Letter 4: Paulinus and Therasia, sinners, to their lord, kindred spirit, and venerable brother Augustine.

To our lord and brother, of one mind with us and to be venerated, Augustine, Paulinus and Therasia, sinners. The love of Christ, which urges us on and binds together even those who are absent through the unity of faith, this same love itself, by overcoming our shame, granted us the confidence to write to you, and through your letters made you known to my inmost heart; those letters which, overflowing both with the resources of learning and sweet with the honeycombs of heaven, I keep for the time being, as physicians and nurses of my soul, in five books, which we received as the gift of our blessed and venerable bishop Alypius, not only for our own instruction but also for the benefit of the Church in many cities. These books, then, I now hold for reading; in them I take delight; from them I take my food, not that food which perishes but that which produces the substance of eternal life through our faith, by which we are incorporated in Christ Jesus our Lord, since our faith, which, disregarding things visible, gapes after things invisible, is strengthened through charity by the letters and examples of the faithful, believing all things according to the truth of almighty God. O truly the salt of the earth, by which our inmost hearts are seasoned, lest they be able to vanish away in the error of the world! O lamp worthily set above the candlestick of the Church, which, pouring out far and wide upon the catholic cities your light fed with the oil of gladness from the sevenfold lamp-stand, dispel the dense fogs of the heretics, though they be thick, and unclouded the light of truth from the confusion of darkness by the splendor of your clarifying speech. You see, brother of one mind, admirable in Christ the Lord and to be looked up to, how familiarly I have come to know you, with how great a wonder I marvel at you, with how great a love I embrace you, I who daily enjoy the conversation of your letters and am fed by the breath of your mouth. For your mouth I might rightly call a pipe of living water and a vein of the eternal fount, because in you a fount of water leaping up into eternal life, Christ, has been made. With desire of him my soul has thirsted in you, and my land has longed to be made drunk with the abundance of your river. And therefore, since with this Pentateuch of yours against the Manichaeans you have sufficiently armed me, if you have prepared any defenses against the other enemies of the catholic faith as well, since our enemy, who has a thousand arts of doing harm, must be assailed with weapons as various as the snares by which he assails us, I beg you, do not refuse to bring forth for me from your armory and to bestow on me the arms of righteousness. For I am even now a toiling sinner under a heavy burden, a veteran in the number of sinners, but to the eternal King a new recruit of the incorporeal warfare. The wisdom of the world I wretchedly admired until now, and through useless letters and reprobated prudence I was, before God, foolish and dumb. After I had grown old among my enemies and had vanished away in my own thoughts, I lifted up my eyes unto the mountains, looking up to the precepts of the law and the gifts of grace, whence my help came from the Lord, who, not requiting according to my iniquities, gave light to the blind, loosed the fettered, humbled the man wrongly upraised, that he might raise up the man humbled in piety. I follow therefore, with steps not yet steady, the great footprints of the just, that I may be able by your prayers to lay hold of that in which I have been laid hold of by the mercies of God. Rule then the little one creeping uncertainly, and teach him to walk in your steps. For I do not want you to consider me by the age of my bodily birth rather than of my spiritual coming-forth, since indeed my age according to the flesh is now that which was his who was healed by the apostles at the Beautiful Gate by the power of the word; but in the nativities of the soul the time of infancy is still mine, that infancy which, sacrificed by the wounds inflicted upon it for Christ's sake, ran before with a worthy victim of the lamb's blood and gave the first omen of the Lord's passion. And therefore, since I am still an infant in the word of God and a suckling in spiritual age, nourish with your words me who gape at the breasts of faith, of wisdom, of charity. If you consider our common office, you are a brother; if you consider the maturity of your talent and of your understanding, you are a father to me, even though you may perhaps be younger in years, because a grey-haired prudence has advanced you, while yet a young man, to the maturity of merit, to the honor of elders. Cherish then and strengthen me, recent, as I have said, in sacred letters and spiritual studies, and on this account, after long perils, after many shipwrecks, still raw in practice, scarcely yet emerging from the waves of the world; you, who have already taken your stand on firm shore, receive me into your safe bosom, that in the harbor of salvation, if you think me worthy, we may sail together. Meanwhile sustain me with your prayers, as with a plank, while I strive to escape from the dangers of this life and from the deep of sins, that from this world I may escape naked as from a shipwreck. For this reason indeed I have taken care to lighten myself of burdens and to strip off the weighing garments, so that, unencumbered, by the command and help of Christ, having cast off all the clothing of the flesh and the care of the morrow, I may swim out of this surging sea of the present life, which, with sins barking between, separates us from God. Nor do I boast that I have accomplished this, because, even if I could boast, I would boast in the Lord, whose it is to bring to completion what it is given to us merely to will. But my soul still longs to desire the judgments of the Lord. See when he attains the effect of God's wishes, who still desires to desire that very thing. Yet, in so far as it is in me, I have loved the beauty of the holy house and, as far as it lay in me, I had chosen to be an abject thing in the house of the Lord. But to him to whom it pleased to set me apart from my mother's womb and from the friendship of flesh and blood, and to draw me to his grace, to the same it pleased to raise me up, destitute of all merit of good, out of the earth and to lead me out of the lake of miseries and from the mud of dregs, that he might place me with the princes of his people and set my portion in your lot, so that, by your bestowal, I might be made equal, joined to you in the office of merits. Not by my own presumption, therefore, but by the good pleasure and ordinance of the Lord, usurping for myself a covenant of your brotherhood, I deem myself worthy of so great an honor though unworthy, because of you I know for certain, for your holiness' sake (for you are wise with truth), that you do not relish lofty things, but agree with the humble, and therefore I hope that you will receive promptly and inwardly the charity of our humility; which charity indeed I am confident that you have already received through the most blessed priest Alypius, our father, since he deigns to do so. For he without doubt offered in himself an example to you of loving us before acquaintance and beyond our merit, he who was able both to see us, unknown to him and separated by the long intervening distance of land or sea, by loving us through the spirit of true love, which everywhere both penetrates and is poured out, and to reach us by addressing us. He gave us here the first proofs of his affection and the pledges of your charity in the aforesaid gift of books. And by how great a cost he strove that we might not be able to love your holiness only moderately, your holiness known to us not by his words alone but more fully by your own eloquence and faith, by so great an effort we believe the same man took care that we in turn, by imitation of him, might love you very greatly. The grace of God be with you, as it is; we pray that it may remain unto eternity, brother in Christ the Lord, of one mind, venerable, most longed-for. We greet your whole household and every companion and emulator of your holiness in the Lord with the very great affection of brotherhood that is of one mind. The single loaf which, as a token of our being of one mind, we have sent to your charity, we ask that you bless by accepting it.

IIII. DOMINO FRATRI VNANIMO ET VENERABILI AVGVSTINO PAVIJNVS ET THERABIA PECCATORES. Caritas Christi, quae urget nos et absentes licet per unitatem fidei adligat, ipsa fiduciam ad te scribendi pudore 1] (Matth. 6, 17). 19] II Cor. 5, 14. 1 capud Yq>l de om. Col . 2 cybum Y mentibus FU 3 tibi] te FPU 4 pater et h et uenerabilis Cc., om. M 6 tam om . rei, tam Y in ex im ф 7 carthagini C, cartagini FPUaccf, chartagini rhq>, Kartagini y, cartagine Yф, carthagine Mf thagastae M, tagaste CracyShtp, tagasta Y4>, dagaste f, tegaste FPU ippone rei, hyppone FPUc, yph pone a f 8 parrochiis CFMPUcp, parrociis 4>, parreciis r, parroechiis elh, paroechiis c, paraoetiis y tuis om. FPU tibi cognitis tibi Ch 9 catholicae фy, om. M et] atque FPU salutare PUY4>f 10 menbranam cy dominionis U, dommonis f, dominonis y 11 transcribtam <f> mittere yepf dignaueris CYatp1, dignj|eris c, ne graueris M, om. FPU rogo hoc ut Y<f>h 12 ymnum Fayf, ym C, hynnum U cognoueris rcp uiuum f sanctitatis Fl, sanctitate y1 13 unanimitatis FPU 14 esse] rê\' y facias F 15 sumendi] et ualeas aàà. FpIU . — explicit yep, explicit epfa paulini ad alipium rep . CrFMPUYaydfah<p . — Incipit ept paulini etherasie ad augustinum XXVII q>, epta paulini et therasie ad scfii (scm om. rh) augu- depulso praestitit teque per litteras tuas uisceribus meis intimauit, quas et de scolasticis facultatibus adfluentes et de caelestibus fauis dulces ut animae meae medicas et altrices in quinque libris interim teneo, quos munere benedicti et uenerabilis nobis episcopi nostri Alypii non pro nostra instructione tantum, sed etiam pro ecclesiae multarum urbium utilitate suscepimus. hos igitur nunc libros lectioni habeo, in his me oblecto, de his cibum capio, non illum qui perit sed qui operatur uitae aeternae substantiam per fidem nostram, qua accorporamur in Christo Iesu domino nostro, cum fides nostra, quae uisibilium neglegens inuisibilibus inhiat, per caritatem omnia secundum ueritatem omnipotentis dei credentem litteris et exemplis fidelium roboretur. o uere sal terrae, quo praecordia nostra, ne possint saeculi errore uanescere, condiuntur! s o lucerna digne super candelabrum ecclesiae posita, quae late catholicis urbibus de septiformi lychno pastum oleo laetitiae lumen effundens densas licet haereticorum caligines discutis et lucem ueritatis a confusione tenebrarum splendore clarifici sermonis enubilas. 8] (Ioh. 6, 27). 11] (II Cor. 6, 18). 12] (I Cor. 13,7). 13] (Matth. 5,13). 15] (Matth. 5, 15 et Marc. 4, 21). augustinum rrh, paulini et therasie ad augustinum XV. f, cpistola paulini panagirica ad beatum augustinum IX, opta paulini ê]JI ad augustinum epm P, epistola paulini ad augustinum V. S, sauctissimi paulini episcopi nolani epistola prima ad augustinum episcopum U, incipit liber epfarum beati ▓ paulini nolani epi. epfa eiusdem ad sanctum augustinum epfij-I . Jlf. — 17 unianimo I\'yf) uenerabi P agustino Y 18 thearasia y 20 fidutia Y ad te] a die C, ad y rescribendi h 1 1 tuas om. FPU 2 scholasticis Tah 3 dulcis C modicas h, medicasset y 5 nobis om. Y coepiscopi y alipii rFMayifh, aljpii C 6 ecclesiarum a 7 in lectione 9 meme f 8 oblector yh cybum Y 10 corporamur f in om. PU 11 uisibilia yh inuisilibus 9 12 credentes Y, credendum PU, credens yh 13 et ont. FPU quo ex quae r m. 2, que Y 14 uaniscere Y1 15 digna 3 super CMY fIrfh, supra cet . late ona. h 16 septiforme ^1, septeformi Y1 lychno f*, lichino yf1, ligno cet . 17 infundens M densissimas f, has PP U scilicet Y 18 confessione Y 2* Vides, frater unanime admirabilis in Christo domino et suspiciende, quam familiariter te agnouerim, quanto admirer stupore, quam magno amore conplectar, qui cotidie conloquio litterarum tuarum fruor et oris tui spiritu uescor. os enim tuum fistulam aquae uiuae et uenam fontis aeterni merito dixerim, quia fons in te aquae salientis in uitam aeternam Christus effectus est. cuius desiderio sitiuit in te anima mea et ubertate tui fluminis inebriari terra mea concupiuit. ideoque cum hoc Pentateucho tuo contra Manichaeos me satis armaueris, si qua in alios quoque hostes catholicae fidei munimina conparasti, quia hostis noster, cui mille nocendi artes, tam uariis expugnandus est telis quam obpugnat insidiis, quaeso promere mihi de armamentario tuo et conferre non abnuas arma iustitiae. sum enim laboriosus etiam nunc sub magno onere peccator, ueteranus in numero peccatorum, sed aeterno regi nouus incorporeae tiro militiae. sapientiam mundi miser hucusque miratus sum et per inutiles litteras reprobatamque prudentiam deo stultus et mutus fui. postquam inueteraui 6] Ioh. 4,14. 7] (Ps. 62, 2). 8] (Ps. 35, 9). 11] Verg. Aen. VII, 334. 17] (Rom. 1,22). 18] Ps. 6,8. 1 uide a unanimfe tp, unianime y9, unianimae r, unanimis FPUfff ammirabilis Ytp1 et om. h 2 suspiciendae T, suspiciente U, suspiciens tie F, suspien P, suscipiende cet. Col . familiter F te agnouerim OJ, agnouerim te Col . admirar F, ammirer Yytp1 3 complectar amore ff f complectas y tota die U 4 litterum y 5 aquae-fontis bis exh. y et uenam—aquae om . 9 merito om. h 6 quia om. spat. uac. C in te] uitae F, uiuae f aquae] uiuae add. yh sallientis Y1 8 fluminis tui f terra mea inebriari h inebriare Yl 9 hoc om. Y pentateuco Cfla, pentatheuco (s. I. m. 2: at pentateuco) M, pentateyco cp, pentateycho h . S, pentateycho y, pentatico FPU tuo] tuo cum hoc If manacheos y, manicheos cet . sat FPU, om. Y sarmaberis Y sed s. I. m. 2 exarmaueris 10 munimina ex minima y m. 2 11 qua S nostrae C 1 cui] rt cum C mille artes nocendi a, nomina mille FPU artes (rt ^ m. 2) M IX 12 opugnandus M1 opugnat Y, pugnat U queso ex quoso Y m. 2 13 armentario Ytp, armentorio C, armario M 14 magno sub FPUY 15 honore Myhtp (sed y h et alt . 0 in ras., M s. I. m. 1: af onere) peccato <f sed] se U, et f aeterno regi M1 16 incorporeae Yf, in corpore cet . sapientia FPU 17 miseratus FPU 18 sed postquam 9, perquam FU inter inimicos meos et euanui in cogitationibus meis, leuaui oculos meos in montes, ad praecepta legis et gratiae dona suspiciens, unde mihi auxilium uenit a domino, qui non secundum iniquitates retribuens inluminauit caecum, soluit conpeditum, humiliauit erectum male, ut erigeret humiliatum pie. Sequor igitur non aequis adhuc passibus magna iustorum uestigia, si possim orationibus uestris adprehendere, in quo dei miserationibus adprehensus sum. rege ergo paruulum incerta reptantem et tuis gressibus ingredi doce. nolo enim me corporalis ortus magis quam spiritalis exortus aetate consideres, quippe aetas mihi secundum carnem iam ea est, qua fuit ille ab apostolis in porta speciosa uerbi potestate sanatus, in natalibus autem animae illius adhuc mihi tempus infantiae est, quae intentatis Christo uulneribus inmolata digno sanguine agni uictimam praecucurrit et dominicam auspicata est passionem. atque ideo ut infantem adhuc uerbo dei et spiritali aetate lactantem educa uerbis tuis uberibus fidei sapientiae caritatis inhiantem. si officium commune consideras, frater es; si maturitatem ingenii tui et sensuum, pater mihi es, etsi forte sis aeuo iunior, quia te ad maturitatem meriti, honorem 1] (Rom. 1, 21). Ps. 120, 1. 3] (Ps. 102, 10). 4] (Ps. 145, 8). 11] (Act. 4, 22). 14] (Matth. 2, 16). 1 inter] omnes add. U euanui y 2 ad om. 8, unde f 3 suscipiens CrtFptYf uenit auxilium 8- 4 retribu*** Y sed 3. l. m. 2 t Q retribuit nobis maga Y 7 et uestigia FPU 8 miserationibus dei h per incerta (p*, in incerta y, in terra [IPah 9 reptatem F, reputantem f noli Y enim] ergo Y me] in me af, ut me M 10 corporales rif inagisfa (is eras.) y spiritualis CUaa, spirituales <f, spiritales rf aetatis exortus a 11 iam ea ui, ea iam Col . in qua M, cuius a 12 illa f, illi Y uerbi] ubi f claudus sanatus f 18 adhuc on. M mihi om. Mf infantiae tempus a 14 est om . 3 intemptatis r ulneribus P immolato f, immolatam a 15 uictima CY digna-uictima naluit Sacch . et] uel f 16 ideoque (p1, om. yh ut om. U spirituali CU 17 lactentem a fh, lactante Y ut uberibus Y sapientiae] spei cont. Sacch . 18 commune officium f es om. Y 19 sensum Yaif michi es. alit. et si forte si fuero iunior et si forte sis I 20 sis om. Y, si fnero r aeuo om. a qui a<p te maturitas M honorem cpt, ad que honorem M, honorem a, honore errs-cpt, honor FPUYfh Col., honora 3, et honorem Eosw . seniorum, prouexit et iuuenem cana prudentia. foue igitur et conrobora me in sacris litteris et spiritalibus studiis tempore, ut dixi, recentem et ob hoc post longa discrimina, post multa naufragia usu rudem, uixdum a fluctibus saeculi emergentem; tu, qui iam solido litore constitisti, tuto excipe sinu, ut in portu salutis, si dignum putas, pariter nauigemus. interea me de periculis uitae istius et profundo peccatorum euadere nitentem orationibus tuis tamquam tabula sustine, ut de hoc mundo quasi de naufragio nudus euadam. Idcirco enim leuare me sarcinis et uestimentis onerantibus exuere curaui, ut undosum hoc, quod inter nos et deum peccatis interlatrantibus separat, praesentis uitae salum omni amictu carnis et cura diei sequentis iubente et iuuante Christo expeditus enatem. neque id perfecisse me glorior quod, etsi gloriari possem, in domino gloriarer, cuius est perficere quod nobis uelle adiacet. sed concupiscit adhuc anima mea desiderare iudicia domini. uide quando adsequatur effectum dei uoluntatum, qui adhuc ipsum desiderare desiderat. quod in me tamen est, dilexi decorem domus sanctae et, quantum in me fuit, elegeram abiectus esse in domo domini. sed cui 13] (Matth. 6, 84). 15] (H Cor. 10,17). 16] (Rom. 7,18). (Ps. 118,10). 20] (Ps. 25, 8 et 88, 11). Gal. 1, 15. 1 seniorem lfJ, sernorum f prouehxit P iuuenum (et om.) MłJ . 2 me om. aSf spiritualibus Ca 3 tu] tu tuo ô retentem f post longa] longa rłJ . 4 usu] uisurum łJ. rudum PU, om. 9 et uix 9 a om. 9 seculi fluctibus FPU 5 qui iam] que iam y, quia in FPU, quide ex quida Y m. 2 constituisti el, constituto y, constitutus es 9 tuto Rosw., OfR. yS Col., toto cet . 6 portum 9 7 iustius f 9 de om. F nudus] quasi nudus FPU 10 iccirco FPael SlfJt enim*** (sal uel sar n er.) Y, ego enim C leuiare mede f sarcius 9 11 exure 9 12 uitae praesentis a 18 diei] di C iubente] uiuente C 14 enarrem FPU profecisse U et quod łJ. si et rSftp, si 9 16 uelle adiacet au, adiacet uelle Eosw . concupiscet Y adhuc concupiscit FPU aduc P, adhuc adhuc (pom. f auima mea adhuc desiderare łJ., anima mea desiderare adhuc M 17 iudicia domini om. Y dei om. 9 18 uoluntatem TarrIf effectu dei uoluntatem cod. Vatic., effectum dei uoluntate duo codd. teste Lebrunio ipsum ex posum 9 19 est om. a 20 eligeram y1, eligerem y domini mei « placuit segregare me ab utero matris meae et ab amicitia carnis et sanguinis ad gratiam suam trahere, eidem placuit inopem me omnis boni meriti suscitare de terra et de lacu miseriarum ac de luto faecis educere, ut conlocaret me cum principibus populi sui et partem meam in tua sorte poneret, ut te praestante meritis officio sociatus aequarer. Praesumptione igitur non mea, sed placito et ordinatione domini fraternitatis tuae mihi foedus usurpans, tanto indignus honore me dignor, quia te pro tua sanctitate certo scio (nam ueritate sapis) non alta sapere, sed humilibus congruere, ideoque prompte et intime recepturum spero caritatem humilitatis nostrae, quam quidem iam recepisse te per beatissimum sacerdotem Alypium, quia dignatur, patrem nostrum confido. is enim sine dubio de se tibi exemplum praebuit nos ante notitiam et supra meritum diligendi, qui incognitos sibi nos et longinqua soli uel sali intercapedine disparatos spiritu uerae dilectionis, qui ubique et penetrat et effunditur, et uidere diligendo potuit et adloquendo pertingere. hic nobis prima affectus sui documenta et caritatis tuae pignora in supradicto munere librorum dedit. et quanto studuit inpendio, ut sanctitatem tuam non ipsius tantum uerbis sed plenius eloquentia et fide tua cognitam non possemus amare mediocriter, tantopere curasse eundem credimus, ut nos uicissim ipsius imitatione 4] (Ps. 112, 8). 10] (Rom. 12,16). 8 de terra suscitare U 4 ac] et FPU cumlocaret 01 me om. C 5 sorte] parte ys ponere FPU 6 praestantem FMPU equarem FMPUY 9 dignior Yf sanctite 8 certedfa 10 ueritatem FPUY 11 prompte] propter te ayd-, prompte te fort . in te me FPU caritatis (humilitatis om.) Y 12 te om. y beatissimum] baptismum Stp1 18 alypium C, alippium U, alipium cet . et quia M partem U confitendo f his ylcp I 14 enim ti 01 tibi] tot>$tibi sine dubio de seA notitiam ex etiam # 15 diligi & incognitor y 16 longinquam C, longequa FIPI soli uel om. h uel sali exp. FP salis Y intercapidine ylq; 18 effectus FPU 19 tui Y pignera f supradicto] digno add. raif numere P1, numero F 20 librorum munere M libro raif quando f 21 uerbis ,om. y 22 cognita FPUY possimus FPUyh, possumus Y tanto opere f, tanto per r\' currasse r3 23 eum M miratione f plurimum diligas. gratia dei tecum, ut est, in aeternum maneat optamus, frater in Christo domino unanime uenerabilis desiderantissime. totam domum et omnem comitem et aemulatorem in domino sanctitatis tuae plurimo fraternitatis unanimae salutamus affectu. panem unum, quem unanimitatis indicio misimus caritati tuae, rogamus accipiendo benedicas.