1. God knows (for to Him the secrets of the human heart are manifest) that, as I love Christian peace, so I am disturbed by the profane deeds of those who basely and impiously persist in dissenting from it; He knows too that my indignation springs from a desire for peace and that my object is not to drive anyone into the Catholic communion against his will, but to have the naked truth made known to all who are astray and revealed by God's help through my ministry, commending itself so well that they may embrace and follow it.
1. Scit deus, cui manifesta sunt arcana cordis humani, quantum pacem diligo Christianam, tantum me moveri sacrilegis eorum factis qui in eius dissensione indigne atque impie perseverant, eumque motum animi mei esse pacificum neque me id agere ut ad communionem catholicam quisquam cogatur invitus, sed ut omnibus errantibus aperta veritas declaretur et per nostrum ministerium deo iuvante manifestata se amplectendam atque sectandam satis ipsa persuadeas Quid enim execrabilius, quaeso te, ut alia taceam, quam id quod nunc accidit?
2. I pass over other matters and ask you what could be more abominable than what has now happened? A young man is rebuked by his bishop for repeatedly thrashing his mother like a madman and for not withholding his unfilial hands from the body that gave him birth even on those days when the very harshness of the law shows mercy to the vilest criminals. a He threatens his mother to go over to the Donatist party and to do her to death, used as he is to thrash her with unbelievable ferocity. He makes this threat, goes over to the Donatist party, receives re-baptism while still in his frenzy, and is arrayed in the white vestments of a candidate for baptism while still raging for his mother's blood. Within the altar-rails he is set up in a prominent and conspicuous position and, while planning matricide, he is exhibited to the eyes of all the disgusted congregation as a regenerate man.
2. Corripitur ab episcopo suo iuvenis crebris caedibus matris insanus et impias manus nec illis diebus cum etiam severitas legum sceleratissimis parcit, a visceribus unde natus est, revocans; minatur eidem matri se in partem Donati translaturum et eam quam incredibili furore solet caedere, perempturum; minatur ei, transit ad partem Donati, rebaptizatur furens et in maternum sanguinem fremens albis vestibus candidatur; constituitur intra cancellos eminens atque conspicuus et omnium gementium oculis matricidii meditator tamquam renovatus opponitur.
3. Do you, a man of sober judgement, really approve of this? I should never believe it of you; I know how sensible a man you are. A mother after the flesh is beaten on the body which bore and nurtured her thankless son; when the Church, his spiritual mother, forbids this, she too is beaten in her sacraments, by which she bore and nurtured her thankless son. Don't you think it is as if he had said in his rage for a parent's blood, “What shall I do to the Church, which forbids my beating my mother? I know what I will do. I will wound her too with every possible insult; I will commit anything that will cause her members pain; I will betake me to those who are experienced in sneering at the grace in which she gave me birth, in destroying the form I received in her womb; with cruel agonies let me rack both these mothers of mine. Let the one who gave me second birth be the first to give me burial; for her grief I shall seek spiritual death, but for the other's death I shall continue my earthly life.” What else can we expect, my esteemed Eusebius, than this, that the man who, while he was in the Catholic Church, was restrained from thrashing the unfortunate woman, crippled with age and a lonely widow, will be free to employ his weapons against her, now that he is a Donatist? What other purpose was in his raving heart when he said to his mother, “I will go over to the Donatist party and will drink your blood”? See now, with blood-stained conscience, but arrayed in white vestments, he has carried out one part of his threat; the second part, the drinking of his mother's blood, awaits fulfilment. If that is the kind of thing you approve of, let your clergy and those who are to carry through his sanctification instigate him to fulfil all his vow within his eight days. a But the Lord's right hand is strong to restrain his rage from that unfortunate and lonely widow and, by means best known to Himself, to frighten him from his criminal purpose.
3. Haecine tandem tibi placent, vir gravissime? Nequaquam hoc de te crediderim; novi considerationem tuam. Caeditur mater carnalis in membris, quibus genuit et nutrivit ingratum; prohibet hoc ecclesia, mater spiritalis; caeditur et ipsa in sacramentis, quibus genuit et nutrivit ingratum. Nonne tibi videtur dixisse parricidaliter frendens: “Quid faciam ecclesiae, quae me prohibet caedere matrem meam? Inveni quid faciam: iniuriis, quibus potest, etiam ipsa feriatur; fiat in me aliquid unde membra eius doleant; eundum 1 mihi ad eos qui noverunt exsufflare gratiam in qua ibi natus sum, destruere formam quam in utero eius accepi; ambas matres meas saevis cruciatibus torqueam; quae me posterior peperit, efferat prior; ad huius dolorem spiritaliter moriar, ad illius caedem carnaliter vivam.” Quid aliud expectamus, vir honorabilis Eusebi, nisi ut in miseram mulierem senectute decrepitam, viduitate destitutam, a cuius caedibus in catholica prohibebatur, iam Donatista securus armetur? Quid enim aliud furibundo corde concepit, cum diceret matri: “Transferam me in partem Donati et bibam sanguinem tuum?” Ecce iam conscientia cruentus, veste de-albatus perficit partem pollicitationis suae; restat pars altera, ut matris sanguinem bibat. Si ergo placent ista, urgeatur a clericis et sanctificatoribus suis ut intra octavas suas totum quod vovit exsolvat.
4. Yet what was I to do, when I was so pained and indignant, but at least speak my mind? Are they, indeed, to do such things and I be told to hold my peace? The Lord deliver me from such folly, that when, by His apostle, He commands me and says that those who teach what they ought not, ought to be rebuked b by the bishop, I should be silent from dread of their indignation. In wanting this heinous crime to find permanent record in the public registers, my intention surely was to prevent anyone, especially in other towns where I may have a chance to deplore these deeds, from imagining that I am inventing any detail, for even here in Hippo it is already being said that Proculianus c did not issue the order which the public officials have recorded as his.
4. Potens est quidem dextera domini quae furorem illius a misera vidua et desolata compescat et eum, quibus modis novit, a tam scelerata dispositione deterreat. Verum tamen ego tanto animi dolore percussus quid facerem, nisi saltem loquerer? An vero ista illi faciunt et mihi dicitur: Tace? Avertat a me dominus hanc amentiam, ut, cum ipse mihi imperet per apostolum suum et dicat ab episcopo refelli oportere docentes, quae non oportet, ego illorum indignationibus territus taceam. Quod enim publicis gestis haerere volui tam sacrilegum nefas, ad hoc utique volui, ne me quisquam maxime in aliis civitatibus, ubi opportunum fuerit, ista deplorantem fingere aliquid arbitretur, quando etiam apud ipsam Hipponem iam dicitur non hoc Proculianum mandasse, quod publicum renuntiavit officium.
5. What more temperate course could we pursue than to take action in a matter of such seriousness through you, a man invested with the most eminent rank and, at the same time, possessing great circumspection, goodwill and equanimity? So I beseech you, as I have already done by our brethren, good and honourable men, whom I sent to your Excellency, to have the kindness to inquire whether it was not this order of Proculianus recorded by the public officials that the priest Victor received from his bishop, or whether, since Victor himself has denied it, they have fathered a lie upon him in the public documents, although they belong to the same religious body. Otherwise, if he agrees that we should without heat discuss the whole question at issue between us to the end that the error, which is already clear, may be more clearly brought to light, I gladly embrace the opportunity. I have heard of his proposal that without any popular uproar we should examine what is true according to the Scriptures, in the presence of ten weighty and honourable men from each side. That alternative proposal, which some reported to me as his, that I should go to Constantine, a since his followers were more numerous there, or that I ought to go to Milevis, b because there, people say, they are going to hold a council soon, it is absurd to make, as if any particular charge concerned me except the church of Hippo. The whole issue of this inquiry lies between me and Proculianus above all, but if he considers himself unequal to it, let him implore the aid of any colleague of his that he chooses. For in other towns we deal with matters concerning the Church only so far as the bishops of those towns, our brethren and fellow-priests, allow us or enjoin upon us.
5. Quid autem modestius agere possumus, quam ut tam gravem causam per te tamen agam, virum et clarissima dignitate praeditum et considerantissima voluntate tranquillum? Peto igitur, sicut iam petivi per fratres nostros, bonos atque honestos viros, quos ad tuam eximietatem misi, ut quaerere digneris utrum Proculiani presbyter Victor non hoc ab epi- scopo suo mandatum acceperit, quod officio publico renuntiavit, an forte, cum et ipse Victor aliud dixerit, falsum illi apud acta prosecuti sint, cum sint communionis eiusdem; aut. si consentit ut ipsam totam quaestionem dissensionis nostrae placide pertractemus, ut error qui iam manifestus est, manifestius innotescat, libenter amplector. Audivi enim quod dixerit, ut sine tumultu populari adsint nobiscum deni ex utraque parte graves et honesti viri, et secundum scripturas quid in vero sit perquiramus. Nam illud quod rursus eum dixisse nonnulli ad me pertulerunt, cur non ierim Constantinam, quando ibi plures ipsi erant, vel me debere ire Mileum, quod illic, sicut perhibent, concilium proxime habituri sunt, ridiculum est dicere, quasi ad me pertineat cura propria nisi Hipponiensis ecclesiae. Mihi tota huius quaestionis ratio maxime cum Proculiano est. Sed si forte inparem se putat, cuius voluerit collegae sui inploret auxilium. In aliis enim civitatibus tantum agimus quod ad ecclesiam pertinet, quantum vel nos permittunt vel nobis inponunt earundem civitatium episcopi, fratres et consacerdotes nostri.
6. And yet, I do not quite see what he, who proclaims himself a bishop of such long standing, is afraid of in a novice such as I am, to shrink from a conference with me. If it is my learning in liberal studies, a in which he perhaps is uninstructed or less instructed than I am, what has this to do with an inquiry which is to be conducted about Holy Scripture and ecclesiastical or public records? In these he has so many years of experience, which should make him all the better equipped. In the last resort, my brother and colleague, Samsucius, bishop of the Church of Turres, b is here, and he has acquired no such learning as your man is said to be afraid of; let him come and conduct it with him. I shall ask him, and I trust in the name of Christ he will readily agree to undertake to be my substitute in this. Though he is without any grace of eloquence, yet he is learned in the true faith, and the Lord will help him, I feel sure, in his contest for the truth. There is then no reason why he should refer me to any others, instead of settling between ourselves a matter which concerns ourselves. But still, as I said before, I do not decline to meet those others, if he himself demands their aid.
6. Quamquam et iste qui se tot annorum episcopum dicit, quid in me tirone timeat quominus mecum velit conferre sermonem, non satis intellego: si doctrinam liberalium litterarum, quas forte ipse aut non didicit aut minus didicit, quid hoc pertinet ad eam quaestionem quae vel de sanctis scripturis vel documentis ecclesiasticis aut publicis discutienda est, in quibus ille per tot annos versatur, unde in eis deberet esse peritior? Postremo est hic frater et collega meus Samsucius, episcopus Turrensis ecclesiae, qui nullas tales didicit quales iste dicitur formidare; ipse adsit, agat cum illo; rogabo eum et, ut confido in nomine Christi, facile mihi concedet ut suscipiat in hac re vicem meam, et eum dominus pro veritate certantem, quamvis sermone inpolitum, tamen vera fide eruditum, sicut confidimus, adiuvabit. Nulla ergo causa est cur ad alios nescio quos differat, ne inter nos quod ad nos pertinet peragamus. Nec tamen, ut dixi, etiam illos defugio, si eorum ipse poscit auxilium.