AUGUSTINUS, AURELIUS, a native of Tag aste, a town of Numidia, was born 15th Nov. 354, and died at Hippo, of which he was bishop, on the 28th of August 430, The writings of this great thinker are very numerous ; they are chiefly devoted to theological and philosophical investigations ; but he wrote also largely in exposition of Scripture. There are extant from his pen, besides three treatises on Genesis and some minor expositions, the fol lowing works, which are more or less exegetical in their character—Quest/ones izz Pentatenchum ; Quest. Evangelicee ; De Consensu Evangeliorum ; Expositio inchoate in Ep. ad Ronzanos ; Expos. quarundem propositionum in E. ad Rom.; Expos. Ep. ad Galatas ; Annotationes uz yobum ; In Evan gel. ,7oannis 7'raetatzzs; L 7oan. Tractatus; Enarratianes in Psalmos. Many of his Sermones are also of an expository character. Augustine was more successful in laying down hermeneutical principles than in applying them. The rules he has given in his tract, De Doctrine Christiana, for the exposition of Scripture, are marked by all the sagacity and comprehensiveness of his mind (see Clausen, Hermeneutik, pp. 162-5 ; Davidson, Her meneutics, p. 133) ; but in the specimens of his expositions which are extant, he has widely de parted from his own canons. He indulges to a
large extent in allegorical interpretations, especially in his treatment of the Old Testament ; the reason of which may be that assigned by Sixtus Senensis ' Cum Hebraici sermonis ignarus esset et in Grmcis literis parum instructus, necesse illi fuit a proprize literati sensu ad extortas allegories discedere' (Bibl., bk. iv. p. 212). Notwithstanding many deficiencies, however, his expositions will ever possess an in terest and a value to the student of Scripture, for they are everywhere imbued with the deep thought fulness and rich experimental earnestness of the author, whilst in many cases one is constrained to feel that the close sympathy between the mind of the expositor and the mind that was breathed into the sacred words, has enabled him to bring out more truly and fully the truths taught than any process of mere philological investigation could have done (see Clausen, Aurel. Augustinus hippo. Sac. Script. Intelres, Havni, 1827). Of his collected works, the best editions are that of the Benedictines, Paris, 1679-1700, S vols. fol.; and that issued at Antwerp in 1700-1703, in 12 vols. fol.—W. L. A.