Letters of St. Augustin 116
116 To Generosus PL 33, 430
(Enclosed in the Foregoing Letter.)
To Generosus, My Noble and Justly Distinguished Lord, My Honoured and Much-Loved Son, Augustin 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.
Domino eximio et merito insigni, honorabiliterque charissimo filio GENEROSO, AUGUSTINUS, in Domino salutem.
Laus et praedicatio administrationis tuae et fama praeclara cum me pro dilectione quam tuis meritis benevolentiaeque debemus, plurimum delectaret, nunquam 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 judicem decet, eo circa nos animo, de quo in nomine Christi utique fuerat praesumendum.