Nebridius → Augustine of Hippo
Tradução moderna em inglês
Letter 5 (388 AD)
To Augustine — Nebridius sends greetings.
Is it true, my dear Augustine, that you are wearing yourself out on the business of your fellow citizens in Thagaste [Augustine's hometown in North Africa, modern Souk Ahras, Algeria], and that the undisturbed leisure you so desperately wanted is still being kept from you? Who are these people exploiting your good nature and stealing your time? I would love to know. I suspect they have no idea what you truly love and long for. Is there no friend nearby to tell them what your heart is set on? Will neither Romanianus nor Lucinianus [friends and patrons in Thagaste] do this?
Then let them hear me, at least. I will shout it: I will declare that God is the supreme object of your love, and that your heart's desire is to serve him and to cling to him.
I would love to persuade you to come to my house in the country and rest here. I will not be afraid of being called a kidnapper by those townspeople of yours — people you love far too much, and who love you far too much in return.
Texto latino / grego
EPISTOLA 5 Scripta inter a. 388 et a. 391. Nebridius deplorat quod A. nimium civium negotiis a contemplatione interpelletur atque in suum rus eum vocat. Augustino Nebridius 1. Itane est, mi Augustine, fortitudinem ac tolerantiam negotiis civium praestas, necdum tibi redditur illa exoptata cessatio? Quaeso, qui te tam bonum homines interpellant? Credo qui nesciunt quid ames, quid concupiscas. Nullusne tibi est amicorum, qui eis amores referat tuos? nec Romanianus, nec Lucinianus? Me certe audiant. Ego clamabo, ego testabor te Deum amare, illi servire atque inhaerere cupere. Vellem ego te in rus meum vocare, ibique acquiescere. Non enim timebo me seductorem tui dici a civibus tuis, quos nimium amas, et a quibus nimium amaris.
Texto inglês de origem
Letter 5 (A.D. 388) To Augustine Nebridius Sends Greeting. Is it true, my beloved Augustine, that you are spending your strength and patience on the affairs of your fellow citizens (in Thagaste), and that the leisure from distractions which you so earnestly desired is still withheld from you? Who, I would like to know, are the men who thus take advantage of your good nature, and trespass on your time? I believe that they do not know what you love most and long for. Have you no friend at hand to tell them what your heart is set upon? Will neither Romanianus nor Lucinianus do this? Let them hear me at all events. I will proclaim aloud; I will protest that God is the supreme object of your love, and that your heart's desire is to be His servant, and to cleave to Him. Fain would I persuade you to come to my home in the country, and rest here; I shall not be afraid of being denounced as a robber by those countrymen of yours, whom you love only too well, and by whom you are too warmly loved in return.