# De mendacio and Contra mendacium forbid lying even in a religious cause as a public honesty rule

Date: 395

## The fact

De mendacio and Contra mendacium, as later transmitted, forbid lying even when the cause is conversion or the trapping of heretics. The instrument is that honesty rule. It sits in tension with a coercive Donatist policy stored elsewhere. Later Jesuit-and-Protestant casuistry is reception. Augustine of Hippo's documented role is: He wrote against lying to convert or to trap. Later casuists debated him. He did not police every forum. High on the texts.

## Context

Jerome's circle and unnamed monks who would lie to baptise are the polemical neighbourhood. Sharing that debate is required. Retractationes will still stand by a hard line on lies. Confessions' own narrative art is not stored here as a lie-licence. The setting of De mendacio and Contra mendacium forbid lying even in a religious cause as a public honesty rule is the public file around 0395-06-01. Shared offices, unnamed crews, printers, or later editors may appear without becoming this instrument. Driver justice-[judicial-independence](/drivers/justice-judicial-independence-erosion)-erosion is attached because the significance names a mechanism from this act, not because a standing list needed coverage.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Do not twin with Retractationes. Do not store a later inquisitorial manual as his. Letter 93 remains a coercion file, not a licence to lie. Mixed effects of De mendacio and Contra mendacium forbid lying even in a religious cause as a public honesty rule are separate paths.

## Evidence and sources

Official locator: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Augustine, lying neighbourhood at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/ (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Independent locator: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Augustine, De mendacio neighbourhood at https://iep.utm.edu/augustin/ (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Official carrier: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Augustine, lying neighbourhood (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Independent carrier: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Augustine, De mendacio neighbourhood (https://iep.utm.edu/augustin/; Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

Official or archival record: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Augustine, lying neighbourhood (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

## Significance

Improving path from De mendacio and Contra mendacium forbid lying even in a religious cause as a public honesty rule on 0395-06-01. The welfare reading on this path is improving.

The welfare reading used in this dossier is improving. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

## What is established and what is not

Established: a sourced public record of De mendacio and Contra mendacium forbid lying even in a religious cause as a public honesty rule under 0395-06-01 for Augustine of Hippo. Established: a sourced public record of De mendacio and Contra mendacium forbid lying even in a religious cause as a public honesty rule under 0395-06-01.

Shared responsibility is part of De mendacio and Contra mendacium forbid lying even in a religious cause as a public honesty rule. Naming Augustine of Hippo does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 0395-06-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

## People

- Augustine Of Hippo: https://factrail.ai/people/augustine-of-hippo

## Drivers

- Judicial independence erosion (court capture): https://factrail.ai/drivers/justice-judicial-independence-erosion

## Sources

- https://iep.utm.edu/augustin/
- https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/au-on-lying