St. Augustine
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 et 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.
1De negotio interim quod non curare non possum, nihil certum scribere potui absente fratre Macario, qui cito dicitur rediturus, et quod deo adiuvante peragi potuerit, peragetur. De nostra autem pro eis sollicitudine quamquam fratres nostri cives qui aderant, securos vos facere possent, tamen digna res
Letters of St. Augustine
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 rightly, 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.
In the absence of brother Macarius,c I can give1 you no definite news meanwhile about that affair, which cannot fail to concern me. He is said to be returning soon, and what God’s help will enable me to carry through, shall be carried through. Although the brethren, our fellow-townsmen, who were with you, could assure you of our zeal on their behalf, still a piece of news deserving of that epistolary converse
- aPs. cxl. 5. Translated from the Septuagint.
- bLeontius suffered martyrdom about 303. A church built by him, the basilica Leontiana, is several times mentioned by Augustine (here and Serm. 260, 262). “That festival” (§ 2) is the celebration of his martyrdom beside his tomb, with that licence which Augustine has in general terms already denounced in No. 8 above.
- cMacarius is evidently one of Augustine’s monks at Hippo, but his identity is otherwise uncertain.