Letters 3.390–4.6

To Lampetius the deacon. Even if some think that what will be said is said hyperbolically (for I know many are ignobly and unmanfully disposed), I will state my own judgment. For I think there are some who will accept it; and even if no one accepts it, let truth be preferred. What, then, do I wish to say? It must be said briefly. I would most gladly, having done good to all, pay the penalty as though I had wronged all, rather than, having wronged someone, be crowned and proclaimed as though I had done good to all. [Another letter] [From Deuteronomy, on what is said about the stars: "which the Lord your God allotted to all the nations."] What, you asked, is meant by what is said about the heavenly lights, "which the Lord your God allotted to all the nations"? Hear, then: he allotted them for teaching, for education, for knowledge, so that from the greatness and beauty of the creatures the Maker, being invisible, may be contemplated. He said this because to the Hebrews, together with creation, the teaching of the law was also given, proclaiming the Creator and Craftsman. But if some think they were allotted for the nations to worship them, they brilliantly expose their own lack of education, since the whole of holy Scripture blames and vehemently accuses those who have dared to do this. [Another letter] You show no small sign of virtue, excellent friend, but as great as possible, in choosing to acquire a good name rather than to gather great wealth. So if you remain in this resolve, you will not lack those who praise you, and all people will hold your prudence

To Harpocras the sophist. Those who reject the powers of speech do not notice that they dare to transfer to it the reproach of their own unreason. But those who accept it when it fights alongside truth and blame it when it acts with vice both know the nobility of humanity, that it has been honoured with reason, and are not ignorant of the perversity of those who misuse words.

To Dorotheus, a man of the highest rank. I cannot disbelieve you; but I advise you not to be scandalized, but to await the impartial judgment. For with advice of this kind I also restrained another man who hates evil, who said the same things to you and declaimed against it, saying: "The apostles, made wise by the divine Spirit, so ordered the church, as the Lord's bride, that nothing worse troubled her and there was nothing better that ought to be added to the ordinance. But some of those now somehow entrusted with the teacher's throne dare to innovate, and, dishonouring the ordinance decently and piously founded by them, prefer their own, thinking the original order less honourable, judging by what they do. For, to pass over the rest, I will say one thing, to which all tends. Whereas the apostles rebuked the man who expected to buy the apostolic dignity with money, saying, 'May your silver perish with you, because you thought to obtain the gift of God with money; you have neither part nor lot in this matter,' these men entrust the priesthood above all to those who have bought it as from the market. And this is not yet the terrible thing, terrible though it is; but they are prouder of this than others are of nobility of character and poverty. And when they think they are abused by some, they at once bring forward the apostolic dignity ('It is not us,' they say, 'but the episcopate they have insulted'); but when they must do something of what is required, they no longer bring it forward, as though they might be honoured as apostles without acting as apostles." As, then, that man, persuaded by our advice and hearing that it is most absurd to leave one's own evils and busy oneself with those of others, went away putting a bridle on his tongue and condemning himself to silence, so you too be persuaded, and turn your inquiry from the teachers to yourself. [Letter 3.395] To Peter the scholasticus. I say that a festival properly so called is one defiled by no shameful mingling, but taking pride in purity and the virtues. [Letter 3.396] To Ausonius the corrector. Understanding, when it banishes love of money, is a most truthful touchstone of justice. But if it admits it, it will not refuse to trade in justice and falsify its verdict.

To Theodosius the bishop. I know that I have often advised myself in some such way: "Isidore, since great things are usually achieved through great dangers, use fitting frankness; perhaps those who do not know how to blush at their faults will blush. Perhaps you will succeed. And if you suffer something unpleasant, you will suffer with the prophets, the apostles and the other saints, with whom it is to be prayed for that you, one of the many, may be numbered, if not in their achievements, at least in their sufferings." But I answered myself, saying: "The rest you say well, and I am ready to obey you. But how shall we speak frankly? Using undiluted frankness, or mixing it with gentleness? For I know some who were healed by vehement rebuke, others who were exasperated and trained into worse vice, and others who laughed at moderate counsel and frankness and thought it nothing. How, then, can one bring one medicine to so many passions? How will one heal, when the causes grow from opposite passions?" So I said to myself what I now say to you too: if you alone were going to fail, you ought to hesitate; but if even Moses, Elijah and John, men beloved of God, benefited those people neither by counselling nor by speaking frankly, yet did not make their own condition worse, one must mix gentleness with frankness and leave the healing to the divine right hand. For almost all people know evil things of themselves, but good things they are unwilling to learn even when they hear them from others,

To Alypius. [On the one entrusted with the five talents.] By the deposit of silver, excellent friend, he means the teaching of the divine Scriptures; by the interest on hearing, the display of works. For there is no benefit in hearing when the display through works does not agree with what is said. And that this is true: punishment follows the teacher if, while acting, he does not also speak, and the hearer if he does not also act.

To Archontius. [On "I die daily."] "I die daily," said the Apostle, by being prepared for it. For the one preparing for something, even if he does not undergo it in experience, undergoes it in expectation and eagerness. For things are, for the most part, judged by attempts, not by results; the crown is woven from the intention, not from the end. And if it has escaped most people that those who rightly take up philosophy are in danger, note also that they die to the world by deadening their pleasures. The first is more plausible, the second more bitter.

To Cassius the presbyter. To know what one should be ashamed of truly frees from shame; not to know it surrounds one with immortal shame. [Letter 3.401] If those who subdue the body with fasts, sleeping on the ground and the other hardships, and so punish the unreasonable power of the passions, but are once overcome by desire, will not be pardoned, what pardon would those enjoy who summon licentiousness and rouse it by luxury, of whom they say you are one?

To Cassian the deacon. [From the New Testament, the four Gospels: on "In the beginning was the Word."] The theologian John, beloved of God, truly the son of thunder, with a tongue speaking divine things (for he was moved by the Holy Spirit), proclaimed the subsistence and property, the eternity and kingship of the divine Word, which is not acquired but essential. And by saying "was" many times, he banished "from things that are not."

To the same. One must mix, most wise friend, the philosophy of one's way of life with the rightness of doctrines, if it is true (and it is true) that faith without works is dead. And if the greater without the lesser is dead, it is evident that the lesser too is dead without the greater. But if both are mixed and in a way united, then indeed perfect and supreme esteem appears, piety and virtue running together into one.

To Maron. Since small causes often kindle great wars, I advise you not to throw in sparks of contention. For quarrels, when fanned up, uproot all good things from the souls of those at variance.

To Palladius the deacon. [On "Because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations."] Since you have written asking what "My name is blasphemed because of you" means, I say: since the Jews, when they sinned, were handed over to captivities, and their captors, ascribing the victory not to God's wrath but to the power of their own idols, condemned the almighty right hand as weak, he said this for that reason. For by sinning and being handed over they became the cause of such suspicion and blasphemy. And perhaps also because they did the opposite of what they were commanded, which is in danger of happening with us too now. For commanded to love our enemies, we do not even love our friends; commanded to practise poverty, we are not only not content with what we have, but even make money out of others' misfortunes; commanded to keep quiet, we meddle and trouble those who are at peace. And we not only do these things, but also try to teach others what we are unwilling to do (I pass over the rest, for I wish to say nothing harsh). People, then, hearing and seeing this, us trying to teach some things and doing others, think we are being ironic and making sport of what is not for sport, and sharpen their tongues against divine providence, which will punish them, but us more, since we become the causes of such blasphemy.

To Zosimus and Maron. If our part is done without omission and with all zeal, then divine help must also be called into alliance; for it will come in every way presiding over the victory. But if nothing of what is required is done on our part, even the call is superfluous; for it will not bear irony, nor will it visit those who gladly throw themselves into the gaping sea of destruction. [Letter 3.407] You sin beyond pardon, excellent friend, by courting Eusebius's tyranny before justice. Either, then, if you stay with him, make him aware of his incurable disease, or withdraw, since you are aggravating his vice.

To Zeno the monk. That while the church flourished and was not yet sick, the divine gifts danced around her, the Holy Spirit leading the people, moving each of those who presided and making the church a heaven, is plain to all. But that when she fell sick and into factions, all those things flew away and leapt off, not the gifts only (that would not be so terrible if it were only that), but also life and virtue, this too is plain to all. To pass over the rest, I will hint at the others from one thing. The name of peace is everywhere, but the reality nowhere. The church is like a woman fallen from her ancient prosperity who keeps only the tokens: she has the cases and caskets of her jewels, but is deprived of the wealth, not through the neglect of the one who adorned her at the beginning, but through the wickedness of those who handle affairs improperly. For some dare to sell the priesthood, others to buy it. Some do what I do not dare even to say, others say what it is not right even to think. Rightly, then, the Master and Bridegroom of the church threatened such people with what you sought to learn: "The master of that servant will come, and will cut him in two and put his portion with the unbelievers." But to them such a threat is a fable, and the sentence is thought a mountebank's tale, though the world is now hastening to its end and is in labour with the punishment. But you, conspicuous nursling of the church, do not look to the shipwrecked nor compare yourself with the careless, but make the light of knowledge brighter, feeding it with the virtue of your life. And await the Bridegroom, who will enter with the virgins in soul and body, but will punish those who have outraged by their deeds the dignity of virginity and of the priesthood.

To Lampetius the bishop. Our friend has gladly come to carry out what you will command, knowing well that your commands look to piety and justice. Admiring his eagerness, then, repay it with kindness.

To Martinianus the presbyter. I am neither without stumbling nor do I seek friends without stumbling, for I shall not find them; but I enrol among my friends those who have very many and great achievements and few and trivial faults (for one who is human must certainly be convicted of something). For those who, because of a small fault, despise even the greatest excellence neither consider human nature nor obey the apostle Paul, who exhorts: "Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfil the law of Christ." For the one who does not bear a small fault will neither enjoy the greatest achievement nor fulfil the law of Christ, that is, love. And if you say, "Was it not said in the Old Covenant, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself'?", I would say that he himself decreed that too; and then, in his coming in the flesh, he added something more, saying, "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you." For loving is found in the Old as well, but "as I have loved you" he added; that is why he called it a new commandment. For it is one thing to love one's neighbour as oneself, another to overlook one's own interests in order to set right those of one's neighbours. For just as he looked not to his own height but to the benefit of human beings, and, humbling himself, deigned to take the form of a servant in order to bring the servants into adoption, so he commanded each of us to look not to his own gain but to the benefit of his neighbours. And if anyone thinks he is harmed by condescending, let him learn that this condescension leads him up to the very summit of honour.

To Peter. [Why the law ordered lepers, or others suffering involuntary diseases, to be outside the sacred precincts.] That children of parents of bad constitution are also of bad constitution is both likely and plain; that they are so from incontinence is unclear, but likely. For that sickly children are born of the sick and of those seized by certain illnesses is not unreasonable; that this happens with the healthy who give themselves to incontinence is likely but unclear. That is why, I think, the prophet Ezekiel also listed among the other sins the sinner's going in to a woman in her impurity. He said this above all keeping what befits nature, thinking it most absurd that she should be troubled while being purified; and then so that they might not become causes of loathsome diseases for those who are born. For the man's seed, mixed with the woman's impure blood, produces bodies subject to various diseases; for they bear in a way the imprint of their parents' incontinence. "If, then," he says, "you care for the good constitution and health of those who are born, and do not wish them to be separated from the assembly of the Lord, be on guard and know the time for intercourse, so that your children may not carry about the tokens of your licentiousness."

To Martinianus and Maron. Even if the form of drunkenness of those who rave for wine and for money is different (the one comes from wine, the other from money), the passion is alike. For both are equally overcome by an absurd desire. For the wine-lover, the more cups he drinks, the more he longs for; and the money-lover, the more he gathers, the more he kindles the furnace of desire. In this, then, they are alike; but in another respect the love of money has the advantage. For the drunkard, even if he deserves all condemnation, still suffers something according to nature (for wine, being hot and burning and increasing the natural dryness, makes drinkers thirsty); but whence the other always longs for more, I cannot say. For when he becomes richer, then above all he is in poverty. This disease is baffling and more like a riddle. If, then, it is aggravated by treatment and becomes harsher by the medicine devised, let us stop supplying fuel to such a fire and remove what is already there, either all at once or little by little, lest, becoming unquenchable, it reduce us to ashes here and send us to the unquenchable fire there.

To Diogenes the presbyter. I think that each person declares about the future from what he does. At any rate, none of those who have lived rightly and decently and displayed an excellent way of life disbelieves in the judgment. But the careless, choked by an evil conscience and wishing there to be neither judgment nor recompense, also teach as doctrine what they wish, not looking to the truth but ratifying their own will. Since, then, the most renowned of poets, orators, historians and philosophers proclaim the judgment (for the partial judgment that happens here guarantees the general one), let no one disbelieve in the judgment without judging; but practising virtue, let him expect crowns, and doing vice, punishments.

To Isidore the bishop. [On "the crown of the year" and "the wheel of becoming."] Since the shape of time is circular (the day revolving seven times into a week, the week into a month, and the months into a year, and then it returns again to the same points), Scripture for this reason called it in one place "the crown of the year" and in another "the wheel of becoming"; for circle, crown, and wheel have the same shape. The four seasons, spring, I mean, and summer, autumn, and winter, as it were joining hands and turning the year round, dance a most excellent dance. For they were made by God, the supreme craftsman, so wisely and harmoniously that the end of each, gently mingled with the beginning of the next, dances in our bodies unnoticed, imperceptibly, and without harm. To make what I say clearer, let the argument proceed through the thing itself. The height of summer does not pass straight into the depth of winter; otherwise bodies, seeds, and plants would have been harmed, unable to bear the onset of a sudden change. Rather, summer ends by giving way to autumn; and autumn, like summer at its beginning and gradually and little by little becoming like winter at its end, passes on to winter without harm. Then winter ends by giving way to spring; and spring, mingled little by little and unnoticed, passes on to summer.

To Zosimus. [On "Nail down my flesh with fear of you."] You make yourself a laughing-stock (oh, what shall I call you, to rebuke your insensibility?) when you pray, "Nail down my flesh with fear of you." This prayer belongs to those who bring their own contribution: who fast, live with little, and chastise the leaping of the body, and who ask that help be sent from heaven for their discipline. It does not belong to those who, like you, fatten the body with immoderate drinking, rouse its leaping with luxury of every kind, and outdo athletes in good condition. You are doing the same as if you embraced a courtesan, in love with her, and prayed to receive chastity. The prayer belongs to those who fly above her nets, not to those who stoop beneath her snares. Or it is as if you threw yourself from a ship into the boundless sea and begged to be saved, you thunderstruck man, preparing the danger for yourself and asking to be saved by prayer. How is that possible? This petition belongs to those who fulfil everything on their part and ask that their skill not be sunk by the storm, not to those who throw themselves into the sea even before the surge comes. Stop living in luxury, then. If you master your belly, you will also master what follows the belly, and you will not make yourself a laughing-stock by praying to receive the opposite of what you do.

To the same. [On the same.] Since you have written asking what "Nail down my flesh with fear of you" means (perhaps in ignorance you were asking for what you did not wish to receive), listen. Fix it fast, put it to death, make it immovable toward pleasure; instead of nails, let your fear fix it fast, put it to death, and crucify it, and make it immovable and inactive toward sin. Now that you know the interpretation, you who live in luxury, do not ask for this; or, if you ask for it, do not live in luxury. All the more so because your luxury is not even provided at home: you shamelessly leap upon other people's tables, which Solomon defined as one of the detestable and wretched things. You fatten your flesh altogether improperly; for you do not stop at need, but outrage even satiety.

To the same. [On the same.] The genuine lover of virtue may rightly call on God to bring what he longs for to completion; but the implacable enemy will not find God listening even if he calls. Why then, while you fatten your flesh with drinking bouts and drunkenness, channel fire upon fire, open every new road to pleasure, and rouse and summon licentiousness even when it sleeps, do you say in your prayers, "Nail down my flesh with fear of you"? For one who wastes his own flesh with fasts, sleeping on the ground, and all-night vigils, and makes it obedient to the spirit, this prayer is most fitting; but for one who, like you, makes the flesh leap and pursues profligate banquets and carousals, from which pleasures teem, this prayer is not only unfitting but full of irony, or rather of danger. For when someone asks the pure Mind for things he does not want to do, he wants to deceive not only men but the Judge himself.

To Isidore the deacon. [What is meant by what is written in the Song: "There are sixty queens."] You have written asking what "There are sixty queens," and what follows, means. Listen, then. Let the spotless and virgin Church, which holds the right faith about God, have the first place, and let her be called the perfect dove, surpassing the dignity of all the ranks. But if it must also be taken of conduct, let this too be said. The sixty queens are the souls who do good for the sake of the kingdom; the eighty concubines are those who abstain from evil for fear of punishment; and the maidens without number are those who live chastely and pursue justice for some worldly reasons, doing what is right neither from longing for the kingdom nor from fear of judgment, but so as not to be deprived of wealth, glory, or some honour. The one perfect dove is the one who does the good for the sake of the good itself, the company of the highest saints, which does what is right neither for reward nor for fear of punishment nor for any worldly pretext, but because it is dear to God. Clearly, having God, she has all that is his. The others will be able to hear, "Thanks to the kingdom, and to Gehenna, which made us excel"; but she will hear nothing of the kind, and will be called blessed by all.

To Epimachus the reader. [On "If anyone thinks he is wise, let him become a fool."] You have written asking what Paul meant by "If anyone thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise." Listen, then, briefly. Conceit is a hindrance to progress. So one must empty out the swelling and inflammation (for such is Greek wisdom, which has nothing solid or stable), and so be filled with divine instruction. For unless the inflation is emptied out, the solid food will be spoiled. If you like, the argument will also proceed by an example. Just as in the body, if empty wind settles in the stomach, it spoils digestion, so arrogance spoils the health of the soul. The greatest foundation of health is humility, which our very nature loudly teaches by its origin, since it is dust and ashes, and which checks by the facts themselves the snorting of those sick with boasting. If it shuts the entrance against reason, it spoils the …