_A._ That I both hear and believe, _and this instruction I will follow as I best can_, and will pray God that I may fulfil it _as thou long ago didst instruct me; do thou now teach me, if thou wilt_. _R._ Do this for me first, and _tell me again, after thou hast studied this, what thou likest of this; and if thou doubtest aught about any of these things, then tell it to me_. _Here endeth the anthology of the first book._ BOOK II _Here beginneth the anthology of the second book._ _A._ Alas! Long have we been unoccupied, yet we have not sought after _what thou didst promise me_. _R._ _Let us make amends for it_; let us carry it forward into another book. _A._ Yea, let us indeed. _R._ Let us believe that God is our Helper. _A._ Truly would I that we believed it, if I had power. _But methinks faith is not in our power, in such measure as we seek, unless_ God give it to us. _R._ _Both faith and all the good that we shall have. Therefore I know not what else we can do without His help. Howbeit I advise thee that thou begin it._ Pray in as few words as thou most sincerely canst, _and ask for that which is and may be most needful for thee_. _A._ _Then said I_: 'Lord, Lord, Thou who remainest unchangeable, grant me these _two things which I always wished_, to wit, that I may understand Thee and myself.' _Now I have done as thou didst instruct me_; truly have I prayed. _R._ _Now I hear what thou wishest to know. Howbeit I would first learn from thee whether thou knowest without doubt_ that thou dost exist or not; _or that thou dost live or dost not live_. _A._ _These are two things which_ I certainly know. _R._ What now wishest thou to know? _A._ Whether I be immortal. _R._ I hear that thou wouldst live always. _A._ That I confess. _R._ Wilt thou, then, know enough if I cause thee to know that thou mayest live always? [Sidenote: 56.13--58.22] _A._ That is a very good desire; _yet say what I ask thee about: whether I shall live always; and then I would know whether I, after the parting of the body and the soul, shall ever know more than I now know of all that which I have long wished to know; for I can not find any thing better in man than that he know, and nothing worse than that he be ignorant_. _R._ Now I know all that thou wishest: One thing is, thou wouldst exist; another, thou wouldst live; the third, thou wouldst know. And I know also why thou wishest these three things: Thou wouldst exist in order to live, and thou wouldst live in order to know. And these three things I hear that thou certainly knowest: Thou knowest that thou art, and thou knowest that thou livest, and thou also knowest that thou knowest something, albeit thou knowest not all that thou wouldst know. _A._ That is true. _These three things I know, and these three things I desire. I would exist in order that I may live. What would I care whether I existed, if I lived not? Or what would I care for life, if I knew nothing?_