St. Augustine
in te laudare et amare possimus, quid audiremus nisi ab aliquo interiore familiari tuo, qui vitam tuam non in superficie sed penitus nosset? De hoc itaque tuo bono, dei dono, me quoque delectat familiarius et aliquanto diutius loqui tecum. Scio me non esse oneri tibi, si aliquid prolixum mitto, quod legendo diutius sis nobiscum. Nam et hoc comperi, quod inter tuas multas magnasque curas facile ac libenter legas, nostrisque opusculis, etiam quae ad alios conscripsimus, si qua in manus tuas venire potuerunt, admodum delecteris; quanto magis, quod ad te scribitur, ubi tamquam praesenti loquar, et advertere dignaris attentius et accipere gratius! Ab hac ergo epistula perge ad librum, quem simul misi, qui tuae reverentiae, et cur conscriptus sit et cur ad te potissimum missus, ipse suo principio commodius intimabit.
Accepi litteras eximietatis tuae, quibus me ad te petis ut scriberem. Quod quidem non desiderares, nisi et hoc, quod me posse scribere existimasti,
Letters of St. Augustine
information could I have to be in a position to praise and love that too in you, save from someone intimately familiar with you, who knew your life not on the surface, but within? So, since you are thus, by God’s blessing, good possessing,a I too take pleasure in talking with you more intimately and at rather greater length. I know I shall not weary you if I send you something comprehensive, the reading of which will keep you all the longer in my company. For I have learned too that among your many arduous duties you are ready and glad to read my little books, and take considerable delight in them, when they happen to come into your hands, even if they are addressed to others; how much greater should be your pleasure in receiving one addressed to yourself, in which I speak to you as though you were present, and how much more thorough the attention you kindly bestow upon it! From this letter, then, pass on to the book that accompanies it; why it was written and why it was especially sent to you, your Reverence will more conveniently find out from the opening chapter.
I have received your Excellency’s letter, in which you ask me to write to you. This you would not desire, did you not believe that what you thought I would write to you would be acceptable and
- aThis jingle with bonum and donum is a favourite one with Augustine: Conf. i. 20. 31 “Dei mei dona sunt... et bona sunt”; ib. x. 4. 5; In Ps. 118, Serm. 17. 1 “quando ergo delectat bonum, magnum est Dei donum”; Civ. Dei, xv. 4 “haec bona sunt et sine dubio Dei dona sunt”; ib. xv. 22; Grat. et Arb. 6. 15 “si autem bona sunt, Dei dona sunt”; Epp. cx. 4 and ccxi. 3.
- bLargus is probably the proconsul of that name in Africa, 415, 418, and 419.