Letters of St. Augustin

Letter I.

(a.d. 386.)

To Hermogenianus1    Hermogenianus was one of the earliest and most intimate friends of Augustin, and his associate in literary and philosophical studies. Augustin Sends Greeting.

1. I Would not presume, even in playful discussion, to attack the philosophers of the Academy;2    [Academy was a grove dedicated to the Attic hero Academos, on the banks of the Kephissos near Athens, where Plato taught. Hence it became the name of the Platonic school of philosophy. It had three branches,—the Older, the Middle, and the Younger Academy. The study of Platonism was a preparatory step to the conversion of Augustin in 386.—P. S.] for when could the authority of such eminent men fail to move me, did I not believe their views to be widely different from those commonly ascribed to them? Instead of confuting them, which is beyond my power, I have rather imitated them to the best of my ability. For it seems to me to have been suitable enough to the times in which they flourished, that whatever issued pure from the fountainhead of Platonic philosophy should be rather conducted into dark and thorny thickets for the refreshment of a very few men, than left to flow in open meadow-land, where it would be impossible to keep it clear and pure from the inroads of the vulgar herd. I use the word herd advisedly; for what is more brutish than the opinion that the soul is material? For defence against the men who held this, it appears to me that such an art and method of concealing the truth3    We follow the reading “tegendi veri.” was wisely contrived by the new Academy. But in this age of ours, when we see none who are philosophers,—for I do not consider those who merely wear the cloak of a philosopher to be worthy of that venerable name,—it seems to me that men (those, at least, whom the teaching of the Academicians has, through the subtlety of the terms in which it was expressed, deterred from attempting to understand its actual meaning) should be brought back to the hope of discovering the truth, lest that which was then for the time useful in eradicating obstinate error, should begin now to hinder the casting in of the seeds of true knowledge.

2. In that age the studies of contending schools of philosophers were pursued with such ardour, that the one thing to be feared was the possibility of error being approved. For every one who had been driven by the arguments of the sceptical philosophers from a position which he had supposed to be impregnable, set himself to seek some other in its stead, with a perseverance and caution corresponding to the greater industry which was characteristic of the men of that time, and the strength of the persuasion then prevailing, that truth, though deep and hard to be deciphered, does lie hidden in the nature of things and of the human mind. Now, however, such is the indisposition to strenuous exertion, and the indifference to the liberal arts, that so soon as it is noised abroad that, in the opinion of the most acute philosophers, truth is unattainable, men send their minds to sleep, and cover them up for ever. For they presume not, forsooth, to imagine themselves to be so superior in discernment to those great men, that they shall find out what, during his singularly long life, Carneades,4    [Carneades of Cyrene (B.C. 214–129), the founder of the third Academic school, who came to Rome B.C. 155, went further in the direction of scepticism than Arcesilas, and taught that certain knowledge was impossible. See Ueberweg, History of Philosophy, i. 133, 136 (transl. of Morris).—P. S.] with all his diligence, talents, and leisure, besides his extensive and varied learning, failed to discover. And if, contending somewhat against indolence, they rouse themselves so far as to read those books in which it is, as it were, proved that the perception of truth is denied to man, they relapse into lethargy so profound, that not even by the heavenly trumpet can they be aroused.

3. Wherefore, although I accept with the greatest pleasure your candid estimate of my brief treatise, and esteem you so much as to rely not less on the sagacity of your judgment than on the sincerity of your friendship, I beg you to give more particular attention to one point, and to write me again concerning it,—namely, whether you approve of that which, in the end of the third book,5    Augustin’s work, De Academicis, b. iii. c. 20. I have given as my opinion, in a tone perhaps of hesitation rather than of certainty, but in statements, as I think, more likely to be found useful than to be rejected as incredible. But whatever be the value of those treatises [the books against the Academicians], what I most rejoice in is, not that I have vanquished the Academicians, as you express it (using the language rather of friendly partiality than of truth), but that I have broken and cast away from me the odious bonds by which I was kept back from the nourishing breasts of philosophy, through despair of attaining that truth which is the food of the soul.

S. AURELII AUGUSTINI HIPPONENSIS EPISCOPI EPISTOLAE SECUNDUM ORDINEM TEMPORUM NUNC PRIMUM DISPOSITAE, ET QUATUOR IN CLASSES DIGESTAE

Classis I continet epistolas quas scripsit nondum episcopus, ab anno Christi videlicet 386 ad 395.---II, quas episcopus ante collationem Carthaginensem cum Donatistis habitam, et ante detectam in Africa Pelagii haeresim scripsit, ab anno 396 ad 410.---III, quas scripsit reliquo vitae tempore, ab anno 411 ad 430.---IV, nonnullas ipso etiam episcopo scriptas complectitur, quarum tempus minus compertum.

PRIMA CLASSIS.

EPISTOLA PRIMA . Consilium aperit Augustinus suorum librorum de Academicis, et Hermogenianum sententiam rogat de eo quod sub finem tertii libri de iisdem philosophis pro nuntiavit.

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HERMOGENIANO AUGUSTINUS.

1. Academicos ego, ne inter jocandum quidem, unquam lacessere auderem: quando enim me tantorum virorum non moveret auctoritas, nisi eos putarem longe in alia, quam vulgo creditum est, fuisse sententia? Quare potius eos imitatus sum quantum valui, quam expugnavi, quod omnino non valeo. Videtur enim mihi satis congruisse temporibus, ut si quid sincerum de fonte Platonico flueret, inter umbrosa et spinosa dumeta potius in pastionem paucissimorum hominum duceretur, quam per aperta manans, irruentibus passim pecoribus, nullo modo posset liquidum purumque servari. Quid enim convenientius pecori est, quam putari animam corpus esse? Contra hujusmodi homines opinor ego illam utiliter excogitatam Dei veri artem atque rationem. Hoc autem saeculo cum jam nullos videamus philosophos, nisi forte amiculo corporis, quos quidem haud censuerim dignos tam venerabili nomine, reducendi mihi videntur homines (si quos Academicorum per verborum ingenium a rerum comprehensione deterruit sententia ) in spem reperiendae veritatis: ne id quod 0062 eradicandis altissimis erroribus pro tempore accommodatum fuit, jam incipiat inserendae scientiae impedimento esse.

2. Tantum enim tunc variarum sectarum studia flagrabant, ut nihil metuendum esset nisi falsi approbatio. Pulsus autem quisque illis argumentis ab eo quod se firmum et inconcussum tenere crediderat, tanto constantius atque cautius aliud quaerebat, quanto et in moribus major erat industria, et in natura rerum atque animorum altissima et implicitissima latere veritas sentiebatur. Tanta porro nunc fuga laboris et incuria bonarum artium, ut simul atque sonuerit, acutissimis philosophis esse visum nihil posse comprehendi, dimittant mentes et in aeternum obducant. Non enim audent vivaciores se illis credere, ut sibi appareat quod tanto studio, ingenio, otio, tam denique multa multiplicique doctrina, postremo vita etiam longissima Carneades invenire non potuit. Si vero etiam aliquantum obnitentes adversus pigritiam, legerint eosdem libros, quibus quasi ostenditur naturae humanae denegata perceptio; tanto torpore indormiscunt, ut nec coelesti tuba evigilent.

3. Quamobrem cum gratissimum habeam fidele judicium tuum de libellis meis, tantumque in te momenti ponam, ut nec error in tuam prudentiam, nec in amicitiam simulatio cadere possit, illud magis peto diligentius consideres, mihique rescribas utrum approbes quod in extremo tertii libri suspiciosius fortasse quam certius, utilius tamen, ut arbitror, quam incredibilius putavi credendum. Equidem quoquo modo se habeant illae litterae, non tam me delectat quod, ut scribis, Academicos vicerim (scribis enim hoc amantius forte quam verius), quam quod mihi abruperim odiosissimum retinaculum, quo ab philosophiae 0063 ubere desperatione veri, quod est animi pabulum, refrenabar.