The three of them together were a "philosophical brotherhood" firstly in Carthage, secondly in Milan, and finally by correspondence when all three returned to North Africa.
Augustine described him as being a dear friend, a very good person and as having a very cautious disposition. He had an excellent intellect.
Nebridius and Augustine were of about the same age.
When Augustine was living in Carthage, he had coaxed into
Manicheanism two men who were to be his friends for life, Alypius and Nebridius.
This is the first mention by Augustine of Nebridius, who was of a Carthage family.
Nebridius was doubly wise in his leaving Manicheanism far more quickly than Augustine.
As well, he convinced Augustine to give up his belief in astrology, or, as it was then called, mathematics.
Through the influence of Nebridius, Augustine concluded that astrology is "utterly false."
(This will prove an important first step in discarding the colourful Manichee mythology, which contained a number of bizarre accounts of the heavenly bodies).
By rejecting this dubious form of prediction and the elaborate sacrificial rituals that often accompanied it, Augustine began to attribute its occasional success almost entirely to chance, which he saw as "a power everywhere diffused in the nature of things."
After Nebridius abandoned Manicheism he delivered lectures against it in 379 (Confessions 4, 3 and also 7, 2, 6).
(Continued on the next page.)
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