{"id": "card_n_80cc656fa1a5", "kind": "note", "title": "Augustine, Confessions §aug_conf_02_014: Thus doth the soul commit fornication, when she turns from Thee, seeking with...", "body": "Thus doth the soul commit fornication, when she turns from Thee, seeking without Thee, what she findeth not pure and untainted, till she returns to Thee. Thus all pervertedly imitate Thee, who remove far from Thee, and lift themselves up against Thee. But even by thus imitating Thee, they imply Thee to be the Creator of all nature; whence there is no place whither altogether to retire from Thee. What then did I love in that theft? and wherein did I even corruptly and pervertedly imitate my Lord? Did I wish even by stealth to do contrary to Thy law, because by power I could not, so that being a prisoner, I might mimic a maimed liberty by doing with impunity things unpermitted me, a darkened likeness of Thy Omnipotency? Behold, Thy servant, fleeing from his Lord, and obtaining a shadow. O rottenness, O monstrousness of life, and depth of death! could I like what I might not, only because I might not?", "source": {"label": "Augustine, Confessions (c. AD 400)", "url": "", "ref": "aug_conf_02_014", "authority_tier": "father"}, "shelf": "classics", "box": "augustine_confessions", "bands": ["augustine", "confessions", "father"], "connections": [{"to_card_id": "card_n_817442fc6789", "relationship": "same_section", "origin": "nesting_2026_06_12"}, {"to_card_id": "card_n_8087d5daa7d0", "relationship": "same_section", "origin": "nesting_2026_06_12"}, {"to_card_id": "card_spine_classics", "relationship": "member_of", "evidence": "a member of the classics shelf in the keeping"}], "author": "engine", "created_at": "2026-05-19T13:20:57.666311+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-19T19:57:55.485069+00:00", "visibility": "public", "lifecycle_stage": "public", "volatility": "permanent", "metrics": {"paperclips_count": 0, "helpful_count": 0, "not_helpful_count": 0, "cite_count": 4, "walks_through_count": 0, "flagged_count": 0}, "source_hash": "7e85e2ea916b2aaa227d4f02c40eeaf3ad3ebbff294ca5abf90c43125a76e8fa", "witnesses": [{"class": "manuscript_tradition", "label": "Patrologia Latina (Migne) vol. 32 — Confessions Latin text", "url": "https://patristica.net/latina/", "ref": "PL-32"}, {"class": "critical_edition", "label": "Corpus Christianorum Series Latina (CCSL) 27 — Verheijen", "url": "https://www.corpuschristianorum.org/", "ref": "CCSL-27"}, {"class": "translation", "label": "Pusey translation (1838) — Library of Fathers", "url": "https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf101.html", "ref": "Pusey-1838"}, {"class": "translation", "label": "Pine-Coffin translation (Penguin Classics, 1961)", "ref": "Pine-Coffin-1961"}, {"class": "republication", "label": "Internet Archive — Confessions (multiple editions)", "url": "https://archive.org/search?query=augustine+confessions", "ref": "IA-Confessions"}, {"class": "republication", "label": "Project Gutenberg — Confessions", "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3296", "ref": "PG-3296"}, {"class": "citation_tradition", "label": "Aquinas, Summa Theologica — cites Confessions extensively", "ref": "Aquinas-ST"}], "witness_status": "passed", "witness_status_reason": "7 witnesses across 5 independence classes: ['citation_tradition', 'critical_edition', 'manuscript_tradition', 'republication', 'translation']", "surface": "witness", "presentation": {"glyph": "•", "kind_label": "augustine confessions", "by": "Augustine, Confessions (c. AD 400)", "authority": "father", "posted": "", "standing": ""}, "neighbors": [{"id": "card_n_817442fc6789", "title": "Augustine, Confessions §aug_conf_11_019: Let us see then, thou soul of man, whether present time can be long: for to t...", "relationship": "same section", "why": "", "href": "/card/card_n_817442fc6789", "resolved": true}, {"id": "card_n_8087d5daa7d0", "title": "Augustine, Confessions §aug_conf_10_003: What then have I to do with men, that they should hear my confessions--as if ...", "relationship": "same section", "why": "", "href": "/card/card_n_8087d5daa7d0", "resolved": true}, {"id": "card_spine_classics", "title": "The classics — the great books, kept whole", "relationship": "on the shelf of", "why": "a member of the classics shelf in the keeping", "href": "/card/card_spine_classics", "resolved": true}]}