Augustine: CONFESSIONES

numquid, domine, cum tua sit aeternitas, ignoras quae tibi dico, aut ad tempus vides quod fit in tempore? cur ergo tibi tot rerum narrationes digero? non utique ut per me noveris ea, sed affectum meum excito in te, et eorum qui haec legunt, ut dicamus omnes, 'magnus dominus et laudabilis valde.' iam dixi et dicam, 'amore amoris tui facio istuc.' nam et oramus, et tamen veritas ait, 'novit pater vester quid vobis opus sit, priusquam petatis ab eo.' affectum ergo nostrum patefacimus in te confitendo tibi miserias nostras et misericordias tuas super nos, ut liberes nos omnino, quoniam coepisti, ut desinamus esse miseri in nobis et beatificemur in te, quoniam vocasti nos, ut simus pauperes spiritu et mites et lugentes et esurientes ac sitientes iustitiam et misericordes et mundicordes et pacifici.

Do you, Lord, since eternity is yours, not know what I say to you, or do you see for a time what comes to be in time? Why then do I arrange for you so many narrations of things? Surely not that through me you may come to know them, but I rouse my affect toward you, and that of those who read these things, that we all may say, 'great is the Lord and very laudable.' I have said already and I shall say, 'I do that for love of your love.' For we also pray, and yet Truth says, 'your Father knows what you need before you ask from him.' We therefore lay open our affect toward you by confessing to you our miseries and your mercies upon us, that you may free us altogether, since you have begun, that we may cease to be wretched in ourselves and be beatified in you, since you have called us to be poor in spirit and meek and mourning and hungering and thirsting for justice and merciful and pure of heart and pacific.

ecce narravi tibi multa, quae potui et quae volui, quoniam tu prior voluisti ut confiterer tibi, domino deo meo, quoniam bonus es, quoniam in saeculum misericordia tua.

Behold, I have narrated to you many things, which I was able and which I willed, since you first willed that I should confess to you, my Lord God, since you are good, since your mercy is forever.

11.2.2

quando autem sufficio lingua calami enuntiare omnia hortamenta tua et omnes terrores tuos, et consolationes et gubernationes, quibus me perduxisti praedicare verbum et sacramentum tuum dispensare populo tuo? et si sufficio haec enuntiare ex ordine, caro mihi valent stillae temporum. et olim inardesco meditari in lege tua et in ea tibi confiteri scientiam et imperitiam meam, primordia inluminationis tuae et reliquias tenebrarum mearum, quousque devoretur a fortitudine infirmitas.

When, however, do I suffice with the tongue of the reed‑pen to enunciate all your exhortations and all your terrors, and the consolations and governances by which you have led me to preach your word and to dispense your sacrament to your people? And if I do suffice to enunciate these in order, costly to me are the droplets of time. And long have I burned to meditate in your law and in it to confess to you my knowledge and my inexperience, the first-beginnings of your illumination and the remnants of my darkness, until weakness is devoured by strength.

et nolo in aliud horae diffluant quas invenio liberas a necessitatibus reficiendi corporis et intentionis animi et servitutis quam debemus hominibus et quam non debemus et tamen reddimus.

and I do not wish the hours to flow away into something else, which I find free from the necessities of the refreshment of the body and of the intention of the mind, and of the servitude which we owe to men and which we do not owe and yet render.

11.2.3

domine deus meus, intende orationi meae et misericordia tua exaudiat desiderium meum, quoniam non mihi soli aestuat, sed usui vult esse fraternae caritati. et vides in corde meo quia sic est. sacrificem tibi famulatum cogitationis et linguae meae, et da quod offeram tibi.

lord my god, attend to my oration and let your mercy hear my desire, since it does not seethe for me alone, but wishes to be for the use of fraternal charity. and you see in my heart that it is so. let me sacrifice to you the service of my thought and of my tongue, and give what i may offer to you.

inops enim et pauper sum, tu dives in omnes invocantes te, qui securus curam nostri geris. circumcide ab omni temeritate omnique mendacio interiora et exteriora labia mea. sint castae deliciae meae scripturae tuae, nec fallar in eis nec fallam ex eis.

for I am needy and poor; you are rich toward all who invoke you, who, untroubled, carry our care. circumcise from all temerity and every mendacity my interior and exterior lips. let your Scriptures be my chaste delights; let me neither be deceived in them nor deceive by them.

domine, attende et miserere, domine deus meus, lux caecorum et virtus infirmorum statimque lux videntium et virtus fortium, attende animam meam et audi clamantem de profundo. nam nisi adsint et in profundo aures tuae, quo ibimus? quo clamabimus?

lord, attend and have mercy, lord my god, light of the blind and power of the infirm, and straightway the light of those who see and the power of the strong, attend to my soul and hear it crying from the deep. for unless even in the deep your ears are present, where shall we go? where shall we cry out?

tuus est dies et tua est nox; ad nutum tuum momenta transvolant. largire inde spatium meditationibus nostris in abdita legis tuae, neque adversus pulsantes claudas eam. neque enim frustra scribi voluisti tot paginarum opaca secreta, aut non habent illae silvae cervos suos, recipientes se in eas et resumentes, ambulantes et pascentes, recumbentes et ruminantes.

Yours is the day and yours is the night; at your nod the moments wing past. Grant from there a space for our meditations into the hidden things of your law, and do not shut it against those who knock. For you did not will that the shadowy secrets of so many pages be written in vain, nor do those forests lack their own deer, withdrawing themselves into them and taking them up again, walking and feeding, reclining and ruminating.

o domine, perfice me et revela mihi eas. ecce vox tua gaudium meum, vox tua super affluentiam voluptatum. da quod amo: amo enim, et hoc tu dedisti.

O Lord, perfect me and reveal them to me. Behold, your voice is my joy, your voice above the affluence of pleasures. Give what I love: for I love, and this you have given.

ne dona tua deseras nec herbam tuam spernas sitientem. confitear tibi quidquid invenero in libris tuis et audiam vocem laudis, et te bibam et considerem mirabilia de lege tua ab usque principio in quo fecisti caelum et terram usque ad regnum tecum perpetuum sanctae civitatis tuae.

do not abandon your gifts nor spurn your grass, thirsting. let me confess to you whatever I shall find in your books and let me hear the voice of praise, and let me drink you and consider wonders from your law from even the beginning in which you made heaven and earth all the way to the everlasting kingdom with you of your holy city.

11.2.4

domine, miserere mei et exaudi desiderium meum. puto enim quod non sit de terra, non de auro et argento et lapidibus aut decoris vestibus aut honoribus et potestatibus aut voluptatibus carnis, neque de necessariis corpori et huic vitae peregrinationis nostrae, quae omnia nobis apponuntur quaerentibus regnum et iustitiam tuam. vide, deus meus, unde sit desiderium meum.

Lord, have mercy on me and hearken to my desire. For I think that it is not of the earth, not of gold and silver and stones, nor of splendid garments or honors and powers or pleasures of the flesh, nor of the things necessary for the body and for this life of our pilgrimage, all of which are added to us as we seek your kingdom and your justice. Behold, my God, whence my desire is.

narraverunt mihi iniusti delectationes, sed non sicut lex tua, domine: ecce unde est desiderium meum. vide, pater, aspice et vide et approba, et placeat in conspectu misericordiae tuae invenire me gratiam ante te, ut aperiantur pulsanti mihi interiora sermonum tuorum. obsecro per dominum nostrum Iesum Christum filium tuum, virum dexterae tuae, filium hominis, quem confirmasti tibi mediatorem tuum et nostrum, per quem nos quaesisti non quaerentes te, quaesisti autem ut quaereremus te, verbum tuum per quod fecisti omnia (in quibus et me), unicum tuum per quem vocasti in adoptionem populum credentium (in quo et me) -- per eum te obsecro, qui sedet ad dexteram tuam et te interpellat pro nobis, in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae absconditi: ipsos quaero in libris tuis.

the unjust recounted to me delights, but not as your law, Lord: behold whence is my desire. see, Father, look and see and approve, and let it be pleasing in the sight of your mercy that I may find grace before you, that the inner things of your words may be opened to me as I knock. I beseech through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, the man of your right hand, the Son of Man, whom you confirmed for yourself as your and our mediator, through whom you sought us not seeking you, yet you sought so that we might seek you, your Word through which you made all things (among which also me), your Only-begotten through whom you called into adoption a people of believers (among whom also me) -- through him I beseech you, who sits at your right hand and intercedes with you for us, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden: these very things I seek in your books.

Moyses de illo scripsit; hoc ipse ait, hoc veritas ait.

Moses wrote about him; this he himself says, this Truth says.

11.3.5

audiam et intellegam quomodo in principio fecisti caelum et terram. scripsit hoc Moyses, scripsit et abiit, transiit hinc a te ad te, neque nunc ante me est. nam si esset, tenerem eum et rogarem eum et per te obsecrarem ut mihi ista panderet, et praeberem aures corporis mei sonis erumpentibus ex ore eius, et si hebraea voce loqueretur, frustra pulsaret sensum meum nec inde mentem meam quicquam tangeret; si autem latine, scirem quid diceret.

Let me hear and understand how in the beginning you made heaven and earth. Moses wrote this; he wrote and went away, he passed hence from you to you, nor is he now before me. For if he were, I would hold him and ask him, and through you I would beseech him to unfold those things for me, and I would offer the ears of my body to the sounds bursting forth from his mouth; and if he were speaking with a Hebrew voice, he would vainly strike my sense, nor would it from that touch my mind at all; but if in Latin, I would know what he said.

sed unde scirem an verum diceret? quod si et hoc scirem, num ab illo scirem? intus utique mihi, intus in domicilio cogitationis, nec hebraea nec graeca nec latina nec barbara, veritas sine oris et linguae organis, sine strepitu syllabarum diceret, 'verum dicit', et ego statim certus confidenter illi homini tuo dicerem, 'verum dicis.' cum ergo illum interrogare non possim, te, quo plenus vera dixit, veritas, rogo te, deus meus, rogo, parce peccatis meis, et qui illi servo tuo dedisti haec dicere, da et mihi haec intellegere.

But whence would I know whether he was speaking true? And if I knew this too, would I know it from him? Within, assuredly, for me—within, in the domicile of cogitation—neither Hebrew nor Greek nor Latin nor barbarian, Truth, without the organs of mouth and tongue, without the clamor of syllables, would say, “he speaks true”; and I, straightway certain, would confidently say to that man of yours, “you speak true.” Since therefore I cannot question him, you—Truth—by being full of whom he spoke true things, I beg you, my God, I beg: spare my sins; and you who gave to that servant of yours to say these things, give also to me to understand these things.

11.4.6

ecce sunt caelum et terra! clamant quod facta sint; mutantur enim atque variantur. quidquid autem factum non est et tamen est, non est in eo quicquam quod ante non erat: quod est mutari atque variari.

Behold, there are heaven and earth! they cry out that they were made; for they are changed and varied. But whatever has not been made and yet is, there is in it nothing which before was not: which is to be changed and to be varied.

clamant etiam quod se ipsa non fecerint: 'ideo sumus, quia facta sumus. non ergo eramus antequam essemus, ut fieri possemus a nobis.' et vox dicentium est ipsa evidentia. tu ergo, domine, fecisti ea, qui pulcher es (pulchra sunt enim), qui bonus es (bona sunt enim), qui es (sunt enim). nec ita pulchra sunt nec ita bona sunt nec ita sunt, sicut tu conditor eorum, quo comparato nec pulchra sunt nec bona sunt nec sunt.

They also cry out that they did not make themselves: 'therefore we are, because we were made. We were not, then, before we existed, so that we might be able to be made by ourselves.' And the voice of those saying it is the evidence itself. You, therefore, Lord, made them, who are beautiful (for they are beautiful), who are good (for they are good), who are (for they are). Nor are they so beautiful nor so good nor do they so exist, as you, their Creator; by comparison with whom they are not beautiful, nor good, nor do they exist.

scimus haec: gratias tibi, et scientia nostra scientiae tuae comparata ignorantia est.

We know these things: thanks be to you, and our science, compared with your science, is ignorance.

11.5.7

quomodo autem fecisti caelum et terram? et quae machina tam grandis operationis tuae? non enim sicut homo artifex formas corpus de corpore, arbitratu animae valentis imponere utcumque speciem, quam cernit in semet ipsa interno oculo (et unde hoc valeret, nisi quia tu fecisti eam?) et imponit speciem iam exsistenti et habenti, ut esset, veluti terrae aut lapidi aut ligno aut auro aut id genus rerum cuilibet.

but how, moreover, did you make heaven and earth? and what machine of so grand an operation of yours? for not as a human artificer forms a body from a body, to impose, by the arbitrament of a strong soul, a form which it beholds in itself with the inner eye (and whence should it have this strength, unless because you made it?) and he imposes a form upon what already exists and has being, so that it might be such, as upon earth or stone or wood or gold or anything of that genus.

et unde ista essent, nisi tu instituisses ea? tu fabro corpus, tu animum membris imperitantem fecisti, tu materiam unde facit aliquid, tu ingenium quo artem capiat et videat intus quid faciat foris, tu sensum corporis quo interprete traiciat ab animo ad materiam id quod facit et renuntiet animo quid factum sit, ut ille intus consulat praesidentem sibi veritatem, an bene factum sit. te laudant haec omnia creatorem omnium. sed tu quomodo facis ea? quomodo fecisti, deus, caelum et terram?

and whence would those things be, unless you had instituted them? you made for the craftsman the body, you the mind commanding the members, you the material from which he makes something, you the ingenuity by which he may grasp the art and see within what he does without, you the sense of the body, by whose interpreting he may transfer from the mind to the matter that which he makes and report back to the mind what has been done, so that he within may consult the truth presiding over him, whether it has been well done. these all praise you, the creator of all. but you—how do you make them? how did you make, O God, heaven and earth?

non utique in caelo neque in terra fecisti caelum et terram neque in aere aut in aquis, quoniam et haec pertinent ad caelum et terram neque in universo mundo fecisti universum mundum, quia non erat ubi fieret antequam fieret, ut esset. nec manu tenebas aliquid unde faceres caelum et terram: nam unde tibi hoc quod tu non feceras, unde aliquid faceres? quid enim est, nisi quia tu es? ergo dixisti et facta sunt atque in verbo tuo fecisti ea.

Surely not in heaven nor on earth did you make heaven and earth, nor in the air or in the waters, since these too pertain to heaven and earth; nor in the universal world did you make the universe, because there was no place where it might be made before it was made, so that it might exist. Nor were you holding in your hand anything from which you would make heaven and earth; for whence would you have this—what you had not made—from which to make anything? For what is there, except that you are? Therefore you said, and they were made, and in your Word you made them.

11.6.8

sed quomodo dixisti? numquid illo modo quo facta est vox de nube dicens, 'hic est filius meus dilectus'? illa enim vox acta atque transacta est, coepta et finita. sonuerunt syllabae atque transierunt, secunda post primam, tertia post secundam atque inde ex ordine, donec ultima post ceteras silentiumque post ultimam.

But how did you say? Was it in that mode in which a voice was made from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son”? For that voice was produced and completed, begun and finished. The syllables sounded and passed away, the second after the first, the third after the second, and thence in order, until the last after the others, and silence after the last.

unde claret atque eminet quod creaturae motus expressit eam, serviens aeternae voluntati tuae ipse temporalis. et haec ad tempus facta verba tua nuntiavit auris exterior menti prudenti, cuius auris interior posita est ad aeternum verbum tuum. at illa comparavit haec verba temporaliter sonantia cum aeterno in silentio verbo tuo et dixit, 'aliud est longe, longe aliud est.

whence it is clear and stands out that the motion of the creature expressed it, itself temporal, serving your eternal will. And the outer ear announced these words made for a time to the prudent mind, whose inner ear is set toward your eternal Word. But that mind compared these temporally-sounding words with your Word in silence eternal and said, 'another thing it is, far, far another thing.'

haec longe infra me sunt nec sunt, quia fugiunt et praetereunt; verbum autem dei mei supra me manet in aeternum.' si ergo verbis sonantibus et praetereuntibus dixisti, ut fieret caelum et terra, atque ita fecisti caelum et terram, erat iam creatura corporalis ante caelum et terram, cuius motibus temporalibus temporaliter vox illa percurreret. nullum autem corpus ante caelum et terram, aut si erat, id certe sine transitoria voce feceras, unde transitoriam vocem faceres, qua diceres ut fieret caelum et terra. quidquid enim illud esset unde talis vox fieret, nisi abs te factum esset omnino non esset.

'these things are far beneath me and are not, because they flee and pass away; but the Word of my God is above me, abiding unto eternity.' If therefore by sounding and passing words you said that heaven and earth should come to be, and thus you made heaven and earth, there was already a corporeal creature before heaven and earth, by whose temporal motions that voice would run its course temporally. But there was no body before heaven and earth, or if there was, surely you had made it without a transitory voice, from which you would make a transitory voice by which you would say that heaven and earth should come to be. For whatever that might be whence such a voice would be made, unless it had been made by you, it would not exist at all.

ut ergo fieret corpus unde ista verba fierent, quo verbo a te dictum est?

Therefore, in order that there might come to be a body from which those words might be made, by what word was it spoken by you?

11.7.9

vocas itaque nos ad intellegendum verbum, deum apud te deum, quod sempiterne dicitur et eo sempiterne dicuntur omnia. neque enim finitur quod dicebatur et dicitur aliud, ut possint dici omnia, sed simul ac sempiterne omnia; alioquin iam tempus et mutatio et non vera aeternitas nec vera immortalitas. hoc novi, deus meus, et gratias ago.

you call us, therefore, to the understanding of the Word, God with you, God, which is said sempiternally, and by it all things are said sempiternally. for what was being said is not brought to an end and then something else is said, so that all things might be able to be said, but all things at once and sempiternally; otherwise there is already time and change, and not true eternity nor true immortality. this I know, my God, and I give thanks.

novi, confiteor tibi, domine, mecumque novit et benedicit te quisquis ingratus non est certae veritati. novimus, domine, novimus, quoniam in quantum quidque non est quod erat et est quod non erat, in tantum moritur et oritur. non ergo quicquam verbi tui cedit atque succedit, quoniam vere immortale atque aeternum est.

I know, I confess to you, Lord, and with me whoever is not ungrateful to the certain verity knows and blesses you. We know, Lord, we know, that inasmuch as each thing is not what it was and is what it was not, by so much it dies and arises. Therefore nothing of your word yields and is succeeded, since it is truly immortal and eternal.

et ideo verbo tibi coaeterno simul et sempiterne dicis omnia quae dicis, et fit quidquid dicis ut fiat. nec aliter quam dicendo facis, nec tamen simul et sempiterna fiunt omnia quae dicendo facis.

and therefore by your coeternal Word you say at once and sempiternally all the things that you say, and whatever you say is made, in order that it may come to be. nor do you make otherwise than by saying, nor yet are all the things which you make by saying made at once and sempiternal.

11.8.10

cur, quaeso, domine deus meus? utcumque video, sed quomodo id eloquar nescio, nisi quia omne quod esse incipit et esse desinit tunc esse incipit et tunc desinit, quando debuisse incipere vel desinere in aeterna ratione cognoscitur, ubi nec incipit aliquid nec desinit. ipsum est verbum tuum, quod et principium est, quia et loquitur nobis.

Why, I pray, Lord my God? Somehow I see, but how I might utter it I do not know, except this: that everything which begins to be and ceases to be then begins to be and then ceases when it is recognized in the eternal reason that it ought to have begun or to cease, where nothing begins or ceases. This is your Word itself, which is also the beginning, because it also speaks to us.

sic in evangelio per carnem ait, et hoc insonuit foris auribus hominum, ut crederetur et intus quaereretur et inveniretur in aeterna veritate, ubi omnes discipulos bonus et solus magister docet. ibi audio vocem tuam, domine, dicentis mihi, quoniam ille loquitur nobis qui docet nos, qui autem non docet nos, etiam si loquitur, non nobis loquitur. quid porro nos docet nisi stabilis veritas?

thus in the Gospel he says through the flesh, and this resounded outwardly to the ears of men, so that it might be believed and sought within and found in eternal truth, where the good and sole teacher teaches all disciples. there I hear your voice, Lord, saying to me, that he speaks to us who teaches us; but he who does not teach us, even if he speaks, does not speak to us. what moreover teaches us except stable truth?

quia et per creaturam mutabilem cum admonemur, ad veritatem stabilem ducimur, ubi vere discimus, cum stamus et audimus eum et gaudio gaudemus propter vocem sponsi, reddentes nos unde sumus. et ideo principium, quia, nisi maneret cum erraremus, non esset quo rediremus. cum autem redimus ab errore, cognoscendo utique redimus; ut autem cognoscamus, docet nos, quia principium est et loquitur nobis.

because also through the mutable creature, when we are admonished, we are led to the stable truth, where we truly learn, when we stand and hear him and with joy we rejoice because of the voice of the bridegroom, rendering ourselves back whence we are. and therefore the Beginning, because, unless he remained when we were erring, there would be no place to which we might return. but when we return from error, by knowing we indeed return; and in order that we may know, he teaches us, because he is the Beginning and speaks to us.

11.9.11

in hoc principio, deus, fecisti caelum et terram in verbo tuo, in filio tuo, in virtute tua, in sapientia tua, in veritate tua, miro modo dicens et miro modo faciens. quis comprehendet? quis enarrabit?

in this beginning, God, you made heaven and earth in your Word, in your Son, in your Virtue, in your Wisdom, in your Truth, in a wondrous way speaking and in a wondrous way making. Who will comprehend? Who will narrate?

quid est illud quod interlucet mihi et percutit cor meum sine laesione? et inhorresco et inardesco: inhorresco, in quantum dissimilis ei sum, inardesco, in quantum similis ei sum. sapientia, sapientia ipsa est quae interlucet mihi, discindens nubilum meum, quod me rursus cooperit deficientem ab ea caligine atque aggere poenarum mearum, quoniam sic infirmatus est in egestate vigor meus ut non sufferam bonum meum, donec tu, domine, qui propitius factus es omnibus iniquitatibus meis, etiam sanes omnes languores meos, quia et redimes de corruptione vitam meam, et coronabis me in miseratione et misericordia, et satiabis in bonis desiderium meum, quoniam renovabitur iuventus mea sicut aquilae.

What is that which gleams-through to me and strikes my heart without injury? And I shudder and I ignite: I shudder, insofar as I am dissimilar to it; I ignite, insofar as I am similar to it. Wisdom—it is Wisdom itself that gleams-through to me, rending my cloudiness, which again covers me, failing away from it, with the gloom and the mass of my penalties; since my vigor has been so weakened in indigence that I cannot sustain my good, until you, Lord, who have been propitious to all my iniquities, also heal all my languors, for you will also redeem my life from corruption, and you will crown me with miseration and mercy, and you will satiate my desire with good things, for my youth will be renewed like an eagle’s.

spe enim salvi facti sumus et promissa tua per patientiam expectamus. audiat te intus sermocinantem qui potest: ego fidenter ex oraculo tuo clamabo, 'quam magnificata sunt opera tua, domine, omnia in sapientia fecisti!' et illa principium, et in eo principio fecisti caelum et terram.

For by hope we have been saved, and we await your promises through patience. Let him who can hear you discoursing within hear: I will confidently cry out from your oracle, 'How magnified are your works, Lord; you have made all things in wisdom!' And that is the Beginning, and in that Beginning you made heaven and earth.

11.10.12

nonne ecce pleni sunt vetustatis suae qui nobis dicunt, 'quid faciebat deus antequam faceret caelum et terram? si enim vacabat,' inquiunt, 'et non operabatur aliquid, cur non sic semper et deinceps, quemadmodum retro semper cessavit ab opere? si enim ullus motus in deo novus extitit et voluntas nova, ut creaturam conderet quam numquam ante condiderat, quomodo iam vera aeternitas, ubi oritur voluntas quae non erat?

Behold, are they not full of their own antiquity who say to us, 'What was God doing before he made heaven and earth? For if he was at leisure,' they say, 'and was not working anything, why not thus always and thereafter, just as formerly he always ceased from work? For if any motion new came to be in God and a new will, to found a creature which he had never before founded, how, then, is there true eternity, where there arises a will that was not?'

neque enim voluntas dei creatura est sed ante creaturam, quia non crearetur aliquid nisi creatoris voluntas praecederet. ad ipsam ergo dei substantiam pertinet voluntas eius. quod si exortum est aliquid in dei substantia quod prius non erat, non veraciter dicitur aeterna illa substantia.

for the will of God is not a creature but is before the creature, because nothing would be created unless the creator’s will preceded. therefore his will pertains to the very substance of God. but if something has arisen in the substance of God which previously was not, that substance is not veraciously called eternal.

si autem dei voluntas sempiterna erat, ut esset creatura, cur non sempiterna et creatura?'

if, however, the will of God was sempiternal that there should be a creature, why not sempiternal also the creature?'

11.11.13

qui haec dicunt nondum te intellegunt, o sapientia dei, lux mentium, nondum intellegunt quomodo fiant quae per te atque in te fiunt, et conantur aeterna sapere, sed adhuc in praeteritis et futuris rerum motibus cor eorum volitat et adhuc vanum est. quis tenebit illud et figet illud, ut paululum stet, et paululum rapiat splendorem semper stantis aeternitatis, et comparet cum temporibus numquam stantibus, et videat esse incomparabilem, et videat longum tempus, nisi ex multis praetereuntibus motibus qui simul extendi non possunt, longum non fieri; non autem praeterire quicquam in aeterno, sed totum esse praesens; nullum vero tempus totum esse praesens; et videat omne praeteritum propelli ex futuro et omne futurum ex praeterito consequi, et omne praeteritum ac futurum ab eo quod semper est praesens creari et excurrere? quis tenebit cor hominis, ut stet et videat quomodo stans dictet futura et praeterita tempora nec futura nec praeterita aeternitas?

those who say these things do not yet understand you, O wisdom of God, light of minds; they do not yet understand how the things which come to be through you and in you do come to be, and they endeavor to savor the eternal, but still, amid the motions of things past and future, their heart flits about and is still vain. Who will hold it and fix it, that it may stand a little, and snatch a little of the splendor of the ever-standing eternity, and compare it with the times that never stand, and see it to be incomparable, and see that a long time does not become long except from many passing motions which cannot be extended simultaneously; but that nothing passes in the eternal, rather the whole is present; while no time is wholly present; and see every past driven forth from the future and every future following from the past, and all past and future created and running out from that which is always present? Who will hold the heart of man, that it may stand and see how, standing, eternity dictates future and past times, while eternity is neither future nor past?

numquid manus mea valet hoc aut manus oris mei per loquellas agit tam grandem rem?

Does my hand avail for this, or does the hand of my mouth, through little speeches, accomplish so grand a matter?

11.12.14

ecce respondeo dicenti, 'quid faciebat deus antequam faceret caelum et terram?' respondeo non illud quod quidam respondisse perhibetur, ioculariter eludens quaestionis violentiam: 'alta,' inquit, 'scrutantibus gehennas parabat.' aliud est videre, aliud ridere: haec non respondeo. libentius enim responderim, 'nescio quod nescio' quam illud unde inridetur qui alta interrogavit et laudatur qui falsa respondit. sed dico te, deus noster, omnis creaturae creatorem et, si caeli et terrae nomine omnis creatura intellegitur, audenter dico, 'antequam faceret deus caelum et terram, non faciebat aliquid.' si enim faciebat, quid nisi creaturam faciebat?

Behold, I answer the one saying, 'What was God doing before he made heaven and earth?' I answer not that which someone is reported to have answered, playfully eluding the violence of the question: 'He was preparing hells for those scrutinizing the heights.' It is one thing to see, another to laugh: this I do not answer. For I would more willingly answer, 'I do not know what I do not know,' than that whereby he is mocked who asked about high things and he is praised who answered falsely. But I declare you, our God, the creator of every creature; and, if by the name of 'heaven and earth' every creature is understood, I boldly say, 'Before God made heaven and earth, he was not doing anything.' For if he was doing, what was he making except a creature?

et utinam sic sciam quidquid utiliter scire cupio, quemadmodum scio quod nulla fiebat creatura antequam fieret ulla creatura.

and would that I thus knew whatever I desire to know usefully, just as I know that no creature was being made before any creature was made.

11.13.15

at si cuiusquam volatilis sensus vagatur per imagines retro temporum et te, deum omnipotentem et omnicreantem et omnitenentem, caeli et terrae artificem, ab opere tanto, antequam id faceres, per innumerabilia saecula cessasse miratur, evigilet atque attendat, quia falsa miratur. nam unde poterant innumerabilia saecula praeterire quae ipse non feceras, cum sis omnium saeculorum auctor et conditor? aut quae tempora fuissent quae abs te condita non essent?

but if anyone’s flighty sense wanders through the images of times gone by and marvels that you, Almighty and all-creating and all-sustaining God, the artificer of heaven and earth, had been at rest from so great a work, before you made it, through innumerable ages, let him wake and attend, for he marvels at what is false. For whence could innumerable ages have passed which you yourself had not made, since you are the author and founder of all ages? Or what times would there have been which had not been created by you?

aut quomodo praeterirent, si numquam fuissent? cum ergo sis operator omnium temporum, si fuit aliquod tempus antequam faceres caelum et terram, cur dicitur quod ab opere cessabas? idipsum enim tempus tu feceras, nec praeterire potuerunt tempora antequam faceres tempora.

or how could they pass by, if they had never been? since therefore you are the operator of all times, if there was any time before you made heaven and earth, why is it said that you were ceasing from work? for you had made that very same time itself, and times could not pass by before you made times.

si autem ante caelum et terram nullum erat tempus, cur quaeritur quid tunc faciebas? non enim erat tunc, ubi non erat tempus.

But if before heaven and earth there was no time, why is it inquired what you were then doing? For there was no 'then' where there was no time.

11.13.16

nec tu tempore tempora praecedis, alioquin non omnia tempora praecederes. sed praecedis omnia praeterita celsitudine semper praesentis aeternitatis et superas omnia futura, quia illa futura sunt, et cum venerint, praeterita erunt. tu autem idem ipse es, et anni tui non deficient: anni tui nec eunt nec veniunt, isti enim nostri eunt et veniunt, ut omnes veniant; anni tui omnes simul stant, quoniam stant, nec euntes a venientibus excluduntur, quia non transeunt.

nor do you precede times by time; otherwise you would not precede all times. but you precede all past things by the loftiness of the ever-present eternity, and you overtop all future things, because those are future, and when they shall have come, they will be past. but you are the same self, and your years will not fail: your years neither go nor come; for these of ours go and come, that all may come; your years all stand at once, since they stand, nor are the going ones excluded by the coming ones, because they do not pass.

isti autem nostri omnes erunt, cum omnes non erunt. anni tui dies unus, et dies tuus non cotidie sed hodie, quia hodiernus tuus non cedit crastino; neque enim succedit hesterno. hodiernus tuus aeternitas; ideo coaeternum genuisti cui dixisti, 'ego hodie genui te.' omnia tempora tu fecisti et ante omnia tempora tu es, nec aliquo tempore non erat tempus.

but as for ours, however, they will all be only when all will not be. your years are one day, and your day is not every day but today, because your today does not yield to tomorrow; nor indeed does it succeed yesterday. your today is eternity; therefore you begot as coeternal the one to whom you said, 'I today have begotten you.' you made all times, and before all times you are, nor at any time was there not time.

11.14.17

nullo ergo tempore non feceras aliquid, quia ipsum tempus tu feceras. et nulla tempora tibi coaeterna sunt, quia tu permanes. at illa si permanerent, non essent tempora.

therefore at no time had you not made something, because you had made time itself. and no times are coeternal with you, because you remain. but if those were to remain, they would not be times.

quid est enim tempus? quis hoc facile breviterque explicaverit? quis hoc ad verbum de illo proferendum vel cogitatione comprehenderit?

For what is time? Who will easily and briefly explicate this? Who will comprehend this, to be proffered in word about it, or grasp it by cogitation?

quid autem familiarius et notius in loquendo commemoramus quam tempus? et intellegimus utique cum id loquimur, intellegimus etiam cum alio loquente id audimus. quid est ergo tempus?

But what more familiar and better-known thing do we mention in speaking than time? And surely we understand it when we speak it; we also understand it when, another speaking, we hear it. What, then, is time?

si nemo ex me quaerat, scio; si quaerenti explicare velim, nescio. fidenter tamen dico scire me quod, si nihil praeteriret, non esset praeteritum tempus, et si nihil adveniret, non esset futurum tempus, et si nihil esset, non esset praesens tempus. duo ergo illa tempora, praeteritum et futurum, quomodo sunt, quando et praeteritum iam non est et futurum nondum est?

If no one asks me, I know; if I should wish to explicate it to the one asking, I do not know. Yet confidently I say that I know this: that, if nothing were to pass by, there would not be past time; and if nothing were to advene, there would not be future time; and if nothing were, there would not be present time. How, then, are those two times, past and future, when both the past is now no longer and the future is not yet?

praesens autem si semper esset praesens nec in praeteritum transiret, non iam esset tempus, sed aeternitas. si ergo praesens, ut tempus sit, ideo fit, quia in praeteritum transit, quomodo et hoc esse dicimus, cui causa, ut sit, illa est, quia non erit, ut scilicet non vere dicamus tempus esse, nisi quia tendit non esse?

But the present, if it were always present and did not pass into the past, would no longer be time, but eternity. If therefore the present, in order to be time, comes to be for this reason, because it passes into the past, how do we say that this too is, whose cause for being is this, that it will not be—that is, that we do not truly say that time is, except because it tends not to be?

11.15.18

et tamen dicimus longum tempus et breve tempus, neque hoc nisi de praeterito aut futuro dicimus. praeteritum tempus longum verbi gratia vocamus ante centum annos, futurum itidem longum post centum annos, breve autem praeteritum sic, ut puta dicamus ante decem dies, et breve futurum post decem dies. sed quo pacto longum est aut breve, quod non est?

and yet we say a long time and a short time, nor do we say this except of the past or the future. A past time we call long, for example, a hundred years ago; likewise a future time long, a hundred years hence; but a short past thus, as, let us say, ten days ago, and a short future, ten days hence. But how is that long or short which is not?

praeteritum enim iam non est et futurum nondum est. non itaque dicamus, 'longum est,' sed dicamus de praeterito, 'longum fuit,' et de futuro, 'longum erit.' domine meus, lux mea, nonne et hic veritas tua deridebit hominem? quod enim longum fuit praeteritum tempus, cum iam esset praeteritum longum fuit, an cum adhuc praesens esset?

For the past now is not, and the future is not yet. Let us not, then, say, 'it is long,' but let us say of the past, 'it was long,' and of the future, 'it will be long.' My Lord, my light, will not even here your verity deride man? For the past time that was long—was it long when, now being past, it was past, or when it was still present?

tunc enim poterat esse longum quando erat, quod esset longum; praeteritum vero iam non erat, unde nec longum esse poterat, quod omnino non erat. non ergo dicamus, 'longum fuit praeteritum tempus'; neque enim inveniemus quid fuerit longum, quando, ex quo praeteritum est, non est, sed dicamus, 'longum fuit illud praesens tempus,' quia cum praesens esset, longum erat. nondum enim praeterierat ut non esset, et ideo erat quod longum esse posset; postea vero quam praeteriit, simul et longum esse destitit quod esse destitit.

then indeed it could be long when there was that which might be long; but the past by now was not, whence neither could that be long which in no way was. let us not, therefore, say, 'the past time was long'; for neither shall we find what was long, when, from the point that it became past, it is not; but let us say, 'that present time was long,' because when it was present, it was long. for it had not yet passed away so as not to be, and therefore there was that which could be long; but after it passed, at the same time that which ceased to be ceased to be long.

11.15.19

videamus ergo, anima humana, utrum praesens tempus possit esse longum, datum enim tibi est sentire moras atque metiri. quid respondebis mihi? an centum anni praesentes longum tempus est?

Let us see then, human soul, whether the present time can be long; for it has been given to you to sense delays and to measure. What will you answer me? Are a hundred present years a long time?

vide prius utrum possint praesentes esse centum anni. si enim primus eorum annus agitur, ipse praesens est, nonaginta vero et novem futuri sunt et ideo nondum sunt. si autem secundus annus agitur, iam unus est praeteritus, alter praesens, ceteri futuri.

See first whether a hundred years can be present. For if the first of them is being spent, it alone is present, but ninety and nine are future and therefore do not yet exist. But if the second year is being spent, already one is past, another present, the rest future.

atque ita mediorum quemlibet centenarii huius numeri annum praesentem posuerimus. ante illum praeteriti erunt, post illum futuri. quocirca centum anni praesentes esse non poterunt.

and thus, whichever of the middle years of this number of a hundred we may set as present, before it there will be past ones, after it future ones. wherefore 100 years cannot be present.

vide saltem utrum qui agitur unus ipse sit praesens. et eius enim si primus agitur mensis, futuri sunt ceteri, si secundus, iam et primus praeteriit et reliqui nondum sunt. ergo nec annus qui agitur totus est praesens, et si non totus est praesens, non annus est praesens.

see at least whether the one that is being passed through, the one itself, is present. for if its first month is the one being carried on, the rest are future; if the second, already the first has passed and the remaining are not yet. therefore, neither is the year that is being carried on wholly present; and if it is not wholly present, the year is not present.

duodecim enim menses annus est, quorum quilibet unus mensis qui agitur ipse praesens est, ceteri aut praeteriti aut futuri. quamquam neque mensis qui agitur praesens est, sed unus dies. si primus, futuris ceteris, si novissimus, praeteritis ceteris, si mediorum quilibet, inter praeteritos et futuros.

For the year is twelve months, of which any single month that is in progress is itself present, the rest either past or future. Yet not even the month that is in progress is present, but a single day: if it is the first, the rest are future; if the last, the rest are past; if any one of the middle ones, it is between the past and the future.

11.15.20

ecce praesens tempus, quod solum inveniebamus longum appellandum, vix ad unius diei spatium contractum est. sed discutiamus etiam ipsum, quia nec unus dies totus est praesens. nocturnis enim et diurnis horis omnibus viginti quattuor expletur, quarum prima ceteras futuras habet, novissima praeteritas, aliqua vero interiectarum ante se praeteritas, post se futuras.

Behold the present time, which alone we were finding should be called long, has been scarcely contracted to the span of a single day. But let us also examine it itself, since not even one day is wholly present. For it is filled out by all its nocturnal and diurnal hours, twenty-four in all, of which the first has the others as future, the last as past, and some indeed of the intervening have before themselves past, after themselves future.

et ipsa una hora fugitivis particulis agitur. quidquid eius avolavit, praeteritum est, quidquid ei restat, futurum. si quid intellegitur temporis, quod in nullas iam vel minutissimas momentorum partes dividi possit, id solum est quod praesens dicatur; quod tamen ita raptim a futuro in praeteritum transvolat, ut nulla morula extendatur.

and that single hour itself is carried on by fugitive particles. whatever of it has flown away is past; whatever remains to it is future. if any time is understood which can no longer be divided into even the most minute parts of moments, that alone is what is called the present; which, however, so swiftly flies from the future into the past that no little delay is extended.

nam si extenditur, dividitur in praeteritum et futurum; praesens autem nullum habet spatium. ubi est ergo tempus quod longum dicamus? an futurum?

For if it is extended, it is divided into the past and the future; but the present has no span. Where, then, is the time which we may call long? Or the future?

non quidem dicimus, 'longum est,' quia nondum est quod longum sit, sed dicimus, 'longum erit.' quando igitur erit? si enim et tunc adhuc futurum erit, non erit longum, quia quid sit longum nondum erit. si autem tunc erit longum, cum ex futuro quod nondum est esse iam coeperit et praesens factum erit, ut possit esse quod longum sit, iam superioribus vocibus clamat praesens tempus longum se esse non posse.

we do not, to be sure, say, 'it is long,' because that which might be long is not yet, but we say, 'it will be long.' When, then, will it be? For if even then it will still be future, it will not be long, because what it is to be long will not yet be. But if then it will be long, when from the future, which is not yet, it has already begun to be and has been made present, so that there may be something that is long, already by the foregoing words the present time cries out that it cannot be long.

11.16.21

et tamen, domine, sentimus intervalla temporum et comparamus sibimet et dicimus alia longiora et alia breviora. metimur etiam quanto sit longius aut brevius illud tempus quam illud, et respondemus duplum esse hoc vel triplum, illud autem simplum aut tantum hoc esse quantum illud. sed praetereuntia metimur tempora cum sentiendo metimur.

And yet, Lord, we sense the intervals of times and compare them among themselves, and we say that some are longer and others shorter. We also measure how much longer or shorter that time is than this one, and we answer that this is double or triple, but that is single, or that this is just as much as that. But we measure passing times when, by sensing, we measure.

praeterita vero, quae iam non sunt, aut futura, quae nondum sunt, quis metiri potest, nisi forte audebit quis dicere metiri posse quod non est? cum ergo praeterit tempus, sentiri et metiri potest, cum autem praeterierit, quoniam non est, non potest.

But as for the past, which now is not, or the future, which is not yet, who can measure them—unless perhaps someone will dare to say that one can measure what is not? Therefore, when time is passing, it can be sensed and measured; but when it has passed, since it is not, it cannot.

11.17.22

quaero, pater, non adfirmo. deus meus, praeside mihi et rege me. quisnam est qui dicat mihi non esse tria tempora, sicut pueri didicimus puerosque docuimus, praeteritum, praesens, et futurum, sed tantum praesens, quoniam illa duo non sunt? an et ipsa sunt, sed ex aliquo procedit occulto cum ex futuro fit praesens, et in aliquod recedit occultum cum ex praesenti fit praeteritum?

I inquire, Father, I do not affirm. My God, preside over me and rule me. Who is there who would say to me that there are not three times, as we learned as boys and taught boys, past, present, and future, but only the present, since those other two are not? Or are they themselves also, but from some hidden source it proceeds when from future it becomes present, and into some hidden place it recedes when from present it becomes past?

nam ubi ea viderunt qui futura cecinerunt, si nondum sunt? neque enim potest videri id quod non est. et qui narrant praeterita, non utique vera narrarent si animo illa non cernerent.

for where did those who prophesied things to come see them, if they are not yet? for neither can that be seen which is not. and those who narrate past things would not, assuredly, narrate true things if they did not discern them in the mind.

quae si nulla essent, cerni omnino non possent. sunt ergo et futura et praeterita.

which, if they were nothing, could not be discerned at all. therefore both future things and past things exist.

11.18.23

sine me, domine, amplius quaerere, spes mea; non conturbetur intentio mea. si enim sunt futura et praeterita, volo scire ubi sint. quod si nondum valeo, scio tamen, ubicumque sunt, non ibi ea futura esse aut praeterita, sed praesentia.

let me, lord, inquire further, my hope; let not my intention be troubled. for if there are future things and past things, I wish to know where they are. but if I am not yet able, I nevertheless know that, wherever they are, there they are not future or past, but present.

nam si et ibi futura sunt, nondum ibi sunt, si et ibi praeterita sunt, iam non ibi sunt. ubicumque ergo sunt, quaecumque sunt, non sunt nisi praesentia. quamquam praeterita cum vera narrantur, ex memoria proferuntur non res ipsae quae praeterierunt, sed verba concepta ex imaginibus earum quae in animo velut vestigia per sensus praetereundo fixerunt.

for if even there there are future things, they are not yet there; if even there there are past things, they are already not there. wherever, then, they are, whatever they are, they are nothing except present. although, when past things are truly narrated, they are proffered from memory—not the things themselves which have passed by, but words conceived from their images, which in the mind, as it were, have fixed vestiges through the senses in passing by.

pueritia quippe mea, quae iam non est, in tempore praeterito est, quod iam non est; imaginem vero eius, cum eam recolo et narro, in praesenti tempore intueor, quia est adhuc in memoria mea. utrum similis sit causa etiam praedicendorum futurorum, ut rerum, quae nondum sunt, iam existentes praesentiantur imagines, confiteor, deus meus, nescio. illud sane scio, nos plerumque praemeditari futuras actiones nostras eamque praemeditationem esse praesentem, actionem autem quam praemeditamur nondum esse, quia futura est.

My childhood, indeed, which now is not, is in past time, which now is not; but its image, when I recollect it and recount it, I behold in the present time, because it is still in my memory. Whether the cause is similar also for future things to be proclaimed, that for things which are not yet, images already existing are presented, I confess, my God, I do not know. This, to be sure, I know: we very often premeditate our future actions, and that premeditation is present; but the action which we premeditate is not yet, because it is future.

quam cum aggressi fuerimus et quod praemeditabamur agere coeperimus, tunc erit illa actio, quia tunc non futura, sed praesens erit.

and when we shall have undertaken it and shall have begun to do what we were premeditating, then that action will be, because then it will not be future, but present.

11.18.24

quoquo modo se itaque habeat arcana praesensio futurorum, videri nisi quod est non potest. quod autem iam est, non futurum sed praesens est. cum ergo videri dicuntur futura, non ipsa quae nondum sunt, id est quae futura sunt, sed eorum causae vel signa forsitan videntur, quae iam sunt.

However, in whatever way the secret prescience of future things may be situated, nothing can be seen except what is. But what already is, is not future but present. When, therefore, future things are said to be seen, not the things themselves which are not yet, that is, which are going to be, but perhaps their causes or signs are seen, which already are.

ideo non futura sed praesentia sunt iam videntibus, ex quibus futura praedicantur animo concepta. quae rursus conceptiones iam sunt, et eas praesentes apud se intuentur qui illa praedicunt. loquatur mihi aliquod exemplum tanta rerum numerositas.

therefore they are not future but present to those already seeing them, from which the future things are foretold, conceived in the mind. these conceptions in turn already exist, and those who foretell them behold them as present with themselves. let some example speak to me from so great a numerosity of things.

intueor auroram, oriturum solem praenuntio. quod intueor, praesens est, quod praenuntio, futurum. non sol futurus, qui iam est, sed ortus eius, qui nondum est; tamen etiam ortum ipsum nisi animo imaginarer, sicut modo cum id loquor, non eum possem praedicere.

I gaze upon the dawn, I preannounce the sun about to rise. What I gaze upon is present, what I preannounce, future. Not the sun is future, which already is, but its rising, which is not yet; nevertheless, unless I imagined the rising itself in my mind, just now as I say this, I could not predict it.

sed nec illa aurora quam in caelo video solis ortus est, quamvis eum praecedat, nec illa imaginatio in animo meo. quae duo praesentia cernuntur, ut futurus ille ante dicatur. futura ergo nondum sunt, et si nondum sunt, non sunt, et si non sunt, videri omnino non possunt; sed praedici possunt ex praesentibus, quae iam sunt et videntur.

But neither is that aurora which I see in the sky the sun’s rising, although it precedes it, nor is that imagination in my mind. These two are discerned as present, so that that future thing may be said beforehand. Therefore future things are not yet; and if they are not yet, they are not; and if they are not, they cannot at all be seen; but they can be predicted from present things, which already are and are seen.

11.19.25

tu itaque, regnator creaturae tuae, quis est modus quo doces animas ea quae futura sunt? docuisti enim prophetas tuos. quisnam ille modus est quo doces futura, cui futurum quicquam non est?

you therefore, ruler of your creation, what is the mode by which you teach souls the future things? for you have taught your prophets. what then is that mode by which you teach future things, for whom nothing is future?

vel potius de futuris doces praesentia? nam quod non est, nec doceri utique potest. nimis longe est modus iste ab acie mea: invaluit.

or rather do you teach the things to come as present? for what does not exist surely cannot be taught. that mode is too far from my acuity: it has prevailed.

ex me non potero ad illum, potero autem ex te, cum dederis tu, dulce lumen occultorum oculorum meorum.

from myself I shall not be able to come to him, but I shall be able from you, when you give, O sweet light of my hidden eyes.

11.20.26

quod autem nunc liquet et claret, nec futura sunt nec praeterita, nec proprie dicitur, 'tempora sunt tria, praeteritum, praesens, et futurum,' sed fortasse proprie diceretur, 'tempora sunt tria, praesens de praeteritis, praesens de praesentibus, praesens de futuris.' sunt enim haec in anima tria quaedam et alibi ea non video, praesens de praeteritis memoria, praesens de praesentibus contuitus, praesens de futuris expectatio. si haec permittimur dicere, tria tempora video fateorque, tria sunt. dicatur etiam, 'tempora sunt tria, praeteritum, praesens, et futurum,' sicut abutitur consuetudo; dicatur.

but what now is clear and bright is that they are neither future nor past, nor is it properly said, 'there are three times, past, present, and future,' but perhaps it would be said properly, 'there are three times: the present of things past, the present of things present, the present of things future.' for these three certain things are in the soul, and elsewhere I do not see them: the present of things past is memory, the present of things present is intuition (a direct gaze), the present of things future is expectation. if we are permitted to say these things, I see three times and I confess, they are three. let it also be said, 'there are three times, past, present, and future,' as custom abuses; let it be said.

ecce non curo nec resisto nec reprehendo, dum tamen intellegatur quod dicitur, neque id quod futurum est esse iam, neque id quod praeteritum est. pauca sunt enim quae proprie loquimur, plura non proprie, sed agnoscitur quid velimus.

behold, I do not care, nor do I resist, nor do I reprehend, provided, however, that what is said is understood: neither that what is to be is already, nor that what is past is. for few are the things that we speak properly; more we speak not properly; yet it is recognized what we intend.

11.21.27

dixi ergo paulo ante quod praetereuntia tempora metimur, ut possimus dicere duplum esse hoc temporis ad illud simplum, aut tantum hoc quantum illud, et si quid aliud de partibus temporum possumus renuntiare metiendo. quocirca, ut dicebam, praetereuntia metimur tempora, et si quis mihi dicat, 'unde scis?', respondeam, scio quia metimur, nec metiri quae non sunt possumus, et non sunt praeterita vel futura. praesens vero tempus quomodo metimur, quando non habet spatium?

I said therefore a little before that we measure the passing times, so that we can say that this time is double to that single, or that this is as much as that, and if we can report anything else about the parts of times by measuring. Wherefore, as I was saying, we measure the passing times; and if someone should say to me, 'Whence do you know?', I would answer, I know because we measure, and we cannot measure things which are not, and the past or the future are not. But the present time, how do we measure it, since it does not have a span?

metitur ergo cum praeterit, cum autem praeterierit, non metitur; quid enim metiatur non erit. sed unde et qua et quo praeterit, cum metitur? unde nisi ex futuro?

It is therefore measured while it passes by; but when it has passed by, it is not measured; for what it would measure will not be. But whence and by what way and whither does it pass by, while it is measured? Whence, unless out of the future?

qua nisi per praesens? quo nisi in praeteritum? ex illo ergo quod nondum est, per illud quod spatio caret, in illud quod iam non est.

by what except through the present? to what except into the past? from that, therefore, which is not yet, through that which lacks span, into that which is no longer.

quid autem metimur nisi tempus in aliquo spatio? neque enim dicimus simpla et dupla et tripla et aequalia, et si quid hoc modo in tempore dicimus nisi spatia temporum. in quo ergo spatio metimur tempus praeteriens?

But what do we measure except time in some span? For we do not say simple and double and triple and equal—and if we say anything in this way about time, it is nothing but spans of times. In what span, then, do we measure time as it is passing by?

utrum in futuro, unde praeterit? sed quod nondum est, non metimur. an in praesenti, qua praeterit?

Is it in the future, whence it passes by? But what is not yet, we do not measure. Or in the present, through which it passes by?

sed nullum spatium non metimur. an in praeterito, quo praeterit? sed quod iam non est, non metimur.

but there is no space that we do not measure. Or in the past, through which it passes? But what no longer is, we do not measure.

11.22.28

exarsit animus meus nosse istuc implicatissimum aenigma. noli claudere, domine deus meus, bone pater, per Christum obsecro, noli claudere desiderio meo ista et usitata et abdita, quominus in ea penetret et dilucescant allucente misericordia tua, domine. quem percontabor de his?

My soul blazed to know that most intricate enigma. Do not shut, O Lord my God, good Father—I beseech through Christ—do not shut from my desire these things, both the customary and the hidden, lest it be hindered from penetrating into them and they grow bright as your mercy sheds light, O Lord. Whom shall I question about these?

et cui fructuosius confitebor imperitiam meam nisi tibi, cui non sunt molesta studia mea flammantia vehementer in scripturas tuas? da quod amo; amo enim, et hoc tu dedisti. da, pater, qui vere nosti data bona dare filiis tuis, da, quoniam suscepi cognoscere et labor est ante me, donec aperias.

and to whom shall I more fruitfully confess my unskillfulness than to you, to whom my studies, flaming vehemently toward your scriptures, are not burdensome? give what I love; for I love, and this you have given. give, Father, you who truly know how to give good gifts to your children; give, since I have undertaken to know, and toil lies before me, until you open.

per Christum obsecro, in nomine eius sancti sanctorum nemo mihi obstrepat. et ego credidi, propter quod et loquor. haec est spes mea, ad hanc vivo, ut contempler delectationem domini.

through Christ I beseech: in the name of him, the Holy of holies, let no one gainsay me. and I believed, for which cause I also speak. this is my hope; for this I live, that I may contemplate the delectation of the lord.

ecce veteres posuisti dies meos et transeunt, et quomodo, nescio. et dicimus tempus et tempus, tempora et tempora: 'quamdiu dixit hoc ille,' 'quamdiu fecit hoc ille' et: 'quam longo tempore illud non vidi' et: 'duplum temporis habet haec syllaba ad illam simplam brevem.' dicimus haec et audimus haec et intellegimur et intellegimus. manifestissima et usitatissima sunt, et eadem rursus nimis latent et nova est inventio eorum.

Behold, you have set my days old and they pass, and how, I know not. And we say time and time, times and times: 'how long did that man say this,' 'how long did that man do this' and: 'for how long a time I have not seen that' and: 'this syllable has double the time compared to that simple short one.' We say these things and we hear these things and we are understood and we understand. They are most manifest and most usual, and the same things in turn lie too hidden, and their invention is new.

11.23.29

audivi a quodam homine docto quod solis et lunae ac siderum motus ipsa sint tempora, et non adnui. cur enim non potius omnium corporum motus sint tempora? an vero, si cessarent caeli lumina et moveretur rota figuli, non esset tempus quo metiremur eos gyros et diceremus aut aequalibus morulis agi, aut si alias tardius, alias velocius moveretur, alios magis diuturnos esse, alios minus?

I heard from a certain learned man that the motions of the sun and the moon and the stars are themselves times, and I did not assent. For why should not rather the motions of all bodies be times? Or indeed, if the lights of heaven were to cease and the potter’s wheel were set in motion, would there not be a time by which we would measure those gyres and say either that they are driven with equal intervals, or, if at one time it moved more slowly, at another more swiftly, that some are more long-enduring and others less?

aut cum haec diceremus, non et nos in tempore loqueremur aut essent in verbis nostris aliae longae syllabae, aliae breves, nisi quia illae longiore tempore sonuissent, istae breviore? deus, dona hominibus videre in parvo communes notitias rerum parvarum atque magnarum. sunt sidera et luminaria caeli in signis et in temporibus et in diebus et in annis.

or when we were saying these things, would not we also be speaking in time, and would there not be in our words some long syllables, others short, except because those would have sounded with a longer time, these with a shorter? god, grant to human beings to see in a small thing the common notions of small and great things. there are stars and the luminaries of heaven for signs and for times and for days and for years.

sunt vero, sed nec ego dixerim circuitum illius ligneolae rotae diem esse, nec tamen ideo tempus non esse ille dixerit.

They are indeed; but neither would I say that the circuit of that little wooden wheel is a day, nor yet on that account would he say that it is not time.

11.23.30

ego scire cupio vim naturamque temporis, quo metimur corporum motus et dicimus illum motum verbi gratia tempore duplo esse diuturniorem quam istum. nam quaero, quoniam dies dicitur non tantum mora solis super terram, secundum quod aliud est dies, aliud nox, sed etiam totius eius circuitus ab oriente usque orientem, secundum quod dicimus, 'tot dies transierunt' (cum suis enim noctibus dicuntur tot dies, nec extra reputantur spatia noctium) -- quoniam ergo dies expletur motu solis atque circuitu ab oriente usque orientem, quaero utrum motus ipse sit dies, an mora ipsa quanta peragitur, an utrumque. si enim primum dies esset, dies ergo esset, etiamsi tanto spatio temporis sol cursum illum peregisset, quantum est horae unius.

i desire to know the force and nature of time, by which we measure the motions of bodies and say that that motion, for example, is twice as long in time as this one. for i ask, since “day” is said not only of the sojourn of the sun over the earth, according to which a day is one thing, night another, but also of its whole circuit from east to east, according to which we say, 'so many days have passed' (for together with their nights so many days are spoken of, nor are the spans of the nights reckoned outside) -- since therefore a day is fulfilled by the motion of the sun and its circuit from east to east, i ask whether the motion itself is the day, or the duration itself during which it is accomplished, or both. for if in the first sense the day were the motion, then it would be a day even if the sun had completed that course in so great a span of time as that of one hour.

si secundum, non ergo esset dies, si ab ortu solis usque in ortum alterum tam brevis mora esset quam est horae unius, sed viciens et quater circuiret sol ut expleret diem. si utrumque, nec ille appellaretur dies, si horae spatio sol totum suum gyrum circuiret, nec ille, si sole cessante tantum temporis praeteriret, quanto peragere sol totum ambitum de mane in mane adsolet. non itaque nunc quaeram quid sit illud quod vocatur dies, sed quid sit tempus, quo metientes solis circuitum diceremus eum dimidio spatio temporis peractum minus quam solet, si tanto spatio temporis peractus esset, quanto peraguntur horae duodecim, et utrumque tempus comparantes diceremus illud simplum, hoc duplum, etiamsi aliquando illo simplo, aliquando isto duplo sol ab oriente usque orientem circuiret.

If the second, then it would not be a day, if from the rising of the sun to the next rising the delay were as brief as that of a single hour, but the sun would circle twenty-four times so as to fill out a day. If both, neither would that be called a day, if within the span of an hour the sun should go round its whole circuit, nor that, if, the sun ceasing, as much time should pass as the sun is accustomed to take to complete its whole compass from morning to morning. Therefore I will not now inquire what that is which is called day, but what time is, by which, measuring the sun’s circuit, we would say it had been completed in a span of time half as much as it is wont, if it had been completed in as much span of time as twelve hours are completed; and comparing the two times we would say that one is simple, this double, even if at one time with that simple, at another with this double, the sun should circle from east to east.

nemo ergo mihi dicat caelestium corporum motus esse tempora, quia et cuiusdam voto cum sol stetisset, ut victoriosum proelium perageret, sol stabat, sed tempus ibat. per suum quippe spatium temporis, quod ei sufficeret, illa pugna gesta atque finita est. video igitur tempus quandam esse distentionem.

Let no one, then, tell me that the motions of the celestial bodies are times, since also, at the vow of a certain man, when the sun had stood still, that he might carry through a victorious battle, the sun was standing, but time was going on. For through its own span of time, which sufficed for it, that battle was done and finished. I see, therefore, that time is a certain distension.

sed video? an videre mihi videor? tu demonstrabis, lux, veritas.

but do i see? or do i seem to myself to see? you will demonstrate, light, truth.

11.24.31

iubes ut approbem, si quis dicat tempus esse motum corporis? non iubes. nam corpus nullum nisi in tempore moveri audio: tu dicis.

do you bid that I approve, if someone says that time is the motion of a body? you do not bid. for I hear that no body is moved except in time: you say.

ipsum autem corporis motum tempus esse non audio: non tu dicis. cum enim movetur corpus, tempore metior quamdiu moveatur, ex quo moveri incipit donec desinat. et si non vidi ex quo coepit et perseverat moveri, ut non videam cum desinit, non valeo metiri, nisi forte ex quo videre incipio donec desinam.

but I do not hear that the motion of the body itself is time; you do not say so. for when a body is moved, I measure by time how long it is moved, from the point at which it begins to be moved until it ceases. and if I have not seen from when it began and it continues to be moved, so that I do not see when it ceases, I am not able to measure, unless perhaps from the point at which I begin to see until I cease to see.

quod si diu video, tantummodo longum tempus esse renuntio, non autem quantum sit, quia et quantum cum dicimus, conlatione dicimus, velut: 'tantum hoc, quantum illud' aut: 'duplum hoc ad illud' et si quid aliud isto modo. si autem notare potuerimus locorum spatia, unde et quo veniat corpus quod movetur, vel partes eius, si tamquam in torno movetur, possumus dicere quantum sit temporis ex quo ab illo loco usque ad illum locum motus corporis vel partis eius effectus est. cum itaque aliud sit motus corporis, aliud quo metimur quamdiu sit, quis non sentiat quid horum potius tempus dicendum sit?

But if I watch it for a long time, I only report that it is a long time, not however how much it is; for when we say ‘how much,’ we say it by comparison, as: ‘this as much as that’ or: ‘this double to that,’ and anything else in that mode. But if we can mark the spans of places, whence and whither the body that is moved goes, or its parts, if it is moved as on a lathe, we can say how much time it is, from that place to that place, since the motion of the body or of its part has been effected. Since therefore the motion of a body is one thing, and that by which we measure how long it lasts is another, who does not perceive which of these ought rather to be called time?

nam si et varie corpus aliquando movetur, aliquando stat, non solum motum eius sed etiam statum tempore metimur et dicimus, 'tantum stetit, quantum motum est' aut, 'duplo vel triplo stetit ad id quod motum est' et si quid aliud nostra dimensio sive comprehenderit sive existimaverit, ut dici solet plus minus. non ergo tempus corporis motus.

for if also a body is at times moved variously, at times stands, we measure by time not only its motion but also its standing, and we say, 'it stood as much as it was moved,' or, 'it stood double or triple in relation to that which it was moved,' and whatever else our dimension may either have comprehended or estimated, as it is wont to be said, more or less. therefore time is not the motion of a body.

11.25.32

et confiteor tibi, domine, ignorare me adhuc quid sit tempus, et rursus confiteor tibi, domine, scire me in tempore ista dicere, et diu me iam loqui de tempore, atque ipsum diu non esse diu nisi mora temporis. quomodo igitur hoc scio, quando quid sit tempus nescio? an forte nescio quemadmodum dicam quod scio?

and I confess to you, Lord, that I still do not know what time is; and again I confess to you, Lord, that I know that I am saying these things in time, and that I have now long been speaking about time, and that this very “long” is not long except by a delay of time. How then do I know this, when I do not know what time is? Or perhaps I do not know how to say what I know?

ei mihi, qui nescio saltem quid nesciam! ecce, deus meus, coram te, quia non mentior! sicut loquor, ita est cor meum.

Woe is me, who do not know at least what I do not know! Behold, my God, before you, for I do not lie! Just as I speak, so is my heart.

tu inluminabis lucernam meam, domine, deus meus, inluminabis tenebras meas.

You will illuminate my lamp, Lord; my God, you will illuminate my darkness.

11.26.33

nonne tibi confitetur anima mea confessione veridica metiri me tempora? itane, deus meus, metior et quid metiar nescio. metior motum corporis tempore: item ipsum tempus nonne metior?

Does not my soul confess to you, with a veridical confession, that I measure times? Is it so, my God, that I measure, and what I measure I do not know. I measure the motion of a body by time: likewise, do I not measure time itself?

an vero corporis motum metirer, quamdiu sit et quamdiu hinc illuc perveniat, nisi tempus in quo movetur metirer? ipsum ergo tempus unde metior? an tempore breviore metimur longius sicut spatio cubiti spatium transtri?

Or indeed would I measure the motion of a body—how long it is and how long it takes to get from here to there—unless I were measuring the time in which it is moved? Whence then do I measure time itself? Or do we measure the longer by a shorter time, just as by the space of a cubit we measure the space of a thwart?

sic enim videmur spatio brevis syllabae metiri spatium longae syllabae atque id duplum dicere. ita metimur spatia carminum spatiis versuum et spatia versuum spatiis pedum et spatia pedum spatiis syllabarum et spatia longarum spatiis brevium, non in paginis (nam eo modo loca metimur, non tempora) sed cum voces pronuntiando transeunt et dicimus, 'longum carmen est, nam tot versibus contexitur; longi versus, nam tot pedibus constant; longi pedes, nam tot syllabis tenduntur; longa syllaba est, nam dupla est ad brevem.' sed neque ita comprehenditur certa mensura temporis, quandoquidem fieri potest ut ampliore spatio temporis personet versus brevior, si productius pronuntietur, quam longior, si correptius. ita carmen, ita pes, ita syllaba.

For thus we seem to measure the space of a long syllable by the space of a short syllable and to call it double. Thus we measure the spaces of songs by the spaces of verses, and the spaces of verses by the spaces of feet, and the spaces of feet by the spaces of syllables, and the spaces of long syllables by the spaces of short ones—not on pages (for in that way we measure places, not times) but when voices, in being pronounced, pass away, and we say, 'it is a long song, for it is woven together from so many verses; long verses, for they consist of so many feet; long feet, for they are stretched by so many syllables; a long syllable, for it is double in relation to a short.' But not even thus is a sure measure of time grasped, since it can come about that a shorter verse sounds forth with a wider span of time, if it is pronounced more protractedly, than a longer one, if more clipped. So with a song, so with a foot, so with a syllable.

inde mihi visum est nihil esse aliud tempus quam distentionem; sed cuius rei, nescio, et mirum, si non ipsius animi. quid enim metior, obsecro, deus meus? et dico aut indefinite, 'longius est hoc tempus quam illud' aut etiam definite, 'duplum est hoc ad illud.' tempus metior, scio; sed non metior futurum, quia nondum est, non metior praesens, quia nullo spatio tenditur, non metior praeteritum, quia iam non est.

Thence it seemed to me that time is nothing else than a distension; but of what thing, I do not know, and a marvel if not of the mind itself. For what do I measure, I beseech, my God? And I say either indefinitely, 'this time is longer than that,' or even definitely, 'this is double with respect to that.' I measure time, I know; but I do not measure the future, because it is not yet; I do not measure the present, because it is stretched by no span; I do not measure the past, because it is now no more.

quid ergo metior? an praetereuntia tempora, non praeterita? sic enim dixeram.

What then do I measure? The passing times, not the past? For so indeed I had said.

11.27.34

insiste, anime meus, et attende fortiter. deus adiutor noster: ipse fecit nos, et non nos. attende ubi albescit veritas.

stand fast, my soul, and attend with fortitude. god our helper: he himself made us, and not we ourselves. attend where truth whitens.

ecce puta vox corporis incipit sonare et sonat et adhuc sonat, et ecce desinit, iamque silentium est, et vox illa praeterita est et non est iam vox. futura erat antequam sonaret, et non poterat metiri quia nondum erat, et nunc non potest quia iam non est. tunc ergo poterat cum sonabat, quia tunc erat quae metiri posset.

Behold, suppose a bodily voice begins to sound, and it sounds, and still it sounds; and behold, it ceases, and now there is silence, and that voice is past and is no longer a voice. It was to be (future) before it sounded, and it could not be measured because it was not yet; and now it cannot be measured because it is no longer. Then, therefore, it could be measured when it was sounding, because then it was what could be measured.

sed et tunc non stabat; ibat enim et praeteribat. an ideo magis poterat? praeteriens enim tendebatur in aliquod spatium temporis quo metiri posset, quoniam praesens nullum habet spatium.

but even then it did not stand still; for it was going and passing by. Or for that reason could it the more be measured? for, in passing by, it was being stretched into some space of time by which it could be measured, since the present has no space.

si ergo tunc poterat, ecce puta altera coepit sonare et adhuc sonat continuato tenore sine ulla distinctione. metiamur eam dum sonat. cum enim sonare cessaverit, iam praeterita erit et non erit quae possit metiri.

If therefore it could then, behold, suppose another has begun to sound and still sounds with a continuous tenor without any distinction. Let us measure it while it sounds. For when it has ceased to sound, it will already be past, and there will not be that which can be measured.

metiamur plane et dicamus quanta sit. sed adhuc sonat nec metiri potest nisi ab initio sui, quo sonare coepit, usque ad finem, quo desinit. ipsum quippe intervallum metimur ab aliquo initio usque ad aliquem finem.

let us measure plainly and let us say how great it is. but it is still sounding, nor can it be measured except from its own beginning, when it began to sound, up to the end, when it ceases. for we measure the interval itself from some beginning up to some end.

quapropter vox quae nondum finita est metiri non potest, ut dicatur quam longa vel brevis sit, nec dici aut aequalis alicui aut ad aliquam simpla vel dupla vel quid aliud. cum autem finita fuerit, iam non erit. quo pacto igitur metiri poterit?

Wherefore a voice which is not yet finished cannot be measured, so that it may be said how long or short it is, nor can it be said to be either equal to something, or in any ratio—simple or double, or anything else. But when it has been finished, it will no longer be. In what way, then, will it be able to be measured?

et metimur tamen tempora, nec ea quae nondum sunt, nec ea quae iam non sunt, nec ea quae nulla mora extenduntur, nec ea quae terminos non habent. nec futura ergo nec praeterita nec praesentia nec praetereuntia tempora metimur, et metimur tamen tempora.

and yet we measure times, neither those which are not yet, nor those which already are not, nor those which are extended by no delay, nor those which have no termini. therefore neither future nor past nor present nor passing-by times do we measure, and yet we measure times.

11.27.35

'deus creator omnium': versus iste octo syllabarum brevibus et longis alternat syllabis. quattuor itaque breves (prima, tertia, quinta, septima) simplae sunt ad quattuor longas (secundam, quartam, sextam, octavam). hae singulae ad illas singulas duplum habent temporis. pronuntio et renuntio, et ita est quantum sentitur sensu manifesto.

'deus creator omnium': this verse of eight syllables alternates short and long syllables. Therefore the four short ones (the first, third, fifth, seventh) are single in relation to the four long ones (the second, fourth, sixth, eighth). These each have double the time compared to those each. I pronounce and I proclaim, and so it is, insofar as it is perceived by manifest sense.

quantum sensus manifestus est, brevi syllaba longam metior eamque sentio habere bis tantum. sed cum altera post alteram sonat, si prior brevis, longa posterior, quomodo tenebo brevem et quomodo eam longae metiens applicabo, ut inveniam quod bis tantum habeat, quandoquidem longa sonare non incipit nisi brevis sonare destiterit? ipsamque longam num praesentem metior, quando nisi finitam non metior?

Insofar as manifest sense goes, by the short syllable I measure the long, and I perceive it to have twice as much. But when the one sounds after the other, if the prior is short, the posterior long, how shall I hold the short, and how, measuring, shall I apply it to the long, so that I may find that it has twice as much, since the long does not begin to sound unless the short has ceased to sound? And do I measure the long itself while present, when I do not measure it unless it is finished?

eius autem finitio praeteritio est: quid ergo est quod metior? ubi est qua metior brevis? ubi est longa quam metior?

but its termination is a passing-away: what then is it that I measure? where is that by which I measure the short syllable? where is the long syllable which I measure?

ambae sonuerunt, avolaverunt, praeterierunt, iam non sunt. et ego metior fidenterque respondeo, quantum exercitato sensu fiditur, illam simplam esse, illam duplam, in spatio scilicet temporis. neque hoc possum, nisi quia praeterierunt et finitae sunt.

both have sounded; they have flown away, they have passed by, they now are not. And I measure and confidently answer, so far as trust is placed in a trained sense, that the one is single, the other double, in the space, namely, of time. Nor can I do this, except because they have passed by and are finished.

non ergo ipsas quae iam non sunt, sed aliquid in memoria mea metior, quod infixum manet.

I do not, therefore, measure the things themselves which now are not, but I measure something in my memory, which remains infixed.

11.27.36

in te, anime meus, tempora metior. noli mihi obstrepere, quod est; noli tibi obstrepere turbis affectionum tuarum. in te, inquam, tempora metior.

in you, my mind, I measure times. do not be obstreperous to me, which is to say; do not be obstreperous to yourself with the tumults of your affections. in you, I say, I measure times.

affectionem quam res praetereuntes in te faciunt et, cum illae praeterierint, manet, ipsam metior praesentem, non ea quae praeterierunt ut fieret; ipsam metior, cum tempora metior. ergo aut ipsa sunt tempora, aut non tempora metior. quid cum metimur silentia, et dicimus illud silentium tantum tenuisse temporis quantum illa vox tenuit, nonne cogitationem tendimus ad mensuram vocis, quasi sonaret, ut aliquid de intervallis silentiorum in spatio temporis renuntiare possimus?

the affection which the passing-by things produce in you and, when they have passed by, remains—this very present thing I measure, not those which passed by in order that it might come to be; this very thing I measure, when I measure times. therefore either this itself is the times, or I am not measuring times. what of it when we measure silences, and we say that that silence held just as much time as that voice held—do we not stretch our cogitation to the measure of the voice, as if it were sounding, so that we may be able to report something about the intervals of the silences within the space of time?

nam et voce atque ore cessante peragimus cogitando carmina et versus et quemque sermonem motionumque dimensiones quaslibet et de spatiis temporum, quantum illud ad illud sit, renuntiamus non aliter ac si ea sonando diceremus. voluerit aliquis edere longuisculam vocem, et constituerit praemeditando quam longa futura sit, egit utique iste spatium temporis in silentio memoriaeque commendans coepit edere illam vocem quae sonat, donec ad propositum terminum perducatur. immo sonuit et sonabit; nam quod eius iam peractum est, utique sonuit, quod autem restat, sonabit atque ita peragitur, dum praesens intentio futurum in praeteritum traicit, deminutione futuri crescente praeterito, donec consumptione futuri sit totum praeteritum.

for both with voice and mouth ceasing we accomplish by thinking songs and verses and any discourse whatsoever, and the dimensions of motions, and concerning the spaces of times, how much this is in relation to that, we report no differently than if we were saying them by sounding. should someone wish to put forth a somewhat-long voice, and have determined by premeditating how long it will be, he has indeed executed that span of time in silence, and, commending it to memory, has begun to emit that voice which sounds, until it is led to the proposed terminus. nay, it has sounded and it will sound; for that part of it which has already been completed has, of course, sounded, but what remains will sound, and thus it is carried through, while the present intention drags the future into the past, by a diminishment of the future and a growth of the past, until by the consumption of the future the whole is past.

11.28.37

sed quomodo minuitur aut consumitur futurum, quod nondum est, aut quomodo crescit praeteritum, quod iam non est, nisi quia in animo qui illud agit tria sunt? nam et expectat et attendit et meminit, ut id quod expectat per id quod attendit transeat in id quod meminerit. quis igitur negat futura nondum esse?

but how is the future, which is not yet, diminished or consumed, or how does the past, which is now no longer, grow, unless because in the mind that does this there are three things? for it both expects and attends and remembers, so that what it expects may, through what it attends, pass into what it will remember. who then denies that future things are not yet?

sed tamen iam est in animo expectatio futurorum. et quis negat praeterita iam non esse? sed tamen adhuc est in animo memoria praeteritorum.

but nevertheless there is already in the mind an expectation of future things. and who denies that the things past are now not? but nevertheless there is still in the mind a memory of things past.

et quis negat praesens tempus carere spatio, quia in puncto praeterit? sed tamen perdurat attentio, per quam pergat abesse quod aderit. non igitur longum tempus futurum, quod non est, sed longum futurum longa expectatio futuri est, neque longum praeteritum tempus, quod non est, sed longum praeteritum longa memoria praeteriti est.

And who denies that the present time lacks span, because it passes in a point? Yet attention endures, through which what will be present goes on to be absent. Therefore it is not a long future time, which is not, but a long future is a long expectation of the future; nor a long past time, which is not, but a long past is a long memory of the past.

11.28.38

dicturus sum canticum quod novi. antequam incipiam, in totum expectatio mea tenditur, cum autem coepero, quantum ex illa in praeteritum decerpsero, tenditur et memoria mea, atque distenditur vita huius actionis meae in memoriam propter quod dixi et in expectationem propter quod dicturus sum. praesens tamen adest attentio mea, per quam traicitur quod erat futurum ut fiat praeteritum.

I am about to chant a canticle which I know. Before I begin, my expectation is stretched out entirely; but when I have begun, in proportion as I shall have plucked from it into the past, my memory likewise is stretched; and the life of this action of mine is distended into memory on account of what I have said and into expectation on account of what I am about to say. Yet my attention is present, through which that which was going to be future is carried across so that it becomes past.

quod quanto magis agitur et agitur, tanto breviata expectatione prolongatur memoria, donec tota expectatio consumatur, cum tota illa actio finita transierit in memoriam. et quod in toto cantico, hoc in singulis particulis eius fit atque in singulis syllabis eius, hoc in actione longiore, cuius forte particula est illud canticum, hoc in tota vita hominis, cuius partes sunt omnes actiones hominis, hoc in toto saeculo filiorum hominum, cuius partes sunt omnes vitae hominum.

the more it is performed and performed, by so much, with expectation shortened, memory is prolonged, until the whole expectation is consumed, when that whole action, finished, has passed into memory. And what happens in the whole song, this happens in its individual particles and in its individual syllables; this happens in a longer action, of which perhaps that song is a particle; this in the whole life of a man, of which all the actions of a man are parts; this in the whole age of the sons of men, of which all the lives of men are parts.

11.29.39

sed quoniam melior est misericordia tua super vitas, ecce distentio est vita mea, et me suscepit dextera tua in domino meo, mediatore filio hominis inter te unum et nos multos, in multis per multa, ut per eum apprehendam in quo et apprehensus sum, et a veteribus diebus conligar sequens unum, praeterita oblitus, non in ea quae futura et transitura sunt, sed in ea quae ante sunt non distentus sed extentus, non secundum distentionem sed secundum intentionem sequor ad palmam supernae vocationis, ubi audiam vocem laudis et contempler delectationem tuam nec venientem nec praetereuntem. nunc vero anni mei in gemitibus, et tu solacium meum, domine, pater meus aeternus es. at ego in tempora dissilui quorum ordinem nescio, et tumultuosis varietatibus dilaniantur cogitationes meae, intima viscera animae meae, donec in te confluam purgatus et liquidus igne amoris tui.

but since your mercy is better than lives, behold, distention is my life, and your right hand has taken me up in my Lord, the mediator, the son of man between you, the One, and us, the many, in many ways through many things, that through him I may apprehend the one in whom also I have been apprehended, and from the ancient days I may be collected, following the One, forgetting things past, not in those which are to come and will pass away, but in those which are before, not distended but extended; not according to distention but according to intention I follow toward the palm of the supernal calling, where I shall hear the voice of praise and contemplate your delight, neither coming nor passing by. but now my years are in groanings, and you are my consolation, Lord, my eternal Father. but I have burst asunder into times whose order I do not know, and by tumultuous varieties my thoughts are torn, the inmost bowels of my soul, until I flow together into you, purged and limpid by the fire of your love.

11.30.40

et stabo atque solidabor in te, in forma mea, veritate tua, nec patiar quaestiones hominum qui poenali morbo plus sitiunt quam capiunt et dicunt, 'quid faciebat deus antequam faceret caelum et terram?' aut 'quid ei venit in mentem ut aliquid faceret, cum antea numquam aliquid fecerit?' da illis, domine, bene cogitare quid dicant, et invenire quia non dicitur numquam ubi non est tempus. qui ergo dicitur numquam fecisse, quid aliud dicitur nisi nullo tempore fecisse? videant itaque nullum tempus esse posse sine creatura et desinant istam vanitatem loqui.

and I shall stand and be made solid in you, in my form, by your truth, nor shall I suffer the questions of men who, with a penal sickness, thirst more than they can take in and say, 'What was God doing before he made heaven and earth?' or 'What came into his mind that he should make something, when previously he had never made anything?' grant to them, Lord, to think well what they say, and to discover that 'never' is not said where there is no time. Therefore he who is said to have 'never' done, what else is said but to have done at no time? Let them see, then, that no time can be without a creature, and cease to speak this vanity.

extendantur etiam in ea quae ante sunt, et intellegant te ante omnia tempora aeternum creatorem omnium temporum neque ulla tempora tibi esse coaeterna nec ullam creaturam, etiamsi est aliqua supra tempora.

let them also be stretched out to the things that are before, and let them understand you, before all times, the eternal creator of all times, and that no times are coeternal with you, nor any creature, even if there is some above the times.

11.31.41

domine deus meus, quis ille sinus est alti secreti tui et quam longe inde me proiecerunt consequentia delictorum meorum? sana oculos meos, et congaudeam luci tuae. certe si est tam grandi scientia et praescientia pollens animus, cui cuncta praeterita et futura ita nota sint, sicut mihi unum canticum notissimum, nimium mirabilis est animus iste atque ad horrorem stupendus, quippe quem ita non lateat quidquid peractum et quidquid reliquum saeculorum est, quemadmodum me non latet cantantem illud canticum, quid et quantum eius abierit ab exordio, quid et quantum restet ad finem.

Lord my God, what is that bosom of your high secret, and how far from it have the consequences of my sins cast me away? Heal my eyes, that I may rejoice together with your light. Surely, if there is a mind endowed with so great science and prescience, to which all things past and future are as well known as to me one most well-known canticle, that mind is exceedingly wondrous and, to dread, astonishing; for nothing of whatever has been accomplished of the ages and whatever remains is hidden from it, just as, while I am singing that canticle, it is not hidden from me what and how much of it has gone by from the exordium, and what and how much remains to the end.

sed absit ut tu, conditor universitatis, conditor animarum et corporum, absit ut ita noveris omnia futura et praeterita. longe tu, longe mirabilius longeque secretius. neque enim sicut nota cantantis notumve canticum audientis expectatione vocum futurarum et memoria praeteritarum variatur affectus sensusque distenditur, ita tibi aliquid accidit incommutabiliter aeterno, hoc est vere aeterno creatori mentium.

But far be it that you, Creator of the universe, Creator of souls and bodies—far be it that you should know all things future and past in such a way. You are far, far more marvelous and far more secret. For not as, in the case of the singer who knows a song or the hearer of a known song, the affect is varied by the expectation of future voices and the memory of past ones, and the sense is stretched out—so does anything befall you, the Unchangeable Eternal, that is, the truly Eternal, the Creator of minds.

sicut ergo nosti in principio caelum et terram sine varietate notitiae tuae, ita fecisti in principio caelum et terram sine distentione actionis tuae. qui intellegit, confiteatur tibi, et qui non intellegit, confiteatur tibi. o quam excelsus es, et humiles corde sunt domus tua!

As therefore you knew in the beginning heaven and earth without variation of your knowledge, so you made in the beginning heaven and earth without distension of your action. Let whoever understands confess to you, and let whoever does not understand confess to you. O how exalted you are, and the humble in heart are your house!

tu enim erigis elisos, et non cadunt quorum celsitudo tu es.

for you raise up the cast-down, and they do not fall, those whose celsitude you are.

Submitted by James J. O'Donnell (Univ. of Pennsylvania) from his new edition. Prof.

O'Donnell's introduction and commentary may be found at the original site: The Confessions of Augustine: An Electronic Edition