Augustine on waiting for web pages to download

Have you ever felt like a webpage takes forever to download??

Did you know that St. Augustine reflected on waiting for web pages to download? 

Well… sort of.

Well… not really.

He does, however, reflect on the concept of time in Confessions XI.

Here is Augustine, in an old translation.  This should delight patristibloggers:

And yet, Lord, we perceive intervals of times, and compare them, and say, some are shorter, and others longer. We measure also, how much longer or shorter this time is than that; and we answer, "This is double, or treble; and that, but once, or only just so much as that." But we measure times as they are passing, by perceiving them; but past, which now are not, or the future, which are not yet, who can measure? Unless a man shall presume to say, that can be measured, which is not. When then time is passing, it may be perceived and measured; but when it is past, it cannot, because it is not.  (conf. 11.16.21)

?!

"But Father! But Father!" you are no doubt wondering while scratching your head. "What prompted this this little Augustinian riff on time?"

We never need an excuse to quote Augustine.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Patristiblogging, SESSIUNCULA. Bookmark the permalink.