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| Why Weeping is Pleasant to the Wretched.
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Chapter V.—Why Weeping is
Pleasant to the Wretched.
10. And now, O Lord, these things are passed
away, and time hath healed my wound. May I learn from Thee, who art
Truth, and apply the ear of my heart unto Thy mouth, that Thou
mayest tell me why weeping should be so sweet to the unhappy.292
| 292 For so it has
ever been found to be:—
“Est quædam flere voluptas;
Expletur lacrymis egeriturque dolor.”
—Ovid, Trist.
iv. 3, 38. | Hast
Thou—although present everywhere—cast away far from Thee our
misery? And Thou abidest in Thyself, but we are disquieted with
divers trials; and yet, unless we wept in Thine ears, there would
be no hope for us remaining. Whence, then, is it that such sweet
fruit is plucked from the bitterness of life, from groans, tears,
sighs, and lamentations? Is it the hope that Thou hearest us that
sweetens it? This is true of prayer, for therein is a desire to
approach unto Thee. But is it also in grief for a thing lost, and
the sorrow with which I was then overwhelmed? For I had neither
hope of his coming to life again, nor did I seek this with my
tears; but I grieved and wept only, for I was miserable, and had
lost my joy. Or is weeping a bitter thing, and for distaste of the
things which aforetime we enjoyed before, and even then, when we
are loathing them, does it cause us pleasure?
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