The Confessions — Book 1

St. Augustine of Hippo

  1. 0. Greeting
  2. 1. He Proclaims the Greatness of God, Whom He Desires to Seek and Invoke, Being Awakened by Him.
  3. 2. That the God Whom We Invoke is in Us, and We in Him.
  4. 3. Everywhere God Wholly Fills All Things, But Neither Heaven Nor Earth Contains Him.
  5. 4. The Majesty of God is Supreme, and His Virtues Inexplicable.
  6. 5. He Seeks Rest in God, and Pardon of His Sins.
  7. 6. He Describes His Infancy, and Lauds the Protection and Eternal Providence of God.
  8. 7. He Shows by Example that Even Infancy is Prone to Sin.
  9. 8. That When a Boy He Learned to Speak, Not by Any Set Method, But from the Acts and Words of His Parents.
  10. 9. Concerning the Hatred of Learning, the Love of Play, and the Fear of Being Whipped Noticeable in Boys: and of the Folly of Our Elders and Masters.
  11. 10. Through a Love of Ball-Playing and Shows, He Neglects His Studies and the Injunctions of His Parents.
  12. 11. Seized by Disease, His Mother Being Troubled, He Earnestly Demands Baptism, Which on Recovery is Postponed — His Father Not as Yet Believing in Christ.
  13. 12. Being Compelled, He Gave His Attention to Learning; But Fully Acknowledges that This Was the Work of God.
  14. 13. He Delighted in Latin Studies and the Empty Fables of the Poets, But Hated the Elements of Literature and the Greek Language.
  15. 14. Why He Despised Greek Literature, and Easily Learned Latin.
  16. 15. He Entreats God, that Whatever Useful Things He Learned as a Boy May Be Dedicated to Him.
  17. 16. He Disapproves of the Mode of Educating Youth, and He Points Out Why Wickedness is Attributed to the Gods by the Poets.
  18. 17. He Continues on the Unhappy Method of Training Youth in Literary Subjects.
  19. 18. Men Desire to Observe the Rules of Learning, But Neglect the Eternal Rules of Everlasting Safety.

Commencing with the invocation of God, Augustine relates in detail the beginning of his life, his infancy and boyhood, up to his fifteenth year; at which age he acknowledges that he was more inclined to all youthful pleasures and vices than to the study of letters.