Letter 7
To Alypius.
It happened that when you sent me your map, I had just recovered from illness — but I was no less delighted to receive it. It contains diagrams better than any I have seen, and you embellished it with iambic verses — not the aggressive kind, like "Sing the War of Bupalus" as the Cyrenean poet [Callimachus] puts it, but the beautiful sort that Sappho fashions for her songs. The gift was worthy of the giver, and to me it is a genuine pleasure.
As for your administration: since you aim to act with both energy and humanity, I am very pleased with you. To blend mildness and moderation with courage and force — showing the former to the virtuous and applying the latter implacably to the wicked for their reform — requires, I am convinced, no small natural talent and virtue.
I pray that you hold fast to these ideals and apply them always to what is fair and honorable. The most eloquent writers of antiquity believed this is the end and aim of all the virtues. May you continue in health and happiness as long as possible, my dear and most beloved brother.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
Brother Paulus has arrived here safely: he reports that the pains devoted to the business which engaged him have been rewarded with success; the Lord will grant that with these his trouble in that matter may terminate. He salutes you warmly, and tells us tidings concerning Gabinianus which give us joy, namely, that having by God's mercy obtained...
1. The sorrow of the members of the Church at Thiave prevents my heart from having any rest until I hear that they have been brought again to be of the same mind towards you as they formerly were; which must be accomplished without delay. For if the apostle was concerned about one individual, lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with ...
A Letter from the Presbyter of the District of Hippo to Alypius the Bishop of Thagaste, Concerning the Anniversary of the Birth of Leontius, Formerly Bishop of Hippo. 1. In the absence of brother Macharius, I have not been able to write anything definite concerning a matter about which I could not feel otherwise than anxious: it is said, howeve...