St. Augustine
aeternum in adiutorio altissimi, qui habitatis unanimes in domo, pater materque fratres filiorum et cuncti unius patris filii memores nostri.
1Epistula mea, quam pervexit carissimus filius et condiaconus noster Timotheus, iam parata erat profecturo, quando filii nostri Quodvultdeus et Gaudentius ad nos venerunt cum litteris tuis. Inde factum est, ut continuo proficiscens non adferret responsionem meam, quoniam post illorum adventum quantulumcumque apud nos inmoratus est et profecturus per horas singulas videbatur. Sed etsi per eum respondissem, adhuc debitor forem. Nam et nunc, quod videor respondisse, debitor sum, non dico caritatis, quam tanto magis debemus quanto amplius inpenderimus, cuius nos perpetuos debitores ostendit apostolus dicens: Nemini quicquam debeatis, nisi ut
Letters of St. Augustine
placea of the Most High,” you who “in one house dwell together in oneness of heart,”b father and mother, of the same brotherhood as your children, and all of you children of one Father. Remember us.
This letter from me, which has been brought to you1 by my very dear son and fellow-deacon, Timothy,d was ready for his departure, when my sons Quodvultdeus and Gaudentiuse reached us with a letter from you. That is the reason why Timothy, who was departing forthwith, did not bring a reply from me, since after their arrival he waited with us here only a very short time and was apparently on the point of departure at any minute. But even if I had sent a reply by him, I should still be in your debt, for even now, though I seem to have replied, I am in your debt, I do not mean for affection, for the more we have paid of that, the more we owe (we are always in debt for it, as the Apostle’s words show, “Owe
- aPs. xc. 1 (after the Septuagint).
- bPs. lxvii. 7 (after the Septuagint).
- cSee for Severus p. 108 note b.
- dProbably the Timothy about whom Augustine had already written to Severus in Epp. lxii. and lxiii. In Ep. cclxiii. Augustine writes a consolatory letter on the death of a deacon Timothy, who may be the same.
- eThese two names are common in Africa at this time, and the individuals cannot be identified with certainty. Peculiar to Africa seems to have been the habit, best known from the English Puritans, of employing these religious names: Augustine’s own son was called Adeodatus, and there are many examples of such names as Deogratias, Deumhabet, Deusdedit, Habetdeus, Vincemalus, etc.