Chapter 84.—183. Petilianus said: "But if authority had been given by some law for persons to be compelled to what is good, you yourselves, unhappy men, ought to have been compelled by us to embrace the purest faith. But far be it, far be it from our conscience to compel any one to embrace our faith."
184. Augustin answered: No one is indeed to be compelled to embrace the faith against his will; but by the severity, or one might rather say, by the mercy of God, it is common for treachery to be chastised with the scourge of tribulation. Is it the case, because the best morals are chosen by freedom of will, that therefore the worst morals are not punished by integrity of law? But yet discipline to punish an evil manner of living is
out of the question, except where principles of good living which had been learned have come to be despised. If any laws, therefore, have been enacted against you, you are not thereby forced to do well, but are only prevented from doing ill.2193
| 2193 See below, 95, 217, and c. Gaudentium, I. 25, 28 sqq.
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For no one can do well unless he has deliberately chosen, and unless he has
loved what is in free will; but the
fear of
punishment, even if it does not share in the
pleasures of a good conscience, at any rate keeps the
evil desire from escaping beyond the bounds of thought. Who are they, however, that have enacted adverse
laws by which your audacity could be repressed? Are they not those of whom the
apostle says that "they bear not the
sword in
vain; for they are the
ministers of
God, revengers to
execute wrath upon them that do
evil?"
2194
The whole
question therefore is, whether you are not doing
ill, who are charged by the whole
world with the
sacrilege of so great a
schism. And yet, neglecting the discussion of this
question, you talk on irrelevant matters; and while you
live as robbers, you
boast that you
die as martyrs.
2195
| 2195 Augustin speaks of the Moor Rogatus, bishop of Cartenna in ecclesiastical province of Mauritania Cæsariensis in his ninety-third epistle, to Vincentius, c. iii. 11. We learn from the eighty-seventh epistle, to Emeritus, sec. 10, that the followers of Rogatus called the other Donatists Firmiani, because they had been subjected to much cruelty at their hands under the authority of Firmus.
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And, through
fear either of the
laws themselves, or of the odium which you might incur, or else because you are unequal to the task of resisting, I do not say so many men, but so many Catholic
nations, you even
glory in your
gentleness, that you do not compel any to join your party. According to your way of talking, the hawk, when he has been prevented by flight from carrying off the
fowls, might call himself a
dove. For when have you ever had the
power without using
it? And hence you show how you would do more if you only could. When Julian, envying the
peace of
Christ, restored to you the
churches which belonged to
unity, who could tell of all the massacres which were
committed by you, when the very
devils rejoiced with you at the opening of their
temples? In the
war with Firmus and his party, let Mauritania Cæsariensis itself be asked to tell us what the Moor Rogatus
2196
suffered at your
hands. In the time of Gildo, because one of your colleagues
2197
| 2197 Optatus of Thaumugade (Thamogade), the friend of Gildo.
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was his intimate
friend, let the followers of Maximianus be our witnesses to their sufferings. For if one might appeal to Felicianus himself, who is now with you, on his
oath, whether Optatus did not compel him against his will to return to your
communion, he would not
dare to open his
lips, especially if the people of Musti could behold his face, who were witnesses to everything that was done. But let them, as I have said, be witnesses to what they have
suffered at the
hands of those with whom they acted in such
wise towards Rogatus. The Catholic
Church herself, though strengthened by the assistance of Catholic
princes ruling by
land and
sea, was savagely attacked by hostile troops in arms under Optatus. It was this that first made it necessary to urge before the vicar Seranus that the
law should be put in force against you which imposes a fine of ten pounds of
gold, which none of you have ever paid to this very day, and yet you charge us with
cruelty. But
where could you find a milder course of proceeding, than that
crimes of such magnitude on your part should be
punished by the imposition of a pecuniary fine? Or who could enumerate all the
deeds which you
commit in the places which you hold, of your own sovereign will and
pleasure, each one as he can, without any
friendship on the part of judges or any others in
authority? Who is there of our party, among the
inhabitants of our
towns, who has not either
learned something of this sort from
those who came before him, or experienced it for himself? Is it not the case that at Hippo, where I am, there are not wanting some who remember that your
leader Faustinus gave orders, in the time of his
supreme power, in consequence of the scanty numbers of the Catholics in the place, that no one should bake their
bread for them, insomuch that a baker, who was the tenant of one of our
deacons, threw away the
bread of his landlord unbaked, and though he was not sentenced to exile under any
law,
he
cut him off from all share in the necessaries of
life not only in a
Roman state,
2198
| 2198 Augustin mentions again in his thirty-fifth epistle, to Eusebius, sec. 3, that Hippo had received the Roman citizenship. His argument is that, even if not a native of the place, the deacon should have been safe from molestation wherever Roman laws prevailed.
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but even in his own
country, and not only in his own
country, but in his own
house? Why, even lately, as I myself recall with mourning to this day, did not Crispinus of Calama, one of your party, having
bought a property, and that only copy-hold,
2199
| 2199 Emphyteuticam. The land, therefore, was held under the emperors, and less absolutely in the power of the owner than if it had been freehold.
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boldly and unhesitatingly immerse in the waters of a second
baptism no less than eighty
souls, murmuring with
miserable groans under the sole influence of
terror; and this in a
farm belonging to the Catholic
emperors, by whose
laws you were forbidden even to be in any
Roman city?
2200
| 2200 Augustin remonstrates with Crispinus on the point, Epist. lxvi.
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But what else was it,
save such
deeds as these of yours, that made it necessary for the very
laws to be passed of which you complain? The
laws, indeed, are very
far from being proportionate to your offenses; but, such as they are, you may thank yourselves for their existence. Indeed, should we not certainly be driven on all sides from the
country by the furious attacks of your Circumcelliones, who
fight under your command in furious troops, unless we held you as
hostages in the
towns, who might well be
unwilling to
endure under any circumstances the mere
gaze of the people, and the censure of all
honorable men. from very
shame, if not from
fear? Do not therefore say, "
Far be it,
far be it from our conscience, to force any one to embrace our faith." For you do it when you can; and when you do not do it, it is because you are unable, either from fear of the laws or the odium which would accompany it, or because of the numbers of those who would
resist.
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