Augustine
Confessions 10.8-12 English translation by Pusey (Pocket Books, 1907) • An important locus classicus for the place of
memory in the historical setting of Late Antiquity.
• The following excerpts from Book 10
are not meant to be exhaustive; see the links below.
|
|
(10.8) Transibo ergo et istam
naturae meae, gradibus ascendens ad eum, qui fecit me, et venio in
campos et lata praetoria memoriae, ubi sunt thesauri innumerabilium
imaginum de cuiuscemodi rebus sensis invectarum. ibi reconditum est,
quidquid etiam cogitamus, vel augendo vel minuendo vel utcumque
variando ea quae sensum attigerit, et si quid aliud commendatum et
repositum est, quod nondum absorbuit et sepelivit oblivio. ibi quando
sum, posco, ut proferatur quidquid volo, et quaedam statim prodeunt,
quaedam requiruntur diutius et tamquam de abstrusioribus quibusdam
receptaculis eruuntur, quaedam catervatim se proruunt et, dum aliud
petitur et quaeritur, prosiliunt in medium quasi dicentia: ne forte nos
sumus? et abigo ea manu cordis a facie recordationis meae, donec
enubiletur quod volo atque in conspectum prodeat ex abditis. alia
faciliter atque inperturbata serie sicut poscuntur suggeruntur, et
cedunt praecedentia consequentibus, et cedendo conduntur, iterum cum
voluero processura. quod totum fit, cum aliquid narro memoriter. |
I will pass then beyond this
power of my nature also, rising by degrees unto Him Who made me. And I
come to the fields and spacious palaces of my memory, where are the
treasures of innumerable images, brought into it from things of all
sorts perceived by the senses. There is stored up, whatsoever besides
we think, either by enlarging or diminishing, or any other way varying
those things which the sense hath come to; and whatever else hath been
committed and laid up, which forgetfulness hath not yet swallowed up
and buried. When I enter there, I require what I will to be brought
forth, and something instantly comes; others must be longer sought
after, which are fetched, as it were, out of some inner receptacle;
others rush out in troops, and while one thing is desired and required,
they start forth, as who should say, "Is it perchance I?" These I drive
away with the hand of my heart, from the face of my remembrance; until
what I wish for be unveiled, and appear in sight, out of its secret
place. Other things come up readily, in unbroken order, as they are
called for; those in front making way for the following; and as they
make way, they are hidden from sight, ready to come when I will. All
which takes place when I repeat a thing by heart. |
Ubi sunt omnia distincte
generatimque servata, quae suo quaeque aditu
ingesta sunt, sicut lux atque omnes colores formaeque corporum per
oculos, per aures autem omnia genera sonorum omnesque odores per aditum
narium, omnes sapores per oris aditum, a sensu autem totius corporis,
quid durum, quid molle, quid calidum frigidumve, lene aut asperum,
grave seu leve sive extrinsecus sive intrinsecus corpori. haec omnia
recipit recolenda, cum opus est, et retractanda grandis memoriae
recessus et nescio qui secreti atque ineffabiles sinus eius: quae omnia
suis quaeque foribus intrant ad eam et reponuntur in ea. nec ipsa tamen
intrant, sed rerum sensarum imagines illic praesto sunt cogitatione
reminiscentis eas. quae quomodo fabricatae sint, quis dicit, cum
appareat, quibus sensibus raptae sint interiusque reconditae? nam et in
tenebris atque in silentio dum habito, in memoria mea profero, si volo,
colores, et discerno inter album et nigrum et inter quos alios volo,
nec incurrunt soni atque perturbant quod per oculos haustum considero,
cum et ipsi ibi sint et quasi seorsum repositi lateant. nam et ipsos
posco, si placet, atque adsunt illico, et quiescente lingua ac silente
gutture canto quantum volo, imaginesque illae colorum, quae nihilo
minus ibi sunt, non se interponunt neque interrumpunt, cum thesaurus
alius retractatur, qui influxit ab auribus. ita cetera, quae per sensum
ceteros ingesta atque congesta sunt, recordor prout libet et auram
liliorum discerno a violis nihil olfaciens, et mel defrito, lene
aspero, nihil tum gustando neque contractando, sed reminiscendo
antepono. |
There are all things preserved
distinctly and under general heads, each
having entered by its own avenue: as light, and all colours and forms
of bodies by the eyes; by the ears all sorts of sounds; all smells by
the avenue of the nostrils; all tastes by the mouth; and by the
sensation of the whole body, what is hard or soft; hot or cold; or
rugged; heavy or light; either outwardly or inwardly to the body.
All these doth that great harbour of the memory receive in her
numberless secret and inexpressible windings, to be forthcoming, and
brought out at need; each entering in by his own gate, and there laid
up. Nor
yet do the things themselves enter in; only the images of the things
perceived are there in readiness, for thought to recall. Which images,
how they are formed, who can tell, though it doth plainly appear by
which sense each hath been brought in and stored up? For even
while I dwell in darkness and silence, in my memory I can produce
colours, if I will, and discern betwixt black and white, and what
others I will: nor yet do sounds break in and disturb the image drawn
in by my eyes, which I am reviewing, though they also are there, lying
dormant, and laid up, as it were, apart. For these too I call for, and
forthwith they appear. And though my tongue be still, and my throat
mute, so can I sing as much as I will; nor do those images of colours,
which notwithstanding be there, intrude themselves and interrupt, when
another store is called for, which flowed in by the ears. So the other
things, piled in and up by the other senses, I recall at my pleasure.
Yea, I discern the breath of lilies from violets, though smelling
nothing; and I prefer honey to sweet wine, smooth before rugged, at the
time neither tasting nor handling, but remembering only. |
Intus haec ago, in aula ingenti
memoriae meae. ibi enim mihi
caelum et terra et mare praesto sunt cum omnibus, quae in eis sentire
potui, praeter illa, quae oblitus sum. ibi mihi et ipse occurro, meque
recolo, quid, quando et ubi egerim quoque modo, cum agerem, affectus
fuerim. ibi sunt omnia, quae sive experta a me sive credita memini. ex
eadem copia etiam similitudines rerum vel expertarum vel ex eis, quas
expertus sum, creditarum alias atque alias et ipse contexo praeteritis;
atque ex his etiam futuras actiones et eventa et spes, et haec omnia
rursus quasi praesentia meditor. faciam hoc et illud dico apud me in
ipso ingenti sinu animi mei pleno tot et tantarum rerum imaginibus, et
hoc aut illud sequitur. o si esset hoc aut illud! avertat deus hoc aut
illud!: dico apud me ista, et cum dico, praesto sunt imagines omnium
quae dico ex eodem thesauro memoriae, nec omnino aliquid eorum dicerem,
si defuissent. |
These things do I within, in
that vast court of my memory. For there are present with me, heaven,
earth, sea, and whatever I could think on therein, besides what I have
forgotten. There also meet I with myself, and recall myself, and when,
where, and what I have done, and under what feelings. There be all
which I remember, either on my own experience, or other's credit. Out
of the same store do I myself with the past continually combine fresh
and fresh likenesses of things which I have experienced, or, from what
I have experienced, have believed: and thence again infer future
actions, events and hopes, and all these again I reflect on, as
present. "I will do this or that," say I to myself, in that great
receptacle of my mind, stored with the images of things so many and so
great, "and this or that will follow." "O that this or that might be!"
"God avert this or that!" So speak I to myself: and when I speak, the
images of all I speak of are present, out of the same treasury of
memory; nor would I speak of any thereof, were the images wanting. |
Magna ista vis est memoriae, magna nimis, deus, penetrale amplum et infinitum: quis ad fundum eius pervenit? et vis est haec animi mei atque ad meam naturam pertinet, nec ego ipse capio totum, quod sum. ergo animus ad habendum se ipsum angustus est: ut ubi sit quod sui non capit? numquid extra ipsum ac non in ipso? quomodo ergo non capit? multa mihi super hoc oboritur admiratio, stupor adprehendit me. et eunt homines mirari alta montium, et ingentes fluctus maris, et latissimos lapsus fluminum, et Oceani ambitum, et gyros siderum, et relinquunt se ipsos, nec mirantur, quod haec omnia cum dicerem, non ea videbam oculis, nec tamen dicerem, nisi montes et fluctus et flumina et sidera, quae vidi, et Oceanum, quem credidi, intus in memoria mea viderem spatiis tam ingentibus, quasi foris viderem. nec ea tamen videndo absorbui, quando vidi oculis; nec ipsa sunt apud me, sed imagines eorum, et novi: quid ex quo sensu corporis impressum sit mihi. | Great is this force of memory,
excessive great, O my God; a large and boundless chamber! who ever
sounded the bottom thereof? yet is this a power of mine, and belongs
unto my nature; nor do I myself comprehend all that I am. Therefore is
the mind too strait to contain itself. And where should that be, which
it containeth not of itself? Is it without it, and not within? how then
doth it not comprehend itself? A wonderful admiration surprises me,
amazement seizes me upon this. And men go abroad to admire the heights
of mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers,
the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass
themselves by; nor wonder that when I spake of all these things, I did
not see them with mine eyes, yet could not have spoken of them, unless
I then actually saw the mountains, billows, rivers, stars which I had
seen, and that ocean which I believe to be, inwardly in my memory, and
that, with the same vast spaces between, as if I saw them abroad. Yet
did not I by seeing draw them into myself, when with mine eyes I beheld
them; nor are they themselves with me, but their images only. And I
know by what sense of the body each was impressed upon me. |
(10.9) Sed non ea sola gestat
immensa ista capacitas memoriae meae. hic sunt et illa omnia quae de
doctrinis liberalibus percepta nondum exciderunt, quasi remota
interiore loco, non loco; nec eorum imagines, sed res ipsas gero. nam
quid sit litteratura, quid peritia disputandi, quot genera
quaesitionum, quidquid horum scio, sic est in memoria mea, ut non
retenta imagine rem foris reliquerim, aut sonuerit aut praeterierit,
sicut vox inpressa per aures vestigio, quo recoleretur, quasi sonaret,
cum iam non sonaret; aut sicut odor dum transit et vanescit in ventos
olfactum afficit, unde traicit in memoriam imaginem sui, quam
reminiscendo repetamus; aut sicut cibus, qui certe in ventre iam non
sapit et tamen in memoria quasi sapit; aut sicut aliquid, quod corpore
tangendo sentitur, quod etiam separatum a nobis imaginatur memoria.
istae quippe res non intromittuntur ad eam, sed eorum solae imagines
mira celeritate capiuntur, et miris tamquam cellis reponuntur, et
mirabiliter recordando proferuntur. |
Yet not these alone does the
unmeasurable capacity of my memory retain. Here also is all, learnt of
the liberal sciences and as yet unforgotten; removed as it were to some
inner place, which is yet no place: nor are they the images thereof,
but the things themselves. For, what is literature, what the art of
disputing, how many kinds of questions there be, whatsoever of these I
know, in such manner exists in my memory, as that I have not taken in
the image, and left out the thing, or that it should have sounded and
passed away like a voice fixed on the ear by that impress, whereby it
might be recalled, as if it sounded, when it no longer sounded; or as a
smell while it passes and evaporates into air affects the sense of
smell, whence it conveys into the memory an image of itself, which
remembering, we renew, or as meat, which verily in the belly hath now
no taste, and yet in the memory still in a manner tasteth; or as any
thing which the body by touch perceiveth, and which when removed from
us, the memory still conceives. For those things are not transmitted
into the memory, but their images only are with an admirable swiftness
caught up, and stored as it were in wondrous cabinets, and thence
wonderfully by the act of remembering, brought forth. |
(10.10) At vero, cum audio tria
genera esse quaestionum, an sit, quid sit, quale sit, sonorum quidem,
quibus haec verba confecta sunt, imagines teneo, et eos per auras cum
strepitu transisse, ac iam non esse scio. res vero ipsas, quae illis
significantur sonis, neque ullo sensu corporis attigi neque uspiam vidi
praeter animum meum, et in memoria recondidi non imagines earum, sed
ipsas: quae unde ad me intraverint dicant, si possunt. nam percurro
ianuas omnes carnis meae nec invenio, qua earum ingressae sint. quippe
oculi dicunt: si coloratae sunt, nos eas nuntiavimus; aures dicunt: si
sonuerunt, a nobis indicatae sunt; nares dicunt: si oluerunt, per nos
transierunt; dicit etiam sensus gustandi: si sapor non est, nihil me
interroges: tactus dicit: si corpulentum non est, non contrectavi, si
non contrectavi, non indicavi. unde et qua haec intraverunt in memoriam
meam? nescio quomodo; nam cum ea didici, non credidi alieno cordi, sed
in meo recognovi, et vera esse approbavi et commendavi ei tamquam
reponens, unde proferrem, cum vellem. ibi ergo erant et antequam ea
didicissem, sed in memoria non erant. ubi ergo, aut quare, cum
dicerentur, agnovi et dixi: ita est, verum est, nisi quia iam erant in
memoria, sed tam remota et retrusa quasi in cavis abditioribus, ut,
nisi admonente aliquo eruerentur, ea fortasse cogitare non possem? |
But now when I hear that there
be three kinds of questions, "Whether the thing be? what it is? of what
kind it is? I do indeed hold the images of the sounds of which those
words be composed, and that those sounds, with a noise passed through
the air, and now are not. But the things themselves which are signified
by those sounds, I never reached with any sense of my body, nor ever
discerned them otherwise than in my mind; yet in my memory have I laid
up not their images, but themselves. Which how they entered into me,
let them say if they can; for I have gone over all the avenues of my
flesh, but cannot find by which they entered. For the eyes say, "If
those images were coloured, we reported of them." The ears say, "If
they sound, we gave knowledge of them." The nostrils say, "If they
smell, they passed by us." The taste says, "Unless they have a savour,
ask me not." The touch says, "If it have not size, I handled it not; if
I handled it not, I gave no notice of it." Whence and how entered these
things into my memory? I know not how. For when I learned them, I gave
not credit to another man's mind, but recognised them in mine; and
approving them for true, I commended them to it, laying them up as it
were, whence I might bring them forth when I willed. In my heart then
they were, even before I learned them, but in my memory they were not.
Where then? or wherefore, when they were spoken, did I acknowledge
them, and said, "So is it, it is true," unless that they were already
in the memory, but so thrown back and buried as it were in deeper
recesses, that had not the suggestion of another drawn them forth I had
perchance been unable to conceive of them? |
(10.11) Quocirca invenimus nihil
esse aliud discere ista, quorum non per sensus haurimus imagines, sed
sine imaginibus, sicuti sunt, per se ipsa intus cernimus, nisi ea, quae
passim atque indisposite memoria continebat, cogitando quasi colligere
atque animadvertendo curare, ut tamquam ad manum posita in ipsa
memoria, ubi sparsa prius et neglecta latitabant, iam familiari
intentioni facile occurrant. et quam multa huius modi gestat memoria
mea, quae iam inventa sunt, et sicut dixi, quasi ad manum posita, quae
didicisse et nosse dicimur: quae si modestis temporum intervallis
recolere desivero, ita rursus demerguntur et quasi in remotiora
penetralia dilabuntur, ut denuo velut nova excogitanda sint indidem
iterum -- neque enim est alia regio eorum -- et cogenda rursus, ut
sciri possint, id est velut ex quadam dispersione colligenda, unde
dictum est cogitare. nam cogo et cogito sic est, ut ago et agito, facio
et factito. verum tamen sibi animus hoc verbum proprie vindicavit, ut
non quod alibi, sed quod in animo colligitur, id est cogitur, cogitari
proprie iam dicatur. |
Wherefore we find, that to learn
these things whereof we imbibe nor the images by our senses, but
perceive within by themselves, without images, as they are, is nothing
else, but by conception, to receive, and by marking to take heed that
those things which the memory did before contain at random and
unarranged, be laid up at hand as it were in that same memory where
before they lay unknown, scattered and neglected, and so readily occur
to the mind familiarised to them. And how many things of this kind does
my memory bear which have been already found out, and as I said, placed
as it were at hand, which we are said to have learned and come to know
which were I for some short space of time to cease to call to
mind, they are again so buried, and glide back, as it were, into the
deeper recesses, that they must again, as if new, he thought out
thence, for other abode they have none: but they must be drawn together
again, that they may be known; that is to say, they must as it were be
collected together from their dispersion: whence the word "cogitation"
is derived. For cogo (collect) and cogito (re-collect) have the same
relation to each other as ago and agito, facio and factito. But the
mind hath appropriated to itself this word (cogitation), so that, not
what is "collected" any how, but what is "recollected," i.e., brought
together, in the mind, is properly said to be cogitated, or thought
upon. |
(10.12) Item continet memoria
numerorum dimensionumque rationes et leges innumerabiles, quarum nullam
corporis sensus inpressit, quia nec ipsae coloratae sunt aut sonant aut
olent aut gustatae aut contrectatae sunt. audivi sonos verborum, quibus
significantur, cum de his disseritur, sed illi alii, istae autem aliae
sunt. nam illi aliter graece, aliter latine sonant, istae vero nec
graecae nec latinae sunt nec aliud eloquiorum genus. vidi lineas
fabrorum vel etiam tenuissimas, sicut filum araneae; sed illae aliae
sunt, non sunt imagines earum, quas mihi nuntiavit carnis oculus: novit
eas quisquis sine ulla cogitatione qualiscumque corporis sensibus, quos
numeramus; sed illi alii sunt, quibus numeramus, nec imagines istorum
sunt et ideo valde sunt. rideat me ista dicentem, qui non eos videt, et
ego doleam ridentem me. |
The memory containeth also
reasons and laws innumerable of numbers and dimensions, none of which
hath any bodily sense impressed; seeing they have neither colour, nor
sound, nor taste, nor smell, nor touch. I have heard the sound of the
words whereby when discussed they are denoted: but the sounds are other
than the things. For the sounds are other in Greek than in Latin; but
the things are neither Greek, nor Latin, nor any other language. I have
seen the lines of architects, the very finest, like a spider's thread;
but those are still different, they are not the images of those lines
which the eye of flesh showed me: he knoweth them, whosoever without
any conception whatsoever of a body, recognises them within himself. I
have perceived also the numbers of the things with which we number all
the senses of my body; but those numbers wherewith we number are
different, nor are they the images of these, and therefore they indeed
are. Let him who seeth them not, deride me for saying these things, and
I will pity him, while he derides me. |
(10.13) Haec omnia memoria teneo et quomodo ea didicerim memoria teneo. multa etiam, quae adversus haec falsissime disputantur, audivi et memoria teneo; quae tamenetsi falsa sunt, tamen ea meminisse me non est falsum; et discrevisse me inter illa vera et haec falsa, quae contra dicuntur, et hoc memini, aliterque nunc video discernere me ista, aliter autem memini saepe me discrevisse, cum ea saepe cogitarem. ergo et intellexisse me saepius ista memini, et quod nunc discerno et intellego, recondo in memoria, ut postea me nunc intellexisse meminerim. et meminisse me memini, sicut postea, quod haec reminisci nunc potui, si recordabor, utique per vim memoriae recordabor. | All these things I remember, and
how I learnt them I remember. Many things also most falsely objected
against them have I heard, and remember; which though they be false,
yet is it not false that I remember them; and I remember also that I
have discerned betwixt those truths and these falsehoods objected to
them. And I perceive that the present discerning of these things is
different from remembering that I oftentimes discerned them, when I
often thought upon them. I both remember then to have often understood
these things; and what I now discern and understand, I lay up in my
memory, that hereafter I may remember that I understand it now. So then
I remember also to have remembered; as if hereafter I shall call to
remembrance, that I have now been able to remember these things, by the
force of memory shall I call it to remembrance. |
For
further reading from Conf. 10 in Latin, click here. |
For further reading from Conf. 10 in English, click here. |
[RETURN TO TOP] |
[DRB 10.6.2009] |