ABSTRACT
The ascent of the soul at Ostia, an account of which we have just read in Excerpt 3, is the greatest moment of spiritual elation in the Confessions. It might be thought of as the ultimate achievement of solitary contemplation of the divine. Yet, as has often been observed, the ascent does not take place in solitude: Augustine shares it with his mother, and it grows likewise out of conversation with his mother. Monnica is not just a witness, she is a full participant in their ecstatic experience.
