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16. "What fruit had I then,"* wretched one, in those things
which, when I remember them, cause me shame above all in that
theft, which I loved only for the theft's sake? And as the theft
itself was nothing, all the more wretched was I who loved it. Yet by
myself alone I would not have done it I recall what my heart
was -alone I could not have done it. I loved, then, in it the
companionship of my accomplices with whom I did it. I did not,
therefore, love the theft alone yea, rather, it was that alone
that I loved, for the companionship was nothing. What is the fact?
Who is it that can teach me, but He who illuminateth mine heart and
searcheth out the dark corners thereof? What is it that hath come into
my mind to inquire about, to discuss, and to reflect upon? For had
I at that time loved the pears I stole, and wished to enjoy them, I
might have done so alone, if I could have been satisfied with the mere
commission of the theft by which my pleasure was secured; nor needed I
have provoked that itching of my own passions, by the encouragement of
accomplices. But as my enjoyment was not in those pears, it was in
the crime itself, which the company of my fellow-sinners produced.
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