Letter XV.
(a.d. 390.)
To Romanianus Augustin Sends
Greeting.
1. This letter indicates a scarcity of
paper, but not so
as to testify that parchment is plentiful here. My ivory tablets I
used in the letter which I sent to your uncle. You will more
readily excuse this scrap of parchment, because what I wrote to him
could not be delayed, and I thought that not to write to you for
want of better material would be most absurd. But if any tablets of
mine are with you, I request you to send them to meet a case of
this kind. I have written something, as the Lord has deigned to
enable me, concerning the Catholic religion, which before my coming
I wish to send to you, if my paper does not fail me in the
meantime. For you will receive with indulgence any kind of writing
from the office of the brethren who are with me. As to the
manuscripts of which you speak, I have entirely forgotten them, except the books de Oratore; but I could not have written anything better than that you should take such of them as you please, and I am still of the same mind; for at this distance I know not what else I can do in the matter.
2. It gave me very great pleasure that in your last letter you desired to
make me a sharer of your joy at home; but
“Wouldst thou have me forget how soon the
deep,
So tranquil now, may wear another face,
And rouse these slumbering waves?”
Yet I know you would not have me forget this, nor are you
yourself unmindful of it. Wherefore, if some leisure is granted you
for more profound meditation, improve this divine blessing. For
when these things fall to our lot, we should not only congratulate
ourselves, but show our gratitude to those to whom we owe them; for
if in the stewardship of temporal blessings we act in a manner that
is just and kind, and with the moderation and sobriety of spirit
which befits the transient nature of these possessions,—if they
are held by us without laying hold on us, are multiplied without
entangling us, and serve us without bringing us into bondage, such
conduct entitles us to the recompense of eternal blessings. For by
Him who is the Truth it was said: “If ye have not been faithful
in that which is another man’s, who will give you that which is
your own?” Let us therefore disengage ourselves from care about
the passing things of time; let us seek the blessings that are
imperishable and sure; let us soar above our worldly possessions. The bee does not the less need its wings when it has gathered an abundant store; for if it sink in the honey it dies.