{"id":"01KJR8Q6BF7CS5SQK1MC370NV8","cid":"bafkreidacofoflqlcyjucljeusouer654cpkkne44o4jhn7heroq73ddva","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":192819,"char_start":184909,"chunk_index":26,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1978,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"those idle spectacles are hotly followed) had drawn him into the\r\nmadness of the Circus. But while he was miserably tossed therein, and\r\nI, professing rhetoric there, had a public school, as yet he used not my\r\nteaching, by reason of some unkindness risen betwixt his father and me.\r\nI had found then how deadly he doted upon the Circus, and was deeply\r\ngrieved that he seemed likely, nay, or had thrown away so great promise:\r\nyet had I no means of advising or with a sort of constraint reclaiming\r\nhim, either by the kindness of a friend, or the authority of a master.\r\nFor I supposed that he thought of me as did his father; but he was not\r\nsuch; laying aside then his father's mind in that matter, he began to\r\ngreet me, come sometimes into my lecture room, hear a little, and be\r\ngone.\r\n\r\nI however had forgotten to deal with him, that he should not, through\r\na blind and headlong desire of vain pastimes, undo so good a wit. But\r\nThou, O Lord, who guidest the course of all Thou hast created, hadst\r\nnot forgotten him, who was one day to be among Thy children, Priest\r\nand Dispenser of Thy Sacrament; and that his amendment might plainly be\r\nattributed to Thyself, Thou effectedst it through me, unknowingly. For\r\nas one day I sat in my accustomed place, with my scholars before me,\r\nhe entered, greeted me, sat down, and applied his mind to what I\r\nthen handled. I had by chance a passage in hand, which while I was\r\nexplaining, a likeness from the Circensian races occurred to me, as\r\nlikely to make what I would convey pleasanter and plainer, seasoned\r\nwith biting mockery of those whom that madness had enthralled; God, Thou\r\nknowest that I then thought not of curing Alypius of that infection. But\r\nhe took it wholly to himself, and thought that I said it simply for his\r\nsake. And whence another would have taken occasion of offence with me,\r\nthat right-minded youth took as a ground of being offended at himself,\r\nand loving me more fervently. For Thou hadst said it long ago, and put\r\nit into Thy book, Rebuke a wise man and he will love Thee. But I had\r\nnot rebuked him, but Thou, who employest all, knowing or not knowing, in\r\nthat order which Thyself knowest (and that order is just), didst of my\r\nheart and tongue make burning coals, by which to set on fire the\r\nhopeful mind, thus languishing, and so cure it. Let him be silent in Thy\r\npraises, who considers not Thy mercies, which confess unto Thee out of\r\nmy inmost soul. For he upon that speech burst out of that pit so deep,\r\nwherein he was wilfully plunged, and was blinded with its wretched\r\npastimes; and he shook his mind with a strong self-command; whereupon\r\nall the filths of the Circensian pastimes flew off from him, nor came he\r\nagain thither. Upon this, he prevailed with his unwilling father that he\r\nmight be my scholar. He gave way, and gave in. And Alypius beginning\r\nto be my hearer again, was involved in the same superstition with me,\r\nloving in the Manichees that show of continency which he supposed true\r\nand unfeigned. Whereas it was a senseless and seducing continency,\r\nensnaring precious souls, unable as yet to reach the depth of virtue,\r\nyet readily beguiled with the surface of what was but a shadowy and\r\ncounterfeit virtue.\r\n\r\nHe, not forsaking that secular course which his parents had charmed him\r\nto pursue, had gone before me to Rome, to study law, and there he was\r\ncarried away incredibly with an incredible eagerness after the shows of\r\ngladiators. For being utterly averse to and detesting spectacles, he was\r\none day by chance met by divers of his acquaintance and fellow-students\r\ncoming from dinner, and they with a familiar violence haled him,\r\nvehemently refusing and resisting, into the Amphitheatre, during these\r\ncruel and deadly shows, he thus protesting: \"Though you hale my body to\r\nthat place, and there set me, can you force me also to turn my mind or\r\nmy eyes to those shows? I shall then be absent while present, and\r\nso shall overcome both you and them.\" They, hearing this, led him on\r\nnevertheless, desirous perchance to try that very thing, whether he\r\ncould do as he said. When they were come thither, and had taken their\r\nplaces as they could, the whole place kindled with that savage pastime.\r\nBut he, closing the passage of his eyes, forbade his mind to range\r\nabroad after such evil; and would he had stopped his ears also! For in\r\nthe fight, when one fell, a mighty cry of the whole people striking him\r\nstrongly, overcome by curiosity, and as if prepared to despise and be\r\nsuperior to it whatsoever it were, even when seen, he opened his eyes,\r\nand was stricken with a deeper wound in his soul than the other, whom he\r\ndesired to behold, was in his body; and he fell more miserably than he\r\nupon whose fall that mighty noise was raised, which entered through his\r\nears, and unlocked his eyes, to make way for the striking and beating\r\ndown of a soul, bold rather than resolute, and the weaker, in that it\r\nhad presumed on itself, which ought to have relied on Thee. For so soon\r\nas he saw that blood, he therewith drunk down savageness; nor turned\r\naway, but fixed his eye, drinking in frenzy, unawares, and was delighted\r\nwith that guilty fight, and intoxicated with the bloody pastime. Nor was\r\nhe now the man he came, but one of the throng he came unto, yea, a true\r\nassociate of theirs that brought him thither. Why say more? He beheld,\r\nshouted, kindled, carried thence with him the madness which should goad\r\nhim to return not only with them who first drew him thither, but also\r\nbefore them, yea and to draw in others. Yet thence didst Thou with a\r\nmost strong and most merciful hand pluck him, and taughtest him to have\r\nconfidence not in himself, but in Thee. But this was after.\r\n\r\nBut this was already being laid up in his memory to be a medicine\r\nhereafter. So was that also, that when he was yet studying under me at\r\nCarthage, and was thinking over at mid-day in the market-place what he\r\nwas to say by heart (as scholars use to practise), Thou sufferedst him\r\nto be apprehended by the officers of the market-place for a thief. For\r\nno other cause, I deem, didst Thou, our God, suffer it, but that he who\r\nwas hereafter to prove so great a man, should already begin to learn\r\nthat in judging of causes, man was not readily to be condemned by man\r\nout of a rash credulity. For as he was walking up and down by himself\r\nbefore the judgment-seat, with his note-book and pen, lo, a young man, a\r\nlawyer, the real thief, privily bringing a hatchet, got in, unperceived\r\nby Alypius, as far as the leaden gratings which fence in the\r\nsilversmiths' shops, and began to cut away the lead. But the noise of\r\nthe hatchet being heard, the silversmiths beneath began to make a stir,\r\nand sent to apprehend whomever they should find. But he, hearing their\r\nvoices, ran away, leaving his hatchet, fearing to be taken with it.\r\nAlypius now, who had not seen him enter, was aware of his going, and\r\nsaw with what speed he made away. And being desirous to know the matter,\r\nentered the place; where finding the hatchet, he was standing, wondering\r\nand considering it, when behold, those that had been sent, find him\r\nalone with the hatchet in his hand, the noise whereof had startled and\r\nbrought them thither. They seize him, hale him away, and gathering the\r\ndwellers in the market-place together, boast of having taken a notorious\r\nthief, and so he was being led away to be taken before the judge.\r\n\r\nBut thus far was Alypius to be instructed. For forthwith, O Lord, Thou\r\nsuccouredst his innocency, whereof Thou alone wert witness. For as he\r\nwas being led either to prison or to punishment, a certain architect met\r\nthem, who had the chief charge of the public buildings. Glad they\r\nwere to meet him especially, by whom they were wont to be suspected of\r\nstealing the goods lost out of the market-place, as though to show him at\r\nlast by whom these thefts were committed."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RPPKYW47TDNV7M0J1MEJ","peer_label":"augustine","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SFB29KQQY4RMECW6CR13","peer_label":"lord god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RM469XEEVHNJNEGV2NDW","peer_label":"alypius","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RYQ6K3T0NF0J8W2D4KD3","peer_label":"manichees","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8REJ3XZHYDFK5JKT9RHP3","peer_label":"rome","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8R6AJ4HSDN1TJ34CHPH7J","peer_label":"carthage","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SHMFTSBQ0TWCDPBRY517","peer_label":"public school augustines","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"educational_institution","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SHMFJD0YA20NVPGZJ54A","peer_label":"circus spectacle","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event_type","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SHNNRDDG4T5PB9HKV5KZ","peer_label":"shows of gladiators","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"event_type","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SHPSHH61177R2HRBKV07","peer_label":"sacred text thy book","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"document","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SHXB6S3BBTKWX7140RCN","peer_label":"amphitheatre","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"structure","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJESS15N53TT36NGFGG8","peer_label":"silversmiths shops","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"business","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SHWBEVWKDPSCV06AWNNJ","peer_label":"law subject","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"academic_discipline","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJBH5C1Q5GQ7R0SZ7RVW","peer_label":"market-place carthage","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"location","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJCJC9FFGMM0EMDZAMHW","peer_label":"officers of the market-place","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJEEY4842GCP0JCZ24ND","peer_label":"lawyer real thief","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJPYPF9XXP6RPP3WRDKQ","peer_label":"hatchet","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"tool","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SK1YY61B8EXM4PFCTWMJ","peer_label":"public buildings","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"structure_type","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJNAFB09ERXS4PEYM99W","peer_label":"judge","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SK3J404QBB2B7GE22HP4","peer_label":"architect","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:45.897Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.751Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.926Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}