Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/148

 130 THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE [chaf. true; otherwise it is lust (cupiditas). . . This is true love, that cleaving to truth we may live aright (Juste) ; and for that reason we contemn all mortal things except the love for men whereby we wish them to live aright. Thus can we profitably be prepared even to die for our brethren, as the Lord Jesus Christ taught us by his example. ... It is love which unites good angels and servants of God in the bond of holiness, joins us to them and them to us, and sub- joins all unto God." Augustine continues : Quid est autem dilectio vel charitas . . . nisi amor boni ? Amor autem alicujus amantis est, et amore aliquid amatur. Ecce tria sunt; amans, et quod amatur, et amor. Quid est ergo amor, nisi quaedam vita duo aliqua copulans, vel copulare appetens, amantem scilicet et quod amatur ? Et hoc etiam in externis carnalibusque amoribus ita est ; sed ut aliquid purius et liquidius hauriamus calcata carne ascendamus ad animum. Quid amat animus in amico nisi animum ? Et illic igitur tria sunt, amans, et quod amatur, et amor.^ True love is a loving desire of the good; love is of the person loving, and with love some- thing is loved. Then there are three ; the lover, what is loved, and love. Love is a kind of life uniting the lover and the loved. This is true in carnal loves; seeking purer draughts of life, spurning the flesh, we rise to the soul ; and what does soul love in the friend save soul ? This passage indicates the completeness of Augus- tine's conception. Love, dilectio, that which esteems and cherishes (from deligo), also includes love's desire 1 De Trinitate, VIII, 10-14.