The story behind "Saint Augustus"

I've been asked at performances about the lyrics to the song "Saint Augustus." When I wrote the lyrics years ago in graduate school I had been fascinated with Ancient Greece and the end of the Roman empire (in the West, not what became the Byzantine Empire) and the beginning of the so-called "Dark Ages" in Europe.



Saint Augustus/Augustine was the Bishop of Hippo (in Western North Africa, one of the regional councils along with Carthage and Rome) in the 5th century who witnessed Rome's collapse and watched the governing bodies wax and wane with astonishing rapidity. A Neoplatonist, he was struck by the corruption and commented, "Without justice, what is sovereignty but organised brigandage?"



The lyrics are written from the viewpoint of those who followed the Bishop and were questioning their place in the calamitous events. The chorus, "Saint Augustus will you help us, will you grant us light?" refers to the Neoplatonic philosophy that evil is not a thing of its own, but rather the absence or lesser good. Thereby the light being "good" and the absence of it are what the followers are experiencing.



I thought "Saint Augustus" had a slightly better ring to it than "Saint Augustine" and a friend of mine at the university suggested that title to me.



So here are the lyrics with the aforementioned background as some explanation. Enjoy!




Honor is a virtue which cannot be replaced
By thought, word or deed
He listens and obeys the creed
Only to go to his own


Saint Augustus, will you help us
Will you grant us life?
Saint Augusts, will you burn us?
Or will you grant us light?


Few men at arms would guard him from those
Whose wounds sting and fester
Exacerbated by his cruelty
Some day they will be at war


Saint Augustus, will you help us
Will you grant us life?
Saint Augusts, will you burn us?
Or will you grant us light?


Children go and journey fast
Look to the first and be not last
You are the forgotten hope
To which we turn in time of need
Don't look back, you may turn to salt
As brightness then would claim your eyes
This old city would be ashes
Unlike a phoenix it will not again rise


Children go and journey fast
Remember our forgotten past
Grow up strong to teach your own
Not to allow corruption of a throne
Don't come back, we may not be here
Destroyed perhaps by our own fear
Go on children and live for glory
And when you can avenge us here