1. I. Never did any man know another's features as well as I have come to know what peaceful joy you find in your studies in the Lord and what truly noble application you give to them. My desire for thorough acquaintance with you is of the strongest, yet I lack only one small portion of you. namely your bodily presence. But, I can assure you, even that has been to a large extent imprinted on my mind by the account given me by brother Alypius. now a much revered bishop, but even then, when he saw you, well worthy of that office. I saw him on his return, but even before then, while he was seeing you there, I too saw you. though with his eyes. For anyone who knows us both would say that he and I are distinct individuals in body only, not in mind; I mean in our harmoniousness and trusty friendship, not in merit, in which he far outstrips me. So it is not presumptuous of me, as if I were a stranger to you, since you already cherish affection for me from the unity of spirit, first of all, that makes us strive for one common end and then, from what Alypius has told you of me. to commend to your fraternal kindness our brother Profuturus b; it is my hope that through my efforts on his behalf and then through your assistance he really will “profit”—except perhaps that he is the kind of man who will give you a better opinion of me than I have given you of him. At this point I should perhaps have laid down my pen if I were satisfied with the usual formal letter, but so many remarks swarm into my mind that I must exchange with you about the studies with which we are occupied in Jesus Christ, our Lord, who even through your Charity is pleased to provide us, in no stinted manner, with many benefits and, so to speak, resources for the journey He has prescribed.
1. I. Numquam aeque quisquam facie cuilibet innotuit quam mihi tuorum in domino studiorum quieta laetitia et vere exercitatio liberalis. Quamquam ergo percupiam omnino te nosse, tamen exiguum quiddam tui minus habeo, praesentiam videlicet corporis. Quam ipsam etiam, posteaquam te beatis-simus nunc episcopus tunc vero iam episcopatu dignus frater Alypius vidit remeansque a me visus est, negare non possum magna ex parte mihi esse relatu eius inpressam et ante reditum, cum te ille ibi videbat, ego videbam sed oculis eius. Non enim animo me atque illum sed corpore duos, qui noverit, dixerit, concordia dum taxat et familiaritate fidissima, non meritis, quibus ille antecellit. Quia ergo me primitus communione spiritus:, quo in unum nitimur, deinde illius ex ore iam diligis, nequaquam inpudenter quasi aliquis ignotus commendo germanitati tuae fratrem Profuturum, quem nostris conatibus, deinde adiu- torio tuo, vere profuturum speramus, nisi forte quod talis est, ut ipse tibi per eum fiam commendatior quam ille per me. Hactenus fortasse scribere debuerim, si esse vellem epistularum sollemnium more contentus. Sed scatet animus in loquelas communicandas tecum de studiis nostris quae habemus in Christo Iesu domino nostro, qui nobis multas utilitates et viatica quaedam demonstrati a se itineris etiam per tuam caritatem non mediocriter ministrare dignatur.
2. II. We beg you then (and we are joined in this by all the company of students in the African churches) not to refuse to devote toil and trouble to translating the works of those who have so excellently expounded our Scriptures in Greek. You can put us in possession of those notable commentators and of one in particular, whose name you utter in your writings with more than usual pleasure. a But in translating the holy canonical writings into Latin I should not like you to follow any other method than that in which you translated Job, namely by applying signs to show wherein your translation differs from that of the Seventy, whose authority is of the weightiest. But I should be incredibly surprised if anything is found at this time of day in the Hebrew manuscripts that has escaped so many translators possessing expert knowledge of that language. I leave the Seventy out of account; of their unanimity of mind or of inspiration, greater than if only one man had been concerned, I should not venture to express a definite opinion in any direction, except that I think there can be no question that in this sphere they must be conceded an outstanding authority. I am more concerned about the later translators; they are said to have possessed a more thorough grip of the course and the rules of Hebrew words and phrases, and yet they are not only at variance with each other, but have also left many points that have remained to be unearthed and brought to light after so long. For if these points are obscure, then it is quite credible that you too may go astray in them; if they are clear, it is incredible that they could have gone astray in them. I should like to ask you of your kindness to explain the reasons for this state of things and to give me some assurance about it.
2. II. Petimus ergo et nobiscum petit omnis Africa-narum ecclesiarum studiosa societas, ut interpretandis eorum libris qui graece scripturas nostras quam optime tractaverunt, curam atque operam inpendere non graveris. Potes enim efficere, ut nos quoque habeamus tales illos viros et unum potissimum, quem tu libentius in tuis litteris sonas. De vertendis autem in linguam latinam sanctis litteris canonicis laborare te nollem, nisi eo modo quo Iob interpretatus es, ut signis adhibitis, quid inter hanc tuam et LXX, quorum est gravissima auctoritas, interpretationem distet, appareat. Satis autem nequeo mirari si aliquid adhuc in hebraeis exemplaribus invenitur, quod tot interpretes illius linguae peritissimos fugerit. Omitto enim LXX, de quorum vel consilii vel spiritus maiore concordia quam si unus homo esset, non audeo in aliquam partem certam ferre sententiam, nisi quod eis praeminentem auctoritatem in hoc munere sine controversia tribuendam existimo. Illi me plus movent. qui, cum posteriores interpretarentur et verborum locutionumque hebraearum viam atque regulas mordacius, ut fertur, tenerent, non solum inter se non consenserunt, sed etiam reliquerunt multa, quae tanto post eruenda et prodenda remanerent. Si enim obscura sunt, te quoque in eis falli posse creditur; si manifesta, illos in eis falli potuisse non creditur. Huius igitur rei pro tua caritate expositis causis certum me facias obsecraverim.
3. III. I have been reading some books that are said to be by you, on the Epistles of the Apostle Paul: in seeking to expound Galatians. you reached that passage in which the Apostle Peter is withheld from a piece of pernicious deceit. a To see there the defence of falsehood undertaken by a man like you or by some other person (if another person was the author) has caused me, I confess, no small grief, which I shall continue to feel until the objections that trouble my mind are disproved, if they really can be disproved. For it seems to me very disastrous to believe that there can be any falsehood in the sacred books—I mean that those men who wrote and transmitted to us the Scripture, in any way lied in what they wrote. They are two quite different questions, whether it ever accords with a good man's character to lie, and whether a writer of the Holy Scriptures should have lied—nay, they are not really different questions, there is no question about it. Admit even a single well-meant falsehood a into such an exalted authority, and there will not be left a single section of those books which, if appearing to anyone to present difficulties from the point of view of practice or to be hard to believe from the point of view of doctrine, will escape, by the same very baneful principle, from being classified as the deliberate tact of an author who was lying.
3. III. Legi etiam quaedam scripta, quae tua dicerentur, in epistulas apostoli Pauli,quarum ad Galatas cum enodare velles, venit in manus locus ille, quo apostolus Petrus a perniciosa simulatione revocatur. Ibi patrocinium mendacii susceptum esse vel abs te tali viro vel a quopiam, si alius illa scripsit, fateor, non mediocriter doleo, donec refellantur, si forte refelli possunt, ea quae me movent. Mihi enim videtur exitiosissimc credi aliquod in libris sanctis esse mendacium, id est, eos homines per quos nobis illa scriptura ministrata est atque conscripta, aliquid in libris suis fuisse mentitos. Alia quippe quaestio est, sitne aliquando mentiri viri boni, et alia quaestio est, utrum scriptorem sanctarum scripturarum mentiri oportuerit, immo vero non alia, sed nulla quaestio est. Admisso enim semel in tantum auctoritatis fastigium officioso aliquo mendacio, nulla illorum librorum particula remanebit, quae non, ut cuique videbitur vel ad mores difficilis vel ad fidem incredibilis, eadem perniciosissima regula ad mentientis auctoris consilium officiumque referatur.
4. If the Apostle Paul was lying when he rebuked the Apostle Peter with the words, “If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?” b and he approved of Peter's action while condemning him by word and pen with the ostensible object of soothing the mind of those who were raging against him, what answer shall we make when perverse men arise and forbid marriage (as the Apostle foretold would happen c), declaring that all that he said about strengthening the marriage-bond d was a lie told for the sake of those men who from love of their wives might have made an uproar, that clearly those were not his real sentiments, but were meant to allay their antagonism? There is no need to give many illustrations. There might appear to be well-meant falsehoods even about the praise of God, aiming at inflaming love for Him in men comparatively hard of heart, and on those terms nowhere in the holy books would the authority of unadulterated truth stand unchallenged. Do we not observe the great care with which the same apostle commends truth in the words: “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain; yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ; whom He raised not up” a? If anyone should say to him: “What is it in this lie that shocks you, when, even if what you say is untrue, it very greatly redounds to the glory of God?” would he not denounce the madness of such a suggestion and with every available word and sign open to the light the inmost secrets of his heart, declaring that to praise falsehood in God was no less a sin, perhaps even a much greater one, than to cast aspersion upon His truth? An effort must be made to bring to a knowledge of the sacred Scriptures a man who will have such a reverent and truthful opinion of the holy books that he would refuse to find delight in a well-meant falsehood anywhere in them, and would rather pass over what he does not understand than prefer his own intelligence to their truth. For indeed when he expresses such a preference, he demands credence for himself and attempts to destroy our confidence in the authority of the holy Scriptures.
4. Si enim mentiebatur apostolus Paulus, cum apostolus Petrum obiurgans diceret: Si tu, cum sis Iudaeus, gentiliter et non iudaice vivis, quem ad modum gentes cogis iudaizare? et recte illi videbatur Petrus fecisse, quem non recte fecisse et dixit et scripsit, ut quasi animos tumultuantium deleniret, quid respondebimus, cum exsurrexerint perversi homines prohibentes nuptias, quos futuros ipse praenuntiavit, et dixerint totum illud, quod idem apostolus de matrimoniorum iure firmando locutus est, propter homines, qui dilectione coniugum tumultuari poterant, fuisse mentitum, scilicet non quod hoc senserit, sed ut illorum placaretur adversitas? Non opus est multa commemorare. Possunt enim videri etiam de laudibus dei esse officiosa mendacia, ut apud homines pigriores dilectio eius ardescat. Atque ita nusquam certa erit in sanctis libris castae veritatis auctoritas. Nonne adtendimus eundem apostolum cum ingenti cura commendandae veritatis dicere: Si autem Christus non resurrexit, inanis est praedicatio nostra, inanis est et fides vestra. Inveniatur autem et falsi testes dei. quia testimonium diximus adversus deum, quod suscitaverit Christum, quem non suscitavit? Si quis huic diceret: “Quid in hoc mendacio perhorrescis, cum id dixeris quod, etiam si falsum sit, ad laudem dei maxime pertinet,” nonne huius detestatus insaniam quibus posset verbis et significationibus in lucem penetralia sui cordis aperiret, clamans non minore aut fortasse etiam maiore scelere in deo laudari falsitatem quam veritatem vituperari? Agendum est igitur, ut ad cognitionem divinarum scripturarum talis homo accedat, qui de sanctis libris tam sancte et veraciter existimet, ut nolit aliqua eorum parte delectari per officiosa mendacia, potiusque id, quod non intellegit, transeat, quam cor suum praefuerat illi veritati. Profecto enim cum hoc dicit, credi sibi expetit et id agit, ut divinarum scripturarum auctoritatibus non credamus.
5. For my part I would use all the strength the Lord supplies to show that all those texts that are adduced to prove the expediency of falsehood ought to be understood in another sense, so that everywhere their unimpeachable veracity might be made apparent. For just as texts ought not to be lies in themselves, so they should lend no support to lies. But I leave this matter to your own intelligence; if you apply a more attentive consideration to the reading of them, you will perhaps see this more easily than I do. To that consideration you will be compelled by the reverent spirit that makes you recognize that the authority of the holy Scriptures becomes unsettled, so that anyone may believe what he likes in them and disbelieve what he does not like, if it be once admitted that those men through whom they were delivered to us could in their writings have uttered some well-meant lies. But perhaps you mean to provide us with some rules for discerning when lying is expedient and when it is not. If this can be done, I beg you not to couch your explanation in terms that are false or equivocal, nor, by the very true humanity of our Lord, to consider me burdensome or presumptuous. For a mistake on my part that favours truth is, I will not say no fault at all, but certainly no serious fault, if in you the truth can rightly favour lying.
5. Et ego quidem qualibuscumque viribus quas dominus suggerit, omnia illa testimonia quae adhibita sunt adstruendae utilitati mendacii, aliter oportere intellegi ostenderem, ut ubique eorum firma veritas doceretur. Quam enim testimonia mendacia esse non debent, tam non debent favere mendacio. Sed hoc intellegentiae relinquo tuae. Admota enim lectioni diligentiore consideratione, multo id fortasse facilius videbis quam ego. Ad hanc autem considerationem coget te pietas, qua cognoscis fluctuare auctoritatem divinarum scripturarum, ut in eis quod vult quisque credat, quod non vult non credat, si semel fuerit persuasum aliqua illos viros per quos nobis haec ministrata sunt, in scripturis suis officiose potuisse mentiri, nisi forte regulas quasdam daturus es, quibus noverimus ubi oporteat mentiri et ubi non oporteat. Quod si fieri potest, nullo modo mendacibus dubiisque rationibus id explices quaeso, nec me onerosum aut inpudentem iudices per humanitatem veracissimam domini nostri. Nam ut non dicam nulla, certe non magna culpa meus error veritati favet, si recte in te potest veritas favere mendacio.
6. IV. There are many other matters about which I should like to have converse with your friendly spirit and to discuss with reference to Christian studies, but for this desire of mine no letter is sufficient; I can do that more fruitfully through the brother whom I am glad to send to be admitted to the nurture of your pleasant and profitable conversation. And yet even he (I apologize to him for saying this) has perhaps not the capacity to receive all I should like. But still I should not reckon myself his superior in any respect, for I confess that I have more room for receiving from you than he has; but I see him becoming fuller of you, and in that there is no doubt that he surpasses me. When he returns, as I trust he will succeed in doing with God's, help, and shares with me his understanding that you have richly stored, he is not likely to satisfy the void and the eagerness that I shall still have for your thoughts and feelings, and so I shall even then be the poorer and he the richer. The same brother, however, carries with him some of my writings, to which, if you have the condescension to read them, please apply an unbiased and brotherly severity. For I take the words of Scripture, “The righteous shall correct me with pity and reprove me. but the oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head,” a to mean this, that he is the greater friend whose censure heals than he whose flattery anoints the head. When I myself read over what I have written. I find the greatest difficulty in judging it lightly, being either over-cautious or over-rash. I catch occasional sight of my faults, but I prefer to hear of them from better men, lest after censuring myself, perchance rightly, I fall again into self-flattery and think that my judgement of myself was more finical than fair.
6. IV. Multa alia cum sincerissimo corde tuo loqui cuperem et de christiano studio conferre, sed huic desiderio meo nulla epistula sat est. Uberius id possum per fratrem quem miscendum et alendum dulcibus atque utilibus sermocinationibus tuis misisse me gaudeo. Et tamen, quantum vellem, nec ipse, quod eius pace dixerim, forsitan capit. Quamquam nihilo me illi praetulerim; ego enim me fateor tui capaciorem, sed ipsum video fieri pleniorem, quo me sine dubitatione antecellit. Et posteaquam redierit, quod domino adiuvante prosperatum iri spero, cum eius pectoris abs te cumulati particeps fuero, non est impleturus quod in me adhuc vacuum erit atque avidum sensorum tuorum. Ita fiet, ut ego etiam tunc egentior sim, ille copiosior. Sane idem frater aliqua scripta nostra fert secum. Quibus legendis si dignationem adhibueris, etiam sinceram fraternamque severitatem adhibeas quaeso. Non enim aliter intellego, quod scriptum est: Emendabit me iustus in misericordia ei arguet me; oleum autem peccatoris non inpinguet caput meum, nisi quia magis amat obiurgator sanans quam adulator unguens caput. Ego autem difficillime bonus iudex lego, quod scripserim, sed aut timidior recto aut cupidior. Video etiam interdum vitia mea, sed haec malo audire a melioribus, ne, cum me recte fortasse reprehendero, rursus mihi blandiar et meticulosam potius mihi videar in me quam iustam tulisse sententiam.