Letter 261: Augustine tells Audax that his books or a visit will serve better than one long letter.

To my dearly loved brother Audax, renowned in Christ and intensely longed for: Augustine sends greetings in the Lord. I received your short letter, which was certainly an energetic claimant for a long letter from me, not unwillingly, but gladly. Not because I could easily satisfy your appetite, but because I rejoice in Your Charity. Even if you ask from someone unequal to the task, what you ask is good. For writing a long letter I lack leisure more than ability. I am extremely occupied with church cares, from which only a few drops of time scarcely refresh me, whether I am thinking about something, dictating what presses harder and seems likely to profit more people, or restoring the bodily strength necessary for our service. Words are not lacking, with which much paper could be filled. But as for what you desire from me in that length of discourse, I answer that I am not fit for it. You said you had desired the treasure of wisdom and had received less than you wished. I beg daily from that treasure for a beggar's alms, and hardly obtain it. How am I an "oracle of the Law," when I do not know far more than I know of its broad and hidden inner chambers, and cannot enter and penetrate its many folds and dark retreats as I wish, and know myself to be nothing but less worthy? Or how am I a "consecrator of justice," when it is a very great thing for me to be consecrated to justice at all? As for your calling me the "restorer of spiritual glory," forgive me: you do not know whom you are addressing. I am still being restored in that glory in such a way that I confess I do not know, from day to day, not only how much I advance, but whether I advance at all. I am indeed a "steward of eternal salvation," together with my countless fellow servants. If I do this willingly, I have a reward; if unwillingly, only a stewardship has been entrusted to me. To be a steward of that salvation through word and sacrament is not already to be a participant in it. If it were not distributed through the good, the apostle would not rightly say, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." But if it were not also distributed through the bad, the Lord would not say of certain people, "Do what they say, but do not do what they do; for they say and do not do." There are many stewards, then, through whose ministry people arrive at eternal salvation. What is sought among stewards is that one be found faithful. Even among the faithful, among whose number may the one who cannot be deceived count me, one is in this way and another in that, as God has allotted to each the measure of faith. And so, dearest and sweetest brother, may the Lord himself feed you with the flowers of wisdom and water you with draughts from the living fountain. If you think anything can be given to your most religious zeal through my small labor, since I understand that you are capable and sense that you are eager, you should turn your mind more to my other works, which are contained in many volumes, than hope by letters for anything able to fill your desire. Or else take what I can offer in person. I think you do not show yourself to us because you do not wish to. What great thing is it, with the Lord's help, for a man free from any office tied to a place to come to us, either to stay with us for a long time or to return after at least a little while? See, what you placed in the third of your five verses has almost happened: you have received a letter from me more talkative than eloquent. As for the fact that your fifth and last verse has seven feet, I do not know whether the number deceived your ear, or whether you wanted to test whether I still remember how to judge such things, which perhaps those who once studied them and later advanced greatly in church writings have now forgotten. I do not have the Psalter translated by Saint Jerome from the Hebrew. We ourselves did not translate it; we corrected some corruptions in the Latin copies from Greek exemplars. Perhaps we made something more convenient than it had been, though not what it ought to be. Even now, if passages we may then have missed trouble readers, we correct them by comparing manuscripts. So you and I are both still seeking what is perfect.

EPISTOLA 261 Scripta post a. 395. A. Audaci excusans nimias occupationes (n. 1), monens ut vel intendat ipsius libris evolvendis vel praesens audiat ipsum loquentem (nn. 2-3); agit denique de re metrica ac de Psalmorum interpretatione (nn. 4-5). DOMINO DILECTISSIMO ET IN CHRISTO PRAEDICANDO, NIMIUMQUE DESIDERABILI FRATRI AUDACI, AUGUSTINUS, IN DOMINO SALUTEM. Aug. occupatissimus Audaci satisfacere nequit. 1. Brevem epistolam tuam, sed plane vehementem flagitatricem prolixae epistolae meae, non invitus, imo etiam laetus accepi. Non quod facile sufficerem aviditati, sed quod gratularer Caritati tuae; quia etsi non de idoneo expetis, bonum est tamen quod expetis. Et ad longam quidem epistolam conscribendam magis mihi otium quam facultas defit; occupatissimo scilicet ecclesiasticis curis, a quibus pauculae temporum stillae vix recreant, vel cogitantem aliquid, vel ea quae magis urgent et mihi videntur pluribus profutura dictantem, vel reficientem corporis vires nostrae necessarias servituti. Nam verba non desunt, quibus possit multa carta compleri; sed quod a nobis in eadem sermonis prolixitate desideras, ad hoc me idoneum non esse respondeo. Thesaurum enim sapientiae te desiderasse dixisti, sed minus accepisse quam voluisti, cum ego ex illo thesauro mendicabunda prece quotidianam stipem rogem, vixque impetrem. Effusis Audacis laudibus Aug. se indignum dicit. 2. "Oraculum autem Legis" quomodo sum, de cuius latis atque abditis penetralibus nescio longe plura quam scio, eiusque multiplices sinus opacosque secessus adire ac penetrare non valeo sicut volo, et me non aliud quam minus dignum esse cognosco? Porro "sacrator iustitiae" quis ego, cui me sacratum esse permagnum est? Iamvero quod "instauratorem spiritalis gloriae" me appellas; da veniam, multum cui loquaris ignoras: ipse quippe adhuc in hac gloria sic instauror, ut de die in diem non solum quantum accedam, sed utrum omnino aliquid accedam, latere me fatear. "Dispensator plane salutis aeternae", cum caeteris innumerabilibus conservis meis sum. Quod si volens facio, mercedem habeo: si autem invitus, tantum dispensatio mihi credita est 1; neque enim esse salutis illius dispensatorem per verbum ac Sacramentum, iam hoc est etiam esse participem. Nam si per bonos non dispensaretur, non recte Apostolus diceret: Imitatores mei estote sicut et ego Christi 2. Rursus si per malos non dispensaretur, non de quibusdam Dominus diceret: Quae dicunt, facite; quae autem faciunt, facere nolite: dicunt enim, et non faciunt 3. Multi ergo dispensatores sunt, per quorum ministerium pervenitur ad aeternam salutem: sed quaeritur inter dispensatores ut fidelis quis inveniatur 4; et inter ipsos fideles, in quorum me numero ille qui non fallitur computet, alius est sic, alius autem sic 5, sicut unicuique Deus partitus est mensuram fidei 6. Quomodo Audax voti compos esse possit. 3. Itaque, frater carissime atque dulcissime, pascat te Dominus potius sapientiae floribus, et vivi fontis haustibus irriget. Si quid autem per operulam meam religiosissimo studio tuo conferri posse arbitraris, quia et capacem te esse intellego, et avidum sentio; magis in alia nostra opuscula, quae multis voluminibus comprehenduntur, tibi animus intendendus est, quam per epistolas aliquid sperandum quod tuum desiderium possit explere. Aut certe in praesentia sume quod potero, quam te puto tuam nobis ideo non exhibere, quia non vis: quid enim magnum est, adiuvante Domino, ut homo liber a cuiusquam loci munere venias ad nos, sive nobiscum diu futurus, sive peracto saltem pauxillo temporis rediturus? De metricis legibus quaestiuncula 4. Ecce pene factum est, quod in quinque versuum tuorum tertio posuisti, ut magis loquacem quam eloquentem haberes epistolam meam. Quod autem in quinto atque ultimo versu septem pedes sunt, nescio utrum numerus tuum fefellit auditum, an experiri voluisti utrum ego adhuc ista diiudicare meminerim, quae forte iam obliti sunt qui talium aliquando studiosi, postea plurimum in ecclesiasticis litteris profecerunt. Psalmos a Hieronymo translatos ab Aug. emendatos esse. 5. Psalterium a sancto Hieronymo translatum ex hebraeo non habeo. Nos autem non interpretati sumus, sed codicum latinorum nonnullas mendositates ex graecis exemplaribus emendavimus. Unde fortassis fecerimus aliquid commodius quam erat, non tamen tale quale esse debebat. Nam etiam nunc, quae forte nos tunc praeterierunt, si legentes moverint, collatis codicibus emendamus. Ita illud quod perfectum est, tecum nos quoque requirimus.