_A._ I answer thee that I do not _wish anything_ more earnestly; but I dare not promise thee that I shall not desire any thing else than that; for it is verily hidden from me, albeit something cometh into my mind which, methinks, nothing can hinder me from furthering and performing. When another thing cometh which seemeth to me more right and reasonable, then I leave off that which I formerly held enough; and therefore at times it happeneth that something is so fixed in my mind, that I think I shall never let it go so long as I live. Howbeit there cometh to me then some trouble which occupieth me so that I can never leave it, nor can I perform it although I can not think of any better [thing to be done].[9] But three things have troubled me most: One is, I fear that I must part with my friends whom I love most, _or they with me--either for life or for death_; the second is, I fear sickness, _both the known and the unknown_; the third is, I fear death. [9] Supplied by translator. _R._ _I hear now what thou lovest most next to thine own reason and God_: They are, the life of thy friends, and thine own health, and thine own life. _Of these five things thou art afraid that thou shalt lose some, because thou lovest them all very much._ If thou didst not love them, then thou hadst not dreaded that thou wouldst lose them. [Sidenote: 33.19--35.8] _A._ I admit what thou sayest to me. _R._ Therefore methinks that I see thee very sad and greatly cast down in thy mind, because thou hast not such health as thou hadst; nor hast thou all thy friends with thee _so agreeable and harmonious as thou wouldst. Nor doth it seem to me any wonder that thou art sad for that reason._ _A._ Thou understandest it rightly; I can not gainsay that. _R._ If then it ever happen that thou shalt find thyself full whole and full strong, and hast all thy friends with thee, both in mind and in body, _and in that same work and in that same will which pleaseth thee best to do_, wilt thou then be happy at all? _A._ Yea, verily; if it should now suddenly happen, I do not know _how on earth_ I would begin. _R._ Hast thou not then still some trouble, such as immoderate sorrow, either of mind or of body--seeing now thou hast those two things? Wert thou, therefore, foolish in heart, when thou didst wish that thou shouldst see with such eyes the high and everlasting Sun? _A._ Now thou hast overcome me withal, so that I by no means know how much of health I have, nor how much of sickness.