Letter 23: To the Patrician Areobindas.
To the Patrician Areobindas.
In distributing wealth and poverty among human beings, the Creator and Governor of all renders no unjust judgment. He gives the poverty of the poor to the rich as an instrument of good — so that those who have wealth will have the means, and the occasion, to show kindness to mankind. This year the Lord has sent afflictions upon us: less than we deserve for our sins, but heavy enough to afflict the farmers. I wrote to your Magnificence about their suffering through your own stewards not long ago.
Take pity, I ask you, on the tillers of the ground, who have spent their labor with very little to show for it. Let this poor harvest be the occasion of a spiritual abundance: let the exercise of compassion on your part bring in the harvest of God's compassion for you. The excellent Dionysius has come to you in haste to report the trouble, in the hope of receiving the remedy. He carries this letter as if it were a suppliant's olive branch, hoping that through it he may receive greater kindness from your hand.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
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