[Right Wing Professor]

"The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and confine man in the bonds of Hell." -- St. Augustine

Quapropter bono christiano, sive mathematici, sive quilibet impie divinantium, maxime dicentes vera, cavendi sunt, ne consortio daemoniorum animam deceptam, pacto quodam societatis irretiant. II, xvii, 37

Translation: For this reason, the good Christian should beware not only numerologists, but all those who make impious divinations, above all when they tell truth. Otherwise, they may deceive the soul, and ensnare her in a pact of friendship with demons.

Often misattributed as: The good Christian should beware the mathematician and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of hell.

Note: The English mistranslation (which was given here before) was obviously written by someone who either lacked even an amateur understanding of Latin, or intended from the start to smear Augustine. Not only are liberties taken in the translation, but Augustine's use of the Latin word mathematici does not refer to mathematicians. Transliteration is not translation. That Augustine is speaking of those who predict the future is evident even in the quote here, but becomes obvious when reading the surrounding passages, which deal the occult and with astrologers. Thus, a more proper translation would be numerologists.

Figures you'd screw that up, Fester.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Gee. How can I weather such a stinging rebuke from one who in this case rejects the authority of St. Augustine even when properly translated and understood?