Confessions [Book I-VIII]

by Augustine of Hippo, Edward Bouverie Pusey (Translator)

Vol. 18, pp. 1-61
Encyclopedia Britannica
Great Books of the Western World
Ten Year Reading Plan
First Year

Genres: Philosophy, Religion, Classics, Biography, History, Christian, Christianity

61 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 398

About the author

Early church father and philosopher Saint Augustine served from 396 as the bishop of Hippo in present-day Algeria and through such writings as the autobiographical Confessions in 397 and the voluminous City of God from 413 to 426 profoundly influenced Christianity, argued against Manichaeism and Donatism, and helped to establish the doctrine of original sin.

An Augustinian follows the principles and doctrines of Saint Augustine.

People also know Aurelius Augustinus in English of Regius (Annaba). From the Africa province of the Roman Empire, people generally consider this Latin theologian of the greatest thinkers of all times. He very developed the west. According to Jerome, a contemporary, Augustine renewed "the ancient Faith."

The Neo-Platonism of Plotinus afterward heavily weighed his years. After conversion and his baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to theology and accommodated a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed in the indispensable grace to human freedom and framed the concept of just war. When the Western Roman Empire started to disintegrate from the material earth, Augustine developed the concept of the distinct Catholic spirituality in a book of the same name. He thought the medieval worldview. Augustine closely identified with the community that worshiped the Trinity. The Catholics and the Anglican communion revere this preeminent doctor. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider his due teaching on salvation and divine grace of the theology of the Reformation. The Eastern Orthodox also consider him. He carries the additional title of blessed. The Orthodox call him "Blessed Augustine" or "Saint Augustine the Blessed."

Santo Agostinho

Reviews

[Kevin de Ataíde · Rating 5 out of 5]

libris primis octaves confessionum Divi Augustini quo narrat Sanctus historiam conversionis sui ad fidem Catholicam magna cum humilitate affectuque spiritus. quod valde me placet modo est conlocutionis cum Sanctissimo; unde dicit Augustinus loco, 'Deus, in te spero...' aut hanc 'age, Domine, fac excita...' aut illuc, 'Domine adiuva me...' et omnino semper intentissimus in narratio haec. audiamus aliquando de amicis et adversantibus, de matre et discipulis. audiamus verbis moribusque Sancti Anselmi Mediolanensis et de Simpliciano seni quodam sancto et de Ponticiano Afro et de Fausto Manichaeorum. et semper, Domine, hoc, Domine, illud: "revertamur iam, Domine, ut non evertamur, quia vivit apud te sine ullo defectu bonum nostrum, quod tu ipse es." (IV, in fine) excellentissimus est.

amabilis mihi est historia haec, quoniam vocat meo corde. Sunt capitula septem, et denique capitulum octavum. Miratus sum quomodo homo hic ingeniosus tamdiu reluctari posset fide Catholica, cum tam prope erat. superbia causa erat et servitium consuetudinis, dixit mihi Augustinus, "non igitur monstrum partim velle, partim nolle, sed aegritudo animi est, quia non totus assurgit veritate sublevatus, consuetudine praegravatus." (VIII, cap. IX) iterum, "quippe voluntate perversa facta est libido et dum servitur libidini facta est consuetudo et dum consuetudini non resistitur facta est necessitas." ita vinculi facti et homines addicti; salus Dominus per Iesum Christum Deum hominem factum.

collectio haec inest bibliotheco Loeb universitatis harvardiensis et ponit translationem quidam Guilielmi Watts originalem adfusum. valde utile erat hoc, causa incapacitatis meae lingua latina. nunc legenda sunt reliqua capitula. ire debeo probabiliter ad Bibliothecum Latinum [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/august...] cetera invenire.

[Ian Clary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been podcasting through Augustine's "Confessions" for the Into Theology podcast that I co-host with Wyatt Graham (https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/int...). This has afforded me the opportunity to read this incredible book for the third time. While I make regular reference to the it in my teaching, I haven't read it cover-to-cover in over fifteen years. Going through it in detail in discussion with a friend has been an incredibly enriching experience. I'm simply blown away by this book. It's not just that I'm reading the book, it's as if it's reading me. It's no wonder that Confessions is such a classic and stands the test of time; it's remarkably human.
One of the things I've appreciated in this third reading is that I've made regular recourse to the Latin text provided by this Loeb diglot. While my Latin is not up to snuff to read through it without help, I've found that slowly working through select paragraphs to be quite helpful. Augustine is a total master of language and you can see it in the original. My friend Caleb Cohoe is an expert in ancient philosophy and he gave me this edition, and I am so glad he did. I'm used to reading the Pine-Coffin edition by Penguin, which I still love, but this fresh translation is eminently readable and enjoyable.
I can't wait to get into the second volume!

[Sara Sheikhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely to read such an old and honest piece of writing from Africa in a time now lost. Lovely not because of the recognition or nostalgia of a long lost era but as a reminder of humanity and how we enter conversation through the finitude of our lives. I really liked the parts about time and when Augustinus tries to grasp the Infinite as a finite form and the philosophical reasoning around it.

[Beluosus · Rating 5 out of 5]

In lyceo primum Confessionum libros Aurelii Augustini legi. Atque despexi. O Augustine, saepe inquam, desiste gemere ! Semper gemis, aut tibi aut deo.

Nunc autem scio hos gemitus culpam interpretis mali. Eo tempore etenim ego miser bonas litteras nesciebam, quoniam magistri nihil proferebant nisi quisquilias. Libro lecto maledictoque igitur, non miratus sum.
Multos post annos, constitui me Augustinum denuo lecturum esse. Multos de interpretum malis cognoveram, et credidi (speravi ?) librum re vera bonum esse. Sic eum quaesivi.

Elocutionem illius nunc laudo, quia denique eam oculis meis vidi. Cum legere coepi, me putavi nonnullas partes praeterire, quod christianus non sum, et litteris ecclesiae animum non intendo. Sed omnia verba legi, et delectatus sum. Si eloquentia deduci possim, hic liber me deducat. Immo confiteor me maiore cum studio de Augustini peccatis quam paenitentia legisse. Utrumque enim mihi libet.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, we know now where Marcel Proust got his idea from. I got half way through and couldn't take the navel gazing anymore.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A long and personal text about the role Christianity played in the life of a man in fifth century. We are lucky to have it. I don't know of any older text that are this personal and of any substantial length. It's well worth reading just to look into the mind of somebody who lived almost 2000 years ago. You do not get this with Plato or anywhere in the bible.

Some examples of the style:
"And how shall I call upon my God, my God and Lord, since, when I call for Him, I shall be calling Him to myself? and what room is there within me, whither my God can come into me? whither can God come into me, God who made heaven and earth? is there, indeed, O Lord my God, aught in me that can contain Thee? (...) Narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge Thou it, that Thou mayest enter in."

"Passing hence from infancy, I came to boyhood, or rather it came to me, displacing infancy. Nor did that depart,—(for whither went it?)—and yet it was no more. For I was no longer a speechless infant, but a speaking boy. This I remember; and have since observed how I learned to speak. It was not that my elders taught me words (as, soon after, other learning) in any set method; but I, longing by cries and broken accents and various motions of my limbs to express my thoughts, that so I might have my will, and yet unable to express all I willed, or to whom I willed, did myself, by the understanding which Thou, my God, gavest me, practise the sounds in my memory."

How many ancient texts are this personal? This could be a stream of consciousness in a novel. Text by Seneca, Cicero and the like are more like essays.

Seems like you learned Greek by reading Homer, not the bible. "Why then did I hate the Greek classics, which have the like tales? For Homer also curiously wove the like fictions, and is most sweetly vain, yet was he bitter to my boyish taste. And so I suppose would Virgil be to Grecian children, when forced to learn him as I was Homer. Difficulty, in truth, the difficulty of a foreign tongue, dashed, as it were, with gall all the sweetness of Grecian fable." Not at all a priori obvious it would be so.

Him about his youthful sins
"For I even burnt in my youth heretofore, to be satiated in things below; and I dared to grow wild again, with these various and shadowy loves: my beauty consumed away, and I stank in Thine eyes; pleasing myself, and desirous to please in the eyes of men. And what was it that I delighted in, but to love, and be loved? but I kept not the measure of love, of mind to mind, friendship's bright boundary: but out of the muddy concupiscence of the flesh, and the bubblings of youth, mists fumed up which beclouded and overcast my heart, that I could not discern the clear brightness of love from the fog of lustfulness. Both did confusedly boil in me, and hurried my unstayed youth over the precipice of unholy desires, and sunk me in a gulf of flagitiousnesses."

"Theft is punished by Thy law, O Lord, and the law written in the hearts of men, which iniquity itself effaces not. For what thief will abide a thief? not even a rich thief, one stealing through want. Yet I lusted to thieve, and did it, compelled by no hunger, nor poverty, but through a cloyedness of well-doing, and a pamperedness of iniquity. For I stole that, of which I had enough, and much better. Nor cared I to enjoy what I stole, but joyed in the theft and sin itself. A pear tree there was near our vineyard, laden with fruit, tempting neither for colour nor taste. To shake and rob this, some lewd young fellows of us went, late one night (having according to our pestilent custom prolonged our sports in the streets till then), and took huge loads, not for our eating, but to fling to the very hogs, having only tasted them. And this, but to do what we liked only, because it was misliked. Behold my heart, O God, behold my heart, which Thou hadst pity upon in the bottom of the bottomless pit. Now, behold, let my heart tell Thee what it sought there, that I should be gratuitously evil, having no temptation to ill, but the ill itself. It was foul, and I loved it; I loved to perish, I loved mine own fault, not that for which I was faulty, but my fault itself. Foul soul, falling from Thy firmament to utter destruction; not seeking aught through the shame, but the shame itself!"

The dangerous thing about Augustine
"Curiosity makes semblance of a desire of knowledge; whereas Thou supremely knowest all. Yea, ignorance and foolishness itself is cloaked under the name of simplicity and uninjuriousness; because nothing is found more single than Thee: and what less injurious, since they are his own works which injure the sinner? Yea, sloth would fain be at rest; but what stable rest besides the Lord? Luxury affects to be called plenty and abundance; but Thou art the fulness and never-failing plenteousness of incorruptible pleasures. Prodigality presents a shadow of liberality: but Thou art the most overflowing Giver of all good. Covetousness would possess many things; and Thou possessest all things. Envy disputes for excellency: what more excellent than Thou? "

It is not life affirming, not about growth. It's the faith of a tired old man.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

“et illa in Africam redierat, vovens tibi alium se virum nescituram, relicto apud me naturali ex illa filio meo.”
(Home again went she into Africa, (vowing to thee never to know man more) leaving a bastard son with me, which I had begotten of her.) Book 6, Ch. 15.

“at ego…etiam petieram a te castitatem et dixeram: ‘da mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo’.”
(But I…had even then begged chastity at thy hands, and said: Give me chastity and continency, but do not give it yet.) Book 8, Ch. 7.

“dolore dentium tunc excruciabas me…”
(Thou didst in those days torment me with the toothache…) Book 9, Ch. 4.

“In his ergo temptationibus positus, certo cotidie adversus concupiscentiam manducandi et bibendi: non enim est quod semel praecidere et ulterius non attingere decernam, sicut de concubitu potui. itaque freni gutturis temperata relaxatione et constrictione tenendi sunt. et quis est, domine, qui non rapiatur aliquantum extra metas necessitatis?”
(Myself therefore, amidst these temptations do strive daily against mine own appetite of eating and drinking. For ’tis not of such a nature as that I am able to resolve to cut myself short of it once for all, and never to touch it afterward, as I was able to do concerning carnal copulation. The bridle of the throat therefore is to be held between a temperate slackness and a stiffness: and who is he, O Lord, that is not some whit transported beyond the lists of necessity?) Book 10, Ch. 32.

“Ecce respondeo dicenti: ‘quid faciebat deus, antequam faceret caelum et terram?’ …. nam unde poterant innumerabilia saecula praeterire, quae ipse non feceras, cum sis omnium saeculorum auctor et conditor? aut quae tempora fuissent, que abs te condita non essent?”
(For how could innumerable ages pass over, which thyself hadst not made; thou being the author and creator of all ages? Or what times should these have been, which were not made by thee?) Book 11, Ch. 12-13.

“vellem quippe, si tunc ego essem Moyses…et mihi abs te Geneseos liber scribendus adiungeretur, talem mihi eloquendi facultatem dari et eum texendi sermonis modum, ut neque illi, qui nondum queunt intellegere quaemadmodum creat deus, tamquam excedentia vires suas dicta recusarent et illi, qui hoc iam possunt…”
(I should have desired verily, had I then been Moses…and that the book of Genesis had been put upon me to write, have desired such a faculty of expression to have been given me, and such a manner of composing too, that they who cannot as yet understand how God creates, might not reject the sayings as beyond their capacity; and that they who are already able to do it….) Book 12, Ch. 26.

[Ian Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a revised Loeb edition of St Augustine’s account of his journey towards Catholic orthodoxy. The Confessions is sometimes billed as an autobiography, but the translator points out in a very helpful introduction, that what we’re reading here is not autobiography as we would understand it today. Augustine mentions people and events only insofar as they have a clear bearing on his spiritual development. Thus we hear far more about his mother Monnica (though he never uses her name) than about his father. His mother desperately wants him to become a Christian but also wants him to marry and give her grandchildren. She has a great influence over his journey but it’s a rocky road – towards the end of this volume we get the famous “Oh God, make me chaste and celibate – but not yet!” Ultimately, he renounces sex and women and devotes himself to some kind of priestly life – after much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Augustine had a classical education in the Roman province of Africa (roughly modern Tunisia) and was enthralled by Vergil and Cicero in his youth. Then he falls into the Manichaean heresy where he wallows for several years before seeing the true light. In the meantime he undertakes a physical journey to Rome and Milan, followed by the solicitous Monnica. I always thought that St Ambrose, who was bishop of Milan when Augustine arrived there, was a big influence but I didn’t get much sense of that here.
Augustine is honest enough to admit that he fathered a child while still a teenager and he lived in sin with a woman (more than one woman?) for some time. Annoyingly, he doesn’t name his female partners. They clearly don’t matter when he’s focused on saving his soul and finding the true path. He also seems to have been a pretty poor father – worse than his own father, who seems to have put a lot of effort into his son’s education before an early death.
I must admit I found it difficult to feel much empathy for Augustine. The amount of brain power spent agonising over points of doctrine and the dire consequences of reaching the wrong conclusions (not hell fire but earthly fire) should make any rational – or compassionate – person wince.
The translator must be some kind of biblical scholar as well as a classicist as she includes biblical references alongside the translation. Presumably some readers will want to check these out. I didn’t bother but I will read Volume II of this excellent edition of one of the great works of African literature.

[Ryan Denson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hammond’s translation of Augustine’s Confessions will prove to be useful for both scholarly and non-scholarly readers. This Loeb volume includes books I-VIII of Confessions, which cover most of the biographical information from Augustine’s earliest years to his emotional conversion in 386 AD. This English translation is easily comprehensible and lucid. Hammond’s introduction provides a brief overview of the work, it’s major themes, and Augustine’s purpose for writing it. The footnotes are also quite helpful in pointing out classical and biblical references and noting manuscript problems when necessary.

Augustine’s Confessions is often hailed as the first instance of the autobiographical genre in the west. Although it certainly contains many details about Augustine’s early life, we must be mindful that it was not the only purpose for writing it. Theological ideas are present throughout and Augustine structures it primarily as an address to God. He seems to have also wanted to share his story as an example of someone struggling to convert to Christianity. Aside from the overtly religious nature of the text, it is a powerful human story about the changes and struggles in life. Augustine wrote it around the midpoint of his life in 397 AD and shows a remarkable degree of self-analysis in looking back on his life thus far. It is a unique text for classicists as it affords a rare and in-depth glimpse into the course of one person’s life in antiquity. Overall, it is also a lively and entertaining work that is saturated with a multitude of emotional and deeply thought-provoking moments.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Augustine's Confessions gives you both timeless analysis of human nature and access into the fascinating world of Late Antiquity, where an educated Roman was able to experiment with competing philosophies in his search for truth. Augustine's reflections are searingly honest, self-aware and passionate.

This translation strikes the difficult balance between being accessible to the modern reader and preserving the rhetorical force of the Latin. I really like having the parallel text, as it gives you access to the beauty of the Latin even if you are not fluent:

nondum amabam, et amare amabam

[Emily Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

'For they see before their own feet a divinity that is fragile because of its participation in our garments of skins, and in their exhaustion they prostrate themselves upon that divinity, but it rises up and sets them on their feet.' (7.18)

[Zach Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Close to the big conversion moment — excited to begin the second volume.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Latin & English translation

[Gregory]

Read many years ago.
Those who understand, need no explanation.
For those who don't, no explanation will suffice.

[Dona · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It was foul, and I loved it. I loved to perish. I loved my own — not that for which I erred, but the itself. Base, falling from Your firmament to utter destruction — not seeking anything through the shame but the shame itself!”

“Day after day I postponed living in you, but I never put off the death which I died each day in myself. I longed for a life of happiness but I was frightened to approach it in its own domain; and yet, while I fled from it, I still searched for it.”

[Paul Coomer]

Ok, I have this but I haven't read all of it.

[Eric Boles]

*** ‘Any study of this book must be judged not by the simplicity it imposes, but by the complexity it reveals’

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

what is life.