7-5-7
Et quaerebam, unde malum, et male quaerebam et in ipsa inquisitione mea non videbam malum.
And I kept seeking for an answer to the question, Whence is evil? And I sought it in an evil way, and I did not see the evil in my very search.
et constituebam in conspectu spiritus mei universam creaturam, quidquid in ea cernere possumus (sicuti est terra et mare et aer et sidera et arbores et animalia mortalia),
I marshaled before the sight of my spirit all creation: all that we see of earth and sea and air and stars and trees and animals;
et quidquid in ea non videmus (sicut firmamentum caeli insuper et omnes angelos et cuncta spiritalia eius, sed etiam ipsa, quasi corpora essent, locis et locis ordinata, ut imaginatio mea);
and all that we do not see, the firmament of the sky above and all the angels and all spiritual things, for my imagination arranged these also, as if they were bodies, in this place or that.
et feci unam massam grandem, distinctam generibus corporum, creaturam tuam, sive re vera quae corpora erant, sive quae ipse pro spiritibus finxeram;
[P]and I made one great mass of Thy creation, distinguished as to the kinds of bodies; some, real bodies, some, what myself had feigned for spirits.
et eam feci grandem, non quantum erat, quod scire non poteram, sed quantum libuit, undique versum sane finitam:
I pictured this mass as vast—of course not in its full dimensions, for these I could not know━but as large as I could possibly think, still only finite on every side.
te autem, domine, ex omni parte ambientem et penetrantem eam, sed usquequaque infinitum;
But thou, O Lord, I imagined as environing the mass on every side and penetrating it, still infinite in every direction—
tamquam si mare esset, ubique et undique per inmensa infinitum solum mare, et haberet intra se spongiam quamlibet magnam, sed finitam tamen, plena esset utique spongia illa ex omni sua parte ex inmenso mari:
as if there were a sea everywhere, and everywhere through measureless space nothing but an infinite sea; and it contained within itself some sort of sponge, huge but still finite, so that the sponge would in all its parts be filled from the immeasurable sea.180
180. This simile is Augustine’s apparently original improvement on Plotinus’ similar figure of the net in the sea; Enneads, IV, 3:9.
sic creaturam tuam finitam te infinito plenam putabam, et dicebam: ecce deus, et ecce quae creavit deus, et bonus deus atque his validissime longissimeque praestantior;
Thus I conceived thy creation itself to be finite, and filled by thee, the infinite. And I said, “Behold God, and behold what God hath created!” God is good, yea, most mightily and incomparably better than all his works.
sed tamen bonus bona creavit: et ecce quomodo ambit atque implet ea? ubi ergo malum et unde et qua huc inrepsit? quae radix eius et quod semen eius? an omnino non est?
But yet he who is good has created them good; behold how he encircles and fills them. Where, then, is evil, and whence does it come and how has it crept in? What is its root and what its seed? Has it no being at all?
cur ergo timemus et cavemus quod non est? aut si inaniter timemus, timor ipse malum est, quo incassum stimulatur et excruciatur cor; et tanto gravius malum, quanto non est, quod timeamus, et timemus.
Why, then, do we fear and shun what has no being? Or if we fear it needlessly, then surely that fear is evil by which the heart is unnecessarily stabbed and tortured━and indeed a greater evil since we have nothing real to fear, and yet do fear.
idcirco aut est malum, quod timemus, aut hoc malum est, quia timemus. unde est igitur, quia deus fecit haec omnia, bonus bona?
Therefore, either that is evil which we fear, or the act of fearing is in itself evil. But, then, whence does it come, since God who is good has made all these things good?
idcirco aut est malum, quod timemus, aut hoc malum est, quia timemus. unde est igitur, quia deus fecit haec omnia, bonus bona?
Therefore, either that is evil which we fear, or the act of fearing is in itself evil. But, then, whence does it come, since God who is good has made all these things good?
maius quidem et summum bonum minora fecit bona, sed tamen et creans et creata bona sunt omnia.
Indeed, he is the greatest and chiefest Good, and hath created these lesser goods; but both Creator and created are all good.
unde est malum? an unde fecit ea, materies aliqua mala erat, et formavit atque ordinavit eam, sed reliquit aliquid in illa, quod in bonum non converteret?
Whence, then, is evil? Or, again, was there some evil matter out of which he made and formed and ordered it, but left something in his creation that he did not convert into good?
unde est malum? an unde fecit ea, materies aliqua mala erat, et formavit atque ordinavit eam, sed reliquit aliquid in illa, quod in bonum non converteret?
Whence, then, is evil? Or, again, was there some evil matter out of which he made and formed and ordered it, but left something in his creation that he did not convert into good?
cur et hoc? an inpotens erat totam vertere et conmutare, ut nihil mali remaneret, cum sit omnipotens?
But why should this be? Was he powerless to change the whole lump so that no evil would remain in it, if he is the Omnipotent?
postremo cur inde aliquid facere voluit, ac non potius eadem omnipotentia fecit, ut nulla esset omnino? aut vero exsistere poterat contra eius voluntatem?
Finally, why would he make anything at all out of such stuff? Why did he not, rather, annihilate it by his same almighty power? Could evil exist contrary to his will?
aut si aeterna erat, cur tam diu per infinita retro spatia temporum sic eam sivit esse, ac tanto post placuit aliquid ex ea facere?
And if it were from eternity, why did he permit it to be nonexistent for unmeasured intervals of time in the past, and why, then, was he pleased to make something out of it after so long a time?
aut iam, si aliquid subito voluit agere, hoc potius ageret omnipotens, ut illa non esset, atque ipse solus esset totum verum et summum et infinitum bonum?
Or, if he wished now all of a sudden to create something, would not an almighty being have chosen to annihilate this evil matter and live by himself―the perfect, true, sovereign, and infinite Good?
aut iam, si aliquid subito voluit agere, hoc potius ageret omnipotens, ut illa non esset, atque ipse solus esset totum verum et summum et infinitum bonum?
Or, if he wished now all of a sudden to create something, would not an almighty being have chosen to annihilate this evil matter and live by himself―the perfect, true, sovereign, and infinite Good?
aut si non erat bene, ut non aliquid boni etiam fabricaretur et conderet qui bonus erat, illa sublata et ad nihilum redacta materie, quae mala erat, bonam ipse institueret, unde omnia crearet?
Or, if it were not good that he who was good should not also be the framer and creator of what was good, then why was that evil matter not removed and brought to nothing, so that he might form good matter, out of which he might then create all things?
non enim esset omnipotens, si condere non posset aliquid boni, nisi ea quam non ipse condiderat adiuvaretur materia.
For he would not be omnipotent if he were not able to create something good without being assisted by that matter which had not been created by himself.
talia volvebam pectore misero, ingravidato curis mordacissimis de timore mortis et non inventa veritate;
Such perplexities I revolved in my wretched breast, overwhelmed with gnawing cares lest I die before I discovered the truth.
stabiliter tamen haerebat in corde meo in Catholica ecclesia fides Christi tui, domini et salvatoris nostri,
And still the faith of thy Christ, our Lord and Saviour, as it was taught me by the Catholic Church, stuck fast in my heart.
in multis quidem adhuc informis et praeter doctrinae normam fluitans; sed tamen non eam relinquebat animus, immo in dies magis magisque inbibebat.
As yet it was unformed on many points and diverged from the rule of right doctrine, but my mind did not utterly lose it, and every day drank in more and more of it.