# On the Nature of the Good - Author: [Augustine of Hippo](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/augustine-of-hippo/) - Latin title: *De natura boni* - Date: ca. 399 (approximate) - Source: Joseph Zycha, ed., Sancti Aureli Augustini opera, sect. VI, pars 2, CSEL 25.2 (Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1892) (Latin text: Joseph Zycha, De natura boni (CSEL 25.2, 1892), 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-natura-boni/ - Passages: 48 ## On the Nature of the Good 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-1 - Source: CSEL 25:855–856 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God is the highest and unchangeable good, and every other nature, spirit or body, is good and comes from him, made from nothing. ### Latin text Summum bonum. quo superius non est, deus est; ac per hoc incommutabile bonum est; ideo uere aeternum et uere inmortale. cetera omnia bona nonnisi ab illo sunt, sed non de illo. de illo enim quod est, hoc quod ipse est; ab illo autem quae facta sunt, non sunt quod ipse. ac per hoc si solus ipse incommutabilis, omnia quae fecit, quia ex nihilo fecit, mutabilia sunt. tam enim omnipotens est, ut possit etiam de nihilo, id est ex eo, quod omnino non est, bona facere, et magna et parua, et caelestia et terrena, et spiritalia et corporalia. quia uero et iustus est, ei, quod de se genuit, ea, quae de nihilo fecit, non aequauit. quia ergo bona omnia, siue magna siue parua, per quoslibet rerum gradus non possunt esse nisi a deo; omnis autem natura, in quantum natura est, bonum est: omnis natura non potest esse nisi a summo et uero deo, quia omnia etiam non summa bona, sed propinqua summo bono et rursus omnia etiam nouissima bona, quae longe sunt a summo bono, non possunt esse nisi ab ipso summo bono. omnis ergo spiritus, etiam mutabilis, et omne corpus a deo: haec est omnis facta natura. omnis quippe natura aut spiritus aut corpus est. spiritus incommutabilis deus est, spiritus mutabilis facta natura est, sed corpore melior; corpus autem spiritus non est, nisi cum uentus, quia nobis inuisibilis est, et tamen uis eius non parua sentitur, alio quodam modo spiritus dicitur. ### English translation (Claude) The highest good, than which there is nothing higher, is God; and for that reason he is an unchangeable good, and therefore truly eternal and truly immortal. All other good things are only from him, but not of him. For what is of him is what he himself is; but the things that have been made by him are not what he is. And therefore, if he alone is unchangeable, all the things he made are changeable, because he made them from nothing. For he is so omnipotent that he can make good things even from nothing, that is, from what does not exist at all, both great and small, both heavenly and earthly, both spiritual and bodily. But because he is also just, he did not make the things he made from nothing equal to what he begot of himself. Since, then, all good things, whether great or small, at whatever levels of being, can only be from God, and since every nature, insofar as it is a nature, is good, every nature can only be from the highest and true God. For all good things, even those that are not the highest but are near the highest good, and again all good things, even the lowest, which are far from the highest good, can only be from the highest good itself. Every spirit, then, even a changeable one, and every body is from God: this is the whole of created nature. For every nature is either spirit or body. The unchangeable spirit is God; changeable spirit is a created nature, but better than body. Body, however, is not spirit, except that the wind, because it is invisible to us and yet its considerable force is felt, is in a certain other sense called spirit. ### Translation notes - The distinction between what is “of” God (de illo, the Son, begotten from his substance) and what is “from” God (ab illo, creatures made from nothing) runs through the work; the English keeps “of” and “from” apart. The book title at the head of the digital text (“VIII. De natura boni liber”, the CSEL heading) has been removed from the section. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 1 (CSEL 25:855–856; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-1). ## On the Nature of the Good 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-2 - Source: CSEL 25:856 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine addresses those who, troubled by evil and mortality, posit a second nature not made by God, and starts from their own admission that every good is from God. ### Latin text Propter eos autem, qui, cum intellegere non possunt omnem naturam. id est omnem spiritum et omne corpus naturaliter bonum esse, mouentur spiritus iniquitate et corporis mortalitate et ob hoc aliam naturam maligni spiritus et mortalis corporis, quam deus non fecerit, conantur inducere: sic arbitramur ad eorum intellectum, quod dicimus, posse perduci. fatentur enim omne bonum non esse posse nisi a summo et uero deo, quod et uerum est et ad eos corrigendos, si uelint aduertere, sufficit. ### English translation (Claude) But on account of those who, since they cannot understand that every nature, that is, every spirit and every body, is naturally good, are troubled by the wickedness of spirit and the mortality of body, and for that reason try to bring in another nature, of an evil spirit and a mortal body, which God did not make, we think that what we are saying can be brought within their understanding in this way. For they admit that every good can only be from the highest and true God; and this is both true and sufficient to correct them, if they are willing to pay attention. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 2 (CSEL 25:856; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-2). ## On the Nature of the Good 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-3 - Source: CSEL 25:856–857 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Measure, form, and order are the general goods in all created things, and God, the source of them, is above them all; where they are absent there is no nature. ### Latin text Nos enim catholici christiani deum colimus, a quo omnia bona sunt seu magna seu parua; a quo est omnis modus, siue magnus siue paruus; a quo omnis species, siue magna siue parua; a quo omnis ordo, siue magnus siue paruus. omnia enim quanto magis moderata, speciosa, ordinata sunt, tanto magis utique bona sunt; quanto autem minus moderata, minus speciosa, minus ordinata sunt, minus bona sunt. haec itaque tria: modus, species et ordo, ut de innumerabilibus taceam, quae ad ista tria pertinere monstrantur, haec ergo tria: modus, species, ordo, tamquam generalia bona sunt in rebus a deo factis siue in spiritu siue in corpore. deus itaque supra omnem creaturae modum est, supra omnem speciem, supra omnem ordinem: nec spatiis locorum supra est, sed ineffabili et singulari potentia; a quo omnis modus, omnis species, omnis ordo. haec tria ubi magna sunt, magna bona sunt; ubi parua sunt, parua bona sunt; ubi nulla sunt. nullum bonum est. et rursus haec tria ubi magna sunt, magnae naturae sunt; ubi parua sunt, paruae naturae sunt; ubi nulla sunt, nulla natura est. omnis ergo natura bona est. ### English translation (Claude) For we catholic Christians worship God, from whom are all good things, whether great or small; from whom is every measure, whether great or small; from whom is every form, whether great or small; from whom is every order, whether great or small. For all things, the more measured, formed, and ordered they are, the more good they certainly are; and the less measured, the less formed, the less ordered they are, the less good they are. These three things, then, measure, form, and order (to say nothing of the countless things that are shown to belong to these three), these three, measure, form, order, are as it were general goods in the things made by God, whether in spirit or in body. God, therefore, is above every measure of the creature, above every form, above every order; and he is above not by extent of place, but by an ineffable and singular power, he from whom is every measure, every form, every order. Where these three are great, there are great goods; where they are small, there are small goods; where they are absent, there is no good. And again, where these three are great, there are great natures; where they are small, there are small natures; where they are absent, there is no nature. Every nature, therefore, is good. ### Translation notes - modus, species, ordo are rendered “measure, form, order” throughout. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 3 (CSEL 25:856–857; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-3). ## On the Nature of the Good 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-4 - Source: CSEL 25:857 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Evil is nothing but the corruption of a nature's measure, form, or order; a corrupted nature is good as nature and evil as corrupted. ### Latin text Proinde cum quaeritur, unde sit malum, prius quaerendum est, quid sit malum. quod nihil aliud est quam corruptio uel modi uel speciei uel ordinis naturalis. mala, itaque natura dicitur, quae corrupta est; nam incorrupta utique bona est. sed etiam ipsa corrupta, in quantum natura est, bona est; in quantum corrupta est, mala est. ### English translation (Claude) Accordingly, when it is asked where evil comes from, one must first ask what evil is. It is nothing other than the corruption of natural measure or form or order. A nature is therefore called evil when it is corrupted; for when uncorrupted it is certainly good. But even when corrupted, insofar as it is a nature it is good; insofar as it is corrupted, it is evil. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 4 (CSEL 25:857; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-4). ## On the Nature of the Good 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-5 - Source: CSEL 25:857 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: A higher nature, even corrupted, can remain better than a lower one that is uncorrupted, as corrupted gold is better than sound silver and any spirit better than any body. ### Latin text Fieri autem potest, ut quaedam natura, quae modo et specie naturali excellentius ordinata est, etiam corrupta melior sit adhuc quam est incorrupta altera. quae minore modo et specie naturali inferius ordinata est. sicut in hominum aestimatione secundum qualitatem, quae aspectibus adiacet, melius est utique etiam corruptum aurum quam incorruptum argentum et melius est etiam corruptum argentum quam plumbum incorruptum: sic et in naturis potentioribus atque spiritalibus melior est etiam corruptus per malam uoluntatem spiritus rationalis quam inrationalis incorruptus; et melior est quilibet spiritus etiam corruptus quam corpus quodlibet incorruptum melior est enim natura, quae cum praesto est corpori, praebet ei uitam, quam illa, cui uita praebetur. quantumlibet autem corruptus sit spiritus uitae, qui factus est, uitam praebere corpori potest; ac per hoc melior illo est quamuis incorrupto corruptus. ### English translation (Claude) It can happen, however, that a nature which is ranked more excellently by its natural measure and form is, even when corrupted, still better than another which is uncorrupted but ranked lower by a lesser natural measure and form. So, in human valuation according to the quality that meets the eye, even corrupted gold is certainly better than uncorrupted silver, and even corrupted silver is better than uncorrupted lead. So too among the more powerful and spiritual natures, a rational spirit, even when corrupted by an evil will, is better than an irrational one that is uncorrupted; and any spirit whatever, even corrupted, is better than any body whatever, even uncorrupted. For the nature that, when present to a body, gives it life is better than the one to which life is given. However corrupted the created spirit of life may be, it can give life to a body; and therefore, though corrupted, it is better than the body, however uncorrupted. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 5 (CSEL 25:857; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-5). ## On the Nature of the Good 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-6 - Source: CSEL 25:857–858 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: A nature that cannot be corrupted is the highest good; one that can be corrupted is still good, since corruption harms only by removing good. ### Latin text Corruptio autem si omnem modum, omnem speciem omnem ordinem rebus corruptibilibus auferat, nulla natura remanebit. ac per hoc omnis natura, quae corrumpi non potest, summum bonum est, sicut deus est. omnis autem natura, quae corrumpi potest, etiam ipsa aliquod bonum est: non enim posset ei nocere corruptio nisi adimendo et minuendo quod bonum est. ### English translation (Claude) But if corruption takes away all measure, all form, all order from corruptible things, no nature will remain. And therefore every nature that cannot be corrupted is the highest good, as God is. But every nature that can be corrupted is also itself some good; for corruption could not harm it except by taking away and diminishing what is good. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 6 (CSEL 25:857–858; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-6). ## On the Nature of the Good 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-7 - Source: CSEL 25:858 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Rational spirits cannot be corrupted unless they will it; if they abandon obedience they are corrupted willingly by sin and unwillingly by punishment, which is justice. ### Latin text Creaturis autem praestantissimis, hoc est rationalibus spiritibus, hoc praestitit deus, ut si nolint, corrumpi non possint, id est, si oboedientiam conseruauerint sub domino deo suo ac sic incorruptibili pulchritudini eius adhaeserint; si autem oboedientiam conseruare noluerint. quoniam uolentes corrumpuntur in peccatis, nolentes corrumpantur in poenis. tale quippe bonum est deus, ut nemini eum deserenti bene sit; et in rebus a deo factis tam magnum bonum est natura rationalis, ut nullum sit bonum, quo beata sit, nisi deus. peccantes igitur in suppliciis ordinantur: quae ordinatio quia eorum naturae non competit. ideo poena est; sed quia culpae competit, ideo iustitia est. ### English translation (Claude) To the most excellent creatures, that is, to rational spirits, God has granted this: that if they do not will it, they cannot be corrupted; that is, if they keep obedience under the Lord their God and so cling to his incorruptible beauty. But if they refuse to keep obedience, then, since they are corrupted willingly in sins, they are corrupted unwillingly in punishments. For God is such a good that it goes well with no one who deserts him; and among the things made by God, rational nature is so great a good that there is no good by which it can be happy except God. Sinners, therefore, are set in order in punishments; and this ordering, because it does not suit their nature, is therefore punishment; but because it suits their guilt, it is therefore justice. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 7 (CSEL 25:858; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-7). ## On the Nature of the Good 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-8 - Source: CSEL 25:858 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Lower creatures, neither happy nor miserable, are still good and so ordered that their passing away forms a temporal beauty, like syllables in a well-made speech. ### Latin text Cetera uero, quae sunt facta de nihilo, quae utique inferiora sunt quam spiritus rationalis, nec beata possunt esse nec misera. sed quia pro modo et specie sua etiam ipsa bona sunt nec esse quamuis minora et minima bona nisi a summo bono deo potuerunt, sic ordinata sunt, ut cedant infirmiora firmioribus et inualidiora fortioribus et inpotentiora potentioribus, atque ita caelestibus terrena concordent tamquam praecellentibus subdita. fit autem decedentibus et succedentibus rebus temporalis quaedam in suo genere pulchritudo. ut nec ipsa, quae moriuntur uel quod erant esse desinunt, turpent ac turbent modum et speciem et ordinem uniuersae creaturae: sicut sermo bene compositus utique pulcher est, quamuis in eo syllabae atque omnes soni tamquam nascendo et moriendo transcurrant. ### English translation (Claude) But the other things that have been made from nothing, which are certainly lower than rational spirit, can be neither happy nor miserable. Yet because by their own measure and form they too are good, and could not exist, though lesser and least goods, except from God, the highest good, they are so ordered that the weaker give way to the stronger, the feebler to the more robust, and the less powerful to the more powerful; and so earthly things are in harmony with heavenly things, as subjects with those that excel them. Thus, as things depart and others follow them, there arises a certain temporal beauty of its own kind, so that even those things that die, or cease to be what they were, do not disfigure or disturb the measure, form, and order of the whole creation; just as a well-composed speech is certainly beautiful, although in it the syllables and all the sounds pass by, as it were, being born and dying. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 8 (CSEL 25:858; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-8). ## On the Nature of the Good 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-9 - Source: CSEL 25:858–859 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's remission of punishment shows his goodness and his exacting of it shows no injustice; even a punished nature keeps some measure, form, and order and so some good. ### Latin text Qualis autem et quanta poena cuique culpae debeatur, diuini iudicii est, non humani: quae utique et cum conuersis remittitur, magna est bonitas apud deum. et cum debita redditur, nulla est iniquitas apud deum, quia melius ordinatur natura, ut iuste doleat in supplicio quam ut inpune gaudeat in peccato. quae tamen etiam sic habens nonnullum modum et speciem et ordinem in quacumque extremitate adhuc aliquod bonum est: quae si omnino detrahantur et penitus consumantur, ideo nullum bonum erit, quia nulla natura remanebit. ### English translation (Claude) What kind and how great a punishment is due to each fault belongs to divine judgment, not human. When it is remitted to those who are converted, there is great goodness with God; and when it is paid as due, there is no injustice with God, because a nature is better ordered when it suffers justly in punishment than when it rejoices with impunity in sin. Yet even so, still having some measure, form, and order, in whatever extremity, it is still some good; and if these were taken away altogether and wholly consumed, there would be no good for the reason that no nature would remain. ### Scripture references - Rom 9:14: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - “No injustice with God” echoes Rom 9:14. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 9 (CSEL 25:858–859; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-9). ## On the Nature of the Good 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-10 - Source: CSEL 25:859 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Corruptible natures exist because God made them, and are changeable because he made them from nothing; to make them equal to what is born of God would equate nothing with God. ### Latin text Omnes igitur naturae corruptibiles nec omnino naturae essent, nisi a deo essent, nec corruptibiles essent, si de illo essent, quia hoc, quod ipse est, essent. ideo ergo quocumque modo, quacumque specie. quocumque ordine sunt. quia deus est, a quo factae sunt; ideo autem non incommutabiles sunt,. quia nihil est, unde factae sunt. sacrilega enim audacia coaequantur nihil et deus, si quale est illud, quod de deo natum est, tale uelimus esse illud, quod ab eo de nihilo factum est. ### English translation (Claude) All corruptible natures, then, would not be natures at all unless they were from God; nor would they be corruptible if they were of him, because they would then be what he himself is. So they exist in whatever measure, form, and order they have because it is God by whom they were made; and they are not unchangeable because it is nothing from which they were made. For it is sacrilegious audacity to make nothing and God equal, if we want what has been made by him from nothing to be such as that which has been born of God. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 10 (CSEL 25:859; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-10). ## On the Nature of the Good 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-11 - Source: CSEL 25:859 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's nature cannot be harmed, and no nature under him is harmed unjustly: the unjust will belongs to the wrongdoer, but the power to harm is permitted by God. ### Latin text Quapropter nec naturae dei omnino noceri potest nec alicui naturae sub deo noceri iniuste potest, quia et cum peccando iniuste aliqui nocent, uoluntas iniusta eis inputatur; potestas autem, qua nocere permittuntur. non est nisi a deo, qui et ipsis nescientibus nouit, quid illi pati debeant. quibus eos nocere permittit. ### English translation (Claude) Therefore neither can the nature of God be harmed at all, nor can any nature under God be harmed unjustly. For even when some do harm unjustly by sinning, the unjust will is imputed to them; but the power by which they are permitted to do harm is only from God, who knows, even when they themselves do not, what those should suffer whom he permits them to harm. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 11 (CSEL 25:859; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-11). ## On the Nature of the Good 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-12 - Source: CSEL 25:859–860 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Those who posit another nature would avoid their blasphemies if they held to their own admission that all goods, great and small, come only from God. ### Latin text Haec omnia tam perspicua, tam certa si uelint aduertere, qui aliam naturam inducunt, quam non fecit deus, non tantis blasphemiis implerentur, ut et in summo malo tanta bona ponerent et in deo tanta mala. sufficit enim, ut supra dixi, ad eorum correctionem, si uelint adtendere, quod eos etiam inuitos cogit ueritas confiteri omnia prorsus bona non esse nisi a deo. non ergo ab alio sunt magna bona et ab alio parua bona, sed et magna et parua bona nonnisi a summo bono, quod deus est. ### English translation (Claude) If those who bring in another nature, which God did not make, were willing to pay attention to all these things, so clear and so certain, they would not be filled with such great blasphemies as to place so many goods in the highest evil and so many evils in God. For, as I said above, it is enough to correct them, if they are willing to attend to it, that the truth forces them even against their will to confess that absolutely all good things are only from God. Great goods, then, are not from one source and small goods from another; but both great and small goods are only from the highest good, which is God. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 12 (CSEL 25:859–860; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-12). ## On the Nature of the Good 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-13 - Source: CSEL 25:860 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine lists the goods, life, power, health, memory, understanding, beauty, peace, and above all measure, form, and order, that come from God and without which no nature remains. ### Latin text Commemoremus ergo bona quanta potuerimus. quae dignum est ut deo auctori tribuamus. et his sublatis uideamus, utrum aliqua natura remanebit. omnis uita et magna et parua, omnis potentia et magna et parua, omnis salus et magna et parua, omnis memoria et magna et parua, omnis intellectus et magnus et paruus, omnis tranquillitas et magna et parua, omnis uirtus et magna et parua, omnis copia et magna et parua, omnis sensus et magnus et paruus, omne lumen et magnum et paruum, omnis suauitas et magna et parua, omnis mensura et magna et parua, omnis pulchritudo. et magna et parua. omnis pax et magna et parua et si qua similia occurrere potuerint maximeque illa, quae per omnia reperiuntur, siue spiritalia siue corporalia, omnis modus, omnis species, omnis ordo et magnus et paruus, a domino deo sunt. quibus bonis omnibus qui male uti uoluerit, diuino iudicio poenas luet; ubi autem nullum horum omnino fuerit, nulla natura remanebit. ### English translation (Claude) Let us then list, as far as we can, the good things that it is fitting for us to attribute to God as their author, and let us see whether, if they are taken away, any nature will remain. All life, both great and small; all power, both great and small; all health, both great and small; all memory, both great and small; all understanding, both great and small; all tranquillity, both great and small; all strength, both great and small; all abundance, both great and small; all sensation, both great and small; all light, both great and small; all sweetness, both great and small; all measurement, both great and small; all beauty, both great and small; all peace, both great and small; and whatever similar things may occur to us, and especially those that are found in all things, whether spiritual or bodily, every measure, every form, every order, both great and small, are from the Lord God. Whoever chooses to use all these goods badly will pay the penalty by divine judgment; but where none of them is present at all, no nature will remain. ### Translation notes - mensura (“measurement”) is kept distinct from modus (“measure”). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 13 (CSEL 25:860; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-13). ## On the Nature of the Good 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-14 - Source: CSEL 25:860–861 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Lesser goods are called by contrary names in comparison with greater, as an ape's beauty is called ugliness beside a human's, though the ape has its own measure and harmony. ### Latin text Sed in his omnibus quaecumque parua sunt. in maiorum comparatione contrariis nominibus appellantur: sicut in hominis forma quia maior est pulchritudo. in eius comparatione simiae pulchritudo deformitas dicitur. et fallit inprudentes, tamquam illud sit bonum et hoc malum; nec intendunt in corpore simiae modum proprium, parilitatem ex utroque latere membrorum, concordiam partium, incolumitatis custodiam et cetera, quae persequi longum est. ### English translation (Claude) But among all these, whatever things are small are called by contrary names when compared with greater ones. So, in the form of a human being, because its beauty is greater, the beauty of an ape is called ugliness in comparison with it; and this deceives the unwary, as though the one were good and the other evil. They do not look in the body of the ape at its own measure, the equality of the limbs on either side, the harmony of the parts, the safeguarding of its soundness, and the other things that would take long to go through. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 14 (CSEL 25:860–861; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-14). ## On the Nature of the Good 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-15 - Source: CSEL 25:861 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Corruption diminishes only good, so a nature is good; contraries like slow and swift, silence and voice, darkness and light show that the lesser term is a lack of the greater. ### Latin text Sed, ut quod dicimus intellegatur et nimium tardis satis fiat, uel etiam pertinaces et apertissime ueritati repugnantes cogantur quod uerum est confiteri, interrogentur, utrum corpori simiae possit nocere corruptio. quod si potest, ut foedius fiat, quid minuit nisi pulchritudinis bonum? unde tamdiu aliquid remanebit, quamdiu corporis natura subsistit proinde si consumpto bono natura consumitur, bona est ergo natura. sic et tardum dicimus ueloci contrarium; sed tamen. qui se omnino non monet, nec tardus dici potest. sic acutae. uoci contrariam uocem dicimus grauem uel canorae asperam; sed si omnem speciem uocis penitus adimas, silentium est, ubi uox nulla est: quod tamen silentium eo ipso, quod uox nulla est. tamquam contrarium uoci solet obponi. sic et lucida et obscura tamquam duo contraria dicuntur; habent tamen et obscura aliquid lucis, quod si penitus careant, ita sunt tenebrae lucis absentia sicut silentium uocis absentia. ### English translation (Claude) But so that what we are saying may be understood, and the very slow may be satisfied, or even the stubborn who resist the plainest truth may be forced to confess what is true, let them be asked whether corruption can harm the body of an ape. If it can, so that it becomes uglier, what does it diminish except the good of beauty? Hence something will remain as long as the nature of the body subsists. Accordingly, if the nature is consumed when the good is consumed, then the nature is good. So too we call slow the contrary of swift; yet one who does not move at all cannot even be called slow. So we call a deep voice the contrary of a high one, or a harsh voice the contrary of a melodious one; but if you take away every form of voice entirely, there is silence, where there is no voice; yet silence, by the very fact that there is no voice, is usually set against voice as its contrary. So too bright things and dark things are spoken of as two contraries; yet even dark things have some light, and if they lacked it entirely, darkness would be the absence of light just as silence is the absence of voice. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 15 (CSEL 25:861; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-15). ## On the Nature of the Good 16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-16 - Source: CSEL 25:861 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Privations such as darkness and silence also have their fitting place, as God made darkness as fittingly as day; in the hymn of the three youths light and darkness praise God. ### Latin text Quae tamen etiam priuationes rerum sic in uniuersitate naturae ordinantur, ut sapienter considerantibus non indecenter uices suas habeant. nam et deus certa loca et tempora non inluminando tenebras fecit tam decenter quam dies. si enim nos continendo uocem decenter interponimus in loquendo silentium: quanto magis ille quarundam rerum priuationes decenter facit sicut rerum omnium perfectus artifex? unde et in hymno trium puerorum etiam lux et tenebrae laudant deum, id est eius laudem bene considerantium cordibus pariunt. ### English translation (Claude) Yet even these privations of things are so ordered in the universe of nature that, to those who consider wisely, they hold their turns not unfittingly. For God, too, by not illuminating certain places and times, made darkness as fittingly as day. For if we, by holding back the voice, fittingly insert silence in speaking, how much more does he, as the perfect artist of all things, fittingly make the privations of certain things? Hence in the hymn of the three children even light and darkness praise God, that is, they bring forth his praise in the hearts of those who consider well. ### Extrabiblical texts - Pr Azar 47 (Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The hymn of the three children is the Song of the Three Young Men in the Greek additions to Daniel (Dan 3:72 in the Greek and Latin numbering). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 16 (CSEL 25:861; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-16). ## On the Nature of the Good 17 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-17 - Source: CSEL 25:861–862 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: No nature is evil as nature; evil is the diminishing of good, and if all good were removed no nature, including the Manichaean one, would remain. ### Latin text Non ergo mala, in quantum natura est, ulla natura, sed cuique naturae non est malum nisi minui bono. quod si minuendo absumeretur, sicut nullum bonum, ita nulla natura relinqueretur, non solum qualem inducunt Manichaei, ubi tanta bona inueniuntur, ut nimia eorum caecitas mira sit, sed qualem potest quilibet inducere. ### English translation (Claude) No nature, then, insofar as it is a nature, is evil; rather, for each nature, evil is nothing but being diminished in good. If by being diminished the good were used up, then just as no good, so no nature would be left: not only such a nature as the Manichaeans bring in, in which so many goods are found that their excessive blindness is astonishing, but any nature that anyone can bring in. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 17 (CSEL 25:861–862; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-17). ## On the Nature of the Good 18 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-18 - Source: CSEL 25:862–863 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Formless matter (hyle) is not evil, since its capacity for form is a good and it too comes from God; Mani's hyle, a former of bodies, amounts to a second god. ### Latin text Neque enim uel illa materies, quam hylen antiqui dixerunt, malum dicenda est. non eam dico, quam Manichaeus hylen appellat dementissima uanitate nesciens, quid loquatur, formatricem corporum — unde recte illi dictum est, quod alterum deum inducat; nemo enim formare et creare corpora nisi deus potest: neque enim creantur, nisi cum eis modus et species et ordo subsistit, quae bona esse nec esse posse nisi a deo, puto quia iam etiam ipsi confitentur — sed hylen dico quandam penitus informem et sine qualitate materiem, unde istae quas sentimus qualitates formantur, ut antiqui dixerunt. hinc enim et silua graece ὕλη dicitur, quod operantibus apta sit, non ut aliquid ipsa faciat, sed unde aliquid fiat. nec ista ergo hyle malum dicenda est, quae non per aliquam speciem sentiri, sed per omnimodam speciei priuationem cogitari uix potest. habet enim et ipsa capacitatem formarum; nam si capere impositam ab artifice formam non posset, nec materies utique diceretur. porro si bonum aliquod est forma, unde quia ea praeualent, formosi appellantur, sicut a specie speciosi, procul dubio bonum aliquid est etiam capacitas formae; sicut quia bonum est sapientia, nemo dubitat, quod bonum sit capacem esse sapientiae. et quia omne bonum a deo, neminem oportet dubitare etiam istam, si qua est, materiem non esse nisi a deo. ### English translation (Claude) For not even that matter which the ancients called hyle is to be called evil. I do not mean the one that Mani, in most senseless vanity, not knowing what he is saying, calls hyle, the former of bodies; hence it is rightly said to him that he brings in another god, for no one can form and create bodies except God; for they are not created unless measure and form and order subsist with them, which, I think, even they now admit are good and can only be from God. But by hyle I mean a certain matter entirely formless and without quality, from which the qualities we perceive are formed, as the ancients said. Hence also wood is called hyle in Greek, because it is suitable for workers, not so that it itself makes anything, but as that from which something is made. Nor, then, is this hyle to be called evil; it cannot be perceived through any form, but can scarcely be thought of except through the utter privation of form. For it too has a capacity for forms; for if it could not receive the form imposed by the craftsman, it would certainly not even be called matter. Further, if form is some good, for which those in whom it prevails are called formosi (“shapely”), as from species (“form”) they are called speciosi (“beautiful”), then beyond doubt the capacity for form is also something good; just as, because wisdom is a good, no one doubts that to be capable of wisdom is good. And because every good is from God, no one ought to doubt that even this matter, if there is such a thing, is only from God. ### Translation notes - The Manichaeans used Greek hyle (“matter”) as a name of the evil principle that forms bodies. Augustine plays on Latin silva, which translates Greek hyle (“wood”, “timber”, and philosophically “matter”). The digital text prints only “λη” for the Greek word; it is restored as ὕλη. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 18 (CSEL 25:862–863; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-18). ## On the Nature of the Good 19 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-19 - Source: CSEL 25:863 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God, who said “I am who am,” truly is because he is unchangeable; nothing is contrary to him except what is not, so every nature is good and from God. ### Latin text Magnifice igitur et diuine deus noster famulo suo dixit: ego sum qui sum et: dices filiis Israhel, qui est, misit me ad uos. uere enim ipse est, quia incommutabilis est; omnis enim mutatio facit non esse quod erat uere ergo ille est, qui incommutabilis est; cetera, quae ab illo facta sunt, ab illo pro modo suo esse acceperunt. ei ergo, qui summe est, non potest esse contrarium nisi quod non est; ac per hoc sicut ab illo est omne, quod bonum est, sic ab illo est omne, quod naturale est, quoniam omne, quod naturaliter est, bonum est. omnis itaque natura bona est et omne bonum a deo est; omnis ergo natura a deo est. ### English translation (Claude) Magnificently and divinely, therefore, did our God say to his servant: “I am who am,” and: “You shall say to the children of Israel: He who is has sent me to you.” For he truly is, because he is unchangeable; for every change makes what was not be. He, then, truly is who is unchangeable; the other things that have been made by him have received being from him according to their measure. To him, then, who supremely is, nothing can be contrary except what is not; and therefore, just as everything that is good is from him, so everything that is natural is from him, since everything that exists naturally is good. Every nature, therefore, is good, and every good is from God; every nature, therefore, is from God. ### Scripture references - Exod 3:14: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Exod 3:14 quoted in the Latin form ego sum qui sum. “Every change makes what was not be”: the Latin (facit non esse quod erat) means that change makes what was cease to be. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 19 (CSEL 25:863; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-19). ## On the Nature of the Good 20 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-20 - Source: CSEL 25:863–864 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Pain exists only in good natures resisting loss; worse evils are painless, like rejoicing in iniquity, and the Lord's dead flesh, though wounded, did not see corruption. ### Latin text Dolor autem, quod praecipue malum nonnulli arbitrantur, siue in animo sit siue in corpore, nec ipse potest esse nisi in naturis bonis. hoc enim ipsum, quod restitit, ut doleat, quodam modo recusat non esse quod erat, quia bonum aliquod erat. sed cum ad melius cogitur, utilis dolor est, cum ad deterius, inutilis. in animo ergo dolorem facit uoluntas resistens potestati maiori; in corpore dolorem facit sensus resistens corpori potentiori. sunt autem mala sine dolore peiora; peius est enim gaudere de iniquitate quam dolere de corruptione. uerumtamen etiam tale gaudium non potest esse nisi ex adeptione bonorum inferiorum; sed iniquitas est desertio meliorum. item in corpore melius est uulnus cum dolore quam putredo sine dolore, quae specialiter corruptio dicitur: quam non uidit, id est non passa est mortua caro domini, sicut in prophetia praedictum erat: nec dabis sanctum tuum uidere corruptionem. nam uulneratum esse confixione clauorum et percussum de lancea quis negat? sed etiam ipsa, quae proprie ab omnibus corruptio corporis dicitur, id est ipsa putredo. si adhuc habet aliquid, quod alte consumat, bonum minuendo crescit corruptio. quod si penitus absumpserit, sicut nullum bonum, ita nulla natura remanebit, quia iam corruptio quod corrumpat non erit. et ideo nec ipsa putredo erit, quia ubi sit omnino non erit. ### English translation (Claude) Pain, which some think is especially evil, whether it is in the mind or in the body, can itself only exist in good natures. For the very thing that resists so as to feel pain in some way refuses not to be what it was, because it was some good. But when it is forced toward something better, pain is useful; when toward something worse, useless. In the mind, then, pain is caused by the will resisting a greater power; in the body, pain is caused by sensation resisting a more powerful body. But there are evils without pain that are worse; for it is worse to rejoice in iniquity than to grieve over corruption. Yet even such joy can only come from obtaining lower goods; but iniquity is the desertion of better ones. Likewise in the body a wound with pain is better than putrefaction without pain, which is specifically called corruption. This the dead flesh of the Lord did not see, that is, did not suffer, as had been foretold in prophecy: “Nor will you let your holy one see corruption.” For who denies that it was wounded by the piercing of the nails and struck with the lance? But even that which all properly call corruption of the body, that is, putrefaction itself, if it still has something to consume deeply, corruption grows by diminishing the good. And if it has consumed it entirely, then just as no good, so no nature will remain, because there will no longer be anything for corruption to corrupt; and so there will not even be putrefaction, because there will be nothing at all for it to be in. ### Scripture references - Ps 16:10 (15:10 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Acts 2:27: quotation, medium confidence - John 19:34: allusion, high confidence - John 20:25: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 16:10 (LXX 15:10), also cited in Acts 2:27; 13:35. The nails and lance: John 19:34; 20:25. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 20 (CSEL 25:863–864; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-20). ## On the Nature of the Good 21 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-21 - Source: CSEL 25:864 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Small things are called “moderate” because some measure remains in them, and even excessive things, under God who arranged all by measure, number, and weight, are held within some measure. ### Latin text Ideo quippe et parua atque exigua iam communi loquendi usu modica dicuntur, quia modus in eis aliquis restitit, sine quo iam non modica, sed omnino nulla sunt illa autem, quae propter nimium progressum dicuntur immodica. ipsa nimietate culpantur: sed tamen etiam ipsa sub deo, quia omnia in mensura et numero et pondere disposuit, necesse est. ut modo aliquo cohibeantur. ### English translation (Claude) For this reason, in common speech, things that are small and slight are called modica (“moderate”), because some measure (modus) still remains in them, without which they would no longer be moderate but nothing at all. But those that are called immoderate because of excessive growth are blamed for the very excess; yet even they, under God, who “has arranged all things in measure and number and weight,” must be restrained by some measure. ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 11:20 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Wis 11:20 (Vulgate 11:21). The wordplay on modus, modica, immodica cannot be kept fully in English. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 21 (CSEL 25:864; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-21). ## On the Nature of the Good 22 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-22 - Source: CSEL 25:864–865 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God is not said to have a measure, lest he seem to have an end, nor to be immoderate; he may be called the highest measure if that means the highest good. ### Latin text Deus autem nec modum habere dicendus est, ne finis eius dici putetur. nec ideo tamen immoderatus est, a quo modus omnibus rebus tribuitur, ut aliquo modo esse possint. nec rursum moderatum oportet dici deum, tamquam ab aliquo modum acceperit. si autem dicamus eum summum modum, forte aliquid dicimus, si tamen in eo, quod dicimus summum modum, intellegamus summum bonum. omnis enim modus, in quantum modus est. bonus est: unde omnia moderata, modesta, modificata dici sine laude non possunt, quamquam sub alio intellectu modum pro fine ponamus et nullum modum dicamus, ubi nullus est finis: quod aliquando cum laude dicitur, sicut dictum est: et regni eius non erit finis. posset enim dici etiam "non erit modus," ut modus pro fine dictus intellegeretur; nam qui nullo modo regnat, non utique regnat. ### English translation (Claude) God, however, is not to be said to have a measure, lest it be thought that an end of him is being spoken of. Nor yet is he therefore immoderate, he by whom measure is given to all things so that they may exist in some measure. Nor again should God be called moderate, as though he had received a measure from someone. But if we call him the highest measure, perhaps we say something, provided that in saying “the highest measure” we understand the highest good. For every measure, insofar as it is a measure, is good; hence all things cannot be called moderated, modest, measured without praise, although in another sense we take measure for end, and say there is no measure where there is no end; and this is sometimes said with praise, as it has been said: “And of his kingdom there will be no end.” For it could also be said, “There will be no measure,” so that measure would be understood as said for end; for one who reigns in no measure does not reign at all. ### Scripture references - Luke 1:33: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Luke 1:33. The last sentence plays on nullo modo (“in no way”, literally “in no measure”). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 22 (CSEL 25:864–865; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-22). ## On the Nature of the Good 23 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-23 - Source: CSEL 25:865 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: An “evil” measure, form, or order is one that is less than it should be or unfitted to its thing; wherever there is some measure, form, and order there is good and nature. ### Latin text Malus ergo modus uel mala species uel malus ordo aut ideo dicuntur, quia minora sunt quam esse debuerunt aut quia non his rebus accomodantur, quibus accommodanda sunt: ut ideo dicantur mala, quia sint aliena et incongrua, tamquam si dicatur aliquis non bono modo egisse, quia minus egit quam debuit, aut quod ita egit, sicut in re tali non debuit, uel amplius quam oportebat uel non conuenienter: ut hoc ipsum, quod reprehenditur malo modo actum, non ob aliud iuste reprehendatur, nisi quia non est ibi seruatus modus. item species mala uel in comparatione dicitur formosioris atque pulchrioris, quod ista sit minor species, illa maior, non mole, sed decore, aut quia non congruit huic rei, cui adhibita est, ut aliena et inconueniens uideatur: tamquam si nudus homo in foro deambulet, quod non offendit, si in balneo uideatur. similiter et ordo tunc malus dicitur, cum minus ipse ordo seruatur: unde non ibi ordo, sed potius inordinatio mala est, cum aut minus ordinatum est quam debuit, aut non sicut debuit. tamen ubi aliquis modus, aliqua species, aliquis ordo est, aliquod bonum et aliqua natura est; ubi autem nullus modus, nulla species, nullus ordo est, nullum bonum, nulla natura est. ### English translation (Claude) An evil measure, then, or an evil form or an evil order is so called either because they are less than they ought to have been, or because they are not fitted to the things to which they should be fitted, so that they are called evil because they are foreign and incongruous. It is as if someone were said to have acted not in a good measure because he did less than he ought, or because he acted in a way he ought not in such a matter, or more than was proper, or not fittingly; so that the very thing that is blamed as done in an evil measure is justly blamed for no other reason than that measure was not kept there. Likewise a form is called evil either in comparison with a more shapely and beautiful one, because this form is lesser and that greater, not in size but in comeliness; or because it does not suit the thing to which it is applied, so that it seems foreign and unfitting, as if a man should walk naked in the forum, which does not offend if he is seen in the baths. Similarly order too is called evil when order itself is kept less; hence it is not order but rather disorder that is evil there, when something is either less ordered than it ought to have been or not ordered as it ought. Yet where there is some measure, some form, some order, there is some good and some nature; but where there is no measure, no form, no order, there is no good, no nature. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 23 (CSEL 25:865; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-23). ## On the Nature of the Good 24 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-24 - Source: CSEL 25:865–866 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine confirms from Scripture that God is unchangeable, that the Son begotten of him is what he is, and that the Son, through whom all things were made, was not made. ### Latin text Haec, quae nostra fides habet et utcumque ratio uestigauit, diuinarum scripturarum testimoniis munienda sunt, ut qui ea minore intellectu adsequi non possunt, diuinae auctoritati credant et ob hoc intellegere mereantur; qui autem intellegunt, sed ecclesiasticis litteris minus instructi sunt, magis ea nos ex nostro intellectu proferre quam in illis libris esse non arbitrentur. itaque deum esse incommutabilem sic scriptum est in psalmis: mutabis ea. et mutabuntur; tu autem idem ipse es; et in libro sapientiae de ipsa sapientia: in se ipsa manens innouat omnia. unde et apostolus Paulus: inuisibili, incorruptibili soli deo et apostolus Iacobus: omne datum optimum et omne donum perfectum desursum est descendens a patre luminum, apud quem non est commutatio nec momenti obumbratio. item quia id, quod de se genuit, hoc, quod ipse est, ita ab ipso filio breuiter dicitur: ego et pater unum sumus. quia non est autem factus filius. quippe cum per illum facta sint omnia, sic scriptum est: in principio erat uerbum et uerbum erat apud deum et deus erat uerbum; hoc erat in principio apud deum. omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil, id est non est factum sine ipso aliquid. ### English translation (Claude) These things, which our faith holds and reason has in some way traced out, must be fortified by testimonies of the divine Scriptures, so that those who cannot attain them with lesser understanding may believe divine authority and by this deserve to understand; and those who understand, but are less instructed in the church's writings, may not think that we are bringing these things out of our own understanding rather than that they are in those books. Thus that God is unchangeable is written in the Psalms: “You will change them and they will be changed; but you are the same.” And in the book of Wisdom, of Wisdom herself: “Remaining in herself she renews all things.” Hence also the apostle Paul: “To the invisible, incorruptible, only God.” And the apostle James: “Every best giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of a moment.” Again, that what he begot of himself is what he himself is, is said briefly by the Son himself: “I and the Father are one.” And that the Son was not made, since through him all things were made, is written thus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made,” that is, nothing was made without him. ### Scripture references - Ps 102:26–27 (101:27-Ps LXX): quotation, high confidence - 1 Tim 1:17: quotation, high confidence - Jas 1:17: quotation, high confidence - John 10:30: quotation, high confidence - John 1:1–3: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 7:27 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 102:26–27 (LXX 101:27–28); Wis 7:27; 1 Tim 1:17 (incorruptibili, as in the Old Latin); Jas 1:17 (momenti obumbratio, the Old Latin rendering); John 10:30; John 1:1–3. The final gloss (“that is, nothing was made without him”) leads into ch. 25. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 24 (CSEL 25:865–866; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-24). ## On the Nature of the Good 25 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-25 - Source: CSEL 25:866–867 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine rejects the quibble that because “nothing” stands at the end of John 1:3 it must be something that was made, showing that word order makes no difference. ### Latin text Neque enim audienda sunt deliramenta hominum, qui nihil hoc loco aliquid intellegendum putant et ad huiusmodi uanitatem propterea putant cogi posse aliquem. quia ipsum nihil in fine sententiae positum est. ergo, inquiunt, factum est et ideo, quia factum est, ipsum nihil aliquid est; sensum enim perdiderunt studio contradicendi nec intellegunt nihil interesse, utrum dicatur "sine illo factum est nihil," an sine illo nihil factum est," quia etsi illo ordine diceretur "sine illo nihil factum est", possent nihilominus dicere ipsum nihil aliquid esse, quia factum est. quod enim reuera est aliquid, quid interest, utrum ita dicatur "sine illo facta est domus" an "sine illo domus est facta," dum intellegatur aliquid sine illo factum, quod aliquid domus est? ita quia dictum est: sine illo factum est nihil, quoniam nihil utique non est aliquid, quando uere et proprie dicitur, siue dicatur "sine illo factum est nihil" siue "sine illo nihil factum est* uel "nihil est factum" nihil interest. quis autem uelit loqui cum hominibus, qui hoc ipsum, quod dixi "nihil interest". possunt dicere: ergo interest aliquid, quia ipsum nihil aliquid est? hi autem, qui sanum habent cerebrum, rem manifestissimam uident hoc idem intellegi, cum dixi „nihil interest," quod intellegeretur si dicerem "interest nihil." at isti si alicui dicant: quid fecisti? et ille respondeat nihil se fecisse, consequens est ut ei calumnientur dicentes: fecisti ergo aliquid, quia nihil fecisti; ipsum enim nihil aliquid est. habent autem et ipsum dominum in fine sententiae ponentem hoc uerbum, ubi ait: et in occulto locutus sum nihil. ergo legant et taceant. ### English translation (Claude) For we must not listen to the ravings of men who think that in this passage “nothing” is to be understood as something, and who think that someone can be forced into such vanity because “nothing” is placed at the end of the sentence. “Therefore,” they say, “it was made; and because it was made, nothing itself is something.” For they have lost their senses through eagerness to contradict, and do not understand that it makes no difference whether one says “without him was made nothing” or “without him nothing was made.” For even if it were said in that order, “without him nothing was made,” they could nonetheless say that nothing itself is something, because it was made. For in the case of what really is something, what difference does it make whether one says “without him was made a house” or “without him a house was made,” as long as it is understood that something was made without him, and that something is a house? So, since it has been said, “without him was made nothing,” since nothing is certainly not something when it is said truly and properly, whether one says “without him was made nothing” or “without him nothing was made” or “nothing has been made,” it makes no difference. But who would want to talk with men who, about the very words I have just used, “it makes no difference” (nihil interest), can say: “Therefore it makes some difference, because nothing itself is something”? Those who have a sound brain see the most obvious fact, that when I said “nihil interest” the same is understood as would be understood if I said “interest nihil.” But if someone said to such people, “What did you do?” and he replied that he had done nothing, it would follow that they would falsely accuse him, saying: “So you did something, because you did nothing; for nothing itself is something.” But they have the Lord himself also placing this word at the end of a sentence, where he says: “And in secret I have spoken nothing.” Let them read, then, and be silent. ### Scripture references - John 1:3: quotation, high confidence - John 18:20: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - John 1:3 in the Latin order sine illo factum est nihil; John 18:20 (et in occulto locutus sum nihil). The Latin wordplay (nihil interest, “it makes no difference”, literally “nothing differs”) is explained in the translation. The unnamed opponents are not identified in the text; they are commonly taken to be Manichaeans. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 25 (CSEL 25:866–867; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-25). ## On the Nature of the Good 26 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-26 - Source: CSEL 25:867–868 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God made from nothing, through his Word, all that he did not beget of himself, as Paul, 2 Maccabees, and the Psalms attest. ### Latin text Quia ergo deus omnia, quae non de se genuit, sed per uerbum suum fecit, non de his rebus, quae iam erant, sed de his, quae omnino non erant, hoc est de nihilo fecit, ita dicit apostolus: qui uocat ea, quae non sunt, tamquam sunt. apertius autem in libro Machabaeorum scriptum est: oro te, fili, respice ad caelum et terram et omnia, quae in eis sunt; uide et scito, quia non erant, ex quibus fecit nos dominus deus et illud, quod in psalmo scriptum est: ipse dixit, et facta sunt, manifestum, quod non de se ista genuerit, sed in uerbo atque imperio fecerit; quod autem non de se, utique de nihilo. non enim erat aliud, unde faceret. de quo apertissime apostolus dicit: quoniam ex ipso et per ipsum et in ipso sunt omnia. ### English translation (Claude) Since, then, God made all the things that he did not beget of himself, but made through his Word, not from things that already existed, but from things that did not exist at all, that is, from nothing, the apostle says: “Who calls the things that are not as though they were.” But more plainly it is written in the book of the Maccabees: “I pray you, son, look at the heaven and the earth and all that is in them; see and know that the Lord God made us from things that were not.” And what is written in the psalm, “He spoke, and they were made,” makes it plain that he did not beget these things of himself, but made them by his Word and command; and what is not of himself is certainly from nothing. For there was nothing else from which he could make them. Of this the apostle says most plainly: “For from him and through him and in him are all things.” ### Scripture references - Rom 4:17: quotation, high confidence - Ps 33:9 (32:9 LXX): quotation, medium confidence - Ps 148:5: quotation, medium confidence - Rom 11:36: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - 2 Macc 7:28 (2 Maccabees): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Rom 4:17; 2 Macc 7:28; Ps 33:9 (LXX 32:9) or Ps 148:5 (both read “he spoke, and they were made”); Rom 11:36. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 26 (CSEL 25:867–868; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-26). ## On the Nature of the Good 27 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-27 - Source: CSEL 25:868 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Things “from” God are not all “of” God: creatures are from him because he made them, not of his substance, and God needed no pre-existing matter. ### Latin text "Ex ipso" autem non hoc significat quod "de ipso."" quod enim de ipso est, potest dici "ex ipso;" non autem omne, quod" ex ipso" est, recte dicitur "de ipso;" ex ipso enim caelum et terra, quia ipse fecit ea, non autem de ipso, quia non de substantia sua. sicut aliquis homo si gignat filium et faciat domum, ex ipso filius, ex ipso domus, sed filius de ipso, domus de terra et de ligno. sed hoc quia homo est, qui non potest aliquid etiam de nihilo facere; deus autem, ex quo omnia, per quem omnia, in quo omnia, non opus habebat aliqua materia, quam ipse non fecerat,. adiuuari omnipotentiam suam. ### English translation (Claude) “From him” (ex ipso) does not mean the same as “of him” (de ipso). For what is of him can be said to be “from him”; but not everything that is “from him” is rightly said to be “of him.” For heaven and earth are from him, because he made them, but not of him, because they are not of his substance. So, if a man begets a son and builds a house, the son is from him and the house is from him; but the son is of him, the house of earth and wood. But this is because he is a man, who cannot make anything from nothing; whereas God, from whom are all things, through whom are all things, in whom are all things, had no need of any matter that he had not made himself to assist his omnipotence. ### Scripture references - Rom 11:36: echo, high confidence ### Translation notes - The contrast is between ex ipso (“from him”, as maker) and de ipso (“of him”, of his substance). Rom 11:36 is echoed. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 27 (CSEL 25:868; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-27). ## On the Nature of the Good 28 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-28 - Source: CSEL 25:868–869 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: “All things from him” means natures, not sins, which vitiate nature and come from the will of sinners, as Rom 2:3–6 shows. ### Latin text Cum autem audimus "omnia ex ipso et per ipsum et in ipso," omnes utique naturas intellegere debemus, quae naturaliter sunt. neque enim ex ipso sunt peccata, quae naturam non seruant. sed uitiant. quae peccata ex uoluntate esse peccantium multis modis sancta scriptura testatur, praecipue illo. quo dicit apostolus: existimas autem hoc, o homo, qui iudicas eos, qui talia agunt, et facis ea, quoniam tu effugies iudicium dei? an diuitias benignitatis et patientiae eius et longanimitatis contemnis, ignorans, quoniam patientia dei ad paenitentiam te adducit? secundum duritiam autem cordis tui et cor inpaenitens thesaurizas tibi iram in diem irae et reuelationis iusti iudicii dei, qui reddet unicuique secundum opera sua. ### English translation (Claude) When we hear “all things from him and through him and in him,” we ought certainly to understand all natures that exist naturally. For sins, which do not preserve nature but vitiate it, are not from him. Holy Scripture testifies in many ways that these sins come from the will of those who sin, especially in the passage where the apostle says: “Do you think, O man, who judge those who do such things and do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and patience and long-suffering, not knowing that the patience of God leads you to repentance? But according to the hardness of your heart and your impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works.” ### Scripture references - Rom 11:36: quotation, high confidence - Rom 2:3–6: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Rom 2:3–6. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 28 (CSEL 25:868–869; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-28). ## On the Nature of the Good 29 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-29 - Source: CSEL 25:869 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Although all things are in God, sinners do not defile him, for his Wisdom reaches everything in purity and God cannot be defiled. ### Latin text Nec tamen, cum in deo sint uniuersa, quae condidit, inquinant eum, qui peccant, de cuius sapientia dicitur: adtingit autem omnia propter suam munditiam, et nihil inquinatum in eam incurrit. oportet enim, ut sicut deum incorruptibilem et incommutabilem, ita consequenter etiam incoinquinabilem credamus. ### English translation (Claude) Nor yet, although all things he has created are in God, do those who sin defile him, of whose Wisdom it is said: “She reaches all things because of her purity, and nothing defiled enters into her.” For just as we believe God to be incorruptible and unchangeable, so we ought consequently to believe him also incapable of defilement. ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 7:24-25 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Wis 7:24–25. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 29 (CSEL 25:869; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-29). ## On the Nature of the Good 30 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-30 - Source: CSEL 25:869 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God made even the least, earthly goods, as Paul shows in praising the ordering of the body's members, an order found in all animal flesh. ### Latin text Quia uero et minima bona, hoc est terrena atque mortalia ipse fecit, illo apostoli loco sine dubitatione intellegitur, ubi loquens de membris carnis nostrae "quia si glorificatur unum membrum, congaudent omnia membra; et si patitur unum membrum, conpatiuntur omnia membra" etiam hoc ibi ait: deus posuit membra, singulum quodque eorum in corpore prout uoluit et: deus temperauit corpus ei, cui deerat, maiorem honorem dans, ut non essent scissurae in corpore, sed idem ipsum ut pro inuicem sollicita sint membra. hoc autem, quod sic in modo et specie et ordine membrorum carnis laudat apostolus, in omnium animalium carne inuenis, et maximorum et minimorum, cum omnis caro in bonis terrenis ac per hoc minimis deputetur. ### English translation (Claude) That he also made even the least goods, that is, earthly and mortal things, is understood beyond doubt from that passage of the apostle where, speaking of the members of our flesh, “that if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it; and if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it,” he also says: “God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body as he willed,” and: “God has tempered the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, so that there might be no divisions in the body, but that the members might have the same care for one another.” And what the apostle thus praises in the measure, form, and order of the members of the flesh you find in the flesh of all animals, both the largest and the smallest, since all flesh is counted among earthly goods and therefore among the least. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 12:26: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 12:18: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 12:24–25: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - 1 Cor 12:26, 18, 24–25. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 30 (CSEL 25:869; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-30). ## On the Nature of the Good 31 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-31 - Source: CSEL 25:869–870 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Scripture shows that punishment belongs to God's judgment, that sins are forgiven through Christ who died in our nature, and that God is both good and severe without injustice. ### Latin text Item quia cuique culpae qualis et quanta poena de-. beatur. diuini iudicii est, non humani, sic scriptum est: o altitudo diuitiarum sapientiae et scientae dei! quam inscrutabilia sunt iudicia eius et inuestigabiles uiae eius! item quia bonitate dei donantur peccata conuersis, hoc ipsum, quod Christus missus est, satis ostendit, qui non in sua natura, qua deus est, sed in nostra, quam de femina adsumpsit. pro nobis mortuus est: quam dei bonitatem circa nos et dilectionem sic praedicat apostolus: commendat, inquit, suam caritatem deus in nobis, quoniam cum adhuc peccatores essemus, Christus pro nobis mortuus est; multo magis iustificati nunc in sanguine ipsius salui erimus ab ira per ipsum. si enim, cum inimici essemus. reconciliati sumus deo per mortem filii eius, multo magis reconciliati salui erimus in uita ipsius. quia uero etiam cum peccatoribus poena debita redditur, non est iniquitas apud deum, sic dicit: quid dicemus? numquid iniquus deus, qui infert iram? uno autem loco et bonitatem et seueritatem ab illo esse breuiter admonuit dicens: uides ergo bonitatem et seueritatem dei: in eos quidem, qui ceciderunt, seueritatem, in te autem bonitatem, si permanseris in bonitate. ### English translation (Claude) Again, that what kind and how great a punishment is due to each fault belongs to divine judgment, not human, is written thus: “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Again, that by God's goodness sins are forgiven to those who are converted is shown sufficiently by the very fact that Christ was sent, who died for us not in his own nature, in which he is God, but in ours, which he took from a woman. This goodness and love of God toward us the apostle proclaims thus: “God commends his love toward us,” he says, “in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us; much more, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” And that there is no injustice with God even when due punishment is paid to sinners, he says thus: “What shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath?” And in one place he briefly reminded us that both goodness and severity are from him, saying: “You see, then, the goodness and severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but goodness toward you, if you continue in goodness.” ### Scripture references - Rom 11:33: quotation, high confidence - Rom 5:8–10: quotation, high confidence - Rom 3:5: quotation, high confidence - Rom 11:22: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Rom 11:33; Rom 5:8–10; Rom 3:5; Rom 11:22. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 31 (CSEL 25:869–870; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-31). ## On the Nature of the Good 32 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-32 - Source: CSEL 25:870–871 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Even the power of the harmful is from God and serves to test the good and punish the wicked, as with Job, Peter, Paul, and Judas; the devil is punished for his own evil will. ### Latin text Item quia etiam nocentium potestas non est nisi a deo, sic scriptum est loquente sapientia: per me reges regnant et tyranni per me tenent terram. dicit et apostolus: non est enim potestas nisi a deo. digne autem fieri in libro Iob scriptum est. qui regnare facit, inquit, hominem hypocritam propter peruersitatem populi. et de populo Israhel dicit deus: dedi eis regem in ira mea. iniustum enim non est, ut improbis accipientibus nocendi potestatem bonorum patientia probetur et malorum iniquitas puniatur. nam per potestatem diabolo datam et Iob probatus est, ut iustus adpareret, et Petrus temptatus, ne de se praesumeret, et Paulus colaphizatus, ne se extolleret, et Iudas damnatus, ut se suspenderet. - cum ergo per potestatem, quam diabolo dedit, omnia iuste ipse deus fecerit, non tamen pro his iuste factis, sed pro iniqua nocendi uoluntate, quae ipsius diaboli fuit, ei reddetur in fine supplicium, cum dicetur impiis, qui eius nequitiae consentire perseuerauerint: ite in ignem aeternum, quem parauit pater meus diabolo et angelis eius. ### English translation (Claude) Again, that the power even of those who do harm is only from God is written thus, where Wisdom speaks: “Through me kings reign, and through me tyrants hold the earth.” The apostle also says: “For there is no power except from God.” And that this happens deservedly is written in the book of Job: “Who makes a hypocrite reign,” it says, “because of the perversity of the people.” And of the people of Israel God says: “I gave them a king in my wrath.” For it is not unjust that, when the wicked receive the power to harm, the patience of the good should be tested and the iniquity of the evil punished. For through the power given to the devil both Job was tested, so that he might appear righteous, and Peter was tempted, so that he might not presume on himself, and Paul was buffeted, so that he might not be exalted, and Judas was condemned, so that he hanged himself. Since, then, through the power he gave the devil God himself did all things justly, yet it is not for these justly done things, but for the unjust will to harm, which was the devil's own, that punishment will be paid to him at the end, when it will be said to the ungodly who have persevered in consenting to his wickedness: “Depart into the eternal fire, which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels.” ### Scripture references - Prov 8:15–16: quotation, high confidence - Rom 13:1: quotation, high confidence - Job 34:30: quotation, high confidence - Hos 13:11: quotation, high confidence - Job 1:12: allusion, high confidence - Luke 22:31: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 12:7: allusion, high confidence - Matt 27:5: allusion, high confidence - Matt 25:41: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Prov 8:15–16; Rom 13:1; Job 34:30 (in the Latin form); Hos 13:11; Job 1–2; Luke 22:31; 2 Cor 12:7; Matt 27:5; Matt 25:41 (quoted with “my Father has prepared”, an old Latin reading). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 32 (CSEL 25:870–871; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/1/#p-32). ## On the Nature of the Good 33 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-33 - Source: CSEL 25:871–872 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The evil angels became evil by sinning; they are kept for the last judgment and meanwhile are confined in the lower, murky air, which Scripture also calls heaven. ### Latin text Quia uero et ipsi mali angeli non a deo mali sunt conditi, sed peccando facti sunt mali, sic Petrus in epistula sua dicit: si enim deus angelis peccantibus non pepercit, sed carceribus caliginis inferi trudens tradidit in iudicio puniendos seruari. hinc Petrus ostendit adhuc eis ultimi iudicii poenam deberi, de qua dominus dicit: ite in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis eius. quamuis iam poenaliter hunc inferum, hoc est inferiorem caliginosum aerem tamquam carcerem acceperint, qui tamen quoniam et caelum dicitur, non illud caelum, in quo sunt sidera, sed hoc inferius, cuius caligine nubila conglobantur, et ubi aues uolitant — nam et caelum nubilum dicitur et uolatilia caeli appellantur — secundum hoc apostolus Paulus eosdem iniquos angelos, contra quos nobis inuidos pie uiuendo pugnamus, "spiritalia nequitiae in caelestibus" nominat. quod ne de illis superioribus caelis intellegatur, aperte alibi dicit: secundum principem potestatis aeris huius, qui nunc operatur in filiis diffidentiae. * ### English translation (Claude) And that the evil angels themselves were not created evil by God but became evil by sinning, Peter says thus in his letter: “For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but thrusting them into the prisons of the darkness of the lower region handed them over to be kept for punishment in the judgment.” Here Peter shows that the punishment of the last judgment is still owed to them, of which the Lord says: “Depart into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” They have indeed already received this lower region, that is, the lower, murky air, as a prison by way of punishment; yet this too is called heaven, not the heaven in which the stars are, but this lower one, in whose murk the clouds gather and where the birds fly (for we speak of a cloudy heaven, and flying creatures are called “birds of the heaven”). In this sense the apostle Paul calls these same wicked angels, against whom, envious of us, we fight by living piously, “spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” And lest this be understood of those upper heavens, he says plainly elsewhere: “According to the prince of the power of this air, who now works in the children of unbelief.” ### Scripture references - 2 Pet 2:4: quotation, high confidence - Matt 25:41: quotation, high confidence - Eph 6:12: quotation, high confidence - Eph 2:2: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - 2 Pet 2:4 (inferi, “of the lower region”, renders the Greek Tartarus); Matt 25:41; Eph 6:12; Eph 2:2. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 33 (CSEL 25:871–872; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-33). ## On the Nature of the Good 34 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-34 - Source: CSEL 25:872 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Sin is not desire for an evil nature but desertion of a better one: Adam desired a good tree but deserted the better Creator who forbade it. ### Latin text Item quia peccatum uel iniquitas non est appetitio naturarum malarum, sed desertio meliorum, sic in scripturis inuenitur scriptum: omnis creatura dei bona est, ac per hoc et omne lignum, quod in paradiso deus plantauit, utique bonum est. non ergo malam naturam homo appetiuit, cum arborem uetitam tetigit, sed id, quod melius erat, deserendo factum malum ipse commisit. melior quippe creator quam ulla creatura, quam condidit: cuius imperium non erat deserendum, ut tangeretur prohibitum quamuis bonum, quoniam deserto meliore bonum creaturae appetebatur, quod contra creatoris imperium tangebatur. non itaque deus arborem malam in paradiso plantauerat, sed ipse erat melior, qui eam tangi prohibebat. ### English translation (Claude) Again, that sin or iniquity is not the desire for evil natures but the desertion of better ones is found written thus in the Scriptures: “Every creature of God is good.” And therefore every tree too which God planted in paradise is certainly good. So man did not desire an evil nature when he touched the forbidden tree, but by deserting what was better he himself committed an evil deed. For the Creator is better than any creature he has made; and his command was not to be deserted so that something forbidden, although good, might be touched, since, the better being deserted, the good of the creature was desired, which was touched against the Creator's command. God, then, had not planted an evil tree in paradise; but he himself was better, who forbade it to be touched. ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 4:4: quotation, high confidence - Gen 2:9: allusion, high confidence - Gen 2:17: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - 1 Tim 4:4; Gen 2:9, 16–17; 3:6. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 34 (CSEL 25:872; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-34). ## On the Nature of the Good 35 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-35 - Source: CSEL 25:872 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God forbade the tree to show that the rational soul must be subject to him, and named it the tree of discerning good and evil because disobedience would teach the difference by punishment. ### Latin text Ad hoc enim et prohibuerat, ut ostenderet animae rationalis naturam non in sua potestate, sed deo subditam esse debere et ordinem suae salutis per oboedientiam custodire, per inoboedientiam corrumpere. hinc et arborem, quam tangi uetuit, sic appellauit "dinoscentiae boni et mali," quia cum eam contra uetitum tetigisset, experiretur poenam peccati et eo modo dinosceret, quid interesset inter oboedientiae bonum et inoboedientiae malum. ### English translation (Claude) For he had forbidden it for this purpose: to show that the nature of the rational soul ought not to be in its own power, but subject to God, and to keep the order of its salvation by obedience or corrupt it by disobedience. Hence he also called the tree he forbade to be touched the tree “of the discerning of good and evil,” because, when man touched it against the prohibition, he would experience the punishment of sin and in this way discern the difference between the good of obedience and the evil of disobedience. ### Scripture references - Gen 2:17: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 2:17, in the Latin form dinoscentiae boni et mali. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 35 (CSEL 25:872; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-35). ## On the Nature of the Good 36 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-36 - Source: CSEL 25:872–873 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Not even thorns and thistles are evil natures; sin is using a good badly by deserting the better, as Paul says of those who served the creature rather than the Creator. ### Latin text Nam quis ita desipiat, ut dei creaturam maxime in paradiso plantatam uituperandam putet, quandoquidem nec ipsae spinae ac tribuli, quos peccatori in labore conterendos secundum dei iudiciariam uoluntatem terra peperit, recte uituperentur? habent enim et tales herbae modum et speciem et ordinem suum, quae quisquis sobrie considerauerit, laudanda reperiet; sed ei naturae ista mala sunt, quam peccati merito sic coherceri oportebat. non est ergo. ut dixi, peccatum malae naturae adpetitio, sed melioris desertio et ideo factum ipsum malum est, non illa natura. qua male utitur peccans. malum est enim male uti bono. unde apostolus damnatos quosdam diuino iudicio reprehendit, qui coluerunt et seruierunt creaturae potius quam creatori. neque enim creaturam reprehendit — quod qui fecerit, creatori facit iniuriam — sed eos, qui male usi sunt bono meliore deserto. ### English translation (Claude) For who is so foolish as to think that a creature of God, especially one planted in paradise, is to be blamed, when not even the thorns and thistles which the earth brought forth, according to God's judicial will, for the sinner to wear himself out on in toil, are rightly blamed? For such plants too have their own measure and form and order, and whoever considers them soberly will find them worthy of praise; but they are evils to that nature which, by the desert of sin, had to be restrained in this way. Sin, then, as I said, is not the desire for an evil nature but the desertion of a better one; and therefore the deed itself is evil, not the nature which the sinner uses badly. For it is evil to use a good badly. Hence the apostle rebukes certain people condemned by divine judgment, who “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” For he does not rebuke the creature (whoever does that does injury to the Creator), but those who used a good badly, deserting the better. ### Scripture references - Gen 3:18: allusion, high confidence - Rom 1:25: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Gen 3:17–18; Rom 1:25. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 36 (CSEL 25:872–873; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-36). ## On the Nature of the Good 37 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-37 - Source: CSEL 25:873 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: If all natures kept their measure, form, and order there would be no evil; those who misuse goods do not defeat God, who uses their evils well by ordering them justly in punishment. ### Latin text Proinde si custodiant omnes naturae modum et speciem et ordinem proprium, nullum erit malum; si autem his bonis quisque male uti uoluerit, nec sic uincit uoluntatem dei. qui etiam iniustos iuste ordinare nouit, ut si ipsi per iniquitatem uoluntatis suae male usi fuerint bonis illius, ille per iustitiam potestatis suae bene utatur malis ipsorum recte ordinans in poenis, qui se peruerse ordinauerint in peccatis. ### English translation (Claude) Accordingly, if all natures kept their own measure and form and order, there would be no evil; but if anyone chooses to use these goods badly, not even so does he overcome the will of God, who knows how to order even the unjust justly; so that if they, by the iniquity of their will, have used his goods badly, he, by the justice of his power, uses their evils well, rightly ordering in punishments those who have perversely ordered themselves in sins. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 37 (CSEL 25:873; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-37). ## On the Nature of the Good 38 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-38 - Source: CSEL 25:873 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Even the eternal fire is not an evil nature; its torment is an evil only to the damned, as light pains sore eyes. ### Latin text Nam nec ipse ignis aeternus, qui cruciaturus est impios, mala natura est habens modum et speciem et ordinem suum nulla iniquitate deprauatum: sed cruciatus est damnatis malum, quorum peccatis est debitus. neque enim et lux ista, quia lippos cruciat. mala natura est. ### English translation (Claude) For not even the eternal fire itself, which will torment the ungodly, is an evil nature, since it has its own measure and form and order, depraved by no iniquity; but the torment is an evil to the damned, to whose sins it is due. For neither is this light an evil nature because it torments those with sore eyes. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 38 (CSEL 25:873; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-38). ## On the Nature of the Good 39 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-39 - Source: CSEL 25:873–874 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The eternal fire is not eternal as God is, since it had a beginning and is changeable; only God's unchangeable immortality is true eternity. ### Latin text Aeternus autem ignis non sicut deus aeternus, quod licet sine fine sit, non est tamen sine initio; deus autem etiam sine initio est. deinde quia licet perpetuus peccatorum suppliciis adhibeatur, mutabilis tamen natura est. illa est autem uera aeternitas, quae uera inmortalitas; hoc est illa summa incommutabilitas, quam solus deus habet, qui mutari omnino non potest. aliud est enim non mutari. cum possit mutari, aliud autem prorsus non posse mutari. sicut ergo dicitur homo bonus non tamen sicut deus, de quo dictum est: nemo bonus nisi unus deus et sicut dicitur anima inmortalis non tamen sicut deus, de quo dictum est: solus habet inmortalitatem et sicut dicitur homo sapiens non tamen sicut deus. de quo dictum est: soli sapienti deo: sic dicitur ignis aeternus non tamen sicut deus, cuius solius inmortalitas est uera aeternitas. ### English translation (Claude) But the eternal fire is not eternal as God is, because although it is without end, it is not without beginning; whereas God is also without beginning. Further, although it is applied perpetually to the punishments of sinners, it is still a changeable nature. But true eternity is that which is true immortality, that is, the highest unchangeableness, which God alone has, who cannot change at all. For it is one thing not to be changed when one could be changed, and another altogether to be unable to be changed. So, just as a man is called good, yet not as God is, of whom it is said: “No one is good but God alone”; and as the soul is called immortal, yet not as God is, of whom it is said: “Who alone has immortality”; and as a man is called wise, yet not as God is, of whom it is said: “To the only wise God”: so the fire is called eternal, yet not as God is, whose immortality alone is true eternity. ### Scripture references - Luke 18:19: quotation, high confidence - Mark 10:18: quotation, medium confidence - 1 Tim 6:16: quotation, high confidence - Rom 16:27: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Luke 18:19 (Mark 10:18); 1 Tim 6:16; Rom 16:27. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 39 (CSEL 25:873–874; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-39). ## On the Nature of the Good 40 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-40 - Source: CSEL 25:874 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: No one can harm God's nature, and God harms no one unjustly nor lets harm go unpunished, as Paul says. ### Latin text Quae cum ita sint secundum catholicam fidem et sanam doctrinam et intellegentibus perspicuam ueritatem, nec naturae dei nocere potest quisquam nec natura dei nocere iniuste cuiquam uel nocere inpune patitur quemquam; qui enim nocet, ait apostolus, recipiet id, quod nocuit et non est personarum acceptio apud deum. ### English translation (Claude) Since these things are so according to the catholic faith and sound doctrine, and the truth is plain to those who understand, no one can harm the nature of God, nor does the nature of God harm anyone unjustly or allow anyone to do harm with impunity. For “he who does harm,” says the apostle, “will receive back the harm he has done, and there is no respect of persons with God.” ### Scripture references - Col 3:25: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Col 3:25 (in the Old Latin form, “he who does harm”). ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 40 (CSEL 25:874; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-40). ## On the Nature of the Good 41 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-41 - Source: CSEL 25:874–876 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Manichaeans' two natures put many goods in their highest evil (the princes of darkness have life, memory, beauty, order) and many evils in God's own nature, which Christ must heal and free. ### Latin text Quod Manichaei si uellent sine pernicioso studio defendendi erroris sui et cum dei timore cogitare, non scelestissime blasphemarent inducendo duas naturas, unam bonam, quam dicunt deum, alteram malam, quam non fecerit deus, ita errantes, ita delirantes, immo uero ita insanientes, ut non uideant et in eo, quod dicunt naturam summi mali, ponere se tanta bona, ubi ponunt uitam, potentiam, salutem, memoriam, intellectum, temperiem, uirtutem, copiam, sensum, lumen, suauitatem, mensuras, numeros, pacem, modum, speciem, ordinem:. in eo autem, quod dicunt summum bonum, tanta mala: mortem, aegritudinem, obliuionem, insipientiam, perturbationem, inpotentiam, egestatem, stoliditatem, caecitatem, dolorem, iniquitatem, dedecus, bellum, inmoderationem, deformitatem, peruersitatem. principes enim tenebrarum et uixisse in sua natura dicunt et in suo regno saluos fuisse et meminisse et intellexisse. sic enim contionatum illi dicunt principem tenebrarum, ut neque ipse talia dicere neque ab eis, quibus dicebat, audiri sine memoria et intellectu potuisset: et habuisse temperiem animo et corpori suo congruam et uirtute potentiae regnasse et copias elementorum suorum ac fecunditatis habuisse et sensisse se inuicem ac sibi uicinum lumen et oculos habuisse, quibus illud longe conspicerent; qui utique oculi sine aliquo lumine lumen uidere non poterant, unde recte etiam lumina nominantur; et suauitate suae uoluptatis esse perfruitos et dimensis membris atque habitationibus determinatos fuisse. nisi autem etiam qualiscumque pulchritudo ibi fuisset, nec amarent coniugia sua nec partium congruentia corpora eorum constarent: quod ubi non fuerit, non possunt ea fieri, quae ibi facta esse delirant. et nisi pax aliqua ibi esset, principi suo non oboedirent. nisi modus ibi esset, nihil aliud agerent quam comederent aut biberent aut saeuirent aut quodlibet aliud sine aliqua satietate; quamquam nec ipsi, qui hoc agebant, formis suis determinati essent, nisi modus ibi esset. nunc uero talia dicunt eos egisse, ut in omnibus actionibus suis modos sibi congruos habuisse negare non possint. si autem species ibi non fuisset, nulla ibi qualitas naturalis subsisteret. si nullus ordo ibi fuisset, non alii dominarentur, alii subderentur, non in suis elementis congruenter uiuerent, non denique suis locis haberent membra disposita, ut illa omnia, quae uana isti fabulantur, agere possint. dei autem naturam si non dicunt mortuam, quid secundum eorum uanitatem suscitat Christus? si non dicunt aegram, quid curat? si non dicunt oblitam, quid commemorat? si non dicunt insipientem, quid docet? si non dicunt perturbatam, quid redintegrat? si non uicta et capta est, quid liberat? si non eget, cui subuenit? si non amisit sensum, quid uegetat? si non est excaecata, quid inluminat? si non est in dolore, quid recreat? si non est iniqua, quid per praecepta corrigit? si non est dedecorata, quid mundat? si non est in bello, cui promittit pacem? si non est immoderata, cui modum legis imponit? si non est deformis, quid reformat? si non est peruersa, quid emendat? omnia enim haec a Christo non illi rei praestari dicunt, quae facta est a deo et arbitrio proprio peccando deprauata, sed ipsi naturae, ipsi substantiae dei, quae hoc est quod deus. ### English translation (Claude) If the Manichaeans were willing to think about this with the fear of God and without the pernicious eagerness to defend their error, they would not blaspheme most wickedly by bringing in two natures, one good, which they call God, the other evil, which God did not make. They go so far astray, so far into raving, or rather into madness, that they do not see that, in what they call the nature of the highest evil, they place so many goods: life, power, health, memory, understanding, temperateness, strength, abundance, sensation, light, sweetness, measures, numbers, peace, measure, form, order; and in what they call the highest good, so many evils: death, sickness, forgetfulness, folly, disturbance, impotence, want, stupidity, blindness, pain, iniquity, disgrace, war, immoderation, deformity, perversity. For they say that the princes of darkness both lived in their own nature and were safe in their own kingdom, and remembered and understood. For they say that the prince of darkness made a speech in such a way that he could neither have said such things himself nor been heard by those to whom he spoke without memory and understanding; and that he had a temperament suited to his mind and body, and reigned by the strength of his power, and had abundance of his elements and of fruitfulness; and that they perceived one another and the light near them, and had eyes with which they saw it from afar; and those eyes certainly could not see light without some light, which is why they are rightly also called lights; and that they enjoyed the sweetness of their pleasure, and were bounded by measured limbs and dwellings. And unless there had been some sort of beauty there, they would not love their mates, nor would their bodies hold together by the harmony of their parts; and where this was lacking, the things they rave about as having happened there could not happen. And unless there had been some peace there, they would not obey their prince. Unless there had been measure there, they would do nothing but eat or drink or rage or anything else without any satiety; although not even those who did these things would have been bounded by their own shapes, unless there had been measure there. But as it is, they say they did such things that they cannot deny that in all their actions they had measures suited to them. And if there had been no form there, no natural quality would subsist there. If there had been no order there, some would not rule and others be subject, they would not live fittingly in their own elements, and finally they would not have their members arranged in their places, so as to be able to do all the things these people idly tell of. But as for the nature of God: if they do not say it is dead, what, according to their vanity, does Christ raise up? If they do not say it is sick, what does he heal? If they do not say it has forgotten, what does he remind? If they do not say it is foolish, what does he teach? If they do not say it is disturbed, what does he restore? If it has not been conquered and captured, what does he set free? If it is not in want, whom does he help? If it has not lost sensation, what does he quicken? If it has not been blinded, what does he enlighten? If it is not in pain, what does he refresh? If it is not unjust, what does he correct by precepts? If it has not been disgraced, what does he cleanse? If it is not at war, to whom does he promise peace? If it is not immoderate, on whom does he impose the measure of the law? If it is not deformed, what does he re-form? If it is not perverse, what does he amend? For they say that all these things are provided by Christ not to a thing that was made by God and became depraved by sinning of its own free choice, but to the very nature, the very substance of God, which is what God is. ### Translation notes - Augustine summarizes Manichaean teaching on the kingdom of darkness and on the particles of the divine substance that Christ is said to rescue. The account is his, from Manichaean writings he knew; it is translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 41 (CSEL 25:874–876; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-41). ## On the Nature of the Good 42 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-42 - Source: CSEL 25:876–879 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine argues that Mani's teaching that divine souls are bound for ever in the globe of darkness makes God condemn part of himself, and he quotes the Fundamental Epistle to show its contradictions. ### Latin text Quid istis blasphemiis comparari potest? nihil omnino. sed si aliarum peruersarum sectarum considerentur errores, si autem iste sibi error ex parte altera, de qua nondum diximus, comparetur, adhuc etiam multo peius et execrabilius in dei naturam blasphemare conuincitur. dicunt enim etiam nonnullas animas, quas uolunt esse de substantia dei et eiusdem omnino naturae, quae non sponte peccauerint, sed a gente tenebrarum, quam mali naturam dicunt, ad quam debellandam non ultro, sed patris imperio descenderunt, superatae et oppressae sint, affigi in aeternum globo horribili tenebrarum. ita secundum eorum sacrilega uaniloquia deus se ipsum in quadam parte a magno malo liberauit et rursus se ipsum in quadam parte damnauit, quam liberare ab hoste non potuit et tamquam de ipso hoste deuicto insuper triumphauit. o scelestam et incredibilem audaciam talia de deo credendi, talia loquendi, talia praedicandi! quod cum defendere conantur. ut in peiora inruant clausis oculis. dicunt malae naturae commixtionem facere ista, ut bona dei natura tanta mala patiatur; nam ipsam apud se ipsam nihil horum pati potuisse uel posse. quasi inde laudanda sit natura incorruptibilis, quia ipsa sibi non nocet, et non quia ei nihil noceri ab aliquo potest deinde si natura tenebrarum nocuit naturae dei et natura dei nocuit naturae tenebrarum: duo ergo mala sunt, quae sibi inuicem nocuerunt, et meliore animo fuit gens tenebrarum, quia etsi nocuit, nolens nocuit; neque enim nocere, sed frui uoluit bono dei. deus autem illam extinguere uoluit, sicut Manichaeus apertissime in epistula ruinosi sui, Fundamenti delirat. oblitus enim, quod paulo ante dixerat: ita autem fundata sunt eiusdem splendidissima regna supra lucidam et beatam terram, ut a nullo umquam aut moueri aut concuti possint. postea dixit: lucis uero beatissimae pater sciens labem magnam ac uastitatem, quae ex tenebris surgeret, aduersum sua sancta impendere saecula, nisi aliquod eximium ac praeclarum et uirtute potens numen obponat, quo superet simul ac destruat stirpem tenebrarum, qua extincta perpetua quies lucis incolis pararetur. ecce timuit labem ac uastitatem impendentem saeculis suis. certe sic erant fundata super lucidam et beatam terram, ut a nullo umquam moueri aut concuti possent. ecce a timore nocere uoluit uicinae genti, quam destruere et extinguere conatus est. ut perpetua quies lucis incolis pararetur. quare non addidit "et perpetuum uinculum?" an illae animae, quas in globo tenebrarum in aeternum configit, non erant incolae lucis, de quibus aperte dicit, quod errare se a priore lucida sua natura passae sint? ubi et nolens coactus est dicere libera eas uoluntate peccasse, qui non uult peccatum ponere nisi in necessitate naturae contrariae ubique nesciens, quid loquatur, et tamquam ipse iam inclusus sit in tenebrarum globo. quem finxit, quaerens, qua exeat, et non inueniens. sed dicat quod uult seductis et miseris, a quibus multo amplius quam Christus honoratur, ut hoc pretio tam longas et tam sacrilegas eis fabulas uendat. dicat quod uult, includat in globo tamquam in carcere gentem tenebrarum et forinsecus affigat naturam lucis, cui de hoste extincto quietem perpetuam promittebat: ecce peior est poena lucis quam tenebrarum, peior poena diuinae naturae quam gentis aduersae. illa quippe etsi in tenebris intus est, ad naturam eius pertinet in tenebris habitare; animae autem, quae hoc sunt quod deus, non poterunt recipi, sicut dicit. in regna illa pacifica et a uita ac libertate sanctae lucis alienabuntur et configentur in praedicto horribili globo: unde et adhaerebunt, inquit, iis rebus animae eaedem, quas dilexerunt, relictae in eodem tenebrarum globo, suis meritis id sibi conquirentes. certe non est liberum uoluntatis arbitrium. uidete quomodo insaniens quid dicat ignorat et contraria sibi loquendo peius bellum contra se gerit quam contra deum ipsius gentis tenebrarum. deinde si propterea damnantur animae lucis, quia dilexerunt tenebras, iniuste damnatur gens tenebrarum, quae lucem dilexit. et gens quidem tenebrarum lucem ab initio dilexit, quam etsi uiolenter, tamen possidere uoluit, non extinguere, lucis autem natura in bello tenebras extinguere uoluit; eas ergo uicta dilexit. quod uultis eligite: utrum necessitate conpulsa, ut diligeret tenebras, in uoluntate seducta: si necessitate, quare damnatur? si uoluntate, quare dei natura in tanta iniquitate deprehenditur? si necessitate dei natura coacta est diligere tenebras. uicta est ergo, non uicit; si uoluntate, quid iam miseri dubitant peccandi uoluntatem tribuere naturae, quam deus ex nihilo fecit, ne retribuant eam luci, quam genuit? ### English translation (Claude) What can be compared with these blasphemies? Nothing at all, if the errors of other perverse sects are considered. But if this error is compared with itself from another side, of which we have not yet spoken, it is shown to blaspheme against the nature of God still much worse and more execrably. For they say that some souls, which they want to be of the substance of God and of altogether the same nature, and which did not sin willingly but were overcome and oppressed by the race of darkness, which they call the nature of evil, to fight which they came down not of their own accord but at the Father's command, are fastened for ever to a horrible globe of darkness. So, according to their sacrilegious empty talk, God freed himself in part from a great evil, and again condemned himself in part, the part he could not free from the enemy, and then triumphed besides, as though over the enemy defeated. O wicked and incredible audacity, to believe such things of God, to say such things, to preach such things! When they try to defend this, they rush with closed eyes into worse, saying that the mixture of the evil nature causes these things, so that the good nature of God suffers such great evils; for by itself, in itself, it could not and cannot suffer any of them. As if an incorruptible nature were to be praised because it does not harm itself, and not because it cannot be harmed by anything! Further, if the nature of darkness harmed the nature of God and the nature of God harmed the nature of darkness, then there are two evils which harmed each other; and the race of darkness had the better disposition, because even if it did harm, it did so unwillingly; for it did not want to harm, but to enjoy the good of God. God, however, wanted to extinguish it, as Mani most openly raves in the letter of his ruinous Foundation. For, forgetting what he had said a little before, “But his most splendid kingdoms are so founded upon the bright and blessed land that they can never be moved or shaken by anyone,” he afterwards said: “But the Father of the most blessed light, knowing that a great ruin and devastation, which would rise from the darkness, threatened his holy ages, unless he set against it some outstanding and glorious divinity, 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.” See, he feared ruin and devastation threatening his ages! Surely they were so founded upon the bright and blessed land that they could never be moved or shaken by anyone! See, out of fear he wanted to harm the neighboring race, which he tried to destroy and extinguish, so that perpetual rest might be prepared for the inhabitants of light. Why did he not add “and a perpetual bond”? Or were those souls, which he fastens for ever in the globe of darkness, not inhabitants of light, of whom he says openly that they allowed themselves to stray from their former bright nature? There, even against his will, he was forced to say that they sinned by free will, he who wants to place sin nowhere but in the necessity of the contrary nature, everywhere not knowing what he says, and as though he himself were already shut up in the globe of darkness he invented, looking for a way out and not finding it. But let him say what he likes to the seduced and wretched, by whom he is honored far more than Christ, so that at this price he may sell them such long and such sacrilegious fables. Let him say what he likes; let him shut up the race of darkness in the globe as in a prison, and fasten outside it the nature of light, to which he promised perpetual rest once the enemy was extinguished: see, the punishment of the light is worse than that of the darkness, the punishment of the divine nature worse than that of the opposing race. For that race, even if it is inside in the darkness, it belongs to its nature to dwell in darkness; but the souls, which are what God is, will not be able to be received, as he says, into those peaceful kingdoms, and will be estranged from the life and freedom of the holy light, and fastened in the aforesaid horrible globe. “Hence,” he says, “these same souls will cling to the things they loved, left in the same globe of darkness, gaining this for themselves by their own deserts.” Is this not, surely, free choice of the will? See how in his madness he does not know what he is saying, and by contradicting himself wages a worse war against himself than against the God of the race of darkness itself. Further, if the souls of light are condemned because they loved darkness, the race of darkness, which loved the light, is condemned unjustly. And the race of darkness loved the light from the beginning, and wanted to possess it, though by violence, not to extinguish it; but the nature of light wanted to extinguish the darkness in war; and so, being conquered, it loved it. Choose which you like: was it compelled by necessity to love the darkness, or seduced by will? If by necessity, why is it condemned? If by will, why is the nature of God caught in such iniquity? If the nature of God was forced by necessity to love darkness, then it was conquered, not conqueror; if by will, why do the wretches still hesitate to attribute the will to sin to the nature which God made from nothing, so as not to attribute it to the light which he begot? ### Translation notes - The quotations are from Mani's Fundamental Epistle (Epistula fundamenti), known largely through Augustine; they are translated as he gives them. The “globe” (globus) is the mass in which, in Manichaean teaching, the unredeemed portions of light are finally imprisoned. “The God of the race of darkness” renders deum ipsius gentis tenebrarum, a difficult phrase, apparently meaning the God who fights the race of darkness. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 42 (CSEL 25:876–879; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-42). ## On the Nature of the Good 43 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-43 - Source: CSEL 25:879–881 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine argues that on Manichaean premises God's nature already contained great evils before any mixture, necessity, a cruel will, ignorance, or misery. ### Latin text Quid? si etiam ostendimus ante commixtionem mali, quam fabulose confictam dementissime crediderunt, in ipsa lucis natura, quam dicunt, magna mala fuisse, quid ad istas blasphemias addi posse uidebitur? illic enim fuit, antequam pugnaretur, dura et ineuitabilis pugnandi necessitas. ecce iam magnum malum, antequam bono misceretur malum. dicant, hoc unde, cum adhuc nulla esset facta commixtio. si autem necessitas non erat, uoluntas ergo erat. unde et hoc tam magnum malum, ut deus ipse naturae suae nocere uellet, cui noceri ab hoste non poterat, mittendo eam crudeliter miscendam, turpiter purgandam, inique damnandam? ecce quantum malum perniciosae et noxiae et inmanissimae uoluntatis, antequam ullum malum de gente contraria misceretur. an forte nesciebat hoc euenturum membris suis, ut diligerent tenebras et inimicae existerent sanctae luci, sicut ipse dicit, hoc est non tantum deo suo, sed etiam patri, de quo erant? unde ergo hoc in deo tam magnum ignorantiae malum, antequam ullum de gente contraria misceretur malum? si autem futurum hoc sciebat, aut sempiterna in illo erat crudelitas, si de suae naturae futura contaminatione et damnatione nihil dolebat, aut sempiterna miseria, si dolebat. unde et hoc tantum malum summi boni uestri ante ullam commixtionem summi mali uestri? ipsa certe particula naturae ipsius, quae in illius globi aeterno uinculo configitur, si hoc sibi imminere nesciebat, etiam sic erat in natura dei sempiterna ignorantia; si autem sciebat, sempiterna miseria. unde hoc tantum malum, antequam ullum de gente contraria misceretur malum? an forte magna caritate gaudebat, quia per eius poenam perpetua quies ceteris lucis incolis parabatur? hoc quam nefas sit dicere naturae dei natura dei sic subueniri qui uidet, anathemet. sed si hoc saltem ita faceret, ut ipsa luci inimica non fieret, posset fortasse non tamquam dei natura, sed tamquam aliquis homo laudari, qui pro patria sua uellet mali aliquid pati, quod quidem malum ad tempus posset esse, non in aeternum. nunc uero et illam in globo tenebrarum confixionem dicunt aeternam et non cuiusque rei, sed naturae dei. et utique iniquissimum et execrabile et ineffabiliter sacrilegum gaudium erat, si dei natura gaudebat se tenebras dilecturam et lucis sanctae inimicam futuram. unde hoc tam inmane et scelestum malum, antequam ullum ex gente contraria misceretur malum? quis tam peruersam et tam inpiam ferat insaniam summo malo tribuere tanta bona et summo bono, quod deus est. tanta mala? ### English translation (Claude) What if we also show that before the mixture of evil, which they have most insanely believed in as a fabulous invention, there were great evils in the very nature of light, as they call it? What will then seem able to be added to these blasphemies? For there, before the fighting, there was the harsh and unavoidable necessity of fighting. See, already a great evil, before evil was mixed with good! Let them say where this came from, when no mixture had yet been made. But if there was no necessity, then there was will. Where, then, does this so great evil come from, that God himself wanted to harm his own nature, which could not be harmed by the enemy, by sending it to be cruelly mixed, shamefully purged, unjustly condemned? See how great an evil of a pernicious, harmful, and most monstrous will, before any evil from the opposing race was mixed in! Or perhaps he did not know that this would happen to his members, that they would love the darkness and become enemies of the holy light, as he himself says, that is, not only of their God but also of the Father from whom they were? Where, then, did this so great evil of ignorance in God come from, before any evil from the opposing race was mixed in? But if he knew this would happen, either there was everlasting cruelty in him, if he felt no pain over the future contamination and damnation of his nature, or everlasting misery, if he did feel pain. Where, then, did this so great evil of your highest good come from, before any mixture of your highest evil? Certainly that little portion of his nature, which is fastened in the eternal bond of that globe, if it did not know that this threatened it, then even so there was everlasting ignorance in the nature of God; and if it did know, everlasting misery. Where did this so great evil come from, before any evil from the opposing race was mixed in? Or perhaps it rejoiced with great love, because through its punishment perpetual rest was being prepared for the other inhabitants of light? Whoever sees how impious it is to say that the nature of God is helped in this way by the nature of God, let him anathematize it. But if it did this at least in such a way that it did not become an enemy of the light, it might perhaps be praised, not as the nature of God, but as some man who was willing to suffer some evil for his country, an evil that could be for a time, not for ever. But as it is, they say that the fastening in the globe of darkness is eternal, and that it is not of some thing or other, but of the nature of God. And certainly it would be a most unjust, execrable, and unspeakably sacrilegious joy if the nature of God rejoiced that it would love the darkness and become an enemy of the holy light. Where did this so monstrous and wicked evil come from, before any evil from the opposing race was mixed in? Who could bear such perverse and impious madness as to attribute so many goods to the highest evil and so many evils to the highest good, which is God? ### Translation notes - The phrase “as he himself says” refers to Mani's Fundamental Epistle, which spoke of the souls becoming enemies of the holy light. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 43 (CSEL 25:879–881; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-43). ## On the Nature of the Good 44 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-44 - Source: CSEL 25:881–884 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine reports the Manichaean teaching that the divine substance is bound in all things and freed partly by the seduction of the powers of darkness, quoting at length from Mani's Treasury. ### Latin text Iam uero quod ipsam partem naturae dei dicunt ubique permixtam in caelis, in terris, sub terris, in omnibus corporibus, siccis et humidis, in omnibus carnibus, in. omnibus seminibus arborum, herbarum, hominum, animalium, non potentia diuinitatis sine ullo nexu incoinquinabiliter, incorruptibiliter omnibus rebus administrandis regendisque praesentem, quod nos de deo dicimus, sed ligatam, obpressam, pollutam, quam solui, liberari purgarique dicunt, non solum per discursum solis et lunae et uirtutes lucis, uerum etiam per electos suos: hoc genus nefandissimi erroris quam sacrilegas et incredibiles turpitudines eis suadeat, etiamsi non persuadeat, horribile est dicere. dicunt enim uirtutes lucis transfigurari in masculos pulchros et obponi feminis gentis tenebrarum, et easdem rursus uirtutes lucis transfigurari in feminas pulchras et obponi masculis gentis tenebrarum, ut per pulchritudinem suam inflamment spurcissimam libidinem principum tenebrarum et eo modo uitalis substantia, hoc est dei natura, quam dicunt in eorum corporibus ligatam teneri, ex eorum membris per illam concupiscentiam relaxatis soluta fugiat et suscepta uel purgata liberetur. hoc infelices legunt, hoc dicunt, hoc audiunt, hoc credunt, hoc in libro septimo Thesauri eorum — sic enim appellant scripturam quandam Manichaei, ubi istae blasphemiae conscriptae sunt — ita positum est: tunc beatus ille pater, qui lucidas naues habet diuersoria et habitacula secundum magnitudines, pro insita sibi clementia fert opem. qua exuitur et liberatur ab inpiis retinaculis et angustiis atque angoribus suae uitalis substantiae. itaque inuisibili suo nutu illas suas uirtutes. quae in clarissima hac naui habentur, transfigurat easque parere facit aduersis potestatibus, quae in singulis caelorum tractibus ordinatae sunt. quae quoniam ei utroque sexu masculorum ac feminarum consistunt, ideo praedictas uirtutes partim specie puerorum inuestium parere iubet generi aduerso feminarum, partim uirginum lucidarum forma generi contrario masculorum, sciens eas omnes hostiles potestates propter ingenitam sibi letalem et spurcissimam concupiscentiam facillime capi atque isdem speciebus pulcherrimis, quae adparent, mancipari hocque modo dissolui. sciatis autem hunc eundem nostrum beatum patrem hoc idem esse, quod etiam suae uirtutes, quas ob necessariam causam transformat in puerorum et uirginum intemeratam similitudinem. utitur autem his tamquam propriis armis atque per eas suam conplet uoluntatem. harum uero uirtutum diuinarum, quae ad instar coniugii contra inferna genera statuuntur quaeque alacritate ac facilitate id, quod cogitauerint, momento eodem efficiunt, plenae sunt lucidae naues. itaque cum ratio poposcerit, ut masculis adpareant eaedem sanctae uirtutes, illico etiam suam effigiem uirginum pulcherrimarum habitu demonstrant. rursus, cum ad feminas uentum fuerit. postponentes species uirginum puerorum inuestium speciem ostendunt. hoc autem uisu decoro illarum ardor et concupiscentia crescit atque hoc modo uinculum pessimarum cogitationum earum soluitur uiuaque anima, quae eorundem membris tenebatur, hac occasione laxata euadit et suo purissimo aeri miscetur, ubi penitus ablutae animae ascendunt ad lucidas naues, quae sibi ad uectationem atque ad suae patriae transfretationem sunt praeparatae. id uero, quod adhuc aduersi generis maculas portat, per aestus atque calores particulatim descendit atque arboribus ceterisque plantationibus ac satis omnibus miscetur et coloribus diuersis inficitur. et quo pacto ex ista magna et clarissima naui figurae puerorum et uirginum adparent contrariis potestatibus, quae in caelis degunt quaeque igneam habent naturam, atque ex isto aspectu decoro uitae pars, quae in earundem membris habetur, laxata deducitur per calores in terram: eodem modo etiam illa altissima uirtus, quae in naui uitalium aquarum habitat, in similitudine puerorum ac uirginum sanctarum per suos angelos adparet his potestatibus, quarum natura frigida atque humida, quaeque in caelis ordinatae sunt. et quidem his, quae feminae sunt, in ipsis forma puerorum adparet, masculis uero uirginum. hac uero mutatione et diuersitate diuinarum personarum ac pulcherrimarum humidae frigidaeque stirpis principes masculi siue feminae soluuntur atque id, quod in ipsis est uitale, fugit; quod uero resederit, laxatum deducitur in terram per frigora et cunctis terrae generibus admiscetur. quis hoc ferat? quis hoc credat, non dico, ita esse, sed uel dici potuisse? ecce qui docentem timent anathemare Manichaeum et non timent credere haec facientem, haec patientem deum! ### English translation (Claude) Now as for their saying that this part of the nature of God is mixed in everywhere, in the heavens, on earth, under the earth, in all bodies dry and moist, in all flesh, in all seeds of trees, plants, human beings, animals, not present by the power of divinity, without any bond, undefiled and incorruptible, to administer and govern all things, as we say of God, but bound, oppressed, polluted, and that it is loosed, freed, and purged, they say, not only by the course of the sun and moon and the powers of light, but also by their elect: it is horrible to say what sacrilegious and incredible obscenities this kind of most abominable error urges on them, even if it does not persuade them. For they say that the powers of light are transformed into handsome males and set before the females of the race of darkness, and again that the same powers of light are transformed into beautiful females and set before the males of the race of darkness, so that by their beauty they may inflame the filthiest lust of the princes of darkness, and in this way the vital substance, that is, the nature of God, which they say is held bound in their bodies, may be loosed from their members, relaxed through that lust, and flee, and be taken up or purged and freed. This the unhappy people read, this they say, this they hear, this they believe. In the seventh book of their Treasury (for so the Manichaeans call a certain writing in which these blasphemies are written), it is set down thus: “Then that blessed Father, who has bright ships as lodgings and dwellings according to their magnitudes, by the clemency implanted in him brings help, by which he is stripped off and freed from the impious fetters and straits and anguish of his vital substance. So by his invisible nod he transforms those powers of his which are held in this most bright ship, and makes them appear to the opposing powers which are ranged in each of the tracts of the heavens. Since these consist of both sexes, male and female, he orders the aforesaid powers to appear partly in the form of beardless boys to the opposing race of females, partly in the form of bright virgins to the contrary race of males, knowing that all those hostile powers, because of the deadly and filthiest lust inborn in them, are very easily captured and made slaves to these most beautiful forms that appear, and in this way are dissolved. But know that this same blessed Father of ours is the same thing as his powers also, which for a necessary cause he transforms into the undefiled likeness of boys and virgins. He uses them as his own weapons, and through them fulfils his will. Of these divine powers, which are set against the infernal races as if in marriage, and which with speed and ease accomplish in the same instant whatever they have thought, the bright ships are full. So when the occasion requires that these same holy powers appear to males, at once they display their likeness in the guise of most beautiful virgins; again, when they come to females, laying aside the forms of virgins they show the form of beardless boys. By this comely sight their ardor and lust increases, and in this way the bond of their worst thoughts is loosed, and the living soul, which was held in their members, released on this occasion, escapes and is mingled with its own most pure air; there the thoroughly cleansed souls ascend to the bright ships, which have been prepared for their conveyance and for their passage across to their own homeland. But that which still bears the stains of the opposing race comes down bit by bit through heats and warmths, and is mingled with trees and the other plants and all sown things, and is tinged with various colors. And in the same way as the figures of boys and virgins appear from that great and most bright ship to the contrary powers that live in the heavens and have a fiery nature, and by that comely sight the part of life that is held in their members is released and led down through the heats into the earth, so also that most high power which dwells in the ship of the living waters appears through its angels, in the likeness of boys and holy virgins, to those powers whose nature is cold and moist and which are ranged in the heavens. And indeed to those of them that are female the form of boys appears, but to the males that of virgins. By this change and diversity of the divine and most beautiful persons, the princes of the moist and cold stock, male or female, are dissolved, and what is vital in them flees; but what remains is released and led down into the earth through the cold, and is mingled with all kinds of earth.” Who could bear this? Who could believe, I do not say that it is so, but even that it could have been said? See, those who fear to anathematize Mani who teaches this do not fear to believe that God does and suffers these things! ### Translation notes - The long quotation is from the seventh book of Mani's Treasury (Thesaurus), a lost work known in part through this passage; it is translated as Augustine gives it. The “bright ships” are the sun and moon in Manichaean cosmology; the “ship of the living waters” is usually taken to be the moon. The obscene myth is presented by Augustine as Manichaean teaching; the translation is neutral and exact. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 44 (CSEL 25:881–884; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-44). ## On the Nature of the Good 45 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-45 - Source: CSEL 25:884 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Manichaean elect claim to free the divine substance by eating; since they say it is bound also in seed, their own premises lead to the obscene practice alleged against them. ### Latin text Per electos autem suos purgari dicunt eandem ipsam commixtam partem ac naturam dei manducando scilicet et bibendo, quia eam in alimentis omnibus dicunt ligatam teneri:. quae cum ab electis uelut sanctis in refectionem corporis manducando et bibendo adsumuntur, per eorum sanctitatem solui, signari et liberari. nec adtendunt miseri, quam non incongrue de illis creditum sit, quod frustra negant. nisi eosdem libros anathemauerint et Manichaei esse destiterint. si enim, sicut dicunt, in omnibus seminibus est ligata pars dei et ab electis manducando purgatur: quis non digne credat eos facere, quod inter uirtutes caelorum et principes tenebrarum fieri in Thesauro suo legunt, quandoquidem et carnes suas de gente tenebrarum esse dicunt et in eis ligatam teneri uitalem illam substantiam, partem dei, credere atque affirmare non dubitant? quae utique si soluenda est et manducando purganda, sicut eos fateri cogit funestus error ipsorum, quis non uideat, quia non exhorreat, quanta turpitudo et quam nefaria consequatur?. ### English translation (Claude) They say that this same mixed part and nature of God is purged by their elect, namely by eating and drinking, because they say it is held bound in all foods; and when these are taken by the elect, as by holy men, for the refreshment of the body by eating and drinking, it is loosed, sealed, and freed by their holiness. And the wretches do not notice how not unfittingly people have believed of them what they deny in vain, unless they anathematize those same books and cease to be Manichaeans. For if, as they say, a part of God is bound in all seeds and is purged by the elect by eating, who would not with good reason believe that they do what they read in their Treasury happens between the powers of the heavens and the princes of darkness, since they also say that their own flesh is from the race of darkness, and do not hesitate to believe and affirm that that vital substance, a part of God, is held bound in it? If that must be loosed and purged by eating, as their deadly error forces them to admit, who does not see, and who does not shudder at, how great and how abominable an obscenity follows? ### Translation notes - The elect were the higher grade of Manichaeans, whose ritual meals were believed to free particles of light. The practice Augustine alludes to is stated in ch. 47. “Who does not see, and who does not shudder”: the text reads quia non exhorreat, apparently for qui non exhorreat; translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 45 (CSEL 25:884; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-45). ## On the Nature of the Good 46 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-46 - Source: CSEL 25:884–886 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine quotes Mani's Fundamental Epistle on the making of Adam: the prince of darkness gathers light by making his companions couple, devours their offspring, and begets the first man. ### Latin text Nam et a quibusdam principibus gentis tenebrarum sic dicunt Adam primum hominem creatum, ut lumen ab eis ne fugeret teneretur. in epistula enim, quam Fundamenti appellant, quomodo princeps tenebrarum, quem patrem primi hominis inducunt, ad ceteros socios suos tenebrarum principes locutus fuerit et egerit, ita scripsit Manichaeus: iniquis igitur commentis ad eos, qui aderant, ait: quid uobis. uidetur maximum hoc lumen, quod oritur? intuemini, quemadmodum polum mouet, concutit plurimas potestates. quapropter mihi uos potius aequum est id, quod in uestris uiribus habetis, luminis praerogare: sic quippe illius magni, qui gloriosus adparuit, imaginem fingam, per quam regnare poterimus, tenebrarum aliquando conuersatione liberati. haec audientes ac diu secum deliberantes iustissimum putauerunt id quod postulabantur praebere. nec enim fidebant se idem lumen iugiter retenturos: unde melius rati sunt principi suo offerre, nequaquam desperantes eodem se pacto regnaturos. quo igitur modo lumen idem, quod habebant, praebuerint, considerandum est. nam hoc etiam omnibus diuinis scripturis arcanisque caelestibus aspersum est; sapientibus uero quomodo sit datum scire minime est difficile; nam coram aperteque cognoscitur ab eo, qui uere ac fideliter intueri uoluerit. quoniam eorum, qui conuenerant, frequentia promiscua erat, feminarum scilicet ac. masculorum, inpulit eos, ut inter se coirent. in quo coitu alii seminarunt, aliae grauidae effectae sunt. erant autem partus his, qui genuerant, similes uires plurimas parentum uti primi obtinentes. haec sumens eorum princeps uti praecipuum donum gauisus est. et sicuti etiam nunc fieri uidemus corporum formatricem naturam mali inde uires sumentem figurare, ita etiam ante dictus princeps sodalium prolem accipiens habentem parentum sensus, prudentiam, lucem simul secum in generatione procreatam comedit; ac plerisque uiribus sumptis ex istius modi esca, in qua non modo inerat fortitudo, sed multo magis astutiae et praui sensus ex fera genitorum mente, propriam ad se coniugem euocauit ex ea, qua ipse erat, stirpe manantem; et facto cum ea coitu seminauit ut ceteri abundantiam malorum, quae deuorauerat, nonnihil etiam ipse adiciens ex sua cogitatione ac uirtute, ut esset sensus eius omnium eorum, quae profuderat formator atque descriptor; cuius compar excipiebat haec, ut semen consueuit culta optime terra percipere. in eadem enim construebantur et contexebantur omnium imagines caelestium ac terrenarum uirtutum, ut pleni uidelicet orbis, id quod formabatur, similitudinem obtineret. ### English translation (Claude) For they also say that Adam, the first man, was created by certain princes of the race of darkness in such a way that the light might be held back by them so as not to flee. For in the letter which they call the Foundation, Mani wrote as follows how the prince of darkness, whom they make the father of the first man, spoke to his other associates, the princes of darkness, and what he did: “So with wicked devices he said to those who were present: What do you think of this very great light that is rising? See how it moves the pole, how it shakes many powers. Therefore it is right that you should rather advance to me what you have of the light in your forces; for so I will fashion an image of that great one who has appeared glorious, through which we shall be able to reign, freed at last from our dwelling in darkness. Hearing this and deliberating long among themselves, they thought it most just to provide what was asked of them. For they did not trust that they would keep that light permanently; hence they thought it better to offer it to their prince, by no means despairing that in this way they would reign. How, then, they provided that light which they had, must be considered. For this too is sprinkled through all the divine Scriptures and heavenly mysteries; but for the wise it is not at all difficult to know how it was given; for it is known face to face and openly by him who is willing to look truly and faithfully. Since the crowd of those who had gathered was mixed, of females, that is, and males, he impelled them to have intercourse with one another. In this intercourse some sowed seed and others became pregnant. The offspring were like those who had begotten them, possessing, as the first ones did, most of the powers of their parents. Taking these as a special gift, their prince rejoiced. And just as we see even now that the nature of evil, the former of bodies, takes strength from this to fashion them, so also the aforesaid prince, receiving the offspring of his companions, which had the senses of the parents, their prudence, and the light procreated together with them in generation, ate them; and having taken many powers from food of this kind, in which there was not only strength but much more the cunning and depraved senses from the fierce mind of the parents, he called to himself his own consort, sprung from the same stock as himself; and having had intercourse with her, he sowed, like the others, the abundance of evils he had devoured, adding also something of his own thought and power, so that his sense would be the former and designer of all the things he had poured out; and his partner received these, as well-cultivated earth usually receives seed. For in her were constructed and woven together the images of all heavenly and earthly powers, so that what was being formed might obtain the likeness of the full world.” ### Translation notes - A continuous quotation from Mani's Fundamental Epistle, translated as Augustine gives it. “The nature of evil, the former of bodies” is the Manichaean hyle mentioned in ch. 18. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 46 (CSEL 25:884–886; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-46). ## On the Nature of the Good 47 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-47 - Source: CSEL 25:886–888 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine argues that Manichaean doctrine logically requires an obscene ritual that some are reported to have confessed in court, and calls on Manichaeans either to renounce Mani or to admit what his books imply. ### Latin text scelestum monstrum! o execranda perditio et labes deceptarum animarum! omitto, quid sit de natura dei, quod sic ligetur, haec dicere. hoc saltem adtendant miseri decepti et errore mortifero uenenati, quia, si per coitum masculorum et feminarum ligatur pars dei, quam se manducando soluere et purgare profitentur, cogit eos huius tam nefandi erroris necessitas, ut non solum de pane et holeribus et pomis, quae sola uidentur in manifesto accipere, sed inde etiam soluant et purgent partem dei, unde per concubitum potest, si feminae utero concepta fuerit, conligari. hoc se facere quidam confessi esse in publico iudicio perhibentur non tantum in Paphlagonia, sed etiam in Gallia, sicut a quodam Romae christiano catholico audiui; et cum interrogarentur, cuius auctoritate scripturae ista facerent, hoc de Thesauro suo prodidisse, quod paulo ante commemoraui. isti autem cum hoc eis obicitur,, solent respondere nescio quem inimicum suum de numero suo, hoc est electorum suorum desciuisse et schisma fecisse. atque huiusmodi spurcissimam haeresim condidisse. unde manifestum est, quia hoc etiam si isti non faciunt, de ipsorum libris hoc faciunt, quicumque faciunt. abiciant ergo libros, si crimen exhorrent, quod committere coguntur, si libros tenent; aut si non committunt, mundius uiuere contra suos libros conantur. sed quid agunt, cum eis dicitur: aut purgate lumen de quibus potueritis seminibus, ut nec illud recusetis, quod uos non facere adseritis, aut Manichaeum anathemate, qui, cum dicit in omnibus seminibus esse partem dei et concumbendo ligari, quicquid autem luminis. hoc est eiusdem partis dei ad escas electorum peruenerit, manducando purgari, quid uobis suadeat uidetis et eum adhuc anathemare dubitatis: quid agunt, inquam, cum hoc eis dicitur? ad quas tergiuersationes se conuertunt, cum aut tam nefaria doctrina sit anathemanda aut tam nefaria turpitudo facienda, in cuius comparatione iam illa omnia mala, quae intolerabilia paulo ante commemorabam, eos de natura dei dicere, quod necessitate obpressa sit, ut bellum gereret, quod aut sempiterna ignorantia secura erat aut sempiterno dolore et timore sollicita, quando sibi ueniret corruptio commixtionis et uinculum aeternae damnationis, quod denique gesto bello sic fuerit captiuata, obpressa, polluta, quod post falsam uictoriam sic futura sit in horribili globo in aeternum confixa et ab originis suae felicitate separata, tolerabilia uideantur, cum per se ipsa, si considerentur. sustineri non possint? ### English translation (Claude) O wicked monster! O execrable perdition and ruin of deceived souls! I pass over what it is to say these things of the nature of God, that it should be bound in this way. Let the wretched, deceived, and poisoned by deadly error, at least notice this: if a part of God is bound by the intercourse of males and females, which they profess to loose and purge by eating, the necessity of this abominable error forces them to loose and purge the part of God not only from bread and vegetables and fruit, which alone they are seen to take openly, but also from that in which, through intercourse, it can be bound if it is conceived in a woman's womb. Some are reported to have confessed in a public court that they do this, not only in Paphlagonia but also in Gaul, as I heard from a certain catholic Christian at Rome; and when they were asked on the authority of what scripture they did these things, they revealed that it came from their Treasury, which I mentioned a little before. But when this is put to these people, they usually reply that some enemy of theirs, from their own number, that is, from their elect, broke away and made a schism, and founded a heresy of this most filthy kind. Hence it is plain that even if these people do not do it, whoever does it does it from their books. Let them throw away the books, then, if they abhor the crime which they are forced to commit if they keep the books; or if they do not commit it, they are trying to live more cleanly than their books. But what do they do when it is said to them: “Either purge the light from whatever seeds you can, so that you do not refuse even that which you declare you do not do; or anathematize Mani, who, when he says that a part of God is in all seeds and is bound by intercourse, and that whatever of the light, that is, of that part of God, reaches the food of the elect is purged by eating, you see what he urges on you, and you still hesitate to anathematize him”: what do they do, I say, when this is said to them? To what evasions do they turn, when either so abominable a doctrine must be anathematized or so abominable an obscenity committed? In comparison with this, all those evils which I mentioned a little before as intolerable, their saying of the nature of God that it was oppressed by necessity to wage war, that it was either secure in everlasting ignorance or anxious in everlasting pain and fear as to when the corruption of the mixture and the bond of eternal damnation would come upon it, and finally that, the war once waged, it was so captured, oppressed, polluted, and that after a false victory it will be fastened for ever in the horrible globe and separated from the happiness of its origin, seem tolerable, though in themselves, if they are considered, they cannot be endured. ### Translation notes - Augustine reports the court confessions at second hand (“are reported”, “as I heard”), and notes that the Manichaeans of his acquaintance disowned the practice as the work of a schismatic; the translation keeps these qualifications. The Treasury is Mani's work quoted in ch. 44. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 47 (CSEL 25:886–888; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/33/#p-47). ## On the Nature of the Good 48 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/48/#p-48 - Source: CSEL 25:888–891 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Augustine closes with a prayer to the patient and merciful God that more Manichaeans may be freed through baptism or repentance, since the keys of the kingdom in the church leave no one beyond hope. ### Latin text O magna patientia tua, domine misericors et miserator, longanimis et multum misericors et uerax, qui facis oriri solem tuum super bonos et malos, pluis super iustos et iniustos; qui non uis mortem peccatoris, quantum ut reuertatur et uiuat; qui partibus corripiens das locum paenitentiae, ut relicta malitia credant in te, domine; qui patientia tua ad paenitentiam adducis, quamuis multi secundum duritiam cordis sui et inpaenitens cor thesaurizent sibi iram in die irae et reuelationis iusti iudicii tui; qui reddis unicuique secundum opera sua; qui in qua die conuersus fuerit homo a nequitia sua ad misericordiam et ueritatem tuam, omnes iniquitates eius obliuisceris: praesta nobis, da nobis, ut per nostrum ministerium, quo execrabilem et nimis horribilem hunc errorem redargui uoluisti, sicut iam multi liberati sunt, et alii liberentur et siue per sacramentum sancti baptismi tui siue per sacrificium contribulati spiritus et cordis contriti et humiliati in dolore paenitentiae remissionem peccatorum et blasphemiarum suarum, quibus per ignorantiam te offenderunt, accipere mereantur. tantum enim ualet praepollens misericordia et potestas tua et ueritas baptismi tui clauesque regni caelorum in sancta ecclesia tua, ut nec de illis desperandum sit, quamdiu in hac terra per tuam patientiam uiuunt, qui etiam scientes, quantum malum sit talia de te sentire uel dicere, propter aliquam temporalis et terrenae commoditatis consuetudinem uel adeptionem in illa maligna professione detinentur, ei ad tuam ineffabilem bonitatem saltem increpati tuis correptionibus fugiant et omnibus carnalis uitae inlecebris caelestem uitam aeternamque praeponant. ### English translation (Claude) O your great patience, Lord, merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and very merciful and true, who make your sun rise on the good and the evil and send rain on the just and the unjust; who do not will the death of the sinner so much as that he turn back and live; who, rebuking little by little, give room for repentance, so that, leaving their wickedness, they may believe in you, Lord; who by your patience lead to repentance, although many according to the hardness of their heart and their impenitent heart store up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath and of the revelation of your just judgment; who render to each according to his works; who, on whatever day a man turns from his wickedness to your mercy and truth, forget all his iniquities: grant us, give us, that through our ministry, by which you have willed this execrable and exceedingly horrible error to be refuted, just as many have already been freed, others too may be freed, and that, whether through the sacrament of your holy baptism or through the sacrifice of a troubled spirit and a contrite and humbled heart in the sorrow of repentance, they may deserve to receive remission of their sins and blasphemies, by which they have offended you through ignorance. For so great is the power of your surpassing mercy and power, and the truth of your baptism, and the keys of the kingdom of heaven in your holy church, that we must not despair even of those who, as long as by your patience they live on this earth, although they know how great an evil it is to think or say such things of you, are held in that malignant profession by habit or by the gaining of some temporal and earthly advantage; that, at least when rebuked by your corrections, they may flee to your ineffable goodness and prefer the heavenly and eternal life to all the allurements of carnal life. ### Scripture references - Ps 86:15 (85:15 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Matt 5:45: quotation, high confidence - Ezek 33:11: quotation, high confidence - Rom 2:4–6: quotation, high confidence - Ezek 18:21–22: allusion, medium confidence - Ps 51:17 (50:19 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Matt 16:19: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 12:2 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, medium confidence - Wis 12:10 (Wisdom of Solomon): allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Ps 86:15 (LXX 85:15; cf. Ps 103:8); Matt 5:45; Ezek 33:11; Wis 12:2, 10 (partibus corripiens, “rebuking little by little”); Rom 2:4–6; Ezek 18:21–22; Ps 51:17 (LXX 50:19); Matt 16:19. “So much as” renders quantum ut, apparently for tantum ut or quam ut; translated by sense. “Blasphemies” restores the digital text's truncated “phemiarum”. For paenitentia the sense of church penance is present alongside repentance. ### Citation (SBL) Augustine, Nat. bon. 48 (CSEL 25:888–891; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-natura-boni/48/#p-48).