22 July 2019

from the Confessions, book I, chapter 7 (St Augustine, trans. Carolyn J.-B. Hammond)

ita inbecillitas membrorum infantilium innocens est, non animus infantium. vidi ego et expertus sum zelantem parvulum: nondum loquebatur et intuebatur pallidus amaro aspectu conlactaneum suum. quis hoc ignorat?

So the weakness of infant limbs compasses innocence, but with the minds of infants it is not so. I have observed and experienced a little one expressing jealousy. Though he was not yet capable of speech, he glared, pale with envy, at his sibling at the breast. Surely everyone knows this!

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