The Library
1774 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
301–400
2 works
386–387
Latin
Soliloquia
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
A dialogue between Augustine and his own reason, written at a country villa in the months between his conversion and his baptism, asking to know God and the soul and nothing more.
c. 390
Latin
De Vera Religione
Augustine of Hippo · 354 – 430
Addressed to the patron who had led him into Manichaeism. Philosophy and religion should never have been separated, Augustine argues; evil is not a thing but a defect in a good thing; and the mind that judges between better and worse is already reaching for a standard above itself.
1001–1100
1 work
c. 1070–1080
Latin
Anselm of Canterbury · 1033–1109
Prayers written for individuals to use alone and slowly, addressed to Christ and the saints with an emotional directness quite unlike the liturgy.
1101–1200
1 work
c. 1125–1136
Latin
Guigo I · 1083–1136
Private notes of extraordinary bleakness and precision on self-deception, on wanting to be thought good, and on the difference between loving God and loving one's feelings about God.
4 of 1774 works