Tractates on the Gospel of John (continued)
160 ST. AUGUSTINE blances of honor for themselves that they may in this way deceive those who follow Christ. To such an extent, my brothers, that they themselves, who seduce through amulets, through enchantments, and through the artifices of the enemy, mingle the name of Christ in their enchantments; because they are no longer able to seduce Christians so that they may give their poisons, they add some honey so that what is bitter may lie hidden in that which is sweet and may be drunk to ruin. To such an extent that I know that at one time the priest of that
used to say, "Even Pilleatus himself is a Christian." Why is this, brothers, except that Christians cannot otherwise be seduced?
7. Seek not, then, for Christ elsewhere than where Christ wanted himself to be preached to you, and in the way that he wanted to be preached to you; thus hold him fast, thus write him in your heart. He is a wall against all onslaughts and against all deceits of the enemy. Do not fear, for he does not tempt unless he has been allowed.
(2) It is a fact that he can do nothing if he has not been allowed or sent. He is sent as an evil angel by the power who rules him; he is allowed when he seeks something. And this does not happen, brothers, except that the just may be tested and the unjust punished. What then do you fear? Walk in the Lord, your God. Be assured; you will not suffer what he does not wish you to suffer. What he allows you to suffer is the scourge of the corrector, not the punishment of the condemner. We are being instructed for an eternal inheritance, and we disdain to be scourged!
(3) My brothers, if any boy were to refuse to be beaten by
23. To one classically educated this immediately recalls Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 1.935-942; but Berrouard, Homelies I -XVI, 418-419, properly points out that the metaphor had become so commonplace by the time of Augustine that, given the difference in contexts, it probably does not show any Lucretian influence. One should keep in mind, however, that Augustine does frequently mention the Epicureans in his writings, and, while his knowledge perhaps comes primarily from Cicero, it seems clear from H. Hagendahl, Augustine and the Latin Classics (Stockholm, 1967), 211-212, 382-383, 692, that Augustine had direct knowledge of Lucretius. 24. See note 18.