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Augustine, Sermones 353-358 (Classis IV, de Diversis)

Sermon CCCLV

inveneram: modo bina cum intendo, non dubito praeferre humilem mulierem virgini superbae. Et quomodo praeferre? Videte quomodo praefero illam, quam modo comparabam. Bona pudicitia conjugalis est, melior integritas virginalis. Duo bona comparabam, non malum et bonum; sed bonum et melius distinguebam. Porro autem duo illa cum posuero, superbiam et humilitatem, numquid possumus dicere, Bonum est superbia, sed melior est humilitas? Sed quid dicimus? Superbia malum est, humilitas bonum: et superbia magnum malum, humilitas magnum bonum. Si ergo horum duorum unum est malum, et alterum bonum: jungitur malum ad majus tuum bonum, et fit totum malum: jungitur bonum ad matris tuae minus bonum, et fit magnum bonum. Minorem locum habebit mater in regno coelorum, quoniam maritata est, quam filia, quoniam virgo est. Majorem enim locum filia virgo, minorem locum mater maritata, ambae tamen ibi: quomodo fulgida stella, obscura stella, ambae tamen in coelo. Si vero mater tua fuerit humilis, tu superba: illa habebit qualemcumque locum, tu autem nullum locum. Et quis invenit alterum locum qui ibi non habuerit locum, nisi cum illo qui inde cecidit, stantemque dejecit? Inde cecidit diabolus, unde stantem dejecit hominem. Dejecit stantem: sed Christus descendens erexit jacentem. Unde te tamen erexit Dominus tuus, attende. Humilitate erexit, factus obediens usque ad mortem, humiliavit semetipsum (Phil. II, 8). Princeps tuus humilis, et tu superbus? Caput humile, et membrum superbum? Absit. Non vult esse de corpore capitis humilis, qui amat superbiam. Si autem non fuerit, videat ubi erit. Ego nolo dicere, ne amplius videar terruisse. Imo utinam terruerim, et aliquid egerim. Utinam qui sic fuerat, vel quae sic fuerat, non sit ulterius. Utinam verba ista infuderim, et non effuderim. Totum sperandum est de misericordia Dei: quia qui terret, contristat; qui contristat, consolatur; sed si qui contristatus est, emendatur.

I had found: now when I consider the two together, I do not hesitate to prefer a humble married woman to a proud virgin. And how prefer? See how I prefer her whom I was just now comparing. Good is conjugal chastity, better is virginal integrity. I was comparing two goods, not an evil and a good; rather I was distinguishing a good and a better. But now, when I set down those two, pride and humility, can we say, Pride is good, but humility is better? But what do we say? Pride is an evil, humility a good: and pride a great evil, humility a great good. If therefore of these two the one is an evil and the other a good: the evil is joined to your greater good, and the whole becomes evil; the good is joined to your mother's lesser good, and it becomes a great good. The mother will have a lesser place in the kingdom of the heavens, because she is married, than the daughter, because she is a virgin. For the virgin daughter [will have] a greater place, the married mother a lesser place, yet both there: as a bright star and a dim star, yet both in the heaven. But if your mother has been humble and you proud: she will have some place or other, but you no place at all. And who has found another place, who has not had a place there, except with him who fell from there and cast down the one who stood? The devil fell from the place from which he cast down the man who stood. He cast down the one standing: but Christ, descending, raised up the one lying. Yet consider by what means your Lord raised you up. He raised you by humility, having become obedient unto death, He humbled Himself (Phil. 2:8). Your Prince humble, and you proud? The head humble, and the member proud? Far be it. He who loves pride does not wish to be of the body of a humble head. But if he is not, let him see where he will be. I do not wish to say it, lest I seem to have frightened you further. Nay rather, would that I have frightened you, and achieved something. Would that he who had been so, or she who had been so, may be so no longer. Would that I have poured these words in, and not poured them out. Everything is to be hoped for from the mercy of God: because he who frightens saddens; he who saddens consoles; but if anyone has been saddened, he is amended.

SERMO CCCLV. De Vita et Moribus clericorum suorum, I.

Sermon 355. On the Life and Conduct of his Clergy, 1.

CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Curandum ut bona sit non solum conscientia, sed etiam fama. Propter quod volui et rogavi hesterno die, ut hodie frequentius conveniretis, hoc est quod dicturus sum. Vobiscum hic vivimus, et propter vos vivimus: et intentio votumque nostrum est, ut apud Christum vobiscum sine fine

Chapter I. — 1. Care must be taken that not only conscience but also reputation be good. The reason for which I wished and asked yesterday that you should assemble today in greater numbers is this which I am about to say. We live here with you, and we live for your sake: and our intention and wish is that with Christ, together with you, without end

Editors' notes and page, col. 1568

Footnotes

(*) ‹anchor: SERMO CCCLV› · call in col 1568 Emendatus ad cl. gr. m. et ad Ulim. Par. Lov. ad veterem codicem S. Quintini Bellovacensis, et ad editiones concilii Aquisgranensis.

Corrected against cl., gr., m., and against Ulim., Par., Lov., against the old codex of Saint-Quentin of Beauvais, and against the editions of the Council of Aachen.

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(a) ‹anchor: SERMO CCCLV› · call in col 1568

Alias, de Diversis 49.

Elsewhere, On Various Subjects 49.

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(b) ‹anchor: clericorum suorum, I› · call in col 1568

Sermones subsequentes Augustini, quos apud plebem dixit, « dum forte de possessionibus invidia ipsius cle« ricis fieret, » memorat Possidius in ejus Vita, cap. 25. Citati olim fuerunt in conciliis et ecclesiasticis diplomatibus, secundus quidem ante mille et centum annos a Petro abbate in synodo Carthaginensi, anno 525, tomo 4 Conciliorum novae editionis, pag. 1647. Subinde vero simul cum ejusdem synodi auctoritate laudatus est in Privilegio Landerici Parisiensis episcopi Dionysianis monachis, et in altero Bertefridi Ambianensis Corbeiensibus concesso circiter medium septimi saeculi, tomo 6 Conciliorum, pagg. 487 et 527. Uterque demum, primus et secundus in Aquisgranensi concilio, anno 816 exhibitus fuit. Primum citat Florus ad II Cor. VIII.

The following sermons of Augustine, which he preached to the people "when ill will happened to arise against his clergy over possessions," are recorded by Possidius in his Life, chapter 25. They were cited of old in councils and church charters: the second, indeed, eleven hundred years ago by Abbot Peter at the Synod of Carthage in the year 525 (volume 4 of the new edition of the Councils, page 1647). Thereafter it was quoted, together with the authority of that same synod, in the Privilege granted by Landeric, bishop of Paris, to the monks of Saint-Denis, and in another granted by Bertefrid of Amiens to the monks of Corbie, about the middle of the seventh century (volume 6 of the Councils, pages 487 and 527). Finally both, the first and the second, were produced at the Council of Aachen in the year 816. Florus cites the first at 2 Cor. 8.

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vivamus. Credo autem ante oculos vestros esse conversationem nostram; ut et nos dicere fortassis audeamus, quamvis illi multum impares, quod dixit Apostolus, Imitatores mei estote, sicut et ego Christi (I Cor. IV, 16). Et ideo nolo ut aliquis de nobis inveniat male vivendi occasionem. Providemus enim bona, ut ait idem apostolus, non solum coram Deo, sed etiam coram hominibus (II Cor. VIII, 21). Propter nos, conscientia nostra sufficit nobis: propter vos, fama nostra non pollui, sed pollere debet in vobis. Tenete quod dixi, atque distinguite. Duae res sunt conscientia et fama. Conscientia tibi, fama proximo tuo. Qui fidens conscientiae suae negligit famam suam, crudelis est: maxime in loco isto positus, de quo dicit Apostolus scribens ad discipulum suum, Circa omnes te ipsum bonorum operum praebens exemplum (Tit. II, 7).

we may live. Now I believe that our manner of life is before your eyes, so that we too may perhaps dare to say, although far unequal to him, what the Apostle said: Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ (1 Cor. 4:16). And therefore I do not want anyone to find in us an occasion for living badly. For we provide good things, as the same apostle says, not only before God, but also before men (2 Cor. 8:21). For our own sake, our conscience suffices us; for your sake, our good name ought not to be polluted, but to be powerful among you. Hold fast what I have said, and distinguish. Conscience and good name are two things. Conscience is for yourself, good name for your neighbour. Whoever, trusting in his conscience, neglects his good name is cruel, above all when placed in this position, of which the Apostle says, writing to his disciple: Towards all, showing yourself an example of good works (Titus 2:7).

2. Vita communis, cujus exemplum in primis christianis. Monasterium ab Augustino, primum in horto, et post in episcopii domo institutum. In loco humili salus, in alto periculum. Vita communis in monasterio. Proprium aliquid habere quemquam vitae illius lege vetitum. Ut ergo non vos diu teneam, praesertim quia ego sedens loquor, vos stando laboratis: nostis omnes, aut pene omnes, sic nos vivere in ea domo quae dicitur domus episcopii, ut, quantum possumus, imitemur eos sanctos, de quibus loquitur liber Actuum Apostolorum, Nemo dicebat aliquid proprium, sed erant illis omnia communia (Act. IV, 32). Quia forte aliqui vestrum non sunt tam diligentes vitae nostrae scrutatores, ut hoc sic noverint, quomodo volo vos nosse; dico quid sit, quod breviter dixi. Ego, quem Deo propitio videtis episcopum vestrum, juvenis veni ad istam civitatem, ut multi vestrum noverunt. Quaerebam ubi constituerem monasterium, et viverem cum fratribus meis. Spem quippe omnem saeculi reliqueram, et quod esse potui, esse nolui: nec tamen quaesivi esse quod sum. Elegi in domo Dei mei abjectus esse, magis quam habitare in tabernaculis peccatorum (Psal. LXXXIII, 11). Ab eis qui diligunt saeculum, segregavi me: sed eis qui praesunt populis, non me coaequavi. Nec in convivio Domini mei superiorem locum elegi, sed inferiorem et abjectum: et placuit illi dicere mihi, Ascende sursum. Usque adeo autem timebam episcopatum, ut quoniam coeperat esse jam alicujus momenti inter Dei servos fama mea, in quo loco sciebam non esse episcopum, non illo accederem. Cavebam hoc, et agebam quantum poteram, ut in loco humili salvarer, ne in alto periclitarer. Sed, ut dixi, domino servus contradicere non debet. Veni ad istam civitatem propter videndum amicum, quem putabam me lucrari posse Deo, ut nobiscum esset in monasterio; quasi securus, quia locus habebat episcopum. Apprehensus, presbyter factus sum, et per hunc gradum perveni ad episcopatum. Non attuli aliquid, non veni ad hanc Ecclesiam, nisi cum iis indumentis quibus illo tempore vestiebar. Et quia hoc

2. The common life, of which there is an example in the first Christians. A monastery set up by Augustine, first in a garden, and afterwards in the bishop's house. In a lowly place safety, in a high one danger. The common life in the monastery. For anyone to have anything of his own is forbidden by the rule of that life. So then, not to keep you long, especially since I speak sitting while you toil standing: you all know, or nearly all, that we live in the house which is called the bishop's house in such a way that, as far as we can, we imitate those saints of whom the book of the Acts of the Apostles speaks: No one called anything his own, but they had all things in common (Acts 4:32). Since perhaps some of you are not such diligent scrutinizers of our life as to know this as I want you to know it, I am saying what it is that I said briefly. I, whom by God's favour you see as your bishop, came as a young man to this city, as many of you know. I was seeking where I might establish a monastery and live with my brothers. For I had abandoned all hope of the world, and what I could have been I did not wish to be; and yet I did not seek to be what I am. I chose to be cast down in the house of my God rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners (Ps. 83:11). From those who love the world I separated myself, but I did not make myself equal to those who are set over peoples. Nor at the banquet of my Lord did I choose the higher place, but the lower and lowly one; and it pleased Him to say to me: Go up higher. But so greatly did I fear the episcopate that, since my reputation had now begun to be of some weight among the servants of God, I would not go to any place where I knew there was no bishop. I guarded against this, and did what I could, so that in a lowly place I might be saved, lest in a high one I should be imperilled. But, as I said, a servant ought not to contradict his master. I came to this city for the sake of seeing a friend whom I thought I could win for God, so that he might be with us in the monastery; feeling as if safe, because the place had a bishop. I was seized, made a priest, and by this step I came to the episcopate. I brought nothing, I came to this Church with nothing but the clothes I was wearing at that time. And because this

Editors' notes and page, col. 1569

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: domus episcopii› · call in col 1569

Editi, domus episcopi. At Colbertinus ante octingentos annos descriptus liber habet, domus episcopii.

The editions read "the bishop's house." But the Colbert book, copied eight hundred years ago, has "the house of the bishopric."

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disponebam, in monasterio esse cum fratribus, cognito instituto et voluntate mea, beatae memoriae senex Valerius dedit mihi hortum illum, in quo nunc est monasterium. Coepi boni propositi fratres colligere, compares meos, nihil habentes, sicut nihil habebam, et imitantes me: ut quomodo ego tenuem paupertatulam meam vendidi et pauperibus erogavi, sic facerent et illi qui mecum esse voluissent, ut de communi viveremus; commune autem nobis esset magnum et uberrimum praedium ipse Deus. Perveni ad episcopatum: vidi necesse habere episcopum exhibere humanitatem assiduam quibusque venientibus sive transeuntibus: quod si non fecisset episcopus, inhumanus diceretur. Si autem ista consuetudo in monasterio permissa esset, indecens esset. Et ideo volui habere in ista domo episcopii mecum monasterium clericorum.

I was arranging, to be in a monastery with the brethren, the old man Valerius of blessed memory, having learned my purpose and my wish, gave me that garden in which the monastery now is. I began to gather brethren of good purpose, my equals, possessing nothing, just as I possessed nothing, and imitating me: so that, just as I had sold my slender little poverty and distributed it to the poor, so those who wished to be with me should do likewise, so that we might live from what was common; and that our common estate, great and most fruitful, should be God Himself. I came to the episcopate: I saw that a bishop must of necessity show constant hospitality to all who come or pass through; and if a bishop did not do this, he would be called inhospitable. But if this custom were permitted in the monastery, it would be unseemly. And therefore I wished to have with me in this house of the bishopric a monastery of clerics.

CAPUT II. — Ecce quomodo vivimus. Nulli licet in societate nostra habere aliquid proprium: sed forte aliqui habent. Nulli licet: si qui habent, faciunt quod non licet. Bene autem sentio de fratribus meis, et semper bene credens ab hac inquisitione dissimulavi: quia et ista quaerere, quasi male sentire mihi videbatur. Noveram enim, et novi omnes, qui mecum viverent, nosse propositum nostrum, nosse legem vitae nostrae.

Chapter II. — See how we live. No one in our community is permitted to have anything of his own: but perhaps some have. No one is permitted: if any have, they do what is not permitted. But I think well of my brethren, and, always believing well of them, I have refrained from this inquiry: for even to ask about these things seemed to me like thinking ill. For I knew, and I know, that all who were living with me knew our purpose, knew the law of our life.

3. Januarius presbyter proprium contra monasterii legem retinuit. Testamentum fecit. Haereditatem ipsius pro Ecclesia suscipere non vult Augustinus. Lis inter Januarii filios de ejus haereditate. Venit ad nos etiam presbyter Januarius, qui videbatur sua honeste erogando quasi consumpsisse, sed non consumpsit. Remansit illi quaedam pecunia, id est, argentum, quod diceret esse filiae suae. Filia ipsius, Deo propitio, in monasterio feminarum, et bonae spei est. Gubernet illam Dominus, ut impleat quae de illa speramus, in illius misericordia, non in ejus meritis. Et quia infra annos erat, et de sua pecunia nihil facere poterat (quamvis enim videremus fulgorem professionis, tamen lubricum timebamus aetatis); factum est ut ipsum argentum quasi puellae servaretur, ut cum ad legitimos annos veniret, faceret inde quod virginem Christi deceret, quando optime jam facere posset. Dum haec exspectantur, coepit ille morti propinquare: qui diu tanquam de suo, jurans quia ipsius erat, non filiae, testamentum fecit. Testamentum, inquam, fecit presbyter et socius noster, nobiscum manens, de Ecclesia vivens, communem vitam profitens; testamentum fecit, haeredes instituit. O dolor illius societatis! o fructus natus, non de arbore quam plantavit Dominus?

3. The priest Januarius kept property of his own against the law of the monastery. He made a will. Augustine is unwilling to accept his inheritance on behalf of the Church. A dispute between the children of Januarius over his inheritance. There came to us also the priest Januarius, who seemed, by honourably distributing his goods, to have as it were used them up, but he had not used them up. There remained to him a certain sum of money, that is, silver, which he said belonged to his daughter. His daughter, by God's favour, is in a monastery of women, and is of good promise. May the Lord guide her, so that she may fulfil what we hope of her, in His mercy, not in her own merits. And because she was under age, and could do nothing with her own money (for although we saw the brightness of her profession, yet we feared the slipperiness of her age), it came about that this silver was kept as if for the girl, so that when she came to lawful age she might do with it what befitted a virgin of Christ, when she could by then do it best. While this was being awaited, he began to draw near to death: and he, who for a long time [had treated it] as his own, swearing that it was his, not his daughter's, made a will. A will, I say, was made by a priest and our companion, remaining with us, living from the Church, professing the common life; he made a will, he appointed heirs. O grief of that community! O fruit born, not from the tree which the Lord planted?

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(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 1570

Sic Mss. et Aquisgranense concilium. At editi, Et quia hic disponebam esse in monasterio cum fratribus.

So the manuscripts and the Council of Aachen. But the editions read: "And because here I was arranging to be in a monastery with the brethren."

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(2) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 1570

Mss., in monasterio missa esset. Sic etiam in Aquisgranensi concilio Binianae editionis. An, missa, ibi positum pro, omissa? vel forte legendum, in monasterium missa, ut intelligatur, si ita fieret, indecens fore, non monasterio, sed episcopo. Dicit sane de consuetudine suscipiendi hospites, quae tunc maxime in monasteriis ubique vigebat. Vide Hieronymum, Apolog. in Rufin. lib. 3, cap. 4.

The manuscripts read "in monasterio missa esset." So too in the Council of Aachen in Binius's edition. Is "missa" put there for "omissa" [omitted]? Or perhaps one should read "in monasterium missa" [sent into the monastery], so that it is understood that, if it were done so, it would be unseemly not for the monastery but for the bishop. He is certainly speaking of the custom of receiving guests, which was then very much in force in monasteries everywhere. See Jerome, Apology against Rufinus, book 3, chapter 4.

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(3) ‹anchor: sed non consumpsit› · call in col 1570

Mss., quod videbatur habere, honeste erogando, quasi consumpsit, et non consumpsit.

The manuscripts read: "what he seemed to have, by honourably giving it away, he as it were used up, and did not use up."

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(4) ‹anchor: tanquam de suo› · call in col 1570

Sic Mss. Editi vero, tanquam de suo vivens.

So the manuscripts. But the editions read "as if living from his own" [last word faint in the scan; reading uncertain].

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Sed Ecclesiam scripsit haeredem? Nolo munera ista, non amo amaritudinis fruc⟨t⟩um. Ego illum Deo quaerebam, societatem professus erat, hanc teneret, hanc exhiberet, nihil haberet, testamentum non faceret. Habebat aliquid? non se nostrum socium quasi Dei pauperem fingeret. Magnus inde mihi dolor est, fratres. Dico Charitati vestrae, propter hunc dolorem statui haereditatem ipsam in Ecclesia non suscipere. Filiorum ipsius sit quod reliquit, ipsi inde faciant quod voluerint. Videtur enim mihi quia si eam suscepero, in isto facto, quod mihi displicet et quod doleo, ejus particeps ero. Hoc volui non latere Charitatem vestram. Filia ipsius in monasterio feminarum est: filius ipsius in monasterio virorum est. Ambos exhaeredavit: illam cum laude, istum cum elogio, id est, cum vituperatione. Commendavi autem Ecclesiae ut non accipiant ipsas portiunculas, quae pertinent ad exhaeredatos, nisi cum ad legitimam aetatem pervenerint. Hoc eis reservat Ecclesia. Deinde litem dimisit inter filios suos, in qua laboro. Puella dicit: Meum est, nostis quia hoc dicebat semper pater meus. Puer dicit: Credatur patri meo, quia moriens mentiri non potuit. Et ista contentio quale malum est? Sed si pueri isti servi Dei sunt, litem hanc inter illos cito finimus. Audio illos ut pater, et forte melius quam pater ipsorum. Videbo quid sit juris, sicut Deus voluerit, cum paucis fratribus fidelibus honoratis, Deo propitio, de numero vestro, id est, de plebe ista. Audio inter illos causam; et sicut Dominus donaverit, finio.

But did he write the Church down as his heir? I do not want such gifts, I do not love the fruit of bitterness. I was seeking him for God; he had professed the common life: he should have kept it, he should have shown it forth, he should have had nothing, he should not have made a will. Did he have something? Then he should not have feigned to be our companion as one of God's poor. Great is the sorrow I have from this, brothers. I tell your Charity, because of this sorrow I have resolved not to accept that inheritance for the Church. Let what he left belong to his children; let them do with it what they will. For it seems to me that if I accept it, I shall be his partner in that deed which displeases me and which grieves me. I wanted this not to be hidden from your Charity. His daughter is in a monastery of women; his son is in a monastery of men. He disinherited both: her with praise, him with an elogium, that is, with censure. But I have charged the Church that they are not to receive those small portions which belong to the disinherited until they have come to the lawful age. The Church keeps this in reserve for them. Then he left behind a dispute between his children, over which I am labouring. The girl says: It is mine; you know that my father always used to say this. The boy says: Let my father be believed, because when dying he could not lie. And what an evil is this contention? But if these children are servants of God, we shall quickly end this dispute between them. I hear them as a father, and perhaps better than their own father. I shall see what is lawful, as God shall will, with a few faithful brothers of honoured rank, God being propitious, from your number, that is, from this people. I hear the case between them; and as the Lord shall grant, I settle it.

4. Haereditatem cujusquam, exhaeredatis filiis, non suscipit Augustinus. Tamen rogo vos, nemo me reprehendat, quia ejus haereditatem nolo suscipiat Ecclesia. Primo, quia factum illius detestor: deinde, quia institutum meum est. Multi laudant quod dicturus sum, sed aliqui et reprehendunt. Utrisque facere satis valde difficile est.

4. Augustine does not accept the inheritance of anyone whose children have been disinherited. Yet I ask you, let no one reproach me because I do not want the Church to accept his inheritance. First, because I detest his deed; next, because it is my settled rule. Many praise what I am about to say, but some also reproach it. To satisfy both is very difficult.

CAPUT III. — Audistis modo cum Evangelium legeretur, Cantavimus vobis, et non saltastis; planximus, et non luxistis. Venit Joannes non manducans neque bibens, et dicunt, Daemonium habet: venit Filius hominis manducans et bibens, et dicunt, Ecce homo vorax, potator vini, et amicus publicanorum (Matth. XI, 17-19). Quid ego facio inter illos, qui parant me reprehendere, et dentes in me ducere⟨ ⟩ si suscepero haereditates eorum qui filios suos irati exhaeredant? Iterum quid sum facturus eis quibus canto, et nolunt saltare? qui dicunt, Ecce quare nemo donat Ecclesiae Hipponensi aliquid: ecce quare non eam faciunt qui moriuntur haeredem; quia episcopus Augustinus de bonitate sua (laudando enim mordent, labiis mulcent, dentem figunt) donat totum, non suscipit. Plane suscipio, profiteor me suscipere oblationes bonas, oblationes sanctas. Si quis autem irascitur in filium suum et moriens exhaeredat eum, si viveret, non eum placarem? non ei filium suum reconciliare deberem? Quomodo ergo cum filio suo volo ut habeat pacem, cujus appeto haereditatem?

Chapter III. — You heard just now, when the Gospel was read: We have sung to you, and you have not danced; we have lamented, and you have not mourned. John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon: the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a gluttonous man, a drinker of wine, and a friend of publicans (Matt. 11:17–19). What am I to do among those who are ready to reproach me and to set their teeth into me if I accept the inheritances of those who in anger disinherit their children? Again, what am I to do for those to whom I sing and they will not dance? who say: See why no one gives anything to the Church of Hippo; see why those who die do not make it their heir: because Bishop Augustine out of his goodness (for in praising they bite, with their lips they soothe, they fix in the tooth) gives everything away, accepts nothing. Plainly I accept; I profess that I accept good offerings, holy offerings. But if someone is angry with his son and when dying disinherits him, if he were alive, would I not appease him? Ought I not to reconcile his son to him? How then do I want him to have peace with his son, when I covet his inheritance?

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(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 1571

Mss., Commendavit. Forte melius, referendo ad Januarium.

The manuscripts read "He commended." Perhaps better, referring it to Januarius.

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Sed plane, si faciat quod saepe hortatus sum; unum filium habet, putet Christum alterum; duos habet, putet Christum tertium; decem habet, Christum undecimum faciat, et suscipio. Quia ergo feci hoc in quibusdam rebus, jam volunt bonitatem meam vel commendationem famae meae in aliud vertere, ut alio modo me reprehendant, quia oblationes devotorum hominum nolo suscipere. Considerent quam multa susceperim. Quid opus est ea numerare? Ecce unum dico, filii Juliani haereditatem suscepi. Quare? Quia sine filiis defunctus est.

But plainly, if he does what I have often urged: he has one son, let him reckon Christ a second; he has two, let him reckon Christ a third; he has ten, let him make Christ the eleventh, and I accept. Since, then, I have done this in certain matters, they now want to turn my goodness, or the commendation of my reputation, into something else, so as to reproach me in another way, because I am unwilling to accept the offerings of devout people. Let them consider how many things I have accepted. What need is there to enumerate them? See, I mention one: I accepted the inheritance of the son of Julianus. Why? Because he died without sons.

CAPUT IV. — 5. Bonifacii haereditatem quare non susceperit. Bonifacii haereditatem suscipere nolui: non misericordia, sed timore. Naviculariam nolui esse Ecclesiam Christi. Multi sunt quidem, qui etiam de navibus acquirunt. Tamen una tentatio esset, iret navis, et naufragaret: homines ad tormenta daturi eramus, ut de submersione navis secundum consuetudinem quaereretur, et torquerentur a judice qui essent de fluctibus liberati? Sed non eos daremus. Nullo pacto enim hoc facere deceret Ecclesiam. Onus ergo fiscale persolveret? Sed unde persolveret? Enthecam nobis habere non licet. Non est enim episcopi servare aurum, et revocare a se mendicantis manum. Quotidie tam multi petunt, tam multi gemunt, tam multi nos inopes interpellant; ut plures tristes relinquamus, quia quod possimus dare omnibus, non habemus. Non habemus ergo enthecam. Propter naufragium ergo, hoc vitando feci, non donando. Nemo ibi me laudet, sed nemo etiam vituperet. Plane quando donavi filio, quod iratus pater moriens abstulit, bene feci. Laudent qui volunt, parcant qui laudare nolunt. Quid plura, fratres mei? Quicumque vult exhaeredato filio haeredem facere Ecclesiam, quaerat alterum qui suscipiat, non Augustinum: imo Deo propitio neminem inveniat. Quam laudabile factum sancti et venerandi episcopi Aurelii Carthaginensis, quomodo implevit omnibus qui sciunt, os laudibus Dei? Quidam cum filios non haberet, neque speraret, res suas omnes retento sibi usufructu donavit Ecclesiae. Nati sunt illi filii, et reddidit episcopus nec opinanti quae ille donaverat. In potestate habebat episcopus non reddere; sed jure fori, non jure poli.

Chapter IV. — 5. Why he did not accept the inheritance of Boniface. I was unwilling to accept the inheritance of Boniface: not out of mercy, but out of fear. I did not want the Church of Christ to be a shipowner. There are indeed many who gain wealth even from ships. Yet there would be one trial: the ship would sail and be wrecked; were we to hand men over to torture, so that inquiry might be made according to custom into the sinking of the ship, and those who had been rescued from the waves be tortured by the judge? But we would not hand them over. For in no way would it befit the Church to do this. Should it then pay the fiscal charge? But from what would it pay it? We are not permitted to keep a reserve fund. For it is not for a bishop to hoard gold and to push back from himself the hand of the beggar. Every day so many ask, so many groan, so many needy people appeal to us, that we leave more of them sad, because we do not have what we could give to all. So we do not keep a reserve fund. It was, then, on account of shipwreck that I did this, by way of avoiding it, not of giving. Let no one praise me in this, but let no one blame me either. Clearly, when I gave to the son what his angry father took from him as he died, I did well. Let those praise who wish; let those who do not wish to praise spare me. What more, my brothers? Whoever wishes to disinherit his son and make the Church his heir, let him look for someone else to accept it, not Augustine; indeed, God being gracious, may he find no one. How praiseworthy was the deed of the holy and venerable bishop Aurelius of Carthage, how he filled the mouths of all who know of it with the praises of God! A certain man, since he had no sons and did not hope for any, gave all his property to the Church, retaining the usufruct for himself. Sons were born to him, and the bishop gave back to him, who was not expecting it, what he had donated. The bishop had it in his power not to give it back; but by the law of the court, not by the law of heaven.

6. Clericis suis praecipit, ut si qui habent proprium, cito dimittant. Clericatum, si cui a sua societate discedere placuerit, proponit non auferre. Simulare propositum sanctitatis pejus est, quam cadere a proposito. Clericatus magis onus quam honor. Sane etiam hoc noverit Charitas vestra dixisse me fratribus meis, qui mecum manent, ut quicumque habet aliquid, aut vendat et eroget, aut donet et commune illud faciat. Ecclesiam habet, per quam nos Deus pascit. Et dedi dilationem usque ad Epiphaniam, propter eos qui vel cum fratribus suis non diviserunt, et dimiserunt quod habent apud fratres suos, vel nondum de re sua aliquid egerunt, quia exspectabatur aetas legitima. Faciant inde quod volunt: dum tamen sint pauperes mecum,

6. He instructs his clerics that, if any have property of their own, they should give it up quickly. He resolves not to take away clerical rank from anyone who chooses to leave his community. To feign the resolve of holiness is worse than to fall from that resolve. The clerical office is more a burden than an honour. Indeed, let Your Charity know this too, that I have told my brothers who live with me that whoever has anything should either sell it and give it away, or donate it and make it common. He has the Church, through which God feeds us. And I granted a postponement until the Epiphany, on account of those who either have not divided with their brothers and have left what they have with their brothers, or have not yet done anything about their property, because the legal age was being awaited. Let them do with it what they wish, provided only that they are poor with me,

Editors' notes and page, col. 1572

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 1572

Al., Junioris.

Another reading: "of the younger" [the word is faint in the scan; reading uncertain].

(printed under page 48)

(2) ‹anchor: non jure poli› · call in col 1572

In Mss., non jure coeli.

In the manuscripts, "not by the law of heaven."

(printed under page 48)

(a) ‹anchor: entheca› · call in col 1572

Entheca est gazae repositorium.

An entheca is a storehouse for treasure.

(printed under page 48)

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simul exspectantes misericordiam Dei. Si autem nolunt, qui forte nolunt: certe ego sum qui statueram, sicut nostis, nullum ordinare clericum, nisi qui mecum vellet manere; ut si vellet discedere a proposito, recte illi tollerem clericatum, quia desereret sanctae societatis promissum coeptumque consortium. Ecce in conspectu Dei et vestro, muto consilium: qui volunt habere aliquid proprium, quibus non sufficit Deus et Ecclesia ejus, maneant ubi volunt, et ubi possunt, non eis aufero clericatum. Nolo habere hypocritas. Malum enim est, quis nesciat? malum est cadere a proposito; sed pejus est simulare propositum. Ecce dico, audite: qui societatem communis vitae jam susceptam, quae laudatur in Actibus Apostolorum, deserit, a voto sao cadit, et a professione sancta cadit. Observet judicem, sed Deum, non me. Ego ei non aufero clericatum. Quantum sit periculum, ante oculos ejus posui: faciat quod vult. Novi enim quia si aliquem hoc facientem degradare voluero, non ei deerunt patroni, non ei deerunt suffragatores, et hic et apud episcopos qui dicant, Quid mali fecit? Non potest tecum tolerare istam vitam: extra episcopium vult manere, et de proprio vivere, ideone debet perdere clericatum? Ego scio quantum mali sit profiteri sanctum aliquid, nec implere. Vovete, inquit, et reddite Domino Deo vestro (Psal. LXXV, 12): et, Melius est non vovere, quam vovere et non reddere (Eccle. V, 4). Virgo etsi nunquam fuit in monasterio, et virgo sacra est, illi nubere non licet, quamvis esse in monasterio non compellitur. Si autem coepit esse in monasterio, et deseruit, et tamen virgo est; dimidia ruit. Sic et clericus duas res professus est, et sanctitatem, et clericatum: interius sanctitatem; nam clericatum propter populum suum Deus imposuit cervicibus ipsius, cui magis onus est quam honor: sed quis sapiens et intelliget haec (Psal. CVI, 43)? Ergo professus est sanctitatem, professus est communiter vivendi societatem; professus est quam bonum et quam jucundum, habitare fratres in unum (Psal. CXXXII, 1): si ab hoc proposito ceciderit, et extra manens clericus fuerit; dimidius et ipse cecidit. Quid ad me? Non eum judico. Si foris servat sanctitatem, dimidius cecidit: si vero intus habuerit simulationem, totus cecidit. Nolo habeat necessitatem simulandi. Scio quomodo homines ament clericatum: nemini eum tollo nolenti mecum communiter vivere. Habet Deum, qui mecum manere vult. Si paratus est pasci a Deo per Ecclesiam ipsius, non habere aliquid proprium, sed aut erogare pauperibus, aut in commune mittere, maneat mecum. Qui hoc non vult, habeat libertatem: sed videat utrum habere possit felicitatis aeternitatem.

together awaiting the mercy of God. But if they are unwilling, those who perhaps are unwilling: certainly it was I who had resolved, as you know, to ordain no cleric except one who would be willing to remain with me; so that if he wished to depart from his purpose, I might rightly take his clerical office from him, because he would be deserting the promised and begun fellowship of a holy society. See, in the sight of God and of you, I change my plan: those who wish to have something of their own, for whom God and His Church are not enough, let them remain where they wish and where they can; I do not take the clerical office away from them. I do not want to have hypocrites. For it is a bad thing, who does not know it? it is a bad thing to fall from one's purpose; but it is worse to feign a purpose. See, I say it, listen: he who deserts the society of common life once undertaken, which is praised in the Acts of the Apostles, falls from his vow, and falls from a holy profession. Let him look to his judge, but God, not me. I do not take the clerical office away from him. How great the danger is, I have set before his eyes: let him do what he wants. For I know that if I should wish to degrade someone doing this, he will not lack patrons, he will not lack supporters, both here and among the bishops, who would say: What wrong has he done? He cannot bear this life with you: he wants to remain outside the bishop's house and to live on his own means; ought he for that reason to lose his clerical office? I know how great an evil it is to profess something holy and not to fulfil it. Vow, it says, and pay to the Lord your God (Ps. 75:12): and, It is better not to vow than to vow and not to pay (Eccl. 5:4). A virgin, even if she has never been in a monastery, and is a consecrated virgin, is not permitted to marry, although she is not compelled to be in a monastery. But if she has begun to be in a monastery, and has deserted it, and yet is a virgin, she has half fallen. So too a cleric has professed two things, both holiness and the clerical office: holiness inwardly; for the clerical office God has laid upon his neck for the sake of His people, and to him it is more a burden than an honour: but who is wise, and will understand these things (Ps. 106:43)? Therefore he has professed holiness, he has professed the society of living in common; he has professed how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity (Ps. 132:1): if he falls from this purpose, and while remaining outside is a cleric, he too has half fallen. What is that to me? I do not judge him. If outside he keeps holiness, he has half fallen: but if inside he has had pretence, he has wholly fallen. I do not want him to be under the necessity of pretending. I know how men love the clerical office: I take it from no one who is unwilling to live in common with me. He has God, who wishes to remain with me. If he is prepared to be fed by God through His Church, to have nothing of his own, but either to give it out to the poor or to put it into the common stock, let him remain with me. He who does not want this, let him have his freedom: but let him see whether he can have the eternity of happiness.

7. Pollicetur sermonem subsequentem. Sufficiant haec nunc interim Charitati vestrae. Quod egero cum fratribus meis, annuntiabo vobis. Spero enim bona. Omnes mihi libenter obediunt: nec inventurus sum

7. He promises the following sermon. Let these things suffice for the present, meanwhile, for your Charity. What I shall have done with my brothers, I shall announce to you. For I hope for good things. All obey me willingly: nor am I going to find

Editors' notes and page, col. 1573

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 1573

Sic Lov. In B., ergo. M.

So Lov. In B., "therefore." M.

(printed under page 49)

(2) ‹anchor: monasterio non compellitur› · call in col 1573

Mss., Virgo est, si nunquam fuit in monasterio, non compellitur. Si autem coepit esse, etc.

The manuscripts read: "She is a virgin, if she was never in a monastery; she is not compelled. But if she began to be," etc.

(printed under page 49)

(3) ‹anchor: et clericatum: interius› · call in col 1573

Mss., interim.

The manuscripts read "meanwhile."

(printed under page 49)