---
title: "Letters · Epistulae"
author: "Augustine"
translator: "James Houston Baxter"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Church Fathers"
section: 54 of 62
url: https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/54/
cite: "Augustine, tr. James Houston Baxter, Letters · Epistulae, section 54. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/54/"
---

# 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.

## 54. Letter 54

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/54/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/augustine-letters/54/#p-N

[¶0] 1. You wanted a reply from me as evidence that I have received your letter with joy, so, see, I send you one. And yet in a reply, be it this one or any other, it is impossible for me, whether writing briefly or at great length, to make that evident, for neither a few words nor many can be evidence of what words cannot make evident at all. And for my part, though I have the gift of copious expression, I have only a limited power of se]f-expression; yet I would certainly not admit that any man, however gifted with the power of expression, could describe in a letter, no matter how good or how long, the feelings awakened in me by your letter; it is quite beyond my power, and he cannot observe them within me as I do myself. It only remains for me, then, to give you the evidence you wanted to have in such a way that in my words you may feel evidence of what they cannot express. So what shall I say but this, that I was very, very pleased with your letter? The repetition of that word is not so much a repetition as a constant utterance, but since the perpetual utterance of it is quite impossible, I have done the only thing possible by at least repeating it. In this way, perhaps, things, may be uttered that completely defy utterance.

> Latin: 1. Quod acceperim libenter litteras tuas, mea re-scripta indicio esse voluisti. Ecce rescribo et tamen rescriptis hoc indicare non possum vel istis vel quibuslibet aliis, sive breviter sive prolixissime scribam; neque enim aut paucis aut multis verbis indicari potest quod indicari verbis non potest. Et ego quidem parum eloquor, etsi multum loquor; sed nulli eloquenti omnino concesserim ut qualicumque et quantacumque epistula sua affectum explicet, quem fecit in me tua, quod non possum ego, etiam si eum possit ita in animo meo videre sicut ego. Restat ergo sic tibi indicare quod scire voluisti, ut in verbis meis, et quod non indicant, sentias. Quid igitur dicam nisi delectatum me esse litteris tuis valde valde? Repetitio verbi huius non est repetitio sed quasi perpetua dictio; quia enim fieri non posset ut semper diceretur, ideo factum est ut saltem repeteretur; sic enim fortasse dici potest quod dici non potest.

[¶1] 2. At this point, if anyone were to ask what after all it was in your letter that pleased me so very much, if it was its eloquence, I shall say “No”; he will perhaps reply, “Then it was the praise of yourself,” and to that too I shall say “No”; not for the reason that your letter was without these, for it was eloquent enough very notably to reveal the fact that your natural endowments are of the finest quality and that your training in the literary disciplines has been good; and, further, your letter was full of praises of myself. “And so,” someone may say, “things of that kind give you no pleasure?” It is the other way round, for, as someone has remarked, “my heart is not made of horn,” a that I either do not feel such things or feel them without pleasure. I do take pleasure in even such things as these, but, alongside that which made me, as I said, very pleased, what are such things after all? Your eloquence does give me pleasure, so gravely sweet and so sweetly grave it is: with the praise of myself. however, though certainly I neither find pleasure in every kind nor from every man. but only in such as you consider me worthy to receive and from men such as you are, who for Christ's sake love His servants—even with the praise of myself contained in your letter I cannot deny that I was very well pleased.

> Latin: 2. Hic si quaerat aliquis quid me tandem in tuis tam valde litteris delectaverit, utrum eloquium, respondebo: “Non;” et ille forsitan respondebit: “Ergo laudes tuae;” sed de his quoque respondebo: “Non,” nec ideo, quia non sunt ista in illa epistula; nam et eloquium ibi tantum est, ut et optimo te natum ingenio et talibus disciplinis satis eruditum praeclarissime luceat, et prorsus plena est meis laudibus. “Ergone,” ait quispiam, “non te ista delectant?” Immo vero; “neque enim mihi,” ut ait quidam, “cornea fibra est,” ut haec non sentiam vel sine delectatione sentiam. Delectant et ista; sed ad illud, quo me valde dixi esse delectatum, quid sunt ista? nam eloquium tuum me delectat, quoniam graviter suave est vel suaviter grave; meis autem laudibus cum profecto nec omnibus delecter nec ab omnibus, sed eis qualibus me dignum esse arbitratus es, et ab eis qualis es, id est qui propter Christum diligunt servos eius, etiam laudibus meis me delectatum in litteris tuis negare non possum.

[¶2] 3. Let serious-minded and experienced men consider what opinion they should form of the well-known Themistocles a (if I remember his name aright), who at a banquet, on refusing to play on the lyre, a usual practice among the distinguished and learned men of Greece, and being on that account deemed a less cultured person, and scorning all that kind of amusement, is said, when asked what he did take pleasure in hearing, to have made answer, “My own praises.” Let such men consider what they think the aim and intention of this remark was or what was the intention of the speaker. He was. indeed, a very high-minded man, in the eyes of this world, for when the further question was asked him, “What then do you know?” he replied, “How to make a small state great.” For myself, however, I hold that the saving of Ennius that “All mortal men are eager to be praised.” b is partly to be approved of, partly to be taken as a warning. For just as truth is to be sought after, as being without a doubt the only thing deserving of praise, even if praise be withheld, so is the easily and furtively developing pride in the praise of men to be shunned. And that is the case when, on the one hand, those good qualities that are worthy of being praised are thought not worth possessing unless a man is praised by his fellows, or, on the other hand, when a man desires great praise for things which are worthier of either slight praise or even censure. Hence Horace was much more cautious than Ennius in saying a: Swell you with lust for praise? Then read thrice o'er Some book whose charms are potent to restore.

> Latin: 3. Viderint graves et periti viri quid de illo Themistocle sentiant, si tamen hominis nomen verum recolo, qui cum in epulis, quod clari et eruditi Graeciae facere solebant, canere fidibus recusasset et ob hoc indoctior haberetur totumque illud iucunditatis genus aspernatus esset, dictum illi est: “Quid ergo audire te delectat?” Ad quod ille respondisse fertur: “Laudes meas.” Viderint ergo quo fine qua intentione illud dixisse crediderint vel ipse qua dixerit. Erat enim secundum hoc saeculum vir magnificus. Nam etiam cum ei dictum fuisset: “Quid igitur nosti?” “Rem publicam,” inquit, “ex parva magnam facere.” Ego autem, quod ait Ennius: “Omnes mortales sese laudari exoptant,” partim puto adprobandum, partim cavendum. Ut enim appetenda est veritas, quae procul dubio est, etiam si non laudetur, sola laudabilis, sic ea quae facile subrepit, vanitas in hominum laude fugienda est; haec est autem, cum vel ipsa bona quae laudatione digna sunt, non putantur habenda, nisi laudetur ab hominibus homo, vel ea quoque vult in se multum quisque laudari, quae aut exigua laude aut etiam vituperatione digniora sunt. Unde Horatius Ennio vigilantior ait: laudis amore tumes? sunt certa piacula, quae te ter pure lecto poterunt recreare libello.

[¶3] 4. You see he thought that the swelling arising from the lust for human praise was to be, as it were, charmed away, like some serpent's bite, by healing words. The Good Master has accordingly taught us by His apostle not to live right and do right with the object of being praised by men, that is. not to make the praise of men the motive of our doing right, and yet He has taught us for men's sake to seek men's praise. b For when good men are praised, the praise confers a benefit on those who bestow it, not on those who receive it. For as far as concerns the good, the fact that they are good is sufficient, but the others, whose interest it is to imitate the good, are to be congratulated when they bestow praise on the good, since by doing so they show' that they are pleased by those whom they praise in sincerity. So the apostle says in a certain passage, “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ,” c and he says in another passage, Please all men in all things, “even as I please all men in all things d”; but he adds the reason, “Not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved.” See what he sought in men's praise, of which he says further, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me. do; and the God of peace shall be with you.”a So the other things he mentioned above he included under the word “virtue,” saying, “If there be any virtue”; what he meant by the words, “Whatsoever things are of good report,” he followed up by the single, appropriate phrase, “If there be any praise.” So his words, “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ,” are to be understood in this way, as if he had said, If I were doing the good I do with the motive of receiving human praise, I should be ' swelling with the lust for praise.' " The apostle wanted therefore to please all men, and found joy in pleasing those whom he edified in Christ by receiving their praise, not those whose praise made him swell within himself. Why should I not therefore find pleasure in being praised by you, when you are (unless I am mistaken in you) a good man and bestow your praise upon the things which you admire and which it is profitable and wholesome for you to admire, even if they be lacking in me? This benefits not only you, but me too, for if they are lacking in me, it is wholesome for me to be shamed and inflamed with desire to acquire them. And so the qualities I recognize in your praises as my own I rejoice in possessing and in having you love them and me for their sake; those on the other hand that I fail to recognize as mine I yearn to acquire, not only in order to possess them for myself, but also to keep those who have a genuine love for me from being deluded when they praise me.

> Latin: 4. Ita tumorem de amore laudis humanae velut serpentis morsum medicinalibus verbis quasi excantandum putavit. Docuit itaque nos per apostolum suum magister bonus neque propterea nos recte vivere et recte facere, ut laudemur ab hominibus, id est finem recti nostri non in hominum laudibus ponere et tamen propter ipsos homines quaerere laudes hominum. Etenim cum laudantur boni, non laudatis sed laudantibus prodest. Nam illis, quantum ad ipsos adtinet, quod boni sunt sufficit; sed eis, quibus expedit imitari bonos, gratulandum est, cum ab eis laudantur boni, quoniam sic indicant eos sibi placere, quos veraciter laudant. Dicit ergo apostolus quodam loco: Si hominibus placerem, Christi servus non essem, et idem dicit alio loco: Placete omnibus per omnia, sicut et ego omnibus per omnia placeo, sed adiungens causam: Non quaerens quod mihi utile est, sed quod multis, ut salvi fiant. Ecce quod quaerebat in laude hominum, ubi etiam dicebat: De cetero, fratres, quaecumque sunt vera, quaecumque pudica, quaecumque casta, quaecumque sancta, quaecum- que carissima, quaecumque bonae famae, si qua virtus, si qua laus, haec cogitate; quae didicistis et accepistis et audistis et vidistis in me, haec agite et deus pacis erit vobiscum. Cetera igitur quae supra commemoravit, virtutis nomine amplexus est, dicens “si qua virtus;” illud autem quod subiecit “quaecumque bonae famae,” alio uno verbo congruo prosecutus est dicendo “si qua laus.” Quod itaque ait: Si hominibus placerem, Christi servus non essem, sic utique accipiendum est tamquam dixerit: “Si bona quae facio, fine laudis humanae facerem, laudis amore, tumescerem.” Volebat ergo apostolus placere omnibus et eis placere gaudebat, non quorum laudibus tumescebat in se ipso, sed quos laudatus aedificabat in Christo. Cur ergo me non delectet laudari abs te, cum et vir bonus sis, ne me fallas, et ea laudes quae amas et quae amare utile ac salubre est, etiam si non sint in me? Neque hoc tibi tantum sed etiam mihi prodest. Si enim non sunt in me, salubriter erubesco, atque ut sint, inardesco. Ac per hoc, quae agnosco mea in laude tua, gaudeo me habere et abs te illa ac me ipsum diligi propter illa; quae autem non agnosco, non solum ut ipse habeam, desidero consequi, verum etiam ne semper in mea laude fallantur qui me sinceriter diligunt.

[¶4] 5. See how much I have said, and I have not yet said what it is in your letter that delighted me far more than your eloquence, far more than your praise of myself. What else do you think it is, honoured Sir, than this, that I have gained the friendship of a man of your character, even without seeing you—if I ought to use the words “without seeing you,” when I have seen your mind, if not your body, in your letter; in it I gained an impression of you not, as before, from the testimony of my brethren, but for myself. Already, indeed, I had been told what manner of man you were, but I had not experienced what kind of man you were towards me. But I am sure that from this friendship of yours even my praises (which delight me in a way I have already sufficiently spoken of) will redound all the more richly to the profit of the Church, since you possess and study and admire and commend even my labours in defence of the Gospel against the remnant of ungodly demon-worshippers to such an extent that, in proportion to your high station. I gain all the greater reputation; illustrious yourself, you add lustre to their lowliness, and celebrated yourself, you celebrate them, and wherever you see that they can do good, you will certainly not allow them to remain unknown. If you ask me how I know that, it is as such that you have shown yourself to me in your letter. See now from this how great delight your letter was able to give me, if, with your good opinion of me, you think how delighted I am by gains for Christ. And when you inform me that you yourself, who have had the good fortune, as you say in your letter, to acquire Christian rights from your parents, your grandparents, and even your remotest ancestry, were yet helped by my efforts in the contest with pagan rites as by nothing else, can I think it a small matter, the amount of good that through your commendation and circulation my writings can bestow on others, and they numerous and famous, and through them easily and profitably on other people in need of some such message? Or with that thought in mind can I be imbued with the satisfaction of joys that are only slight or commonplace?

> Latin: 5. Ecce quam multa dixi et quid sit illud quod me longe amplius eloquio tuo, longe amplius laudibus meis in tuis litteris delectavit, non adhuc dixi. Quid autem putas esse, o bone homo, nisi quod te talem virum etiam non visum feci amicum, si tamen non visum dicere debeo, cuius non corpus sed animum in ipsis tuis litteris vidi, ubi de te non sicut antea fratribus meis, sed mihi credidi? Quis enim esses iam quidem acceperam, sed qualis erga me esses nondum tenebam. Ex hac amicitia tua etiam laudes meas, quae me quo fine delectent, satis dixi, multo uberius ecclesiae Christi non dubito profuturas, quando quidem etiam labores meos in defensione evangelii adversus reliquias impiorum daemonicolarum sic habes, sic legis, sic amas, sic praedicas, ut in eis tanto fiam notior, quanto es ipse nobilior; eos enim latentes inlustris inlustras clarusque declaras, et ubi prodesse posse perspicies, ignorari omnino non sines. Si unde id sciam quaeris, talis mihi apparuisti in litteris tuis. Hinc iam vide quantum me illae litterae delectare potuerint, si bene de me existimans, cogitas quantum me Christi lucra delectent. Iam vero quod te ipsum, qui, ut scribis, a parentibus, ab avis et postrema usque gentis prole Christi iura percipere potuisti, tamen adversus gentiles ritus ut numquam alias eisdem laboribus meis adiutum esse significas, parumne cogito quantum boni aliis et quam multis, quam claris et quam facile quamque salubriter per illos ceteris quibus talia conveniunt, possint scripta nostra te commendante ac disseminante conferre? Aut hoc cogitans possumne parvorum vel mediocrium gaudiorum iucunditate perfundi?

[¶5] 6. Since then I could not express in words the extent of the delight your letter gave me. I have spoken of that in it which was the source of my delight, and now I leave you to conjecture for yourself what I have been unable sufficiently to tell, that is, the delight it gave me. Take then, my son, take, excellent Sir, Christian that you are not on the surface only, but with Christian love—take, I repeat, those books of my Confessions that you asked for; in them behold me. so that you praise me not beyond what I am; in them give your belief to me, not to others who speak of me; in them observe me and see what I was of myself, by myself, and if anything in me gives you pleasure, join me in praising for it Him Whom I desired to have praise from me, and not myself; for “He hath made us and not we ourselves” a—indeed we had destroyed ourselves, but He Who made us, re-made us. And when in them you find me, pray for me that I may not suffer defeat, b but may be made complete; pray, my son, pray. I realize what I am saying; I know what I am asking; let it not seem to you unfitting and beyond your merits; you will deprive me of great assistance, if you do it not. Pray for me, not only you, but all others who have learned to love me from your lips; inform them of this my request, or rather, if you esteem me highly, consider that my request is a command; in any case, grant my request or carry out my command: pray for me. Read God's letters and you will find that the apostles themselves, the leaders a of the flock, requested this from their children or enjoined it on their hearers. For myself, since you make the same request from me for yourself, He Who answers prayer sees to what extent I am doing it, and saw to what extent I was doing it even before; but in this matter do you show me an equal return of love. We are your overseers, and you are God's flock. Reflect and see that our dangers are greater than yours, and pray for us (for this profits both us and you) that we may render a good account of you to the Chief Shepherd b and Head of us all and that we may likewise escape this world's allurements, more dangerous than its afflictions, unless when its peace makes for that for which the apostle warned us to pray, that is, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”c For if godliness and honesty be wanting, what is quietness and peaceableness from those and the other evils of the world but an opportunity for self-indulgence and destruction, either by inviting to it or by assisting towards it? So, then, that we may obtain this " quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty " which my prayers ask for you, let your prayers ask it for me, wherever you are, wherever we are; for He is everywhere, “Whose we are.”d I am sending other books as well, though you did not ask for them; I did not want to do only what you asked and nothing more.

> Latin: 6. Quia igitur non potui verbis explicare quantam delectationem de tuis litteris ceperim, unde me delectaverint, dixi. Iam quod nequivi satis dicere, id est quantum delectaverint, tibi coniciendum relinquo. Sume itaque, mi fili, sume, vir bone et non in superficie sed Christiana caritate Christiane, sume, inquam, etiam libros quos desiderasti, confessionum mearum; ibi me inspice, ne me laudes ultra quam sum, ibi non aliis de me crede sed mihi, ibi me adtende et vide quid fuerim in me ipso per me ipsum. Et si quid in me tibi placuerit, lauda ibi mecum quem laudari volui de me, neque enim me, quoniam ipse fecit nos et non ipsi nos; nos autem perdideramus nos, sed qui fecit, refecit. Cum autem ibi me inveneris, ora pro me, ne deficiam, sed perficiar; ora, fili, ora. Sentio quid dicam, scio quid petam; non tibi videatur indignum et quasi ultra merita tua; fraudabis me magno adiutorio, si non feceris. Non solum tu, sed etiam omnes qui me ex ore tuo di- lexerint, orate pro me. Hoc eis me petivisse indica, aut, si multum nobis tribuitis, iussisse nos existimate quod petimus; et tamen date petentibus vel obtemperate iubentibus: orate pro nobis. Lege litteras dei et invenies ipsos arietes nostros apostolos petisse hoc a filiis suis sive praecepisse auditoribus suis. Ego certe, quoniam hoc a me petisti pro te, quantum faciam, videt qui exaudiat, qui videbat quia et ante faciebam; sed redde etiam in hac re dilectionis vicem. Praepositi vestri sumus, grex dei estis; considerate et videte pericula nostra maiora esse quam vestra, et orate pro nobis—hoc enim et nobis conducit et vobis—ut bonam rationem de vobis reddamus pastorum principi et omnium nostrum capiti pariterque evadamus huius mundi periculosiores blanditias quam molestias, nisi cum pax eius ad hoc proficit quod apostolus orare nos monuit, id est ut quietam vitam et tranquillam agamus in omni pietate et caritate. Si enim desit pietas et caritas, quid est ab illis et a ceteris mundi malis tranquillitas et quies, nisi luxuriae perditionisque materies sive invitamentum sive adiumentum? Ut ergo habeamus quietam et tranquillam vitam in omni pietate et caritate, quod oro pro vobis, orate pro nobis, ubicumque estis, ubicumque sumus; nusquam enim non est, cuius sumus.

[¶6] 7. They are On Faith in Things Unseen. On Patience. On Continence, On Providence, and a bulky book On Faith, Hope and Charity. If you read all these while in Africa, send me your opinion of them; either send it to me or send it to a place from which it can be sent to me by my lord, the Senior Aurelius. a Yet wherever you are, I hope to receive letters from you and to send some to you while I am able. I have been very glad to receive the materials you were kind enough to send to the assistance both of my health, though it is only of the body, since you want me to suffer no impediment in the devotion of my time to God, and also of our library, b so that we may have the means of either preparing books or repairing them. May the Lord recompense you, both in this life and in the life to come, with those blessings He has prepared c for such as He has willed that you should be! I beg you to convey my greetings once again, as you did before, to the pledge of peace d entrusted to you and very dear to us both.

> Latin: 7. Misi et alios libros, quos non petisti, ne hoc tantum modo facerem quod petisti: de fide rerum quae non videntur, de patientia, de continentia, de providentia, et unum grandem de fide et spe et caritate. Hos omnes si dum es intra Africam, legeris, iudicium tuum mitte de illis, aut mitte nobis aut quod nobis a domino sene Aurelio mittatur, ibi dimitte. Quamquam et ubicumque fueris, speramus inde litteras tuas et hinc tu, dum possumus, nostras. Suscepi gratissime quae misisti, ubi et salutem meam quamvis corporalem. quoniam vis me utique sine impedimento malae valitudinis deo vacare, et bibliothecam nostram, ut sit unde libri vel parentur vel reparentur, adiuvare dignatus es. Rependat tibi dominus et hic et in futuro saeculo bona quae talibus, qualem te esse voluit, praeparavit. Pignus pacis apud te depositum nostrumque utrique dulcissimum, sicut ante a me salutari, ita nunc resalutari peto.