Two books of soliloquies.

 As I had been long revolving with myself matters many and various, and had been for many days sedulously inquiring both concerning myself and my chief

 2. O God, Framer of the universe, grant me first rightly to invoke Thee then to show myself worthy to be heard by Thee lastly, deign to set me free.

 3. Thee I invoke, O God, the Truth, in whom and from whom and through whom all things are true which anywhere are true. God, the Wisdom, in whom and f

 4. Whatever has been said by me, Thou the only God, do Thou come to my help, the one true and eternal substance, where is no discord, no confusion, no

 5. Henceforth Thee alone do I love, Thee alone I follow, Thee alone I seek, Thee alone am I prepared to serve, for Thou alone art Lord by a just title

 Translation absent.

 7. A . Behold I have prayed to God. R A R A R A R A R A R A R A R A R A

 8. R . I allow so much: but yet if any one should say to thee, I will give thee to know God as well as thou dost know Alypius, wouldst thou not give t

 9. But let that go, and now answer to this: if those things which Plato and Plotinus have said concerning God are true, is it enough for thee to know

 10. R. It is then plain to you that a line cannot possibly be longitudinally divided into two? A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R.

 11. A. Pardon me, however vehemently thou urge and argue, yet I dare not say that I wish so to know God as I know these things. For not only the objec

 12. R. Thou art moved to good effect. For the Reason which is talking with thee promises so to demonstrate God to thy mind, as the sun demonstrates hi

 13. When therefore the mind has come to have sound eyes, what next? A. That she look. R.

 14. Therefore when the soul has obtained to see, that is, to apprehend God, let us see whether those three things are still necessary to her. Why shou

 15. Now listen, so far as the present time requires, while from that similitude of sensible things I now teach also something concerning God. Namely,

 16. But why do we delay? Let us set out: but first let us see (for this comes first) whether we are in a sound state. A. Do thou see to it, if either

 17. R. Do you not see that these eyes of the body, even when sound, are often so smitten by the light of this visible sun, as to be compelled to turn

 18. R. Thou hast made great progress: yet those things which remain in order to the seeing of that light, very greatly impede. But I am aiming at some

 19. R. You speak as if I were now inquiring what you hope. I am not inquiring what, denied, delights not, but what delights, obtained. For an extingui

 20. But I ask of thee, why thou dost desire, either that the persons whom thou affectest should live, or that they should live with thee. A. That toge

 21. R. We have pain of body left, which perhaps moves thee of its proper force. A. R.

 22. Now let us inquire concerning this, what sort of lover of wisdom thou art, whom thou desirest to behold with most chaste view and embrace, and to

 23. R. Such lovers assuredly it is, whom Wisdom ought to have. Such lovers does she seek, the love of whom has in it nothing but what is pure. But the

 24. And, another day having come, A. Give now, I pray, if thou canst, that order. Lead by what way thou wilt, through what things thou wilt, how thou

 25. R. In this way too the bodily eye might say: I shall not love the darkness, when I shall have seen the sun. For this too seems, as it were, to per

 26. A. Peace, I pray thee, peace. Why tormentest thou me? Why diggest thou so remorselessly and descendest so deep? Now I weep intolerably, henceforth

 27. R. Let us conclude, if you will, this first volume, that in a second we may attempt some such way as may commodiously offer itself. For this dispo

 28. R. What? When a chaste person dies, do you judge that Chastity dies also? A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A.

 29. R. Does this proposition seem to you to be true: Whatever is, is compelled to be somewhere? A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R.

 30. A. I thank thee much, and will diligently and cautiously review these things in my own mind, and moreover with thee, when we are in quiet, if no d

 Book II.

 1. A. Long enough has our work been intermitted, and impatient is Love, nor have tears a measure, unless to Love is given what is loved: wherefore, le

 2. A. I see a very plain and compendious order. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A.

 3. R. Now I will have you answer me, does the soul seem to you to feel and perceive, or the body? A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R

 4. R. Give answer now to this, whether it appears to you possible that at some time hereafter falsity should not be. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R.

 5. A. O leaden dagger! For thou mightest conclude that man is immortal if I had granted thee that this universe can never be without man, and that thi

 6. R. Do any corporeal, that is, sensible things, appear to you to be capable of comprehension in the intellect? A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A.

 7. R. Give now still greater heed. A. R. A. R. A. R. A.

 8. R. Define therefore the True. A. R. A. R. A. R. A.

 9. R. God, to whom we have commended ourselves, without doubt will render help, and set us free from these straits, if only we believe, and entreat Hi

 10. R. First let us again and yet again ventilate this question, What is falsity? A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A.

 11. R. But all this forest of facts, unless I am mistaken, may be divided into two kinds. For it lies partly in equal, partly in inferior things. They

 12. R. We must, however, wait patiently, until the remaining senses also make report to us that falsity dwells in the similitude of the true. For in t

 13. R. Now give heed, while we run over the same things once more, that what we are endeavoring to show may come more plainly to view. A. R. A. R. A.

 14. R. It is ridiculous if you are ashamed, as if it were not for this very reason that we have chosen this mode of discourse: which, since we are tal

 15. A. Thou speakest rightly but what I have granted amiss I altogether fail to see: unless perchance that that is rightly called false which has som

 16. R. Attend rather for never can I be persuaded, that we have implored the Divine aid in vain. For I see that, having tried all things as far as we

 17. A. Proceed, I pray for now perchance thou hast begun to teach concerning falsities not falsely: but now I am considering of what sort that class

 18. A. Thou speakest rightly but I wonder why thou wouldst separate from this class those poems and jests, and other imitative trifles. R. A. R. A. R

 19. R. What then think you? Is the science of debate true, or false? A. R. A. R. A. R. A.

 20. R. How as to Grammar itself? if it is true, is it not so far true as it is a discipline? For the name of Discipline signifies something to be lear

 21. R. Tell me now what science contains the principles of definitions, divisions and partitions. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A.

 22. R. Attend therefore to the few things that remain. A. R. A. R. A.

 23. But as to thy question, who would grant, or to whom could it appear possible, that that which is in the subject should remain, while the subject p

 24. R. Groan not, the human mind is immortal. A. R. A. R. A. R.

 25. A. And now I am ready to plunge into the expected joys, but yet I am held hesitating by two thoughts. For, first, it makes me uneasy that we have

 26. R. Thou mayest note that it is not for naught that our reasoning has taken so wide a round. For we were inquiring what is Truth, which not even no

 27. What shall we say to this, that we have entreated God and do entreat, that He will show us a way, not to riches, not to bodily pleasures, not to p

 28. R. From this truth, as I remember, that Truth cannot perish, we have concluded, that not only if the whole world should perish, but even if Truth

 29. R. Is Truth then so called for any other reason than as being that by which everything is true which is true? A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A.

 30. R. You apprehend the matter well. But consider this, whether we can also with propriety call silver by the name of false lead. A. R. A. R. A. R.

 31. A. Go on to what remains for of this I am well convinced. R A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A R. A. R. A. R. A.

 32. R. What sayest thou concerning the rest? A. R. A R. A. R. A. R. A. R. A.

 33. R. What need is there any longer than that we should inquire concerning the science of disputation? For whether the figures of Geometry are in the

 34. A. It is as thou sayest, and I willingly yield compliance with thine injunctions. But this at least I would entreat, before thou decreest a term t

 35. R. Such are those who are well instructed in the liberal arts since they by learning disinter them, buried in oblivion, doubtless, within themsel

 36. These points will be treated with more pains and greater subtilty, when we shall have begun to discuss the faculty of intelligence, which part of

17. R. Do you not see that these eyes of the body, even when sound, are often so smitten by the light of this visible sun, as to be compelled to turn away and to take refuge in their own obscurity? Now you are proposing to yourself what you are moved to seek, but are not proposing to yourself what you desire to see: and yet I would discuss this very thing with you, what advance you think we have made. Are you without desire of riches? A. This at least no longer chiefly. For, being now three and thirty years of age, for almost these fourteen years last past I have ceased to desire them, nor have I sought anything from them, if by chance they should be offered, beyond the necessities of life and such a use of them as agrees with the state of a freeman. A single book of Cicero has thoroughly persuaded me, that riches are in no wise to be craved, but that if they come in our way, they are to be with the utmost wisdom and caution administered. R. What of honors? A. I confess that it is only lately, and as it were yesterday, that I have ceased to desire these. R. What of a wife? Are you not sometimes charmed by the image of a beautiful, modest, complying maiden, well lettered, or of parts that can easily be trained by you, bringing you too (being a despiser of riches) just so large a dowry as will relieve your leisure of all burden on her account? It is implied, moreover, that you have good hope of coming to no grief through her. A. However much thou please to portray her and adorn her with all manner of gifts, I have determined that nothing is so much to be avoided by me as such a bedfellow: I perceive that nothing more saps the citadel of manly strength, whether of mind or body, than female blandishments and familiarities. Therefore, if (which I have not yet discovered) it appertains to the office of a wise man to desire offspring, whoever for this reason only comes into this connection, may appear to me worthy of admiration, but in no wise a model for imitation: for there is more peril in the essay, than felicity in the accomplishment. Wherefore, I believe, I am contradicting neither justice nor utility in providing for the liberty of my mind by neither desiring, nor seeking, nor taking a wife. R. I inquire not now what thou hast determined, but whether thou dost yet struggle, or hast indeed already overcome desire itself. For we are considering the soundness of thine eyes. A. Nothing of the kind do I any way seek, nothing do I desire; it is even with horror and loathing that I recall such things to mind. What more wouldst thou? And day by day does this benefit grow upon me: for the more I grow in the hope of beholding that supernal Beauty with the desire of which I glow, the more my love and delight is wholly converted thereto. R. What of pleasant viands? How much do you care for them? A. Those things which I have determined not to eat, tempt me not. As to those which I have not cut off, I allow that I take pleasure in their present use, yet so that without any disturbance of mind, either the sight or the taste of them may be withdrawn. And when they are entirely absent, no craving of them dares intrude itself to the disturbance of my thoughts. But no need to inquire concerning food or drink, or baths: so much of these do I seek to have, as is profitable for the confirmation of health.

CAPUT X. Amor rerum corporis et externarum.

17. R. Nonne vides hos corporis oculos etiam sanos, luce solis istius saepe repercuti et averti, atque ad illa sua obscura confugere? Tu autem quid promoveris cogitas, quid velis videre non cogitas: et tamen tecum hoc ipsum discutiam, quid profecisse nos putas. Divitias nullas cupis? A. Hoc quidem non nunc primum. Nam cum triginta tres annos agam , quatuordecim fere anni sunt ex quo ista cupere destiti, nec aliud quidquam in his, si quo casu offerrentur, praeter necessarium victum liberalemque usum cogitavi. Prorsus mihi unus Ciceronis liber facillime persuasit, nullo modo appetendas esse divitias, sed si provenerint, sapientissime atque cautissime administrandas. R. Quid honores? A. Fateor, eos modo, ac pene his diebus cupere destiti. R. Quid uxor? Nonne te delectat interdum pulchra, pudica, morigera, litterata, vel quae abs te facile possit erudiri, afferens etiam dotis tantum, quoniam contemnis divitias, quantum eam prorsus nihilo faciat onerosam otio tuo, praesertim si speres certusque sis nihil ex ea te molestiae esse passurum? A. Quantumlibet velis eam pingere atque cumulare bonis omnibus, nihil mihi tam fugiendum quam concubitum esse decrevi: nihil esse sentio quod magis ex arce dejiciat animum virilem, quam blandimenta feminea, corporumque ille contactus, sine quo uxor haberi non potest. Itaque, si ad officium pertinet sapientis (quod nondum comperi) dare operam liberis, quisquis rei hujus tantum gratia concumbit, mirandus mihi videri potest, at vero imitandus nullo modo: nam tentare hoc periculosius est, quam posse felicius. Quamobrem, satis, credo, juste atque utiliter pro libertate animae meae mihi imperavi non cupere, non quaerere, non ducere uxorem. R. Non ego nunc quaero quid decreveris, sed utrum adhuc lucteris, an vero jam ipsam libidinem viceris. Agitur enim de sanitate oculorum tuorum. A. Prorsus nihil hujusmodi quaero, nihil desidero; etiam cum horrore 0879 atque aspernatione talia recordor. Quid vis amplius? Et hoc mihi bonum in dies crescit: nam quanto augetur spes videndae illius qua vehementer aestuo pulchritudinis, tanto ad illam totus amor voluptasque convertitur. R. Quid ciborum jucunditas? quantae tibi curae est? A. Ea quae statui non edere, nihil me commovent. Iis autem quae non amputavi, delectari me praesentibus fateor, ita tamen ut sine ulla permotione animi vel visa vel gustata subtrahantur. Cum autem non adsunt prorsus, non audet haec appetitio se inserere ad impedimentum cogitationibus meis. Sed omnino sive de cibo et potu, sive de balneis, caeteraque corporis voluptate nihil interroges: tantum habere appeto , quantum in valetudinis opem conferri potest.