I'm not sure whether Thomas ever addressed Augustine's early
peccadilloes, but I suspect he would have told him that of course he was
gaining something that seemed good at the time: the thrill of being bad
(feeling alive) and the approval of his chums.
John Wager had written:
Of course in his case, Augustine goes on at great length showing just how "rotten" he has been in his life, doing things ke knew were wrong, and doing them anyway, despite not having a good reason for doing them. He even STOLE SOME PEARS when he was out one night!!! Horror of horrors!! Those pears have been the primary example of the "corruption" of human nature ever since. Augustine says that late one night when he was maybe 15 years old, with a bunch of his guy friends he climed a fence and stole some pears, even though he had better, sweeter pears at home. He says he stole them not for any good reason, or any reason that seemed good to him at the time, but JUST TO DO SOMETHING BAD, KNOWING IT WAS BAD. That was the bothersome thing; even though he KNEW there was nothing at all to be gained by stealing the pears, he did so anyway.
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