242 THE MEEK-SPIRITED POSSESS THE EARTH

Who turnest to Thy purposes the deepest torrents, and the ordered turbulence of the tide of the ages, healest one soul by the unsoundness of another; that no one, when he observes this, should impute it to his own power, if another, whom he wishes to be corrected, should be corrected in consequence of a word of his.

CHAPTER IX.

He continues to praise his Mother's Character.

ROUGHT up, then, chastely and soberly, and by

Thee made dutiful to her parents, rather than by her parents to Thee, so soon as she had reached a marriageable age, having been given over to a husband, she served him as her lord; and busied herself to win him to Thee, revealing Thee to him by her virtues, in which Thou madest her beautiful, and reverently amiable, and admirable to her husband. For she so bore his unfaithfulness in the married state, as never to have any quarrel with him upon the subject. For she waited for Thy Mercy upon him, that believing in Thee, he might become chaste. But besides this, as he was especially good-natured, so was he hot in temper. But she had learned not to oppose a husband when angry, not only by deed, but not even by word. But so soon as he was become subdued and quiet, and she saw a fit opportunity, she would explain the matter, if perchance he should have been unreasonably offended at something she had done. In short, whilst many wives, whose husbands were less choleric, carried the marks of blows even on their disgraced faces, and would with their friends talk over the habits of their

66

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS"

243

husbands, she would blame their tongues rather, giving them, as if in jest, grave advice; "that from the time they heard the matrimonial tablets read to them, they should regard them as indentures, whereby they were made servants; so, being mindful of their condition, they ought never to be defiant towards their lords." And when they, knowing what a fierce husband she had to endure, marvelled that it never had been reported, nor that there had been ever any evidence, that Patricius had struck his wife, or that there had been any domestic quarrel between them, even for a single day,—in a confidential manner asked the cause, she taught them her method, which I have related above. Those who followed it, rejoiced in their experience; those who disregarded it, were still subject to violence.

Her mother-in-law also, being at first irritated against her by the whisperings of wicked servants, she so overcame by her compliant ways, her perseverance in patience and meekness, that of her own accord she disclosed to her son what those interfering servants said, by which the domestic peace between herself and her daughter-in-law had been disturbed, and asked that they might be punished. Then after he-in obedience to his mother, and for the well ordering of his family, and with a view to the future agreement of its members-had flogged those discovered, in conformity with her wish who had discovered them, she promised a like reward to any who should say, to gratify her, anything evil against her daughter-in-law; and none henceforth daring to do so, they lived together with a remarkable sweetness of friendliness.

This great gift also, upon that good handmaid of

Thine, in whose womb Thou createdst me, my God, my Mercy, Thou hadst bestowed, that between disagreeing and jarring spirits, where she was able, she showed herself so pacific, that hearing on both sides many most bitter things, such. as a turgid and undigested discord is apt to cast up, when with a present friend concerning an absent enemy the crudities of enmity are breathed out in sour colloquies, she, however, would never carry anything from the one to the other but what tended to produce reconciliation. This might seem to me a trifling good, did I not know by sad experience countless numbers who, through some horrible and widespread contagion of sin, not only disclose to angry enemies the words of angry enemies, but add thereto what was never said; whereas to a humane man, it ought to appear but a light thing, not to foment or exaggerate the enmities of men by evil words, unless one aims further by good words to extinguish them. Such was she, Thyself, her inmost Director, teaching her in the school of the heart.

At last, her husband, now drawing towards the close of his earthly life, did she gain over to Thee; nor in him, now one of the faithful, had she to complain of that which, when he was yet an unbeliever, she had to endure. She was also the servant of Thy servants. Whoever of them had known her, did in her greatly magnify and honour and love Thee; for they felt Thy Presence in her heart, the fruits of a holy conversation bearing witness to it. For she had been “the wife of one man, had requited her parents, had piously ruled her house, was well reported of for good works. She had brought up children,"1 so often "travailing in birth

1 Tim. v. 9, 4, 10.

"THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEFORE" 245

I

with them," as she perceived that they went astray from Thee. Finally, of all of us, O Lord-since of Thine own Gift Thou permittest Thy servants to speak -who before she slept in Thee, lived in companionship together, having received the grace of Thy Baptism, she took as much care, as if she had been the mother of us all; so served us, as if she were the child of all.

I1

CHAPTER X.

A Conversation with his Mother concerning the
Kingdom of Heaven.

T came to pass, as the day drew near on which she was to depart out of this life (which day Thou knewest, we not knowing it), that-as I believe, Thou by Thy mysterious ways so ordering it-she and I stood alone, leaning at a certain window which overlooked the garden of the house which we occupied in Ostia on the Tiber; where, withdrawn from the crowd, we were recruiting from the fatigue of a long journey, before our voyage. We then conversed alone very sweetly; and "forgetting those things which were behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before," we were inquiring between ourselves, in the presence of the Truth, Which Thou art, of what nature the eternal life of the Saints would be, "which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man." 3 But yet we panted with the mouth of our heart after those heavenly streams of Thy fountain, "the fountain of life which is with Thee;" 4 that being

2

I Gal. iv. 19.

3

I Cor. ii. 9.

2 Phil. iii. 13.

4 Ps. xxxvi. 9.

246

AUGUSTINE AND MONICA

sprinkled thence according to our capacity, we might have some conception of so great a subject.

And when our conversation reached this point, that whatever delight the bodily senses were capable of, in any material light, seemed, in respect of the pleasures of that higher life, not only unworthy of comparison, but even of being named, we, raising ourselves with more ardent affection towards the " Same,”1 did pass step by step through all corporeal things, even the heaven itself, from which sun, moon, and stars shine upon the earth; yea, we soared higher still by inward musing, speaking and admiring Thy works; and we came to our own minds, and passed beyond them, that we might touch that region of unfailing richness, where Thou "feedest Israel"2 for ever with the food of truth, and where life is that Wisdom by which all things were made, both which have been and which will be; and Itself is not made, but is as It hath been and ever will be; yea rather to "have been" and "to be about to be" cannot be said of It, but "to be" only, seeing It is eternal. And whilst we spoke and panted after that, we touched It for a moment with the whole effort of our heart, and we sighed, and left there bound "the first-fruits of the Spirit; "3 and so returned to the sound of our own mouth, in which the word hath both its beginning and end. And what is there that is like to Thy Word, our Lord, Who "endureth in Himself" 4 without growing old, and "maketh all things new"?

We were saying then: If to any one the tumult of the flesh were silenced, if the impressions of earth and water and air, and the poles too, were silenced, and 2 Ps. lxxx. I.

Ps. iv. 8, "Idipsum," V. 3 Rom. viii. 23.

4 Wisd. vii. 27.