In adversity, I desire prosperity; in prosperity,
I fear adversity. What middle place is there, then, between these
two, where human life is not an ordeal? There is woe in the
prosperity of this world; there is woe in the fear of misfortune;
there is woe in the distortion of joy. There is woe in the
adversities of this world -- a second woe, and a third, from the
desire of prosperity -- because adversity itself is a hard thing
to bear and makes shipwreck of endurance. Is not the life of man
upon the earth an ordeal, and that without surcease?
CHAPTER XXIX
40. My whole hope is in thy exceeding great mercy and that
alone. Give what thou commandest and command what thou wilt.
Thou commandest continence from us, and when I knew, as it is
said, that no one could be continent unless God gave it to him,
even this was a point of wisdom to know whose gift it was.[346]
For by continence we are bound up and brought back together in the
One, whereas before we were scattered abroad among the many.[347]
For he loves thee too little who loves along with thee anything
else that he does not love for thy sake, O Love, who dost burn
forever and art never quenched.
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