Though he did not realize it at the time of writing Confessions, St. Augustine’s book is used in many history courses as a resource in understanding the history of late antiquity. In books one through six of St. Augustine’s Confessions, Augustine takes us on a journey through his life as an infant, child, adolescent, and young man. While this journey through the years is supposed to inform the reader of Augustine’s path towards God, many snippets of historical context sneak their way into the text. If I was to write a text, like Augustine, of my life in the 21st Century, I think the types of historical details I would provide would be much different and plentiful than those that Augustine has left for us. 

Augustine writes about his life as an infant in book 1 of Confessions, yet this particular portion of Confessions lacks any historical information as Augustine has lost this part of his life in “the darkness of my [Augustine’s] forgetfulness” (Confessions, page 10) as any infant would. As the text progresses into Augustine’s life as a young boy, we begin to uncover some of the history of late antiquity. Augustine informs us of what he was learning in school, “the three R’s of reading, writing, and arithmetic” (Confessions, page 15). Further detailing the history of schooling, Augustine tells us that he was to read Latin epic poems such as the Aeneid, “I was later forced to learn about the wanderings of some legendary fellow named Aeneas” (Confessions, page 10). Transitioning now into Augustine’s life as an adolescent, this portion of the text does not give much historical context besides how he experienced life in Babylon. Augustine states that in Babylon, he and his friends, “rolled in its [Babylon’s] dung as if rolling in spices and precious ornaments” (Confessions, page 28). Here, Augustine is demonstrating that the prevalence of materialistic goods in Babylon and a lifestyle that indulges in such goods was common for the people of Babylon, thus giving us insight into Babylon society during late antiquity. Moving further into Augustine’s life, now as a young adult, we receive some insight as to what citizens of Carthage did in their free time as well as some of what was taught in their schooling. Augustine tells us in book 3 that he was, “captivated by theatrical shows” (Confessions, page 35) and that he wished to “experience grievous and tragic events which he himself would not wish to endure” (Confessions, page 35). This elicits that it was common for people of late antiquity to attend theatrical tragedies in their free time. As for his schooling as a young adult, we know that Augustine learned and taught rhetoric, “I was top of my class in the rhetor’s school” (Confessions, page 38), “Following the usual curriculum I had already come across a book by a certain Cicero, whose language almost everyone admires. That book of his contains an exhortation to study philosophy and is entitled Hortensius” (Confessions, pages 38-39),  “In those years [ages nineteen through twenty eight] I used to teach the art of rhetoric” (Confessions, page 53). From these quotes, we know that it must have been common for young men of late antiquity to study rhetoric as well as the specific pieces of literature that were studied as a supplement to rhetoric students. Augustine also teaches in book five that the people of late antiquity were “amazed and stupefied” (Confessions, page 74) with astronomy. Again, this further informs us of what was studied and discussed by the scholars of late antiquity. 

Although books one through six of St. Augustine’s Confessions provide insight into the history of late antiquity, the majority of the historical information is centered around the schooling of this period and not so much on the events going on during this time frame that would have had significant impact on what took place in day to day life. However, I do not believe that Augustine is leaving out the information of his day to day life on purpose. We know that Augustine’s purpose for writing Confessions is so, “that I [Augustine] and any of my readers may reflect on the great depth from which we have to cry to you [God]” (Confessions, page 26) and not as a historical piece of literature; all historical information provided is provided to elaborate on his aforementioned purpose for writing. Additionally, we also know that Augustine has no shame in telling the darker parts of his life such as when he stole the pears with his friends during adolescence. With these two facts in mind, we can assume that he does not leave out any historical information purposefully. 

If I was to write a piece of literature outlining my life thus far, I would first and foremost not be writing it with the same purpose in which Augustine wrote his Confessions. In light of this, my literature would contain information in regards to education, entertainment, transportation, science, and politics, yet I would delve more deeply into describing each of these concepts and how they have developed and changed over my lifetime. Instead of only focusing on how these things relate to my relationship with God, which is an important part of my life, I would make sure to include how they related to the other parts of my life and the rest of the world. Some specific things that I would include that I think would be important to historians would be my watching of television, my involvement with sports, the structure of my education over the years ranging from the dynamics of learning to read and write to the study of late antiquity, the way in which I travel by car and plane, the scientific research of Covid 19, and the election of the first African American president of the United States. I do not think that I would withhold any information intentionally, yet if I do not find some information to have played a significant role in my development as a human being, then I probably would not include it in the text. All in all, St. Augustine’s Confessions does a good job of outlining the history of late antiquity considering that the purpose of his text was not to be reflected upon as a piece of history.