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34. Persevere, O my mind, and give earnest heed. God is our
helper; He made us, and not we ourselves. Give heed, where truth
dawns. Lo, suppose the voice of a body begins to sound, and does
sound, and sounds on, and lo! it ceases, it is now silence,
and that voice is past and is no longer a voice. It was future before
it sounded, and could not be measured, because as yet it was not; and
now it cannot, because it longer is. Then, therefore, while it was
sounding, it might, because there was then that which might be
measured. But even then it did not stand still, for it was going and
passing away. Could it, then, on that account be measured the more?
For, while passing, it was being extended into some space of time,
in which it might be measured, since the present hath no space. If,
therefore, then it might be measured, lo! suppose another voice hath
begun to sound, and still soundeth, in a continued tenor without any
interruption, we can measure it while it is sounding; for when it
shall have ceased to sound, it will be already past, and there will
not be that which can be measured. Let us measure it truly, and let
us say how much it is. But as yet it sounds, nor can it be measured,
save from that instant in which it began to sound, even to the end in
which it left off. For the interval itself we measure from some
beginning unto some end. On which account, a voice which is not yet
ended cannot be measured, so that it may be said how long or how short
it may be; nor can it be said to be equal to another, or single or
double in respect of it, or the like. But when it is ended, it no
longer is. In what manner, therefore, may it be measured? And yet
we measure times; still not those which as yet are not, nor those
which no longer are, nor those which are protracted by some delay, nor
those which have no limits. We, therefore, measure neither future
times, nor past, nor present, nor those passing by; and yet we do
measure times.
35. Deus Creator omnium; this verse of eight syllables alternates
between short and long syllables. The four short, then, the first,
third, fifth and seventh, are single in respect of the four long, the
second, fourth, sixth, and eighth. Each of these hath a double time
to every one of those. I pronounce them, report on them, and thus it
is, as is perceived by common sense. By common sense, then, I
measure a long by a short syllable, and I find that it has twice as
much. But when one sounds after another, if the former be short the
latter long, how shall I hold the short one, and how measuring shall
I apply it to the long, so that I may find out that this has twice as
much, when indeed the long does not begin to sound unless the short
leaves off sounding? That very long one I measure not as present,
since I measure it not save when ended. But its ending is its passing
away. What, then, is it that I can measure? Where is the short
syllable by which I measure? Where is the long one which I measure?
Both have sounded, have flown, have passed away, and are no longer;
and still I measure, and I confidently answer (so far as is trusted
to a practised sense), that as to space of time this syllable is
single, that double. Nor could I do this, unless because they have
past, and are ended. Therefore do I not measure themselves, which
now are not, but something in my memory, which remains fixed.
36. In thee, O my mind, I measure times. Do not overwhelm me
with thy clamour. That is, do not overwhelm thyself with the
multitude of thy impressions. In thee, I say, I measure times;
the impression which things as they pass by make on Thee, and which,
when they have passed by, remains, that I measure as time present,
not those things which have passed by, that the impression should be
made. This I measure when I measure times. Either, then, these
are times, or I do not measure times. What when we measure silence,
and say that this silence hath lasted as long as that voice lasts? Do
we not extend our thought to the measure of a voice, as if it sounded,
so that we may be able to declare something concerning the intervals of
silence in a given space of time? For when both the voice and tongue
are still, we go over in thought poems and verses, and any discourse,
or dimensions of motions; and declare concerning the spaces of times,
how much this may be in respect of that, not otherwise than if uttering
them we should pronounce them. Should any one wish to utter a
lengthened sound, and had with forethought determined how long it
should be, that man hath in silence verily gone through a space of
time, and, committing it to memory, he begins to utter that speech,
which sounds until it be extended to the end proposed; truly it hath
sounded, and will sound. For what of it is already finished hath
verily sounded, but what remains will sound; and thus does it pass
on, until the present intention carry over the future into the past;
the past increasing by the diminution of the future, until, by the
consumption of the future, all be past.
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