Comments on: Quote: on the evolution of reading

By: Felix

Felix — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:05:35 +0000

"But while reading, his eyes glanced over the pages, and his heart searched out the sense, but his voice and tongue were silent".

St Augustine, Confessions, Book 6, chapter 3

BTW, Ambrose was a senior public official and later became a bishop. He was a popular speaker and exercised considerable authority in Italy.

“According to a fifth-century mosaic, Ambrose was a small, cleverlooking man with big ears and a neat black beard ...”

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:07:00 +0000

Interesting, thanks. Do you have a source I could take a gander at?

By: Felix

Felix — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:13:49 +0000

Actually, it was St Ambrose (4th century) who surprised St Augustine by reading silently. Not St Thomas Aquinas (13th century).

And the 4th century is not "the middle-ages". Nor does educated usage refer to "St Aquinas".

And, while St Augustine was intrigued/surprised/amazed, he was not so credulous that he saw this "as a miracle".

That sort of credulity is more often found in 21st century scholars who comment on scholars from earlier eras.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:16:54 +0000

Thanks! Yeah the Edge yearly question is great– I just bookmark where I'm at and read a few whenever I'm in the mood for some stimulation. Which reminds me I'd better finish 2009 soon…

By: Karl Hiner

Karl Hiner — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:08:23 +0000

That is so interesting. I've never heard about that before. Thanks for the Edge link too – I didn't know about their annual question thing. The list of contributors is basically a list of my biggest heroes.