Lives And Lengths

Dicit aliquis: Cur ergo psalmus dixit: Psallam Deo meo quamdiu vivo, et non dixit: Psallam Deo meo semper? Ubi enim dicitur: Quamdiu vivo, quasi finis significatur, sed si non intellegatur. Si putas de hac vita dictum, quamdiu vivo, discute vitam istam utrum hic sit diu. Quantumcumque hic vixeris, diu non est. Quomodo est diu, quod te non satiat? Dicit puer diu vixisse hominem, quem videt senem. Sed cum pervenerit quo ille pervenit, tunc videt quam non fuerit diu. Prorsus sic volat aetas, ita in se momenta transcurrunt, ut videamus nudius tertius fuisse nos pueros, heri iuvenes, hodie senes. Ubi ergo putas de hac vita esse dictum, quamdiu vivo, psallam Deo meo, ideo quia dixit quamdiu vivo, ibi verax intellectus est de hac vita non esse dictum, quia dixit quamdiu. Numquam enim diceret veritas quamdiu de ista vita, ubi nihil est diu. Potuerunt hoc videre sapientes huius mundi, et non hoc possunt videre christiani? Quidam sapientum mundi, eloquentissimus homo dixit: Quid enim hoc ipsum diu, in quo est aliquid extremum? Omnino negavit diu, esse, quod ad finem quandocumque potuerit pervenire. Prorsus quandocumque, non quousque tu vixisti, si forte ad senectutem ultimam pervenisti. Unius enim hominis vita, praesertim hoc tempore, vapor est ad modicum apparens. Hoc, quod dixi, Scriptura dixit. Exultantibus hominibus, et per superbiam multa pollentibus, et an continuo moriantur nescientibus, Scriptura divina dixit, et eos ita superbientes et in vanis fidentes suae transitoriae fragilitatis admonuit. Quae est enim, inquit, vita vestra? Vapor est ad modicum apparens, deinceps exterminabitur. Qui ergo se erigit in elatione, confidit in vapore; extollitur in honore, et perit cum vapore. Reprimenda est ergo superbia, et quanta possumus intentione calcanda. Et intellegendum nos in hac terra mortaliter vivere, et cogitandum esse de fine ubi non erit finis. Non enim si tu, ut dicere coeperam quicumque senuisti, valde extolleris, si putas te diu vixisse qui aliquando finiturus es, sed ipse Adam si adhuc viveret, et non modo, sed in fine saeculi moreretur, nihil haberet diu, in quo aliquid esset extremum. Et verissime dictum est, et prudenter intellectum est, et verum esse non tantum praedicatur, sed etiam ab auditoribus agnoscitur. Referamus animum ad psalmum quem cantavimus, et inveniamus quia ille non diceret: Psallam Deo meo, quandiu vivo, nisi de illa vita ubi diu est. Si enim in ista vita ideo nihil diu, quia est aliquid extremum, non ad istam vitam desiderandam vocamur, quando christiani efficimur. Non enim propterea christiani efficimur, ut bene nobis sit in hac vita. Si enim propterea putaverimus nos fieri christianos, ut hic nobis bene sit secundum vitam istam temporalem, secundum felicitatem volaticam et vapoream valde erramus, et nutabunt pedes nostri Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Sermones Inediti, Sermo 33a, De versu Psalmi CXLV: Laudabo Dominum in vita mea, psallam Deo meo quamdiu vivo Source: Migne PL 46.918-919

Someone says, 'Why does the Psalm say, 'I shall sing to my God as long as I live?' 1 and it does not say, 'I shall sing to my God always?' for where it is said, 'As long as I live,' it is as if an end is signified.' But that is only if it is misunderstood. If you think this life was spoken of with 'as long as I live,' consider how long this life is. However long you have lived here, it is not long at all. How can that be long which does not satisfy you? A boy who sees an old man says he is a man who has lived a long time. But when he comes to where that man is then he will see that it is not long at all. Indeed, how a life flies by, how the moments run into one another, so that it seems it was just two days ago we were boys, and only yesterday we were young men, and today we are old men. When, then, you think it was spoken of this life when it was said 'as long as I live, I shall sing to my God,' then because he said 'as long as I live,' so the true understanding does not concern this life, because he said 'as long as.' For never would the truth say 'as long as' about this life, when it is hardly anything at all to live. The wise of this world are able to see this, and do Christians not see it? A certain wise one of the world, the most eloquent man, said, 'What is this 'as long', in which there is some limit?' 2 Here he denies 'long' can come to an end at any time. Certainly it will, at some time or other, whatever length of time you have lived here, if perhaps you come to extreme old age. For the life of a man, especially at this time, is a mist appearing for a little while. 3 Scripture says what I say. While men exult, and through pride would do much, ignorant that they might perish in a moment, Scripture says it. Even so it has admonished men in their pride and vanity about their transitory fragility. What is it, then, your life? It is a mist appearing for a little while, and then it disappears. Therefore he who raises himself up in elation, he puts his trust in a mist, and he who is exalted by honours, he perishes with the mist. Thus is pride reproved, and thus with firm intention we are able to trample it under foot. We should understand that we live mortally on this earth, and we should think of that end where there is no end. For it is not only that you, as I said, who have aged, who exalt yourself, should think while living that you shall at some time come to an end, but even Adam himself should, if yet he lived, and not only that, but at the end of the world died, for even then he would have nothing 'long', since he had some limit. It truly has been spoken, and wisely it has been understood, when there is not only the preaching of the truth but also the understanding of those who hear. Let us turn our minds back to the Psalm we have sung, and we shall find that he would not have said 'I will sing to my God as long as I live,' unless he had meant that life where 'long' really is. For if there is nothing 'long' in this life because there is always some limit, then we are not called to desire this life when we become Christians. We did not become Christians that it go well for us in this life. If that is why we thought we became Christians, so that things would go well for us in this temporal life, which is a fleeting happiness like a mist, we are very gravely in error, and our feet will stumble. Saint Augustine of Hippo, Unpublished Sermons, from Sermon 33, On the verse of Psalm 145, 'I shall praise the Lord in my life, I shall sing to my God while I live.' 1 Ps 145.2 2 Cicero, Orat pro M Marcello 28 3 Jam 4.15