Appendix to Augustine's Sermones: Sermones supposititii, Sermones 45-62

Sermon 47. On blessed Tobias.

1. Blessed Tobias, who knew how to break his bread for the hungry, prepares a swift wage for the hired man who laboured. Having patiently taken in the reading which was recited just now, we were marvelling at the deliberation of father and son, how the angel admonishes, whom they reckoned to be an earthly hired man beneath a heavenly glory. For he incurred the ruin of blindness to this end, that he might receive an angel as physician, who, kindled by divine torches, breathed forth thus: Prayer is honourable with fasting and almsgiving. The prayer of the just man is the key of heaven. Supplication ascends, and the compassion of God descends. Though the earth be lofty, and heaven lofty, yet God hears the tongue of man, if he has a clean conscience. He speaks with the senses, if our groaning is alone. A shower from the eyes is enough for the ears; He hears weeping sooner than words. The prayer of the envious man is wont to be driven back from the ears. Father and son had one soul; while there was a distinctness of members, they had a singular brotherhood of minds. Son, he said, let us send this man away, adding to the agreed wage; for he has conferred many good things on us by his work. And the son, the deliberation having been reported, addresses his father: Father, is only the agreed wage to be weighed out to so blessed a workman, whose good guidance cannot be valued? We shall render him too little honour if we fix a measure to his merits. Did he show forth only what was agreed? It had been agreed that he should point out to me the region and the man to whom you entrusted the silver. First, taking the road as though it were a heavenly one, he prepared both for me and for you the needful eye-salve from the fish: he led me, he recovered the silver, he betrothed Sara to me as wife. Is he worthy only of the agreed wage, who stood by me as a heavenly groomsman; and, what is more, good father, cured the spots of your eyes by drawing off the white film, and lit up our whole house with the lamps of your eyes made bright? I see more clearly now, because I behold you seeing. Is not this man, best father, worthy of half the substance? Let such a guide and provider, physician and guardian, as I said, receive a portion of half the substance which he carried back with me, he who by his guidance showed me so great a kindness. The answer of the wise son pleases the good father. He began to ask the hired man to take the effect of his wage. Brother, he said, take what is yours; and then go in safety. Receive your wage; for you have shown good mercy to me and to my son. Take, as I said, half the substance which you brought back with my son: for the gratitude which we owe you cannot be weighed.

2. At once the angel rejoices at the wage they had devised, he who had been sent to show kindness freely. Tobis, he said, or Tobias, why do you think so very superfluously about my wage? Keep what that heavenly Father has given you. I am the minister of the cure, He is the author of the healing. You do not know by the help of what hired man you have deserved to benefit. You did not fear to bury the dead of the captivity, Tobis: your works went up to the Lord; for, leaving your dinner, you gave back the dead man to burial. I offered to the Lord rich sacrifices on behalf of that venerable burial; I was sent as a workman of the heavenly court. You buried the dead man, and did not fear the sting of death. The buried man himself cried out on your behalf with a silent voice. The blindness of the eyes had been for testing, whereby your patience might more gloriously have earned an adornment from the heavenly things. I am Raphael, one of the seven Angels who stand before the brightness of God. I have no need of the fruit of human wages: converse with the Majesty makes me rich. Rich is He Who sent me; He commanded that it be bestowed freely, Who Himself granted it freely. Nor should you ascribe the honour of thanks itself to me; for you have received nothing by my powers. Bless God, and confess to Him, and glorify Him, for He has done good things with you (Tob. 12).

3. Suddenly, the honour of the heavenly mystery having been disclosed, with a voice

of the angel Raphael, Tobis and Tobias, astonished, collapsed and fell to the ground; they wholly hid their trembling voice, because they had heard an unaccustomed voice. What did you deserve, father Tobis and son Tobias? To have a heavenly hireling, and to hire him as though an earthly labourer? The angel concealed his name from you: "I am Azarias," he said, "son of the great Ananias" (Tob. 5:18); and he did not say, "I am Raphael the angel." At first he concealed his dignity in his name, so as not to cause terror to the one hiring him. For if he had said, "I am an angel," he would not have been the hireling of Tobias. The dignity of the name was kept back, so that at the last the greatness of his dignity might shine forth. See, dearest ones, how great is the merit of almsgiving: it deserved to have an angel as a labourer. You see how much it profits to bury the dead, so that his offering ascended through the angel Raphael to the heavenly majesty. You see that almsgiving delivers from death, and itself cleanses sins. It brings about the cleansing of the eyes, it delivers from the darkness of sins. Tobis is guided on his way; Sarah, saddened by so many husbands, is joined in marriage through the angel.

Sermon 48. On Judith, 1.

1. Mortal eloquence does not suffice to recount the excellent prayers of all the just, and their triumphs and weighty virtues, which almighty God gave to those to whom He is wont to grant victory, He Who allowed men and women to flourish, Who both scattered the flame of the furnace with refreshment and stripped bare treacherous armies by taking off their head. For when that Holofernes, enemy of the sons of Israel, nay rather of his own head, was claiming for himself rule over foreign nations, and was fighting with siege, with arms, and with fires too, and moreover was turning to ashes, with the flame feeding on them, the fields of many nations laden with harvests of flesh, most holy Judith, at whose prayers heaven lay open, forged by the art of prayer victorious arms with which to fight against adversity, so that a woman might avenge the men who were trembling with fear. The city lay in squalor under the siege of barbarian ferocity: for all things were so languishing that they judged it more fitting now to be handed over into the hands of the enemy than to be harried by the ravages of deadly famine. Behold, Judith after prayer and sackcloth, after ashes, returns to girlish adornment; the hope of all the peoples goes forth; she who would render the anxious peoples secure consoles them by her wisdom, and, promising a victory at which every nation would marvel, asks that the gate be opened for her, the bars being drawn back a little. She went forth secure, content with the company of a single maid, and hastened with secure steps into the camp of the enemy. Within the walls she was anxious; she becomes secure when she comes to the things to be feared. In this woman the hostile army was vehemently awestruck at the novelty of a treacherous beauty, so that in deference to her they lost their strength, threw down their arms, and bowed their necks.

2. She is led to the headquarters, the ranks submitting, she who was the undoing of Holofernes and the victory of the mourning city. When Holofernes saw her, he was undone in his senses, about to lose his life together with his head. For the disgrace of young men lay captive to a woman's face; a woman was able to disarm young men, and to vanquish victors, to defend an anxious city, and to overthrow a barbarian warrior. The sincere woman deceived the corrupt man, the chaste woman beguiled the polluted man, the modest woman slays the adulterer, the sober woman cuts the throat of the drunkard. For she had so confounded such barbarous minds by the deceit of her treacherous face that she bound him by the art of many tales, so as to render him conquered amid armies and captive amid arms. A banquet is prepared for the king; Judith is ordered to be present. She consents, so that she may conquer: she comes to the banquet, intending to taste nothing of the food or drink of the enemy, since she wished to be content with her own provisions. Although that warrior in arms, unsound of mind, gazed at the face of so very chaste a woman, she nevertheless was thinking, for the reason she had come, about his head, so that by taking it off she might come to the aid of the failing citizens, and protect, defend and avenge many heads.

3. But when the fullness of the banquet had passed all bounds, and sleep heavy from the cups had followed, Judith, seeing the neck of her enemy's body bowed down by drunkenness, rose, seized his bloody neck, and with her hand took hold also of the hair of the barbarian's head. Lord, she said, strengthen my arm. And she struck a third time on his neck; and she cut off his head. Going outside, she handed the head of Holofernes to her maid, and she put it into the bag. And after a little while she went outside as if to prayer according to her custom. Behold chastity. By the favour of prayer chastity kept its own modesty untouched and undisturbed, and deceived another's. The corpse lies shut in, and already the head is outside. With palm-bearing chastity Judith hastens anxiously to the citizens: nor is she prevented from returning, she to whom it had been granted to go forth as if to prayer. Now the astonished city receives the triumphal return of so great a victress, now mourning is turned into joy, now the gates are thrown open in fullest security, now the head hangs from the victorious walls. All was victory in the city, and in the enemy camp there was trembling and flight (Jdt. 10-15); Judith in the city, secure among the secure. For where heaven is beaten upon by unceasing prayers, the might of arms is always trampled down. Behold, prayer preserved the chastity of a glorious woman; and a multitude could not preserve the enemy. One woman was able to avenge a mourning city; and so great an army could not guard its king.

Sermon 49. On Judith, II.

1. Whenever the rumour of war grows loud with terrible report, or a death-bearing murmur has sounded with the horrid-sounding blare of trumpets or the hoarse-sounding song of brass, a fearful image of death presents itself to women and the weak: the fearless breasts of brave men are wont to burn with love of praise, and by the lot of war, where the combatants, packed close in a deadly shower, have covered the engaged ranks with a death-dealing shadow beneath the whistling course of missiles, already wandering amid a death-bearing outcome, they draw near with headlong ardour to the triumphal palms. A warrior spirit laid siege to Judith's breast, a breast not its own. She, having cast off the fear of women, seeking victory in dangers, neither feared death in dangers nor dreaded uncertainty. When therefore Holofernes was trampling the walls of Bethulia with hostile siege, and, turning aside the courses of the waters, was proclaiming drought as the first of the contests, Judith, weeping, was keeping with mournful lamentation the bond with her husband, broken by bitter separation. When she found that a truce had been asked for before the city's capture, at once the common grief of the city doubled her private grief. Having prayed, rising up, she washed her body with water; putting adornment upon herself, she hung pendent riches of gold, and put on her hands shining jewelled bracelets, gathered the flowing folds of a purple garment at a jewelled breast, about to fight with a chaste face before she would with the sword. The weapons of necklaces, always hostile to modesty, learned to strike the enemy. The avenger of her people took up the arms of ornaments, not about to undergo marriage after war; but from the city a bride goes forth as a warrior. Nor was it vanity, that adornment which was being fitted for the slaying of so great a head. She goes on, led by the divine Spirit, and content with the comfort of a single maidservant. Her beauty, which allures, guards her; and lest her guarded chastity be violently injured, she addresses Holofernes so that an empty desire may be conceived: I, she said, your handmaid, the Lord God has sent me to do a thing at which everyone who hears of it will marvel; for your handmaid serves the God of heaven; and now I will go out by night, and I will pray to the Lord of heaven: and He will tell me when He will do these things, and I will lead you through the midst of Judaea, and I will set your seat in the middle of the city, and a dog will not growl with its tongue against you, for these things have been shown to me by the Lord. It did not befit a chaste woman to lie; she spoke to those who did not understand, she accomplished in deeds what she had promised.

2. While she flatters the king in lofty speech with imaginary words,

the warlike spirit is loosened by wantonness, in the love of arms the countless strength of the soldiers grows torpid, with kingly luxury the pomp of a wedding is built up with no one marrying, all are loosened by drunkenness. It was not a delicate matron who fought, but sleep prepared for you the one whom you were to strike. When the bedchamber had been set up, she is stirred towards the general, prone with love, the man overcome by sleep, laid low on his couch; she entwined the warrior's locks with the beauty of her fingers; after the tenderness of the spindle, she seeks the hilt of ebony. The blade did not terrify the matron, but armed her, who fought in this way. The flashing sword took off the enemy's head, it is paid out, the victory is hung up on the walls of the fatherland (Judith 10-15). While the arms stand astounded, the wedges of troops close ranks, they triumph in reversed order. War follows; drenched with wine, loosened by sleep, they rise to the contest though no shout calls them out, the mountains are covered with flashing arms. Why, foreigner, do you rage? why do you set wars in order? why do you prepare a battle line, when you have someone to look for in the bedchamber? Hold back every varied onset of fury; so much of your general have we left you, we have a part to be recognized hanging at the gate. So great a bounty did the spirit receive from God as belief will be able to claim for itself.

Sermon 50. On blessed Job, 1.

1. Your Holiness urges me to be readier to speak; and some time ago what was set forth from the Scriptures gave, with all devotion, confidence in speaking to one whom God showed you to hear gladly. So too let your Holiness receive us speaking about Job, in such a way as to believe that it is hearing a rustic. Let it not think that one speaks words tinged with rouge who professes to speak simply under his teaching. The devil obtained leave for a battle against Job, and when he had destroyed his sons by a collapse, he became needy after riches, alone after households, after numerous offspring the father of no one, shipwrecked in his patrimony; in his body he bore devouring pains by the sole strength of faith. His riches fell into want. Here he awakens in new nakedness: no one was his neighbour, because friendship is rare for the wretched. The health of his body is changed by wounds, joy is turned into pain, there is no limb that is not shaken by the scourges of sicknesses. At last illustrious justice lay upon a dunghill, and while the wounded flesh was being tried in its members, it kept the breast unharmed within. There was nothing from the head to the feet which pain did not afflict. With pains encircling him on every side he stood firm: and from the very place where the devil's envy was boiling, from there a wearied victory was won. He was tormented in body, and he was proved in spirit. With restless worms his body endured the doubled punishments of pain, whereas a fruitful calamity hardened the rottenness of his flowing flesh: no quiet by night, no rest by day. He was tormented, and he prayed. The enemy demanded one thing, the outcry of the confessor prayed for another. His sinews loosened, a rougher potsherd scraped the flow of corruption, a fierce torment changed it. He did not recognize kings, and his pierced body lay in dung. In the shipwrecked body justice is kept unharmed, and while the members were in peril, the breast is preserved for the Author of the wounds. The enemy had seized all things except the spirit.

2. There was no one to return a reciprocal service with wages; the delicate matron, who had been accustomed to command, serves in other people's houses. When after sunset she had harshly passed through the day's punishments, she awaited rest, and the matron, her fingers wearied, led in the following day with weeping eyes. Bereaved, in grief for her sons, the woman is hired out to serve, and has no leisure for tears. Still a matron, already a widow, everywhere a hireling, nowhere a mistress; neither barren nor a mother, she bewails the mangling of her womb: Behold, she says, husband, what you suffer: say something against God, and die. She alone sinned, she who denied mercy to her husband; Job had learned to forget his wife in his sons, and, flowing away in all his members, his spirit alone resisted faithfully. The warrior