De Fuga Et Inventione

And it is for this reason that she calls him "my child," which is a name of affection, and also one which indicates his tender age; for we look upon the disposition which is inclined to the practise of virtue, and which is young, as worthy of affection in comparison of the full-grown man. But such a person is worthy to carry off the prizes which are proposed for children, but he is not yet able to win the prizes offered for the men. But the best contest for men to engage in is the service of the only God. Therefore if, even before we have been completely purified,

but while we appear only to have proceeded so far as to wash off the things which defile our life, we have arrived at the vestibule of God’s service, we departed again more quickly than we approached, not being able to endure the austere way of living dictated by that service, nor the sleepless desire to please God, nor the continual and unwearied labour;

flee, therefore, at this present time from what is best and from what is worst. What is worst are the fabulous inventions, the unmetrical and inharmonious poems, the conceptions and persuasions which from ignorance are hard and stubborn, of which Esau is the namesake. What