Just Finished Reading: Confessions by Saint Augustine [347pp] 

If you have read as widely as I have (or for as long) you couldn’t help but hear about this classic work – in more sense than one – of early Christian text. Like most other such work I had, until recently, no intention of actually reading it. Surprisingly I did, however, find another foundational text The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius more than a little interesting, though mostly because of the quality of its writing and its philosophy. So, why did I choose to read this? Essentially, I discovered that Stephen (over at Reading Freely) was doing a re-read and thought it might be interesting adding myself to any group doing so (it actually ended up with just the two of us) adding an Atheist perspective to the reviews and, presumed, debate. 

So, what did I think? It all started with an age-old philosophical debate on the question “Who was I before I was born?” Which can be a fun debate before you start adding science and what we understand about reproduction – human or otherwise. No conclusions were reached (no surprise there) because what debate could exist was happening in a factual vacuum. It wasn’t long after that we reached the first significant speed bump when the author said: “For it is better for them to find you [God] and leave the question unanswered than to find the answer without finding you.” This goes against my fundamental beliefs and my suspected problem with the text became a confirmed one. 

The text however was scattered throughout by interesting things. One thing I did find interesting was just how LONG it was before Augustine was baptised despite his mother being a Christian. I had presumed (wrongly?) that baptism took place ASAP after birth to ensure the child’s entry to Heaven if, in all too many cases, s/he died in the first weeks/months of life. [Side note: Although both my brother & I were christened as infants I have a distinct memory of my sister WALKING to her christening in her best outfit]. 

Augustine spent a great deal of time talking about his youth and student experiences in Carthage. It sounded pretty normal to me – hanging out with questionable people, having ‘fun’ at others expense, drinking too much, gaming and chasing women. Although I did think that some of his ‘acting out’ was for the attention maybe his parents (and especially his mother) seemed not to have given him. 

At this point I started skimming bits. The CONSTANT praising of God at the beginning and end of every paragraph or section got increasingly tedious very quickly. Even the occasional good metaphor didn’t really help here. 

One thing did surprise me - already in his late 20’s he had been aware that his understanding of things was inadequate and deeply lamented the idea. Yet... he seems to have made only minimal efforts to seek the truths he was looking for. Despite having access to documents from some of the best thinkers of the age – either owning them already or having access to them through friends – he was ‘too busy’ to read them and then debate others with what he had found. That seems a little odd especially when I have been reading everything I could get my hands on for the last 50+ years in that self-same quest. His supposed motivation didn’t really match his actual effort. 

Probably the highlight of the entire book (for me at least) was when he delved into Astrology in order to disprove it. He actually ran quasi-scientific experiments which, with some more effort, may have actually been valid. His comments of outcomes of a slave and a ‘middle-class’ man born very close together and at approximately the same time being VERY different as well as the lives of twin brothers (from the Bible I think but the concept of Twin Studies stands) made me both nod in approval and laugh out loud. If only he used this level of reasoning elsewhere! 

Near the end of the book things got very philosophical with debates about Memory, Language and much else. As an introduction to Greco-Roman ideas, it might be an interesting source document but wasn’t exactly heavy on content. Yet again the author warned against the danger of being TOO inquisitive and wanting to know things – which was both kind of ironic from such a supposed seeker of Truth and kind of what I expected. This was followed by pretty constant verbal self-flagellation about being unworthy. 

Then we were back to philosophy again with a debate of origins of the Universe. Interestingly the questions mused upon still come up today including what happened BEFORE the Universe came into being. It did catch my eye when he talked about ‘pauses’ or God ‘resting’ between creation events – of course being completely unaware of the HUGE time gaps between the Big Bang, the formation of the Earth and the arrival of humans. Pause just doesn’t do it justice. But as the discussion ranged around the ideas of ‘before’ and ‘after’ there followed a LONG (and pointless) discussion about the nature of time itself. As far as I know, Time can only really be fully discussed (if not completely understood) using mathematics WAY above my paygrade. So, MUCH skimming was done here! 

Lastly there was a rather in-depth series of arguments over semantics in the Bible. Not being an English Lit person, I’ve never (fortunately) undertaken a serious course in textual analysis, so I have no clear idea if the debate in Book XII held any water. So, much skimming etc.. 

As you can probably tell by now (I hope!) I was rather less than impressed by this book. If I hadn’t been buddy-reading with Stephen I most probably would’ve DNF’d it around the halfway mark. Overall, I thought it was very light on content and often only borderline interesting. Skimming bit was definitely a necessity. Apart from the Astrology bit (which honestly made me chuckle) the only thing that stuck with me was the fact that Roman civil servants who converted to Christianity – or at least those mentioned in the book – left public service to pursue their new Religion. This brain drain couldn’t have been a good thing for an already failing Western Empire. I think (not having read it yet) this was one of the factors Gibbon cites in his ‘Decline and Fall’ as a cause of that decline. Maybe he was right? So, definitely not a recommended read from me but might appeal to those less cynical and less atheistic than I am. 

Translated from the Latin by R S Pine-Coffin 

Just Finished Reading: The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius [161pp] 

I’ve had this on my shelves for years – if not over a decade – and thought it was about time I actually read it, especially as I ‘recently’ acquired a companion read (up next) which would make a nice contrast. I think I bought this just prior to my Philosophy degree as it was on the recommended reading list. I ended up choosing an Aristotle related question for my Ancient Philosophy unit, so didn’t ‘need’ to read this so ended up missing it.  

I’d heard of it before (it’s hard to avoid in some circles!) so had some idea of the subject matter and the history of how it came to be written. The author was an early Christian in a position of some power around the end of the Western Roman Empire or shortly after(ish). For a variety of reasons, he ended up annoying other people in power and he ended up in prison where he wrote Consolation. This was essentially a dialogue between the author and the personification of Philosophy about a variety of subjects including why he, as a Good Man, was in prison in the first place. Most of this conversation revolved around ideas of the Good (which was all very Greek, indeed Platonic, in nature) so didn’t float my boat overly much. What I’ve read of Plato (only excerpts so far) hasn’t impressed me much and I’m far more a fanboy of Aristotle. Fortunately, things became more interesting as the author became a bit less self-focused. 

One of the things that did interest me, and made me smile more than once, was the fact that perennial questions, still mentioned today, came up during their conversation – specifically why bad things happen to good people (and why good things happen to bad people!) - and included a very well argued look at Free Will in contrast to God’s omniscience. I have sometimes pondered about the apparent conflict with the idea that if God already knows exactly what we’re going to do in the future how can we possibly have Free Will which HE gave us? I now understand how that particular circle can be squared and it no longer ‘bothers’ me. It’s all about perspective. We, being the limited creatures that we are, live in Linear Time. God, of course, does not and can see Past, Present AND Future simultaneously. Therefore, he can see what we’re doing, see what happens because of that and see the end result. But that doesn’t mean we don’t still have Free Will. I thought about it like this: Imagine you’re reading a non-fiction History book. In it you have people making decisions, and you can see the outcomes of those decisions, maybe even with possible other outcomes (if they’d made different choices) and how things eventually worked out – or not. Did those people have Free Will, even if you KNOW what their future entailed? Of course, they did. Same thing... The debate about the Nature of God kind of went over my head and I honestly skimmed a bit of that, but I did find a brief discussion about the relationship between Providence (AKA God’s Plan) and Fate (the action of said Plan in the world) instructive and interesting.  

Overall, I could see why this work has been so highly praised for so long. Although the God/Christianity aspects didn’t really hold my attention very much, I did manage to clear up a few questions that had been floating in the back of my mind for many years. If you’re interested in how Greek thought especially impacted early Christian philosophy and haven’t read this yet I can certainly recommend it to you.       

Translated from the Latin by Victor Watts  

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Just Finished Reading: Pandora’s Jar – Women in Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes (FP: 2020) [288pp] 

First off, I have to say that this was an excellent ‘companion’ read to my previous book ‘Circe’ by Madeline Miller. It wasn’t exactly planned that way, but I’ll take it. I’d read a non-fiction work by this author previously so knew something of her style. Here though we had a mix of deep knowledge and obvious love of the subject mixed with a fair bit of humour and topped off with a feminist vibe. 

The thing that most jumped out at me throughout this book was the idea that the Myths we know (or think we know) exist in multiple versions. Those that have made it to the modern day have either been cherry-picked from a range of examples or have simply been the one that survived the passage of time down the ages. Other versions, presently lost, are hinted at by ancient authorities but we have nothing more. Those facts alone give me pause for thought when people try to talk about the ‘real’ myth as opposed to other versions with different endings or different outcomes for some characters. Greek myth, I realised or had been prompted to remember, is a very fluid thing. 

Unfortunately, like most people I imagine, my ‘knowledge’ of Greek myths is generally derived from Hollywood movies (along with some random reading over the decades). This means that generally the female characters in these myths are all too often relegated to love interests, helpers (usually quickly disposed of), people to be rescued or all too sexualised villain's and temptresses. Of course, some of this at least is taken straight from the myths themselves where the female characters – created it must be remembered in a time and place that allowed women very little space to become individuals in their own right – were (often but not always) very much sidelined or presented as an example or a danger to the male heroes. But what we would regard today as strong or nuanced female characters did exist in plays of these mythic stories and many of those roles are eagerly sought after by modern actresses (it’s interesting to note that, much like Shakespeare’s time, all stage roles in Classical Greece were played by men). 

I think the first surprise, which handily got me prepared for the rest of this excellent book, was the tale of Pandora. I thought I knew this tale and quickly learnt that I simply didn’t. For a start the ‘box’ was a much later invention and she started out with a jar – as in a Greek style vase. The other thing that really jumped out at me was the fact (if we can talk about facts within myths) was that Pandora was *designed* by the Gods as a living weapon in retribution for Prometeus giving humans fire and therefore, by extension, a comfortable life. Pandora was sent in order to make men miserable again, just as Zeus wanted. She was programmed to open the jar thus releasing all the bad stuff. It wasn’t her fault. THAT puts a whole other gloss on things and changes the whole story. That was just the first chapter! After that we had tales of Jocasta, Helen (lots of weird stuff there including the Helen in Troy being a hologram!), Medusa (very badly treated by all and sundry), The Amazons (more later!), Clytemnestra, Eurydice, Phaedra, Medea (who, of course, everyone loves to hate) and Penelope. Needless to say, not only has my knowledge and appreciation of Greek myth increased by leaps and bounds but I’m also looking at those myths in some interesting and, for me, new ways. If you have any interest or curiosity about the Greek myths – and most especially the place of women in them – this is most definitely the book for you. Told with a fair bit of humour as well as modern cultural references from movies – Clash of the Titans (original), Troy (naturally), Wonder Woman (ditto) - literate reinterpretations and Star Trek I enjoyed this a LOT. It was largely from a feminist perspective which, no doubt will annoy/irritate some readers, but the perspective is a valid one and works well here. Highly recommended and much more to come.  

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Just Finished Reading: Dominion – The Making of the Western Mind by Tom Holland (FP: 2019) [525pp]

I honestly bought this (OK, almost) by accident. I do have a few of his other books in various piles – largely about Ancient Rome – so kind of latched onto the name. I had thought that it was going to be about the development of Enlightenment thinking and how it permeates Western thought but I was wrong. It’s my fault, I freely admit, for not even glancing at the blurb on the back cover until I got home later that day. After reading the blurb I almost took it back to the bookshop and would have asked for a possible refund – but I didn’t.

So, there it was, in danger of collecting dust or turning into coal at the base of a stack of books when I read the previous book of the same name (minus sub-title naturally) and thought that here was an opportunity to get it out of the way. The bonus was, of course, its size as a way to boost my page average towards the target of 350 (still some way to go yet). Anyway – to the book itself…. When I finally read the blurb I found that, rather than being a history of Enlightenment thought, this was a history of Western Christian thought from its inception to the present day. So, not exactly a topic I’m hugely interested in to begin with. After around 50 pages I started occasionally skim reading over early Church history and by 100 pages I was giving thought to simply DNFing it. But I persevered. It did actually get better from the Middle Ages onwards and became readable again so I stopped skimming. I think part of that was the fact that I actually disagreed with a lot of what he was saying – not so much the facts, which I couldn’t really argue with being very much a novice in this area of history, but his implications he was drawing from Christian history. Now, I’d be the first to admit that Atheism wouldn’t exist without Theism. If you have light you’re bound to get shadow and all that. Likewise it’s obvious that Secular society would be meaningless without the idea of Religion. But…. The author’s proposition was that everything in Western culture has a Christian foundation and, therefore, by definition Western culture IS Christian culture. Naturally I disagreed.

The metaphor that immediately sprang to mind – though I’m not exactly sure why – was cooking a bird for Christmas (or Thanksgiving for my American readers). The tough old bird of Western culture has been around for quite a while now and has been slowly simmering under a low light. It has also, for most of the last 2000 years been marinating in a Christian sauce which has, over the last few centuries, been leaking out of a whole in the baking pan until almost all of the sauce has dripped away. Despite the fact that most of the sauce has now disappeared the old bird still tastes of marinade because it’s been basting in it for a long time. But this does not mean that the marinade IS the foundation to the bird. Given another 500 or 1000 years future partakers of the bird might not even be able to discern any flavour of sauce or even detect it with scientific instruments. At that stage is the bird still, fundamentally, a Christian bird?

I am a great believer in antecedents. Christianity did not just ‘pop’ into existence from nowhere. Even the author admits that Greek philosophy had a significant impact on some of the ideas which made it into the final cannon of the Bible. Likewise ideas from Hebrew texts and ideas from further East influenced the thoughts and ideas of the original scribes. So, clearly, the foundations had themselves foundations beneath them and so on – all the way down. Christianity clearly had a significant (even huge) impact on Wester culture due to its pervasiveness and the sheer amount of time it’s been around. But at the same time the idea that our culture is a Christian culture is at the very least debatable if not disputable. Naturally I do not believe that the author made his case here. However, if you do (unlike me!) have an interest in the early Christian church or how Christian ideas affected Western culture that you’ll probably get much more out of this book than I did.

[Side Note: This is only the 7th reviewed book to date published in 2019. So far I have still to review anything published in 2020 or 2021.] 

New High Score (since records began 22nd October 2020)

Average Page Count: 338pp (+2pp)

Just Finished Reading: The Mighty Dead – Why Homer Matters by Adam Nicolson (FP: 2014) [251pp]

This was, as you might expect, an impulse buy. Although I know of (as does just about everyone in the West) the existence of the Illiad and the Odyssey I’ve never read either (although I have of late been dipping into an old – 1950 – translation of the Illiad) and the closest I’ve come to them so far is a few modern interpretations and the epic movie Troy which I honestly enjoyed a great deal. I’d heard that Homer might not be an actual person who wrote these iconic tales of western cannon but that he was, possibly, either a composite of several writers, a generic term for those who told the tales (prior to them finally being written down) or even the name of the first person to translate them from the spoken word to the written text. The author goes over each of these theories and shows on multiple occasions and in multiple ways just how far back in time – literally to the days before History – the tales go, teasing out individual word use, descriptions of weapons and armour and so on to show that the tale existed LONG before the age that finally immortalised it. But that was just the beginning.

I won’t even try to precis this book but will, instead, look at some of the themes the author covered. Naturally both tales are central to the books overall narrative but many questions need to be asked (apart from where they came from and did the Trojan War actually happen for real). When the Illiad is considered the first question that needs to be raised is ‘Which Illiad?’ Not only have there been, over the centuries since it was first written down, many, many translations of varying quality but there are multiple versions of the original text dating back far into antiquity. The Librarian’s at Alexandria tried to produce an ‘authorised’ version but were not wholly successful. Then there’s the question of just how it was possible to remember and ‘sing’ such a long and complex narrative – which naturally leads on to the many quirks and repartitions in the text that allow such a prodigious feat of memory to be achieved.

The thing that jumped out at me most however was not really about the text but about the war itself. Troy was a comparatively minor city – rich as it was – on the edge of an Asian empire. The Greeks, in contrast, were a rabble of squabbling tribes barely out of the Stone Age. Rather than the heroes of the piece, despite thousands of years of propaganda to back their case, they were in fact the bad guys – most literally the barbarians at the gate. That, of course, flips the whole narrative on its head. I wonder if there are books out there telling the siege of Troy as a tragedy from the Trojan point of view?

Coincidentally I have just finished a relatively recent updated narrative about the Trojan War told from the point of view of Patroclus, lover and friend of Achilles. As stated previously I dipped into the 1950 Penguin translation of the Illiad that I’ve had for years/decades and it looks very readable (and is, therefore, probably a rather ‘free’ translation!) so there’s more Homeric texts to come. It almost feels like Fate…. But if you’re a fan of two of the truly great classics of western literature this is definitely the book for you. Starting from an admittedly low base I definitely learnt a lot about the background to the stories and their ongoing importance in the western cannon. Most definitely more to come. Highly recommended.

Awards

Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2014

Just Finished Reading: Confronting the Classics by Mary Beard (FP: 2013)

To date I’ve had precious little contact with the Greek and Roman classics. For one thing such works where not exactly the staple of a working class ‘comprehensive’ education. For another they’ve always had the reputation of being difficult, elitist and, to be honest, irrelevant in the 21st Century. I’ve dabbled with Marcus Aurelius, Cicero and Lucretius but that’s about it (at least cover to cover reading) and dipped into Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics during my last University course but, at least so far, that’s as far as it goes. OK it’s probably a lot more than the average non-Public School person but still it’s pretty pitiful. I have probably another 30-40 such classics scattered around in various piles that I fully intend to pick up at some point. This excellent volume – basically a collection of some of the author’s many reviews – has definitely increased the odds that I’ll actually do this. It will also definitely make me look at what I’ll be reading in new and (hopefully) interesting ways.

One of the many things that made me laugh whilst reading this book (who would have thought that discussions of ancient Greek literature could be laugh out loud funny?) was the idea that the more readable the translation of the Greek original the less accurate it was likely to be – especially regarding Thucydides who apparently didn’t say his much quoted comment about the abuse of power (or at least not in the catchy way it’s remembered and often use – including by me). When I read him – and other Greek authors in future – I’ll keep that in mind.

Of course the surprising thing is that so much of ancient literature survived to be read in the 21st Century. Amusingly the author regards the examples we do have as the classical equivalent of random waste paper baskets from random office buildings. Some Greek poets left behind less than 20 lines of their work. How, she says, are we supposed to understand their work or their lives from such findings? It’s a good question. How much do we really know about this period? Not as much as we think we do it seems!

This was another of those books I picked up in my local (chain) bookstore because it was something different and something that existed on the edges of my knowledge. Reading Aristotle at University impressed me quite a bit with his modern approach – which I now appreciate probably said much more about the translator rather than the man himself – and I look forward to reading him again in the future (despite the fact that his classic books are suspected to be nothing more than lecture notes rather than books intended for publication). I’m also looking forward to reading Julius Cesare’s epic retelling (and propaganda piece) about his conquest of Gaul as well as Xenophon’s tale of his armies retreat across the Persian Empire. So much history, philosophy and politics to take it and so many significant works of literature…. Where to start……? But if you want to get a good flavour of classical literature (and Asterix!) this is a great place to start. Recommended.    

Just Finished Reading: Sensation and Sex by Lucretius



It is instructive, I think, to occasionally read a book written before the Scientific Revolution of the 17th and 18th Centuries. In discovering what people thought of as explanations for natural phenomena and the natural world they occupied in the centuries before the scientific method became the accepted way to discover the reality of things, it becomes abundantly clear why human advance was so painfully slow before that time. Although humans have not increased noticeably in intelligence in the millennia since this book was written it is obvious that the simple speculations outlined in this slim volume were practically useless without a robust method to decide which speculations were reasonable and which were not – through experimentation and accurate verified data gathering. These are the two things that Lucretius desperately needed and had no access to. Therefore speculation rested on unfounded assumption which inevitably gave rise to deeply flawed conclusions. Indeed it is instructive to note that virtually everything Lucretius proposed in this book regarding the mechanisms behind the 5 senses where completely wrong. Without a method of building conclusions on verifiable, repeatable, understandable and rational evidence he was building castles in the air without a single credible foundation.


This is existence without science – basically Lucretius was lost in a world he singularly failed to understand though, rather frighteningly, he was convinced that his assumptions were actually facts both because he was unable to check them and his critics, if any, were unable to challenge him except by producing other equally unfounded speculations. It is no wonder that any technological advance or increase in the basic understanding of the world in that age was glacially slow. Although I cannot recommend this book on any other grounds it is instructive to peek inside the mind of an intelligent, questioning person who does not have an adequate tool set to test his hypotheses about the reasons and forces behind everyday phenomena. Both enlightening in one way and truly frightening in another – lest we forget that forces exist in the world bent on turning the clock back to these ignorant times.

Just Finished Reading: An Attack on an Enemy of Freedom by Cicero



Shortly after the assassination of Julius Caesar the great orator and lawyer Cicero gave a series of speeches in the Roman Senate attacking the political ambitions of Marc Antony. In the two polemics contained in this slim volume Cicero, with surgical precision, eviscerates Antony’s character and undermines his crude attempts to take power in Caesar’s place.


Easy to read and very powerful, these speeches are delightfully acerbic. Dripping with poisoned sarcasm they show just how dangerous a talented public speaker can be to the naked ambition of a lesser man. I probably missed some of the nuanced effect due to my relative ignorance of the events following the demise of Caesar. However, it was hard to miss the unrelenting assault on Antony and I for one would not have liked being on the receiving end of Cicero’s tongue lashing. Not surprisingly after the polemics failed to have the desired effect of denying Marc Antony a position of power, Antony had Cicero assassinated.


This was one of the series of Penguin Great Ideas books which are, generally, very good indeed (if sometimes extracts from much larger works). This is no exception and gives an insight into events taking place at the very beginnings of the Roman Empire. Interesting both from an historical and political point of view.

Just Finished Reading: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

This is the second book in the Penguin Great Ideas series – though the third of that series I’ve read since I’ve also read The Social Contract out of sequence. My plan – which has so far failed miserably – is to read one of these slim volumes each month.

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Stoic philosopher and Emperor of Rome and lived from AD 121 – 180. His collection of thoughts presented in this volume of twelve books covers a variety of topics and are basically his thoughts on how to live a good life. Unfortunately I found this rather hard going – unlike the previous Stoic writings of another Roman philosopher Seneca – because Aurelius seemed to be endlessly repeating himself. He appeared to have these basic ideas which recurred in various guises:

That the use of Reason should be paramount in any decision making process and that one should not give any weight to emotions.

That everything is ruled by Fate and you should just get used to the idea. The trick is to figure out what you are Fated to be and then simply be that person. Fighting your fate is pointless and will only bring you grief. Not recognising your fate is just confusing and will lead you into counterproductive activities.

You are going to die – soon. Anyone you know now will be dead – soon. Everyone who has ever heard of you will be dead – soon. So why bother trying to impress other people or spend your time trying to be famous? Such attempts are fruitless and the time can be spent more productively.

Don’t get too attached to things. People you love will die. Property can be stolen or destroyed. Do not accumulate hostages to Fortune who can be fickle at the best of times.

Don’t worry about the actions or thoughts of your neighbours. Their lives are their problem – not yours. You can try and correct their mistakes but only they can make the decisions to improve their lives.

Harm can only be self-inflicted. A reasoning person with the right attitude towards the universe can never come to harm.

It’s all good basic Stoic philosophy but 100+ pages of that did honestly wear a bit. Some of it makes a great deal of sense. I’m even getting an appreciation of the Stoic idea of Fate, though I do struggle with the idea a great deal. I’m a firm believer in Free Will but now understand, from my other readings, how Free Will and Fate can operate in the same Universe. I still remain far from convinced however.

I expect that I’ll have problems with the next book in the list for different reasons – its Confessions of a Sinner by St Augustine. Wish me luck – I think that I’m going to need it.