Augustine wrote the book Confessions between 397 and 400 A.D. In the book, he writes about his own life, and how much he has changed while growing up. While the book focuses on Augustine, it is also one of the few direct literature works we have left from that time. This means that the book can provide evidence for how it was to be born in northern Africa at the time of writing. In my essay I will be looking at the difference in writing such a text in his time, versus in our time. More exactly what are some elements of modern history that I would leave out, and what has he left out in his text? Is he leaving details out on purpose or is it just an enthymeme?

If I were to write a book like Confessions, I am sure it would look quite different to what Augustine wrote. For example, he was a person who talked a lot and very openly about his previous sins. This shows extreme maturity from his side and judging from the way autobiographies are written in our modern society. I highly doubt that I could be as honest and self-criticising as Augustine is being. Nevertheless, I would not censor it completely. I am open for writing about my mistakes, when I believe it has something to do with the story being written. At the same time, I would most probably try to show myself from a good side, instead of focusing on the bad. That is therefore something I would leave out intentionally. When writing about my experience of the first week on campus at USD. I would not mention that I wore a face mask every time I had to step out of my apartment. Even though this is true, it has become hard wired in my muscle memory now that I do not even think about it. Unintentionally I would leave it out because I would possibly be writing to my family about how I find campus. They would not find it interesting that I have to wear a mask, but historians in a thousand years might. The same goes with clothes, I would not even think about it. In the future maybe we stop wearing clothes and historians will wonder why I did not specify that I put on clothes. That is what is difficult with reading old books, one starts to picture the author in the modern world.

Augustine on the other hand was not afraid of writing about his sins. He writes a lot about how he regrets sinning in his boyhood, but something that I think he left out unintentionally is what he is happy for doing in his early years. As a Christian he never would have boasted, and it was important for him to stay modest and humble. He probably never even thought of writing about all the good deeds he had done in his youth, if any. Something that I also noticed was missing, was the inclusion of his father. Augustine writes about his mother, who is also a saint, but it almost feels like Augustine is hiding him from the reader. As his father was a pagan it is understandable why Augustine keeps him intentionally out of his book. I find it very fascinating that Augustine mentions his sibling by name, except for his sister. Whose name is still unknown. The reason for his choice of doing he never explains. What can be said though is that it is definitely intentional. Augustine also adds in the book that women are submissive to men. Something that I would have enjoyed reading about is how is childhood home looked more in detail. When reading the book, I cannot seem to picture it because of the lack of detail.

To conclude, I believe that Augustine is not trying to hide any details to make himself look better. Merely it looks like he is more focused on staying on track with his story, and for him it does not make sense to include more details about his family for example. I would also choose to leave out details, regarding the importance of it to the story line. Where we differ is in how honest he is about his sins. He openly criticises himself, much harder than I believe is necessary. I believe that it is important to remember historical context surrounding old books to really understand them.