{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40341/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40341","id":"gutenberg_40341","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40341","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Knowledge, Theory of (Religion) -- Early works to 1800"],"text":"Transcriber's note:\n\n      In the Preface, Dr. Hargrove mentions the numbers at the\n      top of each page which refer to the page and line of the\n      corresponding text of the Old English. In this e-book\n      version, these numbers have been preserved as sidenotes,\n      placed at the nearest paragraph break.\n\n\n\n\n\nYale Studies in English\nAlbert S. Cook, Editor\n\nXXII\n\nKING ALFRED'S OLD ENGLISH VERSION OF\nST. AUGUSTINE'S SOLILOQUIES\n\nTurned into Modern English\n\nby\n\nHENRY LEE HARGROVE, PH.D.\n\nProfessor of English, Baylor University\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNew York\nHenry Holt and Company\n1904\n\n\n\n\n           TO\n     MY DEAR BROTHER\n   WARREN PENN HARGROVE\n  WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE\n    FEBRUARY 8, 1903\n        AGED 25\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nSince the publication of my _King Alfred's Old English Version of St.\nAugustine's Soliloquies_, which appeared in 1902, I have been at work on\nthis translation. With the faith that the unique importance of the work\njustifies its being given this form for the benefit of the general\nreader, and with the encouragement from scholars that my rendering will\nbe received in the kindly spirit which characterized the reception of my\nformer edition, I now venture this publication.\n\nFor those who care to use the two editions together it will be seen (1)\nthat the Alfredian additions to the Latin are set in italics; and (2)\nthat the numbers at the top of each page refer to the page and line of\nthe corresponding text of the Old English.\n\nI must add that Professor Albert S. Cook has been my counsellor and\ncritic throughout the work.\n\n    HENRY LEE HARGROVE.\n\n    BAYLOR UNIVERSITY,\n    July 6, 1904.\n\n\n\n\n  King Alfred's Old English Version\n    OF\n  St. Augustine's Soliloquies\n\n  TURNED INTO MODERN ENGLISH\n\n\n\n\nKING ALFRED'S PREFACE\n\n\nI then gathered for myself staves, and stud-shafts, and cross-beams, and\nhelves for each of the tools that I could work with; and bow-timbers and\nbolt-timbers for every work that I could perform--as many as I could\ncarry of the comeliest trees. Nor came I home with a burden, for it\npleased me not to bring all the wood home, even if I could bear it. In\neach tree I saw something that I needed at home; therefore I exhort\nevery one who is able, and has many wains, to direct his steps to the\nself-same wood where I cut the stud-shafts. Let him there obtain more\nfor himself, and load his wains with fair twigs, so that he may wind\nmany a neat wall, and erect many a rare house, and build a fair\nenclosure, and therein dwell in joy and comfort both winter and summer,\nin such manner as I have not yet done. But He who taught me, and to whom\nthe wood was pleasing, hath power to make me dwell more comfortably both\nin this transitory cottage by the road while I am on this\nworld-pilgrimage, and also in the everlasting home which He hath\npromised us through Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory and Saint Jerome,\nand through many other holy Fathers; as I believe also for the merits\nof all those He will both make this way more convenient than it hitherto\nwas, and especially will enlighten the eyes of my mind so that I may\nsearch out the right way to the eternal home, and to everlasting glory,\nand to eternal rest, which is promised us through those holy Fathers. So\nmay it be.\n\n[Sidenote: 1.21--2.23]\n\nIt is no wonder that one should labor in timber-work, both in the\ngathering and also in the building; but every man desireth that, after\nhe hath built a cottage on his lord's lease and by his help, he may\nsometimes rest himself therein, and go hunting, fowling, and fishing;\nand use it in every manner according to the lease, both on sea and land,\nuntil such time as he shall gain the fee simple of the eternal heritage\nthrough his lord's mercy. So may the rich Giver do, who ruleth both\nthese temporary cottages and the homes everlasting. May He, who created\nboth and ruleth both, grant me to be fit for each--both here to be\nuseful and thither to attain.\n\nAugustine, bishop of Carthage, made two books about his own mind. These\nbooks are called _Soliloquies_, that is, concerning the meditation and\ndoubts of his mind--how his Reason answered his mind when the mind\ndoubted about anything, or wished to know anything that it could not\nbefore clearly understand.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK I\n\n\nThen said he, his mind often went fearing and searching out various and\nrare things, and most of all about himself--_what[1] he was; whether his\nmind and his soul were mortal and perishable, or ever-living and\neternal_; and again, about his God, what He was, and of what nature He\nwas; and what good it were best for him to do, and what evil best to\nforsake. Then answered me something, I know not what, whether myself or\nanother thing; nor know I whether it was within me or without; _but this\none thing I most truly know, that it was my Reason_; and it said to me:\n\n    [1] Passages in italics were added by Alfred to the original Latin.\n\n_Reason._ If thou have any good steward that can well hold that which\nthou gettest and committest unto him, show him to me; _but if thou have\nnone so prudent, search till thou find him; for thou canst not both\nalways keep watch and ward over that which thou hast gained, and also\nget more_.\n\n_Augustine._ _To what shall I commit what more I get, if not to my_\nmemory?\n\n_R._ Is thy memory powerful enough to hold all things that thou thinkest\nout and bidst it to hold?\n\n_A._ Nay, nay; _neither mine nor any man's_ is so strong that it can\nhold everything that is committed to it.\n\n_R._ Then commit it to words and write it down. Howbeit methinks thou\nart too feeble to write it all; _and though thou wert entirely sound_,\nthou wouldst need to have a place retired and void of everything else,\n_and a few wise and skilful men with thee who would hinder thee in no\nwise, but give aid to thy ability_.\n\n_A._ I have none of these, _neither the leisure, nor the help of other\nmen, nor a place retired enough to suit me for such work_; therefore I\nknow not what I shall do.\n\n[Sidenote: 4.14--6.6]\n\n_R._ I know then nothing better than that thou shouldst pray. Make known\nthy wish to God, _Saviour of mind and body_, that thou mayst through\nsuch salvation obtain what thou wishest. _And when thou hast prayed_,\nwrite the prayer, _lest thou forget it_, that thou be the fitter for thy\ntask. And pray sincerely in few words and with full understanding.\n\n_A._ _I will do even as thou teachest me, saying thus_:\n\nO Lord, Thou who art the Creator of all things, grant me first to know\nhow to pray to Thee aright and acceptably, and that I may merit to be\nworthy that Thou _for thy mercy_ wilt redeem and deliver me. On Thee I\ncall, O Lord, who madest all that could not else have sprung into being,\nnor without Thee could even abide. I call to Thee, O Lord, who leavest\nnone of thy creatures to become naught. To Him I call who hath made all\ncreatures beautiful without any original substance. To Thee I call, who\nnever wroughtest any evil, but rather every good work. To Him I call who\nteacheth to a few wise men that evil is naught.\n\nO Lord, thou hast wrought all things perfect, and nothing imperfect; to\nThee is no creature untoward; though any thing will, it can not be so,\n_for Thou hast shapen them all orderly, and peaceable, and so harmonious\nthat none of them can altogether destroy another, but the ugly ever\nadorneth the beautiful_. To Thee I call, whom everything loveth that can\nlove, both those which know what they love, and those which know not\nwhat they love. Thou who hast shapen all creatures very good, without\nany evil--Thou who wilt not altogether _show thyself_ openly to any but\nto them that are pure _in heart_, I call to Thee, O Lord, because Thou\nart the Father of truth and wisdom, of the true and highest life, and of\nthe highest blessedness, and of the highest good, and of the highest\nbrightness, and of the intelligible light; _Thou who art the Father of\nthe Son who hath awakened us, and still arouseth us, from the sleep of\nour sins_, and warneth us to come to Thee.\n\n[Sidenote: 6.7--7.21]\n\nTo Thee I pray, O Lord, who art the highest truth, and through whom is\ntrue all that is true. I pray to Thee, O Lord, who art the true life,\nand through whom all things live that do live. Thou art the highest\nblessedness, and through Thee are blessed all that are blessed. Thou art\nthe highest good[2] ... is and beautiful. Thou art the intelligible\nlight through which man knoweth. I pray to Thee, O Lord, who wieldest\nall the world; whom we can not know bodily, _neither by eyes, nor by\nsmell, nor by ears, nor by taste, nor by touch_; although such laws as\nwe have, and such virtues as we have, we take _all those that are good_\nfrom thy realm, _and from thy realm we draw an example of all the good\nwe perform_. For every one falleth who fleeth from Thee, and every one\nriseth who turneth to Thee, and every one standeth who abideth in Thee;\nhe dieth who wholly forsaketh Thee, he is quickened who turneth to Thee,\nand he liveth indeed who abideth in Thee. No one that is wise forsaketh\nThee, no one seeketh Thee except he be wise, and no one altogether\nfindeth Thee but the pure in heart. That is, he perisheth who forsaketh\nThee. _He who loveth Thee seeketh Thee; he who followeth after Thee hath\nThee. Thy truths which Thou hast given us awaken us from the sleep of\nour sins._ Our hope lifteth us to Thee. Our love, which Thou hast given\nus, bindeth us to Thee. Through Thee we overcome our foes, both\n_spiritual and carnal_. Thou who forgivest, _draw nigh to me and have\nmercy upon me_, because Thou hast bestowed upon us great gifts, to wit,\nthat we shall never entirely perish and thus come to naught.\n\n    [2] An omission in the MS.\n\nO Lord, who warnest us to watch, _Thou hast given us reason_, wherewith\nto find out and distinguish good and evil, and to flee the evil. Thou\nhast given us patience not to despair in any toil nor in any misfortune.\nNor is this a wonder, _because Thou dost verily rule well, and makest us\nto serve Thee well_. Thou hast taught us to understand that _worldly\nwealth_, which we looked upon as our own, is alien to us, and\ntransitory; and Thou hast also taught us to consider as our own what we\nlooked upon as alien to us, _to wit, the kingdom of heaven, which we\nonce despised. Thou who hast taught us to do no unlawful thing, and hast\nalso taught us not to mourn_ even though our riches should wane. _Thou\nwho hast taught us to subject our body to our mind._\n\n[Sidenote: 7.21--9.11]\n\nThou who didst overcome death when Thou thyself didst arise, _and also\nwilt make all men arise. Thou who makest us all worthy of Thee, and\ncleansest us from all our sins, and justifiest us, and hearest our\nprayers. Thou who madest us of thy household, and who teachest us all\nrighteousness, and always teachest us the good, and always dost us good,\nand leavest us not to serve an unrighteous lord, as we did aforetime._\nThou callest us back to our way, and leadest us to the door, and openest\nto us, and givest us the bread of _eternal_ life and the drink _of\nlife's well_. Thou who threatenest men for their sins, and who teachest\nthem to judge righteous judgments, and to do righteousness. Thou\nstrengthenedst us, and yet dost strengthen us, in our belief, in order\nthat unbelievers may not harm us. Thou hast given us, and yet givest us,\nunderstanding, that we may overcome the error of those [who teach\nthat][3] men's souls have, after this world, no reward _for their\ndeserts, either of good or of evil, whichever they do here_. Thou who\nhast loosed us from the thraldom of other creatures, _Thou always\npreparest eternal life for us, and always preparest us for eternal\nlife_.\n\n    [3] Supplied by translator to complete the sense.\n\nCome now to my aid, Thou who art the only eternal and true\nDeity--_Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost_--without any variableness or\nturning, without any need or impotence, and without death. Thou who\nalways dwellest in the highest brightness and in the highest\nsteadfastness, in the highest unanimity and the highest sufficiency; for\nto Thee there is no want of good, but Thou always dwellest thus full of\nevery good unto eternity. _Thou art Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost._\n\n[Sidenote: 9.12--10.23]\n\nThee serve all the creatures that Thou didst create; to Thee is every\ngood soul subject; at thy command the heavens turn and all stars hold\ntheir courses; at thy behest the sun bringeth the bright day, and the\nmoon light by night; _after the image of these_ Thou dost govern and\nwield all this world, so that all creatures change even as day and\nnight. Thou rulest and fixest the year by the alternations of the four\nseasons--to wit, spring, and summer, autumn, and winter; each of which\nalternateth and varieth with the other, so that each of them is again\nexactly what and where it formerly was; and so all stars change and vary\nin the same manner--_likewise the sea and the rivers; in the same manner\nall creatures suffer change. Howbeit, some vary in another manner, so\nthat the same come not again where they formerly were, nor become just\nwhat they were; but others come in their stead, as leaves on trees; and\napples, grass, plants, and trees grow old and sere, and others come, wax\ngreen, and grow, and ripen; wherefore they again begin to wither. And\nlikewise all beasts and fowls, in such manner that it is now too long to\nreckon them all. Yea, even men's bodies wax old, just as other creatures\ndo; but just as they formerly lived more worthily than trees or other\nanimals, so shall they arise more worthily on Doomsday, so that never\nafterward shall their bodies become naught nor wax old; and though the\nbody had decayed, yet the soul was ever-living since first it was\ncreated._\n\n_And all the creatures, about whom we say that they seem to us\ninharmonious and unsteadfast, have yet somewhat of steadiness, because\nthey are bridled with the bridle of God's commandments._ God gave\nfreedom to men's souls, that they might do either good or evil,\nwhichever they would; and promised good for a reward to them that do\ngood, and evil to them that do evil.\n\n[Sidenote: 11.1--12.17]\n\nWith God is prepared _the well-spring of every good_, and thence is\nprepared and granted to us every good of those which we have; He\nshieldeth us against every evil. Nothing is above Him, but all things\nare under Him, or with Him, or in Him. He created man in His own image,\nand every man who knoweth himself knoweth that all this is true. To that\nGod I cry, and say:\n\nHear me, hear me, O Lord, for Thou art my God and my Lord, my Father,\nand my _Creator_, and my _Governor_, and my hope, and my riches, and my\nhonor, and my house, and my inheritance, and my salvation, and my life.\nHear me, O Lord, hear me, _Thy servant_. Few understand Thee.\n\nThee alone I love truly above all other things; Thee I seek, _Thee I\nfollow_, Thee I am ready to serve; under Thy rule I wish to dwell, _for\nThou alone reignest_. I pray Thee to command me _what Thou wilt_; but\nheal and open mine eyes that I may see Thy _wonders_, and drive from me\nfolly and _pride, and give me wisdom_ that I may understand Thee, and\nteach me whither I should look to behold Thee; then shall I, methinks,\ndo gladly that which Thou commandest me.\n\nI beseech Thee, Thou merciful, _benevolent, and beneficent Lord_, to\nreceive me, Thy fugitive; _since once I was formerly Thine, and then\nfled from Thee to the devil, and fulfilled his will, enduring much\nmisery in his service. But if to Thee it seemeth as it doth to me_, long\nenough have I felt the pains which I have now suffered, and longer have\nI served Thy foes than I should those whom Thou hast [under Thy\nfeet].[4] Long enough have I been in the reproach and shame which they\nbrought on me; but do Thou receive me now, Thine own servant, for I am\nfleeing from them. _Behold, did they not receive me even before I had\nfled from Thee to them? Never again restore me to them, now that I have\nsought Thee_, but open to me Thy door, and teach me how to come. I have\nnaught to bring Thee but good will, for I myself have nothing else, nor\nknow I aught better than to love the heavenly and the spiritual above\nthe earthly; and this I do, good Father, since I know naught better than\nthat. _But I know not how I shall now come to Thee except Thou teach\nme_; teach it, then, to me, and help me. If it is by faith that they\nfind Thee who do find Thee, give me that faith. If by any other power\nthey find Thee who do find Thee, give me that power. If by wisdom they\nfind Thee who find Thee, then give me wisdom. Augment in me the hope _of\neternal life_, and increase Thy love in me.\n\n    [4] Supplied from the Latin.\n\n[Sidenote: 12.17--14.5]\n\nO, how wonderful is Thy goodness, for it is unlike all other good\nthings. I desire to come to Thee; and all that I have need of on the way\nI desire from Thee, and chiefly that without which I can not come to\nThee. If Thou forsake me, I perish; yet I know that Thou wilt not\nforsake me _unless I forsake Thee; nor will I forsake Thee_, for Thou\nart the highest good. There is none who rightly seeketh Thee that doth\nnot find Thee. He alone seeketh Thee aright whom Thou teachest aright to\nseek Thee, and how he should seek Thee. O, good Father, free me entirely\nfrom the error in which I have hitherto wandered, and yet wander; and\nteach me the way in which no foe can encounter me before I come to Thee.\nIf I love naught above Thee, I beseech Thee that I may find Thee; and if\nI desire any thing beyond measure and wrongly, deliver me from it. Make\nme worthy to behold Thee.\n\nThou most ancient and most wise Father, I commit to Thee my body, that\nThou mayest keep it whole. Yet I know not what I ask--whether I am\nasking a thing useful or useless to me or _to the friends whom I love\nand who love me_; nor do I know how long Thou wilt keep it whole.\nTherefore I commit and commend it to Thee, _for Thou knowest better than\nI what I need_. Wherefore I pray Thee alway to teach me, while I am in\nthis body and this world, and help me alway to _utter the counsel which\nis pleasing to Thee, and which is best and most righteous for me in this\nlife_. But above all other things I earnestly pray Thee to convert me\nwholly to Thee, and let nothing overcome me on this way, to prevent me\nfrom coming to Thee; and cleanse Thou me while I am in this world, and\nmake me humble. Give me loftiness of soul. Make me reasonable and just\nand prudent and perfect; and, O God, make me a lover of Thy wisdom and a\nperceiver of it, and make me worthy to dwell in Thy blessed kingdom.\nAmen!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Sidenote: 14.5--15.15]\n\nNow I have done as thou didst teach me; now I have prayed even as thou\nbadest me. _Then answered me my Reason and said_:\n\n_R._ _I see that thou hast prayed_; but say now what thou hast merited,\nor what thou wouldst have.\n\n_A._ I would understand all, and know what I just now said.\n\n_R._ Sum up, then, from _all that thou hast just spoken about, that\nwhich seemeth to thee that thou most needest and most requirest to\nknow_; then clothe it in few words, and tell it to me.\n\n_A._ _I will tell it to thee at once_: I would understand God and know\nmine own soul.\n\n_R._ Wouldst thou know any thing more?\n\n_A._ _Many things I fain would know that I know not._ Howbeit there is\nnothing I wish more to know than this.\n\n_R._ Then inquire after and seek what thou askest, and tell me first\nwhat thou knowest with most certainty, and then say to me: 'Sufficiently\nknown will _God and my soul be to me, if they shall be as well known to\nme as this thing_.'\n\n_A._ I can name nothing so well known to me as I would that God were.\n\n_R._ What, then, can we do, if thou knowest not the measure? Thou\noughtest to know when it seemed to thee enough, and if thou ever come to\nthat limit, then thou shouldst go no further, but shouldst seek\nsomething else, lest thou shouldst desire any thing beyond measure.\n\n_A._ I know what thou wishest; I should illustrate to thee by some\nexample; but I can not, for I know naught like unto God, so that I can\nsay to thee: 'I should like to know God as well as I know this thing.'\n\n[Sidenote: 15.16--17.8]\n\n_R._ _I am astonished at thee_, why thou sayest that thou knowest\nnothing like unto God, and yet dost not know what He is.\n\n_A._ If I knew aught like unto Him, I would love that thing exceedingly.\nSince I know naught like unto Him, I love nothing but Him and mine own\nsoul; howbeit, I know not what either of them is.\n\n_R._ _Thou sayest that thou lovest naught but God and thy soul; if that\nis true_, lovest thou then no other friend?\n\n_A._ Why, if I love a soul, do I not love my friend? Hath not he a soul?\n\n_R._ _If thou lovest thy friend because he hath a soul, why, then,\nlovest thou not every thing that hath a soul?_ Why dost thou not love\n_mice_ and _fleas_?\n\n_A._ I love them not, because they are carnal animals, not men.\n\n_R._ Have not thy friends likewise _bodies_, even as beasts have?\n\n_A._ Yet it is not on this account I love them, but because they are\nmen, and have reason in their minds--that quality I love even in\n_slaves_. Those that I hate, I hate because they turn the good of reason\ninto evil, _since I am allowed both to love the good and to hate the\nevil_. Therefore I love all my friends, some less, some more; and him\nwhom I love more than another, I love him so much more than the other as\nI perceive that he hath a better will than the other, and the desire to\nmake his reason more serviceable.\n\n_R._ Thou understandest it well enough, and rightly enough. But if any\none should now say to thee that he could teach thee how thou mightest\nknow God as well as thou knowest Alypius thy servant, would that seem\nenough to thee, or how much wouldst thou thank him for it?\n\n_A._ I should thank him, but nevertheless I would not answer 'enough.'\n\n_R._ Why?\n\n_A._ Alypius is better known to me than God, yet even him I know not so\nwell as I would.\n\n[Sidenote: 17.9--19.2]\n\n_R._ Look to it now that thy desire be not beyond measure, now that thou\n_comparest them together. Wouldst thou know God just as thou dost\nAlypius?_\n\n_A._ Nay; nor do I make them the more alike, albeit I name them\ntogether. But I say that one often knoweth more about higher than about\nlowlier things. I know now about the _moon, how it will move to-morrow\nand other nights_; but, I know not what I shall eat to-morrow, which is\na baser matter.\n\n_R._ Then wouldst thou know enough about God, if He should be as well\nknown to thee as the _motion of the moon_--in what constellation it now\nis, or into which it is going next?\n\n_A._ Nay; I wish that He were better known to me than the moon which I\nsee with mine eyes. Yet I do not know but that God may, for some secret\nreasons, which we know not, change it in another wise; then should I be\nperplexed in what I now imagine I know about it. _But I would have such\nknowledge about God, in my reason and in my understanding, that nothing\ncould disturb me, nor bring me into any doubt._\n\n_R._ Dost thou believe, therefore, that I can make thee _wiser about God\nthan thou now art about the moon_?\n\n_A._ _Yea_; I believe it, but I should prefer to know it, for we believe\nall that we know, and we are ignorant of many things which we believe.\n\n_R._ Methinks that thou dost not trust the external senses--_eyes, ears,\nsmell, taste, and touch--as a means of clearly understanding what thou\nwouldst, unless thou comprehend it in the mind by the reason_.\n\n_A._ _That is true_; I trust them not.\n\n_R._ Wouldst thou know thy servant, whom we were just now speaking of,\nwith the outer senses, or with the inner?\n\n_A._ I know him now as well as I can know him with the external senses;\nbut I should like to know his mind with my mind; then I should know what\n_was his loyalty toward me_.\n\n[Sidenote: 19.3--20.17]\n\n_R._ Can one know otherwise _than with the mind_?\n\n_A._ _It doth_ not _seem to me that I can know it_ as I would.\n\n_R._ Dost thou, then, not know thy servant?\n\n_A._ How can I know him, seeing I am not certain that I know myself? It\nis said in the law that one shall love his neighbor even as himself. How\nthen do I know in what way I should love him, if I do not know whether I\nlove myself? Nor do I know how he loveth me; yet I know that it is the\nsame with him in regard to me.\n\n_R._ If thou with the inner sense wouldst know God, why pointest thou me\nto the outer senses, as if thou wouldst see Him bodily, just as thou\nformerly saidst thou sawest the moon? I know not therefore how thou\nteachest it to me, nor can I teach it to any one, by the outer senses.\nBut tell me whether it seemeth enough for thee to know God as Plato and\nPlotinus knew him?\n\n_A._ I dare not say that it would seem to me enough, because I know not\nwhether it seemed to them enough in regard to that which they knew. I\nknow not whether it seemed to them that they needed to know more of Him,\nbut even so they formerly seemed to me.[5] When I prayed, methought I\ndid not so fully understand that which I besought as I would. But I\nstill could not forbear to speak about it, just as it seemed to me that\nI needed, and just as I supposed it was.\n\n    [5] Doubtful rendering of and _sw\u0101-sw\u0101 m\u0113 \u0113r p\u016bhton_.\n\n_R._ _Methinks now it seemeth to thee that_ it is one thing _to know,\nand quite another only to suppose_.\n\n_A._ _Yea, so methinks; therefore I would now that thou tell me what\ndifference there is between these, or what one certainly knoweth._\n\n_R._ _Knowest thou that thou didst learn the science which we call\ngeometry? In that science thou learnedst on a ball, or an apple, or a\npainted egg, that thou mightest by the painting understand the motion of\nthe heavens and the course of the stars. Knowest thou that thou didst\nlearn in the same science about a line drawn along the middle of the\nball? Knowest thou what was there taught thee about the positions of the\ntwelve stars and the path of the sun?_\n\n[Sidenote: 20.17--22.10]\n\n_A._ Yea; I know well enough what the line signifieth.\n\n_R._ _Now that thou sayest thou doubtest this no whit_, dost thou not\nfear the Academicians, _those philosophers who said that there was never\nanything certain beyond a doubt_?\n\n_A._ Nay; I do not fear them much, _for they said that there never was a\nwise man_. Therefore I am not at all ashamed not to be wise, for I know\nthat as yet I am not wise; but if I ever become as wise as they, then I\nwill do as they teach, _until I can say that I know without doubt what I\nseem to myself to know_.\n\n_R._ I do not object at all to thy doing so. But thou sayest thou\nknowest about the line _which was painted on the ball on which thou\nlearnedst the revolution of this heaven_; I would know whether thou also\nknowest about the ball _on which the line is drawn_.\n\n_A._ Yea; I know both. _No man can mistake that._\n\n_R._ Didst thou learn with the eyes or with the mind?\n\n_A._ With both: first with the eyes, then with the mind. The eyes\nbrought me to the understanding; but after I had perceived it, I left\noff looking with the eyes, and reflected, _for it seemed to me that I\ncould contemplate much more of it than I could see, after the eyes had\nfixed it in my mind. Just so a ship bringeth one over the sea; when he\ncometh ashore, he letteth the ship stand, for it seemeth to him that he\ncan travel more easily without it than with it._ However, it seemeth\neasier to me to travel by skiff on dry land than to learn any science\nwith the eyes, but without the reason--though the eyes must at times\ngive aid.\n\n_R._ _Therefore thou must needs look rightly with the eyes of the mind\nto God, just as the ship's anchor-cable is stretched direct from the\nship to the anchor, and fasten the eyes of thy mind on God, just as the\nanchor is fastened in the earth. Though the ship be out among the\nsea-billows, it will remain sound and unbroken if the cable holdeth,\nsince one end of it is fast to the earth and the other to the ship._\n\n[Sidenote: 22.11--24.7]\n\n_A._ _What is that which thou callest the mind's eyes?_\n\n_R._ _Reason, in addition to other virtues._\n\n_A._ _What are the other virtues?_\n\n_R._ _Wisdom, and humility, and honor, and moderation, and\nrighteousness, and mercy, and prudence, and constancy, and benevolence,\nand chastity, and abstinence. With these anchors thou art able to fasten\nto God the cable that shall hold the ship of thy mind._\n\n_A._ _May the Lord God make me entirely as thou teachest me [to be]. I\nwould if I could, but I can not understand how I shall be able to obtain\nthese anchors, or how I shall fasten them, except thou teach it to me\nmore clearly._\n\n_R._ _I could teach thee, but I ought first to ask thee how many of this\nworld's lusts thou hast renounced for God. After thou hast told me that,\nthen I can say to thee without any doubt that thou hast obtained so many\nof the anchors as thou hast renounced the lusts of the world._\n\n_A._ _How can I forsake that which I know and am familiar with, and have\nbeen used to from childhood, and love that which is unknown to me except\nby hearsay? Howbeit, I feel sure that if I knew what thou sayest about\nme as certainly as what I here see for myself, I would love that, and\ndespise this._\n\n_R._ _I wonder why thou speakest so. Suppose now if a letter with seal\nfrom thy lord should come to thee, canst thou say thou art not able to\nunderstand him by that, nor to recognise his will therein? If thou\nsayest that thou canst know his will therein, say then whether it\nseemeth to thee better to follow his will, or to follow after the wealth\nwhich he gave thee over and above his friendship._\n\n_A._ _Whether I will or not, I must speak truly, unless I am prepared to\nlie. If I lie, God knoweth it. Therefore I dare speak only the truth, so\nfar as I can know it. Methinks it is better to forsake the gift, and\nfollow the giver, who is to me the steward both of the riches and of his\nfriendship, unless I can have both. I should like, however, to have\nboth, if I could follow both the wealth and also his will._\n\n[Sidenote: 24.7--25.23]\n\n_R._ _Full rightly hast thou answered me, but I would ask thee whether\nthou supposest that thou canst have all that thou now hast without thy\nlord's friendship._\n\n_A._ _I do not suppose that any man is so foolish as to think that._\n\n_R._ _Thou understandest it rightly enough, but I would know whether\nthou thinkest that what thou hast is temporal or eternal._\n\n_A._ _I never supposed it to be eternal._\n\n_R._ _What thinkest thou about God and the anchors which we spake\nof--are they like these, or are they eternal?_\n\n_A._ _Who is so mad as to dare say that God is not eternal?_\n\n_R._ _If He is eternal, why lovest thou not the eternal Lord more than\nthe temporal? Lo, thou knowest that the Eternal will not leave thee,\nexcept thou go from Him; and thou must needs depart from the other\nwhether thou will or no; thou must either leave him, or he thee. Howbeit\nI perceive that thou lovest him very much, and also fearest and dost\nwell; very rightly and very becomingly thou dost. But I wonder why thou\ndost not love the Other much more, Him who giveth thee both the\nfriendship of the worldly lord and His own, and, after this world, life\neternal. The Lord is the ruler of you both--thine and thy lord's whom\nthou so immeasurably lovest._\n\n_A._ _I confess to thee that I would love Him above all other things, if\nI could understand and know Him as I would. But I can understand very\nlittle of Him, or nothing at all, and yet at times, when I think\ncarefully of Him, and any inspiration cometh to me about the eternal\nlife, then I by no means prefer this present life to that, nor even love\nit so much._\n\n_R._ _Wishest thou now to see Him and clearly understand Him?_\n\n_A._ _I have no wish above that._\n\n_R._ _Keep, then, His commandments._\n\n[Sidenote: 25.24--27.13]\n\n_A._ _What commandments?_\n\n_R._ _I named them to thee before._\n\n_A._ _Methinks they are very burdensome and very manifold._\n\n_R._ _What one loveth, methinks, is not burdensome._\n\n_A._ _Nor doth any work seem burdensome to me if I can see and have what\nI work for. But doubt begetteth heaviness._\n\n_R._ _Thou graspest it well enough in speech, and well enough thou\nunderstandest it._ But I can say to thee that I am the faculty of\nReason, which argueth with thee--the discursive faculty whose province\nit is to explain to thee in such wise that thou mayest see God with thy\nmind's eyes as clearly as thou now seest the sun with the eyes of the\nbody.\n\n_A._ _Almighty God reward thee! I am truly grateful for thy promise to\nteach it to me so clearly. Although I was ignorant, yet I emerge from\nthis condition to a clearer vision of Him_, if I come to see Him as I\nnow see the sun. _Howbeit I do not see the sun so clearly as I would\nlike to. I know very little better what the sun is, though I look on it\nevery day. Still it seemed good to me that I might thus clearly see\nGod._\n\n_R._ _Now consider very earnestly what I formerly said to thee._\n\n_A._ _I will, so much as possible._\n\n_R._ First know of a truth that the mind is the eye of the soul;\nsecondly, thou must know that it is needful for one to see what one\nlooketh at; the fourth is what one would see. For every one having eyes\nfirst looketh at that which he would see till he hath beheld it. When he\nhath beheld it then he truly seeth it. But thou must know that I who now\nspeak with thee am Reason, and I am to every human mind what looking is\nto the eyes. Three things it behooveth the eyes of every human body to\nhave; the fourth is what it seeketh and would draw to them. One is that\nthou hast and usest and lovest that which thou formerly didst hope for.\n\n[Sidenote: 27.13--29.13]\n\n_A._ _Alas! Shall I ever come to that which I hope for, or shall that\never come to me which I desire?_\n\n_R._ Add now love as a third besides faith and hope; for the eyes of no\nsoul are entirely sound--especially to see God with--if lacking these\nthree. Seeing, then, is knowing.\n\n_A._ If then there be sound eyes, that is, perfect understanding, what\nis then wanting to it, or what is more needful?\n\n_R._ The soul's vision is _Reason and Contemplation_. But many souls\nlook with these, and yet see not what they desire, because they have not\nentirely sound eyes. But he who wisheth to see God must have the eyes of\nhis mind whole; that is, he must have an abiding faith and a just hope\nand a full love. When he hath all these, then hath he life blessed and\neternal. The vision which we shall catch of God is knowledge. That\nknowledge is between two things--between that which understandeth and\nthat which is understood--and is fastened on both _even as love is\nbetween the lover and the one loved. On both it is fastened, as we said\nbefore concerning the anchor-cable that the one end was fast to the\nship, and the other to the land._\n\n_A._ _Then if it ever again happeneth that I can see God as thou now\nteachest me that I should behold Him, would I need all three of the\nthings that thou formerly spakest about, namely: faith and hope and\nlove?_\n\n[Sidenote: 29.13--30.27]\n\n_R._ What need then is there of faith, when one seeth that which he\nformerly exercised faith toward, and again knoweth that which he\nformerly hoped for? But love never waneth--it abideth greatly increased\nwhen the understanding is fixed on God; nor hath love ever any end.\n_Omni consummatione uidi finem; latum mandatum tuum nimis_:[6] _that is,\nof everything in the world I shall see the end, but the end of thy\ncommandments I shall never see_. That is the love about which he\nprophesied. But, although the soul be perfect and pure while it is in\nthe body, it can not see God as it desireth, because of the sorrow and\ntribulation of the body, except with much labor through faith and hope\nand love. _These are the three anchors which sustain the ship of the\nmind in the midst of the dashing of the waves. Yet the mind hath much\ncomfort because it believeth and clearly knoweth that the misfortunes\nand unhappiness of this world are not eternal. So the ship's master,[7]\nwhen the ship rideth most unsteadily at anchor and the sea is roughest,\nthen knoweth of a truth that calm weather is coming. Three things are\nneedful to the eyes of each soul: One is that they be whole; the second,\nthat they should look at what they would see; the third, that they may\nsee what they look at. For the three is God's help necessary, for one\ncan neither do good nor any thing without His aid. Therefore He is\nalways to be entreated that He be ever helpful; therefore also He\ninspireth us and inciteth us first to be well-wishing, and afterwards\nworketh with us that which He willeth till such time as we perfect it\nwith Him; and especially He worketh with us as with some powerful tool,\njust as it is written[8] that with each well-working person God is a\nco-worker. We know that no man can perform any good unless God work with\nhim; howbeit no man must be so idle as not to begin something through\nthe strength that God giveth him._\n\n    [6] Ps. 119. 96, inexactly quoted.\n\n    [7] Translating MS., _ho feut_, emended to _hl\u0101ford_ at the\n    suggestion of Professor Cook. Cf. translator's ed. of the OE.\n    version, 29. 20.\n\n    [8] 1 Cor. 3. 9.\n\n_A._ _Thou teachest me the right way. Now I know what I ought to do; but\nI do not know whether I can or can not._\n\n_R._ _Thou oughtest not to despair because thou canst not come at once\nto that which thou desirest for thyself. Can he who would learn a\nscience ever do so in a short time, a little more or a little less?\nThine is the science of all sciences, to wit, that one should seek after\nGod and look toward Him and see Him._\n\n[Sidenote: 30.27--32.7]\n\n_A._ _Well thou advisest me; but I recall what thou didst formerly\npromise me, and very joyfully I abide that promise; thou didst promise\nto teach me how to see God with the eyes of my mind as clearly as I now\nsee the sun with the eyes of my body._\n\n_R._ _Well thou remindest me; I will do for thee what I promised._ Call\nto mind now that thou canst see with thy body's eyes three things in\nregard to the sun: One is that it existeth; another, that it shineth;\nthe third, that it lighteth up many things with its shining. _All the\nthings which are bright, when the sun shineth on them, shine against it,\neach after its own kind. But those things which are not bright shine not\nagainst the sun, although it shineth on them. But the sun shineth,\nnevertheless, on them, and yet he who looketh toward it can not see it\nwholly just as it is. All this and more thou canst observe concerning\nGod. He is the high Sun. He always abideth, lighting up with His own\nlight both the sun which we see with bodily eyes and all creatures both\nspiritual and terrestrial. Therefore he seemeth to me a very foolish man\nwho wisheth to understand Him just as He is, while we are yet in this\nworld. Behold! I suppose that no one is so foolish that he becometh\nsorrowful because he can not see and understand, just as it is, the sun\nwhich we look at with corporeal eyes; but every one rejoiceth that at\nleast he can understand according to the measure of his understanding.\nHe doth well who desireth to understand the Eternal and Almighty Sun;\nbut he doth very foolishly, if he wisheth to know Him perfectly while he\nis in this world._\n\n_A._ _Very wonderfully and very truly thou teachest, and very much thou\nhast comforted me and brought me into good hope._ But I pray still for\nwhat thou aforetime didst promise me.\n\n_R._ Two things I promised that I would accomplish _and teach thee, to\nwit, to understand God and thyself. But I would know how thou desirest\nto understand that--whether thou wouldst believe without experience, or\nknow by experience._\n\n[Sidenote: 32.8--33.19]\n\n_A._ _I would know it by experience, for I know nothing of it surely._\n\n_R._ That is no wonder. I did not explain it to thee in such wise that\nthou couldst know it by experience; for there is yet something which\nthou must first know, to wit, whether we both are whole.\n\n_A._ Thou must know whether thou findest any health, either in me, or in\nthyself, or in us both. _It becometh thee to teach and me to listen; and\nit becometh me to answer what I understand according to the measure of\nmy understanding, if so be I understand it at all; if I do not\nunderstand it at all, then must I admit it and leave it to thy\njudgment._\n\n_R._ Wishest thou to know more than about God and thyself?\n\n_A._ I answer thee that I do not _wish anything_ more earnestly; but I\ndare not promise thee that I shall not desire any thing else than that;\nfor it is verily hidden from me, albeit something cometh into my mind\nwhich, methinks, nothing can hinder me from furthering and performing.\nWhen another thing cometh which seemeth to me more right and reasonable,\nthen I leave off that which I formerly held enough; and therefore at\ntimes it happeneth that something is so fixed in my mind, that I think I\nshall never let it go so long as I live. Howbeit there cometh to me then\nsome trouble which occupieth me so that I can never leave it, nor can I\nperform it although I can not think of any better [thing to be done].[9]\nBut three things have troubled me most: One is, I fear that I must part\nwith my friends whom I love most, _or they with me--either for life or\nfor death_; the second is, I fear sickness, _both the known and the\nunknown_; the third is, I fear death.\n\n    [9] Supplied by translator.\n\n_R._ _I hear now what thou lovest most next to thine own reason and\nGod_: They are, the life of thy friends, and thine own health, and thine\nown life. _Of these five things thou art afraid that thou shalt lose\nsome, because thou lovest them all very much._ If thou didst not love\nthem, then thou hadst not dreaded that thou wouldst lose them.\n\n[Sidenote: 33.19--35.8]\n\n_A._ I admit what thou sayest to me.\n\n_R._ Therefore methinks that I see thee very sad and greatly cast down\nin thy mind, because thou hast not such health as thou hadst; nor hast\nthou all thy friends with thee _so agreeable and harmonious as thou\nwouldst. Nor doth it seem to me any wonder that thou art sad for that\nreason._\n\n_A._ Thou understandest it rightly; I can not gainsay that.\n\n_R._ If then it ever happen that thou shalt find thyself full whole and\nfull strong, and hast all thy friends with thee, both in mind and in\nbody, _and in that same work and in that same will which pleaseth thee\nbest to do_, wilt thou then be happy at all?\n\n_A._ Yea, verily; if it should now suddenly happen, I do not know _how\non earth_ I would begin.\n\n_R._ Hast thou not then still some trouble, such as immoderate sorrow,\neither of mind or of body--seeing now thou hast those two things? Wert\nthou, therefore, foolish in heart, when thou didst wish that thou\nshouldst see with such eyes the high and everlasting Sun?\n\n_A._ Now thou hast overcome me withal, so that I by no means know how\nmuch of health I have, nor how much of sickness.\n\n_R._ That is no wonder. No man hath such sound eyes that he can look any\nlength of time toward the sun which we here see, much less if he have\nweak eyes. But those that have weak eyes can be more at ease in the\ndarkness than in the light. Methinks, though, that it seemeth to thee\nthat thou hast sound eyes. _Thou thinkest of the health of thy soul's\neyes, but thou dost not think of the great light which thou wishest to\nsee. Be not wroth with me, albeit I question thee and examine thee, for\nI needs must do that. Methinks thou dost not understand thyself._\n\n[Sidenote: 35.9--37.3]\n\n_A._ _I am in no wise wroth with thee, but rejoice in what thou sayest,\nbecause I know that thou seekest my good._\n\n_R._ Wishest thou any wealth?\n\n_A._ Long ago I resolved that I should despise it. I am now three and\nthirty years old, and I was one less than twenty when I first resolved\nthat I would not love wealth overmuch. Though enough should come to me,\nI would not rejoice very much, _nor enjoy it too immoderately, nor would\nI gain more to keep than I could fitly make use of, and keep and support\nthe men on, whom I must help_; and the residue I think as orderly to\ndivide as I best am able so to do.\n\n_R._ Wishest thou any honor?\n\n_A._ I confess to thee that I did wish that till recently desire failed.\n\n_R._ Desirest thou not a beautiful wife, and withal modest and well\ninstructed and of good manners and subject to thy will, and one who hath\nmuch substance and would not engross thee in any thing, nor hinder thee\nfrom enjoying leisure at thy will?\n\n_A._ Dost thou not praise her overmuch that I may wish her all the more?\nFor methinks there is nothing worse for him _that willeth to serve God\nthan to take a wife--though some one hath said_ that it is better to\ntake one for the rearing of children. Howbeit I say that _it is better\nfor priests not to have a wife. Therefore I decided that I would take\nnone, because I wished to be the freer to serve God_.\n\n_R._ I hear now that thou dost not think to take a wife; but I would\nknow whether thou still hast any love or lust _after any uncleanness_.\n\n_A._ _Why askest thou more about that?_ I do not now desire that; but if\nlust ever cometh to me, I dread it _as an adder_. Ever the less is my\ndesire for it, and ever the more I wish to see the light, even as I lust\nthe less after this manner.\n\n_R._ How about food? How much dost thou desire that?\n\n[Sidenote: 37.4--39.13]\n\n_A._ I desire none of those meats which I have renounced; I desire those\nwhich I have thought right to eat, when I see them. What shall I say\nmore either about meat, or drink, or baths, _or riches, or honor, or any\nworldly lusts_? Nor do I wish any more of these than I shall need to\nhave for my bodily comfort and to keep my strength. _Howbeit I need much\nmore for the wants of those men which I must take care of, and moreover\nthis I needs must have._\n\n_R._ Thou art right. But I would know whether thy old _covetousness and\ngreediness be entirely extirpated and uprooted from thy mind, so that it\ncan not still grow_.\n\n_A._ _Why askest thou that?_\n\n_R._ I speak of the things which thou before saidst to me that thou\nhadst decided to leave off and for nothing would turn back to again,\nnamely: overmuch wealth, and _immoderate honor, and inordinately rich\nand luxurious living_; and therefore I now ask whether, either for the\nlove of them or for the love of any thing, thou wilt return to them\nagain. I heard formerly that thou saidst that thou lovedst thy friends,\nnext to God and thine own reason, above other things. Now I would know\nwhether thou, for their love, wouldst lay hold of these things again.\n\n_A._ I will lay hold of all again for their love, if I can not else have\ntheir companionship--_yet it doth not please me so to do_.\n\n_R._ Very reasonably thou dost answer me and very rightly. _Howbeit I\nunderstand that the lusts of the world are not entirely uprooted from\nthy mind, although the trench be prepared; for the roots can sprout\nthence again._ Yet I impute that not to thee as a fault, for thou layest\nhold of it not for the love of those things but for the love of this\nthing which it is more right to love than that. _I never ask about any\nman, what he doth; but yet I ask thee now why thou lovest thy friends so\nmuch, or what thou lovest in them, or whether thou lovest them for their\nown sake or for some other thing._\n\n[Sidenote: 39.14--41.19]\n\n_A._ I love them for friendship and for companionship, _and above all\nothers I love those who most help me to understand and to know reason\nand wisdom, most of all about God and about our souls; for I know that I\ncan more easily seek after Him with their help than I can without_.\n\n_R._ How then if they do not wish to inquire _after the One whom thou\nseekest_?\n\n_A._ I shall teach them so that they will.\n\n_R._ But how then if thou canst not, and if they be so foolish as to\nlove other things more than that which thou lovest, and say that they\ncan not or will not?\n\n_A._ _I, nevertheless, will have them_: they will be helpful to me in\nsome things and I likewise to them.\n\n_R._ But how then if they disturb thee, _and if the infirmities of the\nbody hinder thee_?\n\n_A._ That is true; _howbeit I would not fear at all the infirmities, if\nit were not for three things: One of these is heavy sorrow; another is\ndeath; the third is that I can not seek nor truly find what I desire\njust as thou madest me know_. Toothache hindered me from all learning,\nbut yet it did not altogether snatch from me the remembrance of that\nwhich I formerly learned. Howbeit I suppose, if I should understand\ncertainly that which I yearn to understand, sorrow would seem to me very\nlittle, or else naught, compared with faith. Yet I know many a pain is\nmuch sharper than toothache, albeit I never suffered any sharper. I\nlearned that Cornelius Celsus taught _in his books_ that in every man\nwisdom is the highest good and sickness the greatest evil. The saying\nappeareth to me very true. Concerning the same thing the same Cornelius\nsaith: 'Of two things we are what we are, to wit, of soul and of body.\n_The soul is spiritual, and the body earthy._ The best faculty of the\nsoul is wisdom, and the worst affliction of the body is sickness.'\nMethinks moreover that this is not false.\n\n[Sidenote: 41.19--43.12]\n\n_R._ Have we not now shown clearly enough that wisdom is the highest\ngood? Is it not also beyond a doubt that it is to every man the best of\nall the virtues? And is it not his best work to search after wisdom,\nand love it whenever he findeth it? But I would that we two might now\nsearch out who the lovers of this wisdom should be. _Dost thou not know\nthat every man who loveth another very much liketh better to caress and\nkiss the other on the bare body than where the clothes come between? Now\nI understand that thou lovest wisdom very much, and wishest so much to\nknow and feel it naked that thou wouldst not that any cloth were\nbetween; but it will seldom so openly reveal itself to any man. At those\ntimes when it will show any limb thus bare, it doth so to very few men;\nbut I know not how thou canst receive it with gloved hands. Thou must\nalso place the bare body against it, if thou wilt feel it._ But tell me\nnow, if thou lovedst a certain beautiful woman very immoderately and\nabove all other things, and if she _fled from thee_ and would\nreciprocate thy love on no other condition than that thou wouldst\nrenounce every other love for hers alone, _wouldst thou then do as she\nwished_?\n\n_A._ Alas! what a hard thing thou dost enjoin upon me! _Didst thou not\nformerly admit that I loved nothing above wisdom, and moreover I too\nadmitted it, albeit thou saidst then that_ whoever loveth one thing for\nthe sake of another, he doth not of a truth love that former thing for\nwhich he professeth love, _but really that for which he loved the former\nthing and thought to obtain it_. Therefore I assert that I love wisdom\nfor no other thing than for its own sake. I love all the world--each\nthing as I consider it profitable, and especially that thing most which\nhelpeth me to wisdom; and moreover those things which I fear most to\nlose. Howbeit I do not love any thing else in such wise as I love\nwisdom. Every thing which I love most I grant, while I love it most, to\nno man but to myself, _except wisdom alone_. It I love above all other\nthings, and yet of my free will I would grant it to every man, so that\nall who are on this earth might love it and search after it, yea, find\nit, and then use it; for I know that each of us would love the other by\nso much more as our will and our love were more in unison.\n\n[Sidenote: 43.13--44.24]\n\n_R._ _Said I not formerly that he who would feel the bare body must feel\nit with bare hands? And I say also, if thou wilt behold wisdom itself\nthus bare, that thou must not allow any cloth between thine eyes and it,\nnor even any mist; albeit to that thou canst not come in this present\nlife, though I enjoin it upon thee, and though thou wish it._ Wherefore\nno man ought to despair, though he have not so sound eyes as he who can\nlook the sharpest; even he who can look the sharpest of all can not\nhimself see the sun just as it is while he is in this present life. Yet\nno man hath such weak eyes that he can not live by the sun and use it,\nif he can see at all, unless he be purblind. _Moreover, I can teach unto\nthee other parables about wisdom. Consider now whether any man seeketh\nthere the king's home where he is in town, or his court, or his army, or\nwhether it seemeth to thee that they all must come thither by the same\nroad; on the contrary, I suppose they would come by very many roads:\nsome would come from afar, and would have a road very long and very bad\nand very difficult; some would have a very long and very direct and very\ngood road; some would have a very short and yet hard and strait and foul\none; some would have a short and smooth and good one; and yet they all\nwould come to one and the same lord, some more easily, some with more\ndifficulty; neither do they come thither with like ease, nor are they\nthere alike at ease. Some are in more honor and in more ease than\nothers; some in less, some almost without, except the one that he\nloveth. So is it likewise with wisdom. Each one who wisheth it and who\nanxiously prayeth for it, he can come to it and abide in its household\nand live near it; yet some are nearer it, others farther from it; just\nso is every king's court: some dwell in cottages, some in halls, some on\nthe threshing-floor, some in prison; and yet they all live by the favor\nof one lord, just as all men live under one sun, and by its light see\nwhat they see. Some look very carefully and very clearly; some see with\ngreat difficulty; others are stark blind, yet use the sun. But just as\nthe visible sun lighteth the eyes of our body, so wisdom lighteth the\neyes of our mind, which is our understanding. And just as the eyes of\nthe body are more sound, thus to use more of the sun's light_, so is it\nalso with the mind's eyes, that is, the understanding: just by so much\nas that is sounder, by so much more may it see the eternal sun, which is\nwisdom. Every man that hath sound eyes needeth no other guide nor\nteacher to see the sun, except health. If he hath sound eyes, he may\nhimself look at the sun. On the contrary, if he hath unsound eyes, then\nhe needeth that one teach him to look first on the wall, then on gold,\nand on silver; when he can more easily look on that, [then let him\nlook][10] on fire, before he looketh at the sun. Then after he hath\nlearned that his eyes do not at all avoid the fire, let him look on the\nstars and on the moon, then on sunshine, before he looketh on the sun\nitself. And just so with the other sun that we formerly spake of, that\nis, wisdom. He who wisheth to see it with his mind's eyes must begin\nvery gradually, and then little by little mount nearer and nearer by\nsteps, _just as if he were climbing on a ladder and wished to ascend\nsome sea-cliff. If he then ever cometh up on the cliff, he may look both\nover the shore and over the sea, which then lieth beneath him, and also\nover the land that formerly was above him._ But if it seemeth good to\nus, let us stop here for this day, and to-morrow seek further after the\nsame thing which we before sought after.\n\n    [10] Supplied by translator.\n\n[Sidenote: 44.25--46.10]\n\n_A._ _Nay, not at all; but I humbly pray thee that thou weary not, nor\nleave off the conversation here; but say somewhat more clearly about it\nso that I may more clearly feel and understand something concerning this\nwisdom, and bid me what thou wilt._ I will understand it, if it lies in\nmy power.\n\n_R._ I know not anything to command thee of which thou hast more need\nfor the science which thou wishest to know, than that thou despise, so\nmuch as thou art able, worldly honors, _and especially intemperate and\nunlawful ones_, because I fear that they may bind thy mind to themselves\nand take it with their snare, just as one catcheth wild beasts or\nfowls, so that thou canst not accomplish what thou wishest; for I know\nthat the freer thou art from the things of this world, the more clearly\nthou shalt understand about the wisdom which thou desirest; and if it\never happen that thou canst so entirely forsake them that thou desirest\nnaught of them, then shall I be able to say to thee forsooth (believe me\nif thou wilt), that in that very hour thou shalt know all that thou\nwishest now to know, and shalt have all that thou wishest to have.\n\n[Sidenote: 46.10--48.6]\n\n_A._ When shall that be? I do not believe that it will ever be that I\nshall not yearn at all after this world's honors, unless one thing\nhappen, namely: that I see _those honors which thou promisest me.\nHowbeit I know not that it would please me so well to yearn no more\nafter this world's honors._\n\n_R._ Now methinks thou dost not answer me with reason. Methinks that\nthou speakest very much as if thine eyes should say to thy mind: 'We\nwill never avoid the darkness of the night until we can see the sun\nitself.' Thus, methinks, the eyes do, if they avoid that part of the\nsun's light which they can see. It can not happen even to the soundest\nof all eyes that they can look from this world and see the sun as it is.\nBy this thou mayest conclude that thou oughtest not to sigh though thou\ncanst not see wisdom naked with the eyes of thy mind just as it is; for\nthou canst never do that _while thou art in the darkness of thy sins.\nBut enjoy the wisdom which thou hast, and have joy in the part which\nthou canst understand, and seek more with thy whole heart. Wisdom itself\nknoweth what thou art worthy of, and how much it may show itself to\nthee. There is naught worse in a man than to suppose that he is worthy\nof what he is not. The physician knoweth better than the sick whether he\ncan be healed or not, or whether he can be healed by mild or by severe\ntreatment. Therefore thou must not excuse thyself too much, nor sigh too\nmuch after aught. The eyes of thy mind are not so wholly sound as thou\ndost suppose._\n\n[Sidenote: 48.7--49.18]\n\n_A._ Cease, O cease! Do not vex me, nor increase my sorrow. Enough have\nI, though thou increase it not. _Thou seekest it at times so high, at\ntimes so deep, that I understand now that I am not such as I supposed,\nbut I am ashamed that I supposed that which was not. Truly enough thou\nhast said. The Physician_ whom I wish to heal me knoweth how _sound my\neyes_ are. He knoweth what He wisheth to show me. To Him I commit\nmyself, and to His goodness I entrust myself. May He do unto me\naccording to His will! On Him I call, that He may make fast my soul to\nHim. I will never again say that I have _sound eyes until I see wisdom\nitself_.\n\n_R._ I know no better advice for thee than thou formerly saidst. But\nleave off woe and sorrow, _and be measurably happy_. Thou wert formerly\ntoo immoderately sorrowful, _for sorrow injureth both mind and body_.\n\n_A._ Thou wouldst restrain my weeping and my sorrow, and still I\nperceive no limit to my misery and misfortunes. Thou bidst me leave off\nsorrow lest I, _either in mind_ or in body, be weaker; yet I find no\nstrength, _either in mind_ or body, but am full nigh in despair. But I\nbeseech thee, if thou in any wise canst, to lead me by some shorter way,\nsomewhat nearer the light _of the understanding_ which I long ago\ndesired and yet could not come by in my ignorance; notwithstanding that\nI may afterwards be ashamed to look again toward the darkness which I\nformerly desired to forsake, if ever I draw nigh to the light.\n\n_R._ Let us now end this book here properly, and name a shorter way in\nanother book, if we can.\n\n_A._ Nay, nay; let us not leave this book yet until I am able to\nunderstand that which we are after.\n\n_R._ Methinks I ought to do as thou bidst me. Something draweth me on, I\nknow not what, _but I surmise it is the God thou seekest after_.\n\n_A._ _Thanks be to Him that adviseth thee, and to thee also, if thou\npraise Him._ Lead whither thou wilt: _I will follow after thee if I\ncan_.\n\n[Sidenote: 49.19--52.2]\n\n_R._ Methinks thou desirest still to know that same thing about God and\nthy soul which thou didst formerly desire.\n\n_A._ Yea, that alone I desire.\n\n_R._ Wishest thou aught more? Wishest thou not to know truth?\n\n_A._ How can I, without truth, know aught of truth, _or what wilt thou\nsay, without truth, that God is? For we hear it read in the Gospel that\nChrist said that He is the way, the truth, and the life._\n\n_R._ Rightly thou sayest; but I would know whether it seemeth to thee\nthat the true and truth are one [and the same thing].\n\n_A._ Two things, methinks, they are, _just as wisdom is one thing, and\nthat which is wise is another_; and likewise chastity is one thing, and\nthat which is chaste is another.\n\n_R._ Which, then, doth seem to thee better, the true or truth?\n\n_A._ Truth; for all that is true is so because of truth; and every thing\nthat is chaste is so because of chastity; _and he who is wise is so\nbecause of wisdom_.\n\n_R._ _Thanks be to God that thou understandest it so well. Howbeit I\nwould know whether thou suppose, if a wise man were dead, wisdom would\nbe dead._ Or again, if a chaste man were dead, chastity would be dead.\nOr if a truthful man were dead, would truth then be dead.\n\n_A._ Nay, nay, verily; that can not come to pass.\n\n_R._ _Well dost thou understand it._ But I would know whether thou\nsuppose that wisdom is gone, or chastity, or truth, when the man passeth\naway; _or whence they formerly came, or where they are, if they exist?\nOr whether they be corporeal, or spiritual?_ For no man doubteth that\nevery thing that is existeth somewhere.\n\n_A._ _Very searching is thy question, and pleasant for him to know who\ncan know it. What is wanting to him who knoweth that?_\n\n_R._ _Canst thou recognize the righteous and the unrighteous?_\n\n[Sidenote: 52.3--53.19]\n\n_A._ _Yea, to some extent; not, however, as I would. But I would like to\nknow what thou formerly didst ask._\n\n_R._ _I wonder why thou hast so completely forgotten what thou only a\nlittle before didst admit that thou knewest._ Didst thou not say before\nthat thou knewest truth to be eternal, although the true man passed\naway? And now thou sayest, 'If it existeth.'\n\n_A._ That same thing I say still. I know that it abideth, although the\ntrue man passeth away.\n\n_R._ All that is true abideth while it doth exist; _but that which thou\ncallest truth is God. He ever was, and ever will be, immortal and\neternal. God hath all knowledge in Himself sound and perfect. He hath\nmade two eternal things, to wit, angels and men's souls, to which He\ngave some portion of eternal gifts, such as wisdom and righteousness,\nand many others which it seemeth to us too numerous to count. To angels\nHe giveth according to their capacity, and to the souls of men He giveth\ngifts according to the capacity of each. These same they need never\nlose, for they are everlasting, and to men He giveth many and divers\ngood gifts in this world, although they be not eternal. Howbeit they are\nserviceable while we are in this world. Dost thou yet understand that\nsouls are immortal? If thou hast understood it, do not conceal it from\nme, but confess it. If it is otherwise, tell me then._\n\n_A._ _Thanks be to God_ for the part I know. I will now consider this\nand hold it as I best can, and if I have doubts about any thing, I will\npromptly tell them to thee.\n\n_R._ Believe firmly in God, and commit thyself wholly to God, and seek\nnot too much the fulfilling of thine own will above His; but be His\nservant, not thine own; and confess that thou art His servant. Then He\nwill raise thee ever nearer and nearer to himself, and will not let any\nadversity befall thee. Howbeit if He permit any adversity to befall\nthee, it will be for thy good, although thou canst not understand it.\n\n[Sidenote: 53.20--54.6]\n\n_A._ That I both hear and believe, _and this instruction I will follow\nas I best can_, and will pray God that I may fulfil it _as thou long ago\ndidst instruct me; do thou now teach me, if thou wilt_.\n\n_R._ Do this for me first, and _tell me again, after thou hast studied\nthis, what thou likest of this; and if thou doubtest aught about any of\nthese things, then tell it to me_.\n\n\n_Here endeth the anthology of the first book._\n\n\n\n\nBOOK II\n\n\n_Here beginneth the anthology of the second book._\n\n\n_A._ Alas! Long have we been unoccupied, yet we have not sought after\n_what thou didst promise me_.\n\n_R._ _Let us make amends for it_; let us carry it forward into another\nbook.\n\n_A._ Yea, let us indeed.\n\n_R._ Let us believe that God is our Helper.\n\n_A._ Truly would I that we believed it, if I had power. _But methinks\nfaith is not in our power, in such measure as we seek, unless_ God give\nit to us.\n\n_R._ _Both faith and all the good that we shall have. Therefore I know\nnot what else we can do without His help. Howbeit I advise thee that\nthou begin it._ Pray in as few words as thou most sincerely canst, _and\nask for that which is and may be most needful for thee_.\n\n_A._ _Then said I_: 'Lord, Lord, Thou who remainest unchangeable, grant\nme these _two things which I always wished_, to wit, that I may\nunderstand Thee and myself.' _Now I have done as thou didst instruct\nme_; truly have I prayed.\n\n_R._ _Now I hear what thou wishest to know. Howbeit I would first learn\nfrom thee whether thou knowest without doubt_ that thou dost exist or\nnot; _or that thou dost live or dost not live_.\n\n_A._ _These are two things which_ I certainly know.\n\n_R._ What now wishest thou to know?\n\n_A._ Whether I be immortal.\n\n_R._ I hear that thou wouldst live always.\n\n_A._ That I confess.\n\n_R._ Wilt thou, then, know enough if I cause thee to know that thou\nmayest live always?\n\n[Sidenote: 56.13--58.22]\n\n_A._ That is a very good desire; _yet say what I ask thee about: whether\nI shall live always; and then I would know whether I, after the parting\nof the body and the soul, shall ever know more than I now know of all\nthat which I have long wished to know; for I can not find any thing\nbetter in man than that he know, and nothing worse than that he be\nignorant_.\n\n_R._ Now I know all that thou wishest: One thing is, thou wouldst exist;\nanother, thou wouldst live; the third, thou wouldst know. And I know\nalso why thou wishest these three things: Thou wouldst exist in order to\nlive, and thou wouldst live in order to know. And these three things I\nhear that thou certainly knowest: Thou knowest that thou art, and thou\nknowest that thou livest, and thou also knowest that thou knowest\nsomething, albeit thou knowest not all that thou wouldst know.\n\n_A._ That is true. _These three things I know, and these three things I\ndesire. I would exist in order that I may live. What would I care\nwhether I existed, if I lived not? Or what would I care for life, if I\nknew nothing?_\n\n_R._ _Now I hear that thou lovest all that thou dost love on account of\nthese three things, and I know also which of the three things thou\nlovest most. Thou lovest to exist because thou wouldst live, and thou\nwouldst live in order to know. Thus I perceive that thou lovest wisdom\nabove all other things. That, methinks, is the highest good, and also\nthy God._\n\n_A._ _Truth thou sayest to me. What is the highest wisdom other than the\nhighest good? Or what is the highest good except that every man in this\nworld love God as much as he loveth wisdom--whether he love it much, or\nlittle, or moderately? So much as he loveth wisdom, so much doth he love\nGod._\n\n_R._ _Very rightly thou hast understood it. But I would we began again\nwhere we were before. Now thou knowest that thou art, and that thou\nlivest, and that thou knowest something, albeit not so much as thou\nwouldst; and a fourth thing thou wouldst also know, to wit, whether the\nthree things all be eternal or not, or whether any of them be eternal;\nor, if they are all eternal, whether any of them after this world in the\neternal life shall either become worse or wane._\n\n[Sidenote: 58.22--59.27]\n\n_A._ _All my yearning hast thou understood very well._\n\n_R._ _About what doubtest thou now? Didst thou not before confess that\nGod is eternal and almighty, and hath created two rational and eternal\ncreatures, as we before said, namely: angels and men's souls, to which\nHe hath given eternal gifts? These gifts they need never lose. If thou\nnow rememberest this and believest this, then knowest thou beyond doubt\nthat thou art, and always wilt be, and always wilt love, and always wilt\nknow something, albeit thou mayest not know all that thou wouldst. Now\nthou knowest about those three things that thou askedst about, namely:\n(1) Whether thou art immortal; (2) Whether thou shalt know something\nthroughout eternity; (3) Whether thou, after the parting of the body and\nthe soul, shalt know more than thou now knowest, or less. After the\nfourth we shall still seek--now that thou knowest the three--until thou\nalso know that._\n\n_A._ _Very orderly thou dost explain it, but I will yet say to thee what\nI firmly believe, and about what I yet doubt. I do not doubt at all\nabout God's immortality and about His omnipotence, for it can not be\nelse respecting the trinity and the unity, which was without beginning\nand is without end. Therefore I can not otherwise believe, for He hath\ncreated so great and so many and so wonderful visible creatures; and He\nruleth them all and directeth them all, and at one time adorneth them\nwith the most winsome appearances, while at another time He taketh away\ntheir adornments and beauties. He ruleth the kings who have the most\npower on this earth--who like all men are born, and also perish like\nother men. Then He letteth them rule while He willeth. For such and for\nmany such things I do not know how I can doubt His eternity; and also\nabout the life of our souls I do not now doubt any more. But I doubt yet\nabout the eternity of souls, whether they are immortal._\n\n[Sidenote: 59.28--60.29]\n\n_R._ _About what dost thou doubt? Are not all the holy books well nigh\nfull of the immortality of the soul? But methinks that too long to\nenumerate now in full, and too long for thee to hear._\n\n_A._ _I have heard a good deal of it, and I also believe it; but I\ndesire rather to know it than to believe it._\n\n_R._ _I wonder why thou yearnest to know so very much and so certainly\nwhat no man in the prison of this present life ever so certainly could\nknow as thou wishest, although many yearn to understand it more clearly\nin this present life than many others believe it from the sayings of\nthese and truthful men. No one can ever understand all that he would,\ntill the soul be parted from the body; nor indeed before Doomsday so\nclearly as he would. And yet the holy Fathers that were before us knew\nvery truly about that which thou before didst ask, to wit, about the\nimmortality of men's souls, which was so clear to them that they had no\ndoubt, since they despised this present life[11] ... they would be\nparted; and just as they endured the greatest torments in this world, so\nthey would afterward have the greater reward in the eternal life.\nThrough the sayings of such men we should infer that we can not\nunderstand it as clearly as they could; howbeit as regards the\nimmortality of the soul, if thou dost not yet assent to it, I will make\nthee to understand it, and I will also cause thee to be ashamed that\nthou understoodest it so slowly._\n\n    [11] A break in the MS.\n\n_A._ _Even so do! Cause me to be ashamed therefor._\n\n_R._ _Behold, I know that thou hast to-day the lord whom thou trustest\nin all things better than thyself; and so also hath many a servant who\nhath a less powerful lord than thou hast; and I know that thou hast also\nmany friends whom thou trustest well enough, though thou dost not trust\nthem altogether so well as thou dost thy lord. How seemeth it to thee\nnow, if thy lord should tell thee some news which thou never before\nheardest, or if he should say to thee that he saw something which thou\nnever sawest? Doth it seem to thee that thou wouldst doubt his\nstatement at all, because thou didst not see it thyself?_\n\n[Sidenote: 60.29--61.29]\n\n_A._ _Nay, nay, verily; there is no story so incredible that I would not\nbelieve it, if he should tell it. Yea, I even have many companions,\nwhom, if they should say that they themselves saw or heard it, I would\nbelieve just as well as if I myself saw or heard it._\n\n_R._ _I hear now that thou believest thy lord better than thyself, and\nthy companions quite as well as thyself. Thou dost very rightly and very\nreasonably, in that thou hast such good faith in them. But I would that\nthou shouldst tell me whether Honorius, the son of Theodosius, seem to\nthee wiser or more truthful than Christ, the Son of God._\n\n_A._ _Nay, verily nay; nowhere near! But methinks that it is difficult\nfor thee to compare them together. Honorius is very good, although his\nfather was better; the latter was very devout and very prudent and very\nrightly of my lord's kin; and so is he who still liveth there. I will\nhonor them just as a man should a worldly lord, and the others of whom\nthou didst formerly speak just as their masters, and as one should the\nking who is the King of all kings, and the Creator and Ruler of all\ncreatures._\n\n_R._ _Now I hear that the Almighty God pleaseth thee better than\nTheodosius; and Christ, the Son of God, better than Honorius, the son of\nTheodosius. I blame thee not that thou lovest both, but I advise thee to\nlove the higher lords more, for they know all that they wish and can\nperform all that they wish._\n\n_A._ _All that thou sayest is true. I believe it all._\n\n_R._ _Now I hear that thou trustest the higher lord better. But I would\nknow whether it seem to thee that thy worldly lords have wiser and truer\nservants than the higher lords have. Trustest thou now thyself and thy\ncompanions better than thou dost the Apostles, who were the servants of\nChrist Himself? Or the Patriarchs? Or the Prophets, through whom God\nHimself spake to His people what He would?_\n\n_A._ _Nay, nay; I trust not ourselves so well, nor anywhere near, as I\ndo them._\n\n[Sidenote: 61.30--62.30]\n\n_R._ _What spake God then more often, or what said He more truly through\nHis Prophets to His people than about the immortality of souls? Or what\nspake the Apostles and all the holy Fathers more truly if not about the\neternity of souls and about their immortality? Or what meant Christ,\nwhen He said in His Gospel: 'The unrighteous shall go into eternal\ntorments, and the righteous into eternal life'? Now thou hearest what\nsaid Christ and His Apostles; and I heard before that thou didst doubt\nnothing of the word of Honorius and his servants. Why doubtest thou,\nthen, about the words of Christ, the Son of God, and those of the\nApostles, which they themselves uttered? They spake to us more of such\nlike words than we can count, and with many examples and proofs they\nexplained it to us. Why canst thou, then, not believe them all, and why\nsaidst thou before that thou wert their man?_\n\n_A._ _So I say still, and say that I believe them, and also know exactly\nthat it is all true that God either through Himself or through them\nsaid; for there are more of these occurrences in the holy books than I\ncan ever count. Therefore I am now ashamed that I ever doubted about it,\nand I confess that I am rightly convinced, and I shall always be much\nhappier when thou dost convince me of such things than I ever was when I\nconvinced another man. All this I knew, however, before; but I forgot\nit, as I fear also that I shall this. I know also that I had so clean\nforgotten it that I should never have remembered it again, if thou hadst\nnot cited me clearer examples, both about my lord and about many\nparables._\n\n_R._ _I wonder why thou couldst ever suppose that men's souls were not\neternal, for thou clearly enough knewest that they are the highest and\nthe most blessed of the creatures of God; and thou knowest also clearly\nenough that He alloweth no creature entirely to pass away so that it\ncometh to naught--not even the most unworthy of all. But He beautifieth\nand adorneth all creatures, and again taketh away their beauty and\nadornments, and yet again reneweth them. They all so change, however,\nthat they pass away, and suddenly come again and return to that same\nbeauty and to the same winsomeness for the children of men, in which\nthey were before Adam sinned. Now thou canst perceive that no creature\nso fully passeth away that it cometh not again, nor so fully perisheth\nthat it doth not become something. Now that the weakest creatures do not\npass away entirely, why then supposest thou that the most blessed\ncreature should entirely depart?_\n\n[Sidenote: 62.30--63.34]\n\n_A._ _Alas! I am beset with wretched forgetfulness, so that I can not\nremember it as well as before. Methinks now that thou hadst explained it\nto me clearly enough by this one example, though thou hadst said nothing\nmore._\n\n_R._ _Seek now in thyself the examples and the signs, and thou canst\nknow well what thou before wouldst know, and what I explained to thee by\nthe concrete examples. Ask thine own mind why it is so desirous and so\nzealous to know what was formerly, before thou wert born, or ever thy\ngrandfather was born; and ask it also why it knoweth what is now present\nand what it seeth and heareth every day; or why it wisheth to know what\nshall be hereafter. Then I suppose it will answer thee, if it is\ndiscreet, and say that it desireth to know what was before us for the\nreason that it always existed since the time that God created the first\nman; and therefore aspireth to what it formerly was, to know what it\nformerly knew, although it is now so heavily weighed with the burden of\nthe body that it can not know what it formerly knew. And I suppose that\nit will say to thee that it knoweth what it here seeth and heareth,\nbecause it is here in this world; and I suppose also that it will say\nthat it wisheth to know what shall happen after our days, because it\nknoweth that it shall ever be._\n\n_A._ _Methinks now that thou hast clearly enough said that every man's\nsoul ever is, and ever shall be, and ever was since God first made the\nfirst man._\n\n_R._ _There is no doubt that souls are immortal. Believe thine own\nreason, and believe Christ, the Son of God, and believe all His\nsayings, because they are very reliable witnesses; and believe thine own\nsoul, which always saith to thee through its reason that it is in thee;\nit saith also that it is eternal, because it wisheth eternal things. It\nis not so foolish a creature as to seek that which it can not find, nor\nwish for that which doth not belong to it. Give over now thy foolish\ndoubting. Clear enough it is that thou art eternal and shalt ever\nexist._\n\n[Sidenote: 63.34--64.35]\n\n_A._ _That I hear and that I believe and clearly know, and I am rejoiced\nas I never was at anything. Now I hear that my soul is eternal and ever\nliveth, and that the mind shall ever hold all that my mind and my reason\ngathered of good virtues. And I hear also that my intellect is eternal.\nBut I wish yet to know what I before asked about the intellect: whether\nit shall, after the parting of the body and the soul, wax or wane, or\nshall stand still in one place, or do as it before did in this\nworld--for a time wax, then for a time wane. I know now that life and\nreason are eternal, albeit I fear that it shall be in that world as it\nis here in children. I do not suppose that the life there shall be\nwithout reason, any more than it is here in children; in that case there\nwould be too little winsomeness in that life._\n\n_R._ _I hear now what thou wouldst know, but I can not tell thee in a\nfew words. If thou wilt know it clearly, then shalt thou seek it in the\nbook which we call_ De Videndo Deo. _In English the book is called_ Of\nSeeing God. _But be now of good cheer, and think over what thou hast now\nlearned, and let us both pray that He may help us, for He promised that\nHe would aid every one who called on Him and rightly wished it; and He\npromised without any doubt that He would teach us after this world that\nwe might very certainly know perfect wisdom and full truthfulness, which\nthou mayest hear about more clearly in the book which I have before\nnamed to thee_--De Videndo Deo.\n\n\n_Here endeth the anthology of the second book which we call_\nSoliloquies.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK III\n\n\n_Then said I: Now thou hast ended the sayings which thou hast selected\nfrom these two books, yet hast not answered me about what I last asked\nthee, to wit, about my intellect. I asked thee whether, after the\nparting of body and soul, it would wax or wane, or whether it would do\nboth as it before did._\n\n_R._ _Did I not say to thee before that thou must seek it in the book\nwhich we then spake of? Learn that book, then thou wilt find it there._\n\n_A._ _I do not care now to study all that book; but I would that thou\ntell me that[12] ... the glory of the good, that their own torment may\nseem the more to them, because they would not by their Father's advice\nmerit the same honors while they were in this world. And the good see\nalso the torments of the wicked in order that their own glory may seem\nthe more. The wicked see God as the guilty man who is condemned before\nsome king; when he seeth him and his own dear ones, then seemeth to him\nhis punishment the greater. And so also the dear ones of the king see\ntheir punishment, so that their honors always may seem to them the\ngreater. No man ought to suppose that all those that are in hell have\nlike torments, nor that all those that are in heaven have like glory;\nbut every one hath according to his merits, punishment as well as glory,\nwhichever he is in. The like have their like. Moreover, it is not to be\nsupposed that all men have like wisdom in Heaven; for every one hath it\nin the measure which he here merited. As he toileth better here and\nbetter yearneth after wisdom and righteousness, so hath he more of it\nthere; likewise more honor and more glory. Hath it now been clearly\nenough explained about wisdom and about the vision of God?_\n\n    [12] A break in the MS.\n\n[Sidenote: 66.5--67.9]\n\n_A._ _Yea; truly enough I believe that we need not lose aught of the\nwisdom which we now have, although the soul and the body part. But I\nbelieve that our intellect shall thereby be very much increased, though\nwe can not all know before Doomsday what we would know. Howbeit I\nbelieve that after Doomsday naught will be hidden from us, neither of\nthat which is in our days, nor of that which was before us, nor of that\nwhich shall come after us. Thou hast now related to me many examples,\nand I myself have seen in the writings of the sacred books more than I\ncan reckon, or even can remember. Thou didst show me also such reliable\ntestimony that I can do nothing else but believe it; for if I believe\nnot weaker testimony, then know I very little or naught. What know I\nexcept that I wish we knew about God as clearly as we would? But the\nsoul is weighed down and busied with the body so that we can not, with\nthe eyes of the mind, see any thing just as it is, any more than thou\ncanst see at times the sun shine, when the clouds shoot between it and\nthee, although it shineth very brightly where it is. And even though\nthere be no cloud between thee and it, thou canst not see it clearly\njust as it is, because thou art not where it is; nor can thy body be\nthere; nor can thy bodily eyes come any nearer there, nor even see that\nfar. Not even the moon, which is nearer us, can we see just as it is. We\nknow that it is larger than the earth, and yet it doth not seem at times\nlarger than a shield on account of the distance. Now thou hast heard\nthat we can not with the eyes of the mind ever see any thing of this\nworld just as it is; yet from the part of it which we see we must\nbelieve the part which we do not see. But it is promised us beyond any\ndoubt that, as soon as we come out of this world and the soul is\nreleased from the prison of the body, we shall know every thing which we\nnow desire to know, and much more than the ancients, the wisest of all\non the earth, could know. And after Doomsday it is promised that we may\nsee God openly--yea, see Him just as He is; and know Him ever afterwards\nas perfectly as He now knoweth us. There shall never be any wisdom\nwanting to us. He who granteth us to know Himself will conceal naught\nfrom us. Howbeit we shall know then all that we now wish to know, and\nalso that which we do not now wish to know. We shall all see God, both\nthose who here are worst, and those who here are best. All the good\nshall see Him, to their comfort, and joy, and honor, and happiness, and\nglory; and the wicked shall see Him just the same as the good, though to\ntheir torment, for they shall see[13] ... might or could in this world,\nor whether they had any remembrance of the friends whom they left behind\nin this world._\n\n    [13] Omission in the MS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Sidenote: 67.9--68.10]\n\n_Then answered he his own thoughts and said: Why supposest thou that the\ndeparted good who have full and complete freedom shall know what they\nwish to know, either in this present life or in that to come? Why\nsupposest thou that they have no memory of their friends in this world,\ninasmuch as the wicked Dives feared the same torments for his friends in\nhell as he had merited? It was he whom Christ spake of in His Gospel\nthat besought Abraham to send Lazarus the beggar to him that he, with\nhis little finger, might place a drop of water on his tongue and\ntherewith cool his thirst. Then said Abraham: 'Nay, my son; but consider\nthat thou didst withhold from him all comforts when ye were both in the\nbody, thou having every good, and he every misfortune. He can not now do\nmore for thy comfort than thou wouldst then do for him.' Then said the\nrich man: 'Abraham, if that can not be, send him to my five brethren who\nare still on the earth where I was, that he may tell them in what\npunishment I am, and may admonish them to take warning not to come\nhither.' Then said Abraham: 'Nay, nay; they have the books of the holy\nFathers with them on earth. Let them study them and believe them. If\nthey do not believe them, neither will they believe Lazarus, though he\ncome to them.'_\n\n[Sidenote: 68.11--69.14]\n\n_Now we can hear that both the departed good and the wicked know all\nthat happeneth in this world, and also in the world in which they are.\nThey know the greatest part--though they do not know it all before\nDoomsday--and they have very clear remembrance of their kin and friends\nin the world. And the good help the good, every one of them another, as\nmuch as they can. But the good will not have mercy on their wicked\nfriends, because the latter do not wish to depart from their evil, any\nmore than Abraham would not pity the rich man who was his own kin\nbecause he perceived that he was not so humble to God as he ought\nrightly to be. The wicked, then, can neither do their friends nor\nthemselves any good, because they were formerly, when they were in this\nworld, of no aid either to themselves or to their friends who had passed\naway before them. But it shall be with them even as it is with men, who\nare in this world brought into the prison of some king and can see their\nfriends all day and ask about them what they desire, albeit they can not\nbe of any good to them, nor the prisoners to them; they have neither the\nwish nor the ability. Wherefore the wicked have the greater punishment\nin the world to come, because they know the glory and the honor of the\ngood; and all the more because they recall all the honor which they had\nin this world; and moreover they know the honor which those have who\nshall then be left behind them in this world._\n\n[Sidenote: 69.14--70.5]\n\n_Howbeit the good, then, who have full freedom, see both their friends\nand their enemies, just as in this life lords and rulers often see\ntogether both their friends and their enemies. They see them alike and\nknow them alike, albeit they do not love them alike. And again the\nrighteous, after they are out of this world, shall recall very often\nboth the good and the evil which they had in this world, and rejoice\nvery much that they did not depart from their Lord's will, either in\neasy or in hidden things, while they were in this world. Just so some\nking in this world may have driven one of his favorites from him, or he\nmay have been forced from the king against both of their wills; then\nhath he many torments and many mishaps in his exile, yet he may come to\nthe same lord whom he before was with, and there be much more worshipful\nthan he was. Then he will recall the misfortunes which he had there in\nhis exile, and yet not be the more unhappy. But I myself saw or_\n[_believed_] _what more untrustworthy men told me than those were who\ntold what we are seeking. Must I not needs do one of two things--either\nbelieve some men or none? Methinks now that I know who built the city of\nRome, and also many another thing which existed before our day, all of\nwhich I can not sum up. I know not who built the city of Rome for the\nreason that I myself saw it. Nor even know I of what kin I am, nor who\nmy father or mother was, except by hearsay. I know that my father begat\nme and my mother bare me, but I do not know it because I myself saw it,\nbut because it was told me. Howbeit not so trustworthy men told that to\nme as those were who said that which we now for a long time have sought\nfor; and still I believe it._\n\n_Therefore methinks that man very foolish and very wretched who will not\nincrease his intelligence while he is in this world, and also wish and\ndesire that he may come to the eternal life, where nothing is hid from\nus._\n\n\n_Here end the sayings which King Alfred collected from the book which we\ncall in...._\n\n\n\n\nYALE STUDIES IN ENGLISH.\n\nALBERT S. COOK, EDITOR.\n\n\n    I. The Foreign Sources of Modern English Versification. CHARLTON M.\n     LEWIS, Ph.D. $0.50.\n\n   II. \u00c6lfric: A New Study of his Life and Writings. CAROLINE LOUISA\n     WHITE, Ph.D. $1.50.\n\n  III. The Life of St. Cecilia, from MS. Ashmole 43 and MS. Cotton\n     Tiberius E. VII, with Introduction, Variants, and Glossary. BERTHA\n     ELLEN LOVEWELL, Ph.D. $1.00.\n\n   IV. Dryden's Dramatic Theory and Practice. MARGARET SHERWOOD, Ph.D.\n     $0.50.\n\n    V. Studies in Jonson's Comedy. ELISABETH WOODBRIDGE, Ph.D. $0.50.\n\n   VI. A Glossary of the West Saxon Gospels, Latin-West Saxon and West\n     Saxon-Latin. MATTIE ANSTICE HARRIS, Ph.D. $1.50.\n\n  VII. Andreas: The Legend of St. Andrew, translated from the Old\n     English, with an Introduction. ROBERT KILBURN ROOT. $0.50.\n\n VIII. The Classical Mythology of Milton's English Poems. CHARLES\n     GROSVENOR OSGOOD, Ph.D. $1.00.\n\n   IX. A Guide to the Middle English Metrical Romances dealing with\n     English and Germanic Legends, and with the Cycles of Charlemagne\n     and of Arthur. ANNA HUNT BILLINGS, Ph.D. $1.50.\n\n    X. The Earliest Lives of Dante, translated from the Italian of\n     Giovanni Boccaccio and Lionardo Bruni Aretino. JAMES ROBINSON\n     SMITH. $0.75.\n\n   XI. A Study in Epic Development. IRENE T. MYERS, Ph.D. $1.00.\n\n  XII. The Short Story. HENRY SEIDEL CANBY. $0.30.\n\n XIII. King Alfred's Old English Version of St. Augustine's\n     Soliloquies, edited with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary. HENRY\n     LEE HARGROVE, Ph.D. $1.00.\n\n  XIV. The Phonology of the Northumbrian Gloss of St. Matthew. EMILY\n     HOWARD FOLEY, Ph.D. $0.75.\n\n   XV. Essays on the Study and Use of Poetry by Plutarch and Basil the\n     Great, translated from the Greek, with an Introduction. FREDERICK\n     M. PADELFORD, Ph.D. $0.75.\n\n  XVI. The Translations of Beowulf: A Critical Bibliography. CHAUNCEY B.\n     TINKER, Ph.D. $0.75.\n\n XVII. The Alchemist, by Ben Jonson: edited with Introduction, Notes,\n     and Glossary. CHARLES M. HATHAWAY, JR., Ph.D. $2.50. Cloth, $3.00.\n\nXVIII. The Expression of Purpose in Old English Prose. HUBERT GIBSON\n     SHEARIN, Ph.D. $1.00.\n\n  XIX. Classical Mythology in Shakespeare. ROBERT KILBURN ROOT, Ph.D.\n     $1.00.\n\n   XX. The Controversy between the Puritans and the Stage. ELBERT N. S.\n     THOMPSON, Ph.D. $2.00.\n\n  XXI. The Elene of Cynewulf: An Old English Poem, translated into\n     English Prose. LUCIUS HUDSON HOLT. $0.30.\n\n XXII. King Alfred's Old English Version of St. Augustine's\n     Soliloquies, turned into Modern English. HENRY LEE HARGROVE, Ph.D.\n     $0.75.\n\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\nObvious typographical and printer errors have been corrected without\ncomment. Other than obvious errors, the author's spelling, grammar,\nand use of punctuation are retained as in the original publication.","title":"King Alfred's Old English Version of St. Augustine's Soliloquies: Turned into Modern English","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":17298}