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Confessiones (PL)

CAPUT IV. Deus non eget rebus conditis.

5. Quid ergo tibi deesset ad bonum quod tu tibi es, etiamsi ista vel omnino nulla essent, vel informia remanerent, quae non ex indigentia fecisti, sed ex plenitudine bonitatis tuae, cohibens atque convertens ad formam, non ut tanquam tuum gaudium compleatur ex eis? Perfecto enim tibi displicet eorum imperfectio, ut ex te perficiantur et tibi placeant; non autem imperfecto, tanquam et tu eorum perfectione perficiendus sis. Spiritus enim tuus bonus superferebatur super aquas ¹; non ferebatur ab eis tanquam in eis requiesceret. In quibus enim requiescere dicitur Spiritus tuus bonus ², hos in se requiescere facit. Sed superferebatur incorruptibilis et incommutabilis voluntas tua, ipsa in se sibi sufficiens, super eam quam feceras vitam; cui non est hoc vivere quod beata vivere, quia vivit etiam fluitans in obscuritate sua; cui [Col. 0847] restat converti ad eum a quo facta est, et magis magisque vivere apud fontem vitae, et in lumine ejus videre lumen ³, et perfici, et illustrari, et beari.

Traduction Masquer
The Confessions of St. Augustin In Thirteen Books

Chapter IV.--All Things Have Been Created by the Grace of God, and are Not of Him as Standing in Need of Created Things.

5. What, therefore, could there be wanting unto Thy good, which Thou Thyself art, although these things had either never been, or had remained formless,--the which Thou madest not out of any want, but out of the plenitude of Thy goodness, restraining them and converting them to form not as though Thy joy were perfected by them? For to Thee, being perfect, their imperfection is displeasing, and therefore were they perfected by Thee, and were pleasing unto Thee; but not as if Thou wert imperfect, and wert to be perfected in their perfection. For Thy good Spirit was borne over the waters, ¹ not borne up by them as if He rested upon them. For those in whom Thy good Spirit is said to rest, ² He causes to rest in Himself. But Thy incorruptible and unchangeable will, which in itself is all-sufficient for itself, was borne over that life which Thou hadst made, to which to live is not all one with living happily, since, flowing in its own darkness, it liveth also; for which it remaineth to be converted unto Him by whom it was made, and to live more and more by "the fountain of life," and in His light to "see light," ³ and to be perfected, and enlightened, and made happy.