A Bishop and a General.

Well, on this episode, as we are walking through the life of Augustine, the Bishop, of course, is Augustine.

And the General is Boniface.

We had mentioned that as part of his duties as Bishop, Augustine would counsel people from all walks of life,

including some significant Roman officials, and one of them is Boniface.

He appears to have become a Roman general around 413 after a successful campaign against the Visigoths.

He was later appointed Governor of Africa.

He was involved in a number of controversies, and he had a number of rivals, and these rivals would often accuse him of some rather terrible things.

One such rival accused him of treason, and accused him of attempting to establish his own empire, the African Empire, within the Roman Empire.

Well, Boniface had his fair share of troubles, and he would often look to his friend Augustine for advice.

Boniface would end up leading the resistant efforts to the vandal invasion of Africa.

And it was Boniface's armies that were defeated in 431 that led to the takeover of Hippo.

So as Augustine was dying, he was not alone in Hippo.

He was with his friend, the Roman General, Boniface.

After the siege of Hippo, Boniface was back in Italy, and in 432 caught up in one of those power struggles with one of his rivals,

he died on the battlefield.

His forces actually won the battle, but he suffered a mortal wound and within months of that battle.

He died.

Well, right after he became general, up until Augustine's death in 431, they were friends, and a number of letters passed between Augustine and Boniface.

One of them gives us great insight into how Augustine cared for people.

I want to read a few portions from this letter towards the beginning of the letter, Augustine says,

all that I can say in the short time that I have is this,

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