Letter 116: Although the praises and favourable report of your administration and your own illustrious good name always give me the greatest pleasure because of the love which we feel due to your merit and to your benevolence, on no occasion have I hitherto been burdensome to your Excellency as an intercessor requesting any favour from you, my much-loved lo...

1. The praise and renown of your administration and your splendid reputation have always given me the greatest delight — both on account of the affection we owe to your personal merits and your goodwill toward us — and yet never until now has my intercession burdened your Excellency with a request for any favor, my most beloved lord and venerable son. But now, when your Eminence has learned from the letters I have sent to my venerable brother and fellow bishop Fortunatus [context: bishop of a neighboring North African see] what has occurred in the city where I serve the Church of God, your generosity will perceive by what necessity I have been compelled to thrust my petition upon your busy affairs. And assuredly you will act as befits not merely an upright judge, but a Christian one — with that spirit toward us which, in the name of Christ, we had every reason to presume upon.

Letter 116 (A.D. 410) Enclosed in the Foregoing Letter. To Generosus, My Noble and Justly Distinguished Lord, My Honoured and Much-Loved Son, Augustine Sends Greeting in the Lord. Although the praises and favourable report of your administration and your own illustrious good name always give me the greatest pleasure because of the love which we feel due to your merit and to your benevolence, on no occasion have I hitherto been burdensome to your Excellency as an intercessor requesting any favour from you, my much-loved lord and justly-honoured son. When, however, your Excellency has learned from the letters which I have sent to my venerable brother and colleague, Fortunatus, what has occurred in the town in which I serve the Church of God, your kind heart will at once perceive the necessity under which I have been constrained to trespass by this petition on your time, already fully occupied. I am perfectly assured that, cherishing towards us the feeling which, in the name of Christ, we are fully warranted to expect, you will act in this matter as becomes not only an upright, but also a Christian magistrate.

EPISTOLA 116 Scripta una cum superiore. A. Generoso, Numidiae consulari, commendans causam Faventii. DOMINO EXIMIO ET MERITO INSIGNI, HONORABILITERQUE CARISSIMO FILIO GENEROSO, AUGUSTINUS, IN DOMINO SALUTEM. 1. Laus et praedicatio administrationis tuae et fama praeclara cum me pro dilectione quam tuis meritis benevolentiaeque debemus, plurimum delectaret, numquam adhuc in aliquo beneficio postulando Eximietati tuae mea intercessio extitit onerosa, domine dilectissime et venerabilis fili. Sed nunc quid in civitate in qua Ecclesiae Dei servio, factum sit, cum ex litteris quas ad venerabilem fratrem et coepiscopum meum Fortunatum dedi, cognoverit Praestantia tua qua fuerim necessitate compulsus ut petitionem meam ingererem occupationibus tuis, tua benignitas pervidebit. Et profecto facies quod non solum integrum, verum etiam christianum iudicem decet, eo circa nos animo, de quo in nomine Christi utique fuerat praesumendum.