Chapter VIII.——Of the Nature and the Amazing Power of Memory.

12. I will soar, then, beyond this power of my nature also, ascending by degrees unto Him who made me. And I enter the fields and roomy chambers of memory, where are the treasures of countless images, imported into it from all manner of things by the senses. There is treasured up whatsoever likewise we think, either by enlarging or diminishing, or by varying in any way whatever those things which the sense hath arrived at; yea, and whatever else hath been entrusted to it and stored up, which oblivion hath not yet engulfed and buried. When I am in this storehouse, I demand that what I wish should be brought forth, and some things immediately appear; others require to be longer sought after, and are dragged, as it were, out of some hidden receptacle; others, again, hurry forth in crowds, and while another thing is sought and inquired for, they leap into view, as if to say, “Is it not we, perchance?” These I drive away with the hand of my heart from before the face of my remembrance, until what I wish be discovered making its appearance out of its secret cell. Other things suggest themselves without effort, and in continuous order, just as they are called for,—those in front giving place to those that follow, and in giving place are treasured up again to be forthcoming when I wish it. All of which takes place when I repeat a thing from memory.

13. All these things, each of which entered by its own avenue, are distinctly and under general heads there laid up: as, for example, light, and all colours and forms of bodies, by the eyes; sounds of all kinds by the ears; all smells by the passage of the nostrils; all flavours by that of the mouth; and by the sensation of the whole body is brought in what is hard or soft, hot or cold, smooth or rough, heavy or light, whether external or internal to the body. All these doth that great receptacle of memory, with its many and indescribable departments, receive, to be recalled and brought forth when required; each, entering by its own door, is hid up in it. And yet the things themselves do not enter it, but only the images of the things perceived are there ready at hand for thought to recall. And who can tell how these images are formed, notwithstanding that it is evident by which of the senses each has been fetched in and treasured up? For even while I live in darkness and silence, I can bring out colours in memory if I wish, and discern between black and white, and what others I wish; nor yet do sounds break in and disturb what is drawn in by mine eyes, and which I am considering, seeing that they also are there, and are concealed, laid up, as it were, apart. For these too I can summon if I please, and immediately they appear. And though my tongue be at rest, and my throat silent, yet can I sing as much as I will; and those images of colours, which notwithstanding are there, do not interpose themselves and interrupt when another treasure is under consideration which flowed in through the ears. So the remaining things carried in and heaped up by the other senses, I recall at my pleasure. And I discern the scent of lilies from that of violets while smelling nothing; and I prefer honey to grape-syrup, a smooth thing to a rough, though then I neither taste nor handle, but only remember.

14. These things do I within, in that vast chamber of my memory. For there are nigh me heaven, earth, sea, and whatever I can think upon in them, besides those which I have forgotten. There also do I meet with myself, and recall myself,—what, when, or where I did a thing, and how I was affected when I did it. There are all which I remember, either by personal experience or on the faith of others. Out of the same supply do I myself with the past construct now this, now that likeness of things, which either I have experienced, or, from having experienced, have believed; and thence again future actions, events, and hopes, and upon all these again do I meditate as if they were present. “I will do this or that,” say I to myself in that vast womb of my mind, filled with the images of things so many and so great, “and this or that shall follow upon it.” “Oh that this or that might come to pass!” “God avert this or that!” Thus speak I to myself; and when I speak, the images of all I speak about are present, out of the same treasury of memory; nor could I say anything at all about them were the images absent.

15. Great is this power of memory, exceeding great, O my God,—an inner chamber large and boundless! Who has plumbed the depths thereof? Yet it is a power of mine, and appertains unto my nature; nor do I myself grasp all that I am. Therefore is the mind too narrow to contain itself. And where should that be which it doth not contain of itself? Is it outside and not in itself? How is it, then, that it doth not grasp itself? A great admiration rises upon me; astonishment seizes me. And men go forth to wonder at the heights of mountains, the huge waves of the sea, the broad flow of the rivers, the extent of the ocean, and the courses of the stars, and omit to wonder at themselves; nor do they marvel that when I spoke of all these things, I was not looking on them with my eyes, and yet could not speak of them unless those mountains, and waves, and rivers, and stars which I saw, and that ocean which I believe in, I saw inwardly in my memory, and with the same vast spaces between as when I saw them abroad. But I did not by seeing appropriate them when I looked on them with my eyes; nor are the things themselves with me, but their images. And I knew by what corporeal sense each made impression on me.

CAPUT VIII. Memoriae vis.

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12. Transibo ergo et istam vim naturae meae, gradibus ascendens ad eum qui fecit me; et venio in campos et lata praetoria memoriae, ubi sunt thesauri innumerabilium imaginum de cujuscemodi rebus sensis invectarum. Ibi reconditum est quidquid etiam cogitamus, vel augendo vel minuendo, vel utcumque variando ea quae sensus attigerit; et si quid aliud commendatum et repositum est, quod nondum absorbuit et sepelivit oblivio. Ibi quando sum, posco ut proferatur quidquid volo, et quaedam statim prodeunt; quaedam requiruntur diutius, et tanquam de abstrusioribus quibusdam receptaculis eruuntur; quaedam catervatim se proruunt , et dum aliud petitur et quaeritur, prosiliunt in medium quasi dicentia, Ne forte nos sumus? Et abigo ea manu cordis a facie recordationis meae, donec enubiletur quod volo, atque in conspectum prodeat ex abditis. Alia faciliter atque imperturbata serie, sicut poscuntur suggeruntur; et cedunt praecedentia consequentibus; et cedendo conduntur, iterum cum voluero processura. Quod totum fit, cum aliquid narro memoriter.

13. Ibi sunt omnia distincte generatimque servata, quae suo quaeque aditu ingesta sunt, sicut lux atque omnes colores formaeque corporum per oculos; per aures autem omnia genera sonorum; omnesque odores per aditum narium; omnes sapores per oris aditum; a sensu autem totius corporis, quid durum, quid molle, quid calidum frigidumve, lene aut asperum, grave seu leve, sive extrinsecus sive intrinsecus corpori. Haec omnia recipit recolenda cum opus est et retractanda grandis memoriae recessus, et nescio qui secreti atque ineffabiles sinus ejus; quae omnia suis quaeque foribus intrant ad eam, et reponuntur in ea. Nec ipsa tamen intrant, sed rerum sensarum imagines illic praesto 0785 sunt cogitationi reminiscenti eas. Quae quomodo fabricatae sint quis dicit, cum appareat quibus sensibus raptae sint interiusque reconditae? Nam et in tenebris atque in silentio dum habito, in memoria mea profero, si volo, colores; et discerno inter album et nigrum, et inter quos alios volo: nec incurrunt soni atque perturbant, quod per oculos haustum considero, cum et ipsi sint, et quasi seorsum repositi lateant. Nam et ipsos posco si placet, atque adsunt illico. Et quiescente lingua ac silente gutture canto quantum volo; imaginesque illae colorum quae nihilominus ibi sunt, non se interponunt neque interrumpunt, cum thesaurus alius retractatur qui influxit ab auribus. Ita caetera quae per sensus caeteros ingesta atque congesta sunt, recordor prout libet: et auram liliorum discerno a violis, nihil olfaciens; et mel defruto, lene aspero, nihil tunc gustando neque contrectando, sed reminiscendo antepono.

14. Intus haec ago, in aula ingenti memoriae meae. Ibi enim mihi coelum et terra et mare praesto sunt, cum omnibus quae in eis sentire potui, praeter illa quae oblitus sum. Ibi et ipse mihi occurro, meque recolo, quid, quando, et ubi egerim, quoque modo cum agerem affectus fuerim. Ibi sunt omnia quae sive experta a me sive credita memini. Ex eadem copia etiam similitudines rerum vel expertarum, vel ex eis quas expertus sum creditarum, alias atque alias et ipse contexo praeteritis, atque ex his etiam futuras actiones et eventa et spes, et haec omnia rursus quasi praesentia meditor. Faciam hoc aut illud, dico apud me in ipso ingenti sinu animi mei pleno tot et tantarum rerum imaginibus; et hoc aut illud sequetur. O si esset hoc aut illud! Avertat Deus hoc aut illud. Dico apud me ista: et cum dico, praesto sunt imagines omnium quae dico ex eodem thesauro memoriae, nec omnino aliquid eorum dicerem si defuissent.

15. Magna ista vis est memoriae, magna nimis, Deus meus, penetrale amplum et infinitum. Quis ad fundum ejus pervenit? Et vis est haec animi mei, atque ad meam naturam pertinet; nec ego ipse capio totum quod sum. Ergo animus ad habendum seipsum angustus est. Et ubi sit, quod sui non capit ? Numquid extra ipsum ac non in ipso? Quomodo ergo non capit? Multa mihi super hoc oboritur admiratio, stupor apprehendit me. Et eunt homines admirari alta montium, et ingentes fluctus maris, et latissimos lapsus fluminum, et Oceani ambitum, et gyros siderum, et relinquunt seipsos; nec mirantur, quod haec omnia cum dicerem, non ea videbam oculis, nec tamen dicerem nisi montes et fluctus et flumina et sidera quae vidi, et Oceanum quem credidi, intus in memoria mea viderem spatiis tam ingentibus quasi foris viderem: nec ea tamen videndo absorbui quando vidi oculis; nec ipsa sunt apud me, sed imagines eorum. 0786 Et novi quid ex quo sensu corporis impressum sit mihi.