BOOK VI
(Augustine’s mother, whom he had left at Carthage when he departed for Rome, arrives to join him at Milan. She is pleased by his start on the right road, and redoubles her prayers for his ultimate conversion. Augustine is gradually progressing toward this culmination of his mother’s hopes, but he is continually assailed by doubts. He is troubled by the worldly pursuits he has indulged in so long. His friend, Alypius, become a devotee of the contests and games in the Circus, is saved from this passionate dissipation by the God to whom Augustine looks for final salvation. But, indicative of his imprisonment in earthly pleasures, Augustine plans to marry, to enable himself to continue his carnal lusts under the protection of a legal union; he is dissuaded by his friends, with whom he discusses, at some length, their mode of life. Because of these “inveterate sins,” Augustine lives in dread of divine judgment.)