Augustine stands in a long line of western Christian exegetes. Most especially he is clearly inspired by the work of Cyprian in North Africa, Hilary in Gaul, Ambrosiaster and Ambrose in Italy and Jerome in the Holy Land. Augustine's education had been a predominantly literary one: a training in the liberal arts which was founded upon the ability to read, correct, expound and judge a text. Augustine would have become more familiar with Ambrose's exegesis, and also with some of the salient texts of scripture, during Lent 387, while he was being instructed by Ambrose as a catechumen preparing for baptism that Easter. Paul was a figure and thinker who attracted the attention of most of the western fathers in the fourth century. Augustine's engagement with Paul had profound and far-reaching repercussions on his life and thought. The importance of delight and love is central to Augustine's theology of grace.