The Confessions - Opening

THE THIRTEEN BOOKS

OF THE

CONFESSIONS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE

BOOK ONE

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.

CHAPTER I

HE PROCLAIMS THE GREATNESS OF GOD, WHOM HE DESIRES TO SEEK AND INVOKE, BEING AWAKENED BY HIM

GREAT Art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and of Thy wisdom there is no end.

BASIC WRITINGS OF

SAINT AUGUSTINE

EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY

WHITNEY J. OATES

Ewing Professor of Greek Languages and Literature, Chairman

of the Department of Classics, Chairman of the Special Program

in the Humanities, Princeton University

VOLUME ONE

RANDOM HOUSE Publishers NEW YORK