Augustine: Surely the very fact that inordinate desire rules the mind is itself no small punishment.
Stripped by opposing forces of the splendid wealth of virtue, the mind is dragged by inordinate desire into ruin and poverty; now taking false things for true, and even defending those falsehoods repeatedly; now repudiating what it had once believed and nonetheless rushing headlong into still other falsehoods; now withholding assent and often shying away from clear arguments; now despairing completely of finding the truth and lingering in the shadows of folly; now trying to enter the light of understanding but reeling back in exhaustion.
奧古斯丁說: 可以確定的是, inordinate desire 控制思想, 這本身不是一種小的懲罰.
會被赤裸的剝光. 通過與珍貴的美德截然相反的一種力量, 思想會被 inordinate desire 拖入毀滅和貧窮; 讓虛假的事物成為真實, 甚至一而再再而三的去捍衛這些虛假的事物; 拒絕曾經信仰的, 然後一頭扎進虛假之中; 迴避清晰的論據並拒絕認同; 對發現真理產生絕望, 並且甘願停留在愚蠢的陰影之中; 試圖進入理解的光照中, 但又在來回的躊躇中精疲力盡.
In the meaning cupidity carries out a reign of terror, buffeting the whole human soul and life with storms coming from every direction. Fear attacks from one side and desire from the other; from one side, anxiety; from the other, an empty and deceptive happiness; from one side, the agony of losing what one loved; from the other, the passion to acquire what one did not have; from one side, the pain of an injury received; from the other side, the pain of an injury received; from the other, the burning desire to avenge it.
與此同時, 腐敗會施展恐懼的支配, 接連蠶食人類的整個生命與靈魂. 風暴從各個方向襲來. 恐懼從這一邊侵襲; 同時, 情慾從另一側席捲; 焦慮從這一邊; 空虛與虛假的幸福從另一側; 失去所愛之物的痛苦從這一邊; 求而不得的躁動從另一側; 受傷的疼痛從從這一邊; 復仇的怒火從另一側.
Whenever you turn, avarice can pinch, extravagance squander, ambition destroy, apathy crush, obstinacy incite, oppression chafe, and countless other evils crowd the realm of inordinate desire and run riot.
無論你轉向哪裡, 貪婪會捏住你, 奢侈使你揮霍, 企圖心使你毀滅, 驕傲膨脹你, 嫉妒折磨你, 冷漠壓垮你, 固執煽動你, 壓迫激怒你, 還有其他數不清的邪惡充斥於 inordinate desire 的領域肆意橫行.
In short, can we consider this punishment trivial -- a punishment that, as you realize, all who do not cleave to wisdom must suffer?
簡言之, 這種懲罰, 正如你所認識到的那樣, 所有不堅定於智慧之中的人都必須忍受痛苦, 這種懲罰是微不足道的嗎?