 An obvious implication of Augustine’s theory of grace and election is predestination, a subject prominent in his last treatises against the Pelagians (e.g., De praedestinatione sanctorum, written after 426) but already implied in Ad Simplicianum. God decides “before the constitution of the world” (Ephesians 1:4), i.e., (in Neoplatonic terms) in the non-temporal way that matches his transcendent, eternal being (De civitate dei 11.21; see also  10. Creation and Time),  who will be exempted from the damnation that awaits fallen humankind and who will not (“double predestination”). This knowledge is however hidden to human beings, to whom it will only be revealed at the end of times (De correptione et gratia 49).  Until then, nobody, not even a baptized Christian, can be sure whether grace has given her true faith and a good will and, if so, whether she will persevere in it till the end of her life so as to be actually saved (De correptione et gratia 10–25; cf.  7.3 Love).  Like the Stoic determinists before him, Augustine was confronted with the objection that his doctrine of predestination made all human activity pointless (“Lazy Argument”). While in Hellenism this had largely been a theoretical issue, it acquired practical relevance under the circumstances of monastic life: some North African monks objected to being rebuked for their misbehavior with the argument that they were not responsible for not (yet) enjoying the gift of divine grace (De correptione et gratia 6). Taking up ideas from De magistro  and from Ad Simplicianum, Augustine replies that rebuke may work as an external admonition, even as a divine calling, that helps people turn to God inwardly and hence must not be withheld (De correptione et gratia 7–9). To the query that predestination undermines free will, Augustine gives his usual answer that our freedom of choice has been damaged by original sin and must be liberated by grace if we are to develop the good will necessary for virtue and happiness. The medieval and modern debate on whether grace is “irresistible” is, therefore, to some extent un-Augustinian (cf. Wetzel 1992: 197–206); some, especially later, texts do however present prevenient grace as converting the will with coercive force (Contra duas epistulas Pelagianorum 1.36–37; cf. already Ad Simplicianum 1.2.22; Cary 2008a: 105–110). A problem related to predestination but not equivalent to it is divine foreknowledge (Matthews 2005: 96–104; Wetzel 2001; for general discussion, Zagzebski 1991). Augustine inherits it from the Hellenistic discussion on future contingents and logical determinism that is best documented in Cicero’s De fato. His solution is that while external actions may be determined, inner volitions are not. These are certainly foreknown by God but exactly as what they are, i.e., as ours and as volitions and not as external compulsions (De civitate dei 5.9–10; cf. De libero arbitrio 3.4–11). This argument is independent of the doctrine of grace and original sin; it applies not just to fallen humankind but also to Adam and Eve and even to the devil, whose transgression God had, of course, foreseen (De civitate dei 11.17; 14.11).