let. V . Tl.j NEBETOIUS TO AUGUSTINE. 11 LETTEE V . (A .D . 388.) • TO AUGUSTINE NEBEEDIUS SENDS GREETING. I s it tru e/ m y beloved A ugustine, that you are spending your strength and patience on the affairs o f your fellow -citizens (in Thagaste), and that the leisure from distractions which you so earnestly desired is s till w ithheld from you ? "Who, I would lik e to know, are the men who thus take advantage o f your good nature, and trespass on your tim e ? I believe that they do not know what you love m ost and long for. Have you no friend at hand to te ll them what your heart is set upon? W n i neither Eomanianus nor Lucinianus do th is? Let them hear me at a ll events. I w ill proclaim aloud; I w ill protest that God is the supreme object of your love, and that your heart’s desire is to be H is servant, and to cleave to Him . Fain would I persuade you to come to m y home in the country, and rest h e r e ; I shall n ot be afraid of being denounced as a robber by those countrymen o f yours, whom you love only too weU, and by whom you are too warmly loved in return. LETTEE VI. (A.D. 3 8 9 .) TO AUGUSTINE NEBRIDIUS SENDS GREETING. 1. Y o u r letters I have great pleasure in keeping as carefully as m y own eyes. , F of th ey are great, not indeed 'in length, but in the greatness o f the subjects discussed in them, and in the great ability w ith w hich the truth in regard to these subjects is demonstrated. They sh all bring to m y ear the voice o f Christ, and the teaching o f Plato and of Plotinus. To m e, therefore, they shall ever be pleasant to hear, because o f their eloquent s ty le ; easy to read, because of J 3rev ity ; and profitable to understand, because o f - 'Visdobi which th ey contain. B e at pains, therefore, to tne everything which, to your judgm ent, comimends itself as holy or good.