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The Confessions of St. Augustin In Thirteen Books
Chapter V.--Why Weeping is Pleasant to the Wretched.
10. And now, O Lord, these things are passed away, and time hath healed my wound. May I learn from Thee, who art Truth, and apply the ear of my heart unto Thy mouth, that Thou mayest tell me why weeping should be so sweet to the unhappy. 1 Hast Thou--although present everywhere--cast away far from Thee our misery? And Thou abidest in Thyself, but we are disquieted with divers trials; and yet, unless we wept in Thine ears, there would be no hope for us remaining. Whence, then, is it that such sweet fruit is plucked from the bitterness of life, from groans, tears, sighs, and lamentations? Is it the hope that Thou hearest us that sweetens it? This is true of prayer, for therein is a desire to approach unto Thee. But is it also in grief for a thing lost, and the sorrow with which I was then overwhelmed? For I had neither hope of his coming to life again, nor did I seek this with my tears; but I grieved and wept only, for I was miserable, and had lost my joy. Or is weeping a bitter thing, and for distaste of the things which aforetime we enjoyed before, and even then, when we are loathing them, does it cause us pleasure?
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For so it has ever been found to be:-- "Est quaedam flere voluptas; Expletur lacrymis egeriturque dolor." --Ovid, Trist. iv. 3, 38. ↩
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Confessiones (PL)
CAPUT V. Cur fletus dulcis miseris.
10. Et nunc, Domine, jam illa transierunt, et tempore lenitum est vulnus meum. Possumne audire abs te qui veritas es, et admovere aurem cordis mei ori tuo, ut dicas mihi cur fletus dulcis sit miseris? An tu, quamvis ubique adsis, longe abjecisti a te miseriam nostram? Et tu in te manes; nos autem in experimentis volvimur. Et tamen nisi ad aures tuas ploraremus, nihil residui de spe nostra fieret. Unde igitur suavis fructus de amaritudine vitae carpitur, gemere et flere, et suspirare et conqueri? An hoc ibi dulce est, quod speramus exaudire te? Recte istud in precibus, quia desiderium perveniendi habent. Numquid in dolore amissae rei et luctu quo tunc operiebar? Neque enim sperabam reviviscere illum, aut hoc petebam lacrymis, sed tantum dolebam et flebam. Miser enim eram, et amiseram gaudium meum. An et fletus res amara est, et prae fastidio rerum quibus prius fruebamur, et tunc dum ab eis abhorremus, delectat?