Augustine: Earlier Writings
56 AUGUSTINE: EARLIER WJIITINGS thirst, and would give me drink much more speedily than I can find it myself. He is untroubled by doubt and is thoroughly persuaded as to the immortaht)' of the soul. Perhaps he does not know that there are some made miserable by their ignorance of this, whom it is cruel not to help, especially when they seek help. My friend, Zenobius, also knows my ardour. But he is far away, and, as I am situated at present, there is hardly any chance of sending him a letter. In his leisure beyond the Alps I dare say he has finished the poem by which he hoped to charm away the fear of death, and to drive from his soul the numbness and cold induced by the perennial northern ice. ^Meantime, until those things come which are not at present in our power, it would be a shame to waste our leisure and let our whole mind depend on an uncertain judgment.
XV, 27. \Vhere is that for which we have prayed and do pray to God? Not riches for ourselves, or bodily pleasures, or popular honours and applause, but that a way may be opened to us as we seek God and the soul. Will he abandon us or we him? R.—It is far from his way to abandon those who seek such things. So it should be far fi"om us to forsake so great a leader.
So, if you please, let us briefly repeat the arguments for these two propositions that Truth is eternal, and that the science of dialectic is Truth. These you said were shaky, so that we could not be sure of the entire edifice we have erected. Or shall we rather inquire how there can be scientific learning in an untrained mind, which we must none the less regard as a mind? For this question seemed to disturb you and make it necessax)' to question what you had admitted. A.—Let us discuss the first question to begin with, then we shall see what is to be made of the second. In this way, no controversy will remain unsettled. R.—So be it. But give me your most careful and undi\ided attention. I know that you are too eager about the conclusion and want it to be reached immediately, so that you agree to what is suggested to you without due examination. A.—Perhaps you are right. I shall strive with all my might against this kind of sickness. Only begin, and do not let us be delayed by superfluities.
28. R.—So far as I remember, we concluded that Truth could not perish, because if the whole world, nay, if Truth itself perished, it would still be true that the world and Truth had perished. But nothing is true without Truth. Hence Truth cannot perish. A.— I remember, and I should be much surprised if this were false. R,—Let us then proceed to the second question.