Then began I assiduously to practise that for which I came to Rome — the teaching of rhetoric; and first to bring together at my home some to whom, and through whom, I had begun to be known ; when, behold, I learned that other offenses were committed in Rome which I had not to bear in Africa. For those subvertings by abandoned young men were not practised here, as I had been informed; yet, suddenly, said they, to evade paying their master's fees, many of the youths conspire together, and remove themselves to another — breakers of faith , who, for the love of money , set a small value on justice . These also my heart hated , though not with a perfect hatred ; for, perhaps, I hated them more in that I was to suffer by them, than for the illicit acts they committed. Such of a truth are base persons , and they are unfaithful to You, loving these transitory mockeries of temporal things, and vile gain, which begrimes the hand that lays hold on it; and embracing the fleeting world, and scorning You, who abides, and invites to return, and pardons the prostituted human soul when it returns to You. And now I hate such crooked and perverse men, although I love them if they are to be corrected so as to prefer the learning they obtain to money, and to learning You, O God , the truth and fullness of certain good and most chaste peace. But then was the wish stronger in me for my own sake not to suffer them evil , than was the wish that they should become good for Yours.
TheoFons