Page:King Alfred's Old English version of St. Augustine's Soliloquies - Hargrove - 1902.djvu/200

10 and just and prudent and perfect; and, O God, make me a lover of Thy wisdom and a perceiver of it, and make me worthy to dwell in Thy blessed kingdom. Amen!

Now I have done as thou didst teach me; now I have prayed even as thou badest me. Then answered me my Reason and said:

R. I see that thou hast prayed; but say now what thou hast merited, or what thou wouldst have.

A. I would understand all, and know what I just now said.

R. Sum up, then, from all that thou hast just spoken about, that which seemeth to thee that thou most needest and most requirest to know; then clothe it in few words, and tell it to me.

A. I will tell it to thee at once: I would understand God and know mine own soul.

R. Wouldst thou know any thing more?

A. Many things I fain would know that I know not. Howbeit there is nothing I wish more to know than this.

R. Then inquire after and seek what thou askest, and tell me first what thou knowest with most certainty, and then say to me: 'Sufficiently known will God and my soul be to me, if they shall be as well known to me as this thing.'

A. I can name nothing so well known to me as I would that God were.

R. What, then, can we do, if thou knowest not the measure? Thou oughtest to know when it seemed to thee enough, and if thou ever come to that limit, then thou shouldst go no further, but shouldst seek something else, lest thou shouldst desire any thing beyond measure.

A. I know what thou wishest; I should illustrate to thee by some example; but I can not, for I know naught like unto God, so that I can say to thee: 'I should like to know God as well as I know this thing.'