Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/87

Rh law. Spartianus s reference to himself as &quot;Diocletian s own &quot; seems to indicate that he was a domestic in the imperial household. They address their patrons with deference, acknowledging their own deficiencies, and seem painfully conscious of the profession of literature having fallen upon evil days.

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 AUGUSTI,, a distinguished German theologian, was born at Eschenberga, near Gotha, in 1772. He was of Jewish descent, his grandfather having been a rabbi who had been converted to the Christian faith. His early education he received partly from Moller, pastor of Gierstadt, who introduced him to the study of Hebrew, and partly at the gymnasium at Gotha. He then proceeded to the university of Jena, and completed his studies there in 1793. In 1798 he obtained a post as privat-docent, or university lecturer on philosophy, and began to turn his attention chiefly to Oriental subjects. In 1800 he was made professor extraordinary of philo sophy, and three years after was appointed to the chair of Oriental languages. In 1808 he received the degree of doctor of theology, and in 1812 accepted a call to the chair of theology at the recently renovated university of Breslau. During the troubled years 1813 and 1814 he acted as lector, and received great praise for his firm and judicious conduct. In 1819 he was transferred to the university of Bonn, and in 1828 ho united with his professorship the office of director of the consistory. He died at Coblentz in 1841. Augusti had little sympathy with the modern philosophical interpretations of dogma, and although he took up a position of free criticism with regard to the Biblical narratives, he yet held fast to the traditional faith. His works on theology (History of Dogma, 1805, and System of Dogmatics, 1809) are simple statements of fact, and do not attempt a speculative treatment of their subjects. In addition to several exegetical works, his most impor tant writings are the DenkwiirdigJceiten aus der Christlichen Archaologie, 12 vols., 1817-31, a partially digested mass of materials, and the Handhuch der Christ. Archaologie, 3 vols., 1836-7, which gives the substance of the larger work in a more compact and systematic form.

 AUGUSTINE, one of the four great fathers of the Latin Church, and admittedly the greatest of the four, more profound than Ambrose, his spiritual father, more original and systematic than Jerome, his contemporary and correspondent, and intellectually far more distinguished than Gregory the Great, the last of the series. The theological position and influence of Augustine may be said to be unrivalled. No single name has ever exercised such power over the Christian church, and no one mind ever made such an impression upon Christian thought. Aurelius Augustinus was born at Tagaste (Tajelt), a town of Numidia, on the 13th of November His father, Patricius, was a burgess of this town, and was still a pagan at the time of his son s birth. His mother, Monica, was not only a Christian, but a woman of the most elevated, tender, and devoted piety, whose patient prayerfulness for both her husband and son (at length crowned with success in both cases), and whose affectionate and beautiful enthu siasm, have passed into a touching type of womanly saintliness for all ages. She early instructed her son in the faith and love of Jesus Christ, and for a time her instruction seems to have impressed his youthful mind. Falling ill he wished to be baptised ; but when the danger was past, the rite was deferred, and, notwithstanding all his mother s admonitions and prayers, he grew up without any profes sion of Christian piety, or any devotion to Christian principles. Inheriting from his father a vehement and sensual disposition, he early gave way to the unbridled impulses of passion, and while still a mere youth, formed a connection, common enough at the time, but at variance with the principles of Christian morality. As the result of the connection he became the father of a son, whom he named Adeodatus in a fit of pious emotion, and to whom he was passionately attached. In the midst of all his youthful pleasures Augustine was an earnest student. His father, observing the early development of his talents, formed the ambition of training him to the brilliant and lucrative career of a rhetorician, and he seems to have spared no expense to equip him for this career. The youth studied not only at his native town, but at Madaura and Carthage, and especially devoted himself to the Latin poets many traces of his love for which are to be found in his writings. His acquaintance with Greek literature was much more limited, and, indeed, it has been doubted whether he could use, in the original, either the Hebrew or Greek Scriptures. Apparently, he was in the habit of using translations of Plato] (Confess., viii. 2), but, on the other hand, Greek words frequently occur in his writings correctly rendered and discriminated; and he speaks in one of his epistles to Marcellinus (LIX. torn. ii. 294) of referring to the Greek Psalter and finding, in reference to certain difficulties, that it agreed with the Vulgate. Clausen, who has particularly investigated the point, sums up the evidence to the effect that Augustine was &quot; fairly instructed in Greek grammar, and a subtle distinguisher of words,&quot; but that beyond this his knowledge was insufficient for a thorough comprehension of Greek books, and especially for those in the Hellenistic dialect. While a student at Carthage he was particularly attracted by the theatre, the spectacles at which were of unusual magnificence. To his enthusiastic and sensuous spirit they were irresistible, and the extent to which he seems to have yielded to the fascination is sufficient proof of his active alienation from Christianity at this period. The Christian church, as it has been said, &quot; abhorred the pagan theatre. The idolatrous rites, the lascivious attitudes, the gladiatorial shows, which were its inseparable accompaniments, were equally opposed to the dogmatic monotheism, to the piety, and to the mercy of the gospel.&quot; One of the most signi ficant signs of a man having become a Christian was his habitual absence from the theatre. No one was more emphatic on this point afterwards than Augustine himself, and as the result of his own experience, he seems to have doubted, apart from the gross immoralities of the pagan stage, whether the indulgence in fictitious joys and woes is a warrantable excitement (Confess., iii. 2). Cicero’s Hortensius, which he read in his nineteenth year, first awakened in Augustine s mind the spirit of specula- 