These things I have set forth, which belong to our belief and which by you can be confirmed in this our profession, yet in such a way that the authority of the Christian faith is not lacking. And because in no way can I show that I believe rightly, unless I have confirmed that same faith by the authority of the Scriptures, this then is what I have intimated, what I have said. Either, if evils came into the world with God as their author, deign to say this yourself; or, if it is rightly believed that evils are not from God, the contemplation of things present ought also to pursue this and take it up. I spoke of substances, not of the sin which is at work within us. For if what we think of doing—the transgressions—had no origin, we would not be compelled to come to sin or to transgression.
For because we sin unwillingly and are compelled by a substance contrary and hostile to us, therefore we follow the knowledge of things. When the soul has been admonished by this knowledge and restored to its former memory, it will recognize whence it draws its origin, in what evil it is engaged, and by what goods, amending again what it sinned unwillingly, it may—through the amendment of its transgressions, by the grace of good works—establish for itself the merit of reconciliation with God, God our Saviour being the author, who teaches us both to practice good and to flee evil. For it is set before us that it is not by any contrary nature, but of his own accord, that a man either serves righteousness or makes himself liable to sins—there being no contrary race present, if the soul dwells alone, set within the body.
To which God, as you say, gave free will—it would be without sin, nor would it make itself liable to sins. AUGUSTINE said: I say that there is no sin if one does not sin by one's own will; and hence too there is reward, because by our own will we do right things. Or if he who sins unwillingly deserves punishment, then he too who does good unwillingly ought to deserve reward. But who is there who would doubt that no reward is conferred except upon him who has done something with a good will? From which we understand that punishment too is inflicted upon him who has done something with an evil will. But since you recall me to the prior natures and substances, my faith is that Almighty God—and this is above all to be observed and fixed in the mind—that Almighty God, just and good, made good things; but those things,
things which were made by him cannot be such as he is who made them. For it is unjust and foolish to believe that the works are equal to the craftsman, and the things founded equal to their founder. Wherefore, if it is a pious faith that God made all good things, than which nevertheless he himself is far more excellent and by far more surpassing, the origin and head of evil is in sin, just as the Apostle said: the root of all evils is covetousness, which some following have made shipwreck of the faith and have entangled themselves in many sorrows. For if you seek the root of all evils, you have the Apostle saying that the root of all evils is covetousness. The root of a root I cannot seek;
or if there is some other evil whose root is not covetousness, then covetousness will not be the root of all evils. But if it is true that the root of all evils is covetousness, in vain do we seek some other kind of evil. Now that contrary nature of yours which you bring in—since I have already answered your objections, I beg that you too deign to tell me—if that contrary nature is the whole of evil, and there can be no sin except from it, then it alone ought to deserve punishment, not the soul, from which the sin does not come. But if you say that it alone deserves punishment and the soul does not, I ask: to whom has penitence been given, which has been commanded to repent? If the soul has been commanded to repent, then from it the sin came, and it sinned by its own will.
For if the soul is compelled to do evil, and it is not the one that did the evil, is it not foolish and full of madness that the race of darkness should have sinned and I should repent of the sins? Is it not full of madness that the race of darkness should have sinned and to me should be given the pardon of sins? For how, according to your faith, can I say: What have I done? What have I committed? With you I was, whole I was, defiled by no stain I was; you sent me hither, you suffered necessity, you took precaution for your kingdoms, when a great stain and devastation threatened them. Since, therefore, you knew the necessity by which I have been oppressed here, by which I could not breathe, which I could not resist—why do you accuse me as though I were sinning? Or why do you promise the pardon of sins?
To this answer without evasions, if it please you, just as I answered you without evasions. FORTUNATUS said: This is what we say, that the soul is compelled by a contrary nature to transgress; of which you refuse to allow that there is a root, except only in this, that the evil which is at work within us—whereas it is agreed that, apart from our bodies, evils are at work in the whole world. Not those things which we have in our bodies alone, but those which are at work in the whole world and pass under the names of goods, have an evil root. For your worthiness said that this is the root of evils, covetousness, which is at work in our bodies; whereas, since covetousness for evil is not from our bodies, it is at work in the whole world from that primal contrary nature.
For the Apostle named covetousness to be the root of evils, not one single evil—the covetousness which you called the root of all evils. But covetousness is not understood in one manner only—the covetousness which you called the root of all evils—as though it were at work only in our hearts; whereas it is agreed that this evil which is at work in us descends from an evil author, and that this root which you say it is, is a little portion of evil, so that it is not the root itself, but is a little portion of evil—of that evil which is everywhere at work. This root and evil tree our Lord called one that never brings forth good fruits, which his Father did not plant, and which deservedly is to be uprooted and cast into the fire. For as to your saying that sin ought to be imputed to the contrary nature—that nature is the nature of evil;
and this is the sin of the soul, if, after the admonition of our Saviour and his sound doctrine, the soul separates itself from the contrary and hostile stock, and adorning itself with purer things; otherwise it cannot be restored to its own substance. For it has been said: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now, because I have come and spoken, and they refused to believe me, they shall not have pardon of sin. Whence it is plain that penitence is rightly given after the coming of the Saviour and after this knowledge of things, by which the soul, washed as it were in a divine fountain from the filth and vices both of the whole world and of the bodies in which that same soul dwells, may be presented again in the kingdom of God, whence it came forth.
For it has been said by the Apostle that the prudence of the flesh is hostile to God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. It is plain, therefore, from these things, that the soul seems to sin by the operation of that which is not subject to the law of God, not of its own accord. For likewise it follows that the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, so that you do not do whatever things you will. He says again: I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and leading me captive into the law of sin and death. Wretched man that I am, therefore, who shall deliver me from the body of this death, except the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world? AUGUSTINE said:
I acknowledge and embrace the testimonies of the divine Scriptures. And in what manner they agree with my faith, as God will deign to grant, I will expound in few words. I say that there was free choice of the will in that man who was first formed. He was so made that nothing at all would resist his will, if he willed to keep God's precepts. But after he himself sinned by free will, we who descend from his stock have been cast headlong into necessity. Now each one of us can, by moderate consideration, find that what I say is true. For today, in our actions, before we are entangled by any habit, we have free choice to do something or not to do it.
But when by this liberty we have done something, and the pernicious sweetness and pleasure of the deed itself has held the soul fast, by that same habit of its own it is so entangled that afterward it cannot conquer what by sinning it has fashioned for itself. We see many who are unwilling to swear, but because habit has already taken hold of the tongue, they cannot restrain it, since those things go forth from their mouth which we cannot say do not belong to the stock of evil. For—to deal with you in these words, which would that they might be understood in the heart as truly as they never depart from your mouth—you swear by the Paraclete. If, then, you wish to prove that what I say is true, resolve not to swear, and you will see that habit carried whither it is wont. And this is what fights against the soul.
A habit formed together with the flesh—this indeed is the prudence of the flesh, which, so long as it is such, cannot be made subject to the law of God, so long as it is the prudence of the flesh; but when the soul is enlightened, it ceases to be that prudence of the flesh. For it was said that the prudence of the flesh cannot be subject to the law of God, in the same way as if it were said that icy snow cannot be hot. For in no way, so long as it is snow, can it be hot.
But just as that snow is dissolved by heat and ceases to be snow, so that it can grow warm, even so that prudence of the flesh, that is, the habit formed together with the flesh—when our mind has been enlightened and God has subjected the whole man to himself according to the arbitration of the divine law—in place of that evil habit of the soul makes a good habit. Whence those two trees, the good tree and the bad tree, which you have mentioned, it was most truly said by the Lord that they have their own fruits, that is, that neither can the good give evil fruits nor the bad give good ones, but rather evil fruits so long as it is bad. Let us take two men: a good man and a bad man. So long as he is good, he cannot give bad fruits; so long as he is bad, he cannot give good fruits.
But that you may understand that these two trees were so set forth by the Lord that free will might there be signified—that these two trees are not natures, but our wills—he himself says in the Gospel: Either make the tree good, or make the tree bad. Who is there that can make a nature? If, therefore, it is commanded us that we make a tree either good or bad, it is ours to choose which we wish. Concerning this sin of man, then, and concerning this habit of the soul formed together with the flesh, the Apostle says: Let no one seduce you: every creature which has been made by God is good. The same Apostle says, whom you yourself have mentioned:
As by the disobedience of one many were made sinners, so also by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous, since through a man came death, and through a man the resurrection of the dead. So long, therefore, as we bear the image of the earthly man, that is, so long as we live according to the flesh—which is also called the old man—we have the necessity of our habit, so that we do not do what we will. But when the grace of God has inspired in us divine love and has made us subject to his will, to whom it was said: You have been called into liberty, and: The grace of God has freed me from the law of sin and death—now the law of sin is that whosoever sins shall die—from this law we are freed when we have begun to be righteous.
The law of death is that by which it was said to man: You are earth, and into earth you shall go. For from him we are all born thus, because we are earth, and into earth we shall go, on account of the deserving of the sin of the first man. But on account of the grace of God, which frees us from the law of sin and death, being converted to righteousness we are set free; so that afterward this same flesh, which tortured us with punishments while we remained in sins, may be made subject to us in the resurrection and may shake us with no adversity, so as to hinder us from keeping the law and the divine precepts. Whence, since I have answered your objections, deign you to answer that which I desire: in what manner it can come to pass that, if there is a nature contrary to God, sin should be imputed to us,
we who were sent into that nature not by our own will, but by God himself, who could be harmed in nothing. FORTUNATUS said: In this manner, just as the Lord also said to his disciples: Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Hence it is to be known that not with hostile mind did our Saviour will to send his lambs, that is, his disciples, into the midst of wolves—unless there were some contrariety, which he might lay to rest in the likeness of wolves, where he had also sent his disciples, so that the souls which perchance might be deceived in the midst of wolves might be recalled to their proper substance. Hence, then, is plain the antiquity of our times, which we recall, and of our years before the constitution of the world, that in this way souls were sent against the contrary nature,
so that, subjecting that same nature by their suffering, the victory might be rendered to God. For the same Apostle said that our wrestling was not only against flesh and blood, but also against principalities and powers and the spiritual forces of wickedness and the dominion of darkness. If, then, in both places evils are at work and wickednesses are held, now there is not only evil in our bodies, but in the whole world, where souls are seen to be at work—which dwell under this heaven and are entangled. AUGUSTINE said: Our Lord sent his lambs into the midst of wolves, that is, righteous men into the midst of sinful men, for the preaching of the gospel at the time when man was assumed by the inestimable divine Wisdom, that he might call us from sin to righteousness.
But as to the Apostle's saying that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rest that have been mentioned, this signifies: that the devil and his angels, just as we too, fell and lapsed by sin, we say, and gained possession of earthly things, that is, of sinful men, who, so long as we are sinners, are under their yoke; just as, when we shall be righteous, we shall be under the yoke of righteousness; and against them we have a struggle, so that, migrating to righteousness, we may be freed from their dominion. Therefore, do you also deign to answer me briefly the one thing that I ask. Could God be harmed, or could he not? But I beg you to answer me, 'He could not.' FORTUNATUS said: He could not be harmed. AUGUSTINE said:
Why, then, did he send us hither according to your faith? FORTUNATUS said: This is my profession, that God could not be harmed and that God directed us hither. But since this is contrary to you, do you say by what reason the soul appeared here, which now our God desires to free both by commandments and by his own Son sent forth. AUGUSTINE said: Since I see that you have been unable to answer my questions, and that I wished to ask something, behold, I satisfy you—provided that you remember that you did not answer that which I asked. Why the soul is here in the world, wrapped in miseries, has been said by me not just now, but a little before, I know not how many times. The soul sinned, and therefore it is wretched. It received free will, it used free will as it willed:
it lapsed, was cast out from blessedness, entangled in miseries. To this I recited to you the testimony of the Apostle saying: As through one man death, so also through one the resurrection of the dead. What more do you seek? Whence do you answer: him who could not be harmed—why did he send us hither? FORTUNATUS said: This cause is to be sought, why the soul came hither, or why God desires to free it from here, which lives in the midst of evils. AUGUSTINE said: This cause I ask of you—that is: if God could not be harmed, why did he send us hither? FORTUNATUS said: It is asked by us, if evil cannot harm God, why the soul has been sent hither, or by what reason it has been mingled with the world—which is manifest in that which the Apostle says: Does the thing formed say to him
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quisefinxit: curmeitaformaueris? siergocausandaesthaecres, interrogandusest, quianimamdirexitnullacogentesenecessitate; siautemnecessitasfueratmittendianimam, meritoestetuoluntasliberandieam. AUG. dixit: PremiturergodeusnecessitateVFORT. dixit: Iamhocest: noliadinuidiamexcitareid, quoddictumest, quodnonnecessitatifacimussubditumessedeum, seduoluntariemisisseanimam. AUG. dixit: Recita, quodsupradictumest. (etrecitatumest: siautemnecessitasfuitmittendianimam, meritoestetuoluntasliberandieam). AUG. dixit: Audiuimus [siautemnecessitasfuitmittendianimam. meritoestetuoluntasliberandieam].
who formed it say: Why have you made me thus? If, then, this matter is to be reasoned about, he is to be interrogated who directed the soul with no necessity compelling him; but if there was a necessity of sending the soul, then rightly there is also a will to free it. AUGUSTINE said: God, then, is pressed by necessity? FORTUNATUS said: Now this is it: do not stir up to odium what has been said, for we do not make God subject to necessity, but say that he sent the soul voluntarily. AUGUSTINE said: Recite what was said above. (And it was recited: But if there was a necessity of sending the soul, then rightly there is also a will to free it.) AUGUSTINE said: We have heard: But if there was a necessity of sending the soul, then rightly there is also a will to free it.
You, then, said that there was a necessity of sending the soul. But if now you wish to say 'will,' this too I add: to him who could be harmed in nothing, it was a cruel will to send the soul to such great miseries. And because I speak for the sake of refutation, I ask pardon of the mercy of that one, in whom we have the hope of liberation from all the errors of the heretics. FORTUNATUS said: You assert that we say God is cruel by sending the soul; whereas God made man and breathed the soul into him; which soul, according to his own foreknowledge, was assuredly to be entangled and, by the benefit of evils, could not be presented to his inheritance. This is either the mark of one ignorant, or of one giving the soul over to these evils which have been mentioned above.
I mentioned this because you said—not very long ago—that God adopted the soul for himself, not that it is from him; for it is one thing to adopt. AUGUSTINE said: Concerning our adoption I remember that I spoke some days ago according to the testimony of the Apostle, who says that we have been called into the adoption of sons. That, then, was not my own, but an apostolic answer. About which matter, that is, about this adoption, let us inquire in its own time, if it please; and concerning that inbreathing I will answer, when you have answered my objections. FORTUNATUS said: I say that there was a going-forth of the soul against the contrary nature, which nature could harm God in nothing. AUGUSTINE said: What need was there of that going-forth, where God had nothing that he should beware of, who could be harmed in nothing? FORTUNATUS
said: Is it established in our conscience that Christ came from God? AUGUSTINE said: Again you question me. Answer what is asked. FORTUNATUS said: Thus I have received in faith, that by the will of God he himself came hither. AUGUSTINE said: And I say: God, almighty, inviolable, unchangeable, who can be harmed in nothing—why did he send the soul hither, to miseries, to error, to these things which we suffer? FORTUNATUS said: For it has been said: I have power to lay down my soul and power to take it up again; he did not say that the soul went forth by the will of God. AUGUSTINE said: But I seek the cause, since God can be harmed in nothing. FORTUNATUS said:
We have already said that God is harmed in nothing, and we have said that the soul is in the contrary nature, in order that it might impose a limit upon the contrary nature; and, the limit having been imposed upon the contrary nature, God takes up that same soul. For he himself said: I have power to lay down my soul and power to take it up. This power my Father gave me, to lay down my soul and to take it up. Of what soul, then, was God, who was speaking in the Son, speaking? It is agreed that it is our soul, which is held in these bodies, that came by the will of God and is again taken up by his will. AUGUSTINE said: Whence our Lord said, 'I have power to lay down my soul and I have power to take it up,' is known to all, because he was about to suffer and to rise again.
But I ask you again and again: if God could be harmed in nothing, why did he send souls hither? FORTUNATUS said: To impose a limit upon the contrary nature. AUGUSTINE said: And did the almighty God, most merciful of all, in order to impose a limit upon the contrary nature, will it therefore to be made moderate, so as to make us immoderate? FORTUNATUS said: But he recalls it to himself for this reason. AUGUSTINE said: If he recalls it to himself from immoderation, from sin, from error, from misery—what need was there for the soul to suffer such great evils for so long a time, until the world is ended, when God, by whom you say it was sent, can be harmed in nothing? FORTUNATUS said: What then shall I say? AUGUSTINE said:
I too know that you have nothing to say, and that I too, when I used to hear you people in this question, never found what I might say, and that from thence I was divinely admonished to leave that error and to convert—or rather to recall—myself to the Catholic faith, by the indulgence of him who did not permit me always to cling to this deception. But if you confess that you have nothing to answer, then, with all present hearing and acknowledging it, since they are faithful, I will, if they permit and are willing, expound the Catholic faith. FORTUNATUS said: Without prejudice to my profession let me say: those things which are objected by you, when I have reconsidered them with my elders
if they should answer this question of mine less than fully—which is likewise now offered to me by you—it will be within my contemplation (since I too desire that my soul be freed with a sure faith) to come to the investigation of this matter which is offered to me by you, and which you promise you will demonstrate. AUGUSTINE said: Thanks be to God.