Letter 79: A short and stern challenge to some Manichæan teacher who had succeeded Fortunatus (supposed to be Felix). Your attempts at evasion are to no purpose: your real character is patent even a long way off. My brethren have reported to me their conversation with you.

You are evading without cause, since what sort of person you are is plain for all to see. The brothers have told me what they discussed with you. Good — you do not fear death. But you ought to fear the death you bring upon yourself by blaspheming God in this way. And as for your understanding that this visible death, which all people know, is the separation of the mind from the body — that is no great insight. But when you add from your own teaching that it is the separation of good from evil: if the mind is good and the body is evil, then whoever mixed them together is not good. Yet you Manichaeans say that the good God mixed them together — therefore either he is evil, or he feared evil. And you boast that you do not fear a human being, while you fashion for yourself a God who feared the darkness, so that he mixed good and evil together? Do not puff yourself up, as you wrote, claiming that we make you important because we try to stop your poisons from spreading like a plague to others. For the Apostle does not make great those he calls dogs, when he says, "Beware of dogs"; nor did he make great those whose speech he said "spreads like gangrene." Therefore I give you notice in the name of Christ: if you are prepared, resolve the question on which your predecessor Fortunatus [a Manichaean priest who debated Augustine publicly in 392] failed. And he left here on the understanding that he would not return unless, after conferring with his people, he found something he could answer in reply when debating with the brothers. But if you are not prepared for this, leave this place and stop perverting the ways of the Lord and ensnaring and infecting weak souls with your poisons — lest, with the help of the right hand of our Lord, you find yourself put to shame in a way you never expected.

Letter 79 (A.D. 404) A short and stern challenge to some Manichæan teacher who had succeeded Fortunatus (supposed to be Felix). Your attempts at evasion are to no purpose: your real character is patent even a long way off. My brethren have reported to me their conversation with you. You say that you do not fear death; it is well: but you ought to fear that death which you are bringing upon yourself by your blasphemous assertions concerning God. As to your understanding that the visible death which all men know is a separation between soul and body, this is a truth which demands no great grasp of intellect. But as to the statement which you annex to this, that death is a separation between good and evil, do you not see that, if the soul be good and the body be evil, he who joined them together, is not good? But you affirm that the good God has joined them together; from which it follows that He is either evil, or swayed by fear of one who is evil. Yet you boast of your having no fear of man, when at the same time you conceive God to be such that, through fear of Darkness, He would join together good and evil. Be not uplifted, as your writing shows you to be, by supposing that I magnify you, by my resolving to check the out-flowing of your poison, lest its insidious and pestilential power should do harm: for the apostle does not magnify those whom he calls dogs, saying to the Philippians, Beware of dogs; Philippians 3:2 nor does he magnify those of whom he says that their word does eat as a canker. 2 Timothy 2:17 Therefore, in the name of Christ, I demand of you to answer, if you are able, the question which baffled your predecessor Fortunatus. For he went from the scene of our discussion declaring that he would not return, unless, after conferring with his party, he found something by which he could answer the arguments used by our brethren. And if you are not prepared to do this, begone from this place, and do not pervert the right ways of the Lord, ensnaring and infecting with your poison the minds of the weak, lest, by the Lord's right hand helping me, you be put to confusion in a way which you did not expect.

EPISTOLA 79 Scripta a. 404. A. denuntiat Presbytero cuidam Manichaeo ut vel solvat quaestionem, in qua praecessor eius Fortunatus defecerat vel procul a sua ecclesia discedat 1. Sine causa tergiversaris, cum longe appareat qualis sis. Quid tecum locuti fuerint fratres, indicaverunt mihi. Bene, quia non times mortem; sed eam mortem debes timere, quam tibi ipse facis talia de Deo blasphemando. Et quod intellegis mortem istam visibilem, quam omnes homines norunt, separationem esse mentis a corpore, non est magnum intellegere. Sed quod adiungis de vestro, separationem esse boni a malo: si mens bonum est et corpus malum, qui ea commiscuit non est bonus; dicitis autem quia Deus bonus ista commiscuit: ergo aut malus est, aut malum timebat. Et tu gloriaris, quia non times hominem, cum Deum talem tibi fingas, qui tenebras timuit, ut commisceret bonum et malum? Noli autem extolli animo, sicut scripsisti, quia vos magnos facimus, eo quod impedire volumus venena vestra, ne ad homines pestilentia serpat: non enim Apostolus, quos canes appellat magnos facit, cum dicit: Cavete canes 1; aut illos magnos faciebat, quorum sermonem dicebat serpere ut cancrum 2. Itaque denuntio tibi in nomine Christi, ut si paratus es, solve quaestionem in qua defecit praecessor tuus Fortunatus. Et ita hinc ierat, ut non rediret, nisi, cum suis disputatione collata, inveniret quid contra respondere posset, disputans cum fratribus. Si autem ad hoc non es paratus; discede hinc, et noli pervertere vias Domini, et illaqueare ut venenis inficere animas infirmas, ne adiuvante dextera Domini nostri, quomodo non putaveras erubescas.