The Essential Augustine
are usually disturbed after the death of their bishops by ambitious and quarrelsome men. Because I have frequently observed this and been saddened by it, I must insofar as I can make arrangements in advance so that it may not happen in this City....So, lest anyone complain about me, I bring to the attention of all of you my wishes, which I also believe to be the will of God: I wish the priest Eraclius to be my successor. ...
He will remain a priest as he is, until God wills him 5. to be your bishop. But I shall, with the merciful help of Christ, start now to do what I have not done up to the present. You all know what I have wanted to do for several years and what you did not allow me to do. It was agreed between you and me that no one would bother me for five days of the week, in view of the Scriptural studies which my brethren and fellow bishops at the two Councils of Numidia and Carthage saw fit to impose on me. The arrangements were recorded, the agreement was made, you shouted your approval. Your agreement and your shouts of approval were repeated orally. For a short time, the agreement in regard to me was observed, and then it was rudely broken: I am not allowed time to do what I wish. I am involved in men's problems both before and after noon. I beseech you and adjure you through Christ to allow me to shift the burden of my regular affairs to this young man, the priest Eraclius, whom today in the name of Christ I designate as my successor....
For your charity and benevolence, I give thanks be6. fore the Lord, our God; or rather, I thank God for them. And so, brethren, whatever matters you are accustomed to bring before me, present them to him. When he needs my advice, I shall not refuse my help: far be it from me to withdraw completely. Nevertheless, whatever problem you used to set before me, bring it to him. Let him consult me, if by chance he cannot discern what ought to be done; or he may seek me out as a helper, when he had previously known me as a father. In this way, you will not be deprived of anything, and I will for a while (however much more time God grants me in this life) devote myself not to idleness or retirement but to Holy Scripture as He permits and endows me. This may work to His advantage and also, through Him, to yours. Let no one envy me my retirement, since my retirement involves a great deal of work.
AUGUSTINE ON HIS OWN WRITINGS*
For some time, I have been thinking over and conZ. sidering the task which I am now beginning with the help of God.... For I do not feel that I should put off reviewing with judicial severity my works, whether in the form of books, letters or treatises, and noting like a censor anything that displeases me. For, except for an imprudent person, no one will dare to criticize me because I am criticizing my own errors. However, if he says that I should not have uttered things that would later displease me, he is right and in agreement with me. In fact, he is criticizing the same things that I do, for I would not have to criticize them, if I had written what I ought.
However, let each person interpret what I am doing, oe as he wills. For myself, the Apostle's view of this matter merits attention, where he says, "If we judged ourselves, we might not be judged by God." {I Cor. 11:31] There is also the text, "In the multitude 'of words, you will not escape sin." [Prov. 10:19] which frightens me a good deal. Not because I have written much, or because many things that I have said have been copied down even though I did not dictate them (far be it from me to regard as verbosity what has to be said, even though the result is a large and prolix quantity of words), yet I cringe from this text of Scripture because there is no doubt that from many of my discussions a good many things could be gathered which, if not false, might definitely appear, or even might be proved, unnecessary. What one of the faithful did not Christ frighten, when He said, "For every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account on the day of judgment." [Matt. 12:36] Hence, on this point the Apostle James said, "Let every man be swift to hear but slow to speak"; [Jas. 1:19] and elsewhere he said, "Be ye not many masters, my brethren, knowing that you receive the greater judgment. All of us offend in many things. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man." {Jas. 3:1ff] As for myself, I do not now lay claim to such perfection, even now that I am elderly; how much less, when I began as a young man to write or speak to the
*Retractations, Prologue, I, 1-3; trans. V.J.B.