Book Five

Bk. 5 is tripartite after a retrospective and prospective prologue; each section corresponds to one of the three great cities in which A. lived. The period covered is from c. 382 to late 384. It begins with A. at a nadir, and ends with his outward situation if anything worse; but the first glimpse of Ambrose is a hint that better things lie ahead.

5.1.1 - 5.2.2

Prologue

5.3.3 - 5.7.13

Faustus (at Carthage)

5.3.3 - 5.5.9

Anticipation

5.6.10 - 5.7.13

Realization

5.8.14 - 5.11.21

Rome

5.8.14 - 5.10.18

Leaving Carthage, illness at Rome

5.10.19 - 5.11.21

Appeal of the Academics

5.12.22 - 5.14.25

Milan

The renewed emphasis on confessio is one sign among several that a hinge in the work's structure has been reached. Where the first four books have carried us through some twenty-eight years, the next five will cover the five years 383-7; the narrative passages become correspondingly more detailed and circumstantial (so G. Misch, followed by Pellegrino, Les Confessions 127).

5.1.1

This paragraph renews the prayer for the gift of licit speech (1.5.5, `miserere ut loquar'), the gift of confession.

accipe . . . similis tibi: Knauer 153, `Die fünf Bücher 5-9 sind also durch Psalmzitate in ihren Prooemien innig miteinander verbunden und sie werden dadurch deutlich gegen den ersten Teil der Konfessionen (1.- 4. Buch) und die vier folgenden Bücher (10-13) abgegrenzt.' This is the most formal preface since Bk. 1; note especially the imperatives (Knauer 73 finds no further imperatives in Bks. 5-7) and the first appearance in the text of confessiones referring to the present work. (Elsewhere only at 5.10.20 before the conversion events at Milan; after that: 9.8.17, 9.13.37, 10.3.3, 10.4.6, 10.34.51, and 3x in Bk. 12.)

accipe sacrificium: Malach. 1.10, `“non est voluntas mea in vobis,” dicit dominus omnipotens, “nec accipiam sacrificium de manibus vestris”'; v. sim. at 8.1.1 and 9.1.1, both picking up the quotation of Ps. 34.10. See J. Ratzinger, REAug 3(1957), 389-391, esp. 391: `dieser Opferbegriff . . . die ganze Rückkehrbewegung der Menschheit zu Gott in sich begreift und keine Trennung von Kult und Leben zulässt.'

sacrificium: civ. 10.5-6, `sacrificium ergo visibile invisibilis sacrificii sacramentum, id est sacrum signum est. . . . (6) proinde verum sacrificium est omne opus quo agitur ut sancta societate inhaereamus deo, relatum scilicet ad illum finem boni quo veraciter beati esse possimus. . . . anima ipsa, cum se refert ad deum, ut igne amoris eius accensa formam concupiscentiae saecularis amittat eique tamquam incommutabili formae subdita reformetur, hinc ei placens, quod ex eius pulchritudine acceperit, fit sacrificium.'

de manu linguae meae: Cf. perhaps Prov. 18.21, `mors et vita in manibus linguae' (Knauer 151 says without evidence that manu is VL, but the half-dozen citations at La Bonnardière Biblia Augustiniana: Proverbes 218-219 all show the plural). Cf. 11.2.2 (`lingua calami'), 11.11.13 (`manus oris mei'). en. Ps. 72.30, `numquid lingua habet manus? sed quid est: “in manibus linguae”? in potestate linguae. quid est: in potestate linguae? “ex ore tuo iustificaberis, et ex ore tuo condemnaberis” [Mt. 12.37]'; sim. at en. Ps. 120.11.

excitasti: 1.1.1, `tu excitas ut laudare te delectat'; here `confiteatur' parallels the `laudare' of 1.1.1; see also 8.4.9, 12.12.15. confessio has the power to excite in turn those who read this text: 10.3.4, `confessiones praeteritorum malorum meorum . . . cum leguntur et audiuntur, excitant cor', as at 11.1.1 (and echoed at retr. 2.6.1).

confiteatur nomini tuo: Ps. 53.8, `voluntarie sacrificabo tibi et confitebor nomini tuo, domine, quoniam bonum est.'

sana omnia ossa mea: Ps. 6.3, `miserere mei, domine, . . . sana me, domine, quoniam turbata sunt ossa mea'; en. Ps. 6.4, `id est firmamentum animae meae, vel fortitudo; hoc enim ossa significant.'

et dicant: Better as ut dicant, suggests Löfstedt, Symb. Osl. 56(1981), 106: `natürlich nicht notwendig, sie empfiehlt sich aber wegen der Konzinnität.' But for A.'s preference for et in conf., see on 1.1.1.

domine, quis similis tibi?: Ps. 34.10, `omnia ossa mea dicent: “domine, quis similis tibi?”' en. Ps. 34. s. 1.13-14, `quis digne de his verbis aliquid dicat? ego puto tantum pronuntianda esse, non exponenda. quid quaeris illud aut illud? . . . (14) o corpus Christi sancta ecclesia, omnia ossa tua dicant: “domine, quis similis tibi?”'

duritia hominum: Rom. 2.5, `secundum autem duritiam tuam et impaenitens cor, thesaurizas tibi iram in die irae.'

et non est qui . . . a calore tuo: Ps. 18.7, `a summo caelo egressio eius, et occursus eius usque ad summum eius, et non est qui se abscondat a calore suo.' Cf. 9.4.8 and 9.7.15, `nos adhuc frigidi a calore spiritus tui'. en. Ps. 18. en. 2.7, `postea vero quam excurrit inde et recurrendo remeavit, misit spiritum suum. visae sunt illis super quos venit linguae divisae velut ignis. sicut ignis venit spiritus sanctus, faenum carnis consumpturus, aurum cocturus et purgaturus; sicut ignis venit, et ideo sequitur, “et non est qui se abscondat a calore eius.”' Sim. at c. litt. Pet. 2.32.74.

te laudet anima mea: Ps. 145.2, `lauda, anima mea, dominum'; cf. 4.10.15 (`laudet te ex illis anima mea, deus, creator omnium').

confiteatur tibi miserationes tuas: Ps. 106.8, `confiteantur domino misericordiae eius, et mirabilia eius filiis hominum.' (For God's mercy as the subject, cf. 4.16.30 and 5.10.20.)

spiritus omnis per os conversum ad te: Ps. 150.7 (last verse of last psalm), `omnis spiritus laudet dominum'; Tob. 3.14, `ad te domine faciem meam converto.' (Cf. just above, 4.16.30, `dorsum enim habebam ad lumen', etc.)

exsurgat: 3.4.7 (reading the Hortensius and echoing the prodigal), `et surgere coeperam ut ad te redirem'.

innitens . . . mirabiliter: Introducing an idea (that God can be known through the senses and the faculty of reason) definitively expressed at Rom. 1.20, itself of great importance in Bk. 7 (see on 7.9.14) and to be cited soon (5.3.5). The avoidance of scriptural language here is striking. vera rel. 24.45, `nam in quem locum quisque ceciderit, ibi debet incumbere ut surgat. ergo ipsis carnalibus formis quibus detinemur nitendum est ad eas cognoscendas quas caro non nuntiat.'

transiens ad te: See on 1.16.25; the verb recurs dealing with the mystic ascent: 9.10.25 (Ostia), 10.7.11, 10.17.26.

qui fecisti haec mirabiliter: Cf. Ps. 71.18, `qui facit mirabilia solus'; Ps. 135.4, `qui facit mirabilia magna solus'; v. sim. at 4.15.24.

refectio: Cf. Ps. 22.2, `super aquam refectionis educavit me'; en. Ps. 22.2, `super aquam baptismi, quo reficiuntur qui integritatem viresque amiserant, educavit me.' Verbs of re-fashioning begin to occur in Bk. 5, a sign that A.'s condition, outward appearances notwithstanding, is improving: 5.1.1 (and notes), `refectio', 5.7.13, `reficientem', 5.3.4, `recreans', 5.10.18, `recreasti'.

vera fortitudo: Cf. `lassitudine', but also `ossa mea' above and en. Ps. quoted there.

5.2.2

inquieti iniqui inquieti iniqui O S Knöll Skut. Ver.:   inquieti et iniqui CDG Maur.
This is the closest A. comes to identifying `inquietude' with wickedness; at 1.1.1 (`inquietum est cor nostrum'), restlessness is an ill whose cause is only implicit (`testimonium peccati sui').

et ecce pulchra sunt: civ. 11.23, `sicut pictura cum colore nigro loco suo posito, ita universitas rerum, si quis possit intueri, etiam cum peccatoribus pulchra est, quamvis per se ipsos consideratos sua deformitas turpet.'

quid nocuerunt tibi: civ. 12.3, `idcirco vitium, quo resistunt deo qui eius appellantur inimici, non est deo sed ipsis malum. . . . nulla quippe mala deo noxia, sed mutabilibus corruptibilibusque naturis.'

quo enim fugerent: Ps. 138.7-8, `quo ibo a spiritu tuo? et quo a facie tua fugiam? (8) si ascendero in caelum, tu ibi es; si descendero in infernum, ades.' See on 2.6.14, `servus fugiens dominum suum'; other close echoes at 4.7.12, 4.9.14. en. Ps. 138.10, `ecce invenis in longinquo fugitivum [cf. Lk. 15 on the prodigal] non latere oculos eius a quo fugit. . . . quo ergo ibit fugitivus iste a facie dei? vertit se hac atque illac, quasi quaerens locum fugae suae.' Cf. Ps. 67.2, `exsurgat deus et dispergantur inimici eius, et fugiant qui oderunt eum a facie eius'; en. Ps. 67.2, `fuga quippe animi, est timor. . . . facies quippe eius appellata est praesentia eius per ecclesiam eius.'

excaecati: Rom. 11.7-11, `ceteri vero excaecati sunt, (8) sicut scriptum est; dedit illis deus spiritum compunctionis, oculos ut non videant, aures ut non audiant, usque in hodiernum diem. . . . (11) dico ergo, numquid sic offenderunt ut caderent? absit, sed illorum delicto salus gentibus ut illos aemulentur.'

quia non deseris aliquid: Cf. Wisd. 11.25, `diligis enim omnia quae sunt, et nihil odisti horum quae fecisti, nec enim odium habens aliquid constituisses.' Taken in support of the esthetic argument at c. Adim. 17.3, div. qu. Simp. 1.2.8, 1.2.18, Io. ev. tr. 110.6. See on 1.10.16, `ordinator et creator rerum omnium naturalium, peccatorum autem tantum ordinator'.

ubique: See on 1.3.3, `ubique totus'.

longe: See on 1.18.28. Ps. 72.27, `ecce qui longe se faciunt a te, peribunt. perdidisti omnem qui fornicatur [see on 1.13.21] abs te'; en. Ps. 72.33, `illi vero longe recesserunt, quia non solum terrena desideraverunt, sed ea a daemonibus et a diabolo petierunt. . . . et quid est, longe a deo fieri? “perdidisti omnem qui fornicatur abs te.”'

proicientium se in te: Cf. 8.11.27 (`continentia' speaks), `proice te in eum, . . . proice te securus, excipiet te et sanabit te.'

vias suas difficiles: Cf. Wisd. 5.7, `lassati sumus in via iniquitatis et perditionis et ambulavimus vias difficiles, viam autem domini ignoravimus.' Cf. 4.12.18, `adhuc ambulare vias difficiles'; see on 3.1.1, `viam sine muscipulis'.

terges lacrimas eorum: Is. 25.8, `et auferet dominus deus lacrimam ab omni facie'; cf. Apoc. 7.17, `et absterget deus omnem lacrimam ex oculis eorum'; Apoc. 21.4, `et absterget deus omnem lacrimam ab oculis eorum'. en. Ps. 127.10, `sed veniet deus tuus, de quo dicitur: “ubi est?” et absterget lacrimas, et ipse pro pane lacrimarum succedet, et te in aeternum saginabit; quia erit nobiscum verbum dei, quo pascuntur angeli.' On tears in conf., see on 3.2.4.

caro et sanguis: See on 4.3.4.

reficis: See on 5.1.1, `refectio et vera fortitudo'.

ubi ergo eram: Cf. 2.2.4, `ubi eram? et quam longe exulabam a deliciis domus tuae anno illo sexto decimo anno aetatis carnis meae'; there, desolation; here, with an answer that offers reassurance.

ego . . . inveniebam: Self-knowledge only in knowledge of God; sol. 2.1.1, `noverim me, noverim te'; 10.27.38, `et ecce intus eras et ego foris et ibi te quaerebam et in ista formosa quae fecisti deformis inruebam.'

5.3.3

proloquar: literally (and perhaps here mainly) `reveal, expound, expose'; but there are numerous passages in A. that use the verb with an overtone of accusation or denunciation, and that sense cannot be ruled out here; see on 1.5.6. Mandouze, Lectio III-V 43, offers the improbable translation `Je vais commencer par parler de cette vingt-neuvième année de mon âge.' (Emphasis his: he aims to defend A. against charge of confusion, because Bk. 5 goes beyond the chronological terminus of 13 Nov. 383, A.'s twenty-ninth birthday).

in conspectu dei mei: The phrase is `confessional' in its evocation of the silent presence of God before which A. speaks; see on 1.16.26.

annum illum undetricensimum: 13 Nov. 382 - 13 Nov. 383. The dating by his age connects this passage to those before and below that mark his progress through the Manichees: at 3.4.7, his age was given as eighteen at the time he fell in with them; at 4.1.1, his nine years with them ran from age eighteen to age twenty-seven; and at 5.6.10, the nine years will be recalled as he reaches the end of his rope on account of Faustus: see there for a fuller treatment of the chronological difficulties.

episcopus: haer. 46.16, `nam ex electis suis habent duodecim quos appellant magistros, et tertium decimum principem ipsorum; episcopos autem septuaginta duos, qui ordinantur a magistris, et presbyteros, qui ordinantur ab episcopis indefiniti. habent etiam episcopi diaconos.' Though A. had been among the Manichees for nine years, he had apparently not met any of the highest ranking members of the sect, neither the magistri nor the episcopi; that may reflect the concentration of the sect's leaders in Italy (see below on Faustus' career), and may further reflect their discretion in not showing themselves indiscriminately even to their own followers at a time of potential persecution.

Faustus nomine: the form of introduction calls attention to the name itself, `Lucky', again marked below (`nominatus'); and repeated at 5.7.13, `ita ille nominatus apparuit'. A. uses the word only once in its ordinary acceptation (and that in a `pagan' sense: ench. 21.79, `secundum vanas doctrinas hominum fausta vel infausta . . . tempora'), and it is rare among Christian writers, apparently out of distaste for its religious overtones, though it does survive in other later Latin (e.g., Amm. 15.8.21, `imperatorem clementem appellam et faustum'). See on 4.4.7 for the way A. chooses which of the names of his past to include in conf. Though presented as `laqueus diaboli', F. marked the beginning of the end of bad times for A.: 5.7.13, `meum [laqueum] quo captus eram relaxare iam coeperat'.

A.'s thumbnail description of his old associate: c. Faust. 1.1, `Faustus quidam fuit gente Afer, civitate Milevitanus, eloquio suavis, ingenio callidus, secta manichaeus ac per hoc nefando errore perversus.' See Mandouze, Pros. chr. s.v. Faustus 2; Faustus on Faustus, quoted at c. Faust. 5.1: `ego patrem dimisi et matrem, uxorem, filios, et cetera quae evangelium iubet; . . . ego aurum argentumque reieci et aes in zonis habere destiti, cotidiano contentus cibo nec de crastino curans nec unde venter impleatur aut corpus operiatur sollicitudinem gerens'. A. rejects this self-description at c. Faust. 5.5, making him sound positively dissolute compared to schismatic ascetic Manichees (the Mattarii) and even in comparison to his own father, whom A. reproaches F. for having abandoned. F. came from Milev,¹ of family origins probably more humble than A.'s. He was older than A., though perhaps only by a few years. He was married and had children when he renounced all to convert to Manicheism. There is no sign that he had been Christian or raised among Christians, but we have no reliable information about his pre-Manichean career (and especially none about his education). That he had become one of their bishops by this date (382) is a sign of his success in the sect; he had spent at least part of his time with the sect at Rome (A. would use Manichean connections there too: 5.10.18). Around 385/6, he was denounced as a Manichee and relegated to exile on a desolate Mediterranean island (A. suggests that the mildness of the punishment was due to intervention by the orthodox: c. Faust. 5.8). He was amnestied not long after, spending perhaps only a year on the island, but while there found time to write the work that A. would refute in detail c. 400 in his own c. Faust., by which time F. was dead.

laqueus diaboli: Cf. 1 Tim. 3.7, `ut non in opprobrium incidat et laqueum diaboli'; 2 Tim. 2.26, `et resipiscant a diaboli laqueis.' See on 3.6.10, and cf. 5.7.13. Knauer 139: `gliedernd heben diese Zitate Anfang und Ende des Abschnittes hervor.'

vasculo sermonis: Words are vasa at 1.16.26 and 5.6.10.

praelocuta: `said beforehand'; cf., e.g., Gn. litt. 4.14.25, `dicam sane quod sentio, haec duo indubitata praeloquens, . . .'

disciplinis liberalibus eruditus: See excursus on 4.16.30 for the high esteem that A. would have accorded such a reputation.

et quoniam: Though A. has suggested that Faustus is about to be introduced, he does not properly appear until 5.6.10, where there are numerous verbal echoes with the introduction to the fifth book to here; instead we now have a detailed discussion of A.'s mental state in the period immediately leading up to the appearance of F. There is a change of atmosphere from the last episode narrated in chronological order in Bk. 4, that of writing the de pulchro et apto: enthusiasm and loquacity have given way to doubts. A year or two have elapsed (at 4.15.27, he says he was 26 or 27 then, now he is 28).

multa philosophorum legeram: See Solignac at BA 13.92-93, resuming his landmark article on A.'s use of the doxographic tradition (RA 1[1958], 113-148): `il est permis de croire que c'est à de telles lectures qu'il est fait allusion dans les deux textes des Confessions,'--i.e., the present text and 5.14.25, `plerosque sensisse philosophos magis magisque considerans atque comparans iudicabam.' The value of Solignac's study is not that it demonstrates a source, but that it reminds us of the penumbra of lost sources and influences, many of them humble, that shaped A.'s mind. Marius Victorinus is assigned a similar background: 8.2.3, `omnium liberalium doctrinarum peritissimus quique philosophorum tam multa legerat'. The multiplicity of philosophical doctrine often underscored (cf. 6.5.7, `pugnacitas calumniosarum quaestionum per tam multa quae legeram inter se confligentium philosophorum') is in willed contrast to the unity and clarity of ecclesiastical doctrine; in a welter of answers, whose abundance confuses, Christianity (as received and as constructed by A.) provides an embracing, and thus explaining, and thus reassuring, unity.

ut possent aestimare saeculum: Wisd. 13.8-9, `iterum autem nec his debet ignosci: (9) si enim tantum potuerunt valere ut possent aestimare saeculum, quomodo eius dominum non facilius invenerunt?' At exp. prop. Rom. 3, this text appears embedded in a discussion of Rom. 1.18-23, which it resembles: for the later text, cf. here 5.3.5. At doctr. chr. 2.21.32-2.22.33, the Wisd. text is quoted against curiositas and astrology; cf. also doctr. chr. 2.29.46 and Gn. litt. 5.16.34 (after quoting Wisd., he adds `qui fundavit terram propinquat mentibus nostris'). See ep. 55.4.6, quoted at length for its report on Manichean astronomical fantasies at 5.3.6 below.

magnus es, domine: Ps. 144.3., 95.4, etc.; see on 1.1.1. Cf. Ps. 137.6, `quoniam magna est gloria domini, quoniam excelsus dominus, et humilia respicit et excelsa a longe cognoscit'; Lk. 18.14, `quoniam qui se exaltat, humilabitur, et qui se humilat, exaltabitur'. s. 351.1, `non ergo mirum si publicanus magis curatus abscessit, quem non puduit ostendere quod dolebat. in rebus quippe visibilibus, ut excelsa quisque contingat, in excelsum erigitur: deus autem cum sit omnium excellentissimus, non elatione, sed humilitate contingitur. unde propheta dicit: “prope est dominus his qui obtriverunt cor” [Ps. 33.19: see on `obtritis corde' below]. et iterum: "excelsus dominus, et humilia respicit, et excelsa a longe cognoscit." excelsa ipsa posuit pro superbis. . . . quisquis itaque paenitentiae recusat humilitatem, deo propinquare non cogitat.' Sim. at en. Ps. 39.20, 137.11, etc.; see Knauer 52-53, and see further passages cited immediately below on Ps. 33.19; and on longe, see on 1.18.28; 9.11.28 (Monnica speaks), `nihil longe est a deo.'

obtritis corde: Ps. 33.19, `iuxta est dominus his qui obtriverunt cor, et humiles spiritu salvos faciet'; en. Ps. 33. s. 2.23, `magna mysteria, fratres. deus super omnia est; erigis te, et non illum tangis; humilas te, et ipse ad te descendit.' Sim. at en. Ps. 31. en. 2.11, 31. en. 2.18, 74.2 (quoting Ps. 137.6), s. 21.2; cf. s. Caill. 2.11.5 (on the return of the prodigal): `ideo dicitur in alio psalmo, “dixi, proloquar adversus me delictum meum domino.” [Ps. 31.5: see above] . . . quam proxima est dei misericordia confitenti! non enim longe est deus a contritis corde; sic enim habes scriptum, “prope est dominus eis qui obtriverunt cor.” iam ergo iste obtriverat cor in regione egestatis [2.10.18]; redierat enim ad cor [4.12.18], ut obtereret cor.'

sidereas plagas: trin. 4 pr. 1, `laudabiliorque est animus cui nota est vel infirmitas sua quam qui, ea non respecta, vias siderum scrutatur . . .' (adduced by M. Jackson, Atti-1986 1.417).

5.3.4

The return to astronomy here recalls the bout with astrology recounted at 4.3.4-5, and anticipates the final return of the subject at 7.6.8-10. A.'s belief that the truth about the stars is intimately tied to the truth about higher and deeper things is, among many other things, a reflection of his long-standing fascination with Cicero. Cic.'s nat. deor., for example, is impregnated with astronomical speculation and lore.

The word et occurs 24 times in this paragraph (though at `et quales se ipsi fecerant' and `et trucidant exaltationes suas' the sense would be improved if we read nec in place of et); see on 1.1.1.

defectus luminarium: Cf. c. Fel. 1.10, `non legitur in evangelio dominum dixisse, “mitto vobis paracletum qui vos doceat de cursu solis et lunae.” christianos enim facere volebat, non mathematicos.' There were three solar eclipses visible in Africa in A.'s early life (359 [probably fairly pronounced in effect], 378, and 381 [the latter two partial eclipses]) that could have been subject for debate (381 is chronologically convenient): L. C. Ferrari, REAug 19(1973), 263-276. The influence eclipses could hold on the popular mind is seen in A.'s contemporary Maximus of Turin, whose Christian flock deprecated a lunar eclipse with clamorous prayer, seeking to defend the moon against the hostile influences of unspecified mag. (Max. Taur. ss. 30-31 [Mutzenbecher]). Ferrari is less convincing, at Augustiana 27(1977), 139-150, reprised in his The Conversions of Saint Augustine (Villanova, 1984), 40, when he suggests that Halley's comet's appearance in March-April 374 might have influenced A.'s conversion to Manicheism; inter alia, we have learned since Ferrari wrote that not every appearance of Halley's comet is memorably vivid. A. noticed that the Hortensius spoke of eclipses as well (civ. 3.15), and believed that eclipse-prediction had begun with Thales of Miletus (civ. 8.2; as far as Greece goes, this is more or less true: see the successful prediction by Thales in 585 BC reported at Herod. 1.74, a feat that some [see B. Frischer, The Sculpted Word (Berkeley, 1981), 17n26] think sealed T.'s reputation as sophos). The Manichean explanation and the achievements of the astronomers received fuller comment at ep. 55.4.6-7, `et qui subtilius ista scrutati sunt, incrementa et decrementa lunaria ex conversione globi eius coniecerunt, non quod aliquid substantiae vel recedat ei cum augetur, vel decedat cum minuitur, quod delira [cf. 5.3.6, `delirans'] imperitia Manichaei opinantes repleri eam dixerunt, sicut repletur navis, ex fugitiva dei parte, quam commixtam principibus tenebrarum et eorum sordibus inquinatam corde atque ore sacrilego . . . loqui non dubitant. hinc ergo impleri lunam dicunt, cum eadem pars dei magnis laboribus ab inquinamento purgata de toto mundo atque ab omnibus cloacis fugiens redditur deo lugenti dum redeat; repleri vero per mensem dimidium et alio dimidio in solem refundi velut in aliam navem. . . . (7) illi autem qui haec certis numeris indagarunt, ita ut defectus solis et lunae non solum cur fierent, sed etiam quando futuri essent, longe ante praedicerent et eos determinatis intervallis temporum canonica supputatione praefigerent litterisque mandarent, quas modo qui legunt atque intellegunt, nihilo minus eos praedicunt'. See also Gn. litt. 1.19.39, trin. 3.2.7, 3.9.19, s. 68.1.2, s. Mai 126.4-5 (using Rom. 1.18-20 to specify the failure of the scientists to see beyond creation to the creator: see below on 5.3.5), ep. 199.10.34, and gr. et pecc. or. 2.23.27.

mirantur haec homines: Cf. 10.8.15 (`et eunt homines mirari alta montium'); the implicit reproach is clear in both cases.

non . . . religiose quaerunt: See on 5.3.5, `non pie quaerunt'.

tu fecisti eos: Cf. Ps. 99.3, `scitote quoniam dominus ipse est deus; ipse fecit nos, et non nos'; see on 9.10.25.

volatilia . . . pisces maris . . . pecora campi: Ps. 8.8-9, `omnia subiecisti sub pedibus eius, oves et boves universas, insuper et pecora campi, (9) volucres caeli, et pisces maris, qui perambulant semitas maris.' The Psalm text evokes from A. one of his fullest expositions of the three temptations of 1 Jn. 2.16 (quoted on 10.30.41): volucres [1], pisces [2], pecora [3]. A similar reading, without the allusion to 1 Jn. 2.16, at Gn. c. man. 1.20.31: `cum enim non reguntur isti motus, erumpunt et pergunt in foedissimas consuetudines, et per diversas perniciosasque delectationes nos rapiunt, et faciunt similes omni generi bestiarum.'

ignis edax consumas: cf. Deut. 4.24, `quia dominus deus tuus ignis consumens est, deus aemulator'; Deut. 9.3, `ignis devorans atque consumens, qui conterat eos et deleat atque disperdat ante faciem tuam velociter'; Heb. 12.29, `etenim deus noster ignis consumens est'; and cf. Aen. 2.758 (of Troy as Aeneas returns to the battle): `ilicet ignis edax summa ad fastigia vento volvitur; exsuperant flammae.'

recreans: Cf. 5.1.1, `refectio'.

5.3.5

non noverunt: Repeated twice below; see on 3.7.12, `non noveram' --the phrase a sign of unknown high doctrine, and at the same time of later `confessional' interpretation.

viam: n.b. `hanc viam' twice below; see on 3.1.1 and 7.7.11: Jn. 14.6, `ego sum via et veritas et vita.'

per quod fecisti ea: Jn. 1.1-3, `in principio erat verbum. . . . (3) omnia per ipsum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum est nihil.'

numerant (4x) . . . numerus . . . numeratus: For `number' as the correlate to the second person of the trinity in the triad mensura/numerus/pondus, see on 5.4.7; recall here 5.3.3, `curiosa peritia numerent'.

et sapientiae tuae non est numerus: Ps. 146.5, `magnus dominus noster [echoed at 5.3.3] et magna virtus eius et sapientiae eius non est numerus'; see on 1.1.1. The echoes through the first paragraphs of Bk. 5 back to the opening of Bk. 1 suggest that there is a new beginning here; cf. also the imperatives in 5.1.1, the naming of Faustus, and the echo of Mt. 7.7 in `non pie quaerunt' below.

factus est nobis sapientia: 1 Cor. 1.30, `in Christo Iesu, qui factus est sapientia nobis a deo, et iustitia et sanctificatio et redemptio'; 1 Cor. 1.24, `Christum dei virtutem et dei sapientiam'.

et solvit tributum Caesari: Mt. 17.24-27 (Vg. modified against en. Ps. 137.16, where the episode is retold), `et cum venissent Capharnaum, accesserunt qui tributum accipiebant ad Petrum et dixerunt, “magister vester non solvit tributum?” (25) ait, “etiam.” et cum intrasset domum, praevenit eum Iesus dicens, “quid tibi videtur, Simon? reges terrae a quibus exigunt tributum? a filiis suis an ab alienis?” (26) cum autem ille dixisset, “ab alienis”, dixit illi Iesus, “ergo liberi sunt filii. (27) sed tamen ne scandalizemus eos, vade, mitte hamum in mare, et qui primus piscis ascenderit, aperi os eius invenies staterem. illum sumens, da illis pro me et te.”' Cf. en. Ps. 118. s. 31.1, `numquid eorum rex milites suos prohibuit impendere et exhibere quae debentur regibus terrae? nonne de hoc sibi calumniam molientibus Iudaeis ait: “reddite Caesari quae Caesaris sunt, et deo quae dei sunt?” nonne tributum de ore piscis etiam ipse persolvit?' The editors (Knöll, Skut., Ver., Pell.) cite instead Mk. 12.17 and/or Mt. 22.21 (`Render unto Caesar') wrongly.

hanc viam: Cf. doctr. chr. 1.11.11, `cum ergo ipsa [sapientia] sit patria, viam se quoque nobis fecit ad patriam.'

excelsos: 5.3.3, `magnus es, domine, et humilia respicis, excelsa autem a longe congnoscis' (cf. Ps. 137.6, `quoniam excelsus dominus, et humilia respicit').

et ecce ruerunt in terram: Is. 14.12-13, `quomodo cecidisti de caelo, Lucifer, qui mane oriebaris? corruisti in terram . . . (13) qui dicebas in corde tuo: “in caelum conscendam, super astra dei exaltabo solium meum.”'

et obscuratum est insipiens cor eorum: Rom. 1.21, `et obscuratum est insipiens cor eorum'; already echoing Is. 44.20, `insipiens cor'; Prov. 12.23, `et cor insipientium provocat stultitiam'; Ps. 13.1 (= Ps. 52.1), `dixit insipiens in corde suo, “non est deus.”' The rest of this paragraph quotes and supplements the text of Rom. 1.21-25, the classic Pauline text on the failings of secular wisdom in the domain of theology. For A.'s text and the passage's role in conf., see on 7.9.14.

veritatem: Jn. 14.6, `ego sum via et veritas et vita' (and cf. just below, `qui veritas es').

non pie quaerunt: Mt. 7.7, `quaerite et invenietis' (see on 1.1.1). At 1.1.1, the implication was that credere must precede quaerere; here that assumption is given an ethical twist by the adverb. The phrase here (with slight variants) is common in A.: explicitly related to curiositas (in a way that illumines A.'s way of thinking of the Manichees as `curious') at div. qu. 68.1, `cum videatur apostolus corripuisse curiosos, dicendo “o homo, tu quis es, qui respondeas deo?” [Rom. 9.20] de hoc ipso illi quaestionem movent, et in ea sententia non desinunt esse curiosi, qua obiurgata est ipsa curiositas: et impii quidem cum contumelia . . . et obiurgasse quaerentes, quia non poterat quod quaerebatur exponere. . . . quidam autem bona et pia mente scripturas legentes quaerunt quid hic possit vel malidicentibus vel calumniantibus responderi' (hence the contrast between curiositas and pietas at s. 265.3.4, `curiositas abscedat, pietas succedat'). `Impious search' is contrasted to `confessio' at lib. arb. 3.2.5, `quia non pie quaerunt velocioresque sunt ad excusationem quam ad confessionem peccatorum suorum.' A heuristic list of other passages (note how many are early and anti-Manichean): quant. an. 14.24, mor. 1.10.17, util. cred. 3.9, Gn. c. man. 1.5.9, 2.2.3 (with Mt. 7.7), c. ep. fund. 23.25 (quoting Mt. 7.7), s. dom. m. 1.4.11, cat. rud. 4.8, c. Faust. 3.2 (with Mt. 7.7 emphasized), 3.5, 3.4, 11.6, 12.25, 12.30, 16.22, ep. 44.5.12, trin. 1.3.5 (`“quaerite faciem eius semper”: et hoc placitum pium atque tutum coram domino deo nostro cum omnibus inierim'), trin. 3 pr. 1, c. adv. leg. 1.13.17 (from a late work, but one with many affinities to A.'s anti-Manichean polemics), s. 261.2.2; cf. c. Adim. 3.4, `sed sanctae scripturae non temerarios et superbos accusatores, sed diligentes et pios lectores desiderant' (implying non pius = superbus). See finally s. 51.5.6, important for its reflections on the scriptural difficulties the Manichees posed for the young Augustine: `loquor vobis, aliquando deceptus, cum primo puer ad divinas scripturas ante vellem afferre acumen discutiendi, quam pietatem quaerendi' (and the next clauses echo Mt. 7.7. closely). See R. D. DiLorenzo, Aug. Stud. 14(1983), 117-128.

perversissima caecitate: 5.2.2, `excaecati'.

5.3.6

ex ipsa creatura: 5.3.5, `multa vera de creatura dicunt'.

occurrebat mihi ratio: sc. in philosophis legendis; the first mention of ratio in this sense in conf. Manicheism had commended itself to him by asking tough questions of a doctrine otherwise given to him by faith: Courcelle, Recherches 65: `Ainsi, le motif fondamental pour lequel Augustin a embrassé le manichéisme, est son appétit rationaliste' --an observation both true and important, not least because it explains how it was to the challenge of rational argument that Manicheism was vulnerable for A. For A. as bishop, what the Manichees had offered was false ratio: he only uses the word here when to record that ratio led him to truth--vera dicta.

Manichaei: Manichaeus is capitalized in this text where it stands for the founder of the sect, but not where it is adjective or substantive for his followers.

delirans: notably elsewhere in conf. of `curious' behavior: 3.6.10 (Manichees), 7.6.8 and 7.6.10 (mathematici); at 1.17.27, `in quibus . . . deliramentis' evokes the frivolities on which A. wasted his talents in his schooldays.

solistitiorum solistitiorum C1 D1 O S Knöll Skut. Ver.:   solstitiorum C2 D2 G Maur.

defectuum defectuum C2 G O S Knöll Skut. Ver.:   defectum C1 D
See on 5.3.4.

in libris saecularis sapientiae: Evidently books he had encountered in pursuing the disciplinae liberales.

non occurrebat . . . erat: Sc. quod credere iuberer as subject of both verbs.

5.4.7

deus veritatis: Ps. 30.6, `redemisti me, domine, deus veritatis'; en. Ps. 30. en. 2 s. 1.11, `faciens quod promisisti, non fallens in pollicitatione tua, deus veritatis.'

beatus autem: See on 1.6.10, `quid ad me'; ench. 5.16, `quando nobis Maronis ille versus placet: “felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas” [geo. 2.490], non nobis videatur ad felicitatem consequendam pertinere si sciamus causas magnarum in mundo corporalium motionum quae abditissimis naturae sinibus occuluntur: “unde tremor terris, qua vi maria alta tumescant obicibus ruptis, rursusque in se ipsa residant” (geo. 2.479-480), et cetera huiusmodi. sed bonarum et malarum rerum causas nosse debemus. . . . nam si causae corporalium motionum noscendae nobis essent, nullas magis nosse quam nostrae valetudinis deberemus. cum vero eis ignoratis medicos quaerimus, quis non videat quod de secretis caeli et terrae nos latet quanta sit patientia nesciendum?' Cf. geo. 2.493, `fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestis.' On this echo, see M. Jackson, Atti-1986 1.413-417.

cognoscens te: Rom. 1.21, `cognoscentes deum non sicut deum glorificaverunt aut gratias egerunt sed evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis.' The echo links back to 5.3.5, forward to 7.9.14, and outward to scripture; `sicut te' for sicut deum (which appear in a few minor MSS and Maur.) makes the words both scriptural and A.'s own.

sicut enim: Answered by `sic fidelis homo' below.

arborem: The example seems random and arbitrary, but Ferrari (REAug 16[1970], 235) sets this in the context of A.'s frequent references to trees in conf.

metitur . . . numerat . . . diligit: The verbs anticipate the trinitarian pattern of mensura, numerus, and pondus below.

fidelis homo: Prov. 17.6 (VL), `fidelis hominis totus mundus divitiarum est' (not in Hebrew or Vg.). Cited and followed (as here) by 2 Cor. 6.10 at c. Adim. 18.1, epp. 153.6.26, 157.32, civ. 20.7, and en. Ps. 143.18 and 48. s. 1.3, `numquid ipse Paulus non habebat divitias? habebat plane. quas divitias? de quibus dicit alio loco scriptura: “fideli homini mundus totus divitiarum est.” audi et ipsum confitentem, quasi nihil habentes et omnia possidentes. qui vult ergo esse dives, non haereat parti, et totum possidebit: illi inhaereat qui totum creavit.' (Verse identified by A. Vaccari, Scritti di erudizione e di filologia 2[Roma, 1958], 13.) On fidelis, see on 2.3.6.

quasi nihil habens omnia possidet: 2 Cor. 6.10, `quasi nihil habentes et omnia possidentes'. Not an excuse for wealth, but an exposition of true wealth: en. Ps. 103. s. 3.16, `prorsus totum mundum dimisit Petrus, et totum mundum Petrus accepit. quasi nihil habentes, et omnia possidentes.'

cui serviunt omnia: Ps. 118.91, `omnia serviunt tibi'.

septentrionum gyros: 10.8.15, `gyros siderum'; cf. en. Ps. 139.13, `in gyrum eant erroris, ubi iter est sine fine. . . . qui in gyrum it, nusquam finit.'

qui omnia in mensura et numero et pondere disposuisti: Wisd. 11.21, `omnia in mensura et numero et pondere disposuisti.' The principal conf. text to be set beside this one is 13.9.10, `pondus meum amor meus', where see further notes. The trinitarian implications of this passage, and the indirect implications for conf. as a whole, are considerable. See La Bonnardière, Biblia Augustiniana: Sagesse 90-98, and W. Beierwaltes, REAug 15(1969), 51-61; earlier, See also W. J. Roche, New Scholasticism 15(1941), 350-376; du Roy, 279-280, 421-424 offers sustained discussion of these passages in a trinitarian context (421: `C'est avant tout le texte scripturaire de Sap. XI,21 qui lui donne occasion d'exposer la structure trinitaire du créé'), noting especially the treatment of modus/species/ordo in nat. b. (quoted on 1.7.12); cf. also BA 49.636: `Mesure, nombre et poids, mode d'être, forme et ordre, définissent ainsi la structure métaphysique de l'ètre créé; ce n'est pas une structure statique, mais bien relationnelle.' The Platonic antecedents are worth tracing (e.g., God as metrion of all things at Laws 716c), but do not seem determinative. Here the traceable influences are scriptural, whatever preconditioning influences of a purely secular, scientific variety (Solignac, RA 1[1958], 137, suggests Nicomachus of Gerasa; cf. also on the monad/dyad at 4.15.24). La Bonnardière Biblia Augustiniana: Sagesse 295-296, lists the verse 31x in A.; only the most notable and instructive are cited here:

1. Adumbration of this triad occurs in A.'s earliest work from Cassiciacum: ord. 2.15.42, `etiam ibi per constantissimas temporum vices, per astrorum ratos definitosque cursus, per intervallorum spatia moderata intellexit nihil aliud quam illam dimensionem [1] numerosque [2] dominari, quae similiter definiendo ac secernendo in ordinem [3] nectens astrologiam genuit, magnum religiosis argumentum tormentumque curiosis.' (du Roy and LaBonnardière omit this passage and begin with Gn. c. man. 1.16.26, quoted below). For the substitution of ordo for pondus, see mus. 6.11.29: `delectatio quippe quasi pondus est animae. delectatio ergo ordinat animam'; from much later, civ. 5.11 equates the two triads explicitly. The same conflation with the other triad at lib. arb. 2.20.54, `omnem quippe rem, ubi mensuram et numerum et ordinem videris, deo artifici tribuere ne cuncteris.' (Perhaps, as du Roy 326-328 argues, this comes from the second phase of composition of lib. arb., hence is later in date than the next quotation.)

2. The pertinence of the conflation is demonstrated by the first clear citation of the verse: Gn. c. man. 1.16.26, `in omnibus tamen cum mensuras et numeros et ordinem vides, artificem quaere. nec alium invenies, nisi ubi summa mensura, summus numerus et summus ordo est, id est deum de quo verissime dictum est, quod “omnia in mensura et numero et pondere disposuisti.”' A further echo at Gn. c. man. 1.21.32, and the two triads dance together at c. Faust. 21.6, where he traces the vestiges of this triad at all levels, from God to human beings to irrational animals, to all corpora; du Roy 422-423 shows how it is at this period (close to that of of conf.) that A. begins strongly to find the qualities of measure, number, and weight by analogy in God himself.

3. A passage in Gn. litt. further links the two triads to the motif of the mind's ascent to God. Gn. litt. 4.3.7-4.4.9, esp. 4.3.8, `magnum est paucisque concessum, excedere omnia quae metiri possunt, ut videatur mensura sine mensura, excedere omnia quae numerari possunt, ut videatur numerus sine numero, excedere omnia quae pendi possunt, ut videatur pondus sine pondere.' Cf. also Gn. litt. 3.16.25, `habent enim omnia, quamdiu sunt, mensuras, numeros, ordines suos; quae cuncta merito considerata laudantur nec sine occulta pro suo genere moderatione pulchritudinis temporalis etiam ex alio in aliud transeundo mutantur. quod si stultos latet, sublucet proficientibus clarumque perfectis est.'

4. In trin., a more abstract paragraph suggests some of the mechanism behind the link to mystical vision in the passage just cited: these triads are invoked to explain the mechanics of vision itself. trin. 11.11.18, `sed quia numerose cogitari possunt quae singillatim sunt impressa memoriae, videtur ad memoriam mensura, ad visionem vero numerus pertinere quia licet innumerabilis sit multiplicitas talium visionum, singulis tamen in memoria praescriptus est intransgressibilis modus. mensura igitur in memoria, in visionibus numerus apparet, sicut in ipsis corporibus visibilibus mensura quaedam est cui numerosissime coaptatur sensus videndi, et ex uno visibili multorum cernentium formatur aspectus, ita ut etiam unus propter duorum oculorum numerum plerumque unam rem geminata specie videat, sicut supra docuimus. . . . voluntas vero quae ista coniungit et ordinat et quadam unitate copulat, nec sentiendi aut cogitandi appetitum nisi in his rebus unde visiones formantur acquiescens conlocat, ponderi similis est.' (This passage closes trin. 11; so measure/number/weight is the pivotal triad to connect the exterior person to the inner. Cf. also trin. 3.9.16, 6.10.12; trin. 11.8.14 equates mensura with modus.)

5. Other texts from later years: Io. ev. tr. 1.13; en. Ps. 146.11 (412). By this time, the application of the text, however, seems nearly restricted to the second person of the trinity (du Roy 424), and the text and the theme gradually lapse, having done their work for A.

5.5.8

The matters in which Mani was contradicted by the scientists were not of the doctrine of faith. But Mani had stuck his neck out; his failure here made it possible to see the error of his whole undertaking. This is an argument perfectly intelligible in a nineteenth-century rationalist on his way out of church forever because the palaeontology he heard there was out of date. To be sure, A. writes as one who has chosen pietas (5.3.5, `non pie quaerunt') over scientia, but that was not the direction in which he was moving at the moment represented here. Academic skepticism lay ahead. The pervading irony of Bk. 5 is that motion in a wrong direction was the beginning of motion in the right direction.

quaerebat: G-M: `used in the sense of “request” with accusative of person and prolative infinitive, is unusual.'

Manichaeum nescio quem: on the patronizing `nescio quis' see on 1.13.20; for Mani, see 5.3.6, `cum dictis Manichaei'.

dixisti: replacing dixit in the original Job (see next note): at trin. 14.1.1, he introduces this quotation by saying, `ubi legitur dei sapientiam dixisse homini'.

ecce pietas est sapientia: Job 28.28 (VL), `dixit autem homini, ecce pietas est sapientia.' trin. 12.14.22, `“ecce pietas est sapientia; abstinere autem a malis scientia est.” in hac differentia intellegendum est ad contemplationem sapientiam, ad actionem scientiam pertinere. pietatem quippe hoc loco posuit dei cultum, quae graece dicitur theosebeia' (the same Gk. equivalent and lengthy discussion at ench. 1.2 and spir. et litt. 11.18 [with explicit link to Eucharistic liturgy]). The discussion draws together the `wisdom' that A. had pursued since adolescence with formal religious cult; see excursus on 4.16.30 for suggestions how this link was made outside Christianity at this time. Cf. 8.1.2, where the same verse occurs in a context where A. has transcended the vanitas of the Manichees but is still liable to the reproach of Rom. 1.21.

vanitas: As a characteristic of Manichean ideas at 4.2.2 (see notes there) and 4.7.12.

devius: 2.10.18, `erravi, deus meus, nimis devius ab stabilitate tua'; devius at least hints at the thoroughgoing notion of Christ as via: see on 7.7.11.

multum locutus: Cf. Prov. 10.19, `ex multiloquio non effugies peccatum'; c. Cresc. 1.1.2, `multiloquium autem est superflua locutio, vitium scilicet loquendi amore contractum. plerumque autem loqui amant, etiam qui nesciunt quid loquantur vel quomodo loquantur'. The Proverbs text recurs in self-reproach in the last paragraph of trin. (15.28.51) and at retr. pr. 2.

spiritum sanctum, consolatorem et ditatorem fidelium tuorum: See on 3.6.10, `paracleti'.

personaliter: Cf. `divinae personae' below.

doctrinam religionis: 4.16.31, `doctrina pietatis'; 5.5.9, `doctrinae pietatis formam'.

tribuere sibi: Cf. 5.3.5, `sibi tribuendo quae tua sunt'.

5.5.9

illum aut illum: = English `so-and-so', as an indefinite expression replacing a proper name; cf. `aliud pro alio'.

domine creator omnium: Cf. Amb. hymn. 1.2.1, often echoed--see on 9.12.32; if the echo is heard here, perhaps it is partly linked by the astronomical context.

situs et habitus: Two of the Aristotelian categories (4.16.28, `aut ubi sit constitutus . . . aut calciatus vel armatus sit'), suggesting knowledge according to the worldly philosophers' way of knowing.

doctrinae pietatis formam: See on 5.5.8.

etiam talis infirmitas: i.e., even pertinacious affirmation of error is bearable where faith and caritas prevail. Mani's real fault is not in his errors of fact, but in the claims he made for himself as purveyor of error.

a caritate matre: caritas is aptly mentioned here, for caritas is the theological virtue most characteristic of the true Holy Spirit whom Mani emulates; see on 13.6.7, where the same phrase, `mater caritas', appears again Spirit-linked.

adsurgat: of `growing up': cf. ord. 1.6.16, `videbam adulescentem . . . in amicum quoque iam mihi surgere atque grandescere'.

novus homo: Eph. 4.24, `et induite novum hominem qui secundum deum creatus est'; en. Ps. 8.10, `sed novus ex vetere nascitur, quoniam spiritalis regeneratio mutatione vitae terrenae atque saecularis inchoatur'.

virum perfectum: The scriptural echo allows a glimpse of eschatological repose: Eph. 4.13-14, `donec occurramus omnes in unitatem fidei, in agnitionem filii dei, in virum perfectum, in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi, (14) ut iam non simus parvuli fluctuantes, et circumferamur omni vento doctrinae in nequitia hominum.' en. Ps. 101. s. 1.2, `Christus et ecclesia utrumque unus, unus quidam vir perfectus in forma plenitudinis suae'; en. Ps. 64.7, `qui autem manent in compage Christi et membra eius sunt, faciunt quodammodo unum virum, de quo dicit apostolus, “donec . . .”'

nondum liquido compereram: These lines lead to the arrival of Faustus, expressing the exact form of the doubts that A. was saving to present to the visiting teacher--resuming the argument about astronomical phenomena from 5.3.4.

5.6.10

Since 4.1.1 A. has portrayed his life as awkwardly divided between his public profession and his private cult. Here the two halves come together. Faustus arrives, and differs from the other Manichees merely by being a little better than others in the skills A. earned his living by selling. For most, this would be enough, but not for A. He was too good at his craft, and at the same time thought little enough of it; it was his disdain for the craft at which he excelled that made him a seeker of sapientia.

per annos ferme ipsos novem: A. says repeatedly that he stayed with the Manichees nine years; there are contradictions in his record, and doubts have been raised whether the break was as sharp at the time of his meeting with Faustus as he would have us believe. `Nine years' explicitly also at 3.11.20, 4.1.1 (`ab undevicensimo anno [372/3] aetatis meae usque ad duodetricensimum [381/2]'; cf. 5.3.3, `proloquar . . . annum illum undetricensimum aetatis' [382/3]), mor. 1.18.34 (`nihil opus erit novem annis quibus me ludificastis'), mor. 2.19.68 (`novem annos totos magna cura et diligentia vos audivi'), and util. cred. 1.2. The interpretation that fits all the evidence is that A.'s association with the Manichees began during 373 at Carthage, and that Faustus came sometime early in the year 383; nine full years he spent as a wholehearted enthusiast before his doubts took command at the time of Faustus's visit. Mandouze, Lectio III-V, 53: `La raison majeure qui a poussé Augustin á la décision de rupture avec le manichéisme n'est point d'ordre religieux. Elle est d'order rationnel, voire scientifique.' To cling to that argument is to ask for trouble here. For all his cerebration, Manicheism was to A. a religious allegiance: even when his head got in trouble over the tenets of the sect, his allegiance was of another sort and there was then no competing religious cause to which to attach himself. When he finally detached himself, it was by accepting the proposition that in default of an adequate religious experience, a philosophical position (extremely unsatisfactory on many counts) must be temporarily elected (he says [5.14.25] that he never planned to remain an Academic), while waiting for another religious certitude to arise. That decision was, however, accompanied by a specific shift of religious position, back to the catholic catechumenate (see on 5.14.25). His religious separation from the Manichees thus dates to his departure from Rome, with growing intellectual alienation going back several years earlier (Pellegrino, Les Confessions 129, implicitly reads this passage as confirming that `les doutes surgi bien tôt' : that goes too far) and coming to a head with the Faustus episode. Hence the truth to Courcelle's surmise (Les Confessions 17-19: but see on 6.11.18 for strong reservations about his handling of the evidence he quotes in support of that surmise) that Manichean `reflexes' continued to jerk his knees in Milan--they are of no account because he never regressed to that cult, but of course when he arrived in Milan, in the middle of his Academic period, they probably loomed larger in his mind. If he had chosen to go back that way, they would appear now as the first steps back: to us they are only stumbles in a dark passage.

audivi: The correct verb for his status as an auditor in the sect.

extento: The verb occurs conf. mainly from Phil. 3.13, `in ea quae sunt ante extentus', of a mystic longing connected to the third person of the trinity through the triad memoria/contuitus/expectatio (n.b. here `expectabam' : see on 12.15.18). See on 9.10.23, `in ea quae ante sunt extenti', and cf. 12.16.23, `extento in eam sursum corde', and 13.13.14. Here the participle modifies desiderium, a lesser form of the love whose supreme form is caritas. Translators vary: Ryan, `intense longing'; BA, `un desir toujours plus tendu'; Pusey, `I had longed but too intensely'; Pine-Coffin, `with the keenest expectation.' Vega takes `extento' closely with `per annos ferme novem ipsos', to suggest that A.'s doubts started early; this is unlikely. The lexica insist on a pedestrian meaning: OLD s.v. 6: `to extend the duration of, prolong, continue'; cf. TLL 5.2.1980: `in longum tempus continuando productus': rare but attested. Hence, `a desire too long prolonged' creating an expectation probably impossible to fill; the same expression of a desire that could be filled because the object was divine at Io. ep. tr. 4.6, `sic deus differendo extendit desiderium, desiderando extendit animum, extendendo facit capacem' (going on to quote Phil. 3.13-14).

hominem gratum et iucundum verbis: The accusation that an opponent is merely facile is a familiar one (from the world of classical rhetoric itself, of course). Cf. nat. et or. an. 2.1.1, describing the work of Vincentius Victor on the origin of the soul: `quibus lectis vidi hominem in sermone quidem non solum usque ad sufficientiam, verum etiam usque ad redundantiam profluentem, sed in rebus de quibus loqui voluit nondum sicut oportet instructum.'

From 391, we have two passages reflecting this encounter with F.: util. cred. 1.2, `diu multumque de imperitorum erroribus latissime ac vehementissime disputabant--quod cuivis mediocriter erudito esse facillimum sero didici'; util. cred. 8.20, `ut enim a vobis trans mare abscessi, iam cunctabundus atque haesitans, quid mihi tenendum, quid dimittendum esset--quae mihi cunctatio in dies maior oboriebatur, ex quo illum hominem, cuius nobis adventus, ut nosti, ad explicanda omnia quae nos movebant quasi de caelo promittebatur, audivi eumque excepta quadam eloquentia talem quales ceteros esse cognovi'.

garrientem: Of fluent but inauthentic speech: see on 7.20.26, and cf. 6.4.5; see also on 1.4.4, `loquaces', and 5.5.8, `multum locutus', for that fault attached specifically to the Manichees.

pretiosorum pretiosorum G S Knöll Skut. Vega Pell.:   pretiosiorum CDO Maur. Ver.
The determining factor is the echo of 1.16.26, `non accuso verba, quasi vasa electa atque pretiosa'. See also here the last line of this paragraph, `verbis sicut vasis urbanis et rusticanis'.

nec ideo vera quia diserta: nat. et or. an. 1.3.3, `habet [Vincentius Victor] enim eloquium, quo possit explicare quae sentit. unde cum illo agendum est eique optandum ut recta sentiat, ne faciat esse delectabilia quae sunt inutilia et quae diserta dixerit vera dixisse videatur.'

boni rerum existimatores: doctr. chr. 1.27.28, `ille autem iuste et sancte vivit, qui rerum integer aestimator est; ipse est autem qui ordinatam [see on 1.7.12] habet dilectionem, ne aut diligat quod non est diligendum, aut non diligat quod diligendum est.'

aliud genus hominum: The description given here fits the Academic skeptics well enough, but they are not introduced as a serious alternative until 5.10.19, after A.'s move to Rome. The present passage may hint that he was already aware of their position before he left Carthage; but describing them without a name leaves them here only a shadowy schematic antithesis to Manichean credulity, setting up two poles between which A.'s own attitude at the time is portrayed as more moderate and sensible--not to say conventional.

docueras docueras C D G Knöll:   docuerat OS Skut. Ver.
That A. had by now been taught this message marks for him real progress over 3.5.9 (see there on `indigna'), where on looking into the truth of scripture he was put off by the absence of comptus atque uber sermo.

et propterea credo: The parentheses were suggested by G-M, who remark that `docueras' requires an object of the thing taught if the sentence is to be punctuated with other editors by a full stop after `claruerit' : `quod tu me docueris' on that reading lacks a reference. With the parentheses, `quod tu me docueris' can anticipate what comes below, `nec eo debere . . .', and `abs te didiceram' marks a new beginning for the thought after the parenthesis.

nec quisquam praeter alius doctor est veri: This is the thesis of mag., as summarized at retr. 1.12, `in quo disputatur et quaeritur et invenitur, magistrum non esse qui docet hominem scientiam nisi deum, secundum illud etiam quod in evangelio scriptum est: “unus est magister vester Christus” [Mt. 23.10].' The idea is congenial for an inveterate autodidact, but there is more to it than that.

iam ergo: Cf. 5.3.3, `[suaviloquentiam] ego iam tametsi laudabam, discernebam tamen a veritate rerum'.

nec eo . . . nec eo . . . rursus nec ideo . . . nec ideo: Cf. 1.18.29, on barbarisms and solecisms.

5.6.11

expectaveram: Cf. 5.6.10, `extento desiderio', and the connections perhaps implied there to the triad memoria/contuitus/expectatio.

vel etiam prae multis: This is how people in Africa would have remembered A.'s relations with Faustus: F. arrives with A. in the lead among those praising him, later in friendly literary relations with him (5.7.13, `coepi cum eo . . . agere vitam'). There was no visible break with Manicheism before A. left Africa, rather the opposite. It was not accidental that A. chose, about the time of writing conf., F.'s own treatise for his largest systematic refutation of Manichean doctrines--his own past contained not only Manicheism, but Manicheism as Faustus presented it, and there were suspicions that A. was not entirely cleansed of the poison. Long years later, Julian of Eclanum threw the association up to A.: c. Iul. imp. 1.25, `Faustus, quem in in libris confessionis tuae praeceptorem tuum loqueris'; also at c. Iul. imp. 1.69.

ferebam: G-M think this = either `ferebam laudibus', or else (quoting Tac. ann. 16.2, `nec aliud per illos dies populus credulitate, prudentes diversa fama tulere') `talked about.' BA: `je le louais et l'exaltais.'

sed moleste habebam: Cf. 6.3.3 (Ambrose reading silently), where A. makes allowances for the preoccupation of the prospective teacher. That contrast assumes a connection between the two events and emphasizes that in this case, though with difficulty, A. does win the ear of Faustus (not entirely privately, but in the company of a few intimates), only to find that F. has no answers for his questions. Though in 5.6.10 the emphasis seemed to be on rhetoric (`decorum eloquium'), what A. says below (`et quia aderat . . .') corrects that impression: F. had no formal rhetorical training, but only a certain amount of native skill and practice (n.b. `inde') beyond the elementary grammatical training. See further on 6.3.3, esp. `coniectabamus'.

(expertus sum) prius: G-M: `The force of the comparative seems to be “before coming to the more difficult questions”.'

expertem liberalium disciplinarum: See excursus on 4.16.30: for A. at the time, this unsophistication on F.'s part would have been itself the explanation for his failure to answer A.'s questions--it may even have prevented A. from giving him a full and fair hearing, as suggested at the beginning of 5.7.12 below.

aliquas tullianas orationes . . . volumina: The list of auctores need not be taken as literally accurate, but gives an impressionistic recollection of the bits of cultural baggage that F. managed to produce.

Senecae: The only prose text of Seneca that A. ever cites or echoes (Hagendahl 245-249) is the de superstitione, which comes to us only in fragments;² it is quoted several times in civ. 6.10-11. `Superstition' was a charge the Manicheans levelled against mainstream Christianity, a charge that apparently had some effect on the young A., and superstitio is a word that came often to A.'s pen (see on 3.6.10). It is at least likely that this would have been one of the few books of Seneca that F. knew, and not unlikely that it was through F. that A. came to know this one isolated Senecan text. (I. Hadot, Aug.-Lex. 1.288 asserts that A. must have known Seneca well, arguing in this curious way: `Das in conf. 5,11 angeführte Beispiel des Faustus zeigt zweierlei: erstens, dass selbst ein nur wenig gebildeter Mann zur Zeit des A. gewöhnlich einige philosophische Abhandlungen Senecas gelesen hatte, und zweitens, dass A. selbst eine gute Kenntnis der Werke Senecas gehabt haben muss. Wie hätte er sonst feststellen können, dass Faustus nur eine sehr geringe Anzahl [“paucissimos . . . libros”] annäischer Schriften gelesen hatte?') Paucissimi for A. corresponds to English `few': at one extreme, cf. en. Ps. 47.9, `unus uel duo uel paucissimi'; at s. 203.1.1, the 12 days from Christmas to Epiphany are paucissimi; at Io. ev. tr. 122.9, `paucissimis verbis interpositis' denotes the omission in quotation of one verse of Matthew, containing 21 words.

recolo: Wijdeveld, REAug 6(1960), 315-316, would put the question mark here, and a comma after `meae'; the BA translation follows him. But to end the question with `recolo' leaves us lacking a second person of address. Courcelle, Recherches 45, takes the passage, as is his custom, literally: `il est vrai qu'il ne paraissait pas fort sûr de l'exactitude de son souvenir.'

arbiter conscientiae meae: ep. 23.3, `conscientiarum arbiter iudicare [coeperit]'.

coram te: Num. 10.9, `et erit recordatio vestra coram domino deo vestro'; cf. Act. 8.21, quoted below on 5.7.12, `etsi non rectum ad te'.

abdito secreto providentiae tuae: 5.7.13, `in abdito providentiae tuae'.

errores: The results of curiositas: see on 4.15.25, `errores et falsae opiniones'.

ante faciem meam: Cf. Ps. 49.21, `arguam te et statuam contra faciem tuam'; en. Ps. 49.28, `quid enim vis latere teipsum? in dorso tuo tibi es, non te vides; facio ut te videas; quod post dorsum posuisti, ante faciem ponam'; s. 142.3.3, `quod nolebat anima videre, ponitur ei ante oculos; et quod post dorsum habere cupiebat, ad faciem illi admovetur.' Cf. 4.16.30, `dorsum enim habebam ad lumen', and 2.3.6, `qui ponunt ad te tergum et non faciem', both interpreted in light of Jer. 2.27, `verterunt ad me tergum et non faciem'; and see 8.7.16, `et constituebas me ante faciem meam, ut viderem quam turpis essem.' en. Ps. 113. s. 1.7, `increpat enim dominus quosdam qui dorsum ad eum posuerunt et non faciem. . . . et sic obliviscatur ea quae retro sunt, ut in ea quae ante sunt extendatur' (Phil. 3.13: see above on 5.6.10, `extento').

5.7.12

earum artium: sc. liberalium: see on 5.6.11; cf. 7.6.9, `falsa, non artis imperitia sed sortis mendacio'.

aperire: The verb of opening books, doors, and mysteries; of books, most notably at 8.12.29, `arripui, aperui et legi in silentio capitulum'; of doors metaphorically at 13.38.53, where the work ends, `a te petatur, in te quaeratur, ad te pulsetur: sic, sic accipietur, sic invenietur, sic aperietur'; of mysteries, 2.10.18, 6.4.6, 6.11.18, 9.7.16.

quorum quidem ignarus: A.'s judgment at the time was that F. wasn't clever enough to answer his questions. A. now sees this was the wrong grounds on which to judge, for lack of cleverness is no sin; it was F.'s Manichean error that put him wrong. His justice to F. here lies in seeing this.

libri . . . eorum: See S. N. C. Lieu, Manichaeism, generally, and for detailed examination of A.'s handling of their doctrines, Decret, Aspects and L'Afrique; P. Alfaric, Les écritures manichéennes (Paris, 1919), is excellent but dated; for the pertinence here, see above on 5.3.4. What works of Mani himself A. knew is a delicate question; the most circumspect survey of A.'s knowledge of Mani scripture is that of Alfaric, L'évolution intellectuelle 217. A. certainly knew the two most celebrated and authoritative texts, the `Fundamental Epistle' (c. ep. fund. 5.6, 25.28; cf. c. Faust. 13.6, 13.18) and the `Treasure' (nat. b. 44, quoting at length from the seventh book). We do not know whether, when A. implies in c. ep. fund. 6.7 that he has read aliae epistulae, that he knows the other texts of the Manichean `Torah'. At the same time A. often spoke with a confidence that implied an extensive knowledge (at least extensive by comparison to that of his one-time coreligionists): mor. 2.12.25, where `non hoc sonant libri manichaei' implies that A. has a broad knowledge of Manichean texts; at c. Sec. 3 he threatens to overwhelm his opponent with footnotes: `innumerabilibus locis de libris Manichaei recitabo . . .'; and at c. Faust. 20.21, he catches Faustus speaking of the umbrae defunctorum: `sunt ergo umbrae defunctorum? numquam hoc in vestris sermonibus audivimus, numquam in litteris legimus; immo contradicere soletis talibus opinionibus'.

mihi eum: indirect object and accusative subject for indirect discourse not resumed until `an certe vel par etiam'.

etiam inde: i.e., from the side of the Manichees.

sarcinam: See on 4.7.12.

loquaces: See on 1.4.4, `quoniam loquaces muti sunt' (and cf. here `et dicentes nihil') and cf. 3.6.10, 7.2.3.

etsi non rectum ad te: Ps. 77.37, `cor autem ipsorum non erat rectum cum eo' (Act. 8.21, `cor enim tuum non est rectum coram deo'); en. Ps. 77.21, `talis ergo erat generatio prava et amaricans, etiam cum deum quaerere videretur, diligens in ore et in lingua mentiens; in corde autem non recta cum deo, ubi ea potius diligebat propter quae dei adiutorium requirebat.' The biblical echo in a concessive clause has the effect of emphasizing the concession.

A. goes as far as he can to praise F., but does not undermine, and indeed strengthens, his judgment that F. was fundamentally in the wrong. This pattern recurs with A.'s judgments on the Platonists; his ability to praise the virtues of his opponents without losing grip on his adverse judgment of them has disconcerted many.

non usquequaque . . . placuit: So here a specific memory: it was the modesty with which F. failed to live up to his advance reputation that endeared him the more to A., even as A. was disappointed with what F. had to say. Here again, evidence that there would have been those in Africa who remembered A.'s growing friendship with the Manichean bishop.

pulchrior est enim . . . cupiebam: A variation on 1.6.10, `gaudeat etiam sic . . .'; and cf. 10.8.15, `et eunt homines mirari alta montium. . ..' The connection here is evidently that it was still the pulchriora of created nature to which A.'s curiosity lead him (see on de pulchro et apto at 4.13.20).

5.7.13

de ceteris eorum doctoribus: i.e., other Manichean teachers besides Faustus; A. might have chosen to go on looking for a guru, but he deemed F. the best chance.

ita: as described in 5.6.10 - 5.7.12.

nominatus: See on 5.3.3, `Faustus nomine'.

agere vitam: Not necessarily `live with' but certainly of a convivial friendship; see on 5.6.11.

legere cum eo: Another Manichean leader (a presbyter, therefore clearly not F., who was a bishop; date unknown) clung to association with A. out of mutual interest in studia liberalia (mor. 2.19.71).

conatus omnis meus: This Micawberish decisive indecision encompasses the last half of Bk. 5, restated at 5.10.18 and at 5.14.25, and evoked in retrospect at 6.10.17 and 6.11.18, then one last time at 8.7.18, where he has notably not achieved his goal, just when Ponticianus leaves and he and Alypius are about to go into the garden. At this time, A. had a clear idea of the sort of thing he expected to turn up; it turned up in the period narrated in Bks. 6 and 7, but what also turned up was the inadequacy of that expectation, and the need to look further, to find what Bk. 8 held for him: the recurrence at 8.7.18 emphasizes that.

The present passage may suggest that A. hoped to become one of the Manichean elect himself; util. cred. 1.2 says that he remained an auditor to preserve his prospects for a worldly career; that is surely a sign that he at least considered, and perhaps even was recruited for, elect status. Did he think that his incontinence prevented him? Is that part of the reason for his resentment of the imperfections of the elect he met in Rome (see on 5.10.18)? Was his break with the Manichees partly caused by growing pressure to present himself for `election'? Was the Milan conversion to continence a renunciation that he had been meditating, but had been unable to make, for years? It is not to be expected that A. would be entirely forthcoming, or even entirely conscious of his own motives, on that score. That the Manichean and Christian alternatives posed themselves in some way equally to A. is implicit at s. 132.1.1, where he speaks of Christian `catechumeni vel audientes'. In both sects through these years he stood as one who heard (a significant passivity for one otherwise so loquacious) but did not participate.

laqueus mortis: Ps. 17.6, `praevenerunt me laquei mortis'; en. Ps. 17.6, `tales autem homines capiunt in perditionem quibus male persuaserunt iactatione iustitiae; cuius non re, sed nomine, adversus gentes gloriantur.' Cf. Prov. 21.6, `qui congregat thesauros lingua mendacii; vanus est et impingetur ad laqueos mortis'; see on 5.3.3, `laqueus diaboli'.

meum: sc. laqueum.

nec volens nec sciens: On the trinitarian pattern, a human being consists of three faculties: esse/nosse/velle (see on 13.11.12); accordingly this passage shows A. out of control, not yet an integrated self, to whom good things happen at the level of esse, undetected at the level of nosse or velle.

manus . . . tuae: in plural of God, only here and 13.17.20, `aridam terram manus tuae formaverunt', where the allegorical interpretation of Gn. reads `arida terra' appositely as (13.17.21) `animas sitientes tibi'. Here `praeter manum tuam reficientem quae fecisti' evokes the context of creation (and redemption).

matris meae: Not mentioned since 4.4.7, upon the death of his friend.

a domino . . . diriguntur: Ps. 36.23, `a domino gressus hominis dirigentur, et viam eius volet'; en. Ps. 36. s. 2.15-16, `ipse homo ut velit viam domini, ab ipso domino diriguntur gressus eius. nam si dominus non dirigeret gressus hominis, tam pravi erant ut semper per prava irent, et semitas curvas sequendo redire non possent. . . . (16) iam cum sequeris viam Christi, non tibi saeculi prosperitates promittas.' At c. Faust. 1.1, A. writes `ut omnes qui haec legent intellegant quam nihil sit acutum ingenium et lingua expolita, nisi a domino gressus hominis dirigantur.' (Cf. Ps. 39.3, quoted on 5.8.14, `gressus', below.)

reficientem: 5.1.1, `quia fecisti haec mirabiliter [cf. `miris modis' here]: et ibi refectio et vera fortitudo'; cf. 5.3.4, `recreans'.

5.8.14

The departure from Carthage and the arrival at Rome are really one episode, linked by the constant reference to Monnica's hopes and prayers, even when A. is at Rome and she in Africa. The time at Rome was important: Mandouze 107n6, `Tout compte fait--et contrairement à ce que donnent à penser la plupart des biographes d'Augustin--l'année romaine fut, bien plus que ne devait l'être le séjour Milanais, le moment des contradictions et des incertitudes les plus grandes: c'est cependant à Rome que tous les éléments de la décision ultérieure devaient être rassemblés.'

egisti: 5.7.13, `egisti mecum miris modis . . . tu illud egisti, deus meus, nam a domino gressus hominis diriguntur.' We move accordingly in a circle from Ps. 36.23 echoed at the end of 5.7.13, back to the same echo (plus Ps. 39.3) at the end of this paragraph, showing God's merciful direction of A.'s `steps' towards, at one and the same time, the falsa felicitas (see the end of this paragraph) he thought he was finding and the terra viventium (see also below) that he did find.

Romam pergere: Probably in 383, within a few months of the meeting with Faustus (see on 5.6.10); to date the journey to 384 would leave a narrow window of time in which A. would make the trip in the spring (after the sailing season began), languished and recovered from his illness at Rome, made his impression on Symmachus, and journeyed again to Milan--all while leaving at least some time to acquire his impressions of teaching conditions at Rome.

altissimi . . . praesentissima: 6.3.4, `altissime et proxime, secretissime et praesentissime' (cf. 1.4.4, `secretissime et praesentissime'); also vocative at 1.7.12, 3.8.16, and 6.12.22.

recessus: nominative; on substance more likely plural (so Ryan, BA, e.g.), on grammar more likely singular (used of memory in singular at 10.8.13, in plural at 10.40.65); A. is indifferent.

misericordia: This section of Bk. 5 is marked by hints of divine mercy taking--at last--a hand: cf. 5.8.15, `misericorditer', 5.9.16, `miserebaris', 5.9.17, `deus misericordiarum, . . . quoniam in saeculum misericordia tua'.

non ideo: See on 4.7.12 for the evidence that as late as 386 he recalled and admitted that the departure from Thagaste to Carthage in 376 (thus seven years earlier than the move to Rome) was motivated by ambitio saeculi; the present passage provides an argument from silence to confirm that reading--only here does he feel he can deny the obvious imputation. Here he is beyond the reach of the three temptations; apathy has set in. He is not redeemed, but no longer driven to sin; he suffers the punishment for his sins by going on sinning; and he waits for something to turn up. In the midst of what he now sees as foul sinfulness, it was a moral fastidiousness that made him move: a vestigium of divine order, surely, but surely a faint one. The lingering force of the third of the great temptations is left to a concessive clause: `quamquam et ista ducebant animum tunc meum'. The unnamed `friends' are akin to those mentioned in 4.1.1, 4.8.13, 4.13.20; `friends' recur in another vein in Bk. 6, where from 6.7.11 they are a sign of common progress towards the light.³

quietius . . . ordinatiore: see on 13.9.10, `minus ordinata inquieta sunt; ordinantur et quiescunt'.

apud Carthaginem: See on 3.3.6, `eversionibus', where he confirms what he says here (`meos esse nolui'), that he had not been among their number.

verum autem tu: So far in this paragraph, Augustine's will in this matter; from here on, God's will.

spes mea et portio mea in terra viventium: Ps. 141.6, `tu es spes mea, portio mea in terra viventium'. Knauer 38 reports that the verse occurs 19 times in A. (based on the Beuron files), though infrequent before conf. (6x), and comparatively rare in writings of other patres. This `terra' is not that of those who die, but indicates (s. dom. m. 1.2.4) `quandam soliditatem et stabilitatem hereditatis perpetuae'. `Denn [Knauer, 39] dort ist das künftige Leben, hier nur die Hoffnung.' Most often the verse is adduced to illustrate terra in some other biblical passage, so the weight is on terra not spes. Here it is invoked as A. pursues his hopes from one land to another. en. Ps. 5.1, `titulus . . . est: “pro ea quae hereditatem accipit.” . . . “beati mites, quia ipsi hereditate possidebunt terram.” [Mt. 5.4] quam terram, nisi de qua dicitur, spes mea es tu, portio mea in terra viventium.' See Knauer 38 on the artistry and balance of these lines.

pro salute animae meae: Ps. 34.3, `dic animae meae, salus tua ego sum'; see on 1.5.5.

vitam mortuam: Courcelle, Les Confessions 485n1, suggests two Augustinian passages and a Hermetic source, none of which seem exactly apt: 10.17.26 `in homine vivente mortaliter' (not exactly the same), civ. 20.8, `succedunt nascendo morientibus', and the Hermetica, tract 7.2 (ed. Nock-Festugière 1.81), ton zônta thanaton. More pertinent is the contrast with `terra viventium', and see on `terram sapiebant' below. Petilian uses the phrase in an intriguingly apt way (c. litt. Pet. 2.7.14, `qui sic vivit ut reus sit, vita mortua cruciatur'); cf. s. Lambot 6, `quo ipsa vita mortua est', but there vita = Christ and the context is different.

hinc insana facientes, inde vana pollicentes: Cf. 5.10.18, `falsis illis atque fallentibus sanctis [manichaeorum]'; the `homines' just above are thus his Manichean friends.

gressus: See on 5.7.13. Ps. 39.3, `et statuit supra petram pedes meos et direxit gressus meos'; en. Ps. 39.3, `opus est tamen adhuc ut ambulemus, ut ad aliquid perveniamus.' (There he goes on to quote Phil. 3.13-14 --see on 5.6.10, `extento').

terram sapiebant: Phil. 3.18-19, `inimicos crucis Christi, (19) quorum finis interitus, quorum deus venter, et gloria in confusione eorum qui terrena sapiunt.' Most apt of Manichees, for whom the crucifixion was a phantasm (5.9.16, `in cruce phantasmatis'), and for whom the bellies of the elect were the manufactory of God; cf. above, `terra', and the Ps.-text.

falsam felicitatem: For A.'s suspicion of all `felicitas', see above on 5.4.7.

5.8.15

A. came to Carthage in 3.1.1, there to find concupiscent love; here he leaves, not with a purpose of abandoning concupiscent love, but with that unintended effect. Monnica, like Dido, becomes herself the derelict lover, victim of her own inordinate attachment, but the physical circumstances reveal a decisive change--Aeneas leaves Dido to die on her own pyre, A. leaves Monnica to pray at a tomb where the power of redemption is specially present. A.'s departure, like that of Aeneas, is guided by divine authority, but here the guidance is unheard and invisible. C. Bennett, REAug 34(1988), 61: `Any reflections on this scene should be tempered by recognizing how deliberate a literary reference this is--and how deliberate a literary reenactment it was at the time. . . . Augustine's allusions to the Aeneid, he