Augustine, Saint
Saint (354-430), one of the most renowned fathers of the early Christian church. He was a native of Numidia, educated at Carthage and at Rome. In his youth he appears to have been rather a wild young pagan; but on his conversion to Christianity he became one of the pillars of the church. He rose to be bishop of Hippo, now Bona, a seaport of Algeria.
An order of monks, calling themselves hermits of St. Augustine, or Augustinians, formed in north Africa, has since spread to various parts of the world. Luther, it may be remembered, was a monk of St. Augustine. The Augustinians are well represented in Cuba, the Philippines, and in the United States. Augustine left a large body of writings in Latin. They are regarded with respect and have wide influence.
Longfellow acknowledges a suggestion in the following lines:
That of our vices we can frame
A ladder, if we will but tread
Beneath our feet each deed of shame.
As wholly wasted, wholly vain,
If, rising on its wrecks, at last
To something nobler we attain.
Augustus (63 B. C.-14 A. D.), a title of honor given by the Romans to the emperor, Caius Octavius. He was a grandnephew of Julius Caesar, who trained him for public affairs and made him his heir. Upon the assassination of Caesar, Octavius inherited the influence of Caesar's party. With Mark Antony and Lepidus, he formed the famous Second Triumvirate, which resulted, as may be remembered, in the exclusion of Lepidus, the overthrow of Antony and his mistress, Cleopatra, and the final recognition of the leading spirit, Octavius, as the august master of the Roman world.
Next to Julius Caesar, Augustus may be considered the master military genius of Rome. He extended and confirmed the Roman power in every direction, subjugating outlying tribes and subduing revolts. The temple of Janus, the doors of which stood open in time of war, was closed twice during his reign, something unprecedented in the earlier history of Rome. During intervals of peace he did much to found colonies, to reform civil abuses at home, and to improve the appearance of Rome. Of the latter, it is said, "He found it of brick, but left it of marble."
Much as we may dislike many traits in the young man, it is only justice to say that in his mature years he established order, afforded security to various industries, built roads, drained marshes, established a postal system, ordered a census taken, and had the art, moreover, to sink an early life of adroit, unscrupulous selfishness and partisan butchery in a later life of decorous unostentation in which the public good seemed his only desire. Under his rule the empire increased in wealth and population.
Among writers his reign is known as the Augustan Age. In Latin Literature, it corresponds to the Elizabethan Age of England. The great writers of Rome, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Livy belong to this period. During the reign of Augustus, Christ the Lord was born in Bethlehem of Judea, and the wise men of the East came with their treasures to seek him.
