Letter 2003: Your Holiness's letter fed me with spiritual nourishment and stirred me to hope for the future.

III. To my holy lord, most blessed, and to be revered by me with every reverence and honor, my father and patron in Christ the Lord, Bishop Ruricius, from Taurentius. The letter of your holiness, having fed me with spiritual food, has roused me to hope for things to come, and its prophetic words, radiant with clarity, have shone forth with the purest light to dispel the shadows of error. I acknowledge an affection full of charity, and I embrace the sincerity of your pious chastisement. I recognize eloquence in your words, perfection in your examples, grace in your counsel, diligence in your office, constancy in truth, truth in admonition, and a knowledge tested in doctrine. You have brought before me, as names to be venerated, the ancient interpreters of the Scriptures and the expositors of the divine volumes: Cyprian, Augustine, Hilary, Ambrose, some of them blossoming with the flower of eloquence, others spiritual in revealing the more hidden things, others gracious in soothing the understandings of the unlearned, others doing battle in the defense of the faith. We lay a charge against the age now past, because these times of ours have not produced those men so most worthy of admiration. To be sure, the younger men [of old] sought after the teaching of those who had taught before them. But for my own part, I do not measure my age by the whiteness of graying hairs, nor, as your blessedness borrowed the image from a secular author, do I recognize it by the color of a whitening beard; since, even if there were an error in the reckoning, I would still feel the years of a man growing old by the sluggishness of my limbs through the advances of disease. But with all humility of prayer I beg that, for the correction of my conduct, for the inspiring in me of a desire to repent, and for the favor of our Lord, you make supplication in your holy prayers, so that you, who point out the way that must be trodden with toil and held upright in order to avoid the steep slope of that road which inclines toward ruin, may also obtain both the beginning of a good work and the effect of a pious amendment in me, not by the lash of discipline, but by the medicine of indulgence and the gentleness of mercy. Confer upon yourself this reward as well: for you owe the Lord interest from the treasury that has been entrusted to your faith and received by you at his commendation. Win over those who despair, reprove the negligent, shake out those given over to the sleep of slothful complacency, rouse those who sit idle. It befits the good shepherd to carry back the lost sheep upon his shoulders and to enclose those sheep, against which the wolf lies in wait, within more secure folds. I have found the holy Augustine, just as you had ordered, which I believed to be with our common son, the presbyter Rusticus. It is worth your while to admire my diligence, in that, although up to now I did not know which little works it contained, I have now indeed, being about to hand over the book, inspected it chapter by chapter. It is a book made of papyrus and rather frail for enduring injury, since papyrus, as you know, is more quickly consumed by age. Read it, if you so command, and transcribe it. And I hope that, after it has become well known to you, it may be sent back to me, to whom it is unknown, because I intend to correct my own negligence by frequent reading of that very membrane. Pray for me.

III. DOMINO SANCTO AC BEATISSIMO ET OMNI MIHI CULTU ATQVE HONORE UENERANDO PATRI ET IN CHRISTO DOMINO PATRONO RURICIO EPISCOPO TAURENTIUS. Litterae sanctitatis uestrae me spiritali cibo pastum incitauerunt ad spem futurorum et uerba prophetica claritate 1 benigni v, benigno S inrigastis cf. Rur. ep. II9, ingastis S, intrastis v 2 preciosa S presentiam S 3 possedeam S 7 incrementum v, incremantium S quod S quo-lira. 14 unde] cf. Rur. ep. II9 et 52 8 que S recollatione v 9 dulciscit S 12 quantumcumque v presumere S 13 que S 15 et] ut coni. Momvisenus 16 infelices S, infelicem t, absolutione v, ablutione S 17 redempte S 20 uestre S 21 reuertendam S 22 anni S 28 Turentius n 29 encitauernnt S radiantia ad discutiendas errorum tenebras purissima luce fulserunt. recognosco plenum caritatis affectum et sinceritatem piae castigationis amplector. eloquentiam in uerbis, in exeplis perfectionem, in consilio gratiam, in officio diligentiam, in ueritate constantiam, in admonitione ueritatem, scientiam probatis in dogmate. uos antiquos scripturarum interpretes et diuinorum uoluminum tractatores ueneranda mihi nomina Cyprianum, Augustinum, Hilarium, Ambrosium rettulistis, alios facundiae flore uernantes, alios et in reuelandis occultioribus spiritales, alios mulcendis inperitorum sensibus blandientes, alios in fidei assertione pugnantes. Praeteritae calumniamur aetati, quod uiros illos admiratione dignissimos haec saecula non tulerunt. pro certo doctrinam iuniores ambierant (eorum), qui ante docuerunt. ego autem aetatem meam non de canentium putamine capillorum nec, sicut beatitudo uestra de saeculari auctore mutuata est, de colore barbae albentis agnosco, cum, etiamsi esset error in conputo, senescentis annos de torpore membrorum per morbi incrementa sentirem. sed omni precum humilitate deposco, utpro correctione morum meorum, pro inspirando mihi desiderio paenitendi, pro domini nostri propitiatione in sanctis uestris orationibus supplicetis, ut, qui ad uitandum procliue illius uiae in perniciosa uergentis erectum et cum labore gradiendum iter ostenditis, et ingressum boni operis et piae emendationis obtineatis effectum non in uerbere disciplinae, sed in indulgentiae medicina et misericordiae lenitate. hanc quoque uobis conferte mercedem: debetis enim fenus domino de thesauro, qui 2 recognusoo S 4 offitio S indulgentiam v 5 admunitione S ueritatem] et add. v 6 probatis expungi uult Mommsenus interpretis S Q 7 tractares S 8 agustinum S hylarium S ratuj.Iistis S, sed et illustres v 9 facundie S 11 fide S 12 praeteritae v, preteritate S 14 iuniores scripsi, iunioris S ambirent v eorum addidi, om. S 15 eam v potamine S 16 seculari S 17 barbe S etiamsi] non add. v essem t. error om. t\' 18 num senescentes scribendum ? de torpore Kr., decorpore S, decrepitos r 19 omni scripsi, omnium S 22 supplicitis S 23 uergentes S rectum r 25 ueruere S, feruore t. 27 fgnus S fidei uestrae traditus et a uobis illo commendante susceptus est. adquirite desperantes, arguite neglegentes, deditos somno ignauae securitatis excutite, resides excitate. decet ouem perditam in umeris suis bonum reportare pastorem et munitioribus caulis eas, quibus lupus insidiatur, includere. Sanctum Augustinum, sicut iusseratis, inueni, quem cum filio communi Rustico presbytero esse credebam. operae pretium est, ut admiremini studium meum, quod, quae opuscula contineret, hucusque (qui) nesciui, sane capitulatim iam librum traditurus inspexi. chartaceus liber est et ad ferendum iniuriam parum fortis, quia citius charta, sicut nostis, uetustate consumitur. legite, si iubetis, atque transcribite. et spero, ut, postquam uobis bene cognitus fuerit, ad me, cui est incognitus, remittatur, quia corrigere neglegentiam meam frequentata membranae ipsius lectione dispono. ora pro me.