2. Rom. xiii. 1-8.
258 ST. AUGUSTINE may so live as not to fall into eternal death from which they can never be freed.
There is good, then, in your severity which works to secure our tranquility, and there is good in our intercession which works to restrain your severity. Do not be displeased at being petitioned by the good, because the good are not displeased that you are feared by the wicked. Even the Apostle Paul used fear to check the evil deeds of men, fear not only of the judgment to come but even of your present instruments of torture, asserting that they form part of the plan of divine providence, when he said: "Let every soul be subject to higher powers, for there is no power but from God; and those that are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist, purchase to themselves damnation: for princes are not a terror to the good work but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise for the same; for he is God's minister to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, fear, for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil. Wherefore be subject of necessity, not only for wrath but also for conscience sake. For therefore also you pay tribute, for they are the ministers of God, serving unto this purpose. Render therefore to all men their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Owe no man anything but to love one another." ^ These words of the Apostle show the usefulness of your severity. Thus, as those who fear are ordered to render love to those who cause
2. Rom. xiii. 1-8.
POLITICAL WRITINGS 259 them fear, so those who cause fear are ordered to render love to those who fear. Let nothing be done through desire of hurting, but all through love of helping, and nothing will be done cruelly, inhumanly. Thus, the sentence of the judge will be feared, but not so as to cause the religious motive of the intercessor to be scorned, because it is only by yielding and pardoning that the good effect of amending a man's life is produced. But, if perversity and impiety are so great that neither punishment nor pardon can avail to correct them, it is still true that, whether severity or leniency is shown, the obligation of charity is fulfilled by the good through their intention and upright conscience which God beholds.
In the following part of your letter where you say: "But now human behavior has come to this pass that men wish to have the punishment of their crime remitted and at the same time to keep the profit which they gained by their evil deeds," you are speaking of the lowest kind of men, who are absolutely unable to be helped by the remedy of repentance. If the offence committed has involved theft, and restitution is not made, although it is possible to make it, there is no repentance but only pretense. If, however, there is true repentance, the sin will not be forgiven unless there is restitution of stolen goods, but, as I said, where restitution is possible. Often, however, the thief dissipates the goods either by connivance with other offenders or by living an evil fife himself, and has nothing left with which to make restitution. To him we certainly cannot say: "Pay back what you took," unless we believe that he has it and denies it. But in the case where he suffers some physical punishment at the hands of the offended party, because
260 ST. AUGUSTINB it is believed that he has the means of paying back, he is free of guilt, because, even if he has no means of paying back what he took, he pays the penalty of the sin by which he wrongfully stole tiirough the corporal pains applied to make him pay back.
It is not an uncivilized thing to intercede for such persons, as one does for those convicted of crimes, since it is not done to save them entirely from making restitution, but so that man may not show cruelty to man, especially the one who has already been given satisfaction for the guilty act, but still wants his money and fears to be cheated of it, without seeking to be avenged. Finally, in such cases, if we can convince the injured party that those for whom we intercede do not possess what is demanded, there is a cessation of their importunity on us. Sometimes, indeed, merciful men, in a state of real doubt, are not willing to inflict certain punishment for the sake of uncertain money. This is the mercy which it befits us to challenge and exhort them to show, for it is better for you to lose the money if he has it than to torture or kill him if he does not have it. In this case it is more effective to intercede with creditors than with judges, because the judge who has the power to enforce restitution and does not do it might seem to be a party to the theft, although in using force he must display a regard for honesty without losing human feeling.
This, indeed, I would say with complete assurance, that the one who intercedes for a man to save him from restoring his ill-gotten goods and who fails, when someone has fled to him for refuge, to force him to make restitution as far as he honestly can, is a party to the theft and the guilt. It would be more merciful for us to withhold our
POLITICAL WRITINGS 261 succor from such men than to offer it to them, for he does not succor who helps someone to sin when he should hinder him and turn him away from it. But can we or ought we for that reason either extort the money from them or hand them over to another's extortion? We act within the limits of our episcopal jurisdiction, threatening them sometimes with human, but especially and always with divine judgment. In the case of those who refuse to make restitution, of whom we know that they have stolen and have the means to pay, we rebuke and reproach them, showing our detestation of them, some in private, some pubUcly, according as the diversity of characters shows the possibility of reforming them. Yet, in this we avoid rousing them to greater madness; sometimes, if an aggravation of the fault to be cured is not feared, we even cut them off from Communion at the holy altar.
Indeed, it often happens that they deceive us either by saying that they have not stolen or by insisting that they have no means of making restitution, but often, too, you are deceived by thinking either that we do not make them pay back or that they have the means of paying back. AU or almost all of us men love to call or consider our suspicions knowledge, since we are influenced by the credible evidence of circumstances; yet some credible things are false, just as some incredible ones are true. Therefore, mentioning some who "wish to have the punishment of their crime remitted and at the same time to keep the profit which they gained by their evil deeds," you added something else when you said: "Your priestly office thinks that intercession should be made for these, also." It is possible that you might know