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Confessiones (PL)

CAPUT XXVII. Quomodo hominem rapiat Dei pulchritudo.

38. Sero te amavi, pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova! sero te amavi! Et ecce intus eras, et ego foris, et ibi te quaerebam; et in ista formosa quae fecisti, deformis irruebam. Mecum eras, et tecum non eram. Ea me tenebant longe a te, quae si in te non essent, non essent. Vocasti, et clamasti, et rupisti surditatem meam. Coruscasti, splenduisti, et fugasti caecitatem meam. Fragrasti, et duxi spiritum, et anhelo tibi. Gustavi, et esurio, et sitio. Tetigisti me, et exarsi in pacem tuam.

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The Confessions of St. Augustin In Thirteen Books

Chapter XXVII.--He Grieves that He Was So Long Without God.

38. Too late did I love Thee, O Fairness, so ancient, and yet so new! Too late did I love Thee! For behold, Thou wert within, and I without, and there did I seek Thee; I, unlovely, rushed heedlessly among the things of beauty Thou madest. ¹ Thou wert with me, but I was not with Thee. Those things kept me far from Thee, which, unless they were in Thee, were not. Thou calledst, and criedst aloud, and forcedst open my deafness. Thou didst gleam and shine, and chase away my blindness. Thou didst exhale odours, and I drew in my breath and do pant after Thee. I tasted, and do hunger and thirst. Thou didst touch me, and I burned for Thy peace.