suffers injuries are driven to act not by their own fault but by fate? But if by his own right and diligence as head of the household he encourages all those under his authority to do good, deters them from evil, commands them to obey his will, honors those who comply with his wishes, punishes those who disregard him, repays the kindness of benefactors, and hates the ungrateful — shall I then wait to argue against fate, when I catch him declaring so much not in words but in deeds, that he practically seems to be smashing all the astrologers' pebbles over their own heads with his own hands? If, therefore, your eagerness is not satisfied with these few remarks and desires some book on this subject to read at greater length, you must patiently await my periods of leisure, and you must ask God to grant both the free time and the ability to satisfy your mind on this matter. I shall be all the more eager, however, if your charity does not hesitate to remind me often by letter, and if you teach me by writing back what you think of this epistle.
To Lampadius, Augustine Sends Greeting.
1. On the subject of Fate and Fortune, by which, as I perceived when I was with you, and as I now know in a more gratifying and more reliable way by your own letter, your mind is seriously disturbed, I ought to write you a considerable volume; the Lord will enable me to explain it in the manner which He knows to be best fitted to preserve your faith. For it is no small evil that when men embrace perverse opinions they are not only drawn by the allurement of pleasure to commit sin, but are also turned aside to vindicate their sin rather than seek to have it healed by acknowledging that they have done wrong.
2. Let me, therefore, briefly remind you of one thing bearing on the question which you certainly know, that all laws and all means of discipline, commendations, censures, exhortations, threatenings, rewards, punishments, and all other things by which mankind are managed and ruled, are utterly subverted and overthrown, and found to be absolutely devoid of justice, unless the will is the cause of the sins which a man commits. How much more legitimate and right, therefore, is it for us to reject the absurdities of astrologers [mathematici], than to submit to the alternative necessity of condemning and rejecting the laws proceeding from divine authority, or even the means needful for governing our own families. In this the astrologers themselves ignore their own doctrine as to Fate and Fortune, for when any one of them, after selling to moneyed simpletons his silly prognostications of Fate, calls back his thoughts from the ivory tablets to the management and care of his own house, he reproves his wife, not with words only, but with blows, if he finds her, I do not say jesting rather forwardly, but even looking too much out of the window. Nevertheless, if she were to expostulate in such a case, saying: Why beat me? Beat Venus, rather, if you can, since it is under that planet's influence that I am compelled to do what you complain of,— he would certainly apply his energies not to invent some of the absurd jargon by which he cajoles the public, but to inflict some of the just correction by which he maintains his authority at home.
3. When, therefore, any one, upon being reproved, affirms that Fate is the cause of the action, and insists that therefore he is not to be blamed, because he says that under the compulsion of Fate he did the action which is censured, let him come back to apply this to his own case, let him observe this principle in managing his own affairs: let him not chastise a dishonest servant; let him not complain of a disrespectful son; let him not utter threats against a mischievous neighbour. For in doing which of these things would he act justly, if all from whom he suffers such wrong are impelled to commit it by Fate, not by any fault of their own? If, however, from the fight inherent in himself, and the duty incumbent on him as the head of a family towards all whom for the time he has under his control, he exhorts them to do good, deters them from doing evil, commands them to obey his will, honours those who yield implicit obedience, inflicts punishment on those who set him at naught, gives thanks to those who do him good, and hates those who are ungrateful — shall I wait to prove the absurdity of the astrologers calculations of Fate, when I find him proclaiming, not by words but by deeds, things so conclusive against his pretensions that he seems to destroy almost with his own hands every hair on the heads of the astrologers?
If your eager desire is not satisfied with these few sentences, and demands a book which will take longer time to read on this subject, you must wait patiently until I get some respite from other duties; and you must pray to God that He may be pleased to allow both leisure and capacity to write, so as to set your mind at rest on this matter. I will, however, do this with more willing readiness, if your Charity does not grudge to remind me of it by frequent letters, and to show me in your reply what you think of this letter.
EPISTOLA 246
Scripta post a. 395, fortasse a. 405.
A. Lampadio, ostendens fatum in peccatis perperam excusari (nn. 1-2), cum ipsi mathematici nullam habeant fati rationem in sua domo regenda (n. 3).
AUGUSTINUS LAMPADIO.
Quam funestum fato culpas adscribi.
1. De quaestione fati ac fortunae, qua tuum animum non leviter moveri, et cum praesens essem adverti, et nunc tuis litteris gratius certiusque cognovi, rescriptum tibi non parvi voluminis debeo; quod Dominus praestabit ut ita explicem, quemadmodum novit tibi congruere ad salutem fidei tuae. Non enim parvum malum est, perversis opinionibus non solum ad committendum blandimento voluptatis adduci, sed etiam ad defendendum peccatum a medicamento confessionis averti.
Voluntas, non stellae, causa peccandi.
2. Illud sane quantocius ac breviter noveris, omnes leges atque omnia instituta disciplinae, laudes, vituperationes, exhortationes, terrores, praemia, supplicia, caeteraque omnia quibus humanum genus administratur et regitur, penitus labefactari atque subverti, nihilque in eis omnino iustitiae remanere, nisi voluntas sit causa peccandi. Quanto ergo licentius et aequius mathematicorum improbamus errores, quam divinas leges, vel etiam domorum nostrarum curam damnare atque abicere cogimur; quod nec ipsi mathematici faciunt? Nam cum aliquis eorum hominibus nummatis fatua fata vendiderit; mox ut oculum a tabellis eburneis ad domus suae moderamen ac sollicitudinem revocaverit, non solum vocibus, sed etiam plagis emendat uxorem; non dico si petulantius iocantem, sed si immoderatius per fenestram aspicientem animadverterit. Quae tamen si ei dicat: "Quid me caedis? Venerem caede si potes, a qua cogor hoc facere": tum vero ille non curat quam vana verba componat fallendis extraneis, sed quam iusta verbera imponat corrigendis suis.
In familia regenda ipsos mathematicos nil fatum curare.
3. Quando ergo quisque, cum reprehendi coeperit, causam convertit in fatum, et ideo se culpari non vult, quia fato se dicit coactum fecisse id quod arguitur; redeat ad seipsum, servet hoc in suis, non castiget servum furem, non de contumelioso filio conqueratur, vicino improbo non minetur. Quid enim horum faciens, iuste facit, si omnes a quibus iniurias patitur, non culpa sua, sed fato impelluntur ut faciant? Si autem iure proprio et patrisfamilias diligentia, quoscumque homines pro tempore in potestate habet, hortatur ad bonum, deterret a malo, imperat suae voluntati ut obtemperent, honorat eos qui sibi ad nutum obediunt, vindicat in eos qui se contemnunt, rependit gratiam beneficis, odio ingratos; egone exspectabo ut contra fata disputem, cum tanta eum non verbis, sed factis eloqui deprehendam, ut prope manibus suis omnes mathematicorum lapillos super capita eorum frangere videatur? His itaque paucis si aviditas tua contenta non est, et librum aliquem de hac re, quem diutius legat, desiderat; patienter tibi sunt exspectandae vacationes nostrae, et rogandus Deus, qui et otium et facultatem satiando de hac re animo tuo tribuere dignetur. Ero tamen alacrior, si et saepe commemorare me litteris tuam non piguerit caritatem, et quid de hac epistola sentias rescribendo docueris.
◆
Augustine to Lampadius.
How fatal it is to ascribe sins to fate.
1. Concerning the question of fate and fortune, by which I noticed your mind was no lightly troubled both when I was present in person and now have learned more clearly and certainly from your letter, I owe you a reply of no small length. The Lord will grant that I may set it forth in whatever way He knows to be fitting for the health of your faith. For it is no small evil when people are led by perverse opinions not only to commit sin through the enticement of pleasure, but also to defend their sin and so are turned away from the remedy of confession.
The will, not the stars, is the cause of sinning.
2. Know this at least quickly and briefly: all laws and all institutions of discipline, all praise and blame, exhortations and threats, rewards and punishments, and everything else by which the human race is governed and directed, are thoroughly undermined and overturned, and no justice whatsoever remains in any of them, unless the will is the cause of sinning. How much more freely and fairly, then, should we condemn the errors of the astrologers, rather than be compelled to condemn and cast aside the divine laws or even the management of our own households — which not even the astrologers themselves do? For when one of them has sold foolish fates to wealthy clients, as soon as he turns his eye from his ivory tablets back to the governance and care of his own house, he corrects his wife not only with words but even with blows — I do not say if he catches her flirting too boldly, but even if he notices her gazing too freely out the window. And yet if she should say to him, "Why do you beat me? Beat Venus, if you can, for she compels me to do this," then indeed he pays no attention to whatever empty words he composes for deceiving strangers, but rather to what just blows he should lay upon his own household to correct them.
Even astrologers pay no attention to fate when managing their own households.
3. Therefore, whenever anyone, upon being rebuked, shifts the blame onto fate and refuses to be held at fault because he claims he was compelled by fate to do what he is accused of, let him apply this consistently in his own household: let him not punish a thieving slave, let him not complain about a disrespectful son, let him not threaten an unjust neighbor. For in doing any of these things, how does he act justly if all those from whom he suffers injuries are driven to act not by their own fault but by fate? But if by his own right and diligence as head of the household he encourages all those under his authority to do good, deters them from evil, commands them to obey his will, honors those who comply with his wishes, punishes those who disregard him, repays the kindness of benefactors, and hates the ungrateful — shall I then wait to argue against fate, when I catch him declaring so much not in words but in deeds, that he practically seems to be smashing all the astrologers' pebbles over their own heads with his own hands? If, therefore, your eagerness is not satisfied with these few remarks and desires some book on this subject to read at greater length, you must patiently await my periods of leisure, and you must ask God to grant both the free time and the ability to satisfy your mind on this matter. I shall be all the more eager, however, if your charity does not hesitate to remind me often by letter, and if you teach me by writing back what you think of this epistle.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
EPISTOLA 246
Scripta post a. 395, fortasse a. 405.
A. Lampadio, ostendens fatum in peccatis perperam excusari (nn. 1-2), cum ipsi mathematici nullam habeant fati rationem in sua domo regenda (n. 3).
AUGUSTINUS LAMPADIO.
Quam funestum fato culpas adscribi.
1. De quaestione fati ac fortunae, qua tuum animum non leviter moveri, et cum praesens essem adverti, et nunc tuis litteris gratius certiusque cognovi, rescriptum tibi non parvi voluminis debeo; quod Dominus praestabit ut ita explicem, quemadmodum novit tibi congruere ad salutem fidei tuae. Non enim parvum malum est, perversis opinionibus non solum ad committendum blandimento voluptatis adduci, sed etiam ad defendendum peccatum a medicamento confessionis averti.
Voluntas, non stellae, causa peccandi.
2. Illud sane quantocius ac breviter noveris, omnes leges atque omnia instituta disciplinae, laudes, vituperationes, exhortationes, terrores, praemia, supplicia, caeteraque omnia quibus humanum genus administratur et regitur, penitus labefactari atque subverti, nihilque in eis omnino iustitiae remanere, nisi voluntas sit causa peccandi. Quanto ergo licentius et aequius mathematicorum improbamus errores, quam divinas leges, vel etiam domorum nostrarum curam damnare atque abicere cogimur; quod nec ipsi mathematici faciunt? Nam cum aliquis eorum hominibus nummatis fatua fata vendiderit; mox ut oculum a tabellis eburneis ad domus suae moderamen ac sollicitudinem revocaverit, non solum vocibus, sed etiam plagis emendat uxorem; non dico si petulantius iocantem, sed si immoderatius per fenestram aspicientem animadverterit. Quae tamen si ei dicat: "Quid me caedis? Venerem caede si potes, a qua cogor hoc facere": tum vero ille non curat quam vana verba componat fallendis extraneis, sed quam iusta verbera imponat corrigendis suis.
In familia regenda ipsos mathematicos nil fatum curare.
3. Quando ergo quisque, cum reprehendi coeperit, causam convertit in fatum, et ideo se culpari non vult, quia fato se dicit coactum fecisse id quod arguitur; redeat ad seipsum, servet hoc in suis, non castiget servum furem, non de contumelioso filio conqueratur, vicino improbo non minetur. Quid enim horum faciens, iuste facit, si omnes a quibus iniurias patitur, non culpa sua, sed fato impelluntur ut faciant? Si autem iure proprio et patrisfamilias diligentia, quoscumque homines pro tempore in potestate habet, hortatur ad bonum, deterret a malo, imperat suae voluntati ut obtemperent, honorat eos qui sibi ad nutum obediunt, vindicat in eos qui se contemnunt, rependit gratiam beneficis, odio ingratos; egone exspectabo ut contra fata disputem, cum tanta eum non verbis, sed factis eloqui deprehendam, ut prope manibus suis omnes mathematicorum lapillos super capita eorum frangere videatur? His itaque paucis si aviditas tua contenta non est, et librum aliquem de hac re, quem diutius legat, desiderat; patienter tibi sunt exspectandae vacationes nostrae, et rogandus Deus, qui et otium et facultatem satiando de hac re animo tuo tribuere dignetur. Ero tamen alacrior, si et saepe commemorare me litteris tuam non piguerit caritatem, et quid de hac epistola sentias rescribendo docueris.