---
title: "Letters · Epistulae"
author: "Augustine"
translator: "James Houston Baxter"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Church Fathers"
section: 35 of 62
url: https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/35/
cite: "Augustine, tr. James Houston Baxter, Letters · Epistulae, section 35. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/35/"
---

# 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.

## 35. Letter 35

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/35/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/35/#p-N

[¶0] 1. If that which greatly distressed me in your city has been removed, if the hardness of the human heart, resisting the most evident and, as one might say, the most notorious truth, has been overcome by the power of that same truth, if there is relish for the sweet savour of peace, and the brotherly love that springs from unity no longer dazzles aching eyes, but fills with light and vigour eyes that are sound, this is not my doing, but God's; I would not in the least attribute it to human resources, even if the conversion of so great a multitude had taken place when I was among you, in response to my own addresses and exhortations. That is His doing, His achievement, Who uses his ministers to draw attention to the external signs of things, but teaches men by things themselves within, through none but Himself. Yet the fact that whatever praiseworthy change has been wrought in you has been wrought not by us, but by Him “Who alone doeth wonderful works,”a is no reason why we should be less eager to stir ourselves to visit you. With much more eagerness ought we to hasten to behold the works of God than our own, for we too, in so far as we are good at all, are His work, not the work of men. That is why the Apostle says. “Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.” b You mention in your letter an incident which I too recall from classical literature, how by discoursing on the fruits of temperance Xenocrates suddenly converted Polemo c to another mode of life, though he was not only a drunkard but was actually drunk at the time.

> Latin: 1. Si id quod in vestra civitate nos graviter contristabat, absumptum est, si duritia cordis humani resistens manifestissimae et quodam modo publicae veritati eiusdem potentia veritatis evicta est, si sapit dulcedo pacis unitatisque caritas non iam reverberat oculos saucios, sed sanos inlustrat ac vegetat, non sunt haec opera nostra sed dei, non haec humanis opibus omnino tribuerem nec si, cum apud vos essemus, tanta conversio multitudinis nobis loquentibus et hortantibus proveniret. Hoc agit ille et efficit, qui per ministros suos rerum signis extrinsecus admonet, rebus autem ipsis per se ipsum intrinsecus docet. Nec ideo pigrius moveri nos oportet ad visendos vos, quoniam quicquid in vobis laudabile factum est, non a nobis sed ab illo factum est, qui facit mirabilia solus. Multo enim alacrius debemus accurrere ad spectanda opera divina quam nostra, quia et nos, si quid boni sumus, opus illius, non hominum sumus; unde apostolus dixit: Neque qui plantat est aliquid, neque qui rigat, sed qui incrementum dat deus.

[¶1] 2. Now although he was not won for God, but was only delivered from the thraldom of self-indulgence, as you have wisely and truly apprehended, yet I would not ascribe even that change wrought in him for the better to the work of man. but to that of God, for from God alone, by Whom nature was created and made perfect, come whatever good qualities there are in the body itself, the lowest part of us, such as comeliness and strength and health and the like. How much more sure is it, therefore, that no other can bestow its good qualities upon the soul. Can human folly harbour a more arrogant or ungrateful thought than the notion that whereas God makes man beautiful in body, man makes himself pure in heart? In the book of Christian Wisdom it is written, “When I perceived that no one could have self-restraint, un- less God give it him, and that this itself is a part of wisdom, to know whose gift it is.” a If, then, in being converted from dissipation to self-restraint, Polemo had known whose gift that was, and so had thrown over the superstitions of the heathen and worshipped Him in reverence, he would then have become not only self-restrained, but also truly wise and soundly religious, and that would have secured for him not only virtue in the present life, but also immortality in the life to come. How much less, then, should I presume to claim for myself the credit for your conversion or that of your people, which you have just reported to me; in those in whom it really was accomplished, it was unquestionably accomplished from above, without either my words or even my presence. Recognize this fact, therefore, above everything else; with humility and reverence keep it before your mind. To God, my brethren, to God render your thanks; fear God, so that you may not fall back; love Him, so that you may go forward.

> Latin: 2. Xenocrates Polemonem, ut scribitis et nos ex illis litteris recordamur, de fruge temperantiae disputando non solum ebriosum verum et tunc ebrium ad mores alios repente convertit. Quamquam ergo ille, sicut prudenter et veraciter intellexistis, non deo fuerit adquisitus sed tantum a dominatu luxuriae liberatus, tamen ne id ipsum quidem quod melius in eo factum est, humano operi tribuerim sed divino. Ipsius namque corporis, quod est infimum nostrum, si qua bona sunt sicut forma et vires et salus et si quid eius modi est, non sunt nisi ex deo creatore ac perfectore naturae; quanto magis animi bona donare nullus alius potest! Quid enim superbius vel ingratus cogitare potest humana vecordia, si putaverit, cum carne pulchrum deus faciat hominem, animo castum ab homine fieri? Hoc in libro Christianae sapientiae sic scriptum est: Cum scirem, inquit, quia nemo esse potest continens, nisi deus det, et hoc ipsum erat sapientiae scire cuius esset hoc donum. Polemon ergo si ex luxurioso continens factus, ita sciret cuius esset hoc donum, ut eum abiectis superstitionibus gentium pie coleret, non solum continens sed etiam veraciter sapiens et salubriter religiosus existeret, quod ei non tantum ad praesentis vitae honestatem verum et ad futurae immortalitatem valeret. Quanto minus igitur mihi adrogare debeo conversionem istam vestram vel populi vestri, quam nobis modo nuntiastis, quae me nec loquente nec saltem praesente procul dubio divinitus facta est, in quibus veraciter facta est! Hoc itaque praecipue cognoscite, hoc pie humiliterque cogitate. Deo, fratres, deo gratias agite, deum timete, ne deficiatis, amate, ut proficiatis.

[¶2] 3. If, however, there are some whom the love of man keeps secretly apart and the fear of man keeps mistakenly united, b let all such take note that the human conscience lies naked to God and that they can neither deceive Him as witness nor escape Him as judge. c But if, from anxiety to secure their own salvation, they are at all disturbed over this question of unity, let them force themselves to do what is, in my opinion, a thoroughly fair thing, namely, to accept the statements of Holy Scripture about the Church Catholic (that is, the Church spread abroad throughout the world) rather than the mis-statements of human tongues. With reference to this schism which has arisen among men (who, whatever they may be, assuredly do not impair the promises of God, Who said to Abraham, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,” a a promise believed when it was heard as a prophecy and denied when it is seen as an accomplished fact), let them for the present meditate upon this very brief, but, unless I am mistaken, very unanswerable argument, that the case was either tried before a church court across the sea, or was not tried; if it was not tried there, the society of Christians among all the overseas nations is guiltless; we rejoice in communion with that society, and so their separation from those guiltless brethren is clearly an act of sacrilegious disruption. If, again, the case was tried there, who can fail to understand, and feel, and see, that those whose communion is sundered from those others are the defeated party in the case? Let them have their choice then, whether they prefer to accept the verdict of the ecclesiastical judges or the insinuations of the defeated plaintiffs. Notice carefully, as you are wise enough to do, that no serious confutation can be offered against this tersely expressed, yet easily understood, dilemma; and yet Polemo in his dissipation was more easily turned from his drunkenness than they from the folly of their deeply rooted error. b Grant me pardon, my noble and justly honoured lords, my beloved and much longed for brethren, for a letter which is perhaps more lengthy than agreeable, but yet, in my opinion, more likely to profit you than to flatter you. May God give fulfilment to the desire we both share, that I should visit you! Words fail me to express the great and fervent love that inflames me to see you, but I have no doubt at all that you will be good enough to recognize that it is so.

> Latin: 3. Si autem adhuc quosdam amor hominis occulte segregat et timor hominis fallaciter congregat, observent, qui tales sunt, quoniam deum, cui nuda est humana conscientia, nec testem fallunt nec iudicem fugiunt. Si quid autem illos de quaestione ipsius unitatis pro suae salutis sollicitudine permovet, hoc sibi, quantum existimo, iustissimum extorqueant, ut de catholica ecclesia, id est toto orbe diffusa, id potius credant quod scripturae divinae dicunt, non quod linguae humanae maledicunt. De ipsa vero dissensione, quae inter homines orta est—qui quales libet fuerint, non utique praeiudicant promissis dei, qui dixit ad Abraham: In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes, quod creditum est cum audiretur praedictum, et negatur cum videtur impletum,—hoc tamen interim brevissimum et, nisi fallor, invictis-simum cogitent, aut actam esse istam causam in ecclesiastico transmarino iudicio aut non esse actam; si acta ibi non est, innocens est Christi societas per omnes transmarinas gentes, cuius societatis nos communione gaudemus, et ideo ab eis innocentibus utique sacrilega diremptione separantur; si vero acta ibi est ista causa, quis non intellegat, quis non sentiat, quis non videat eos in ea victos, quorum inde communio separata est? Eligant ergo utrum malint credere quod pronuntiaverunt ecclesiastici cognitores an quod murmurant victi litigatores. Adversus istam complexionem dictu brevissimam, intellectu facillimam, adtendite diligenter pro vestra prudentia quam nihil sobrium responderi possit; et tamen malus Polemon magis ebrietate... inveterata erroris evertitur. Date veniam prolixiori fortassis epistulae quam iucundiori verum tamen, ut arbitror, utiliori quam blandiori, domini honorabiles et merito suscipiendi, carissimi ac desiderantissimi fratres. De adventu autem ad vos nostro utrorumque desiderium deus impleat. Quanto enim caritatis ardore accendamur ad visendos vos, verbis explicare non pos- sumus, sed vos benigne credere minime dubi tamus.