# On the Happy Life - Author: [Augustine of Hippo](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/augustine-of-hippo/) - Latin title: *De beata vita* - Date: 386 (November) (probable) - Source: Pius Knöll, ed., Sancti Aureli Augustini opera, sect. I, pars 3, CSEL 63 (Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1922) (Latin text: Pius Knöll, ed., Sancti Aureli Augustini opera, sect. I, pars 3, CSEL 63 (Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1922), digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/ - Passages: 36 ## On the Happy Life 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-1 - Source: CSEL 63:89 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine opens his dedication to Theodorus by comparing human life to a stormy sea from which few reach the harbor of philosophy and the happy life except when driven there by adversity. ### Latin text Si ad philosophiae portum, e quo iam in beatae uitae regionem solumque proceditur, uir humanissime atque magne Theodore, ratione institutus cursus et uoluntas ipsa perduceret, nescio, utrum temere dixerim multo minoris numeri homines ad eum peruenturos fuisse, quamuis nunc quoque, ut uidemus, rari admodum paucique perueniant. cum enim in hunc mundum siue deus siue natura siue necessitas siue uoluntas nostra siue coniuncta horum aliqua siue simul omnia — res enim multum obscura est, sed tamen a te iam inlustranda suscepta — uelut in quoddam procellosum salum nos quasi temere passimque proiecerit, quotusquisque cognosceret, quo sibi nitendum esset quaue redeundum, nisi aliquando et inuitos contraque obnitentes aliqua tempestas, quae stultis uidetur aduersa, in optatissimam terram nescientes errantesque conpingeret? ### English translation (Claude) If a course charted by reason and the will itself were to bring men to the harbor of philosophy, from which one now passes on into the region and land of the happy life, most cultivated and great Theodorus, I do not know whether it would be rash of me to say that far fewer men would have reached it, although even now, as we see, very few and rare reach it. For since God, or nature, or necessity, or our own will, or some combination of these, or all of them together (the matter is very obscure, but you have already undertaken to shed light on it) has cast us into this world as if at random and haphazardly, as into a stormy sea, how many would recognize where they ought to strive or by what way to return, unless at some time a storm, which fools think adverse, were to drive them, unwilling and resisting, ignorant and wandering, onto the land they most long for? ### Translation notes - The addressee is Flavius Manlius Theodorus, a Platonist and Christian of Milan, consul in 399. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 1 (CSEL 63:89; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-1). ## On the Happy Life 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-2 - Source: CSEL 63:89–90 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine distinguishes three kinds of people who come to philosophy: those who reach it early and easily, those who wander far and are brought back by misfortune, and those who remember their homeland but delay until adversity drives them home. ### Latin text Igitur hominum, quos philosophia potest accipere, tria quasi nauigantium genera mihi uideor uidere. unum est eorum, quos ubi aetas compos rationis adsumpserit, paruo impetu pulsuque remorum de proximo fugiunt seseque condunt in illa tranquillitate, unde ceteris ciuibus, quibus possunt, quo admoniti conentur ad se, lucidissimum signum sui alicuius operis erigunt. alterum uero est eorum superiorique contrarium, qui fallacissima facie maris decepti elegerunt in medium progredi longeque a sua patria peregrinari audent et eius saepe obliuiscuntur. hos si nescio quo et nimis latente modo a puppi uentus, quem prosperum putant, fuerit prosecutus, penetrant in altissima miseriarum elati atque gaudentes, quod eis usque quaque fallacissima serenitas uoluptatum honorumque blanditur. his profecto quid aliud optandum est quam quaedam in illis rebus, a quibus laeti excipiuntur, inprospera et, si parum est, saeuiens omnino tempestas contrarieque flans uentus, qui eos ad certa et solida gaudia uel flentes gementesque perducat? huius generis tamen plerique nondum longius euagati quibusdam non ita grauibus molestiis reducuntur. hi sunt homines, quos cum uel lacrimabiles tragoediae fortunarum suarum uel inanium negotiorum anxiae difficultates quasi nihil aliud habentes, quod agant, in libros doctorum sapientissimorumque hominum truserint, in ipso quodam modo portu euigilant, unde illos nulla maris illius promissa nimium falso ridentis excludant. est autem genus inter haec tertium eorum, qui uel in ipso adulescentiae limine uel iam diu multumque iactati tamen quaedam signa respiciunt et suae dulcissimae patriae quamuis in ipsis fluctibus recordantur et aut recto cursu in nullo falsi et nihil morati eam repetunt aut plerumque uel inter nubila deuiantes uel mergentia contuentes sidera uel nonnullis inlecebris capti bonae nauigationis tempora differentes errant diutius, saepe etiam periclitantur. quos item saepe nonnulla in fluxis fortunis calamitas, quasi conatibus eorum aduersa tempestas, in optatissimam uitam quietamque compellit. ### English translation (Claude) So among the men whom philosophy can receive I seem to see three kinds, as of sailors. The first is of those who, once the age of reason has taken them up, flee with a slight effort and stroke of the oars from close at hand, and hide themselves in that calm, from which they raise for the rest of their fellow citizens, as far as they can, a most brilliant beacon of some work of theirs, so that, warned by it, the others may strive to reach them. The second, the opposite of the first, is of those who, deceived by the most deceitful face of the sea, have chosen to go out into the deep and dare to wander far from their homeland, and often forget it. If by some means, I know not what and all too hidden, a wind that they think favorable has followed them from the stern, they push on into the depths of misery, elated and rejoicing, because the most deceitful calm of pleasures and honors everywhere flatters them. What else, surely, should be wished for them but some misfortune in the very things by which they are welcomed so gladly, and, if that is too little, a storm raging in full and a wind blowing against them, to bring them, even weeping and groaning, to sure and solid joys? Yet many of this kind, who have not yet wandered too far, are brought back by troubles that are not so grave. These are the men who, when either the lamentable tragedies of their fortunes or the anxious difficulties of empty business, as though they had nothing else to do, have driven them into the books of learned and very wise men, awake in a sense in the harbor itself, from which no promises of that sea, smiling all too falsely, can shut them out. And between these there is a third kind, of those who, either on the very threshold of youth or after being tossed about long and much, still look back to certain signs and remember their sweetest homeland even amid the waves; and either they make for it again on a straight course, deceived in nothing and delayed by nothing, or, more often, straying among the clouds, or watching the setting stars, or caught by some allurements, they put off the time for good sailing, wander longer, and often are even in danger. These too some calamity in their unstable fortunes often drives, like a storm adverse to their efforts, into the life they long for, the life of rest. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 2 (CSEL 63:89–90; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-2). ## On the Happy Life 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-3 - Source: CSEL 63:90–91 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Before the harbor of the happy life stands a dazzling mountain, the proud pursuit of empty glory, which lures and swallows those approaching philosophy. ### Latin text His autem omnibus, qui quocumque modo ad beatae uitae regionem feruntur, unus inmanissimus mons ante ipsum portum constitutus, quo etiam magnas ingredientibus gignit angustias, uehementissime formidandus cautissimeque uitandus est. nam ita fulget, ita mentiente illa luce uestitur, ut non solum peruenientibus nondumque ingressis incolendum se offerat et eorum uoluntati pro ipsa beata terra satisfacturum polliceatur sed plerumque de ipso portu ad sese homines inuitet, eosque nonnumquam detinet ipsa altitudine delectatos, unde ceteros despicere libeat. hi tamen admonent saepe uenientes, ne aut occultis subter scopulis decipiantur aut ad se ascendere facile putent, et qua sine periculo ingrediantur propter illius terrae uicinitatem, beniuolentissime docent. ita cum eis inuident uanissimam gloriam, locum securitatis ostendunt. nam quem montem alium uult intellegi ratio propinquantibus ad philosophiam ingressisue metuendum nisi superbum studium inanissimae gloriae, quod ita nihil intus plenum atque solidum habet, ut inflatos sibi superambulantes subcrepante fragili solo demergat ac sorbeat eisque in tenebras reuolutis eripiat luculentam domum, quam paene iam uiderant? ### English translation (Claude) But for all these, who are borne in whatever way toward the region of the happy life, there is one huge mountain set right before the harbor, which also creates great narrows for those entering, and it must be feared most intensely and avoided most carefully. For it shines so brightly, it is clothed in that lying light so splendidly, that it not only offers itself as a dwelling to those who are arriving and have not yet entered, and promises to satisfy their desire in place of the happy land itself, but often invites men to itself from the harbor itself, and sometimes holds them, delighted by its very height, from which it pleases them to look down on the rest. Yet these often warn those who are coming not to be deceived by hidden rocks beneath, or to think it easy to climb up to them, and most kindly teach them by what way they may enter without danger, because of the nearness of that land. So while they begrudge them the emptiest glory, they show them the place of safety. For what other mountain does reason mean to be understood, as something to be feared by those approaching or entering philosophy, but the proud pursuit of the emptiest glory, which has nothing full and solid within, so that it lets those who walk over it, puffed up, sink and swallows them as the fragile ground cracks beneath, and, when they have rolled back into darkness, snatches from them the shining home that they had almost seen? ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 3 (CSEL 63:90–91; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-3). ## On the Happy Life 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-4 - Source: CSEL 63:91–92 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine tells Theodorus how Cicero's Hortensius first fired him with love of philosophy, how he passed through the Manichees and the Academics, and how in Milan, through Ambrose, Plotinus, and an illness, he came to the harbor of philosophy. ### Latin text Quae cum ita sint, accipe, mi Theodore — namque ad id, quod desidero, te unum intueor teque aptissimum semper admiror — accipe, inquam, et quod illorum trium genus hominum me tibi dederit et quo loco mihi esse uidear et abs te cuius modi auxilium certus expectem. ego ab usque undeuicensimo anno aetatis meae, postquam in schola rhetoris librum illum Ciceronis, qui Hortensius uocatur, accepi, tanto amore philosophiae succensus sum, ut statim ad eam me ferre meditarer. sed neque mihi nebulae defuerunt, quibus confunderetur cursus meus, et diu, fateor, quibus in errorem ducerer, labentia in Oceanum astra suspexi. nam et superstitio quaedam puerilis me ab ipsa inquisitione terrebat et, ubi factus erectior illam caliginem dispuli mihique persuasi docentibus potius quam iubentibus esse cedendum, incidi in homines, quibus lux ista, quae oculis cernitur, inter summe diuina colenda uideretur. non adsentiebar sed putabam eos magnum aliquid tegere illis inuolucris, quod essent aliquando aperturi. at ubi discussos eos euasi maxime traiecto isto mari, diu gubernacula mea repugnantia omnibus uentis in mediis fluctibus Academici tenuerunt. deinde ueni in has terras; hic septentrionem cui me crederem didici. animaduerti enim et saepe in sacerdotis nostri et aliquando in sermonibus tuis, cum de deo cogitaretur, nihil omnino corporis esse cogitandum, neque cum de anima; nam id est unum in rebus proximum deo. sed ne in philosophiae gremium celeriter aduolarem, fateor, uxoris honorisque inlecebra detinebar, ut, cum haec essem consecutus, tum demum me, quod paucis felicissimis licuit, totis uelis, omnibus remis in illum sinum raperem ibique conquiescerem. lectis autem Plotini paucissimis libris, cuius te esse studiosissimum accepi, conlataque cum eis, quantum potui, etiam illorum auctoritate, qui diuina mysteria tradiderunt, sic exarsi, ut omnes illas uellem ancoras rumpere, nisi me nonnullorum hominum existimatio commoueret. quid ergo restabat aliud, nisi ut inmoranti mihi superfluis tempestas, quae putatur aduersa, succurreret? itaque tantum me arripuit pectoris dolor, ut illius professionis onus sustinere non ualens, qua mihi uelificabam fortasse ad Sirenas, abicerem omnia et optatae tranquillitati uel quassatam nauem fessamque perducerem. ### English translation (Claude) Since this is so, receive, my Theodorus (for it is to you alone that I look for what I desire, and I have always admired you as most fitting), receive, I say, both which of those three kinds of men has given me to you, and where I seem to myself to be, and what kind of help I confidently expect from you. From my nineteenth year, after I had received in the school of rhetoric that book of Cicero which is called Hortensius, I was kindled with such love of philosophy that I immediately thought of devoting myself to it. But I did not lack clouds to confuse my course, and for a long time, I confess, I gazed up at stars sinking into the Ocean, which led me into error. For a certain childish superstition frightened me away from inquiry itself; and when, grown bolder, I dispelled that fog and persuaded myself that I should yield to those who teach rather than to those who command, I fell in with men to whom this light that is seen with the eyes seemed to be among the things to be worshiped as supremely divine. I did not assent, but I thought that they were hiding something great under those wrappings, which they would one day reveal. But when I had shaken them off and escaped, especially after crossing this sea, the Academics for a long time held my helm amid the waves as it struggled against all the winds. Then I came to these lands; here I learned the north star to which I should entrust myself. For I noticed, often in the sermons of our priest and sometimes in your conversations, that when one thinks of God, one must think of nothing bodily at all, nor when one thinks of the soul; for it is the one thing in reality nearest to God. But, I confess, the allure of a wife and of honor held me back from flying swiftly into the lap of philosophy, so that only when I had obtained these would I at last, as has been granted to a very happy few, carry myself with all sails and all oars into that haven and rest there. But when I had read a very few books of Plotinus, of whom I hear you are a most devoted student, and had compared with them, as far as I could, the authority also of those who have handed down the divine mysteries, I was so inflamed that I would have wished to break all those anchors, had not the opinion of certain men held me back. What remained, then, except that, while I lingered over superfluous things, a storm thought adverse should come to my aid? And so such a pain in the chest seized me that, unable to bear the burden of that profession by which I was perhaps sailing toward the Sirens, I threw everything aside and brought my ship, battered and weary though it was, to the rest I longed for. ### Extrabiblical texts - Cicero, Hortensius (Cicero): allusion, high confidence - Plotinus (Plotinus, Enneads): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Men to whom this light … seemed to be among the things to be worshiped”: the Manichees. “Our priest” (sacerdos) is Ambrose, bishop of Milan. “Those who have handed down the divine mysteries” are probably the authors of Scripture, especially Paul. The reading “Plotini” is the one printed; some manuscripts read “Platonis”. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 4 (CSEL 63:91–92; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-4). ## On the Happy Life 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-5 - Source: CSEL 63:92–93 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine, still unsure about the nature of the soul, asks Theodorus for his friendship and dedicates to him this disputation on the happy life. ### Latin text Ergo uides, in qua philosophia quasi in portu nauigem. sed etiam ipse late patet; eius magnitudo quamuis iam minus periculosum non tamen penitus excludit errorem. nam cui parti terrae, quae profecto una beata est, me admoueam eamque contingam, prorsus ignoro. quid enim solidum tenui, cui adhuc de anima quaestio nutat et fluctuat? quare obsecro te per uirtutem tuam, per humanitatem, per animarum inter se uinculum atque conmercium, ut dexteram porrigas, hoc autem est, ut me ames et a me uicissim te amari credas carumque haberi. quod si inpetrauero, ad ipsam beatam uitam, cui te iam haerere praesumo, paruo conatu facillime accedam. quid autem agam quoue modo ad istum portum necessarios meos congregem ut cognoscas et ex eo animum meum — neque enim alia signa inuenio, quibus me ostendam — plenius intellegas, disputationum mearum quod mihi uidetur religiosius euasisse atque tuo titulo dignius, ad te scribendum putaui et ipso tuo nomine dedicandum. aptissime sane; nam de beata uita quaesiuimus inter nos nihilque aliud uideo, quod magis dei donum uocandum sit. eloquentia tua territus non sum. quidquid enim amo, quamuis non adsequar, timere non possum; fortunae uero sublimitatem multo minus. apud te enim uere, quamuis sit magna, secunda est; nam quibus dominatur, eosdem ipsos secundos facit. sed iam quid adferam, quaeso adtende. ### English translation (Claude) So you see in what philosophy I am sailing, as in a harbor. But the harbor itself is wide; and its size, though now less dangerous, does not wholly exclude error. For I do not know at all to which part of the land, which alone is truly happy, I should steer and reach it. For what solid ground have I held, when the question of the soul still wavers and fluctuates for me? Therefore I beseech you, by your virtue, by your kindness, by the bond and fellowship of souls with one another, to stretch out your right hand; that is, to love me and to believe that you in turn are loved and held dear by me. If I obtain this, I shall reach the happy life itself, to which I presume you already cling, with little effort and very easily. And so that you may know what I am doing and in what way I am gathering my friends into this harbor, and from that may understand my mind more fully (for I find no other signs by which to show myself), I have thought it right to address to you, and to dedicate with your own name, the one of my disputations that seems to me to have turned out more religious and more worthy of your title. And most fittingly; for we inquired among ourselves about the happy life, and I see nothing else that ought more to be called a gift of God. I am not frightened by your eloquence; for whatever I love, even if I do not attain it, I cannot fear; still less the loftiness of your fortune. For with you it is truly second, however great it is; for it makes those whom it rules second to itself. But now please attend to what I bring. ### Translation notes - “Second” plays on “secunda”, both “second” and “favorable”: fortune is subordinate in Theodorus, and makes those it rules subordinate. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 5 (CSEL 63:92–93; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-5). ## On the Happy Life 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-6 - Source: CSEL 63:93 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: On his birthday, the Ides of November, Augustine gathers his mother, brother, cousins, pupils, and son in the baths for the discussion. ### Latin text Idibus Nouembribus mihi natalis dies erat. post tam tenue prandium, ut ab eo nihil ingeniorum inpediretur, omnes, qui simul non modo illo die sed cottidie conuiuabamur, in balneas ad consedendum uocaui; nam is tempori aptus locus secretus occurrerat. erant autem — non enim uereor eos singulari benignitati tuae notos interim nominibus facere — in primis nostra mater, cuius meriti credo esse omne, quod uiuo, Nauigius frater meus, Trygetius et Licentius ciues et discipuli mei; nec Lartidianum et Rusticum consobrinos meos, quamuis nullum uel grammaticum passi sint. deesse uolui ipsumque eorum sensum communem ad rem, quam moliebar, necessarium putaui. erat etiam nobiscum aetate minimus omnium, sed cuius ingenium, si amore non fallor, magnum quiddam pollicetur, Adeodatus filius meus. quibus adtentis sic coepi. ### English translation (Claude) The Ides of November was my birthday. After a lunch so light that it hindered none of our wits, I called all of us who lived together, not only that day but every day, to sit together in the baths; for that secluded place had suggested itself as suited to the season. There were (for I am not afraid to make them known meanwhile by name to your singular kindness) first of all our mother, to whose merit I believe I owe everything I live by; Navigius my brother; Trygetius and Licentius, my fellow citizens and pupils; and I wished my cousins Lartidianus and Rusticus not to be absent, although they had not endured even a grammar teacher, and I thought their very common sense necessary for what I was undertaking. There was also with us, the youngest of all in age, but one whose talent, unless love deceives me, promises something great, my son Adeodatus. When they were attentive, I began thus. ### Translation notes - The Ides of November is 13 November (386). The digital text divides the sentence after “passi sint” with a full stop; translated as one sentence. “Our mother” is Monica, who is named later in the dialogue. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 6 (CSEL 63:93; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-6). ## On the Happy Life 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-7 - Source: CSEL 63:93–95 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine leads Navigius to admit that he knows he has a body and life, and the group agrees that food nourishes the body. ### Latin text Manifestum uobis uidetur ex anima et corpore nos esse compositos? — Cum omnes consentirent. Nauigius se ignorare respondit. — Cui ego: Nihilne omnino scis, inquam, an inter aliqua, quae ignoras, etiam hoc numerandum est? — Non puto me, inquit, omnia nescire. — Potesne nobis dicere aliquid eorum, quae nosti? — Possum, inquit. — Nisi molestum est, inquam, profer aliquid. — Et cum dubitaret: Scisne, inquam, saltem te uiuere? — Scio, inquit. — Scis ergo habere te uitam, si quidem uiuere nemo nisi uita potest. — Et hoc, inquit, scio. — Scis etiam corpus te habere? — Adsentiebatur. — Ergo iam scis te constare ex corpore et uita. — Scio interim, sed utrum haec sola sint incertus sum. — Ergo duo ista, inquam, esse non dubitas, corpus et animam, sed incertus es, utrum sit aliud, quod ad conplendum ac perficiendum hominem ualet. — Ita, inquit. — Hoc quale sit, alias, si possumus, quaeremus, inquam. nunc illud iam ex omnibus quaero, cum fateamur cuncti neque sine corpore neque sine anima esse posse hominem, cibos propter quid horum appetamus. - Propter corpus, inquit Licentius.— Ceteri autem cunctabantur uarioque sermone inter se agebant, quomodo possit propter corpus cibus necessarius uideri, cum appeteretur propter uitam et uita non nisi ad animam pertineret. — Tum ego: Uidetur, inquam, uobis ad eam partem cibum pertinere, quam cibo crescere robustioremque fieri uidemus? —Adsentiebantur praeter Trygetium. ait enim: Cur ego non pro edacitate mea creui? — Modum, inquam, suum a natura constitutum habent omnia corpora, ultra quam mensuram progredi nequeant. tamen ea mensura minora essent, si eis alimenta defuissent; quod et in pecoribus facilius animaduertimus et nemo dubitat cibis subtractis omnium animantium corpora macescere. — Macescere, inquit Licentius, non decrescere. — Satis est mihi, inquam, ad id quod uolo. etenim quaestio est, utrum ad corpus cibus pertineat. pertinet autem, cum eo subducto ad maciem deducitur. — Omnes ita esse censuerunt. ### English translation (Claude) “Does it seem clear to you that we are composed of soul and body?” When all agreed, Navigius answered that he did not know. I said to him: “Do you know nothing at all, or is this to be counted among some things you do not know?” “I do not think,” he said, “that I am ignorant of everything.” “Can you tell us something of the things you know?” “I can,” he said. “If it is not a bother,” I said, “bring something forward.” And when he hesitated, I said: “Do you at least know that you are alive?” “I know,” he said. “Then you know that you have life, since no one can live except by life.” “That too,” he said, “I know.” “Do you also know that you have a body?” He agreed. “Then you already know that you consist of body and life.” “I know it for now, but whether these are the only things I am not sure.” “So you do not doubt,” I said, “that these two exist, body and soul, but you are unsure whether there is something else that serves to complete and perfect a man.” “Yes,” he said. “What that may be we shall inquire another time, if we can,” I said. “Now I ask all of you this, since we all admit that a man can exist neither without a body nor without a soul: for the sake of which of these do we seek food?” “For the sake of the body,” said Licentius. But the others hesitated and discussed among themselves in various ways how food could seem necessary for the body, when it is sought for the sake of life and life belongs only to the soul. Then I said: “Does it seem to you that food belongs to that part which we see grow by food and become stronger?” They agreed, except Trygetius. For he said: “Why have I not grown in proportion to my appetite?” “All bodies,” I said, “have their own measure set by nature, beyond which they cannot go. Yet they would be smaller than that measure if nourishment had been lacking to them; we notice this more easily in cattle, and no one doubts that when food is withdrawn the bodies of all living things grow thin.” “Grow thin,” said Licentius, “not grow smaller.” “That is enough for my purpose,” I said. “For the question is whether food belongs to the body. And it does, since when food is taken away the body is reduced to thinness.” All judged that this was so. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 7 (CSEL 63:93–95; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-7). ## On the Happy Life 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-8 - Source: CSEL 63:95–96 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Monica argues that the soul is fed by understanding and knowledge, and Augustine adds that the minds of the unlearned are starved or filled with vice, which is a kind of nothingness. ### Latin text Quid ergo anima? inquam; nullane habet alimenta propria? an eius esca scientia uobis uidetur? — Plane, inquit mater, nulla re alia credo ali animam quam intellectu rerum atque scientia. — De qua sententia cum Trygetius dubium se ostenderet: Hodie, inquit illa, tu ipse nonne docuisti, unde aut ubi anima pascatur? nam post aliquantam prandii partem te dixisti aduertisse, quo uasculo uteremur, quod alia nescio qua cogitasses, nec tamen ab ipsa ciborum parte abstinueras manus atque morsus. ubi igitur erat animus tuus, quo tempore illud te uescente non adtendebat? inde, mihi crede, et talibus epulis animus pascitur, id est curis et cogitationibus suis, si per eas aliquid percipere possit. — De qua re cum dubitanter streperent: Nonne, inquam, conceditis hominum doctissimorum animos multo esse quam inperitorum quasi in suo genere pleniores atque maiores? — Manifestum esse dixerunt. — Recte igitur dicimus eorum animos, qui nullis disciplinis eruditi sunt nihilque bonarum artium hauserunt, ieiunos et quasi famelicos esse. — Plenos, inquit Trygetius, et illorum animos esse arbitror, sed uitiis atque nequitia. — Ista ipsa est, inquam, mihi crede, quaedam sterilitas et quasi fames animorum. nam quem ad modum corpus detracto cibo plerumque morbis atque scabie repletur, quae in eo uitia indicant famem, ita et illorum animi pleni sunt morbis, quibus sua ieiunia confitentur. etenim ipsam nequitiam matrem omnium uitiorum ex eo, quod nequicquam sit, id est ex eo, quod nihil sit, ueteres dictam esse uoluerunt. cui uitio quae contraria uirtus est, frugalitas nominatur. ut igitur haec a fruge, id est a fructu propter quandam animorum fecunditatem, ita illa ab sterilitate, hoc est a nihilo nequitia nominata est; nihil est enim omne, quod fluit, quod soluitur, quod liquescit et quasi semper perit. ideo tales homines etiam perditos dicimus. est autem aliquid, si manet, si constat, Si semper tale est, ut est uirtus. huius magna pars est atque pulcherrima, quae temperantia et frugalitas dicitur. sed si hoc obscurum est, quam ut id iam uos uidere possitis, certe illud conceditis, quia, si animi inperitorum etiam ipsi pleni sunt, ut corporum, ita animorum duo alimentorum genera inueniuntur, unum salubre atque utile, alterum morbidum atque pestiferum. ### English translation (Claude) “What then of the soul?” I said. “Does it have no food of its own? Or does knowledge seem to you to be its food?” “Clearly,” said my mother, “I believe the soul is fed by nothing else than by the understanding of things and knowledge.” When Trygetius showed himself doubtful about this opinion, she said: “Did you not yourself show today from what or where the soul is fed? For after some part of the meal you said that you had noticed what dish we were using only then, because you had been thinking of something or other, though you had not kept your hands and teeth from that part of the food. Where, then, was your mind at the time when it was not attending to what you were eating? From there, believe me, and on such feasts the mind is fed, that is, on its own thoughts and reflections, if through them it can perceive something.” When they murmured doubtfully about this, I said: “Do you not grant that the minds of very learned men are, as it were in their own kind, much fuller and greater than those of the unlearned?” They said that this was clear. “Then we rightly say that the minds of those who have been trained in no disciplines and have drunk in nothing of the liberal arts are hungry and, as it were, starving.” “I think,” said Trygetius, “that their minds too are full, but of vices and worthlessness.” “That very thing, believe me,” I said, “is a kind of barrenness and, as it were, hunger of minds. For just as the body, when food is taken away, is often filled with diseases and scabs, which are defects in it that show its hunger, so their minds too are full of diseases by which they confess their fasting. For the ancients held that worthlessness (nequitia) itself, the mother of all vices, was so called from its being ‘good for nothing’ (nequicquam), that is, from its being nothing. And the virtue opposed to this vice is called frugality (frugalitas). So, as this is named from fruit (frux), that is, from yield, because of a certain fruitfulness of minds, so that, worthlessness, is named from barrenness, that is, from nothing. For everything that flows, that dissolves, that melts and as it were is always perishing, is nothing. That is why we call such men ‘lost’. But something is, if it remains, if it stands firm, if it is always the same, as virtue is. A great and most beautiful part of virtue is what is called temperance and frugality. But if this is too obscure for you to see it yet, you certainly grant this: that if the minds of the unlearned are themselves also full, then, as with bodies, so with minds, two kinds of food are found, one healthy and useful, the other diseased and pestilent.” ### Extrabiblical texts - Cicero, Tusc. 3.8.17–18 (Cicero): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The etymologies of nequitia and frugalitas follow Cicero (Tusc. 3.8.17–18; 4.15.34); the Latin words are given in brackets because the wordplay depends on them. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 8 (CSEL 63:95–96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-8). ## On the Happy Life 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-9 - Source: CSEL 63:96 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine proposes a birthday feast for the mind as well as the body, and his companions eagerly accept. ### Latin text Quae cum ita sint, arbitror die natali meo, quoniam duo quaedam esse in homine conuenit inter nos, id est corpus atque animam, non me prandium paulo lautius corporibus nostris solum sed animis etiam exhibere debere. quod autem hoc sit prandium, si esuritis, proferam. nam si uos inuitos et fastidientes alere conabor, frustra operam insumam magisque uota facienda sunt, ut tales epulas potius quam illas corporis desideretis. quod eueniet, si sani animi uestri fuerint; aegri enim, sicut in morbis ipsius corporis uidemus, cibos suos recusant et respuunt. — Omnes se uultu ipso et consentiente uoce quidquid praeparassem iam sumere ac uorare uelle dixerunt. ### English translation (Claude) “Since this is so, I think that on my birthday, since we agree that there are two things in a man, namely body and soul, I ought to provide a somewhat richer meal not only for our bodies but also for our minds. And what this meal is, I will bring out if you are hungry. For if I try to feed you against your will and with distaste, I shall spend my effort in vain, and prayers should rather be made that you may desire such feasts more than those of the body. This will happen if your minds are healthy; for sick minds, as we see in the diseases of the body itself, refuse and spit out their food.” All said, with their very faces and with one voice, that they wished to take and devour whatever I had prepared. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 9 (CSEL 63:96; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-9). ## On the Happy Life 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-10 - Source: CSEL 63:96–97 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Monica says that only one who wants and has good things is happy, which Augustine praises as the very heart of philosophy and confirms from Cicero's Hortensius. ### Latin text Atque ego rursus exordiens: Beatos nos esse uolumus, inquam. — Uix hoc effuderam, occurrerunt una uoce consentientes. — Uideturne uobis, inquam, beatus esse, qui quod uult non habet? — Negauerunt. — Quid? omnis, qui quod uult habet, beatus est? — Tum mater: Si bona, inquit, uelit et habeat, beatus est, si autem mala uelit, quamuis habeat, miser est. — Cui ego arridens atque gestiens: Ipsam, inquam, prorsus, mater, arcem philosophiae tenuisti. nam tibi procul dubio uerba defuerunt, ut non sicut Tullius te modo panderes, cuius de hac sententia uerba ista sunt. nam in Hortensio, quem de laude ac defensione philosophiae librum fecit: ecce autem, ait, non philosophi quidem, sed promti tamen ad disputandum omnes aiunt esse beatos, qui uiuant ut ipsi uelint. falsum id quidem; uelle enim quod non deceat, id est ipsum miserrimum. nec tam miserum est non adipisci quod uelis, quam adipisci uelle quod non oporteat. plus enim mali prauitas uoluntatis adfert quam fortuna cuiquam boni. — In quibus uerbis illa sic exclamabat, ut obliti penitus sexus eius magnum aliquem uirum considere nobiscum crederemus me interim, quantum poteram, intellegente, ex quo illa et quam diuino fonte manarent. — Et Licentius: Sed dicendum, inquit, tibi est, ut beatus sit quisque, quid uelle debeat et quarum rerum eum oporteat habere desiderium. — Inuita me, inquam, natali tuo, quando dignaberis; quidquid apposueris libenter sumam. qua conditione hodie apud me ut epuleris, peto nec flagites, quod fortasse non est paratum. — Quem cum modestae ac uerecundae commonitionis suae paeniteret: Ergo illud, inquam, conuenit inter nos, neque quemquam beatum esse posse, qui quod uult non habet, neque omnem, qui quod uult habet, beatum esse? — Dederunt. ### English translation (Claude) And beginning again, I said: “We want to be happy.” I had scarcely uttered this when they agreed with one voice. “Does it seem to you,” I said, “that a man is happy who does not have what he wants?” They said no. “What then? Is everyone who has what he wants happy?” Then my mother said: “If he wants good things and has them, he is happy; but if he wants bad things, even if he has them, he is wretched.” Smiling at her and delighted, I said: “Mother, you have plainly taken the very citadel of philosophy. For no doubt you lacked only the words to express yourself as Tullius did just now, whose words on this opinion are these. For in the Hortensius, the book he wrote in praise and defense of philosophy, he says: ‘But look: not philosophers indeed, but people ready to argue, all say that those are happy who live as they themselves wish. That is false; for to want what is not fitting is itself most wretched. Nor is it so wretched not to obtain what you want as to want to obtain what you ought not. For depravity of will brings more evil than fortune brings anyone good.’” At these words she exclaimed in such a way that we quite forgot her sex and thought some great man was sitting with us, while I meanwhile understood, as far as I could, from what source, and how divine, her words flowed. And Licentius said: “But you must tell us what each person ought to want in order to be happy, and what things he should desire.” “Invite me on your birthday,” I said, “when you are so kind; whatever you serve, I will gladly take. On that condition I ask you to dine with me today, and not to demand what perhaps has not been prepared.” When he regretted his modest and respectful reminder, I said: “Then we agree on this: that no one can be happy who does not have what he wants, and that not everyone who has what he wants is happy?” They granted it. ### Extrabiblical texts - Cicero, Hortensius (Cicero): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The quotation is from Cicero's lost Hortensius (fragment preserved here). Monica's being taken for “some great man” is translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 10 (CSEL 63:96–97; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-10). ## On the Happy Life 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-11 - Source: CSEL 63:97–98 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The group agrees that happiness requires possessing something that always remains and cannot be lost, and concludes that whoever has God is happy. ### Latin text Quid illud? inquam, conceditis omnem, qui beatus non sit, miserum esse? — Non dubitauerunt. — Omnis igitur, inquam, qui quod uult non habet, miser est. — Placuit omnibus. — Quid ergo sibi homo conparare debet, ut beatus sit? inquam; forte enim etiam hoc isti nostro conuiuio subministrabitur, ne Licenti auiditas neglegatur; nam id, opinor, ei conparandum est, quod cum uult habet. — Manifestum esse dixerunt. — Id ergo, inquam, semper manens nec ex fortuna pendulum nec ullis subiectum casibus esse debet. nam quidquid mortale et caducum est, non potest a nobis, quando uolumus et quamdiu uolumus, haberi. — Adsentiebantur omnes. sed Trygetius: Sunt, inquit, multi fortunati, qui eas ipsas res fragiles casibusque subiectas tamen iucundas pro hac uita cumulate largeque possideant nec quicquam illis eorum quae uolunt desit. — Cui ego: Qui timet, inquam, uideturne tibi beatus esse? — Non uidetur, inquit. — Ergo quod amat quisque si amittere potest, potestne non timere? — Non potest, inquit. — Amitti autem possunt illa fortuita. non igitur hoc qui amat et possidet, potest ullo modo beatus esse. — Nihil repugnauit. hoc loco autem mater: Etiamsi securus sit, inquit, ea se omnia non esse amissurum, tamen talibus satiari non poterit. ergo et eo miser, quo semper est indiguus. — Cui ego: Quid, si, inquam, his omnibus abundans rebus atque circumfluens cupiendi modum sibi statuat eisque contentus decenter iucundeque perfruatur, nonne tibi uidetur beatus? — Non ergo, inquit, illis rebus, sed animi sui moderatione beatus est. — Optime, inquam, nec huic interrogationi aliud nec abs te aliud debuit responderi. ergo nullo modo dubitamus, si quis beatus esse statuit, id eum sibi conparare debere, quod semper manet nec ulla saeuiente fortuna eripi potest. — Hoc, inquit Trygetius, iam dudum consensimus. - Deus, inquam, uobis aeternus esse semper manens uidetur? — Hoc quidem, inquit Licentius, ita certum est, ut interrogatione non egeat, ceterique omnes pia deuotione concinuerunt. — Deum igitur, inquam, qui habet, beatus est. ### English translation (Claude) “What about this?” I said. “Do you grant that everyone who is not happy is wretched?” They did not doubt it. “So everyone,” I said, “who does not have what he wants is wretched.” All approved. “What, then, should a man acquire for himself in order to be happy?” I said. “For perhaps this too will be served at our banquet, so that Licentius's appetite is not neglected. For he should acquire, I think, what he has whenever he wants it.” They said this was clear. “So it must be something,” I said, “that always remains, that does not hang on fortune and is not subject to any chances. For whatever is mortal and perishable cannot be had by us when we want and for as long as we want.” All agreed. But Trygetius said: “There are many fortunate people who possess abundantly and generously these very things, fragile and subject to chance, yet pleasant for this life, and who lack nothing of what they want.” I said to him: “Does a man who is afraid seem to you to be happy?” “He does not,” he said. “Then if a man can lose what he loves, can he not be afraid?” “He cannot,” he said. “But those things of fortune can be lost. So whoever loves and possesses them cannot in any way be happy.” He made no objection. At this point my mother said: “Even if he were sure that he would not lose any of them, he still could not be satisfied with such things. So he is wretched in this too, that he is always in need.” I said to her: “What if, abounding and overflowing with all these things, he set a limit to his desire and, content with them, enjoyed them in a seemly and pleasant way: does he not seem to you happy?” “Then he is happy,” she said, “not by those things, but by the moderation of his own mind.” “Excellent,” I said; “no other answer should have been given to this question, and none other by you. So we have no doubt at all that, if anyone resolves to be happy, he must acquire for himself what always remains and cannot be snatched away by any raging fortune.” “We agreed on that long ago,” said Trygetius. “Does God seem to you,” I said, “to be eternal and always remaining?” “That,” said Licentius, “is so certain that it needs no question”; and all the rest joined in with pious devotion. “Then whoever has God,” I said, “is happy.” ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 11 (CSEL 63:97–98; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-11). ## On the Happy Life 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-12 - Source: CSEL 63:98–99 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The companions propose answers to who has God: one who lives well, one who does God's will, one who has no unclean spirit. ### Latin text Quod cum gaudentes libentissime acciperent: Nihil ergo, inquam, nobis iam quaerendum arbitror esse nisi, quis hominum habeat deum; beatus enim profecto is erit. de quo quaero, quid uobis uideatur. - Hic Licentius: Deum habet, qui bene uiuit. — Trygetius: Deum habet, inquit, qui facit quae deus uult fieri. — In cuius sententiam Lartidianus concessit. puer autem ille minimus omnium: Is habet deum, ait, qui spiritum inmundum non habet. — Mater uero omnia, sed hoc maxime adprobauit. Nauigius tacebat. quem cum interrogassem quid sentiret, illud ultimum sibi placere respondit. nec Rusticum percontari uisum est neglegendum, quaenam esset de re tanta eius sententia; qui mihi uidebatur non deliberatione magis quam pudore inpeditus silere. Trygetio consensit. ### English translation (Claude) When they accepted this joyfully and most willingly, I said: “Then I think we now have nothing to seek except which man has God; for he will surely be happy. I ask what you think about this.” Here Licentius said: “He has God who lives well.” Trygetius said: “He has God who does what God wills to be done.” Lartidianus came over to his opinion. But that boy, the youngest of all, said: “He has God who does not have an unclean spirit.” My mother approved of all of them, but of this one most of all. Navigius was silent. When I asked him what he thought, he answered that he liked the last answer. Nor did it seem right to neglect to ask Rusticus what his opinion was on so great a matter; he seemed to me to keep silent, held back not so much by deliberation as by shyness. He agreed with Trygetius. ### Translation notes - The youngest is Adeodatus, Augustine's son. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 12 (CSEL 63:98–99; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-12). ## On the Happy Life 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-13 - Source: CSEL 63:99–100 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine postpones the main question to the next day and offers as dessert a short argument against the Academics. ### Latin text Tum ego: Teneo, inquam, omnium placita de re magna sane et ultra quam nec quaeri quicquam oportet nec inueniri potest, si modo eam, ut coepimus, serenissime ac sincerissime inuestigemus. quod hodie quia longum est et habent in epulis suis et animi quandam luxuriem, si ultra modum in eas et uoraciter inruant — ita enim male quodam modo digerunt; unde ualetudini mentium non minus quam ab illa ipsa fame metuendum est — melius nos haec quaestio cras esurientes, si uidetur, accipiet. illud modo libenter ligurriatis uolo, quod subito mihi ministratori uestro in mentem suggestum est inferendum, et est, ni fallor — qualia solent ultima adponi — quasi scholastico melle confectum atque conditum. — Quo audito sese omnes quasi in elatum ferculum tetenderunt coagitaueruntque, ut dicere properarem, quidnam id esset. — Quid, inquam, putatis nisi cum Academicis totum, quod susceperamus, confectum esse negotium? — Quo accepto nomine tres illi, quibus res nota erat, sese erexerunt alacrius et uelut porrectis, ut fit, manibus inferentem ministrum adiuuerunt quibus potuerunt uerbis, nihil se iucundius audituros esse monstrantes. ### English translation (Claude) Then I said: “I hold everyone's opinions on a matter that is truly great, beyond which nothing ought to be sought and nothing can be found, provided we investigate it, as we have begun, very calmly and very sincerely. But because this is long for today, and minds too have a kind of excess at their feasts if they rush at them beyond measure and greedily (for in that way they digest badly, so to speak, and from this the health of minds is to be feared for no less than from hunger itself), this question will be better received by us tomorrow, when we are hungry, if you agree. For now I want you to savor gladly something that has suddenly come to my mind, as your server, to bring in; and it is, unless I am mistaken, like the things usually served last, made and seasoned with a sort of scholastic honey.” On hearing this, all stretched toward it as toward a dish being brought in, and pressed me to hurry and say what it was. “What do you think,” I said, “but that the whole business we had undertaken with the Academics is finished?” At that name the three to whom the matter was known roused themselves more eagerly, and, as if stretching out their hands, as happens, they helped the server bringing it in with whatever words they could, showing that they would hear nothing more pleasant. ### Translation notes - The three who knew the matter are those who had taken part in the dialogue Against the Academics (Licentius, Trygetius, and Navigius or Alypius; Alypius is absent here). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 13 (CSEL 63:99–100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-13). ## On the Happy Life 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-14 - Source: CSEL 63:100 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine argues that the Academics, who seek truth but never find it, do not have what they want and so are neither happy nor wise; most agree, while Licentius reserves judgment for Alypius. ### Latin text Tum ego ita rem posui: Si manifestum est, inquam, beatum non esse, qui quod uult non habet — quod paulo ante ratio demonstrauit — nemo autem quaerit, quod inuenire non uult, et quaerunt illi semper ueritatem — uolunt ergo inuenire, uolunt igitur habere inuentionem ueritatis — at non inueniunt, sequitur eos non habere quod uolunt, et ex eo sequitur etiam beatos non esse. at nemo sapiens nisi beatus: sapiens igitur Academicus non est. - Hic repente illi quasi totum rapientes exclamauerunt. sed Licentius adtentius et cautius aduertens timuit adsensionem atque subiecit: Rapui quidem uobiscum, si quidem exclamaui illa conclusione commotus. sed nihil hinc admittam in uiscera et partem meam seruabo Alypio; nam aut simul eam mecum lambet aut admonebit, cur non oporteat adtingere. — Dulcia, inquam, magis metuere Nauigius deberet splene uitioso. — Hic ille arridens: Plane me, inquit, talia sanabunt. nam nescio quo modo contortum hoc et aculeatum, quod posuisti, ut ait ille de melle Hymetio, acriter dulce est nihilque inflat uiscera. quare totum etiam palato aliquantum remorso tamen, ut possum, libentissime in medullas traicio. non enim uideo, quomodo redargui possit ista conclusio. — Prorsus nullo modo potest, inquit Trygetius; quare gaudeo iam diu cum illis me inimicitias suscepisse. nam qua nescio inpellente natura uel, ut uerius dicam, deo etiam nesciens, quomodo refellendi essent, tamen eis nimis aduersabar. ### English translation (Claude) Then I set out the matter thus: “If it is clear,” I said, “that he is not happy who does not have what he wants (as reason showed a little while ago), and no one seeks what he does not want to find, and they are always seeking the truth (so they want to find it, and therefore want to have the finding of truth), but they do not find it, it follows that they do not have what they want, and from that it follows also that they are not happy. But no one is wise unless he is happy. Therefore the Academic is not wise.” At this they suddenly cried out, as if snatching the whole dish. But Licentius, noticing more attentively and cautiously, feared to assent and added: “I snatched it with you, since I cried out, moved by that conclusion. But I will let nothing of it into my insides, and I will keep my portion for Alypius; for he will either lick it up together with me or warn me why I should not touch it.” “Navigius,” I said, “with his bad spleen, ought to fear sweets more.” At this he smiled and said: “Plainly such things will cure me. For somehow this twisted and pointed thing you have set out is, as someone says of Hymettian honey, sharply sweet, and does not bloat the insides at all. So, though my palate is somewhat stung, I swallow it all into my marrow as gladly as I can. For I do not see how that conclusion can be refuted.” “It cannot be in any way,” said Trygetius. “So I am glad that I took up hostilities against them long ago. For, driven by some nature, I know not what, or, to speak more truly, by God, even without knowing how they were to be refuted, I nevertheless strongly opposed them.” ### Translation notes - The saying about Hymettian honey being “sharply sweet” is unidentified. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 14 (CSEL 63:100; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-14). ## On the Happy Life 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-15 - Source: CSEL 63:100–101 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Licentius tries to defend the Academics by appeal to the absent Alypius, but Augustine presses him on each premise and Licentius contradicts himself. ### Latin text Hic Licentius: Ego, inquit, illos nondum desero. — Ergo, ait Trygetius, dissentis a nobis? — Numquidnam, ille inquit, uos ab Alypio dissentitis? — Cui ego: Non dubito, inquam, quin, si adesset Alypius, huic ratiunculae cederet. non enim tam absurde sentire poterat, ut aut beatus illi uideretur, qui tantum bonum animi, quod ardentissime habere uellet, non haberet, aut illos nolle inuenire ueritatem aut eum, qui beatus non sit, esse sapientem; nam his tribus quasi melle farre atque nuculeis illud quod metuis gustare confectum est. — Illene huic tam prauae puerorum inlecebrae cederet Academicorum tanta ubertate deserta, qua inundante hoc nescio quid breue aut obruetur aut pertrahetur? — Quasi uero, inquam, longum aliquid nos quaeramus praesertim aduersus Alypium; nam non mediocriter parua ista esse fortia et utilia satis sibi ipse de tuo corpore argumentatur. tu autem, qui elegisti de absentis auctoritate pendere, quid horum non probas? utrum beatum non esse, qui quod uult non habet? an illos negas uelle habere inuentam ueritatem, quam uehementer inquirunt? an uidetur tibi quisquam sapiens non beatus? — Prorsus beatus est, inquit, qui quod uult non habet, quasi stomachanter arridens. quod cum iuberem ut scriberetur: Non dixi, inquit exclamans. quod item cum annuerem scribi: Dixi, inquit. atque ego semel praeceperam, ut nullum uerbum praeter litteras funderet. ita adulescentem inter uerecundiam atque constantiam exagitatum tenebam. ### English translation (Claude) Here Licentius said: “I am not yet deserting them.” “Then,” said Trygetius, “you disagree with us?” “Do you,” he said, “disagree with Alypius?” I said to him: “I do not doubt that, if Alypius were here, he would yield to this little argument. For he could not think so absurdly that either a man would seem to him happy who did not have so great a good of the mind, which he most ardently wished to have; or that they do not want to find the truth; or that one who is not happy is wise. For from these three, as from honey, meal, and nuts, the thing you are afraid to taste has been made.” “Would he yield to this so shabby allurement of boys, deserting the great abundance of the Academics, whose flood will either overwhelm this little something or drag it away?” “As if,” I said, “we were looking for something long, especially against Alypius; for he himself argues sufficiently from your own body that these small things are not moderately strong and useful. But you, who have chosen to hang on the authority of an absent man, which of these do you not accept? That he is not happy who does not have what he wants? Or do you deny that they want to have found the truth that they seek so intensely? Or does anyone seem to you wise who is not happy?” “He certainly is happy,” he said, smiling as though irritated, “who does not have what he wants.” When I ordered this to be written down, he cried out: “I did not say it.” And when I again nodded for it to be written: “I did say it,” he said. And I had once instructed that not a word should be uttered except to be recorded. So I kept the young man tossed between shame and firmness. ### Translation notes - “From your own body”: probably a jest about Licentius's small build or his appetite; uncertain. “Not a word … except to be recorded” renders “nullum uerbum praeter litteras funderet”, referring to the stenographers who took down the discussion. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 15 (CSEL 63:100–101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-15). ## On the Happy Life 16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-16 - Source: CSEL 63:101–102 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: When Augustine explains the Academics to the others, Monica calls them “epileptics,” people who keep falling down, and the first day ends in laughter. ### Latin text Sed cum his uerbis eum iocantes quasi ad uescendam particulam suam prouocamus, animaduerti ceteros rei totius ignaros et scire cupientes, quid inter nos solos tam iucunde ageretur, sine risu nos intueri. qui mihi prorsus similes uisi sunt — quod plerumque solet- his, qui cum epulantur inter auidissimos rapacissimosque conuiuas, a rapiendo uel grauitate sese abstinent uel pudore terrentur. et quia ego inuitaueram et magni cuiusdam hominis personam atque, ut totum explicem, ueri hominis etiam in illis epulis inuitatorem sustinere docuisti, commouit me illa inaequalitas mensae nostrae et discrepantia. adrisi matri. atque illa liberrime, quod minus habebant, quasi de suo cellario promendum imperans: Iam dic uobis, inquit, et redde, qui sint isti Academici et quid sibi uelint. — Cui breuiter cum exposuissem aperteque ita, ut nemo illorum ignarus abscederet: Isti homines, inquit, caducarii sunt — quo nomine uulgo apud nos uocantur, quos comitialis morbus subuertit — et simul surrexit, ut abiret. atque hic omnes laeti ac ridentes interposito fine discessimus. ### English translation (Claude) But while with these words we were jokingly urging him to eat his portion, I noticed that the others, ignorant of the whole matter and wanting to know what was going on so pleasantly among us alone, were looking at us without laughing. They seemed to me exactly like those (as often happens) who, dining among very greedy and grasping guests, either keep themselves from snatching out of dignity or are frightened off by shame. And since I had invited them, and you have taught me to play the part of a great man, and, to explain it all, of a true man, as host even at those feasts, that inequality and unevenness of our table disturbed me. I smiled at my mother. And she, quite freely, as if ordering what they lacked to be brought from her own pantry, said: “Now tell us, and explain, who these Academics are and what they mean.” When I had explained it to her briefly and clearly, so that none of them went away ignorant, she said: “These men are epileptics” (the word by which those whom the falling sickness throws down are commonly called among us); and at the same time she got up to go. And at this point we all broke off and departed glad and laughing. ### Translation notes - “You have taught me”: the dedication addresses Theodorus. “Caducarii” (epileptics) is a colloquial word, literally “fallers”. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 16 (CSEL 63:101–102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-16). ## On the Happy Life 17 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-17 - Source: CSEL 63:102–103 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: On the second day Augustine recalls the three answers given to the question who has God. ### Latin text Postridie autem, cum item post prandium sed aliquanto quam pridie serius idem ibidemque consedissemus: Tarde, inquam, uenistis ad conuiuium; quod uobis non cruditate accidisse arbitror, sed paucitatis ferculorum securitate, quod non tam mature adgrediendum uisum est, quod cito uos peresuros putastis. non multum enim reliquiarum credendum erat remansisse, ubi die ipso atque sollemnitate exiguum repertum erat. fortasse recte. sed quid uobis praeparatum sit, ego quoque uobiscum nescio. alius est enim, qui omnibus cum omnes tum maxime tales epulas praebere non cessat, sed nos ab edendo uel inbecillitate uel saturitate uel negotio plerumque cessamus; quem manentem in hominibus beatos eos facere inter nos heri, nisi fallor, pie constanterque conuenerat. nam cum ratio demonstrasset eum beatum esse, qui deum haberet, nec huic quisquam uestrum sententiae restitisset, quaesitum est, quid uobis uideretur deum habere. de qua re, si bene memini, tres sententiae dictae sunt. nam partim placuit deum habere illum, qui ea faceret quae deus uellet; quidam autem dixerunt quod is deum haberet, qui bene uiueret; reliquis uero in eis deus esse uisus est, in quibus inmundus qui appellatur spiritus non est. ### English translation (Claude) The next day, when after lunch again, but somewhat later than the day before, we had sat down in the same place: “You have come late to the banquet,” I said. “I think this happened to you not from indigestion but from confidence in the small number of dishes, because it did not seem necessary to start so early on what you thought you would soon finish eating. For one could not believe that much was left over when little had been found on the day itself and its festival. Perhaps rightly. But what has been prepared for you I too, like you, do not know. For there is another who never ceases to provide all feasts to all, and above all such feasts as these; but we often cease from eating through weakness, or fullness, or business. Yesterday, unless I am mistaken, we piously and firmly agreed among ourselves that he, remaining in men, makes them happy. For when reason had shown that he is happy who has God, and none of you had resisted this opinion, it was asked what you thought it is to have God. On this, if I remember rightly, three opinions were given. Some held that he has God who does what God wills; others said that he has God who lives well; and to the rest God seemed to be in those in whom there is not what is called an unclean spirit. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 17 (CSEL 63:102–103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-17). ## On the Happy Life 18 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-18 - Source: CSEL 63:103–104 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine shows that the three answers come to the same thing, after Adeodatus explains that one without an unclean spirit is one who lives chastely, attending to God alone. ### Latin text Sed fortasse omnes diuersis uerbis unum idemque sensistis. nam, si duo prima consideremus, et omnis, qui bene uiuit, ea facit, quae uult deus, et omnis, qui ea facit, quae uult deus, bene uiuit nec quicquam est aliud bene uiuere quam ea facere, quae deo placeant, nisi quid uobis aliud uidetur. — Adsentiebantur. — Tertium uero illud paulo diligentius considerandum est propterea, quod ritu castissimorum sacrorum spiritus inmundus, quantum intellego, duobus modis appellari solet, uel ille, qui extrinsecus animam inuadit sensusque conturbat et quendam hominibus infert furorem, cui excludendo qui praesunt, manum inponere uel exorcizare dicuntur, hoc est per diuina eum adiurando expellere; aliter autem dicitur spiritus inmundus omnis omnino anima inmunda, quod nihil est aliud quam uitiis et erroribus inquinata. itaque ex te quaero, tu puer, qui fortasse aliquanto sereniore ac purgatiore spiritu istam sententiam protulisti, qui tibi uideatur inmundum spiritum non habere, illene, qui daemonem non habet, quo uesani homines fieri solent, an ille, qui animam suam iam a uitiis omnibus peccatisque mundauit? — Is mihi uidetur, inquit, spiritum inmundum non habere, qui caste uiuit. — Sed castum, inquam, quem uocas? eumne, qui nihil peccat, an eum tantum, qui ab inlicito concubitu temperat? — Quomodo, inquit, castus potest esse, si ab inlicito tantum concubitu sese abstinens ceteris peccatis non desinit inquinari? ille est uere castus, qui deum adtendit et ad ipsum solum se tenet. — Quae uerba pueri sicut dicta erant cum conscribi mihi placuisset: Is ergo, inquam, necesse est bene uiuat et qui bene uiuit, necessario talis est, nisi quid tibi aliud uidetur. — Concessit cum ceteris. —Ergo una est hic, inquam, dicta sententia. ### English translation (Claude) “But perhaps you all meant one and the same thing in different words. For if we consider the first two, both everyone who lives well does what God wills, and everyone who does what God wills lives well; and to live well is nothing other than to do what pleases God, unless you think otherwise.” They agreed. “But that third answer must be considered a little more carefully, because in the rite of the most chaste sacred mysteries, as far as I understand, an unclean spirit is usually spoken of in two ways: either the one that invades the soul from outside, disturbs the senses, and brings a kind of madness on men, and those charged with casting it out are said to lay on hands or to exorcize, that is, to drive it out by adjuring it by divine things; or, in another way, every unclean soul whatever is called an unclean spirit, which is nothing other than a soul defiled by vices and errors. So I ask you, boy, who perhaps gave that opinion from a somewhat calmer and purer spirit: who seems to you not to have an unclean spirit? Is it the one who does not have a demon, by which men are usually made mad, or the one who has already cleansed his soul of all vices and sins?” “He seems to me,” he said, “not to have an unclean spirit who lives chastely.” “But whom do you call chaste?” I said. “The one who does not sin at all, or only the one who refrains from unlawful intercourse?” “How,” he said, “can a man be chaste if, abstaining only from unlawful intercourse, he does not stop being defiled by other sins? He is truly chaste who attends to God and holds himself to him alone.” When I had had the boy's words written down just as they were spoken, I said: “Then such a man must live well, and whoever lives well is necessarily such, unless you think otherwise.” He granted it with the others. “So here,” I said, “one opinion has been stated.” ### Translation notes - The two uses of “unclean spirit” are described from the church's rite of exorcism (laying on of hands and adjuration), as Augustine gives them. The boy is Adeodatus. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 18 (CSEL 63:103–104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/1/#p-18). ## On the Happy Life 19 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-19 - Source: CSEL 63:104 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine shows that one who seeks God lives well but does not yet have God; Monica answers that everyone has God, favorable to the good and hostile to the wicked, so the happy man is one who has God favorable. ### Latin text Sed illud a uobis paululum quaero, uelitne deus, ut homo deum quaerat. — Dederunt. — Item quaero: numquidnam possumus dicere illum, qui deum quaerit, male uiuere? — Nullo modo, dixerunt. - Etiam hoc tertium respondete: spiritus inmundus potestne deum quaerere? — Negabant aliquantum dubitante Nauigio, qui postea ceterorum uocibus cessit. — Si igitur, inquam, qui deum quaerit, id facit, quod deus uult, et bene uiuit et spiritum inmundum non habet, qui autem quaerit deum, nondum habet deum, non igitur quisquis aut bene uiuit aut quod uult deus facit aut spiritum inmundum non habet, continuo deum habere dicendus est. — Hic cum se ceteri concessionibus suis deceptos riderent, postulauit mater, cum diu stupida fuisset, ut ei hoc ipsum, quod conclusionis necessitate intorte dixeram, explicando relaxarem atque soluerem. quod cum factum esset: Sed nemo, inquit, potest peruenire ad deum, nisi deum quaesierit. — Optime, inquam; tamen qui adhuc quaerit, nondum ad deum peruenit et iam bene uiuit. non igitur quisquis bene uiuit, deum habet. — Mihi, inquit, uidetur deum nemo non habere, sed eum qui bene uiuunt, habent propitium, qui male, infestum. — Male igitur, inquam, hesterno die concessimus eum beatum esse, qui deum habet, si quidem omnis homo habet deum nec tamen omnis homo beatus est. — Adde ergo, inquit, propitium. ### English translation (Claude) “But I ask you this one small thing: does God want man to seek God?” They granted it. “I ask again: can we say that one who seeks God lives badly?” “In no way,” they said. “Answer this third question too: can an unclean spirit seek God?” They said no, with Navigius hesitating somewhat, but afterwards he yielded to the voices of the others. “If, then,” I said, “one who seeks God does what God wills, and lives well, and does not have an unclean spirit, and yet one who seeks God does not yet have God, then not everyone who either lives well, or does what God wills, or does not have an unclean spirit is straightway to be said to have God.” When the others laughed at being trapped by their own admissions, my mother, who had been bewildered for a long time, asked me to unravel and untie by explanation the very thing I had said in a twisted way by the force of the conclusion. When this had been done, she said: “But no one can reach God unless he has sought God.” “Excellent,” I said; “yet one who is still seeking has not yet reached God, and already lives well. So not everyone who lives well has God.” “It seems to me,” she said, “that there is no one who does not have God, but those who live well have him favorable, those who live badly hostile.” “Then yesterday,” I said, “we wrongly granted that he is happy who has God, since every man has God, and yet not every man is happy.” “Then add,” she said, “‘favorable.’” ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 19 (CSEL 63:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-19). ## On the Happy Life 20 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-20 - Source: CSEL 63:104–105 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Navigius objects that if God is favorable to those still seeking him, the seeker would be happy without having what he wants, reviving the Academics' position. ### Latin text Saltem, inquam, hoc inter nos satis constat, cum beatum esse, qui habet propitium deum? — Uellem, inquit Nauigius, consentire, sed illum uereor, qui adhuc quaerit, praesertim ne concludas beatum esse Academicum, qui hesterno sermone uulgari quidem et male Latino, sed aptissimo sane, ut mihi uidetur, uerbo caducarius nominatus est. non enim possum dicere homini deum quaerenti aduersum deum esse. quod si dici nefas est, propitius erit, et qui propitium deum habet, beatus est. beatus ergo erit ille, qui quaerit; omnis autem quaerens nondum habet quod uult: erit igitur beatus homo, qui quod uult non habet, quod heri omnibus nobis uidebatur absurdum, unde credebamus Academicorum tenebras esse discussas. quare iam de nobis Licentius triumphabit mihique illa dulcia, quae contra ualitudinem meam temere accepi, has de me poenas exigere quasi prudens medicus admonebit. ### English translation (Claude) “At least,” I said, “we are sufficiently agreed on this: that he is happy who has God favorable?” “I would like to agree,” said Navigius, “but I am afraid of the one who is still seeking, especially that you may conclude that the Academic is happy, who in yesterday's talk was called by a vulgar and bad Latin word, but a very fitting one, it seems to me, ‘epileptic.’ For I cannot say that God is against a man who seeks God. And if it is wrong to say so, he will be favorable, and whoever has God favorable is happy. So the one who seeks will be happy. But everyone who seeks does not yet have what he wants. So a man will be happy who does not have what he wants, which yesterday seemed absurd to all of us, and by which we believed the darkness of the Academics had been dispelled. So now Licentius will triumph over us, and like a prudent physician will warn me that those sweets which I rashly took against my health are exacting this penalty from me.” ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 20 (CSEL 63:104–105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-20). ## On the Happy Life 21 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-21 - Source: CSEL 63:105–106 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Monica distinguishes having God from not being without God, and Augustine concludes that those who have found God are happy, those who seek him have him favorable but are not yet happy, and sinners have neither. ### Latin text Hic, cum etiam mater adrisisset: Ego, inquit Trygetius, non concedo continuo deum aduersari, cui non sit propitius, sed esse aliquid medium puto. — Cui ego: Istum tamen hominem, inquam, medium, cui nec propitius deus est nec infestus, deum quoquo modo habere concedis? — Hic cum ille cunctaretur: Aliud est, inquit mater, deum habere, aliud non esse sine deo. — Quid ergo, inquam, melius est, utrum habere deum an non esse sine deo? — Quantum possum, inquit, intellegere, ista est sententia mea: qui bene uiuit, habet deum, sed propitium, qui male, habet deum, sed aduersum, qui autem adhuc quaerit nondumque inuenit, neque propitium neque aduersum, sed non est sine deo. — Haecine, inquam, uestra etiam sententia est? — Hanc esse dixerunt. — Dicite mihi, quaeso, inquam, non uobis uidetur esse homini deus propitius, cui fauet? —Esse confessi sunt. — Non ergo, inquam, fauet deus quaerenti sese homini? — Responderunt fauere. — Habet igitur, inquam, qui deum quaerit, deum propitium et omnis, qui habet deum propitium, beatus est. beatus est ergo et ille, qui quaerit. qui autem quaerit, nondum habet quod uult. erit igitur beatus, qui quod uult non habet. — Prorsus, inquit mater, non mihi uidetur beatus esse, qui quod uult non habet. - Ergo, inquam, non omnis, qui habet deum propitium, beatus est. - Si hoc cogit ratio, inquit, non possum negare. — Ista igitur, inquam, distributio erit, ut omnis, qui iam deum inuenit, et propitium deum habeat et beatus sit, omnis autem, qui deum quaerit, propitium deum habeat sed nondum sit beatus, iam uero quisquis uitiis atque peccatis a deo se alienat, non modo beatus non sit sed ne deo quidem uiuat propitio. ### English translation (Claude) Here, when my mother too had smiled, Trygetius said: “I do not grant that God is straightway hostile to one to whom he is not favorable; I think there is something in between.” I said to him: “Yet do you grant that this man in between, to whom God is neither favorable nor hostile, has God in some way?” Here, when he hesitated, my mother said: “It is one thing to have God, another not to be without God.” “Which, then, is better,” I said, “to have God or not to be without God?” “As far as I can understand,” she said, “this is my opinion: he who lives well has God, but favorable; he who lives badly has God, but hostile; but he who is still seeking and has not yet found has him neither favorable nor hostile, but is not without God.” “Is this your opinion too?” I said. They said it was. “Tell me, please,” I said, “does not God seem to you to be favorable to the man he favors?” They admitted it. “Does God not favor the man who seeks him?” They answered that he does. “So he who seeks God,” I said, “has God favorable; and everyone who has God favorable is happy. So he too is happy who seeks. But he who seeks does not yet have what he wants. So he will be happy who does not have what he wants.” “It certainly does not seem to me,” said my mother, “that he is happy who does not have what he wants.” “Then,” I said, “not everyone who has God favorable is happy.” “If reason compels this,” she said, “I cannot deny it.” “This, then,” I said, “will be the division: everyone who has already found God both has God favorable and is happy; everyone who seeks God has God favorable but is not yet happy; and whoever alienates himself from God by vices and sins is not only not happy but does not even live with God favorable.” ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 21 (CSEL 63:105–106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-21). ## On the Happy Life 22 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-22 - Source: CSEL 63:106 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine raises the question whether every wretched person is in want, so that wretchedness would be the same as want, and postpones it to the next day. ### Latin text Quod cum placuit omnibus: Bene habet, inquam, sed adhuc illud uereor, ne uos moueat quod iam superius concesseramus, miserum esse quisquis beatus non esset; cui consequens erit esse miserum hominem, qui ∗∗∗∗∗∗ aliquem beatum. an uero, quod ait Tullius, multorum in terris praediorum dominos diuites appellamus, omnium uirtutum possessores pauperes nominabimus? sed illud uidete, utrum, quomodo uerum est, quod omnis egens miser sit, ita sit uerum, quod omnis miser egeat. ita enim erit uerum nihil esse aliud miseriam quam egestatem, quod me nunc, cum diceretur, laudare sensistis. hoc autem hodie longum, ut quaeramus; quare peto, ne fastidio uobis sit ad istam mensam cras etiam conuenire. — Quod cum omnes se libentissime habere dixissent, surreximus. ### English translation (Claude) When all approved, I said: “Good. But I am still afraid that you may be troubled by what we had granted earlier, that whoever is not happy is wretched. From this it will follow that a man is wretched who … someone happy. Or, as Tullius says, shall we call the owners of many estates on earth rich, and name the possessors of all virtues poor? But see whether, as it is true that everyone in want is wretched, so it is true that everyone wretched is in want. For in that way it will be true that wretchedness is nothing other than want, which, you noticed, I praised when it was said just now. But it is long to inquire into this today; so I ask that it not be tiresome for you to meet at this table tomorrow too.” When all had said that they would very gladly do so, we rose. ### Extrabiblical texts - Cicero (Cicero): quotation, low confidence ### Translation notes - The edition marks a gap after “who” (“qui …”); the missing words probably said that the seeker, who has God favorable but is not yet happy, would be wretched. The words attributed to Tullius (Cicero) are not identified in his surviving works. “When it was said just now”: the remark that wretchedness is nothing other than want is made by Monica, as section 23 states, but is not in the record above, probably part of the gap. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 22 (CSEL 63:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-22). ## On the Happy Life 23 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-23 - Source: CSEL 63:106–107 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: On the third day, in the meadow, Augustine restates the question: if all the wretched are in want, then the happy man is the one who lacks nothing. ### Latin text Tertius autem dies disputationis nostrae matutinus nubes, quae nos cogebant in balneas, dissipauit tempusque pomeridianum candidissimum reddidit. placuit ergo in pratuli propinqua descendere atque omnibus nobis, ubi commodum uisum est, considentibus reliquus ita sermo peractus est: Omnia paene, inquam, quae interroganti mihi concedi a uobis uolui, habeo ac teneo; quare hodierno die, quo possumus tandem hoc nostrum conuiuium aliquo interuallo dierum distinguere, aut nihil aut non multum erit, ut opinor, quod mihi uos respondere necesse sit. dictum enim erat a matre nihil esse aliud miseriam quam egestatem conuenitque inter nos, qui egeant miseros esse. sed utrum omnes etiam miseri egeant, nonnulla quaestio est, quam hesterno die non potuimus explicare. hoc autem ita se habere si ratio demonstrauerit, perfectissime inuentum est, qui sit beatus; erit enim ille, qui non eget. omnis enim non miser beatus est; ergo beatus est, qui egestate caret, si quam dicimus egestatem eandem miseriam esse constiterit. ### English translation (Claude) On the third day of our disputation, the morning scattered the clouds that had driven us into the baths, and made the afternoon very bright. So we decided to go down to the nearby part of the little meadow, and when we had all sat down where it seemed convenient, the rest of the discussion was completed thus. “Almost everything,” I said, “that I wanted you to grant me when I asked, I have and hold. So today, when we can at last separate this banquet of ours by some interval of days, there will be nothing, or not much, I think, that you need to answer me. For my mother had said that wretchedness is nothing other than want, and we agreed that those who are in want are wretched. But whether all the wretched are also in want is something of a question, which we could not unfold yesterday. If reason shows that this is so, it has been found most perfectly who is happy: it will be the one who is not in want. For everyone who is not wretched is happy; so he is happy who is free of want, if it is established that what we call want is the same as wretchedness.” ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 23 (CSEL 63:106–107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-23). ## On the Happy Life 24 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-24 - Source: CSEL 63:107 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine shows by the example of the living and the dead that it does not follow, from every needy person being wretched, that everyone without need is happy. ### Latin text Quid enim? ait Trygetius, non potest ex eo iam confici omnem non egentem beatum esse, quo manifestum est omnem, qui egeat, esse miserum? nam concessisse nos memini nihil esse medium inter miserum et beatum. — Aliquidne, inquam, inter mortuum et uiuum tibi medium uidetur esse? nonne omnis homo aut uiuus aut mortuus est? — Fateor, inquit, neque hic esse aliquid medium; sed quorsum istuc?- Quia, inquam, etiam illud te fateri credo, omnem, qui ante annum sepultus est, esse mortuum. — Non negabat. — Quid? omnis, qui ante annum sepultus non est, uiuit? — Non, ait, sequitur. — Ergo, inquam, non sequitur, ut, si omnis qui eget miser est, omnis qui non eget sit beatus, quamuis inter miserum et beatum ut inter uiuum et mortuum medium nihil inueniri queat. ### English translation (Claude) “What then?” said Trygetius. “Can it not be concluded already that everyone not in want is happy, from the fact that it is clear that everyone in want is wretched? For I remember that we granted there is nothing in between the wretched and the happy.” “Does there seem to you,” I said, “to be anything in between the dead and the living? Is not every man either living or dead?” “I admit,” he said, “that here too there is nothing in between; but what is the point of that?” “Because,” I said, “I believe you also admit that everyone who was buried a year ago is dead.” He did not deny it. “What then? Is everyone who was not buried a year ago alive?” “That does not follow,” he said. “So,” I said, “it does not follow that, if everyone in want is wretched, everyone not in want is happy, even though between the wretched and the happy, as between the living and the dead, nothing in between can be found.” ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 24 (CSEL 63:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-24). ## On the Happy Life 25 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-25 - Source: CSEL 63:107–108 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine argues that the wise man, whose mind is perfect, is not made wretched by bodily needs, death, or pain, since he avoids what he can and wills only what is in accord with virtue. ### Latin text Quod cum aliqui eorum paulo tardius intellexissent me id quibus potui uerbis ad eorum sensum adcommodatis aperiente atque uersante: Ergo, inquam, miserum esse omnem, qui egeat, dubitat nemo nec nos terrent quaedam sapientium corpori necessaria. non eis eget ipse animus, in quo posita est beata uita. ipse enim perfectus est; nullus autem perfectus aliquo eget et, quod uidetur corpori necessarium, sumet, si adfuerit, si non adfuerit, non eum istarum rerum franget inopia. omnis namque sapiens fortis est, nullus autem fortis aliquid metuit: non igitur metuit sapiens aut mortem corporis aut dolores, quibus pellendis uel uitandis uel differendis sunt necessaria illa, quorum ei potest contingere inopia. sed tamen non desinit eis bene uti, si ipsa non desunt. uerissima est enim illa sententia: nam tu quod uitare possis, stultum admittere est. uitabit ergo mortem ac dolorem, quantum potest et quantum decet, ne, si minime uitauerit, non ex eo miser sit, quia haec accidunt, sed quia uitare cum posset, noluit, quod manifestum stultitiae signum est. erit ergo ista non uitans non earum rerum perpessione, sed stultitia miser. si autem non ualuerit euitare, cum id sedulo ac decenter egerit, non eum ista inruentia miserum facient. etenim et illa eiusdem comici sententia non minus uera est: quoniam non potest id fieri, quod uis, id uelis, quod possis. quomodo erit miser, cui nihil accidit praeter uoluntatem, quia, quod sibi uidet non posse prouenire, non potest uelle? habet enim rerum certissimarum uoluntatem, id est ut quidquid agit non agat nisi ex uirtutis quodam praescripto et diuina lege sapientiae, quae nullo ab eo pacto eripi possunt. ### English translation (Claude) When some of them had understood this rather slowly, while I opened it up and turned it over in whatever words I could suited to their understanding, I said: “So no one doubts that everyone who is in want is wretched; and we are not frightened by certain things that the bodies of the wise need. The mind itself, in which the happy life is placed, does not need them. For it is itself perfect, and no one perfect needs anything; and what seems necessary for the body it will take if it is at hand, and if it is not at hand, the lack of these things will not break it. For every wise man is brave, and no brave man fears anything. So the wise man does not fear either the death of the body or pains, for driving away, avoiding, or postponing which those things are necessary, the lack of which can befall him. Yet he does not cease to use them well, if they are not lacking. For that saying is very true: ‘For to let in what you could avoid is foolish.’ So he will avoid death and pain as far as he can and as far as is fitting, lest, if he does not avoid them at all, he be wretched not because these things happen but because he would not avoid them when he could, which is a clear sign of folly. So one who does not avoid them will be wretched not by suffering those things but by folly. But if he cannot avoid them, though he has tried diligently and fittingly, their onset will not make him wretched. For that other saying of the same comic poet is no less true: ‘Since what you want cannot be done, want what you can.’ How will he be wretched to whom nothing happens against his will, since he cannot will what he sees cannot come about for him? For his will is set on the most certain things, namely that whatever he does, he does only by a certain rule of virtue and the divine law of wisdom, which can in no way be snatched from him.” ### Extrabiblical texts - Terence, Eun. 761 (Terence): quotation, high confidence - Terence, Andr. 305–306 (Terence): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The two sayings of “the same comic poet” are Terence, Eunuchus 761 and Andria 305–306. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 25 (CSEL 63:107–108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-25). ## On the Happy Life 26 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-26 - Source: CSEL 63:108–109 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine proposes the case of the wealthy and fortunate Sergius Orata, and Licentius points out that he feared losing his goods. ### Latin text Iam nunc uidete, utrum etiam omnis, qui miser est, egeat. nam huic sententiae concedendae difficultatem illa res facit, quod multis in magna fortuitarum rerum copia constitutis, quibus ita facilia sunt omnia, ut ad eorum nutum praesto sit quidquid cupiditas poscit, difficilis quidem ista uita est. sed fingamus aliquem tamen, qualem Tullius fuisse dicit Oratam. quis enim facile dicat Oratam egestate laborasse, hominem ditissimum amoenissimum deliciosissimum, cui neque ad uoluptatem quicquam defuit neque ad gratiam neque ad bonam integramque ualetudinem? nam et praediis quaestuosissimis et amicis iucundissimis, quantum libuit, abundauit et illis omnibus aptissime ad salutem corporis usus est eiusque, ut breuiter totum explicem, omne institutum uoluntatemque omnem successio prospera consecuta est. sed fortasse inquiet aliquis uestrum plus illum, quam habebat, habere uoluisse. hoc ignoramus. sed, quod satis est quaestioni, faciamus eum non desiderasse amplius, quam tenebat; uideturne uobis eguisse? — Etiamsi concedam, inquit Licentius, nihil eum plus desiderasse, quod in homine non sapiente nescio quomodo accipiam, metuebat tamen — erat enim, ut dicitur, ingenii non mali — ne illa omnia sibi uel uno aduerso impetu raperentur. non enim magnum erat intellegere talia cuncta, quantacumque essent, esse sub casibus constituta. — Tum ego arridens: Uides, inquam, Licenti, fortunatissimum istum hominem a beata uita ingenii bonitate inpeditum. quo enim erat acutior, eo uidebat illa omnia se posse amittere; quo metu frangebatur illudque uulgare satis adserebat infidum hominem malo suo esse cordatum. ### English translation (Claude) “Now see whether everyone who is wretched is also in want. For what makes it hard to grant this opinion is that many are placed amid a great abundance of things of fortune, for whom everything is so easy that whatever desire demands is ready at their nod; that life is indeed hard to find. But let us imagine someone such as Tullius says Orata was. For who would easily say that Orata suffered from want, a very rich man, very elegant, very luxurious, who lacked nothing for pleasure, nor for favor, nor for good and sound health? For he abounded, as much as he liked, in very profitable estates and very pleasant friends, and used all these most fittingly for the health of his body; and, to explain it all briefly, every plan and every wish of his was followed by prosperous success. But perhaps one of you will say that he wanted to have more than he had. That we do not know. But, which is enough for the question, let us suppose that he did not desire more than he held. Does he seem to you to have been in want?” “Even if I grant,” said Licentius, “that he desired nothing more, which I hardly know how to accept in a man who was not wise, still he was afraid (for he was, as they say, of no bad intelligence) that all those things might be snatched from him even by a single adverse blow. For it was no great thing to understand that all such things, however great, are subject to chance.” Then I said, smiling: “You see, Licentius, that this most fortunate man was hindered from the happy life by the goodness of his intelligence. For the sharper he was, the more he saw that he could lose all those things; and he was broken by that fear, and proved well enough the common saying that a faithless man is wise to his own harm.” ### Extrabiblical texts - Cicero, Fin. 2.70 (Cicero): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Gaius Sergius Orata is described by Cicero (Fin. 2.70; probably also in the lost Hortensius). The proverb about the faithless man is unidentified. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 26 (CSEL 63:108–109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-26). ## On the Happy Life 27 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-27 - Source: CSEL 63:109–110 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Monica answers that the fearful rich man lacked wisdom, which is the worst want; Augustine praises her insight as coming from a mind attentive to God. ### Latin text Hic cum et ille et ceteri adrisissent: Illud tamen, inquam, diligentius adtendamus, quia, etsi timuit iste, non eguit, unde quaestio est. egere est enim in non habendo, non in timore amittendi quae habeas. erat autem iste miser, quia metuebat, quamuis non egeret. non igitur omnis, qui miser est, eget. — Quod cum adprobauisset cum ceteris etiam ipsa, cuius sententiam defendebam, aliquantum tamen addubitans: Nescio, inquit, tamen et nondum plane intellego, quomodo ab egestate possit miseria aut egestas a miseria separari. nam et iste, qui diues et locuples erat et nihil, ut dicitis, amplius desiderabat, tamen, quia metuebat ne amitteret, egebat sapientia. ergone hunc egentem diceremus, si egeret argento et pecunia, cum egeret sapientia, non dicemus? — Ubi cum omnes mirando exclamassent me ipso etiam non mediocriter alacri atque laeto, quod ab ea potissimum dictum esset, quod pro magno de philosophorum libris atque ultimum proferre paraueram: Uidetisne, inquam, aliud esse multas uariasque doctrinas, aliud animum adtentissimum in deum? nam unde ista, quae miramur, nisi inde procedunt? — Hic Licentius laetus exclamans: Prorsus, inquit, nihil uerius, nihil diuinius dici potuit. nam et maior ac miserabilior egestas nulla est quam egere sapientia et, qui sapientia non eget, nulla re omnino egere potest. ### English translation (Claude) When he and the others had laughed at this, I said: “Still, let us attend more carefully to this: that even if he was afraid, he was not in want, which is the question. For being in want consists in not having, not in the fear of losing what you have. But this man was wretched because he was afraid, even though he was not in want. So not everyone who is wretched is in want.” When she too, whose opinion I was defending, had approved this with the others, yet somewhat doubtful, she said: “Still, I do not know, and I do not yet clearly understand, how wretchedness can be separated from want or want from wretchedness. For this man too, who was rich and wealthy and, as you say, desired nothing more, yet, because he was afraid of losing it, was in want of wisdom. Should we then call him in want if he lacked silver and money, and not call him so when he lacked wisdom?” When all cried out in wonder, and I myself was not a little eager and glad that she in particular had said what I had prepared to bring forward last, as something great from the books of the philosophers, I said: “Do you see that many and varied doctrines are one thing, and a mind most attentive to God another? For from where do these things that we admire come, if not from there?” Here Licentius cried out joyfully: “Truly nothing truer, nothing more divine could have been said. For there is no greater and more pitiable want than to be in want of wisdom, and one who is not in want of wisdom can be in want of nothing at all.” ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 27 (CSEL 63:109–110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-27). ## On the Happy Life 28 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-28 - Source: CSEL 63:110 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine concludes that want of the mind is folly, which has no middle ground with wisdom, and that therefore all wretchedness is want. ### Latin text Est ergo animi egestas, inquam, nihil aliud quam stultitia. haec est enim contraria sapientiae et ita contraria, ut mors uitae, ut beata uita miserae, hoc est sine aliquo medio. nam ut omnis non beatus homo miser est omnisque homo non mortuus uiuit, sic omnem non stultum manifestum est esse sapientem. ex quo et illud iam licet uidere, non ex eo tantum Sergium Oratam fuisse miserum, quod timebat, ne fortunae illa munera amitteret, sed quia stultus erat. quo fit, ut miserior esset, si tam pendulis nutantibusque his, quae bona putabat, nihil omnino metuisset. esset enim non fortitudinis excubiis sed mentis sopore securior et altiore stultitia demersius miser. at si omnis, qui caret sapientia, magnam patitur egestatem omnisque compos sapientiae nihilo eget, sequitur, ut stultitia sit egestas. ut autem omnis stultus miser, ita omnis miser stultus est. ergo ut omnis egestas miseria, ita omnis miseria egestas esse conuincitur. ### English translation (Claude) “So want of the mind,” I said, “is nothing other than folly. For folly is the opposite of wisdom, and opposite in the way that death is to life and the happy life to the wretched, that is, without anything in between. For as every man not happy is wretched and every man not dead is alive, so it is clear that everyone not foolish is wise. From this we may now see also that Sergius Orata was wretched not only because he feared losing those gifts of fortune, but because he was foolish. Hence he would have been more wretched if he had feared nothing at all for these things, so hanging and tottering, that he thought good. For he would have been more secure, not by the watchfulness of courage but by the sleep of the mind, and more deeply sunk in wretchedness by a deeper folly. But if everyone who lacks wisdom suffers great want, and everyone who possesses wisdom is in want of nothing, it follows that folly is want. And as every fool is wretched, so every wretched man is a fool. So, as all want is wretchedness, so all wretchedness is proved to be want.” ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 28 (CSEL 63:110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-28). ## On the Happy Life 29 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-29 - Source: CSEL 63:110–111 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine explains that want, like darkness or nakedness, is a lack rather than a thing, that folly is true want, and that therefore wretchedness is simply want. ### Latin text Quam conclusionem Trygetius cum se parum intellexisse diceret: Quid, inquam, inter nos ratione conuenit? — Eum egere, inquit, qui sapientiam non habeat. — Quid est ergo, inquam, egere? — Sapientiam non habere. — Quid est, inquam, sapientiam non habere? hic cum taceret: Nonne hoc est, inquam, habere stultitiam? — Hoc, inquit. — Nihil est ergo aliud, inquam, habere egestatem quam habere stultitiam; ex quo iam necesse est egestatem alio uerbo nominari, quando stultitia nominatur; quamquam nescio quomodo dicamus: habet egestatem aut habet stultitiam. tale est enim, ac si locum aliquem, qui lumine careat, dicamus habere tenebras, quod nihil est aliud quam lumen non habere. non enim tenebrae quasi ueniunt aut recedunt, sed carere lumine, hoc ipsum est iam tenebrosum esse, ut carere ueste, hoc est esse nudum. non enim ueste accedente ueluti aliqua res mobilis nuditas fugit. sic ergo dicimus aliquem habere egestatem, quasi dicamus habere nuditatem. egestas enim uerbum est non habendi. quam ob rem, ut quod uolo explicem, sicut possum, ita dicitur habet egestatem, quasi dicatur habet non habere. itaque si stultitiam ipsam ueram certam egestatem esse monstratum est, uide iam quaestionem quam susceperamus, utrum soluta sit. dubitabatur enim inter nos, utrum, cum appellamus miseriam, nihil aliud quam egestatem nominaremus. dedimus autem rationem recte stultitiam uocari egestatem. sicut ergo et omnis stultus miser et omnis miser stultus est, ita necesse est non solum omnem, qui egeat, miserum, sed etiam omnem, qui miser sit, egentem esse fateamur. at si ex eo, quod et omnis stultus miser est et omnis miser stultus est, conficitur stultitiam esse miseriam, cur non ex eo, quod et quisquis eget miser et quisquis miser est eget, nihil aliud miseriam quam egestatem esse conficimus? ### English translation (Claude) When Trygetius said he had not well understood this conclusion, I said: “What did we agree on by reason?” “That he is in want,” he said, “who does not have wisdom.” “What, then, is being in want?” I said. “Not having wisdom.” “What is not having wisdom?” I said. When he was silent, I said: “Is it not having folly?” “That is it,” he said. “So having want,” I said, “is nothing other than having folly; from which it now follows that want is named by another word when folly is named. And yet I do not know how we say, ‘he has want’ or ‘he has folly.’ For it is as if we were to say that a place which lacks light has darkness, which is nothing other than not having light. For darkness does not, as it were, come or go; but to lack light is itself to be dark, as to lack clothing is to be naked. For nakedness does not flee when clothing comes, like some movable thing. So we say that someone has want as if we were to say that he has nakedness. For want is a word for not having. Therefore, to explain what I mean as best I can, ‘he has want’ is said as if one said ‘he has not-having.’ So if it has been shown that folly itself is true and certain want, see now whether the question we had taken up has been solved. For we were in doubt whether, when we say wretchedness, we name nothing other than want. And we have given reason why folly is rightly called want. So, as every fool is wretched and every wretched man a fool, we must admit not only that everyone who is in want is wretched, but also that everyone who is wretched is in want. And if, from the fact that every fool is wretched and every wretched man a fool, it is concluded that folly is wretchedness, why should we not conclude, from the fact that whoever is in want is wretched and whoever is wretched is in want, that wretchedness is nothing other than want?” ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 29 (CSEL 63:110–111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-29). ## On the Happy Life 30 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-30 - Source: CSEL 63:111–112 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine asks what is the opposite of want, and Licentius proposes “fullness.” ### Latin text Quod cum omnes ita esse faterentur: Illud iam, inquam, sequitur, ut uideamus, quis non egeat; is enim erit sapiens et beatus. egestas autem stultitia est egestatisque nomen; hoc autem uerbum sterilitatem quandam et inopiam solet significare. adtendite ergo altius, quanta cura priscorum hominum siue omnia siue, quod manifestum est, quaedam uerba creata sunt earum rerum maxime, quarum erat notitia pernecessaria. iam enim conceditis omnem stultum egere et omnem qui egeat stultum esse; credo uos etiam concedere animum stultum esse uitiosum omniaque animi uitia uno stultitiae nomine includi. primo autem die huius disputationis nostrae nequitiam dixeramus esse ab eo dictam, quod necquicquam sit, cui contrariam frugalitatem a fruge fuisse nominatam. ergo in his duobus contrariis, hoc est frugalitate atque nequitia, illa duo uidentur eminere, esse et non esse. egestati autem, de qua quaestio est, quid putamus esse contrarium? - Hic, cum aliquantum cunctarentur: Si dicam, inquit Trygetius, diuitias, uideo his paupertatem esse contrariam. — Est quidem, inquam, uicinum; nam paupertas et egestas unum atque idem accipi solet. tamen aliud uerbum inueniendum est, ne meliori parti desit unum uocabulum, ut, cum illa pars paupertatis et egestatis nomine abundet, ex hac parte solum opponatur diuitiarum nomen. nihil enim absurdius, quam ut hic sit egestas uocabuli, ubi est contraria pars egestati. — Plenitudo, inquit Licentius, si dici potest, uidetur mihi recte opponi egestati. ### English translation (Claude) When all admitted that this was so, I said: “It now follows that we should see who is not in want; for he will be wise and happy. Now folly is want, and the name of want; and this word usually signifies a kind of barrenness and lack. Attend more deeply, then, to the care with which the ancients created either all words or, as is clear, some, especially for the things whose knowledge was most necessary. For you already grant that every fool is in want and everyone in want is a fool. I believe you grant also that a foolish mind is vicious, and that all the vices of the mind are included under the one name of folly. On the first day of our disputation we had said that worthlessness (nequitia) was so called from its being ‘good for nothing’ (nequicquam), and that its opposite, frugality, was named from fruit. So in these two opposites, frugality and worthlessness, those two things seem to stand out: being and not being. But what do we think is the opposite of want, which is our question?” Here, when they hesitated for some time, Trygetius said: “If I say riches, I see that poverty is their opposite.” “That is near,” I said; “for poverty and want are usually taken as one and the same. Yet another word must be found, so that the better side does not lack its one term, and, while that side abounds in the names of poverty and want, only the name of riches is set against it on this side. For nothing is more absurd than that there should be a want of a word on the side that is the opposite of want.” “Fullness,” said Licentius, “if it can be said, seems to me rightly opposed to want.” ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 30 (CSEL 63:111–112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-30). ## On the Happy Life 31 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-31 - Source: CSEL 63:112–113 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine accepts “fullness” as the opposite of want and, following Cicero, identifies it with wisdom and with frugality, moderation, and temperance. ### Latin text Postea, inquam, de uerbo quaeremus fortasse diligentius; non enim hoc curandum est in conquisitione ueritatis. quamuis enim Sallustius, lectissimus pensator uerborum, egestati opposuerit opulentiam, tamen accipio istam plenitudinem. non enim nec hic grammaticorum formidine liberabimur aut metuendum est, ne ab eis castigemur, quod incuriose utimur uerbis, qui res suas nobis ad utendum dederunt. - Ubi cum adrisissent: Ergo quia mentes uestras, inquam, cum intenti estis in deum, uelut quaedam oracula non contemnere statui, uideamus, quid sibi uelit hoc nomen; nam nullum adcommodatius esse arbitror ueritati. plenitudo igitur et egestas contraria sunt; at etiam hic similiter, ut in nequitia et frugalitate, apparent illa duo, esse et non esse, et, si egestas est ipsa stultitia, plenitudo erit sapientia. merito etiam uirtutum omnium matrem multi frugalitatem esse dixerunt. quibus consentiens Tullius etiam in populari oratione ait: ut uolet quisque accipiat; ego tamen frugalitatem, id est modestiam et temperantiam, uirtutem maximam iudico: prorsus doctissime ac decentissime; considerauit enim frugem, id est illud, quod esse dicimus, cui est non esse contrarium. sed propter uulgarem loquendi consuetudinem, qua frugalitas quasi parsimonia dici solet, duobus consequentibus quid senserit inlustrauit subiciendo modestiam et temperantiam; et haec duo uerba diligentius adtendamus. ### English translation (Claude) “Later,” I said, “we shall perhaps inquire into the word more carefully; for this is not what matters in the search for truth. For although Sallust, a most choice weigher of words, set wealth against want, still I accept this ‘fullness.’ For here too we shall not be freed from the fear of the grammarians, nor need we fear being rebuked for using words carelessly by those who have given us their own things to use.” When they had laughed at this, I said: “So, since I have resolved not to despise your minds, when you are intent on God, as a kind of oracle, let us see what this name means; for I think none is more suited to the truth. Fullness and want, then, are opposites; and here too, as in worthlessness and frugality, those two appear, being and not being; and if want is folly itself, fullness will be wisdom. Rightly, too, many have said that frugality is the mother of all virtues. Agreeing with them, Tullius says even in a popular speech: ‘Let each take it as he will; but I judge frugality, that is, moderation and temperance, to be the greatest virtue.’ Most learnedly and most fittingly; for he had in mind fruit (frux), that is, what we call being, the opposite of which is not being. But because of the common usage of speech, in which frugality usually means something like thrift, he made clear what he meant by the two words that follow, adding moderation and temperance. Let us attend more carefully to these two words.” ### Extrabiblical texts - Cicero, Deiot. 26 (Cicero): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Sallust opposes “egestas” and “opulentia” at Cat. 52.22. The quotation of Cicero is from Pro rege Deiotaro 26. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 31 (CSEL 63:112–113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-31). ## On the Happy Life 32 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-32 - Source: CSEL 63:113 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine derives moderation and temperance from measure and argues that wisdom, the fullness opposed to want, is the measure of the mind. ### Latin text Modestia utique dicta est a modo et a temperie temperantia. ubi autem modus est atque temperies, nec plus est quicquam nec minus. ipsa est igitur plenitudo, quam egestati contrariam posueramus, multo melius, quam si abundantiam poneremus. in abundantia enim intellegitur affluentia et quasi rei nimium exuberantis effusio. quod cum euenit ultra quam satis est, etiam ibi desideratur modus et res, quae nimia est, modo eget. ergo nec ab ipsa redundantia egestas aliena est, a modo autem et plus et minus aliena sunt. ipsam etiam opulentiam si discutias, inuenies eam nihil aliud tenere quam modum. nam non nisi ab ope dicta est opulentia. quomodo autem opitulatur, quod nimium est, cum incommodius sit saepe quam parum? quidquid igitur uel parum uel nimium est, quia modo eget, obnoxium est egestati. modus ergo animi sapientia est. etenim sapientia contraria stultitiae non negatur et stultitia egestas, egestati autem contraria plenitudo: sapientia igitur plenitudo. in plenitudine autem modus: modus igitur animo in sapientia est. unde illud praeclarum est et non inmerito diffamatum: hoc primum in uita esse utile, ut ne quid nimis. ### English translation (Claude) “Moderation (modestia) is surely named from measure (modus), and temperance (temperantia) from due proportion (temperies). And where there is measure and due proportion, there is nothing too much and nothing too little. This, then, is the fullness that we had set against want, much better than if we had set abundance. For in abundance one understands overflowing, and as it were the pouring out of a thing that overflows too much. When this happens beyond what is enough, there too measure is wanted, and the thing that is excessive is in want of measure. So want is not foreign even to overflowing itself; but both too much and too little are foreign to measure. If you examine wealth (opulentia) itself, you will find that it holds nothing but measure. For wealth is named only from help (ops). But how does what is excessive help, when it is often more troublesome than too little? Whatever is either too little or too much, then, because it is in want of measure, is liable to want. So the measure of the mind is wisdom. For it is not denied that wisdom is the opposite of folly, and folly is want, and fullness is the opposite of want: so wisdom is fullness. And in fullness is measure: so the mind's measure is in wisdom. Hence that famous saying, not undeservedly spread abroad: that this is most useful in life, ‘nothing too much.’” ### Extrabiblical texts - Terence, Andr. 61 (Terence): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The Latin words are given in brackets because the argument rests on their derivations. “Nothing too much” (ne quid nimis): Terence, Andria 61, rendering the Delphic maxim. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 32 (CSEL 63:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-32). ## On the Happy Life 33 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-33 - Source: CSEL 63:113–114 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: To be happy is to lack nothing, that is, to be wise, and wisdom is the measure of the mind that keeps it from both excess and constriction. ### Latin text Dixeramus autem in exordio hodiernae disputationis nostrae, quod, si inueniremus nihil esse aliud miseriam quam egestatem, eum beatum esse fateremur, qui non egeret. est autem inuentum. ergo beatum esse nihil est aliud quam non egere, hoc est esse sapientem. si autem quaeritis, quid sit sapientia, iam et ipsam ratio, quantum in praesentia potuit, euoluit atque eruit; nihil est enim aliud quam modus animi, hoc est quo sese animus librat, ut neque excurrat in nimium neque infra quam plenum est coartetur. excurrit autem in luxurias dominationes superbias ceteraque id genus, quibus inmoderatorum miserorumque animi sibi laetitias atque potentias conparari putant. coartatur autem sordibus timoribus maerore cupiditate atque aliis, quaecumque sunt, quibus homines miseros etiam miseri confitentur. cum uero sapientiam contemplatur inuentam cumque, ut huius pueri uerbo utar, ad ipsam se tenet nec se ad simulacrorum fallaciam, quorum pondus amplexus a deo suo cadere atque demergi solet, ulla commotus inanitate conuertit, nihil inmoderationis et ideo nihil egestatis, nihil igitur miseriae pertimescit. habet ergo modum suum, id est sapientiam, quisquis beatus est. ### English translation (Claude) “We had said at the beginning of today's disputation that, if we found that wretchedness is nothing other than want, we would admit that he is happy who is not in want. And this has been found. So to be happy is nothing other than not to be in want, that is, to be wise. And if you ask what wisdom is, reason has already unfolded and brought this out too, as far as it could for the present: for it is nothing other than the measure of the mind, that by which the mind balances itself, so that it neither runs out into excess nor is constricted below what is full. It runs out into luxuries, domination, pride, and other things of that kind, by which the minds of immoderate and wretched men think that joys and powers are won for them. It is constricted by meanness, fears, grief, desire, and whatever other things there are by which even the wretched confess that men are wretched. But when it contemplates wisdom once found and, to use this boy's word, holds itself to it, and is not turned, moved by any emptiness, toward the deceit of images, embracing whose weight it usually falls away from its God and sinks, then it fears nothing of immoderation, and therefore nothing of want, and therefore nothing of wretchedness. So whoever is happy has his measure, that is, wisdom.” ### Translation notes - “This boy's word”: Adeodatus's phrase in section 18, that the chaste man holds himself to God alone. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 33 (CSEL 63:113–114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-33). ## On the Happy Life 34 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-34 - Source: CSEL 63:114–115 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine identifies wisdom with the Son of God, who is Truth, begotten by the supreme Measure, the Father, and concludes that whoever reaches the supreme Measure through the Truth is happy and enjoys God. ### Latin text Quae est autem dicenda sapientia nisi quae dei sapientia est? accepimus autem etiam auctoritate diuina dei filium nihil esse aliud quam dei sapientiam, et est dei filius profecto deus. deum habet igitur quisquis beatus est; quod omnibus nobis iam ante placuit, cum hoc conuiuium ingressi sumus. sed quid putatis esse sapientiam nisi ueritatem? etiam hoc enim dictum est: ego sum ueritas. ueritas autem ut sit, fit per aliquem summum modum, a quo procedit et in quem se perfecta conuertit. ipsi autem summo modo nullus alius modus inponitur; si enim summus modus per summum modum modus est, per se ipsum modus est. sed etiam summus modus necesse est, ut uerus modus sit. ut igitur ueritas modo gignitur, ita modus ueritate cognoscitur. neque igitur ueritas sine modo neque modus sine ueritate umquam fuit. quis est dei filius? dictum est: ueritas. quis est, qui non habet patrem? quis alius quam summus modus? quisquis igitur ad summum modum per ueritatem uenerit, beatus est. hoc est animis deum habere, id est deo perfrui. cetera enim quamuis a deo habeantur, non habent deum. ### English translation (Claude) “But what is to be called wisdom except the wisdom of God? And we have received, by divine authority too, that the Son of God is nothing other than the Wisdom of God; and the Son of God is surely God. So whoever is happy has God, which all of us agreed earlier, when we began this banquet. But what do you think wisdom is, if not truth? For this too has been said: ‘I am the truth.’ And truth, in order to be, comes to be through some supreme measure, from which it proceeds and to which, when perfect, it turns back. But no other measure is imposed on the supreme measure itself; for if the supreme measure is a measure through the supreme measure, it is a measure through itself. But the supreme measure must also be a true measure. As truth, then, is begotten by measure, so measure is known by truth. So neither was truth ever without measure, nor measure without truth. Who is the Son of God? It has been said: the Truth. Who is it that has no Father? Who else but the supreme measure? Whoever, then, comes through the Truth to the supreme measure is happy. This is to have God in the soul, that is, to enjoy God. For other things, though they are had by God, do not have God.” ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 1:24: allusion, high confidence - John 14:6: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The Son is called the Wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24) and the Truth (John 14:6); the Father is “the supreme measure” who has no father. Translated exactly as Augustine argues it. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 34 (CSEL 63:114–115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-34). ## On the Happy Life 35 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-35 - Source: CSEL 63:115 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine says that the happy life is to know piously and perfectly the one who leads us into truth, the truth we enjoy, and the supreme measure to which we are joined, one God; Monica responds with a verse of Ambrose's hymn to the Trinity. ### Latin text Admonitio autem quaedam, quae nobiscum agit, ut deum recordemur, ut eum quaeramus, ut eum pulso omni fastidio sitiamus, de ipso ad nos fonte ueritatis emanat. hoc interioribus luminibus nostris iubar sol ille secretus infundit. huius est uerum omne, quod loquimur, etiam quando adhuc uel minus sanis uel repente apertis oculis audacter conuerti et totum intueri trepidamus, nihilque aliud etiam hoc apparet esse quam deum nulla degeneratione inpediente perfectum. nam ibi totum atque omne perfectum est simulque est omnipotentissimus deus. sed tamen quamdiu quaerimus, nondum ipso fonte atque, ut illo uerbo utar, plenitudine saturati nondum ad nostrum modum nos peruenisse fateamur et ideo quamuis iam deo adiuuante nondum tamen sapientes ac beati sumus. illa est igitur plena satietas animorum, hoc est beata uita, pie perfecteque cognoscere, a quo inducaris in ueritatem, qua ueritate perfruaris, per quid conectaris summo modo. quae tria unum deum intellegentibus unamque substantiam exclusis uanitatibus uariae superstitionis ostendunt. — Hic mater recognitis uerbis, quae suae memoriae penitus inhaerebant, et quasi euigilans in fidem suam uersum illum sacerdotis nostri: foue precantes, trinitas, laeta effudit atque subiecit: Haec est nullo ambigente beata uita, quae uita perfecta est, ad quam nos festinantes posse perduci solida fide alacri spe flagranti caritate praesumendum est. ### English translation (Claude) “A certain admonition, which works within us to make us remember God, seek him, and thirst for him with all distaste driven away, flows to us from the very fountain of truth. That hidden sun pours this radiance into our inner eyes. To him belongs everything true that we speak, even when, with eyes still not quite healthy or suddenly opened, we fear to turn boldly and gaze on the whole; and this too appears to be nothing other than God, perfect, with no degeneration hindering. For there everything is whole and perfect, and at the same time he is God most almighty. But as long as we are seeking, not yet filled from the fountain itself and, to use that word, from fullness, let us admit that we have not yet reached our measure; and therefore, though now with God's help, we are not yet wise and happy. That, then, is the full satisfaction of minds, that is, the happy life: to know piously and perfectly by whom you are led into the truth, what truth you enjoy, and through what you are joined to the supreme measure. These three show, to those who understand, one God and one substance, once the vanities of various superstitions are excluded.” Here my mother, recognizing words that had clung deep in her memory, and as if awakening into her faith, joyfully poured out that verse of our priest, ‘Cherish those who pray, O Trinity,’ and added: “This, beyond any doubt, is the happy life, the life that is perfect, to which we must presume that we, hastening, can be brought by solid faith, eager hope, and burning love.” ### Scripture references - John 16:13: echo, medium confidence - 1 Cor 13:13: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Ambrose of Milan, Ambrose, Hymn. Deus creator omnium (Ambrose of Milan, Ambrose, Hymns): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Our priest” is Ambrose; the verse “foue precantes, trinitas” is from his hymn “Deus creator omnium”. Monica's words echo faith, hope, and love (1 Cor 13:13). The three (the Father who leads into truth, the Truth enjoyed, and the means of union) are read here as the Trinity, one substance. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 35 (CSEL 63:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-35). ## On the Happy Life 36 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-36 - Source: CSEL 63:115–116 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine closes the three-day discussion with thanks to God and to his companions, urging them to keep measure in all things on the way back to God. ### Latin text Ergo, inquam, quoniam modus ipse nos admonet et conuiuium aliquo interuallo dierum distinguere, quantas pro uiribus possum, gratias ago summo et uero deo patri, domino liberatori animarum, deinde uobis, qui concorditer inuitati multis etiam me cumulastis muneribus. nam tantum in nostrum sermonem contulistis, ut me negare non possim ab inuitatis meis esse satiatum.— Hic omnibus gaudentibus et laudantibus deum: Quam uellem, inquit Trygetius, hoc modo nos cotidie pasceres. — Modus, inquam, ille ubique seruandus est, ubique amandus, si uobis cordi est ad deum reditus noster. — His dictis facto disputationis fine discessimus. ### English translation (Claude) “So,” I said, “since measure itself warns us to separate our banquet by some interval of days, I give thanks, as much as I can, to the supreme and true God the Father, the Lord, the liberator of souls; and then to you, who, invited in harmony, have heaped many gifts on me as well. For you have contributed so much to our discussion that I cannot deny that I have been filled by my guests.” Here, while all rejoiced and praised God, Trygetius said: “How I wish you would feed us in this way every day!” “That measure,” I said, “must be kept everywhere and loved everywhere, if our return to God is dear to you.” With these words the disputation ended, and we departed. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Beata v. 36 (CSEL 63:115–116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-beata-vita/19/#p-36).