During Augustine's time, silent reading was considered unusual, as evidenced by a passage in his Confessions where he describes his mentor, Archbishop Aurelius Ambrosius, reading silently. Augustine notes that Ambrosius's eyes would scan the text while his voice and tongue remained still, and that he would often sit in silence, not wanting to disturb him. This observation implies that silent reading was not the norm in the ancient world, and that reading was often a vocal activity. The fact that Augustine found Ambrosius's silent reading noteworthy suggests that it was an unusual practice, and has implications for our understanding of reading habits in classical antiquity.