Key Arguments

• Ponticianus’ unexpected discovery that Augustine is reading Paul leads him to narrate Antony’s life and the monastic movement, which astonishes Augustine as a recent, Catholic manifestation of God’s ‘wonderful acts’: ‘We were amazed as we heard of your wonderful acts very well attested and occurring so recently, almost in our own time, done in orthodox faith and in the Catholic Church.’
• He then recounts how two civil servants, reading the Life of Antony, are moved from curiosity to ‘holy love and sobering shame’ and begin to question the point of their career: ‘Suddenly he was filled with holy love and sobering shame. Angry with himself, he turned his eyes on his friend and said to him: “Tell me, I beg of you, what do we hope to achieve with all our labours? What is our aim in life? What is the motive of our service to the state? Can we hope for any higher office in the palace than to be Friends of the Emperor? And in that position what is not fragile and full of dangers? How many hazards must one risk to attain to a position of even greater danger? And when will we arrive there? Whereas, if I wish to become God’s friend, in an instant I may become that now.”’
• The first reader experiences an inward conversion in God’s sight, marked by inner turmoil, anger at himself, and finally a resolved decision to follow the better way immediately: ‘He read on and experienced a conversion inwardly where you alone could see and, as was soon evident, his mind rid itself of the world. Indeed, as he read and turned over and over in the turbulent hesitations of his heart, there were some moments when he was angry with himself. But then he perceived the choice to be made and took a decision to follow the better course.’
• He declares that he has broken with ambition and will begin to serve God ‘from this hour in this place’, inviting but not requiring his friend’s companionship: ‘He was already yours, and said to his friend: “As for myself, I have broken away from our ambition, and have decided to serve God, and I propose to start doing that from this hour in this place. If it costs you too much to follow my example, do not turn against me.”’
• His friend freely chooses to join him, and together they ‘build their tower’ by forsaking all property, in line with the gospel’s cost‑of‑discipleship teaching: ‘His friend replied that he would join him and be associated with him for such great reward and for so great a service. And both men, already yours, were building their tower at the right cost of forsaking all their property and following you (Luke 14: 28).’
• Ponticianus and his companion, who remain in imperial service, weep for themselves and congratulate the new monks, showing a painful awareness that they are clinging to an inferior path: ‘Ponticianus and his friend, however, did not change from their old career; nevertheless, as he told us, they wept for themselves. They offered their friends devout congratulations, and commended themselves to their prayers. Then, dragging their hearts along the ground, they went off into the palace. The others fixed their hearts on heaven and stayed at the house.’
• The story culminates with the fiancées also dedicating their virginity to God, showing the contagious power of such radical choices: ‘Both had fiancées. When later their fiancées heard this, they also dedicated their virginity to you.’
• Augustine notes that while Ponticianus is speaking, God turns his attention back to himself, indicating that he reads this story as a divine instrument for his own self‑confrontation: ‘This was the story Ponticianus told. But while he was speaking, Lord, you turned my attention back to myself.’

Source Quotes

When he discovered this, he dwelt on the story instilling in us who were ignorant an awareness of the man’s greatness, and expressing astonishment that we did not know of him. We were amazed as we heard of your wonderful acts very well attested and occurring so recently, almost in our own time, done in orthodox faith and in the Catholic Church. All of us were in a state of surprise, we because of the greatness of the story, he because we had not heard about it.

He was amazed and set on fire, and during his reading began to think of taking up this way of life and of leaving his secular post in the civil service to be your servant. For they were agents in the special branch.12 Suddenly he was filled with holy love and sobering shame. Angry with himself, he turned his eyes on his friend and said to him: ‘Tell me, I beg of you, what do we hope to achieve with all our labours?

Angry with himself, he turned his eyes on his friend and said to him: ‘Tell me, I beg of you, what do we hope to achieve with all our labours? What is our aim in life? What is the motive of our service to the state? Can we hope for any higher office in the palace than to be Friends of the Emperor? And in that position what is not fragile and full of dangers? How many hazards must one risk to attain to a position of even greater danger?

And when will we arrive there? Whereas, if I wish to become God’s friend, in an instant I may become that now.’ So he spoke, and in pain at the coming to birth of new life, he returned his eyes to the book’s pages.

But then he perceived the choice to be made and took a decision to follow the better course. He was already yours, and said to his friend: ‘As for myself, I have broken away from our ambition, and have decided to serve God, and I propose to start doing that from this hour in this place. If it costs you too much to follow my example, do not turn against me.’

His friend replied that he would join him and be associated with him for such great reward and for so great a service. And both men, already yours, were building their tower at the right cost of forsaking all their property and following you (Luke 14: 28). Then Ponticianus and his companion who were walking through other parts of the garden in search of them, came to the same place and, on finding them, suggested returning home since the daylight had already begun to fade.

They offered their friends devout congratulations, and commended themselves to their prayers. Then, dragging their hearts along the ground, they went off into the palace. The others fixed their hearts on heaven and stayed at the house. Both had fiancées.

The others fixed their hearts on heaven and stayed at the house. Both had fiancées. When later their fiancées heard this, they also dedicated their virginity to you. vii (16) This was the story Ponticianus told. But while he was speaking, Lord, you turned my attention back to myself.

Key Concepts

• We were amazed as we heard of your wonderful acts very well attested and occurring so recently, almost in our own time, done in orthodox faith and in the Catholic Church.
• Suddenly he was filled with holy love and sobering shame.
• What is our aim in life? What is the motive of our service to the state? Can we hope for any higher office in the palace than to be Friends of the Emperor? And in that position what is not fragile and full of dangers?
• whereas, if I wish to become God’s friend, in an instant I may become that now.
• I have broken away from our ambition, and have decided to serve God, and I propose to start doing that from this hour in this place.
• both men, already yours, were building their tower at the right cost of forsaking all their property and following you (Luke 14: 28).
• Then, dragging their hearts along the ground, they went off into the palace. The others fixed their hearts on heaven and stayed at the house.
• Both had fiancées. When later their fiancées heard this, they also dedicated their virginity to you.

Context

Book VIII, vi–vii (14–16): The visit of Ponticianus and his narration of Antony and the two officials at Trier provide Augustine with a vivid, contemporary example of immediate, total conversion from imperial service to monastic life, intensifying his own sense of shame and calling.