--- title: "Letters · Epistulae" author: "Augustine" translator: "James Houston Baxter" languages: [la, en] shelf: "Church Fathers" section: 26 of 62 url: https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/26/ cite: "Augustine, tr. James Houston Baxter, Letters · Epistulae, section 26. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/26/" --- # Letters · Epistulae *Augustine, tr. James Houston Baxter* Augustine’s letters in Latin beside English. > Latin: ed. James Houston Baxter, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, stoa0040.stoa011, CC BY-SA 4.0). > English: James Houston Baxter, from the Perseus Digital Library (stoa0040.stoa011.perseus-eng1). Notes are not included. > Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence. ## 26. Letter 26 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/26/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/26/#p-N [¶0] 1. Three letters from your Grace have reached me up to the moment of my writing this reply; the first still demanded a letter from me, the second intimated that you had by then received it, and the third contained the assurance of your most kind solicitude on my behalf, especially in the matter of the house belonging to that illustrious and distinguished young man, Julian, which adjoins my own walls. On receiving it I lost no time in replying promptly, since your Excellency's agent wrote that he was in a position to send to Rome at an early date. His letter caused me grievous disappointment, in that he did not take the trouble to let me know what is happening in and around Rome, so that we might know for certain what we were reluctant to believe on uncertain rumour. The letters of the brethren that were sent to us before his, conveyed news that was vexatious and affecting enough, but still none too serious, but I was more surprised than I can tell you that my brethren, the holy bishops, did not seize such an excellent opportunity to write to me as that provided by your bearers, and that your letters gave me no news at all about the great trials that you are passing through, though they are ours too by reason of our heart-felt affection. But perhaps you decided not to mention them, because you thought it would do no good or because you did not want your letter to sadden me. It does do some good, in my humble opinion, to know even sad news, first because it is unfair to be willing to “rejoice with them that do rejoice” and to be unwilling to “weep with them that weep,” a and then because “tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” b Far be it from us. > Latin: 1. Tres epistulas tuae benignitatis acceperam, cum ista rescripsi: unam quae adhuc meas litteras exigebat, alteram quae ad te iam pervenisse indicabat, tertiam quae benivolentissimam pro nobis curam tuam etiam de domo clarissimi et egregii iuvenis Iuliani, quae nostris adhaeret parietibus, continebat. Qua accepta, continuo respondere non distuli, quia procurator eximietatis tuae cito se Romam posse mittere scripsit. Cuius litteris graviter contristati sumus, quod ea quae illic in urbe vel circa urbem geruntur, non nobis insinuare curavit, ut certum apud nos fieret quod incertae famae credere nolebamus. Fratrum quippe litteris ante transmissis quamvis molesta et dura multo tamen leviora nuntiata sunt. Plus sane quam dici potest, miratus sum, quod nec tanta occasione hominum tuorum fratres sancti episcopi scripserint nec epistula tua quicquam nobis de tantis tribulationibus vestris insinuaverit, quae utique per viscera caritatis et nostrae sunt, nisi forte faciendum non putasti, quod nihil prodesse duxisti aut nos tuis litteris maestificari noluisti. Prodest aliquid, quantum ego arbitror, etiam ista cognoscere, primo quia iniustum est gaudere velle cum gaudentibus et flere non velle cum flentibus, deinde quia tribulatio patientiam operatur, patientia probationem, probatio spem, spes autem non confundit, quia caritas dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis. [¶1] 2. then, to refuse to hear even the bitter and sorrowful things that befall those who are very dear to us. For somehow or other what one member suffers is mitigated if the other members suffer with it. c But this mitigation of affliction is effected not by participation in the calamity but by the consolation love provides, and so, although some bear the actual burden of sorrow and others share the burden with sympathetic understanding, the tribulation is yet common to both, since they have in common the same experience, the same hope, the same love and the same spirit. But all of us alike have the consolation of the Lord, who both foretold these temporal afflictions and promised eternal blessings after them. And he who after the battle would receive the crown ought not to be broken in spirit while the battle is on, for He Who prepares unspeakable gifts for the victors ministers strength to them when they are engaged in the conflict. > Latin: 2. Absit itaque ut recusemus audire etiam quae amara et tristia sunt erga carissimos nostros. Nescio quo enim modo minus fit quod patitur unum membrum, si compatiuntur alia membra. Nec ipsa mali relevatio fit per communionem cladis sed per solatium caritatis, ut, quamvis alii ferendo patiuntur, alii cognoscendo compatiuntur, communis sit tamen tribulatio, quibus probatio, spes, dilectio spiritusque communis est. Omnes autem nos dominus consolatur, qui et haec temporalia mala praedixit et post haec bona aeterna promisit. Nec debet, cum proeliatur, infringi, qui vult post proelium coronari, vires illo subministrante certantibus, qui praeparat ineffabilia dona victoribus. [¶2] 3. Do not let that reply of mine take away your confidence in writing to me, especially since you have had a quite acceptable excuse for soothing my fears. I return the greetings of your little ones and pray that they may grow up for you in Christ. Already, young as they are, they perceive how dangerous and harmful is the love of the present world. And would that, when the tall and sturdy things are shaken, the lowly and yielding may receive correction! What shall I say about that house, except to thank you for your very generous thought? For the house I can give they do not wish, and the one they wish, I cannot give, since it was not left to the Church by my predecessor, as they were wrongly informed, but is held among its ancient properties and adjoins the one ancient church just as the one now under consideration adjoins the other. a > Latin: 3. Rescripta illa nostra non tibi ad nos auferant scribendi fiduciam, praesertim quia timorem nostrum non inprobabili defensione lenisti. Parvulos tuos resalutamus et in Christo tibi grandescere optamus, qui iam in hac aetate cernunt quam sit amor huius saeculi periculosus et noxius. Atque utinam, cum magna et dura quatiuntur, parva et flexibilia corrigantur. De domo illa quid dicam, nisi benignissimae tuae curae gratias agam? Nam eam quam dare possumus, nolunt, quam volunt autem dare non possumus. Neque enim, sicut falso audierunt, a decessore meo relicta est ecclesiae, sed inter antiqua eius praedia possidetur et antiquae alteri ecclesiae sic cohaeret quem ad modum ista qua de agitur, alteri.