To Valentine and his monks:

On account of those who preach and defend human free choice in such a way that they dare to deny and try to get rid of the grace of God – the grace by which we are called to Him and are set free from our evil deserts, and through which we acquire good deserts by which we might attain eternal life – I have already examined a number of points and written about them, as far as the Lord found worthwhile to grant to me. But since there are some people who defend the grace of God in such a way that they deny human free choice, or who hold that free choice is denied when grace is defended, I have for this reason been inspired by our mutual charity to take the trouble to write something on this issue to Your Charity, brother Valentine, and to the others who serve God with you. Word about you has reached me, brothers, from some members of your community who came to me (and by whom I have sent along this work), that there are disagreements among you on these matters.

Therefore, dearly beloved, I advise you first to thank God for what you do understand, so that the obscurity of the question not disturb you. As for anything still beyond the reach of your mind's effort, pray for understanding from the Lord while maintaining peace and charity among yourselves.

To my dearest brother Valentine and those who serve God along with him:

After reading the letters that Your Charity sent to me with Brother Florus and the others who came with him, I gave thanks to God when I learned from your reply to me of your peace in the Lord, your agreement in the truth, and your fervor in charity. The Enemy has tried to undermine some among you. But God in His mercy and wonderful goodness turned the snares of the Enemy to the advantage of His servants, achieving instead the result that none of you was pulled down for the worse, while some were built up for the better.

Therefore, there is no need to re-examine over again all the matters that were sufficiently dealt with in the thorough book I sent to you. Your response makes it clear how receptive you were. However, do not in any way think that a single reading was able to make it sufficiently well known to you. If you want it to be the most fruitful, then, do not be ashamed to re-read it so that it is thoroughly known. You will thereby know exactly which questions (and which kind of questions) should be resolved and put right there, by divine rather than human authority – authority from which we ought not draw away, if we want to reach the goal we are aiming at.

While we were still delayed at Rome [due to bad weather], we wanted to inquire through argument into the origin of evil. We conducted our discussion in such a way that, if we could, our considered and detailed reasoning would lead us to understand what we believed about this topic by divine authority – to the extent that we could do so by examination, with God's assistance. And since we agreed after careful reasoning that the sole origin of evil is the free choice of the will, the three books which our discussion produced were called On the Free Choice of the Will. After I was ordained a priest at Hippo Regius, I finished off the second and third books as well as I could at the time.

So many issues were examined in these books that I postponed some incidental questions – which either I could not untangle or which demanded a lengthy discussion – so that when it was not clear what came closer to the truth, our reasoning then would nonetheless draw the conclusion from each side (or from all the sides) of these selfsame incidental questions, in order that whichever of them may be true, we could believe, or even prove, that God ought to be praised.

The discussion was undertaken on account of those who deny that the origin of evil lies in the free choice of the will, and who contend that, if this is so, God as the Creator of all natures ought to be blamed; as a result, they want to introduce some unchangeable nature of evil that is co-eternal with God in accordance with their irreligious error (for they are Manichaeans).

Objection: “Why isn't the grace of God given in accordance with human deserts?” I reply: because God is merciful. Objection: “Then why not to all?” I reply: because God is a judge. Accordingly, grace is given by Him gratuitously, and His just judgment in other cases shows what grace confers on those to whom it is given. Thus let us not be ungrateful that the merciful God, “according to the pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace” [Eph. 2:5–6], sets so many free from a perdition that is owed to such an extent that He would not be unjust if He did not set anyone free from it. From one all have been sentenced to undergo a condemnation that is not unjust but just. Therefore, anyone who is set free should take delight in grace; anyone who is not set free should recognize what is owed. If there is goodness in remitting what is owed, and equity in exacting it, then iniquity is never found in God.

Objection: “Why is His judgment so different not only in the case of young children, but in one and the same case of twins?” Is that not similar to the question: Why is His judgment the same in different cases? Let us recall, then, those workers in the vineyard. Some toiled the whole day long, some worked for a single hour. To be sure, the cases differ in the expenditure of labor.

I made an effort to comprehend what I was hearing, namely that the free choice of the will is the cause that we do evil and that we suffer Your right judgment. But I was not able to comprehend it clearly. So, I tried to raise my mind's eye up from the abyss, but I sank back in again. I tried repeatedly, but I sank back in again and again. What lifted me up towards Your light was that I knew myself to have a will as much as I knew myself to be alive. Thus whenever I was willing or unwilling with regard to something, I was completely certain that none but myself was willing or unwilling. And more and more did I recognize that there lay the cause of my sin. I saw that what I did unwillingly I suffered rather than did, and I judged it not a fault but a penalty; and recognizing that You are just, I admitted immediately that I was not punished unjustly…

At our lodging there was a small garden. We had the run of it, as we did of the whole house, since our host (the owner of the house) was not living there. My inner turmoil took me to the garden, where nobody would impede the burning struggle I had ventured upon with myself until it was settled. You knew the outcome, but I did not: only that I was becoming sick with health and dying with life, aware how evil I was and unaware how good I was shortly going to be. So off I went into the garden with Alypius close behind. My solitude was not impaired by his presence, and how could he leave me in such a state? We sat down as far as possible from the buildings. I was raging in spirit, indignant with tempestuous indignation that I was not entering into a pact and covenant with You, my God, for which all my bones were crying out, singing its praises to the heavens. We do not reach that destination by traveling in ships, or chariots, or on foot, not even as far as I had gone from the house to the place where we were sitting.

Life and times

Augustine was born on November 13, 354, to a family of hereditary curial rank, in Thagaste (modern Suq Ahras in Algeria) during the latter days of the western Roman Empire. Christianity was the official state religion, but other religions were still tolerated and practiced; Augustine seems to have received at least a nominal Christian upbringing. He was formally educated at Thagaste, Madaura, and Carthage to be a rhetorician, one of the few professions that allowed upward social mobility. Once his education was complete, Augustine taught rhetoric in Carthage and Rome, eventually securing the post of official rhetorician to the imperial city of Milan in 384 – the very year in which the Emperor Theodosius prohibited pagan worship and made Christianity the only religion of the Empire. While resident in Milan, Augustine attended the sermons of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, and became a catechumen in the Catholic Church. In the latter part of 386, Augustine chose to embrace Catholicism wholeheartedly (which he describes as a kind of “conversion”), and he subsequently resigned his post as rhetorician. To make ends meet he took on private students and began to write and publish dialogues and treatises. Augustine was formally baptized in a public ceremony by Ambrose himself on Holy Saturday, April 24, 387. Returning to Africa, he founded a religious community in Thagaste.