can't5—what they want so eagerly, you see, is good, but they don't look for what
296 SAINT A UGUSTINE - SERMONS
The one disease there is no recovery from for anyone is that of being born. It is invariably mortal
2. Everything done in this life, in which people wish to be happy and can't5—what they want so eagerly, you see, is good, but they don't look for what they long for in its own proper region. Every particular kind of thing, you see, grows in its own region. Even on earth gold doesn't grow everywhere, nor does silver, nor does lead; with crops themselves, different ones are produced in different places; as each region favors or rejects them, some kinds of fruit are to be found in this place, others in that or the other, different sorts in different places, and nothing everywhere in all places—except being bom and dying.
And yet this very matter of being bom and dying is not true of the whole universe, but only of this lowest part of it. In the heavens, you see, there is no being bom or dying, from the moment when everything there was established. The chief of all the angels could indeed fall from there, together with his companions; but instead of those angels who fell, human beings are going to come there, and fill up the place of those who fell.6 So, because the devil saw that man was going to ascend to where he himself had fallen from, he looked, and he looked askance;7 he fell and he pulled down. But what does it amount to, that the devil fell? The whole affair was overcome and remedied by one who did not fall, but came down. Man fell; God came down and became man.
So where being bom and dying are to be had in plenty is the region of misery. People seek to be happy in the region of misery, they look for eternity in the region of death. The Lord says to us, Truth says to us, "What you are looking for is not here, because it doesn't come from here. It's a good thing you're looking for, something everybody wants; it's a good thing you're looking for, because it's good to live." But what we are bom for is to die.8 Don't just consider what you want, but take a look at the condition you have come to.9 We are bom only in order to die. The life we desire is not obtainable, as we are destined to die, and are thus more wretchedly miserable than ever. Because if we were dying and wanted to live, we would not be particularly miserable; but the reason we are particularly miserable is that we want to live and are compelled to die.10
Don't you realize that nobody can keep awake all the time, but everybody also wants to sleep? It's not against your will that you sleep; you just can't keep awake all the time; on the contrary, you also want to sleep. It's impossible for a person to exist without both waking and sleeping. Come now to the matter of life, and everybody says, I want to live," and nobody wants to die. And since nobody wants to die, dying is thrust upon us. We do whatever we can, by eating, drinking, providing ourselves with the means of life, sailing, walking, running' taking care—we want to live.11
You frequently meet people, alive after surviving many dangers; but let them stay the age they are, if they can, and never arrive at old age. A person gets through dangerous days and says, "I have escaped death."
In what way have you escaped death? "A dangerous day has been got through." It only means you've been given an extra day; you have lived one day more,