Against Felix the Manichaean 1.14–2.5

Felix said: “Christ said that he would send the Holy Spirit, who would lead into all truth.” Augustine said: “If you have him, attend to what I asked you long ago. For you said that it belongs to his teaching to know even these worldly things. Tell me: how many stars are there, if you have been led into all this truth?” Felix said: “And I say that if the Paraclete spoke through the apostles, he spoke also through Paul; and I ask your holiness to show me the things I have already mentioned.” Augustine said: “Confess that you could not show what I asked, and I will show, according to the scriptures, what belongs to the Christian faith.” Felix said: “And if you bring me the scriptures of Mani, the five authors I told you of, whatever you ask me, I will prove to you.” Augustine said: “This letter is one of those five authors; we opened its beginning and found written there: ‘Mani, an apostle of Christ Jesus.’ And I see that you do not explain to me that very beginning, because you do not prove how Mani is an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Felix said: “If I do not prove it in this one, I will prove it in the second.” Augustine said: “In which second?” Felix said: “In the Treasure.” Augustine said: “This Treasure, which you call by such a name so as to seduce the wretched — who wrote it? Mani. I do not want you to prove it to me from him, because Mani himself lies in saying that he is what he is not.” Felix said: “You prove it to me through another.” Augustine said: “What do you want me to prove to you?” Felix said: “That Mani lies.” Augustine said: “Because you cannot prove that Mani speaks the truth, must I prove that Mani lied?” Felix said: “Why could I not prove it? Were the scriptures I asked for brought forward, and I did not prove it?” Augustine said: “But you ask for the scriptures of Mani, which we do not believe; prove it from elsewhere. But I will prove to you from the very scripture of Mani that Mani lied and that Mani blasphemed.” Felix said: “Let the books be brought.” Augustine said: “The letter of Mani which you call ‘of the Foundation’ is here. In a building there is no beginning except the foundation. If I show that he made a ruin in the very foundation, why do we look for the rest of his construction?”

Felix said: “You say this, showing that there is a ruin in it. And I say: give me as many judges as you have, and I will prove to you that he does not lie.” Augustine said: “Far be it from us and from the human race that you should see as many Manichees as you see people here.” Felix said: “Give, I said, what I asked of you.” Augustine said: “Whom, then, do you want me to give you?” Felix said: “Whom you wish.” Augustine said: “I give these; if you have better, ask for them.” Felix said: “How do you give these?” Augustine said: “Those present, who are listening to us.” Felix said: “These are not favorable to me.” Augustine said: “So you look for such as favor you, not the truth?” Felix said: “Such as would listen to me — and not only to me, but to the scripture itself — so that it may be proved whether it speaks the truth or lies.” Augustine said: “You see, then, that they are listening. Let us read the rest, since you have confessed that this letter is Mani's.” Felix said: “I do not deny it.” Augustine said: “Then let it be read.”

Felix said: “I have no judges.” And he added: “Let its opening be read.” And when it was read and they had come to the place where the same letter has written: “May the peace of the invisible one and the knowledge of the truth be with his brothers and dearest ones, who both believe and serve the heavenly commandments; and may the right hand of the light protect you and snatch you from every evil assault and from the snare of the world; and may the kindness of the Holy Spirit open the inmost parts of your breast, so that you may see your souls with your own eyes,” Felix said: “Give a scripture that refutes these things.” Augustine said: “So far we have heard nothing evil, except that Mani dared to call himself an apostle of Christ. For what he has said so far belongs to the plaster covering of deceit and to the sheep's skin, in which he first speaks good words to them so that he can bring in evil ones. But let us see what he wants to bring in through these words. For if he brings in something evil, these words too will be evil and seductive; but if he says something good and true in what follows, we will be compelled to accept it. So allow what follows to be read.” Felix said: “If, then, you assert that good things are set down first and evil things brought in afterward, how can I believe you, since you first spoke good things to me?” Augustine said: “I have so far called these things neither good nor evil. ‘We have heard nothing evil yet,’ I said; I did not say, ‘We have already heard something good.’ For I called only that evil, that he dared to say he is an apostle of Christ. But the words he spoke in what follows will be evil if they bring in something evil, and good if they bring in something good. So allow what follows to be read. Why are you afraid?” Felix said: “I am not afraid.” Augustine said: “Then allow them to be read.” Felix said: “Let them be read.”

And when it was read and they had come to the place where it has written: “And his most splendid kingdoms are so founded upon a bright and blessed land that they can never be moved or shaken by anyone,” Augustine said: “This land he speaks of — where did he get it from? Did he make it, or beget it, or was it equal and coeternal with him? I mean this land which he calls bright and blessed.” Felix said: “As it is written: ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth, and the earth was invisible and corruptible and unformed’ — I understand it thus: ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth, and the earth was’: there seem to me to be, as it were, two earths, according to what Mani says, two kingdoms.” Augustine said: “Since you have mentioned our scripture, which you are accustomed to blaspheme, it is my part to explain it and to show you that it is written without blasphemy and with truth and not according to Mani, so that you may then answer me, at least in second place, what I asked.” Felix said: “I will answer.” Augustine said: “In what is written, ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth,’ scripture briefly summed up what God made. Then, since this earth which he had made did not yet appear before he set it in order and adorned it, scripture went on to explain what kind of earth God had made, what kind of earth it was of which it had said, ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth.’ It is as if, when we had heard, ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth,’ we were asking what kind of earth, and it added, ‘But the earth’ — that is, the one God had made — ‘was invisible and unformed.’ So it did not speak of two earths, but explained what that earth was like. So now answer me what I briefly asked: this bright and blessed land of which Mani speaks, upon which the kingdoms of God were founded, was it made by God himself, or begotten of him, or coeternal with him? Answer one of the three without evasion, if it is no trouble.” Felix said: “Scripture interprets itself.” Augustine said: “If, then, you know some place here where scripture says that God either begot that land or made it or that it was coeternal with him, open it at the place you know and read it to me.” Felix said: “It is not in this scripture, but in another.” Augustine said: “Then I believe that, if there is such a scripture, you remember what it said there. So answer me, you who know that scripture; and if I say that it does not read so, you will convict me. But if I learn that it is so, I will argue according to what you yourself answer. Say, then, whether God made this land, or begot it, or whether it was coeternal with him — you who have read it in some book or other where you say this is written.” Felix said: “Since your holiness just now interpreted your scripture as you wished, and I accepted it, you too accept from me whatever I say.” Augustine said: “For the moment I accept what I asked, if nothing moves me against it; but if something moves me, I will tell you my objection, so that you may answer it.” Felix said: “I did not answer your statements.” Augustine said: “Although it comes first that you answer what I asked, I nevertheless arranged to answer you first. Perhaps it did not move you; therefore you did not answer. Perhaps it will not move me either, when you answer. So answer what I asked.”

Felix said: “I will answer.” And he added: “You asked, then, about that land in which God dwells, whether it was made by him, or he begot it, or it is coeternal with him. And I say that, as God is eternal and there is nothing made with him, all is eternal.” Augustine said: “So he neither begot it nor made it?” Felix said: “No, but it is coeternal with him.” Augustine said: “But if he had begotten it, it would not be coeternal with him?” Felix said: “What is born has an end; what is unborn has no end.” Augustine said: “Of whom, then, was he father, or whose father was he whom he just called Father? For if he had begotten nothing, he could not be a father.” Felix said: “But there are other things which he begot.” Augustine said: “Then are the things he begot not coeternal with him, or are they also coeternal?” Felix said: “Whatever God begot is coeternal with him.” Augustine said: “Then you erred in what you said above: ‘Everything that is born has an end.’” Felix said: “For the moment, since I spoke according to the generation of the flesh, I erred.” Augustine said: “Having confessed your error most modestly, may you deserve to understand the truth.” Felix said: “May God grant it.” Augustine said: “Pay attention now, then, that you may begin to recognize the error of this scripture. If the things God begot are not coeternal with him, that land which God did not beget, where all the things God begot dwell, is better — that land which you say was not begotten by him.” Felix said: “All are equal to one another, both those he begot and those he did not beget, that is, that land where he dwelt.” Augustine said: “What? Is he who begot equal to all of them, or greater than them?” Felix said: “He who begot, and those whom he begot, and where they are placed — all are equal.” Augustine said: “Then they are of one substance?” Felix said: “Of one.” Augustine said: “What God the Father is, that his sons are, and that that land is too?” Felix said: “All of them are this one thing.” Augustine said: “So he is not the father of this land, but its inhabitant?” Felix said: “Yes.” Augustine said: “If he neither begot it nor made it, I do not see how it belongs to him except by neighborhood alone, as when someone has a good neighbor; and there will now be two things, both unbegotten: the land and the Father.” Felix said: “No, there are three: the unbegotten Father, the unbegotten land, and the unbegotten air.” Augustine said: “Is all this one substance?” Felix said: “One.” Augustine said: “And so founded that it could never be moved or shaken by anyone?” Felix said: “Moving and shaking are different.” Augustine said: “Let them be; but were these things nevertheless such that they could never be moved or shaken by anyone?” Felix said: “There is a difference between being moved and being shaken.” Augustine said: “That is not what I am asking you about.” Felix said: “But you want to hold me by it.” Augustine said: “Take ‘moved’ as you like: could it not be moved?” Felix said: “I do not say that it could not be moved, but moving is a different thing.” Augustine said: “But I said this: neither moved nor shaken. I did not say: it can be moved but cannot be shaken, or: it can be shaken but cannot be moved. I spoke of both things: that it can be neither moved nor shaken.” Felix said: “Regarding both things, there is a difference between being moved and being shaken.”

Augustine said: “Let us read what follows, then, and see whether this God, who had his kingdoms founded upon a bright and blessed land which can never be moved and shaken by anyone, feared no one, as it was fitting that he whose kingdoms were so founded that they could not be moved or shaken by anyone should fear no one.” And he read what follows: “But near one part and side of that illustrious and holy land.” And as he read, he asked: “Which side? Right or left?” Felix said: “I cannot interpret this scripture for you and set out what is not there; it is its own interpreter. I cannot say, lest perhaps I fall into sin.” Augustine said: “Then let what follows be read.” And when he read and they had come to the place where it has: “But the Father of the most blessed light, knowing that a great ruin and devastation, which would arise from the darkness, threatened his holy ages unless he set against it a deity excellent and glorious and mighty in power, by which he might at once overcome and destroy the stock of darkness, so that when it was extinguished perpetual rest might be prepared for the inhabitants of light,” Augustine said: “Now, since open blasphemies have begun, if you think they should be defended, say what harm this race of darkness could do to God — the race God seems to have feared, lest a great ruin and devastation from the darkness should break into his kingdoms — and above all to him whose kingdoms he said above were so founded that they could never be moved or shaken by anyone. What, then, was this race going to do to him? Could it harm him, or could it not? Answer one of the two.” Felix said: “And I answer: if there is nothing against God, according to what the scripture of Mani said, that there is another kingdom, for what reason was Christ sent to free us from the snare of this death? Whose is this snare and death? If there is no adversary against God, why were we baptized? Why the Eucharist, why Christianity, if there is nothing against God?” Augustine said: “I see that you do not wish to answer what I ask you, and that you ask so that I may answer you. I do not refuse this, provided you remember that I answer you when you ask, but you would not answer me when I asked. But since you asked me, hear what you asked. We indeed say that Christ came as deliverer, and we say that we are delivered from our sins because we were not begotten of the substance of God, but made by God through his Word. There is a great difference between what is born of the substance of God and what is made by God, which is not of the substance of God. Whatever God made, then, can be changeable; but God himself is not changeable, because works cannot be made equal to their craftsman and founder. But you, who a little earlier said in answer to my question that the Father, who there begot the sons of light, and the air and the land itself and the sons themselves are one substance and all are equal, must tell me how the race of darkness could harm this substance, which is certainly incorruptible. For if it could harm it, it was not an incorruptible nature; but if it could not, there was no reason why he should wage a battle and send here that deity of which he speaks.” Felix said: “I ask for a delay so that I can answer.” Augustine said: “Until when? Is an interval until tomorrow enough?”

Felix said: “Give me an interval of three days, that is, today and tomorrow and the day after, or until the day after the Lord's day, that is, the day before the Ides of December.” Augustine said: “I see that you have asked for a delay in order to answer; it is humane that it be granted you. But if you cannot answer by the appointed day, what will happen?” Felix said: “I will be beaten.” Augustine said: “What if you flee?” Felix said: “I will be guilty before this city and everywhere and before my law.” Augustine said: “Rather say this: if I flee, let me be regarded as if I had anathematized Mani.” Felix said: “I cannot say this.” Augustine said: “Then tell us openly that you are thinking of fleeing and no one is holding you.” Felix said: “I am not fleeing.” Augustine said: “As I see, you do not want to go away as one defeated; but at least say this: if I flee, I am defeated.” Felix said: “I have said it.” Augustine said: “And how will it be evident from the record that you have fled?” Felix said: “Order that I may be with whomever I choose.” Augustine said: “Choose for yourself one of these brothers here present who are standing at the rail.” Felix said: “But with the one who is in the middle.” Augustine said: “As you have chosen, you will be with him until the day.” Felix said: “Yes; and I agree to this.” Boniface said: “Christ will grant that, if I come with him, he is a Christian.” I, Augustine, bishop of the catholic church of Hippo Regius, have signed these proceedings held in the church before the people. I, Felix, a Christian, a worshiper of the law of Mani, have signed these proceedings held in the church before the people.

When the appointed day had come, that is, the day before the Ides of December, the proceedings began as follows in the Church of Peace. Augustine, bishop of the catholic church of the region of Hippo Regius, said: “You remember that when we were holding our discussion some days ago you asked for a delay, since you could not answer at the time the questions I had put. If, then, in so long a space of time — after the fifth day, that is — you have thought of something, answer. For this is what I asked then: if nothing could harm God, why did he wage war with the race you call the race of darkness, a war in which he mingled his own substance, which is what he himself is, as you said when already asked, with the nature of demons? But if it could harm him, you do not worship an incorruptible God, such as the truth and the apostolic teaching bear witness to.” Felix said: “Since I left your holiness, so as to return on the appointed day and answer your question, whatever you wished to ask, the day has come. And since I have had no scripture in my hands — for they have not been returned to me — from which I could prepare myself (for no one goes out to a contest unless he has first trained, and no litigant can go to law without his papers), so I too cannot answer without my scripture.” Augustine said: “You have thought up this evasion over so long a space of days, and it can do nothing to help you, since in a lost cause and a sacrilegious error you have nothing to answer. For it is known to all who were present, whom I see present now too, that you asked only for a delay of days; but when you asked for the delay you should also have asked for the books, if you thought you could prepare yourself from them to answer, and you did not do so. I know that you asked for the books — not, indeed, to inspect them for preparation, but long before you asked for the delay; but when you asked for the delay, you made no mention of having your books returned and inspected so that you might be better prepared.” Felix said: “Now I ask that the books be returned to me, and I will come to the contest in two days' time; and if I am defeated, I will submit to whatever you decide.” Augustine said: “I think you are not unskilled in that wicked sect, as you also admit. But that you have nothing to answer, even if you do not admit it, everyone now sees. Since you ask again for your books, which are kept under public seal, and say that after inspecting them you could come prepared in two days, remember what is already established: that you could not answer the questions put to you. But take your books, and say what you want brought out of them for you to inspect now and answer.” Felix said: “All the scriptures that were taken from me. For this is the Letter of the Foundation, as your holiness well knows and as I too said, because it contains the beginning, the middle, and the end. Let it be read, and let whatever evil is charged against my law be proved. And I deny it, if the crimes charged against my law are proved.” Augustine said: “Since you admit that this is the letter in which the beginning, middle, and end of your doctrine are contained, how sacrilegious this beginning is — where you say that God fought against the race of darkness and mingled a part of himself, which is what he himself is, with the nature of demons, to be polluted and bound — is so sacrilegious that hearers can scarcely bear it. This is the first charge against your sect — whether you call it the beginning or the middle or the end, I do not much care; yet you do not deny that this was read from this letter, which you admit is Mani's. This is the charge against you; defend it if you can, so that we may come to other matters. So I ask again: if you worship an incorruptible God, what could some hostile race or other that you invent do to harm him? If nothing could harm him, there was no reason why he should mix a part of himself with the nature of demons; but if it could harm him, you do not worship an incorruptible God.”

Felix said: “Mani says that there are two natures, and he is now blamed for saying that there are two, a good and an evil. Christ in the gospel says that there are two trees: a good tree never bears bad fruit, and a bad tree never bears good fruit. See: two natures. Then it is written in the gospel: ‘Did you not sow good seed in the field? Where did the weeds come from? An enemy has done this.’ If this enemy is not foreign to God, let it be proved to me; if this enemy belongs to God, what kind of seed did he sow? Again, it is written in the gospel, where Christ says that in the last times he will set his throne in the midst of the world and send his angels to the east and the west, the north and the south, and gather all nations before him, and separate them as a shepherd separates the lambs from the goats. And to put it briefly, he will say to the lambs: ‘Go into the kingdom prepared for you from the origin of the world.’ To the goats, who are on the left side, he will say: ‘Depart from me, you who have worked iniquity; for you had my name, but you did not do the works; go into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ Who are these who have the name of Christ and are sent into the eternal fire with the devil and his angels, and to which side do they belong, these with whom Christ is not mingled and who bear his name? For this is what Mani says: that those whom Christ condemns are not his. For the apostle Paul says: ‘The wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God; for it is not subject to God's law, nor can it be.’ This is what Mani says: that what is hostile to God does not belong to God; but if it belongs to God, he made an enemy for himself — this Mani does not say. Again Paul says: ‘The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they do not behold the brightness of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.’ The same Paul says again: ‘There was given me a goad of my flesh, an angel of Satan, who buffets me day and night; for this reason I asked the Lord that he depart from me. And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for you; for power is proved in weakness.’ See what the apostle said, see what the evangelist said. Since Mani asserts this, that the one who made war against God is foreign to God — whether because Christ was crucified, or because all the apostles were, for God's commandment — let your holiness tell me whether this one who crucified them, whom God's commandment does not please, belongs to God.”

Augustine said: “You have chosen to cite the holy scriptures, from which, by not understanding them, you stray far from the truth, as though calling on them to support your empty talk. Yet among all the things you cited — partly as they are truly written, partly otherwise than they are written — you could nowhere show that God, wishing to drive back a hostile nature threatening his kingdoms so as to have peace, mingled a part of himself, which is what he himself is, with the contrary nature of demons and caused it to be bound and contaminated by them. Yet this is what is charged against you. So, finding nothing to answer, you cited passages of the divine scriptures where it is said of sinners that they do not belong to the blessed life which God gives to the good and faithful, and you wished these to be taken as two natures, according to the ravings of Mani. But the truth says that all these things we see and do not see, which subsist by nature, were made by God; and that among them the rational creature, itself also made, whether in angels or in men, received free choice. By this free choice, if it wished to serve God, it would have eternal happiness with him according to God's will and law; but if it refused to be subject to his law, and used its power to act against his command, it would be subject to the punishment due, according to his justice. This is God's omnipotence in creating all things, this his justice in requiting sinners. And see: free choice, and that therefore each one sins if he wills and does not sin if he does not will, I prove not only from the divine scriptures, which you do not understand, but also from the words of your Mani himself. For hemmed in, he sees the power of the truth, against which he had tried to bring in against God another nature, which God did not make, not with solid truth but with an empty phantasm; yet in confessing the truth about free choice, human nature, in which God made him, prevailed more in him than the sacrilegious fable which he invented for himself.”

“Hear first about free choice from the Lord himself, where he mentions the two trees which you yourself referred to; hear him saying: ‘Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad.’ When, then, he says, ‘Either do this or do that,’ he indicates power, not nature. For no one but God can make a tree; but each one has it in his will either to choose what is good and be a good tree, or to choose what is evil and be a bad tree — not because the evil things that are chosen have any substance in themselves, but because God established all things that he founded in their ranks and distinguished them by kinds, heavenly and earthly, immortal and mortal, and founded all things good, each in its own kind; and he placed the soul, which has free choice, beneath himself and above the rest, so that if it served the higher it would rule the lower, but if it offended the higher it would feel punishment from the lower. So the Lord, saying this, ‘Either do this or do that,’ showed that what they would do was in their power, he himself being secure and certain in himself as God, and that if they chose good they would receive its reward, and if they chose evil they would feel its punishment; but he is always just, either as rewarder or as condemner.”

“Hear now, then, how Mani himself — so perverse, so proud that, bringing in another nature and making it equal to God, he brought God down to his own level — nevertheless confessed that there is free choice. In your Treasure, to which you gave such a name to deceive people, he certainly speaks thus, as you yourself know: ‘But those who through their negligence have not at all allowed themselves to be cleansed from the stain of the aforesaid spirits, and have not wholly obeyed the divine commandments, and have been unwilling to keep more fully the law given them by their deliverer, and have not governed themselves as was fitting,’ and so on. You see that in these words free choice is confirmed even by one who did not know what he was saying. For whoever is unwilling to keep the law has it in his power, if he wills. For he did not say ‘could not’ but ‘were unwilling.’ This at least — that they are unwilling to keep the law — they are not forced to by the race of darkness; for if they are forced, they are not unwilling but unable; but if they are unwilling, they are certainly not forced not to do it, but are unwilling by their own will. This, then, which lies in their will, that they are unwilling, is certainly sin without any compulsion from the race of darkness; recognize that this is sin without compulsion from the race of darkness. And from this you see where all faults come from, where the deserts of faults, where the allotments of punishments.”