Emmanuel Bermon: Commitment to Public Life and Adherence to God according to a Letter from Nebridius to Augustine (ap. Aug., Ep. 5)

According to Possidius’ testimony, when he returned to Thagaste, Augustine settled in his domain and there, “in the company of those who were attached to him, he lived for God,in fastings and prayers and good works, meditating day and night in the Law of the Lord ”(Vita Aug. 3, 2).Nebridius’ very short Letter 5 leads us to qualify this idyllic picture. Nebridius reacts strongly to news from Thagaste that he considered alarming: “Is it true, my dear Augustine ? Do you devote your energy and your patience to the affairs of your fellow citizens (negotiis ciuium) without receiving in turn the rest you are longing for? Who are these people who disturb you, you who are so good, pray? (...) Let them at least hear me. For I will proclaim and testify that you love God and desire to serve him and cling to him.” For Augustine, the return home was therefore accompanied by a commitment to the public life of his city. But in what forms? Were the “negotia ciuium” that disrupted Augustine’s leisure the municipal charges (munera publica) that Roman legislation imposed on the sons of curials, as recently argued? If this interpretation is not retained, how is it possible to construe the word “cives”?