Introduction
Augustine (c. 354–430 C.E.) was a lot like Apuleius. He also grew up in North Africa and was of
mixed descent—his mother was an indigenous North African (Berber). Like Apuleius, he moved
to a regional center and received an education meant to train him as an orator. But that’s where
things changed. Augustine, following the lead of his devoutly Christian mother, converted to
Christianity after a pagan childhood and teenage years spent as a kind-of-like-Christian but
really-not-Christian-at-all Manichaean. After converting, he gained increasingly prominent
positions, leading toward his long career as bishop of Hippo (a city in North Africa, no relation
to the adorable animal). He wrote prolifically, clarifying Christian doctrine at a time when there
was still a lot of disagreement about what should be the “standard” Christian theology.
Augustine’s spiritual biography is the subject of one of his most famous works, the Confessions.
Like the section of Apuleius you just read, it chronicles a religious conversion. But it is
startlingly earnest, no doubt about it. It is both an autobiography of Augustine’s youth and a
quest to try to get to know God. As such, it mixes together biography with robust reference and
quotation of the Bible. It is at once a philosophical work about the nature of God and a narration
of his early life.
The reading is from three sections. First (3.1-14), Augustine talks about his pagan education. It’s
a key issue, as Christian leaders were debating just what role the Greek and Roman “classics”
(Vergil, Homer, Cicero) should play in a Christian education. Augustine’s reflection on the
benefits and pitfalls of his love of ancient literature is telling about how Late Antiquity
positioned itself against the Roman past. Next, in Book 8, there are two sections excerpted. First
(8.14-15) Augustine narrates how he learned about the monk Antony via the Life of Antony.
That’s a bit of an easter egg, as our next class will focus on the paradigmatic importance of
monks and seclusion, of which Antony was the forerunner in the Christian tradition. Next, and
most importantly (8.28-30), there is the conversion moment proper. It’s powerful stuff.
Some Orienting Questions:
• What moments from the conversion passage align with your reading of Apuleius? What
are the “ingredients” of a conversion narrative?
• Augustine is particularly impressed by a dialogue of Cicero. What does he say about it?
How does Cicero’s work differ from the Aeneid, another ancient text that Augustine talks
about?
• Why is Augustine so impressed by Antony?
