Traduction Masquer
The Confessions of St. Augustin In Thirteen Books

Chapter XI.--He Refers to the Tears, and the Memorable Dream Concerning Her Son, Granted by God to His Mother.

19. And Thou sendedst Thine hand from above, ¹ and drewest my soul out of that profound darkness, when my mother, Thy faithful one, wept to thee on my behalf more than mothers are wont to weep the bodily death of their children. For she saw that I was dead by that faith and spirit which she had from Thee, and Thou heardest her, O Lord. Thou heardest her, and despisedst not her tears, when, pouring down, they watered the earth ² under her eyes in every place where she prayed; yea, Thou heardest her. For whence was that dream with which Thou consoledst her, so that she permitted me to live with her, and to have my meals at the same table in the house, which she had begun to avoid, hating and detesting the blasphemies of my error? For she saw herself standing on a certain wooden rule, ³ and a bright youth advancing towards her, joyous and smiling upon her, whilst she was grieving and bowed down with sorrow. But he having inquired of her the cause of her sorrow and daily weeping (he wishing to teach, as is their wont, and not to be taught), and she answering that it was my perdition she was lamenting, he bade her rest contented, and told her to behold and see "that where she was, there was I also." And when she looked she saw me standing near her on the same rule. Whence was this, unless that Thine ears were inclined towards her heart? O Thou Good Omnipotent, who so carest for every one of us as if Thou caredst for him only, and so for all as if they were but one!

20. Whence was this, also, that when she had narrated this vision to me, and I tried to put this construction on it, "That she rather should not despair of being some day what I was," she immediately, without hesitation, replied, "No; for it was not told me that where he is, there shalt thou be,' but where thou art, there shall he be'"? I confess to Thee, O Lord, that, to the best of my remembrance (and I have oft spoken of this), Thy answer through my watchful mother--that she was not disquieted by the speciousness of my false interpretation, and saw in a moment what was to be seen, and which I myself had not in truth perceived before she spoke--even then moved me more than the dream itself, by which the happiness to that pious woman, to be realized so long after, was, for the alleviation of her present anxiety, so long before predicted. For nearly nine years passed in which I wallowed in the slime of that deep pit and the darkness of falsehood, striving often to rise, but being all the more heavily dashed down. But yet that chaste, pious, and sober widow (such as Thou lovest), now more buoyed up with hope, though no whit less zealous in her weeping and mourning, desisted not, at all the hours of her supplications, to bewail my case unto Thee. And her prayers entered into Thy presence, ⁴ and yet Thou didst still suffer me to be involved and re-involved in that darkness.

Edition Masquer
Confessiones

Caput 11

Et misisti manum tuam ex alto, et de hac profunda caligine eruisti animam meam, cum pro me fleret ad te mea mater, fidelis tua, amplius quam flent matres corporea funera. videbat enim illa mortem meam ex fide et spiritu, quem habebat ex te, et exaudisti eam, domine. exaudisti eam nec despexisti lacrimas eius, cum profluentes rigarent terram sub oculis eius in omni loco orationis eius: exaudisti eam. nam unde illud somnium, quo eam consolatus es, ut vivere mecum cederet et habere mecum eandem mensam in domo? quod nolle coeperat, aversans et detestans blasphemias erroris mei. vidit enim se stantem in quadam regula lignea et venientem ad se iuvenem splendidum hilarem atque arridentem sibi, cum illa esset maerens et maerore confecta. qui cum causas ab ea quaesisset maestitiae suae cotidianarumque lacrimarum (docendi, ut adsolet, non discendi gratia), atque illa respondisset perditionem meam se plangere, iussisse illum, quo secura esset, atque admonuisse, ut adtenderet et videret, ubi esset illa, ibi esse et me. quod illa ubi adtendit, vidit me iuxta se in eadem regula stantem. unde hoc, nisi quia erant aures tuae ad cor eius, o tu bone omnipotens, qui sic curas unumquemque nostrum, tamquam solum cures, et sic omnes, tamquam singulos? Unde illud etiam, quod cum mihi narrasset ipsum visum, et ego ad id detrahere conarer, ut illa se potius non desperaret futuram esse quod eram, continuo sine aliqua haesitatione: non inquit; non enim mihi dictum est: ubi ille, ibi et tu, sed: ubi tu, ibi et ille. confiteor tibi, domine, recordationem meam, quantum recolo, quod saepe non tacui, amplius me isto per matrem responso tuo, quod tam vicina interpretationis falsitate turbata non est, et tam cito vidit quod videndum fuit -- quod ego certe, antequam dixisset, non videram -- etiam tum fuisse commotum quam ipso somnio, quo feminae piae gaudium, tanto post futurum, ad consolationem tunc praesentis sollicitudinis tanto ante praedictum est. nam novem ferme anni secuti sunt, quibus ego in illo limo profundi ac tenebris falsitatis, cum saepe surgere conarer et gravius alliderer, volutatus sum; cum tamen illa vidua casta, pia et sobria, quales amas, iam quidem spe alacrior, sed fletu et gemitu non segnior, non desineret horis omnibus orationum suarum de me plangere ad te, et intrabant in conspectum tuum preces eius, et tamen dimittebas adhuc volvi et involvi illa caligine.