Complete Works

...so that those things falsely imposed by malevolent men might correct true errors, and that a most brilliant radiance might shine upon him as he wandered in darkness (so that he might perceive how far he had strayed from the path of truth). For previously he had been both desirous of glory and kindled by vain love, and had been moved by the allurements of women; for indeed, many women burned with love for him on account of the beauty of his body and the grace of his countenance, to which were added learning, ample riches, and nobility of birth. Not shrinking from their devotion, and having set aside for a short while the way of life, he had slipped into delights. But awakened by that aforementioned contention, he blunted his mind, which was dissolving in luxury, and turned it toward Christ. Conversion of the soul to God He exchanged feminine blandishments for the joys of the heavenly fatherland; and neglecting the breeze of glory, he began to seek with his whole mind that glory of God which he had previously affected, as well as the utility of the Church, and so to compose his character that henceforth he might be approved even by the judgment of an enemy.

And when a glorious fame concerning him began immediately to fly through both neighboring and remote lands, many of the philosophers who were considered most learned flocked to him as if to a "market of the liberal arts" (as Cicero Cicero says), either for the sake of provoking literary contests, or—in the case of those in whom there was a more upright disposition of mind—for the sake of hearing and retaining the wholesome dogmas of right living. These were sought after all the more because they flowed from a man most learned and equally most noble, who had at one time followed the devious windings of voluptuous softness. For those things seem to have the greatest weight for instilling moral discipline in the minds of listeners which are both good by their own nature and which proceed from a teacher converted to the paths of justice from the distorted and oblique path of lusts.

He had played at love in elegiac verse, which, having been drafted in five books, he committed to the flames for the sake of religion. Burnt love poems He likewise played much in Tuscan rhymes, which a similar fire consumed for a similar cause. Then, having embraced the Sacred Scriptures with most ardent zeal, immediately in the temple of God—as if offering the first-fruits of his crops—being then in his twenty-eighth year, he offered the Heptaplus concerning the works of the six days of Genesis and the day of rest. Study of letters and deeds This was indeed a work perfected by genius and elaborated by industry, most full of the sublime dogmas of the philosophers as well as the most profound mysteries of our Christian theology, and connected by a sevenfold varied narration; with the sevenfold number of chapters packed into each sevenfold exposition, it most perfectly suited the name of the book.

Yet, on account of the matters unearthed from the bosom of nature and the difficult evolutions of divine questions, as well as the most recondite meanings of the Prophet and the elegance of the discourse, it does not offer itself everywhere to those unlearned in philosophy and eloquence; rather, the use of that precious and rare furniture is prepared for few. Observing this himself, he made a not ungraceful mention of this matter at the close of his preface. When he first tasted the Sacred Scriptures, he exulted joyfully that he had found not only true wisdom, but also true eloquence. To omit many praises of the New Testament brought forward by him, he used to say that the Epistles of Paul surpassed the writings of all orators in eloquence— What the Epistles of Paul announce regarding Sacred Scripture. citing by name the lucubrations of Tully himself and of Demosthenes, the "princes of speaking" (as he says), the craftsmen of the art. He said this not because the Epistles were branded with curling irons, or packed with cosmetics and curls scraped together from everywhere, but because they smelled and tasted of true, solid eloquence, supported by true sentiments and true art; and that they were—to speak more briefly—not deliberately stuffed with the riches of the Egyptians.

Furthermore, he proclaimed all the words of the Old Law to be full of the most consummate science and wisdom; The words of the Old Law. which, although others (and especially August. Augustine in his book On Christian Doctrine) have clearly shown, as well as Septimius Tertullian, Eusebius Pamphili, and Cassio...