Laugh a minute, Augustine of Hippo, the ancient world’s forerunner of Benny Hill.

A few years ago we were wandering, fairly aimlessly, through the arid countryside of Algeria in our venerable no-mod-cons camper van and found ourselves in Souk Ahras, formerly known as Thagaste. A man stopped his car – an ancient Mercedes saloon they stopped making about fifty years ago – to come over and welcome us to his country – it wasn’t a region that sees many tourists.

In a conversation mainly notable for being one of the rare occasions (unique, maybe?) that my command of the French language, our only means of communication, exceeded that of the other party, he referenced Saint Augustine of Hippo who was born in the town. 

Having some limited knowledge of Philosophy I had heard of Saint Augustine as a devotee of Cicero and I subsequently discovered his interest in philosophy derived from the long lost ‘discussion paper’ Hortensius in which Cicero and others pondered on the best use of one’s leisure time. At the conclusion of the work, Cicero apparently argued that the pursuit of philosophy is the most important endeavour in life. 

I don’t necessarily agree with him, sorry Cicero, but as he wrote this in 45 BC I imagine alternative leisure time options were rather less widely available. 

Saint Augustine became and remains the Patron Saint of Brewers. I came across an extremely pious account inferring this was ‘because of his conversion from a former life of loose living, which included parties, entertainment, and worldly ambitions. His complete turnaround and conversion has been an inspiration to many who struggle with a particular vice or habit they long to break.’ 

Parties, entertainment and worldly ambitions, eh? Who knew they were bad things? 

A quotation attributed to Saint Augustine struck a chord. Here it is: ‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.’ Well said, Augustine. All that loose living must have inspired you.