12 LETTERS OF ST. AIJGUSnNE. [ l e t. VL A s to th is letter in particular, answer it when you are ready to discuss a subtle problem in regard to memory, and the im ages presented by the imagination.^ M y opinion is, that although there can be such images independently of memory, there is no exercise o f meihory independently of such images.^ You w ill say. W hat, then, takes place when memory is exercised in recalling an act of understanding or o f thought ? i answer tWs objection ,by saying, that such acts can be recalled b y memory for th is reason, that in the supposed act o f understanding or of thought we gave birth to som ething conditioned by space or by tim e, which is of such a nature that it can be reproduced by the im agination; for either w e connected the use o f words w ith the exercise of the understanding and w ith the thoughts, and words are condi­ tioned by tim e, and thus fa ll w ithin the domain of the senses or of the im aginative fa c ility ; or if w e did not join words w ith the m ental act, our in tellect at a ll events experienced in . th e act o f thinking something which was of such a nature as could produce in the mind that which, by the aid of the ima­ ginative faculty, memory could recall. These things I have, stated, as usual, w ithout much consideration, and in a some­ w hat confused m anner: do you exam ine them, and, rejecting w hat is false, acquaint me by letter w ith w hat you hold as the truth on th is subject. 2. Listen also to th is question; W hy, I should lik e to know, do we not affirm' that the phantasy [im aginative faculty] derives a ll its images from itself, rather than say that' it receives these from the senses ? Eor it is possible that, as the intellectual faculty of the soul is indebted to the senses, not for the objects upon which the in tellect is exercised, but rather for the admonition arousing it to see these objects, in the same manner the im aginative faculty may be indebted to the senses, not fo r'th e images which are the objects upon which it is exercised, but rather for th e admonition arousing it to contemplate these images. And perhaps it is in this w ay that we are to explain the fact that the imagination per- > Phantasia. * ' Quamvis non omniS phantasia cum memoria sit, onmis tamen memoria, sine phantasia esse non possit<