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  CONFESSIONS - BOOK IV - CHAPTER II
  by St. Augustine
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2. During those years I taught the art of rhetoric. Conquered by the
desire for gain, I offered for sale speaking skills with which to
conquer others. And yet, O Lord, thou knowest that I really preferred to
have honest scholars (or what were esteemed as such) and, without tricks
of speech, I taught these scholars the tricks of speech--not to be used
against the life of the innocent, but sometimes to save the life of a
guilty man. And thou, O God, didst see me from afar, stumbling on that
slippery path and sending out some flashes of fidelity amid much smoke--
guiding those who loved vanity and sought after lying,[85] being myself
their companion.

In those years I had a mistress, to whom I was not joined in lawful
marriage. She was a woman I had discovered in my wayward passion, void
as it was of understanding, yet she was the only one; and I remained
faithful to her and with her I discovered, by my own experience, what a
great difference there is between the restraint of the marriage bond
contracted with a view to having children and the compact of a lustful
love, where children are born against the parents\\

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/st-augustine/confessions-book-iv-chapter-ii/
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