Letter 266: Augustine offers Florentina help with questions while pointing her to Christ as the true teacher.

To Florentina, distinguished lady, deservedly honorable in Christ and a daughter to be welcomed: Bishop Augustine sends greetings in the Lord. Your holy purpose, and the chaste fear of the Lord that has been planted in your heart and remains forever, awaken no small care for you in us, not only in prayers before God but also in admonitions addressed to you yourself. I have done this more than once in the letters I sent to your mother, whose Reverence must be named by me with the honor I owe her. But since she was kind enough to write back that you first wanted to receive a letter from me, and that then, if perhaps you needed anything from my ministry, which I know I owe in free service to your venerable zeal and to all such people as far as I can, you would not remain silent but would make it known by writing back, here I have done what I learned you wanted, though not from you directly. I did not want to seem inhumanly to close against you the door of confidence. What remains is for you yourself to bring forward anything you think should be asked of me. Either I know what you ask, and I will not refuse it; or I do not know it in such a way that I can be ignorant of it without any loss to faith and salvation, and, if I can, I will make you secure about that by giving the reason; or, if I do not know it and yet it must be known, I will either obtain from the Lord that I not fail you, for often the duty of giving is the merit by which one receives, or I will answer you in such a way that you know at whose door we should both knock for this very thing which we both do not know. I have said this beforehand so that you will not be certain you will hear from me whatever you ask, and then, if that does not happen, judge that I acted boldly rather than prudently by giving you freedom to ask what you wish. I did this not as a perfected teacher, but as one who must be perfected along with those he teaches, distinguished lady, deservedly honorable in Christ and a daughter to be welcomed. Even in the things I know in some measure, I want you to possess knowledge more than to need mine. We ought not wish others to be ignorant so that we may teach what we know. It is much better for all of us to be teachable by God. This will be perfected in that homeland above when what is promised is fulfilled in us: that no one will say to his neighbor, "Know the Lord," for all will know him, as it is written, from the least to the greatest of them. And in teaching we must guard with the greatest care against the vice of pride, which is not present in the same way in learning. Holy Scripture warns us: "Let every person be quick to hear, but slow to speak." And the psalmist says, "You will give joy and gladness to my hearing"; and immediately adds, "and the humbled bones will rejoice." He saw that humility is most easily preserved in hearing, and is difficult in teaching, because the teacher must occupy a higher place, where it is hard to keep self-exaltation from creeping in. Do you see how those from whom this is expected run danger, that we should not only be teachers but, though human, teach divine things? Yet the one consolation of our labors and dangers is when you make such progress that you arrive where you need no human teacher at all. Not only we are in this danger; compared with the one I am about to mention, what are we? Even that Teacher of the Gentiles testifies that he was in this danger when he says, "Lest I be exalted by the greatness of my revelations, a thorn of the flesh was given to me," and so on. The Lord himself, the marvelous physician of this swelling, says, "Do not be called Rabbi by people; for one is your teacher, Christ." Holding to this, the same Teacher of the Gentiles says, "Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who gives the growth." John too remembered this; as great as he was among those born of women, he humbled himself in everything, saying that he was unworthy to carry Christ's sandals. What else did he show when he said, "The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom stands and hears him, and rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice"? This is the hearing I recalled a little earlier from the psalm: "You will give joy and gladness to my hearing, and the humbled bones will rejoice." So know that I rejoice over your faith, hope, and love more certainly, more solidly, and more healthily the less you need to learn anything not only from me, but from any human being at all. Nevertheless, when I was there, although you were shy because of your age, your good parents, who love your good studies, kindly told me how ardently you burned for true piety and wisdom, and they most kindly asked me not to deny my small labor in instructing you wherever there was need. I thought I should admonish you by this letter, according to the options described above, to ask what you wish, lest I be superfluous by trying to teach what you already know. Only hold most firmly that, even if through me you are able to learn something useful for salvation, the one who teaches you will be the inward teacher of the inner person, who shows you in your heart that what is said is true: "Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who gives the growth."

EPISTOLA 266 Scripta post a. 395. A. Florentinae, studiosae puellae, offerens suam docendi operam si proferat quid velit exponi (n. 1) simulque monens quae docendi sint pericula, quod solacium (nn. 2-3), qui sit verus mentis magister (n. 4). DOMINAE EXIMIAE, MERITOQUE HONORABILI IN CHRISTO AC SUSCIPIENDAE FILIAE FLORENTINAE, AUGUSTINUS EPISCOPUS, IN DOMINO SALUTEM. A. se offert magistrum. 1. Sanctum propositum tuum, et invisceratus cordi tuo timor Domini castus permanens in saeculum saeculi 1, curam pro te nostram non solum in precibus apud Deum, verum etiam in admonitionibus ad te ipsam non mediocriter suscitat. Quod quidem in epistolis meis, quas ad matrem Reverentiae tuae debito mihi cum honore nominandam dedi, non semel feci. Sed quia hoc mihi rescribere dignata est, prius te velle accipere litteras meas; tunc demum, si quid forte opus esset tibi ex ministerio meo, quod venerando studio tuo omniumque talium, quantum possum, libera servitute debere me novi, non te esse tacituram et rescribendo insinuaturam: ecce feci quod te voluisse, quamvis non per te, comperi; ne viderer tibi ostium fiduciae inhumaniter claudere 2: superest ut promas ipsa, si quid ex me quaerendum putas. Aut enim scio quod inquisieris, et non negabo: aut ita nescio, ut nullo fidei salutisque detrimento nesciam, et de hoc etiam teipsam, si potuero, faciam reddita ratione securam. Aut certe, si et nescio, et tamen sciendum est, vel impetrabo a Domino ne tibi desim; nam saepe officium impertiendi meritum est accipiendi: vel ita tibi respondebo, ut noveris pro hac ipsa re quam pariter nescimus, ad quem pulsare debeamus 3. In docendo vitandum superbiae vitium. 2. Haec ideo praelocutus sum, ne te pro certo speres quidquid a me quaesiveris audituram, et cum hoc non provenerit, audacter potius quam prudenter me fecisse arbitreris, quod tibi quaerendi si quid voles, facultatem dedi. Hoc enim feci non doctor perfectus, sed cum docendis perficiendus, domina eximia, meritoque honorabilis in Christo ac suscipienda filia. Equidem etiam in iis rebus quas utcumque scio, magis te cupio esse scientem, quam scientiae nostrae indigentem. Neque enim, ut quod scimus doceamus, aliorum ignorantiam optare debemus: multo quippe melius omnes sumus docibiles Deo 4; quod utique in illa superna patria, cum in nobis completum fuerit quod promissum est, perficietur, ut non dicat homo proximo suo: Cognosce Dominum: omnes enim cognoscent eum, sicut scriptum est, a minore usque ad maiorem eorum 5. Et sollicitissime cavendum est in docendo superbiae vitium, quod in discendo non ita est. Unde et sancta Scriptura nos admonet, dicens: Sit omnis homo velox ad audiendum, tardus autem ad loquendum 6: et ille in Psalmo ait: Auditui meo dabis exsultationem et laetitiam; continuoque subiecit: Et exsultabunt ossa humiliata 7. Vidit enim in audiendo facillime servari humilitatem, quae difficilis est in docendo; quoniam necesse est ut doctor habeat superiorem locum, ubi laboriosum est obtinere ne subrepat elatio. Quod sit magistri solacium. 3. Videsne quemadmodum periclitemur a quibus hoc exspectatur, ut non solum doctores simus, verum etiam cum simus homines, divina doceamus? Sed laborum periculorumque nostrorum singulare est solatium, cum ita proficitis, ut illo perveniatis ubi nullius hominis doctoris egeatis. Isto autem periculo non tantum nos; nam ad illum de quo dicturus sum, quid sumus nos? non ergo nos tantum periculo isto, sed etiam ille Doctor Gentium periclitatum se esse testatur 8, cum dicit: Ne magnitudine revelationum mearum extollar, datus est mihi stimulus carnis 9 etc. Unde et ipse Dominus, tumoris huius admirabilis medicus: Nolite, inquit, ab hominibus vocari Rabbi; unus est enim magister vester Christus 10; quod retinens idem ipse Doctor Gentium dicit: Neque qui plantat est aliquid, neque qui rigat; sed qui incrementum dat Deus 11. Hoc et ille meminit qui in natis mulierum quanto magnus erat 12, tanto se in omnibus humiliabat 13, indignum se affirmans qui Christi calceamenta portaret 14. Quid enim aliud ostendit ubi ait: Qui habet sponsam, sponsus est; amicus autem sponsi stat et audit eum, et gaudio gaudet propter vocem sponsi 15? Hic est ille auditus, de quo paulo ante commemoravi in Psalmo positum: Auditui meo dabis exsultationem et laetitiam, et exsultabunt ossa humiliata 16. Interioris hominis magister Christus. 4. Proinde tanto me certius, tanto solidius, tanto sanius gaudere scias de fide et spe et dilectione tua, quanto minus indigueris, non tantum a me quidquam discere, sed ab ullo prorsus hominum. Verumtamen, quia cum illic essem, te quidem per aetatem verecundante, boni parentes et amantissimi bonorum studiorum tuorum, quanto pietatis veraeque sapientiae ardore flagrares, mihi intimare dignati sunt, et benevolentissime petierunt ne tibi instruendae, in quo opus esset, meam operulam denegarem; admonendam te his litteris credidi, secundum supra dictas optiones, ut quaeras quod vis, ne sim superfluus, si conatus fuero docere quod scis: dum tamen firmissime teneas, quod etsi aliquid salubriter per me scire potueris, ille te docebit qui est interioris hominis magister interior, qui in corde tuo tibi ostendit verum esse quod dicitur; quia neque qui plantat est aliquid, neque qui rigat, sed qui incrementum dat Deus 17.