But now let my God cry more loudly in my soul,
so that your truth may tell me, “No, that is
not the case; it is not true.
The primary teaching
is better in every respect.” I am undoubtedly more
ready today to forget the wanderings of Aeneas and
so forth than how to write or read. Curtains may
well hang at the entrance to schools of literature,
but they serve less to signal the prestige of elite
instruction than to conceal error.
Let not those buyers
and sellers of literary studies shout me down, my God,
as I confess to you according to my soul’s need, and
acquiesce as you chide me for those evil ways of mine
and bring me to love your good ways;
let them not shout
me down, for I fear no longer.
Saint Augustine (354-430)
the Confessions (Book 1 P. 26. 22)
The Works of Saint Augustine A Translation for the 21st Century
from the Augustinian Heritage Institute