[2420] Anicia Faltonia Proba, the widow of Sextus Petronius Probus, belonged to a Roman family of great wealth and noble lineage. Three of her sons held the consulship, two of them together in 395 A.D., and the third in 406 A.D. When Rome was taken by Alaric m 410, Proba and her family were in the city, and narrowly escaped from violence during the six days in which the Goths pillaged the city. About this time one of the sons of Proba died, and very soon after this sad event she resolved to quit Rome, as the return of Alaric was daily apprehended. Having realized her ample fortune, she sailed to Africa, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Juliana (the widow of Anicus Hermogenianus Olybrius), and the daughter of Juliana Demetrias, the well known religieuse, whose taking of the veil in 413 produced so profound an impression throughout the ecclesiastical world. A considerable retinue of widows and younger women, seeking protection under her escort, accompanied the distinguished refugee to Carthage. After paying a large sum to secure the protection of Heraclianus, Count of Africa, she was permitted to establish herself with her community of pious women in Carthage. Her piety led her to seek the friendship and counsel of Augustin. How readily it was given is seen here, and in Letters CXXXI., CL., and CLXXXVIII.
[2421] 1 Tim. v. 5.
[2422] Matt. xix. 21-26.
[2423] Luke xix. 9.
[2424] 1 Tim. vi. 17-19.
[2425] Isa. lvii. 18, 19, in LXX. version.
[2426] Rom. xii. 15.
[2427] 1 Cor. iv. 5.
[2428] 2 Cor. v. 6, 7.
[2429] 2 Pet. i. 19.
[2430] Matt. v. 8.
[2431] 1 John iii. 2.
[2432] Ps. cxvi. 8.
[2433] Ps. cxvi. 9. In the LXX., euaresteso; in Aug., "placebo."
[2434] Col. iii. 3, 4.
[2435] Ps. lxiii. 1.
[2436] Ps. xc. 14, 15, version of LXX.
[2437] 1 Tim. v. 5, 6.
[2438] Ps. lxii. 10.
[2439] 1 Cor. xv. 54.
[2440] Rom. xiii. 14.
[2441] Eph. v. 39.
[2442] 1 Tim. v. 23.
[2443] 1 Cor. ii. 11.
[2444] 1 Cor. iv. 5.
[2445] Ps. xxii. 26.
[2446] Rom. viii. 26.
[2447] Cicero Hortensius.
[2448] Epimenides.
[2449] Titus i. 13.
[2450] 1 Tim. vi. 6-10.
[2451] Prov. xxx. 8, 9.
[2452] Ps. xxvii. 4.
[2453] Matt. vi. 7, 8.
[2454] Luke xviii. 1-8.
[2455] Luke xi. 5-8.
[2456] Luke xi. 9-13, and Matt. vii. 7-11.
[2457] Rom. viii. 24.
[2458] 2 Cor. vi. 13, 14.
[2459] 1 Cor. ii. 9.
[2460] 1 Thess. v. 17.
[2461] Phil. iv. 6.
[2462] Tobias xii. 12.
[2463] Luke vi. 12.
[2464] Luke xxii. 43. English version, "more earnestly."
[2465] Ecclus. xxxvi. 4, 18.
[2466] Ps. lxxx. 7, 19.
[2467] Ps. cxix. 133.
[2468] Prov. xxx. 8.
[2469] Ps. cxxxii. 1 (LXX.).
[2470] Ps. vii. 3, 4.
[2471] Ecclus. xxiii. 6.
[2472] Ps. lix. 1.
[2473] Ps. cxliv. 15.
[2474] 1 Tim. i. 5.
[2475] Ps. lxxvii. 2 (LXX.).
[2476] Rom. viii. 26.
[2477] 2 Cor. xii. 7-9.
[2478] Numb. xi.
[2479] 1 Sam. viii. 6, 7.
[2480] Job i. 12, ii. 6.
[2481] Luke viii. 32.
[2482] Matt. xxvi. 39.
[2483] Rom. v. 19.
[2484] Ps. xxvii. 4.
[2485] Ps. xxxvi. 8-10.
[2486] Phil. iv. 7.
[2487] Rom. viii. 25-27.
[2488] Deut. xii. 3.
[2489] 1 Sam. i.
[2490] Luke ii. 36, 37.
[2491] 1 Tim. v. 5.
[2492] Juliana, the mother of Demetrias.
[2493] Tobit xii. 8.
[2494] Eph. iii. 20.
Letter CXXXI.
(a.d. 412.)
To His Most Excellent Daughter, the Noble and Deservedly Illustrious Lady Proba, Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord.
You speak the truth when you say that the soul, having its abode in a corruptible body, is restrained by this measure of contact with the earth, and is somehow so bent and crushed by this burden that its desires and thoughts go more easily downwards to many things than upwards to one. For Holy Scripture says the same: "The corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things." [2495] But our Saviour, who by His healing word raised up the woman in the gospel that had been eighteen years bowed down [2496] (whose case was, perchance, a figure of spiritual infirmity), came for this purpose, that Christians might not hear in vain the call, "Lift up your hearts," and might truly reply, "We lift them up to the Lord." Looking to this, you do well to regard the evils of this world as easy to bear because of the hope of the world to come. For thus, by being rightly used, these evils become a blessing, because, while they do not increase our desires for this world, they exercise our patience; as to which the apostle says, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God:" [2497] all things, he saith--not only, therefore, those which are desired because pleasant, but also those which are shunned because painful; since we receive the former without being carried away by them, and bear the latter without being crushed by them, and in all give thanks, according to the divine command, to Him of whom we say, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth," [2498] and, "It is good for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I might learn Thy statutes." [2499] The truth is, most noble lady, that if the calm of this treacherous prosperity were always smiling upon us, the soul of man would never make for the haven of true and certain safety. Wherefore, in returning the respectful salutation due to your Excellency, and expressing my gratitude for your most pious care for my welfare, I ask of the Lord that He may grant to you the rewards of the life to come, and consolation in the present life; and I commend myself to the love and prayers of all of you in whose hearts Christ dwells by faith.
(In another hand.) May the true and faithful God truly comfort your heart and preserve your health, my most excellent daughter and noble lady, deservedly illustrious.
[2495] Wisd. ix. 15.
[2496] Luke xiii. 11-13.
[2497] Rom. viii. 28.
[2498] Ps. xxxiv. 1.
[2499] Ps. cxix. 71 (LXX.).