Learning and Praise

Hic sane cum epistolam tuam legerem, satis adverti animum cognoscere necessitatem tuam, cum ecce  mihi affers et dicis: Mores hominum non ignoratis, qui proclives sunt ad vituperandum, et quam, si  interrogatus quis non responderit, indoctus et hebes putabitur. Hoc loco vero exarsi ad rescribendum  tibi: hoc enim languore animi tui penetrasti mihi pectus, et irrupisti in curas meas, ut dissimulare non possem, quantum me Deus adiuvaret, mederi tibi; non ut de tuis quaestionibus enodandis  explicandisque cogitarem, sed ut felicitatem tuam pendentem ex linguis hominum atque nutantem a tam infelici retinaculo abrumperem, et cuidam sedi omnino inconcussae stabilique religarem. Tunc, o  Dioscore, nec Persium tuum respicis insultantem tibi contorto versiculo, sed plane puerile caput, si  sensus adsit, idoneo colapho contundentem atque coercentem: Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter? Tot, ut superius dixi, legisti dialogos, tot philosophorum altercationibus cor inseruisti. Dic mihi quis  eorum finem actionum suarum constituerit in fama vulgi, aut in lingua hominum vel bonorum atque  sapientium. Tu autem, et quod magis pudendum est, iam navigaturus, satis praeclare te in Africa  profecisse testaris, cum aliam ob causam te oneri non esse asseris negotiosissimis, et in alia longe  distantia intentis episcopis, ut tibi exponant Ciceronem, nisi quia times homines proclives ad  vituperandum, ne interrogatus ab eis, si non responderis, indoctus et hebes puteris! O rem dignam  vigiliis et lucubrationibus episcoporum! Non mihi videris aliunde dies noctesque cogitare, nisi ut in studiis tuis atque doctrina lauderis ab  hominibus. Quod etsi semper ad certa et recta tendentibus periculosum esse iudicavi, nunc tamen in te  maxime experior. Non enim aliunde quam ex eadem pernicie non vidisti qua tandem re possemus  moveri, ut tibi quod petebas daremus. Quam enim perverse tu ipse non ob aliud ad ea discenda quae  interrogas raperis, nisi ut lauderis, aut non vitupereris ab hominibus; tam perverse etiam nos putas in  tua petitione talibus causis allegatis moveri. Et utinam possemus efficere ut tu quoque tam inani atque  fallaci humanae laudis bono minime movereris, cum tibi nos indicaremus, non ad praestandum tibi  quod petis, quoniam haec de te scribis, sed ad te corrigendum moveri! Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, ex Epistola 118, Dioscoro

When I came to this in your letter, I turned eagerly to learn the nature of your necessity, and, behold, you bring it before me saying, 'You are not ignorant of the ways of men, how inclined they are to censure, and how if a man is questioned and he has no reply he will be thought uneducated and ignorant.' This truly set me on fire to reply to you, for here your weakness of soul  pierced my heart and burst into the midst of my cares, so that I could not refuse, so much as God might help me, to attend to you, not by thinking of resolutions to your knotty questions, but by cutting the rope that has your happiness hanging from the tongues of men and fastening it to a hold which is quite firm and immovable. Do you not, O Dioscorus,  remember a line your favourite Persius wove in which he mocks you, your puerile head, if you have sense to feel it, subduing and restraining, saying, 'To know is nothing to you unless another knows that you know'?1 You have, as I said, read so many dialogues, and turned your heart to the disputes of philosophers, so tell me which of them has placed the end of his actions in the applause of the vulgar, or in the opinions of men, even good and wise men? But you, and it should make you more ashamed, about to sail away, give witness enough of your having made signal  progress here in Africa, when you affirm that the only reason why you impose the task of expounding Cicero to you upon bishops, who are not free from their own affairs and engrossed with  matters of a very different nature, is that you fear that if when questioned by men prone to censure, and  you cannot answer, you will be regarded by them as uneducated and ignorant. O worthy cause to  occupy the evening studies of  bishops! You seem to me to be prompted to thinking night and day by no other motive than to be praised by men for  your studies and learning. Although I have always judged this to be dangerous to those who are striving after the true and the right, I am now by you  more convinced of the danger. For it is not from anything but this same pernicious habit that you do not see what would move us to give to you what you seek. For as by a perversity alone you are seized to acquire knowledge of the things about which you put questions, that you may be praised or avoid censure from men, you think that we by a like perversity are to be moved by the considerations announced in  your request. Would that we were able to move you from the deceitful and empty applause of men, when we declare to you that because you write such things concerning yourself  we are moved not to grant your request, but to correct you! Saint Augustine of Hippo, from Letter 118, To Dioscurus 1 Persius, Satire I, line 26