232 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN. at the same time I say thatmy mind isdividedby thatvery deliberation,being influencedby the desireof describing the glory,and restrainedfrom speakingby the magnitudeof the virtue[tobe described]; sinceit iseithernot becoming to be silent,or itisperilousto say too little,savethattoone who is tossingin doubt thisconsiderationalone ishelpful, that itwould appear easy for him to be pardoned who has not feared to dare. Wherefore, beloved brethren,although my mental capacityis burdened by the importanceof the subjectin such a way, that in proportionas it puts itself forthin declaringthe dignityof martyrdom, in thatdegree itisoverwhelmed by the very weight of the glory,and by itsestimationof allthose things concerningwhich, when it speaks most, it fails,by itsaddress being weakened, and broken, and self-entangled,and does not with free and loosenedreinsdisplaythe might of such gloryin the liberal eloquence of discourse;yet, if I am not mistaken,some power there willbe in my utterance,which,when fortified by the appeal of the work itself,may here and therepour forthwhat the unequal consciousnessof my abilitywithheld from my words. Since,therefore,belovedbrethren,involved as we are in affairsso many and important,we are endea vouringwith3111eagernessand labourtoconfirmthe excellent and most beautifulissuesof salvation,I do not fearbeing so deterredby any slothfuldread as to be withheld orren dered powerless; since,if any one shoulddesireto lookinto thatof which we are considering,the hope of devotionbeing taken into account, and the very magnitude of the thing being weighed, he would ratherwonder that I could have dared at all,in a matterwherein both the vastnessof the subjectoppressedme, and the earnestnessof itsown desire drove my mind, confusedwith itsjoy,intomental difficulties. For who istherewhom such a subjectwould not alarm? who is there whom it would not overthrow with the fearof its own wonder ? 2. For there isindeed,unlessI am mistaken,even inthe very power of conscience,a marvellousfear which at once disturbsand inflamesus ; whose power,the more closelyyou