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Was silent reading unusual during Augustine's time?

78 points · 63 comments · ryanscio

  1. dr_dshiv · · focus · HN ↗
    Augustine describes silent reading himself:

    “I returned in haste to the place where Alipius was sitting, for I had left the book of the Apostle there when I stood up. I seized it, opened it, and read in silence the chapter upon which my eyes first fell”

    <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sourcelibrary.org&#x2F;book&#x2F;meditationes-divi-augustini-episcopi-hipponenis-soliloquia-augustinus-2&#x2F;page&#x2F;69bd9c54f105648cca08b8c6" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sourcelibrary.org&#x2F;book&#x2F;meditationes-divi-augustini-e...

    1. dr_dshiv · · focus · HN ↗
      Using the SourceLibrary MCP in Claude, I also found an example going all the way back to Euripides. In this scene, Theseus reads a tablet and the chorus has to ask what it says (because he read it, but not out loud).

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sourcelibrary.org&#x2F;book&#x2F;euripides-i-ion-hippolytus-medea-alcestis-loeb-euripides&#x2F;page&#x2F;69937a18b0a84a5763967427" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sourcelibrary.org&#x2F;book&#x2F;euripides-i-ion-hippolytus-me...

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