Petrarch. What, then, would you say a man must do for his soul to break the fetters of the world, and mount up perfect and entire to the realms above?
S. Augustine. What leads to this goal is, as I said in the first instance, the practice of meditation on death and the perpetual recollection of our mortal nature.
Petrarch. Unless I am deceived, there is no man alive who is more often revolving this thought in his heart than I.
S. Augustine. Ah, here is another delusion, a fresh obstacle in your way!
Petrarch. What! Do you mean to say I am once more lying?
Augustine. I would sooner hear you use more civil language.
Petrarch. But to say the same thing?
S. Augustine. Yes, to say nothing else.
Petrarch. So then you mean I care nothing at all about death?
S. Augustine. To tell the truth you think very seldom of it, and in so feeble a way that your thought never touches the root of your trouble.