Guilty In St. Augustine's 'Confessions'

In Confessions, Saint Augustine confesses, “I was ashamed not to be equally guilty of shameful behaviour when I heard them boasting of their sexual exploits…I used to pretend I had done things I had not done at all, so that my innocence should not lead my companions to scorn my lack of courage” (II. iii (7)). Saint Augustine was embarrassed by not having done anything to brag about to his peers. He told lies, saying he had done things he had not, so that his peers would not think badly of him. He did not want them to believe he lacked in courage or that he was inferior. Saint Augustine’s peers lead him to perform acts that he would not do otherwise. They lead him to lie and to steal. He fabricates stories about performing sinful acts because he feels that he needs to in order to stay in high regard with them. In the grand scheme of …show more content…
His peers also cause him to steal pears from an orchard. They do not steal the pears because they need them, but because they simply want to steal something. Saint Augustine later remarks that he would not have done it had he been alone. It is being with his peers that allows him to go through with such an act. Because he is in the group he is affected by the mob mentality where he is not thinking about his actions as an individual but the actions of the group as a whole. Saint Augustine’s peers are the primary reason for his misbehavior. If he had been surrounded by peers that followed rules and judged one another not on the things they have done wrong but the good things they have done, then he might not have performed as many sinful acts. Saint Augustine would still be motivated to do them by other internal and external factors, but without that one large external factor might not have performed them, or as many of them. He states that he would not