"De Bono Coniugali" and "De Sancta Virginitate" were written in the same year. These book rebuff the Manichees, who argued that marriage was evil, and the followers of Jovinian, who argued that the married state was as meritorious as that of virginity. The first work analyses why marriage is good, and the second why virginity is a higher good.
These two treatises have been neglected until recently, but lately there has been an outpouring of books and articles on the role of women in the societies of Rome and early Christianity. No new edition of these works has been published since 1900, and there is no contemporary English translation in print. This new translation and edition of the text will be of value both to readers who wish to consult the original Latin, and to those interested in the social history of early Christianity and the intellectual development of Augustine in his early years.
A most welcome edition and translation ... The introduction is clear and straightforward ... The Latin is beautifully printed and the notes, though relatively spare in extent, are informative; the translation is formal but modern.
