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| Times are Measured in Proportion as They Pass by.
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Chapter XXVII.—Times are Measured
in Proportion as They Pass by.
34. Persevere, O my mind, and give earnest
heed. od is our helper; He made us, and not we ourselves.1052
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 no 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.1053
| 1053 With the argument in this and the previous
sections, compare Dr. Reid’s remarks in his Intellectual
Powers, iii. 5: “We may measure duration by the succession of
thoughts in the mind, as we measure length by inches or feet, but
the notion or idea of duration must be antecedent to the
mensuration of it, as the notion of length is antecedent to its
being measured.…Reason, from the contemplation of finite extended
things, leads us necessarily to the belief of an immensity
that contains them. In like manner, memory gives us the conception
and belief of finite intervals of duration. From the contemplation
of these, reason leads us necessarily to the belief of an
eternity, which comprehends all things that have a beginning
and an end.” The student will with advantage examine a monograph
on this subject by C. Fortlage, entitled, Aurelii Augustini
doctrina de tempore ex libro xi. Confessionum depromta,
Aristotelicæ, Kantianæ, aliarumque theoriarium recensione aucta,
et congruis hodiernæ philosophiæ ideis amplificata
(Heidelbergæ, 1836). He says that amongst all the philosophers
none have so nearly approached truth as Augustin. | 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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