Confessions I-IV (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Confessions I–IV Ann A. Pang-White Augustine. Confessions I–IV. Latin Edition Edited with Introduction and Commentary by Gillian Clark. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Pp. x + 198. $59.95 cloth; $21.95 paper. Clark’s text and commentary for Confessions I–IV aim to be usable by those who are new to Augustine and unfamiliar with late Latin, late antiquity, Christian theology, and the Scriptures. Therefore, this volume is mainly designed to offer a textbook for classroom use to students and teachers of Latin literature, theology and Church history. In this volume, C. follows the Latin text of CCL and James O’Donnell’s 1992 edition closely. There is no apparatus criticus for the text, since C. believes that there are few textual problems which seriously affect the reader’s interpretation. Nonetheless, when there are textual problems, they are given excellent discussion in the commentary. C. assumes that her readers have Henry Chadwick’s English translation in hand, so there is no facing translation of the Latin text in this volume. The introduction is concise and accessible to students who are unfamiliar with Augustine’s writing style and thought, and this is particularly desirable in an introductory volume. The commentary will be especially helpful to students who are quite competent in Latin and whose major is in Latin literature. It alerts readers to the verbal echoes and allusions in Augustine’s brilliant Latin. Since C. does not discuss in her commentary the grammatical structure of difficult Latin sentences, the commentary will probably be of limited help for students new to Latin. However, compared to O’Donnell’s three volumes, C.’s commentary will be more accessible to such students, since it is simpler and is mainly in English without quoting other Latin texts for purposes of comparison. Students and teachers in philosophy or theology will probably find the commentary somewhat disappointing. It is helpful but not deep enough. For example, though C. emphasizes in her commentary the importance of the theme of the threefold human weakness (1 John 2:16) 1 in the Confessions, e.g., 1.10.16, 2.6.13, etc., C. does not comment on its philosophical significance: for example, explaining how the threefold human weakness in itself is not necessarily sinful, but can be the contributing cause of sins. Her commentary on freedom in 2.6.14 and 4.4.8 has, I believe, similar limitations. The index is wisely divided into two sections: (1) important Latin words and (2) general concepts or proper names in English. For students, such an index is useful in indicating the contrast between Latin terms and their English translation. The general purpose of an index is to provide a handy reference to what can be found in the volume. However, some minor defects may hinder this expected function. First, in C’s index, the references to the text are not complete. For example, under the heading “freedom, dangerous,” instead of listing all the references one can find in Book I–IV of Confessions, C. only lists two of them. [End Page 126] Second, sometimes the reference to the text is incorrect. For example, one reference under the heading “freedom, dangerous” given by C. is 2.6.13. But the reader will not find anything about false freedom there. The text reference should be 2.6.14 which nonetheless is correctly given in the Latin index under the word libertas. Readers will however only find one text reference under libertas, which has an even more incomplete list than the one under the English heading “freedom, dangerous.” Third, the arrangement of the subheadings is at times not comprehensive enough. For example, under the heading of freedom, C. only gives one subheading “dangerous.” Since Augustine makes a distinction between true freedom and false freedom, it would be helpful if the subheading of freedom were enlarged to include “true freedom,” and if the references to this were given, such as 4.4.8. Moreover, for a book designed for classroom use and covering only four book of the Confessions, the price of this volume seems well out of the price range of most students. Despite these minor defects, C...