Chapter 1
315 | Text and Translation Chapter 1 An excitation of the mind to the contemplation of God Come, now, O insignificant man, flee a while from your busy tasks, put aside for a moment the confusion of your thoughts, discard now your distracting cares and postpone your busy labors.
Free yourself a little for God, and . rest a while in him.
Enter into the inner chamber of your mind, exclude everything, besides God and what can be of help in seeking him, and close the door to seek him.
Speak, now, my whole heart, Say now to God:
I seek your face, For your face, O lord, I search.
Come, now then, you, O my lord God, teach my heart where and how to seek you, where and how to find you.
Lord, if you are not here, where should I seek you in your absence?
And if you are everywhere, why do I not see you in your presence?
Surely you dwell in inaccessible light!
But where is the inaccessible light, and how can I approach such unapproachable light?
Who will lead me to and bring me into it, so that I may see you there?
By what signs, in what profile, should I seek thee?
Never have I seen you, lord my God, I have not known your face.
What shall he do, O lord most high, what shall this far-flung exile do?
What shall your servant do, anxious for your love, but cast far from your face?
Breathless from the struggle to see you, your face is too far off.
I PROSLOGION
Accedere ad te. desiderat— et inaccessibilis est habitatio tua.
Invenire te cupit —et nescit locum tuum.
Quaerere te affectat —et ignorat vultum tuum.
Domine, Deus meus es et Dominus meus es— et numquam te vidi.
Tu me fecisti et refecisti et omnia mea bona tu mihi contulisti — et nondum novi te.
Denique ad te videndum factus sum— et nondum feci, propter quod factus sum.
O misera sors hominis, cum hoc perdidit, ad quod factus est!
O durus et dirus casus ille!
Heu, quid perdidit et quid invenit, quid abscessit et quid remansit!
Perdidit beatitudinem, ad quam factus est, etinvenit miseriam, — propter quam factus non est.
Abscessit, sine quo nihil felix est, et remansit, quod per se non nisi miserum est.
Manducabat tunc homo panem angelorum, quem nunc Ps 77:25 esurit; manducat nunc panem dolorum, quem tunc Ps 126:2 nesciebat.
Heu publicus luctus hominum, universalis planctus filiorum Adae!
Illeructabat ^ saturitate— nos suspiramus esurie.
Ille abundabat— nos mendicamus.
Illefeliciter ^ tenebat et misere deseruit— nos infeliciter egemus et miserabiliter desideramus. et heu, vacui remanemus!
Cur non nobis custodivit, cum facile posset, quo tam graviter careremus?
Quare sic nobis obseravit lucem et obduxit nos tenebris?
Ut quid nobis abstulit vitam et inflixit mortem?
317 | Text and Translation He desires to come close to you, but your dwelling place is inaccessible.
He longs to find you, but does not know where you are.
He aspires to seek you, but does not know your face.
O lord, you are my God, and you are my lord, yet never have I seen you.
You have made and remade me and have given me whatever goods I have, and still I do not know you.
I was made to see you and have still not accomplished that for which I was created.
O miserable lot of mankind when he lost that for which he was made!
O that hard and hapless fall!
What was lost and what was gained, what departed and what remained?
He lost the beatitude for which he was made, and found the misery for which he was not made.
He lost that without which nothing is happy, and gained what is itself nothing but misery.
Then man feasted on the bread of angels, for which we now hunger, now we eat the bread of pain, which he knew not.
O the common affliction of mankind, the universal lament of the sons of Adam!
He tasted fullness; we sigh with hunger.
He abounded; we beg.
He happily had and miserably deserted; we unhappily lack and long in our misery.
Alas, we remain empty!
Why could he not have kept for us what would have been so easy then, but now so hard to lose?
Why did he deprive us of the light and shroud us all in darkness?
Why did he take away our life, inflicting death upon us?
318 |l PROSLOGION
Aerumnosi, unde sumus expulsi, quo sumus impulsi!
Unde praecipitati, quo obruti!
A patria in exsilium, a visione Dei in caecitatem nostram.
A iucunditate immortalitatis in amaritudinem et horrorem mortis.
Misera mutatio! De quanto bono in quantum malum!
Grave damnum, gravis dolor, grave totum!
Sed heu me miserum, unum de aliis miseris filiis ^ Evae elongatis a Deo! quid incepi, quid effeci?
Quo tendebam, quo deveni?
Ad quid aspirabam, in quibus suspiro?
Quaesivi bona—et ecce turbatio!
Tendebam in Deum—et offendi in me ipsum.
Requiem quaerebam in secreto meo—et tribulationem et Ps 121:9
Jer 14:19 dolorem inveni in intimis meis.
Volebam ridere a gaudio mentis meae—et cogor rugire Ps 114:3 a gemitu cordis meli.
Sperabatur laetitia—et ecce, unde densentur suspiria!
Et o tu, Domine, usquequo?
Usquequo, Domine, oblivisceris nos, usquequo avertis faciem tuam a nobis?
Quando respicies et exaudies nos?
Quando illuminabis oculos nostros et ostendes nobis Ps 37:9
Ps 6:4
Ps 12:1 ibid., 4 ibid.; faciem tuam?
Quando restitues te nobis?
Ps 79:4; 8
319 | Text and Translation O wretched ones, from where are we expelled, to where are we impelled? from where have we been cast down, to where are we sinking?
From the homeland into exile, from the vision of God into our blindness.
From the delight of immortality to the bitterness and horror of death.
O miserable mutation, from so much good to so much evil!
The grief of loss, the grief of pain, the grief of it all!
O my misery!
One more miserable son of Eve, far removed from God.
What have I undertaken, what have I accomplished?
For what was I striving, to what have I come?
To what did I aspire, for what do I sigh?
I sought goods, and, behold, confusion.
I reached for God, and tripped over myself.
I sought rest in my solitude, and tribulation and pain have invaded my inwardness.
I wanted to laugh in the joy of my mind, and am forced to cry out with the groan of my heart.
I hoped for gladness, and, behold, these sighs oppress me.
And you, O lord, how long?
How long will you forget us?
How long will you turn your face away from us?
When will you look upon us and hear us?
When will you illuminate our eyes and show to us your face?
When will you restore yourself to us?
| PROSLOGION
Respice, Domine, exaudi, illumina nos, ostende nobis teipsum.
Restitue te nobis, ut bene sit nobis, sine quo tam male est nobis.
Miserare labores et conatus nostros ad te, qui nihil valemus sine te.
Invitas nos, adiuva nos.
Obsecro, Domine, ne desperem suspirando, sed respirem Ps 78:9 sperando.
Obsecro, Domine, amaricatum est cor meum sua desolatione, indulca illud tua consolatione.
Obsecro, Domine, ^ esuriens incepi quaerere te, ne desinam ieiunus de te.
Famelicus accessi, ne recedam impastus.
Pauper veni ad divitem, miser ad misericordem, ne redeam vacuus et contemptus.
Et si, antequam comedam, suspiro, da vel post suspiria Job 3:24 quod comedam.
Domine, incurvatus non possum nisi deorsum aspicere; erige me, ut possim sursum intendere.
Iniquitates meae supergressae caput meum obvolvunt me, et sicut onus grave gravant me.
Evolve me, exonera me, ne urgeat puteus earum os suum Ps 37:5 super me.
Liceat mihi suspicere lucem tuam, Ps 68:16 vel de longe, vel de profundo.
321 | Text and Translation Look upon us, O lord, hear us, illuminate us, show to us yourself.
Restore yourself to us so that good may be with us, you, without whom so much evil is ours.
Have pity on our labors in striving toward you, you, without whom we can do nothing.
You incite us, now assist us!
I pray, O lord, that I not suffocate on my sighs, but instead am revived by my hope.
I pray, O lord, that the bitterness of heart in my desolation may be sweetened by your consolation.
I pray, O lord, that as I began to seek you in hunger, I may finally finish my fast.
I approached in famine; do not make me withdraw unfed.
I come as a pauper to one who is wealthy, a wretch to one rich in compassion; do not turn me away empty and in scorn.
And if, before I eat, I sigh, after the sighing, grant me that on which to feast.
Lord, I am so bent over that I can only look down; Elevate me, so that I may strive to look up.
My iniquities are piled over my head and cover me; Like a heavy burden, they weigh me down.
Relieve me, release me, so that this pit of sin does not bury me.
Let me look upward to your light, if only from afar, if only from the depths.
3221 PROSLOGION
Doce me quaerere te et ostende te quaerenti; quia nec quaerere te possum, nisi tu doceas, nec invenire, nisi te ostendas.
Quaeram te desiderando, desiderem quaerendo.
Inveniam amando, amem inveniendo.
Fateor, Domine, et gratias ago, quia creasti in me hanc imaginem tuam, ut tui memor te cogitem, te amem.
Sed sic est abolita attritione vitiorum, Gn 1:27 sic est offuscata fumo peccatorum, ut non possit facere, ad quod facta est, nisi tu renoves et x reformes eam.
Non tento, Domine, penetrare altitudinem tuam, quia nullatenus comparo illi intellectum meum; sed desidero aliquatenus intelligere veritatem tuam, quam credit et amat cor meum. Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam. Nam et hoc credo: quia nisi credidero, non intelligam.
Is 7:9
323 | Text and Translation Teach me to seek you and show yourself in my seeking; for neither can I seek you unless you lead the way nor find you unless you show yourself.
Let me seek you in longing and long for you in seeking; Let me find you by loving and love you by finding.
I acknowledge, lord, and give thanks, that you created in me your image, so that I may remember you, think of you, and love you.
But it has been so effaced and worn away by my faults, is so clouded by the smoke of sin, that it cannot do what it is made to unless you renew and reform it.
I do not strive, lord, to penetrate your heights, for my understanding is in no way equal to it; but I do desire to understand to some extent your truth, which my heart believes and loves.
And neither do I seek to understand so that I may believe, but believe so that I may understand.
For this also I believe: that unless I believe, I will not understand.
324 |I PROSLOGION
CAPITULUM II
Quod vere sit Deus Ergo Domine, qui das fidei intellectum, da mihi, ut, quantum scis expedire, intelligam, quia es sicut credimus, et hoc es quod credimus. Et quidem credimus te esse aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari possit.
An ergo non est aliqua talis natura, quia dixit insipiens in corde suo: non est Deus? Sed certe ipse idem insipiens, cum audit hoc ipsum quod dico: «aliquid quo maius nihil cogitari potest», intelligit quod audit; et quod intelligit, in intellectu eius est, etiam si non intelligat illud esse.
Ps 13:1; 52:1
Aliud enim est rem esse in intellectu, aliud intelligere rem esse.
Nam cum pictor praecogitat quae facturus est, habet quidem in intellectu, sed nondum intelligit esse quod nondum fecit. Cum vero iam pinxit, et habet in intellectu et intelligit esse quod iam fecit.
Convincitur ergo etiam insipiens esse vel in intellectu aliquid quo nihil maius cogitari potest, quia hoc, cum audit, intelligit, et quidquid intelligitur, in intellectu est.
Et certe id quo maius cogitari nequit, non potest esse in solo intellectu. Si enim vel in solo intellectu est, potest cogitari esse et in re; quod maius est. Si ergo id quo maius cogitari non potest, est in solo intellectu: id ipsum quo maius cogitari non potest, est quo maius cogitari potest. Sed certe hoc esse non potest. Existit ergo procul dubio aliquid quo maius cogitari non valet, et in intellectu et in re.