Book Six

A. at Milan in 385. The central section of the book takes the focus away from A. for the first time, to recount the early life of Alypius; cf. 9.8.17-9.9.22 for sim. treatment of Monnica: the two `digressions', each a conversion story in its own right, bracket A.'s central conversion story--in all three cases an admonitory word (see Brown 32) is decisive in effect.

The first section recounts doctrinal progress under the tutelage of Ambrose (with a reminder of the moral distance that remained to go), while the last section describes in detail the difficult personal choices that remained. The plans for the future that preoccupy A. now show the vanity of such undertakings and the underlying failure of his ambition. In this regard, measured against the three temptations, the book represents undiluted, though often painful, progress.

6.1.1 - 6.6.10
  • A. (and Monnica) at Milan
    • 6.1.1 - 6.3.4
  • Encounters with Ambrose
    • 6.4.5 - 6.5.8
  • Doctrinal lessons
    • 6.6.9
  • A beggar in the street
    • 6.6.10 - 6.10.17
  • Friends (esp. Alypius, but also Nebridius)
    • 6.11.18 - 6.16.26
  • Perplexities
    • 6.11.18 - 6.11.20
  • State of mind: interior monologue
    • 6.12.21 - 6.13.23
  • Marriage plans
    • 6.14.24
  • Philosophical plans
    • 6.15.25
  • Dismissal of A.'s concubine
    • 6.16.26
  • Dismay

    • text of 6.1.1

    6.1.1

    The density of scriptural allusion here is a mark that an important stage has been reached.

    We seem to have reached spring 385, after the seas opened again to allow Monnica to take ship (BA 13.141n, arguing that his change of view regarding scripture must be dated to 385, leaving winter and spring 386 for reflection). Thus Courcelle, Recherches 86-87, marks these pages for the first weeks of June 385. Courcelle, Les Confessions 65: `Les sermons d'Ambroise ont pour effet provisoire de mettre Augustin en un péril plus grand, du point de vue de la foi chrétienne, qu'au temps ou il était manichéen.' In other words, they plunged him headlong (`précipité trop avidement') into the Platonists and the Christology of Porphyry. C. errs here chiefly because he takes the last lines of this paragraph too literally; he misreads the calendar besides, for A. clearly imbibed the Ambrosian view of scripture before he ever went near the platonicorum libri.

    Who came with Monnica? At least Navigius and probably Lartidianus and Rusticus. What about Nebridius? Trygetius? Licentius? If A. made a brilliant career, there would be lagniappe for the others. See M. G. Mara, Lectio VI-IX, 76; C. Lepelley, Bull. litt. eccl. 88(1987), 243, speaks of `une manière de roman balzacien avant la lettre . . . la suite logique d'une stratégie familiale élaborée de longue date,' from the time when Patricius and Monnica began to promote A.'s education and prospects in the great world. In A.'s rise, they would profit all.

    spes mea a iuventute mea: Ps. 70.5, `quoniam tu es patientia mea, domine, domine, spes mea a iuventute mea, in te confirmatus sum ex utero de ventre matris meae tu es protector meus'; en. Ps. 70. s. 1.7, `ante enim non in te sperabam; quamvis tu fueris protector meus, qui me salvum perduxisti ad tempus quo in te discerem sperare.' A. was about to cross (aged thirty) one of the boundaries, which he marked carefully, between the six ages of mortal life (see on 1.8.13): 7.1.1, `ibam in iuventutem'.

    Knauer 41, `und daher scheint es, als habe Augustin durch den Teil des Psalmverses, der die ersten Worte des 6. Buches bildet, sofort angeben wollen, in welchem Zustand er sich befand: er wartet auf das “certum”' : K. observes the frequency of spes and its derivatives in Bk. 6 (it has a similar role in Bks. 10 and 13). Besides this paragraph, cf. 6.3.3, 6.6.10, 6.7.11, 6.7.12, 6.11.18, 6.11.19, 6.16.26, and per contra 6.15.25, `desperatius dolebat'. Cf. on 5.13.23, on despair in Bk. 5.

    et quo recesseras: Cf. Ps. 9.22, `utquid, domine, recessisti longe? despicis in opportunitatibus, in tribulationibus'; en. Ps. 9.20, `id est, opportune despicis, et facis tribulationes ad inflammandos animos desiderio adventus tui. his enim iucundior est fons ille vitae, qui multum sitierint.'

    an vero: On et (8x in succession here), see on 1.1.1. For the citation, see on 10.17.26: Job 35.11 (VL), `ubi est deus qui fecit me? qui distribuit custodias nocturnas, qui separat me a quadrupedibus terrae, et a volatilibus caeli sapientiorem me fecit'; adn. Iob on 35.11, `“qui separat me a quadrupedibus terrae et a volatilibus caeli sapientiorem me fecit.” sic enim quaerendus est dominus in adflictionibus vitae huius, ut non ab eo terrena bona desideremus, quia iam bestiis meliores sumus antequam illa accipiamus.' See L. Verheijen, Augustinianum 17(1977), 541-544. But cf. also 5.3.4, `volatilia . . . pisces . . . pecora', and the echo discussed there of Ps. 8.8. If the three temptations are in mind here, the beasts of earth and the birds of air represent concupiscentia carnis and ambitio saeculi respectively.

    a volatilibus a volatilibus C D O Ver.:   volatilibus GS Knöll Skut.

    et ambulabam per tenebras: Is. 50.10, `qui ambulavit in tenebris et non est lumen ei, speret in nomine domini'; Ps. 34.6, `fiat tamquam pulvis ante faciem venti, et angelus domini tribulans eos; fiat via eorum tenebrae et lubricum'; en. Ps. 34.9, `sunt ista duo mala magnae poenae hominum: tenebrae, ignorantia; lubricum, luxuria.'

    foris: See on 1.18.28, and cf. esp. 10.27.38, `et ecce intus eras et ego foris et ibi te quaerebam'. vera rel. 39.72, `noli foras ire, in te ipsum redi. in interiore homine habitat veritas.'

    deum cordis mei: Ps. 72.26, `deus cordis mei, pars mea deus meus'; civ. 10.25, `non subiecit, deus cordis et carnis meae, sed deus cordis mei. per cor quippe caro mundatur. unde dicit dominus, “mundate, quae intus sunt, et quae foris sunt munda erunt.” [Mt. 23.26]' See also 4.2.3, 9.13.35

    et veneram in profundum maris: Cf. Ps. 67.23, `convertam in profundum maris'; en. Ps. 67.31, `sed ibi convertit eos qui in profundo huius saeculi iacent demersi pondere peccatorum'. Metaphor becomes reality with the narrative of M.'s voyage, then returns as metaphor. M. appears comforting mariners, but it is A. who is lost at sea (`et invenit me periclitantem . . . graviter').

    desperabam de inventione veri: A standard way of describing his predicament at the time; cf. ep. 1.3 (to Hermogenianus, in the winter of 386/7, commenting on A.'s own c. acad.), `non tam me delectat, ut scribis, quod academicos vicerim--scribis enim hoc amantius forte quam verius--quam quod mihi abruperim odiosissimum retinaculum quo a philosophiae ubere desperatione veri, quod est animi pabulum, refrenabar.'

    terra marique me sequens: Aen. 9.492 (the mother of Euryalus speaks: see also on 5.8.15), `hoc sum terraque marique secuta?' cura mort. 13.16, `si rebus viventium interessent animae mortuorum et ipsae nos, quando eas videmus, adloquerentur in somnis, ut de aliis taceam, me ipsum pia mater nulla nocte desereret, quae terra marique secuta est ut mecum viveret.' C. Bennett, REAug 34(1988), 64n33: `Although Euryalus' mother was an obscure character in the Aeneid, knowing who she was (or what her name was [she is not named in the Aeneid itself]) seems to have been one of those pieces of Aeneid-trivia that the educated prided themselves on knowing (ord. 2.12.37, `qui si non responderint, quid vocata sit mater Euryali, accusantur inscitiae, cum ipsi eos a quibus ea rogantur vanos et ineptos nec curiosos audeant appellare?').' (See Schelkle, Virgil in der Deutung Augustins [Stuttgart, 1939], 160-1, for other examples of this grammarian's curiositas [already satirized by Juv. 7.230-236].)

    consolabatur . . . consolari: deponent, then passive; both uses classical, but the mixture is unusual. To the manifold roles of M. in conf., add that of Paul, consoling mariners on the authority of a vision: Act. 27.23-4, `adstitit enim mihi hac nocte angelus dei cuius sum ego et cui deservio (24) dicens, “ne timeas Paule”.' (See 6.13.23 for the source of M.'s confidence in her own visions.)

    visum: Regularly in conf. for `dream-vision': 3.11.20 (Monnica's vision in regula: confirmed to be a dream from 6.13.23), 6.13.23 (Monnica again), 9.7.16 (Ambrose's discovery of the relics of Protasius and Gervasius). Cicero attempts to regularize visum as a translation for phantasia (acad. post. 1.11.40), but his own usage of the word includes dreams, which should be phantasmata (e.g., Lucullus 15.47, 27.88).

    non quasi: Knöll, Skut. and Ver. follow Maur. in printing a comma after `non'. On that reading, A. is made to say that M. was not delighted at his news, because she expected it; with the comma deleted, M. is allowed her joy, while A. officiously explains that she really was not at all surprised because of the hope she had that made her so like the mother in the gospel. With `nulla ergo' below, A. offers a qualification in accord with his explanation: there was nothing inordinate about her rejoicing to leave her a prey to emotion.

    cum iam: The cum is causal; to salvage the comma after non, Pusey had to make the cum concessive: `she was not overjoyed, as at something unexpected; although she was now assured . . .' --that reading of her motives makes no sense at all; BA ignores the cum: `elle ne sursauta pas de joie, comme à une nouvelle inattendue; désormais pourtant, elle était rassurée . . .'

    exilivit exilivit C D G O Maur. Ver.:   exiluit S Knöll Skut.
    The same verb at 2.3.6, of Monnica at the thought of grandchildren, and at 9.7.16, of a blind man at Milan at the news of the discovery of the relics of Protasius and Gervasius; cf. `exultatione' below.

    tamquam mortuum sed resuscitandum: cura mort. 18.22, `ut corpori mortuo sed tamen resurrecturo et in aeternitate mansuro'.

    offerebat offerebat G O S Knöll Skut. Ver.:   efferebat CD Maur.
    (cf. Lk. 7.12 [Vg.], `efferebatur') G-M: `A. may well have intended to imply that M., in contrast with the widow of Nain, was consciously seeking Christ's aid for her son.'

    ut diceres filio viduae: Lk. 7.12-15 (Vg. modified by adn. Iob on 29.13: see Milne 96), `cum autem appropinquaret portae civitatis et ecce ferebatur mortuus filius unicus matris suae, quae erat vidua, et turba civitatis multa cum illa. (13) quam cum vidisset dominus, misericordia motus super ea dixit illi, “noli flere,” (14) et accessit et tetigit loculum. hii autem qui portabant steterunt, et ait, “adulescens tibi dico surge,” (15) et resedit qui erat mortuus et coepit loqui et dedit illum matri suae.' s. 98.2.2, `de iuvene illo resuscitato gavisa est mater vidua: de hominibus in spiritu cotidie suscitatis gaudet mater ecclesia.' See also en. Ps. 97.1, lib. arb. 3.23.67 (c. 395, on infant baptism), `quid enim filio viduae profuit fides sua, quam utique mortuus non habebat, cui tamen profuit matris ut resurgeret?' (Cf. s. dom. m. 1.12.35 and s. 98.5.5, on three kinds of resurrection.) C. Bennett, REAug 34(1988), 64: `Monnica . . . is transformed before our very eyes into a different character, the widow mother of Luke 7. . . . The juxtaposition of Vergilian and Biblical figures is a critique of the `pagan' text, but not merely that. It is also a reinterpretation. Read aright, the desires and griefs of Vergil's character point to the same longings and values as Scripture, and the Scriptural figures illuminate the real significance of the Vergilian for us.'

    revivesceret revivesceret O S Knöll Skut. Ver.:   revivesce et G:   revivisceret CD Maur.

    (certa erat) et: = etiam.

    pleno fiduciae: an expression thought `étonnamment rare' by L. G. Engels, Graecitas et Latinitas Christianorum Primaeva: Supplementa III (Nijmegen 1970), 109n4; he can instance in A. only en. Ps. 55.15, `confessionem veram, piam, plenam fiduciae,' but for the near-match `plena fiducia' and the like, cf. doctr. chr. 1.8.8, en. Ps. 143.7, s. 211.1.1, c. Faust. 12.32, Gal. exp. 42.

    fidelem catholicum: See on 2.3.6; the confidence descends from her earlier vision at 3.11.19.

    fons misericordiarum: Same expression at 4.4.7, prefacing the story of his friend's death, and at the end of this book, 6.16.26.

    accelerares: Ps. 30.3, `accelera ut eximas me'; en. Ps. 30. en. 2 s. 1.8, `ad hoc enim positum est verbum, ut hoc totum quod nobis diu videtur quamdiu volvitur saeculum, intellegas punctum esse. non est diu quod habet extremum.'

    adiutorium: Ps. 69.2, `deus in adiutorium meum intende'; Ps. 37.23, `intende in adiutorium meum, domine salutis meae.'

    et inluminares tenebras meas: Ps. 17.29, `quoniam tu inluminabis lucernam meam, deus meus, inluminabis tenebras meas'; en. Ps. 17.29, `nos enim peccatis nostris tenebrae sumus.' Sim. at 7.1.2, 11.2.2, 11.25.32, 13.8.9.

    currere . . . suspendi: historic infinitives, connected to `preces et lacrimas' above, all without a finite verb.

    ad fontem salientis aquae in vitam aeternam: Jn. 4.14, `sed aqua quam dabo ei fiet in eo fons aquae salientis in vitam aeternam'; Io. ev. tr. 15.16, `hinc eam hauriunt homines hydria cupiditatum. . . . cum pervenerit quisque ad voluptatem saeculi huius, cibus est, potus est, lavacrum est, spectaculum est, concubitus est; numquid non iterum sitiet? ergo “de hac aqua qui biberit, iterum”, inquit, “sitiet”: si autem acceperit a me aquam, “non sitiet in aeternum”.' An exact parallel is ep. 25.2, where Paulinus of Nola uses the same expression of A.: `os enim tuum fistulam aquae vivae et venam fontis aeterni merito dixerim, quia fons in te aquae salientis in vitam aeternam Christus effectus est.' Though Pusey wants to take this as a baptismal reference, that specification is difficult to corroborate from A.: en. Ps. 62.8, `et fecit nobis consolationem in deserto, mittendo ad nos praedicatores verbi sui; et dedit nobis aquam in deserto, implens spiritu sancto praedicatores suos, ut fieret in eis fons aquae salientis in vitam aeternam'; sim. at en. Ps. 1.3; four other citations (en. Ps. 17.16, 67.35, 73.17, and 147.26) have no baptismal overtones. It is Amb. as preacher to whom M. looks now (and his preaching will reach A. before ever his baptizing can). That interpretation goes well with `angelum' just below.

    diligebat: See on 5.13.23 for diligere as a less carnal verb for love than amare.

    sicut angelum dei: Gal. 4.14, `sed sicut angelum dei excepistis me, sicut Christum Iesum'.

    fluctuationem: 5.14.25, `inter omnia fluctuans', 6.5.8, `fluctuabam'.

    criticam criticam C D G O1 Maur. Knöll Skut. Ver.:   creticam O2 S
    How familiar would the word be to A.'s audience? He introduces it as a technical term; TLL 4.1211 presents it as uncommon.

    text of 6.2.2

    6.2.2

    Nothing here says that A. or M. ever took this query to Ambrose. The plain sense of the text is that the ostiarius turned M. away with some variant of, `Sorry, ma'am, bishop's orders,' and that was enough for her. No private consultation need be inferred. (The remark of Amb. reported has no connection with the question of laetitiae [see on 6.6.9, `laetitiam'] and an encounter of that sort could have been public, at a time when the bishop was receiving callers of various kinds.)

    It is commoner to assume that A. went to ask Amb. about the practice on M.'s behalf. Courcelle, Recherches 91n3, typically reconstructs a sequence of events: M. is prohibited by the shrine-keeper from her usual practice; she is shocked; A. goes to Amb., who says his piece, which A. reports to M., who is then willing to obey. Her first instinct was negative reaction, and the request to Amb. was not in the main for an explanation but for permission to continue the practice. The only ground for this scenario lies not in conf. but in A.'s letters (see below).

    The practice of the laetitiae made orthodox Christians vulnerable to Manichean criticism: see Faustus' attack quoted at c. Faust. 20.4, `defunctorum umbras vino placatis et dapibus,' and A.'s response at c. Faust. 20.21, `qui autem se in memoriis martyrum inebriant, quomodo a nobis approbari possunt, cum eos, etiamsi in domibus suis id faciant, sana doctrina condemnet? sed aliud est quod docemus, aliud quod sustinemus'.

    memorias: See on 5.8.15, `memoria beati Cypriani'.

    ostiario: Not a servant, but a functionary in minor orders known from the third century on. The only other ecclesiastical ostiarius of whom we hear in A. is a rather disreputable character at ep. 26*.1, who had been ordained a deacon in a way A. judged fraudulent; when the circumstances came to light, A. appointed him as ostiarius at the shrine of saint Theogenes at Hippo, where he lasted only a short time before being expelled from office by the presbyteri of Hippo while A. was out of town. The appointment was meant to provide him with a modest livelihood. (The ostiarius is better attested after rather than before A.'s time, but the office was so modest that it is probably underreported; see H. Leclercq, `Portier', DACL 14.1525-33.)

    hoc episcopum vetuisse: Amb.'s only surviving comment: de Helia et ieiunio, 17.62, `et haec vota ad deum pervenire iudicant, sicut illi qui calices ad sepulchra martyrum deferunt atque illic in vesperam bibunt: aliter se exaudiri posse non credunt.' From A.'s description of the state of affairs at the Vatican basilica of St. Peter, one surmises why the ostiarius was so firm in dealing with a foreigner: ep. 29.10 (to Alypius), `deinde hortatus sum [Hipponenses], ut transmarinarum ecclesiarum, in quibus partim ista recepta numquam sunt, partim iam per bonos rectores populo obtemperante correcta, imitatores esse vellemus. et quoniam de basilica beati apostoli Petri cotidianae vinulentiae proferebantur exempla, dixi primo audisse nos saepe esse prohibitum, sed quod remotus sit locus ab episcopi conversatione et in tanta civitate magna sit carnalium multitudo peregrinis praesertim, qui novi subinde veniunt tanto violentius quanto inscitius illam consuetudinem retinentibus, tam immanem pestem nondum compesci sedarique potuisse.'

    A. wrote to Aurelius of Carthage c. 393 (Goldbacher links this to the council of Hippo of 393, occasion of A.'s preaching f. et symb.) on the best strategies for controlling these folkways in Africa. These puritanical efforts by the young bishops were not enthusiastically received. (See van der Meer 498-526 for survey of burial practices and ceremonies.) A.'s criticism of these customs almost a decade after M. was dissuaded from them need not be distorted to exempt her from any retrospective criticism (as van der Meer 516-517 does). M. was to A. no plaster saint, the more so because the present passage in conf. has the effect of showing her lack of concupiscentia carnis; n.b. `consuetudine' : see 8.5.10 for A.'s analysis of the role of `habit' in inveterate concupiscence; M. has the habit but not the concupiscence, hence the habit is easily broken. See esp. ep. 22.1.3-4: `comissationes enim et ebrietates ita concessae et licitae putantur, ut in honore etiam beatissimorum martyrum non solum per dies sollemnes, quod ipsum quis non lugendum videat, qui haec non carneis oculis inspicit, sed etiam cotidie celebrentur. . . . saltem de sanctorum corporum sepulchris, saltem de locis sacramentorum, de domibus orationum tantum dedecus arceatur. . . . (4) haec si prima Africa temptaret auferre, a ceteris terris imitatione digna esse deberet; cum vero et per Italiae maximam partem et in aliis omnibus aut prope omnibus transmarinis ecclesiis, partim quia numquam facta sunt, partim quia vel orta vel inveterata sanctorum et vere de vita futura cogitantium episcoporum diligentia et animadversione extincta atque deleta sunt, . . . dubitare1 quo modo possumus tantam morum labem vel proposito tam lato exemplo emendare?' A. suggests (ep. 22.1.6) that the offerings be replaced by alms for the poor. The official ban is breviarium Hipponense, canon 29 (393), `ut nulli episcopi vel clerici in ecclesia conviventur, nisi forte transeuntes hospitiorum necessitiate illic reficiant; populi etiam ab huiusmodi conviviis, quantum potest fieri, prohibeantur.'

    A.'s own local triumph, and the making of his reputation as a figure of authority at Hippo (it may almost have coincided with his elevation as `coadjutor' bishop), is recounted in ep. 29. (to Alypius: c. 395): ep. 29.2, `cum post profectionem tuam nobis nuntiatum esset tumultuari homines et dicere se ferre non posse ut illa sollemnitas prohiberetur, quam laetitiam nominantes vinulentiae nomen frustra conantur abscondere, sicut etiam te praesente iam iam nuntiabatur, opportune nobis accidit occulta ordinatione omnipotentis dei, ut quarta feria illud in evangelio capitulum consequenter tractaretur: “nolite dare sanctum canibus neque proieceritis margaritas vestras ante porcos.” tractatum est ergo de canibus et de porcis ita ut et pervicaci latratu adversus dei praecepta rixantes et voluptatum carnalium sordibus dediti erubescere cogerentur, conclusumque ita, ut viderent quam esset nefarium intra ecclesiae parietes id agere nomine religionis quod in suis domibus si agere perseverarent, sancto et margaritis ecclesiasticis eos arceri oporteret.' (See van der Meer, 515-525, and Mandouze 643-52.) But twenty years after the ban, at civ. 8.27, he still attacks the custom as something alive, at least in some regions.

    The instinct of grave-cultivation was strong and persistent, even among Christians, as witness cura mort. A disdain for such conduct was strongly rooted in the doctrine of Christianity, but difficult to inculcate in practice; the official church hierarchy was indisputably closer to the gospel message than was the flock that followed. Of course prayer, esp. eucharistic prayer, for the dead was accepted on all sides (see on 9.11.27). On the history, see J. Quasten, HThR 33(1940), 253-266, who loyally defends A.'s campaign against excesses while showing sensitively the depth of genuine pietas at work in the custom; the classic text is an inscription from Satafis (Quasten 257, from Diehl, ILCV 1570 [1.301]).2

    Courcelle, Recherches 90: `C'est cet état d'esprit autoritaire qu'Augustin avait détesté de tout temps dans l'église catholique; c'est le grief manichéen qui l'avait détourné, dès sa jeunesse, de sa foi de sa mère. Vers juin 385, nous apprenons donc que le premier réflexe d'Augustin devant la réponse d'Ambroise est un réflexe hostile, un réflex manichéen: il se cabre à l'idée que cet homme impose une règle, alors qu'on lui demande une raison. Suivre la coutume n'est pas une raison.' Courcelle returned to the question at Les Confessions 21, but seems to be straining. Recall that the narrative of Bk. 5 shows ratio beginning the process of detaching A. from Manicheism and pushing him into Academicism.

    On two occasions, A. described a separate question of church practice and discipline on which he consulted Amb. at Monnica's request. Courcelle wondered (Recherches 91) why the fasting query is not reported in conf. The answer is surely that the problem of the laetitiae was one where Amb. commanded a higher, more demanding discipline; in the case of the fast, he was recommending laxity. M.'s willingness to obey was more remarkable in the former case.

    ep. 36.14.32 (date controversial, probably rather late), `indicabo tibi quid mihi de hoc requirenti responderit venerandus Ambrosius, a quo baptizatus sum, Mediolanensis episcopus. nam cum in eadem civitate mater mea mecum esset et nobis adhuc catechumenis parum ista curantibus illa sollicitudinem gereret, utrum secundum morem nostrae civitatis sibi esset sabbato ieiunandum, an ecclesiae Mediolanensis more prandendum, ut hac eam cunctatione liberarem, interrogavi hoc supra dictum hominem dei. at ille: “quid possum”, inquit, “hinc docere amplius, quam ipse facio?” ubi ego putaveram nihil eum ista responsione praecepisse, nisi ut sabbato pranderemus; hoc quippe ipsum facere sciebam. sed ille secutus adiecit: “quando hic sum, non ieiuno sabbato; quando Romae sum, ieiuno sabbato. et ad quamcumque ecclesiam veneritis”, inquit, “eius morem servate, si pati scandalum non vultis aut facere.” hoc responsum rettuli ad matrem eique suffecit nec dubitavit esse oboediendum; hoc etiam nos secuti sumus.'

    ep. 54.2.3, has a narrative using many of the same words (esp. those of Amb.), adding: `hoc cum matri renuntiassem, libenter amplexa est. ego vero de hac sententia etiam atque etiam cogitans ita semper habui, tamquam eam caelesti oraculo [cf. 6.3.4, `oraculo'] acceperim. sensi enim saepe dolens et gemens multas infirmorum perturbationes fieri per quorundam fratrum contentiosam obstinationem vel superstitiosam timiditatem, qui in rebus huius modi, quae neque sanctae scripturae auctoritate neque universalis ecclesiae traditione neque vitae corrigendae utilitate ad certum possunt terminum pervenire, . . . tam litigiosas excitant quaestiones, ut nisi quod ipsi faciunt, nihil rectum aestiment.'

    vinulentia: M. appears here center stage engaged in a practice that many thought bibulous; cf. 9.8.18 for the story of her childhood temptation to just such a fault (and see there for why this was a serious matter among women). In after years, Julian (c. Iul. imp. 1.68: see on 9.8.18) would attend sharply to just this aspect of her personality.

    dignationem: G-M: `here . . . used (abstract for concrete) for the sip of wine which she took “for courtesy” before handing the cup to others. In beata v. 2.10 quando dignaberis appears to mean “when you will be in the position of host.”' Their reading of the context here is unexceptionable, but in the passage cited, we need understand nothing more than `s'il vous plaît'. TLL s.v. merely speculates `(i.e., libationem?)'; the word also occurs elsewhere, e.g., epp. 28.4.6, 151.1, s. 43.5.6, but not in a similar sense, and cf. s. 58.1.2, `sic enim debet vivere, qui invenit talem patrem ut dignus sit venire ad eius haereditatem. dicimus autem communiter, “pater noster”. quanta dignatio? hoc dicit imperator, hoc dicit mendicus; hoc dicit servus, hoc dicit dominus eius. . . .. intellegunt ergo se esse fratres, quando unum habent patrem.' In conf., it occurs at 10.25.36, `tu dedisti hanc dignationem memoriae meae, ut maneas in ea' (which closely resembles Amb. Iacob 1.6.25, `sed vereris dubios vitae anfractus et adversarii insidias, cum habeas auxilium dei, habeas tantam eius dignationem, ut filio proprio pro te non pepercerit?').

    partiretur: J. le Clercq (see PL 47.207) emended to potaretur.

    antistite: Elsewhere in conf. at 6.7.12 (Alypius), 9.5.13 (Amb.), 9.7.16 (Amb.): elsewhere in A., an infrequent substitute for `episcopus'. The word had the advantage of being a native Latin term, and in many late antique authors (e.g., Ammianus) that virtue made this word preferable to the Grecism, but not so ordinarily for A., who also uses antistes for non-Christian religious leaders (civ. 8.5, 10.11). The several appearances in conf. (`episcopus' appears only 8x in conf.) raise the possibility that the deliberately ambitious style of the work makes him--perhaps unconsciously--just slightly more fastidious in diction.

    parentalia: The authentic Parentalia were celebrated February 13-21, with offerings to the shades of ancestors (Ov. fast. 2.533-616). On Christian refrigerium, see BA 13.676-677 note and Quasten art. cit. above. Courcelle, Recherches 87n1, offers lengthy bibliography. J. W. Halporn, JbAC 19(1976), 82-108, dates s. Guelf. 29 to this same period, in which A. attempts to deal with the explicitly `pagan' character of some other drinking parties. For criticism of `pagan' practices from 410/11, see s. 361.6.6.

    gentilium: The word paganus never appears in conf., and is rare elsewhere in A.; for reasons, see my note at Class. Folia 31(1977), 163-169.

    ut et ut et S Maur. Knöll Skut.:   et ut CDGO Ver.

    (et) sic sic B P Z Maur. Knöll Skut.:   si CDGOS Ver.
    Vega suggests that sic became si because the next word begins com-. The reading si follows the MSS tradition impeccably, but the resulting text can scarcely be translated. It is, in view of the manuscripts, possible that the text printed here (as Skut. and Vega etc.) is an attempt in one later family of MSS to clean up something impossible in the best manuscripts; but it is also possible that it is authentic and it is clearly better than the paradosis. On this reading, her change of heart makes two things possible: she could better dispose of the money she spent on grave-offerings, and eucharist could be celebrated at the memoriae (because the eucharistic fast could be observed).

    in conspectu tuo: See on 1.16.26, `deus meus, in cuius conspectu'.

    conversationem: The word in this acceptation is classical, but owes its frequency in Christian authors to biblical usage (esp. 8x in 1 and 2 Petr.): H. Hoppenbrouwers, Graecitas et Latinitas Christianorum Primaeva 1 (Nijmegen, 1964), 47-95.

    in bonis operibus: cf. 1 Tim. 5.9-10, `vidua eligatur non minus sexaginta annorum, quae fuerit unius viri uxor, (10) in operibus bonis testimonium habens, si filios educavit.'

    fervens spiritu: cf. Acts. 18.25, `et fervens spiritu loquebatur'; Rom. 12.11-12, `spiritu ferventes, domino servientes, (12) spe gaudentes, in tribulatione patientes, oratione instantes'.

    viam vitae: Cf. Ps. 15.11, `notas mihi fecisti vias vitae', quoted verbatim at Act. 2.28; Prov. 6.23, `quia mandatum lucerna est, et lex lux, et via vitae increpatio disciplinae'; Prov. 10.17, `via vitae custodienti disciplinam'; Prov. 15.10, `doctrina mala deserenti viam vitae, qui increpationes odit morietur'. The via vitae is undoubtedly partly to be explained as a periphrasis for Christ (see on 7.7.11), but the Proverbs use of disciplina is important. This story about M. dealt with discipline, submission to church authority, walls and Christians (8.2.4); it is that discipline that A. is beginning to face here as a guide to the via vitae.

    text of 6.3.3

    6.3.3

    This paragraph has drawn a variety of incompatible explanations, tinged with disapproval (from which A. carefully refrains: see `quolibet tamen animo' below) and suspicions that A. exaggerates. Courcelle, Recherches 92: `l'évêque catholique de Milan, si occupé fût-il, n'eût sans doute pas refusé au rheteur officiel de sa ville quelques heures de conversation intime, comme l'évêque manichéen Faustus, fort accaparé lui aussi, avait fini par accorder à Augustin, alors rhéteur à Carthage, l'honneur d'une audience particuliére.' But not all readers are put off by the portrayal: J. H. Newman, Letters 6 (Oxford, 1984), 246 (to H. Wilberforce [19 May 1838]): `Rogers well suggests that St. Aug.'s account of St. Ambrose's conduct to him, (sitting still and reading a book) is a remarkable and happy specimen by way of contrast of the Catholic mode of effecting conversions.' It is also important to remember that Amb. was away from Milan at a crucial time, in the summer of 386, to attend on the fate of Priscillian at Trier (cf. H. Chadwick, Priscillian of Avila [Oxford, 1976], 136-137; Palanque, Saint Ambroise et l'empire Romain [Paris, 1933] 516-518, 579).

    Newman's insight over Courcelle is in the phrase `by way of contrast'. Amb. here is presented in a way that contradistinguishes him from Faustus in Bk. 5. A. approached F. to obtain from him private guidance and explanation of his difficulties; instead of profound wisdom, he found only a superficial eloquence. A. approached Amb. to examine his outward eloquence, but was led instead to surmise deeper wisdom. But when A. then sought to approach Amb. as he had approached Faustus, for private tutelage (or, as Courcelle, Recherches 155n2, put it, a `lecture à deux' : cf. 4.8.13, where friendship includes `simul legere libros dulciloquos'), he found himself rebuffed and compelled to extract Amb.'s teaching from his public, episcopal proclamations (6.3.4). (Neither at 5.6.11 nor here did he want or get a completely private hearing from his teacher: here the plural verbs [`adessemus', `discedebamus', `coniectabamus'] convey that; cf. 5.6.11, `et aures eius cum familiaribus meis eoque tempore occupare coepi'.) The private study-circle of master and disciples was a feature of late antique life both inside and outside Christian communities; A. here marks a deliberate turn away from that tradition to a more public, less gnostic form of instruction. On the tradition, G. Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes (Cambridge, 1986), 190-191, with notes on the relevance to Christianity in Brown, Body and Society 104-107. See below on 7.9.13 for reservations about the conventional view of the neo-Platonic `circle' at Milan, which seems to have few of the features that Fowden and Brown identify in other contexts.

    A.'s Manicheism may have played a part in Amb.'s reserve, and A. may himself have seen this, as another passage (clearly echoing the situation here, with perhaps a less sophisticated interpretation but offering both an excuse for the clergy and hope for the seeker) shows: mor. 1.1.1, `nec si ea discere cupiens, in aliquos forte inciderit vel episcopos vel presbyteros vel cuiuscemodi ecclesiae catholicae antistites et ministros, qui aut passim caveant nudare mysteria aut contenti simplici fide altiora cognoscere non curarint, desperet ibi scientiam esse veritatis, ubi neque omnes a quibus quaeritur docere possunt, neque omnes qui quaerunt discere digni sunt. et diligentia igitur et pietas adhibenda est: altero fiet ut scientes inveniamus, altero ut scire mereamur.' Convenient conversions at court were not new to Amb.: Amb. exp. Ps. 118.20.48--see Brown 82.

    J. Mazzeo, Jour. Hist. Ideas 23(1962), 192: `Ambrose's "good reason" for silence was nothing else than listening to the instruction of the inner teacher.' He quotes Ignatius ep. ad Eph. 15.1-3, but could have quoted en. Ps. 126.3, `tamquam vobis ex hoc loco doctores sumus; sed sub illo uno magistro in hac schola vobiscum condiscipuli sumus' (sim. at s. 278.11.11, s. Guelf. 32.4; cf. s. 298.5.5, `superiore loco propter praeconium praesidemus, sed in una schola communem magistrum in caelis habemus'), or s. 52.1.1, `ab illo [domino] enim exspectavit cor meum tamquam iussionem proferendi sermonis, ut hinc cum intellegerem loqui me velle quod recitari ipse voluisset.' For a larger collection of texts on that subject, see Madec, BA 6.545-548.

    A further juxtaposition is often overlooked. Ambrose is presented here as a man who divides his time between service to his flock, refreshing his physical powers, and nourishing his mind with reading (cf. `reparandae menti suae nanciscebatur'). At 11.2.2, bishop Augustine proposes to divide his time similarly: `et olim inardesco meditari in lege tua . . . et nolo in aliud horae diffluant quas invenio liberas a necessitatibus reficiendi corporis et intentionis animi et servitutis quam debemus hominibus et quam non debemus et tamen reddimus.' (A similar partition of his preoccupations at ep. 151.13.) Similarly, Amb. here is portrayed facing warily the temptations to pride to be found in episcopal office; at 10.36.59ff, the same temptations are the subject of A.'s meditation on the lingering threat he faced from the temptation of ambitio saeculi, and that theme recurs in Bk. 13 (see on 13.25.38) as well. The parallel is so strong that we must infer that Amb. is portrayed here as a model of episcopal conduct against which A. later measures himself. Amb. emerges as anything but aloof, but as too accessible and too prone to be distracted by the demands of his flock.3

    But why would a bishop read silently? A. sees the bishop as the Christian orator par excellence (see doctr. chr., esp. Bk. 4); at sol. 2.14.26, Ratio evokes `ille in quo ipsam eloquentiam, quam mortuam dolebamus, perfectam revixisse cognovimus' : see below for further quotation to indicate that Ambrose is meant. As far as A.'s own overt, public discussion of episcopal office is concerned, his oratorical function looms largest. (The priestly function of the bishop is one about which he has much less to say, but A.'s reticence about liturgical matters may be responsible for a distortion in our view here.) As the present passage suggests, Amb. must have been A.'s main model from life. Amb. shared A.'s view that the bishop's role centered on his teaching from the pulpit, and began his own de officiis (389) with a long disquisition on the merits of silence and of knowing your place and when to speak:

    Amb. off. 1.1.2-125, `. . . officium docendi, quod nobis refugientibus imposuit sacerdotii necessitudo. . . . (3) non prophetarum gratiam, non virtutem evangelistarum, non pastorum circumspectionem, sed tantummodo intentionem et diligentiam circa scripturas divinas opto adsequi . . . ut docendi studio possim discere. . . . (4) ego enim, raptus de tribunalibus atque administrationis infulis ad sacerdotium, docere vos coepi quod ipse non didici. itaque factum est ut prius docere inciperem quam discere, discendum igitur mihi simul et docendum, quoniam non vacavit ante discere. (5) quid autem prae ceteris debemus discere quam tacere, ut possimus loqui, ne prius me vox condemnet mea quam absolvat aliena? . . . complures vidi loquendo peccatum incidisse, vix quemquam tacendo, ideoque tacere nosse quam loqui difficilius est.' The discussion continues in that vein as a proem to the de officiis through 1.6.22, when Amb. turns to address his Ciceronian model. In a similar vein is Amb. exp. Ps. 36.66, `ideo meditare semper, loquere quae dei sunt, sedens in domo [Deut. 6.7]. domum possumus accipere ecclesiam, possumum domum accipere interiorem in nobis, ut intra nos loquamur.'

    That A. himself took the lesson of such behavior is corroborated indirectly by his own words: s. 179.1.1-2.2 (date uncertain but probably earlier than 410), `verbi dei enim inanis est forinsecus praedicator, qui non est intus auditor. nec ita aversi ab humanitate et fideli consideratione sumus ut pericula nostra non intelligamus, qui verbum dei populis praedicamus. . . . nam ut noveritis, fratres, quam tutiore loco stetis quam nos. . . (2) ego qui vobis assidue loquor . . . tunc solidum gaudeo, dum audio.' Cf. also en. Ps. 85.7, `oratio tua locutio est ad deum; quando legis, deus tibi loquitur; quando oras, deo loqueris.'

    In order, therefore, for the Christian bishop to teach authoritatively in the church, he must himself first hear attentively the word of God speaking in scripture. That message the bishop preaches openly in church, and it contains the fullness of Christian doctrine. There is no secret gnosis reserved for the elect. Both these ideas A. recalled as momentary stumbling blocks to him, his expectations conditioned by his Manicheism, but they both became essential elements of his own self-image as bishop. This view of the bishop's role appears stylized in the vita Ambrosii written under A.'s patronage by Paulinus of Milan c. 422:4 v. Amb. 17, `is constitutus in ecclesia, tractante episcopo, vidit (ut ipse postmodum loquebatur) angelum ad aures episcopi tractantis loquentem, ut verba angeli populo episcopus renuntiare videretur.'

    That Christianity has no secret gnosis remained important for A. The dialectic that he weaves throughout his career between fides and intellegentia reveals itself in one text (Io. ev. tr. 98) to be a sophisticated way of escaping the temptations of gnosis while retaining many of the benefits of such a system. A.'s Christianity makes a distinction not between kinds of doctrine but between kinds of believers--those who have penetrated further have themselves changed, but they have been given no essential teaching that was withheld from them before. For 1 Cor. 3.1 interpreted in this light, see on 12.27.37. (The implicit issues raised here about the position of the bishop in the church return for their most important development later: see on 10.36.59).

    There is controversy about a parallel text in A. that would throw light on the present passage, showing that the frustration at Amb.'s aloofness lasted through the winter of 386-7: sol. 2.14.26, `[Ratio] . . . ante oculos nostros . . . ille in quo ipsam eloquentiam, quam mortuam dolebamus, perfectam revixisse cognovimus. illene nos sinet, cum scriptis suis vivendi modum docuerit, vivendi ignorare naturam? [A.] non arbitror equidem et multum inde spero, sed unum doleo, quod vel erga se vel erga sapientiam studium nostrum non ei, ut volumus, valemus aperire. nam profecto ille miseraretur sitim nostram et exundaret multo citius quam nunc. securus enim est, quod sibi iam totum de animae immortalitate persuasit, nec scit aliquos esse fortasse, qui huius ignorationis miseriam satis cognoverint, et quibus praesertim rogantibus non subvenire crudele sit.' This passage was applied to Amb. by the Maurists, and M. Ihm (`Studia Ambrosiana', Jahrbücher für classische Philologie 17 [Supplementband, 1. Heft: Leipzig, 1890], 76) astutely suggested that the reference in scriptis is to the de philosophia; but Courcelle, Recherches 206-207, rejected the identification in favor of Mallius Theodorus (on the grounds that what is required here is a philosopher rather than a theologian, and one known for his writings) and, though Madec 252-256 rightly sees that Courcelle completely misunderstood the nature and contents of the de philosophia, Madec follows Courcelle. There is no reason not to apply the sol. passage to Amb.: (1) on the bishop as model of eloquence, see above; (2) his writings abundantly provided a `modus vivendi', specifically the life of continent pursuit of wisdom; (3) A. had been unable to share his inmost feelings with him; (4) A. had almost certainly heard his sermon of 386, de Isaac vel de anima, on the immortality of the soul. The `cruelty' A. attributes then to this remote figure is a sign the intensity of his frustration during that Cassiciacum winter, which is certainly compatible with the re-evocations of 6.3.4 and 6.11.18 (`quando quaeretur [veritas]? non vacat Ambrosio').

    ad quaerendum intentus: A.'s situation is not entirely bad: he is not yet ready to pray, but at least ready to seek--see on 1.1.1.

    et ad disserendum inquietus: A. seeks dialogue that he never gets from Amb. He must learn to seek by listening, but if there is `Manichean reflex' here it is in his own eagerness to speak and quarrel--the loquacitas of Manicheism he often rebukes (1.4.4, 3.6.10, 7.2.3, etc.).

    caelibatus: caelebs is infrequent in A., and its use suggests that it is the masculine equivalent of innupta, `unmarried' (c. Faust. 29.4, virg. 27.27, b. vid. 5.7, en. Ps. 40.4); hence here an observation without overt moral coloration. Cf. 6.12.22, `ut me affirmarem . . . caelibem vitam nullo modo posse degere'; to this point, continence is a puzzle not apparently related to A.'s own search. It does not seem that in early 385, hearing Amb. at Milan, A. imagined that his own future would be conditioned by a decision to emulate the continence of the `pagan' and Christian sages; A. still sought an intellectual resolution to his perplexities. Bk. 8 testifies to the redirection of his quest under Amb.'s influence. Here in conf., however, he tells us less than the whole story; later he will suggest (see on 8.7.17, `petieram') that the search for continence had been with him ever since adolescence, but for the moment he merely says that there was in Amb.'s own conduct that which was a stumbling block for A. and a sign of things to come. Psychologically, A. clearly seeks in Amb. something of a father figure (cf. 5.13.23, `paterne', and c. Iul. 1.3.10, `[Ambrosius] excellentem dei dispensatorem, quem ut patrem veneror'), but if Amb. is celibate, on some subconscious level that makes it impossible for A. to accept him as a father.

    quid autem: Courcelle, Recherches 219-221, takes this text as evidence that at some time after conversion A. and Amb. had what Bertie Wooster would call a bit of the old heart-to-heart; not one word in the text suggests that. The words `nec conicere noveram nec expertus eram' suggest that A.'s later enlightenment came from conjecture and his own episcopal experience.

    et adversus et adversus C D G O Maur. Ver.:   adversus S Knöll Skut.

    excellentiae: In conf. of God and things divine (1.20.31, 2.6.13, 3.7.14, 6.5.8) and of human affairs (both in a good sense [4.16.30, 7.19.25 [2x], 8.6.14) and a bad sense (here and 10.38.63, 1.19.30, 2.6.13).

    ruminaret: c. Faust. 6.7, `immundum quippe illud animal in lege positum est eo quod non ruminet; . . . sunt autem homines qui per hoc animal significantur, immundi proprio vitio, non natura; qui cum libenter audiant verba sapientiae, postea de his omnino non cogitant. quod enim utile audieris, velut ab intestino memoriae tamquam ad os cogitationis recordandi dulcedine revocare quid est aliud quam spiritaliter quodam modo ruminare?'

    foveam: The image is biblical (cf. Ps. 56.7) and familiar in A.'s other works, but appears only three times in conf., and on each occasion one of the three friends, A., Alypius, and Nebridius, is imperilled: 6.7.12, `proripuit [Alypius] se ex fovea tam alta'; 9.3.6, `in illam foveam perniciosissimi erroris inciderat [Nebridius]'. Parallels suggest that with this image A. has in mind specifically the Manichees, sinners through concupiscence of the eyes and hence most aptly the blind leading the blind (Mt. 15.14, `caecus autem si caeco ducatum praestet, ambo in foveam cadunt'), preparing traps for their brethren and falling in themselves, rejoicing in their iniquity: en. Ps. 56.14, `omnis qui parat foveam fratri suo, necesse est ut ipse incidat in eam. . . . ipsa laetitia iniqua facientis, ipsa est fovea.'

    non enim quaerere ab eo poteram: The same frustration was encountered on first seeing Faustus, but then overcome: see on 5.6.11, `sed moleste habebam'.

    negotiosorum negotiosorum A H2 B P Z Maur. Knöll Skut.:   negotiorum C D G O S Ver.
    A crux. (1) The paradosis negotiorum is solid. (2) How to read it is less obvious: punctuate with a comma and assume asyndeton: `crowds of affairs, of men who . . .'? (3) If negotiosorum is read, an easier sense is given, not unparalleled in A. (c. Faust. 22.56, `actuosi et negotiosi homines'; the adj. 23x in all in A.). (4) Catervis is much more common with genitives of people than of things. It is hard to resist the idea the negotiosorum is at least the best emendation to date.

    sed cum legebat: Silent reading: This passage has attracted much notice, seeming to show Amb. as the veritable inventor of silent reading (J. Balogh, Philologus 82[1926], 84-109, 202-40), but it has since been shown (B. M. W. Knox, GRBS 9[1968], 421-436) that the practice was known from much earlier in antiquity (Cicero, Tusc. 5.40.116, describes the pleasure the deaf can derive from reading, without hearing, poetry). Reading aloud remained a--probably the--common practice for many centuries (sometimes a necessary one: in ep. 101.3 A. says that his de musica is hard to understand unless you have somebody to read it out loud who can vocalize the quantities properly); being-read-to also attested at Io. ev. tr. 112.1. A near contemporary recommended reading aloud softly as an aid to memorization (Mart. Cap. 5.539, in the persona of Rhetoric). The written word was prompt-copy for a text that was still essentially oral in nature; only when read aloud did the symbols on the page become words in a useful sense. With some kinds of texts, A. was a perfectly competent consumer of a purely textual artefact (see on 4.16.28, the categ. of Aristotle); but his earlier, purely textual, encounter with scripture (3.5.9) had failed, and here he betrays his need for a more traditional, orally-mediated reading of the text. There remains to be written a history of reading that would do justice to the variety of techniques and situations across the centuries, on the one hand, and to the way reading techniques affected the ways people thought and acted.

    The significance of this passage is to be found elsewhere; see above. (Balogh already noted that if Amb. invented the skill, A. was a quick learner; cf. 8.12.29, `aperui et legi in silentio'; G. Lawless, REAug 26[1980], 55, also notes that 10.8.13 offers the parallel of `silent singing' : `et quiescente lingua ac silente gutture canto quantum volo'; and cf. 11.27.36, `et voce atque ore cessante peragimus cogitando carmina et versus et quemque sermonem'.) A better context is the history of vocal and silent prayer, on which see J. Balogh, Archiv für Religionswissenschaft 23(1925), 345-8. For example, Cassian, conl. 9.35, `in abscondito oramus, quando corde tantum et intenta mente petitiones nostras soli pandemus deo, ita ut ne ipsae quidem adversae valeant potestates genus nostrae petitionis agnoscere. propter quod summo est orandum silentio, non solum ne fratres adstantes nostris susurris vel clamoribus avocemus . . . sed ut ipsos quoque inimicos nostros, qui orantibus nobis maxime insidiantur, lateat nostrae petitionis intentio.' From Amb., cf. exp. Ps. 118.17.9, `Anna, cum oraret tacita clamabat, labia non movebat et interioris voce pia mentis excitabat Iesum,' reflecting the text of 1 Sam. 1.13, `Anna loquebatur in corde suo, tantumque labia illius movebantur, et vox penitus non audiebatur'.

    coniectabamus: The reason given here is conjecture dating from the time of the event. It is almost correct. Amb. was moved not simply by the desire not to get bogged down explaining things (and hence waste of time), but by the desire to hear for himself, and to reserve his explanations for the pulpit (see above). Note that A. here recalls no displeasure on his part at this frustration; contrast 5.6.11, `sed moleste habebam', for a contrasting recollection when faced with a similar frustration reaching Faustus; see above on sol. 2.14.26 for possible different feelings closer to the event.

    obtundebatur: OLD (as G-M): `to make (the voice) husky or hoarse'; Cic. de orat. 2.70.282., `cum vocem in dicendo obtundisset'.

    text of 6.3.4

    6.3.4

    See Courcelle, Recherches 98-132, on the sermons A. could have heard at Milan 385/7 (see on 5.14.24). In such studies, two errors must be avoided: (1) of conflating too quickly what we learn there with the biographical narrative of conf.; this narrative is directed by definite rhetorical strategies, and what it contains and what it omits is an important distinction that must be borne in mind; (2) of reading only the works of Amb. that present sermons A. might actually have heard in 385/7; we have just seen, e.g., on 6.3.3 that Amb.'s de officiis of 389 offers useful illumination to conf.

    An earlier passage should be kept in mind: 5.10.20, `cum enim conaretur animus meus recurrere in catholicam fidem, repercutiebar, quia non erat catholica fides quam esse arbitrabar.' It would be wrong here to speak of what A. reports as `conversion' of any kind. A. is not changing his mind about any doctrine of faith, but correcting his impression of Christian doctrine, finding that doctrine compatible with what he believed. This remains an aspect of his narrative as late as 7.19.25, when A. and Alypius sort out their Christological views. Of the three Manichean challenges to Christianity whose force A. acknowledged at 3.7.12, only the last of them, to the authority of the Old Testament, is in any way affected by the teachings of Amb. reported here (6.4.6 on 2 Cor. 3.6).

    oraculo: Other oracula in conf. are scriptural in authority: 8.12.29, of the text that converted Antonius; 11.9.11, the text of Ps. 103.24; 12.15.22, Moses and his books (`oracula sancti spiritus'). This is high praise for Amb. in his role as master of divine eloquence.

    pectore illius: See on 3.4.7, `pectus'. Cf. ep. 31.8 (addressing Paulinus of Nola), `nam pectus tuum tale domini oraculum est'.

    nisi . . . audiendum: e.g., the inquiries A. made on behalf of Monnica.

    aestus: 6.3.3.

    in populo . . . tractantem: Unlike Faustus, with Amb. the public proclamation has a considerable positive effect, public, in church, on Sunday. 2 Tim. 2.15, `sollicite cura teipsum probabilem exhibere deo, operarium inconfusibilem recte tractantem verbum veritatis.'

    omni die dominico: Cf. beata v. 1.4, `saepe' (see below).

    deceptores: 7.2.3, `adversus illos deceptos deceptores'.

    comperi: Cf. 6.11.18, `nefas habent docti eius credere deum figura humani corporis terminatum'. beata v. 1.4 reports a slightly more advanced view derived from Amb.'s sermons and the words of Mallius Theodorus: `animadverti enim et saepe in sacerdotis nostri et aliquando in sermonibus tuis, cum de deo cogitaretur, nihil omnino corporis esse cogitandum, neque cum de anima.' In conf. that more accurate statement of the immateriality of God is impossible before Bk. 7; here A. presumably encounters a non-anthropomorphic view that encourages but does not satisfy him fully.

    ad imaginem tuam: Gn. 1.26, `faciamus hominem ad imaginem nostram'; Gn. 9.6, `ad imaginem quippe dei factus est homo'; Sirach 17.1, `deus creavit de terra hominem et secundum imaginem suam fecit illum.' The doctrine of creation of the first human in God's image and likeness is a potent one for A., and its appearance in conf. is carefully controlled and restrained: hinted at in 3.7.12 (as the Christian truth contrary to the error attributed to Christianity by the Manichees), here, then twice just as the platonicorum libri are coming into view in Bk. 7 (7.9.13, 7.9.15), then not at all until the important and climactic passage beginning at 13.22.32.

    Amb.'s teaching freed A. from anthropomorphism, but Amb. thought of image and likeness as a goal to be reached, not an inherent quality (hence emphasized the ad of Gn. 1.26: for A.'s development on this subject, see on 13.22.32). See Markus, REAug 10(1964), 137-140, and cf. G. B. Ladner, The Idea of Reform (Cambridge, Mass., 1959), 185ff; H. Somers, REAug 7(1961), 105-125, who neatly deploys the stages in A.'s exegesis of Gn. 1.26, from Gn. c. man., to Gn. litt. imp., to Gn. litt. to the last stage, the late-added conclusion to Gn. litt. imp., showing the increasing influence of Christian sources, esp. Greek ones later in A.'s career. At the time of conf., the principal Christian influence is his contact with anti-Arian polemic (perhaps even including Marius Victorinus' adversus Arium, though this is unlikely). There is value in G. A. McCool's study of Amb.'s influence on A. in this regard, Theol. Stud. 20(1959), 62-81, even if the attempt to show direct and immediate dependence on Amb. is judged unsuccessful: the analogies of approach retain their interest.

    catholica: Not adj. but noun; see on 5.14.24.

    regenerasti: The verb is regularly (and in conf., only: 8.2.4, 9.3.6, 9.13.34) associated with baptism. Cf. pecc. mer. 2.27.43, `sacramentum autem baptismi profecto sacramentum regenerationis est.'

    te determinatum te determinatum ODonnell  scripsi:   te terminatum Maur. Pusey G-M:   determinatum MSS Knöll Skut. Ver.
    Cf. 5.10.19, `figuram te habere . . . et . . . liniamentis corporalibus terminari'; 6.4.5, `te creatorem . . . undique terminatum membrorum humanorum figura'; 6.11.18, `credere deum figura humani corporis terminatum'. As G-M rightly saw, `The te appears indispensable to the sense,' but despite the parallels in conf. determinatum is more frequent elsewhere (7x: ep. 118.4.31, s. 23.5.5, Io. ev. tr. 53.2, Gn. litt. 6.12.20, nat. b. 41 [`nec ipsi qui hoc agebant formis suis determinati essent, nisi modus ibi esset'], en. Ps. 30. en. 2 s. 1.7, s. Mai 158.4) than terminatum (4x: epp. 148.1.1, 148.1.2, Io. ev. tr. 40.4, s. 23.6.6); note the variation within two paragraphs of s. 23 (happily confirmed by an ed. crit.).

    The accusation of anthropomorphism against orthodox Christianity was not wholly baseless. Apart from the language of the OT, there were sects literal-minded enough to assert anthropomorphism openly (haer. 50; for the difficulties, cf. `Audianer', RAC 1.910-915).

    tenuiter atque in aenigmate: 1 Cor. 13.12, `videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate'; en. Ps. 130.14, `adhuc ex parte, in aenigmate'.

    discere discere S Maur. Knöll Skut.:   dicere C D G O Ver.
    A. does not associate dicere and quaerere elsewhere.

    altissime et proxime: 5.8.14, `altissimi tui recessus et praesentissima in nos misericordia'; 1.4.4, `secretissime et praesentissime'.

    alia maiora et alia minora: cf. ep. 118.4.23, `qui enim didicerit deum non distendi aut diffundi per locos neque finitos neque infinitos, quasi in aliqua parte maior sit in aliqua minor, sed totum ubique esse praesentem . . . nequaquam eum movebit quod de infinito aere sensit, quicumque sensit quod ipse esset deus.' On `ubique totus', see on 1.3.3.

    text of 6.4.5

    6.4.5

    pulsans: Mt. 7.7, `pulsate, et aperietur vobis'; i.e., it is better to have begun the sequence invoke-seek-find-praise (1.1.1), than to go off in the ways of curiositas; the same text in the last words of conf. (13.38.53).

    proponerem: G-M: = quaestionem proponerem. `The reference is apparently to the attitude which A. would have taken up if he had had the opportunity of discussing his difficulties with Ambrose.' For imperfect for pluperfect, cf. 6.11.20, `dares si pulsarem', and 8.6.13, `posset, si vellet'. That reading is preferable to that of the translators: Pusey: `I should have knocked'; BA: `j'aurais dû frapper à la porte.' The preceding sentence (the last of 6.3.4) is a `confessional' interruption that obscures the connection to the last sentence but one. There, A. described and repented his earlier hard-headedness; here, he suggests what his attitude would now have been, after the impact of Amb.'s sermons.

    ita: `in such a way' --i.e., in the way he mistakenly thought Christians took the doctrine.

    rodebat: 8.7.18, `rodebar intus et confundebar' (cf. `confundebar et convertebar' here).

    quid certi retinerem: The indirect question is governed by `cura'.

    certi: The yearning for certainty carries over from Bk. 5, e.g., 5.14.25, `donec aliquid certi eluceret'.

    animositate: See on 2.3.5.

    garrisse: 5.6.10 (of Faustus), 7.20.26 (of himself upon reading the Platonic books), 9.1.1 (of prayer [!] after the garden scene), 12.28.38 (of incautious exegetes). On indiscretion of speech as a Manichean characteristic, see on 1.4.4, `quoniam loquaces muti sunt'.

    confundebar et convertebar: Ps. 6.11, `convertantur et confundantur valde velociter'. There the collocation is a prayer directed against others, leading to their abasement; here, for himself, it is narrative that leads to gaudium; the order of the two verbs is reversed. As Manichee he was acting just as the adversary of the Psalmist would act; and the fate the Psalmist prayed for came down upon him--and it was good for him.

    corpus unici tui: Col. 1.18, `et ipse est caput corporis ecclesiae, qui est principium, primogenitus ex mortuis ut sit in omnibus ipse primatum tenens'; Col. 1.24, `qui nunc gaudeo in passionibus pro vobis et adimpleo ea quae desunt passionum Christi in carne mea pro corpore eius, quod est ecclesia.' Unicus is not in the Vulgate, but not infrequent in A. only for Christ: also at 7.9.14, 9.8.17, 10.43.69, 10.43.70, 11.2.4, 13.2.3, 13.13.14, 13.34.49 (see on 1.7.12 for une of the Father; BA 72.234n34 with parallels); en. Ps. 102.6, `unicus filius dei'.

    nomen Christi: See on 3.4.8. The allusion is to A.'s initiation as catechumen (1.11.17).

    nugas: The slur is directed against others at 3.10.18 (`perductus ad eas nugas ut crederem ficum plorare'), 7.6.8 (`flagrabant in eas nugas [mathematicorum]').

    te creatorem omnium: Amb. hymn. 1.2.1 (see 9.12.32).

    undique terminatum: See on 6.3.4, `te determinatum'.

    text of 6.4.6

    6.4.6

    He heard from Ambrose a principle that would lay open all of Christian teaching to him, but he allowed it to work only so far as to weaken his attachment to anything else and to tear down the barriers that separated him from Christianity. He could have looked upon the truth now with `purgatior acies mentis', and he did not. Cf. util. cred. 8.20, quoted in prolegomena. At 5.14.24, A. reported the first impression Amb.'s sermons made: a similar reliance on 2 Cor. 3.6, with perhaps a difference. There he reports that Amb. showed, by the practical application of that verse (echoed there not as attributed to Amb., but as part of A.'s own interpretation in making sense of the episode), that various passages of scripture were not taken by catholics in the way A. had thought they must be; here, Amb. is reported as expounding directly the principle implied by 2 Cor. 3.6.

    illo oculo . . . audiebam: A.'s erroneous reading of scripture is put in visual, literal terms, while the key to his correct reading comes through the sense of hearing.

    quo . . . absurda: 5.14.24, `non absurde obiecta refellerent'.

    popularibus: Cf. 6.3.4, `in populo . . . tractantem'; more than a third of A.'s own surviving œuvre consists of transcripts of sermons (chiefly sermones, en. Ps. and Io. ev. tr.), and he calls them `sermones populares' at civ. 17.17; see on 6.3.3.

    littera occidit, spiritus autem vivificat: 2 Cor. 3.6, `littera occidit, spiritus autem vivificat'; for Amb.'s sermons citing this text, see Courcelle, Recherches 98n4, and Solignac, BA 13.141n1 and see on 5.14.24. This text could have played a much more visible role in A.'s exegetical principle and practice than it did, and we must be careful how we interpret it. The distinction is one that A. often employed, as early as 388/90 in Gn. c. man. 2.2.3, `sane quisquis voluerit omnia quae dicta sunt secundum litteram accipere, id est non aliter intellegere quam littera sonat, et potuerit evitare blasphemias et omnia congruentia fidei catholicae praedicare, non solum ei non est invidendum sed praecipuus multumque laudabilis intellector habendus est. si autem nullus exitus datur, ut pie et digne deo quae scripta sunt intellegantur, nisi figurate atque in aenigmatibus proposita ista credamus, habentes auctoritatem apostolicam, a quibus tam multa de libris veteris testamenti solvuntur aenigmata, modum quem intendimus teneamus, adiuvante illo qui nos petere, quaerere et pulsare adhortatur, ut omnes istas figuras rerum secundum catholicam fidem, sive quae ad historiam sive quae ad prophetiam pertinent, explicemus, non praeiudicantes meliori diligentiorique tractatui, sive per nos sive per alios dominus revelare dignatur.'

    But that passage takes a strongly pro-literal view, seeing allegory as an escape from difficulties and praising the man who can expound scripture without recourse to it--hardly the view of Amb. endorsed here. The first significant appearance of the scripture citation is in the first work A. wrote as an ordained clergyman: util. cred. 3.9, `in quibus tamen legis praeceptis atque mandatis, quibus nunc christianos uti fas non est, quale vel sabbatum est vel circumcisio vel sacrificia et si quid huiusmodi est, tanta mysteria continentur ut omnis pius intellegat nihil esse perniciosius quam quidquid ibi est accipi ad litteram, id est ad verbum; nihil autem salubrius quam spiritu revelari. inde est: “littera occidit, spiritus autem vivificat.”' So also exp. prop. Rom. 10(11), div. qu. Simp. 1.1.17.

    That view persists through conf. and fills the pages of doctr. chr. (e.g., 3.5.9), but it was not A.'s last word on the subject. In commenting on the util. cred. in retr., A. quibbles with his own interpretation: retr. 1.14.1, `in hoc libro dixi, "in quibus tamen legis praeceptis . . . inde est, `littera occidit, spiritus autem vivificat'." sed aliter exposui verba ista apostoli Pauli et, quantum mihi videtur vel potius ipsis rebus apparet, multo convenientius in eo libro qui inscribitur "de spiritu et littera" [spir. et litt. 5.7, `non de figuratis locutionibus dictum, quamvis et illic congruenter accipiatur, sed potius de lege aperte quod malum est prohibente' ], quamvis non sit et sensus iste respuendus.' In spir. et litt. (esp. 4.6-5.8) the passage becomes a key to interpretation not merely of texts but of conduct and history. This re-reading of the verse saves the OT from over-allegorism: spir. et litt. 14.23 makes this clear, for there are for A. precepts of the Law of the OT that are not simply `umbrae futuri' but that remain characteristics of just action (the decalogue is instanced). A similar spirit motivates a work of controverted authenticity, the speculum quis ignorat: most recently vindicated for A. by A. Mutzenbecher, REAug 30(1984), 60-83 and A.-M. La Bonnardière, Augustin et la Bible (Paris, 1986), 401-409, it had been impugned by G. de Plinval (Aug. Mag. 1.187-192) who saw in its commandment-centered approach a virtual Pelagianism. But the tendency is exactly that of spir. et litt., the first anti-Pelagian work from A.'s pen. (On A.'s exegesis there is an extensive literature [for survey, La Bonnardière's Augustin et la Bible is excellent]; on its pertinence here, cf. J. Pépin, RA 1[1958], 243-286.)

    remoto mystico velamento: 2 Cor. 3.14-16, `usque in hodiernum enim diem idipsum velamen in lectione veteris testamenti manet, non revelatum, quoniam in Christo evacuatur; (15) sed usque in hodiernum diem, cum legitur Moyses velamen positum est super cor eorum; (16) cum autem conversus fuerit ad dominum auferetur velamen.' The image of the `veil' serves in lieu of letter/spirit in many of A.'s early works; Mayer, Zeichen 2.465, cites from the anti-Manichean period alone numerous echoes, e.g., Gn. c. man. 1.22.33 (`velamen enim aufertur quando similitudinis et allegoriae cooperimento ablato veritas nudatur ut possit videri'), 2.26.40, Gal. exp. 22, s. dom. m. 2.20.68, c. ep. fund. 11, div. qu. Simp. 2. pr. , c. Faust. 6.3, 12.23, and adn. Iob on 26.8 and 38.32.

    tenebam enim cor: G-M: `A complex word-play. There is, first, an allusion to the suspense of judgment which the Academics advocated (refrenationem et quasi suspensionem assensionis,; c. acad. 2.5.12), further timens praecipitium seems to hint that adsensio plays on ascensio as suspendium does on suspensio. The word-play may be roughly reproduced thus: “I hung back from every assent, dreading precipitation, and died by hanging instead.”'

    septem et tria decem: This truth is a benchmark of certitude for A., early and late in life, even when all else is in doubt: c. acad. 2.3.9 (quoted in next note), lib. arb. 2.8.21, `septem autem et tria decem sunt et non solum nunc sed etiam semper neque ullo modo aliquando septem et tria non fuerunt decem aut aliquando septem et tria non erunt decem'; sim. at lib. arb. 2.12.34, ep. 162.2 (414/15). On the numerology, doctr. chr. 2.16.25, `porro autem denarius numerus creatoris atque creaturae significat scientiam; nam trinitas creatoris est, septenarius autem numerus creaturam indicat propter vitam et corpus. nam in illa tria sunt, unde etiam “toto corde, tota anima, tota mente” diligendus est deus; in corpore autem manifestissima quattuor apparent, quibus constat, elementa.'

    comprehendi: on this word's Academic sense, see on 5.10.19.

    purgatior acies: c. acad. 2.3.9, `ego enim nunc aliud nihil ago quam me ipse purgo a vanis perniciosisque opinionibus. . . . cavete ne quid vos nosse arbitremini, nisi quod ita didiceritis saltem, ut nostis unum duo tria quattuor simul conlecta in summam fieri decem.' Cf. Plotinus 1.6.9.25-32, ean de iêi epi tên thean lêmôn kakiais kai ou kekatharmenos ê asthenês, anandriai ou dunamenos ta panu lampra blepein, ouden blepei, kan allos deiknuêi paron to horathênai dunamenon. to gar horôn pros to horômenon sungenes kai homoin poiêsamenon dei epiballein têi theai. ou gar an pôpote eiden ophthalmos hêlion hêlioeidês mê gegenêmenos, oude to kalon an idoi psuchê mê kalê genomen. He could thus now have attempted with some success the `ascent' of the mind (as he is reported to have done at 7.10.16 and 7.17.23), but he did no such thing. If this be taken as a Plotinian echo, its purpose is to situate this moment on the trajectory leading to and past those `tentatives.' For the purification of vision that does come, see on 7.8.12, `collyrio'.

    veritatem tuam semper manentem: Cf. Ps. 116.2, `et veritas domini manet in aeternum'; en. Ps. 116, `sive in eis quae promisit iustis, sive in eis quae minatus est impiis.'

    ne falsa crederet: What he sought in Manicheism was solid reasonable argument, but he discovered it to be mere, even vulgar, faith. When disabused of that faith, his earlier faith in reason and argument supervenes and leads him towards, but not into, the Christian community.

    resistens manibus tuis: Cf. Ps. 16.8, `a resistentibus dextrae tuae custode me'; cf. Dan. 4.32, `et non est qui resistat manui eius, et dicat ei, quare fecisti?'

    medicamenta fidei: vera rel. 24.45, `animae medicina . . . tribuitur . . . in auctoritatem atque rationem. auctoritas fidem flagitat et rationi praeparat hominem. ratio ad intellectum cognitionemque perducit, quamquam neque auctoritatem ratio penitus deserit, cum consideratur cui credendum sit, et certe summa est ipsius iam cognitae atque perspicuae veritatis auctoritas. sed quia in temporalia devenimus et eorum amore ab aeternis impedimur, quaedam temporalis medicina, quae non scientes sed credentes ad salutem vocat, non naturae excellentia, sed ipsius temporis ordine prior est. nam in quem locum quisque ceciderit, ibi debet incumbere ut surgat.'

    text of 6.5.7

    6.5.7

    sive esset quid: Setting aside the question of natural theology: `whether it was something [demonstrable] and there was, as it happened [forte], no one to whom it was [demonstrable/demonstrated], or whether it just was not something [demonstrable] at all.'

    illic: i.e., inter manichaeos.

    absurdissima: Though himself enamored of paradox, A. retains the label absurdus for outwardly contradictory propositions that he himself chooses to disown, and he is fond of introducing such dismissals with the phrase, `nihil absurdius quam' (in conf. cf. 12.2.2, `non absurde', and 12.29.40, `non est absurdus'). In the present context, `fabulosissima' denotes the origin of the Manichean doctrines, `absurdissima' their irrational quality. Contrast the disintegrating absurditas of scripture at 6.5.8.

    credenda imperari: In one way A. became an Academic in 385 and never gave up that sect. He ceased to believe that philosophical argument and demonstration will ever lead to the essential truth. The most that can be expected of the rationalist Manichees is that they will offer scientia, mock credulitas, and then proffer their own implausible credenda.

    consideranti: agrees with `mihi' below.

    quam innumerabilia crederem: Cf. the whole of f. invis., written in 400, one of A.'s post-conf. literary tasks, an extended footnote to this chapter, a sign of the strength he conceded in the arguments of those who felt that Christianity was all authority and no reason. (See also util. cred. 9.21-14.32) f. invis. 1.1, `sunt qui putant christianam religionem propterea ridendam potius quam tenendam, quia in ea non res quae videatur ostenditur, sed fides rerum quae non videntur hominibus imperatur. . . . admonendi sunt quam multa non solum credant, verum etiam sciant, quae talibus oculis videri non possunt. quae cum sint innumerabilia in ipso animo nostro . . .'

    de quibus parentibus ortus essem: See on 1.6.7, `non enim ego memini', from the infancy narrative, on his reliance on others to tell him of his own life; f. invis. 2.4, `coguntur fateri incertos sibi esse parentes suos.'

    persuasisti mihi: Faith comes first as faith in the authority of scripture; not in any doctrines taught by or through scripture, but just in scripture itself (n.b., this is a form of faith in the incarnate Word, incarnate in the scriptural text: see on 6.5.8, `quae via'), as the necessary preliminary to learning any doctrine from the scriptural text. From here forward, everything A. does and hears and says in the rest of Bks. 6-8 are the acts of a man who accepts the authority of scripture. (Note the discretion of this paragraph: specific scriptural authority is cited not at all.)

    quos . . . fundasti: Cf. culmen auctoritatis et sim. of scripture often elsewhere (6.5.8, 6.11.19, 12.16.23, and 12.26.36). It is first glance naive of A. to suggest that Christian scripture holds a special and privileged position of authority that even a Platonist reader (as when such a phrase occurs at civ. 10.32) might be expected to recognize. The kernel of truth is that Christianity was a profoundly and publicly textual and historical community. The scriptures were not an esoteric possession, jealously guarded, and their message was factual and historic in its form, depending on neither mystery nor myth nor mere argument and theory. The advantage was one that Christians jealously guarded and pressed, and, as here, proclaimed proudly. It is thus not mere brag and bluster, but a serious attempt to characterize and explain literary success, when he begins civ. 11.1, `civitatem dei dicimus, cuius ea scriptura testis est quae non fortuitis motibus animorum, sed plane summae dispositione providentiae super omnes omnium gentium litteras omnia sibi genera ingeniorum humanorum divina excellens auctoritate subiecit.' Auctoritas was, inter alia, an antidote to Academic skepticism, as the sketch of his opinions at util. cred. 8.20 (`saepe rursus intuens . . .': quoted in prolegomena). The standard study is K. H. Lütcke, `Auctoritas' bei Augustin (Stuttgart, 1968).

    per tam multa . . . philosophorum: 5.3.3, `multa philosophorum legeram'.

    ut aliquando . . . pertinere: The antecedent faith in the existence of God and divine care for human affairs is one commonly held among the philosophers and sects of the time (cf. Cic., nat. deor. 2.1.3, `primum docent [nostri] esse deos, deinde quales sint, tum mundum ab eis administrari, postremo consulere eos rebus humanis'). A. does not regard that faith as a specifically Christian one, nor does he introduce it to indicate that he regards it as a sign of progress; it is the obverse of one failure he never risked. (The first lines of 6.5.8 further qualify this element of faith.) See Boeth. cons. 1. P6.5 and 1. P6.20 for a similar reduction to the bare minimum of belief in God and his concern for human affairs.

    text of 6.5.8

    6.5.8

    id: The minimalist faith just outlined at the end of 6.5.7.

    ignorabam: An ignorance cured in Bk. 7.

    quae via: i.e., Christ--this looks ahead to the end of Bk. 7 and the substance of Bk. 8; see on 7.7.11.

    cum essemus infirmi: Rom. 5.6, `ut quid enim Christus, cum adhuc infirmi essemus, secundum tempus pro impiis mortuus est?' Reception of scripture is thus tied to the incarnation (see on 6.5.7).

    veritatem: i.e., Christ.

    auctoritate sanctarum litterarum: For A. `authority' is in its origin empirical rather than innate; the respect shown to scriptural texts is itself the proof of authority.

    absurditatem: the noun form is first attested in A., in whom it is abundant: cf. TLLs.v. (Hrdlicka 11); see on 6.5.7, `absurdissima'.

    exposita audissem: A rare hint of pre-Ambrosian Christian preaching to which A. gave heed; see 5.11.21 for a more explicit reminiscence.

    sacramentorum altitudinem: No attempt to distinguish rigorously between sacramentum as `mysterious signification within a text' and as `religious ritual, e.g., baptism' will succeed in dealing with A.'s texts. Many texts can be placed under one or the other of those headings, but there are others that defy such categorization. The bishop's role is often characterized in aptly ambiguous form, e.g., 11.2.2, `et sacramentum tuum dispensare populo tuo' (cf. 10.30.41, 6.7.12). Those texts probably speak to the bishop's priestly function, but as preacher he was equally responsible for mediating sacramenta (cf. 6.9.15, `[Alypius] futurus dispensator verbi tui') to his flock. The underlying distinction to be kept in mind is that of `things' and `signs' (doctr. chr. 1): texts and rituals are both `signs' hence `sacraments' in that sense. Scripture is the sacramentum par excellence (BA 13.532n: `le lieu des sacramenta'). See on 1.11.17, `sacramentis'; cf. also G-M on 4.2.3, citing c. Faust. 19.16, `sacramenta legis et prophetarum'.

    verbis apertissimis . . . intentionem eorum: The taste for a text both outwardly accessible and inwardly mysterious is part of A.'s thought, though there is little to say just when the taste arose. Nothing in A.'s own career as student and professor of classical literature aims in such a direction; as he presents himself, he was a literal and downright young man.5 doctr. chr. 2-3 is devoted to the method, which is part of the appeal of Christianity at ep. 137.5.18, `modus autem ipse dicendi quo sancta scriptura contexitur, quam omnibus accessibilis, quamvis paucissimis penetrabilis! ea quae aperta continet, quasi amicus familiaris sine fuco ad cor loquitur indoctorum atque doctorum; ea vero quae in mysteriis occultat, nec ipsa eloquio superbo erigit . . . sed invitat omnes humili sermone, quos non solum manifesta pascat, sed etiam secreta exerceat veritate'. (The notion of a sermo humilis goes back to the classical doctrine of the three styles, and animated A.'s own rhetorical theory: doctr. chr. 4.17.34ff.)

    leves corde: Sirach 19.4, `qui credit cito, levis corde est'.

    sinu: cf. `gremio', apparently the same. The church accepts all and has something to offer for all (unlike a gnostic cult), even though relatively few come through the needle's eye--but more, he hastens to add, than would ever get through were this auctoritas not provided.

    per angusta foramina: Mt. 19.24, `facilius est camelum per foramen acus transire quam divitem intrare in regnum caelorum'; and cf. Mt. 7.13 quoted below.

    auctoritatis: A. seems to have forgotten that the subject of the sentence (hence even of `emineret' here) is itself `auctoritas'.

    suspirabam . . . fluctuabam: The same collocation of verbs of Alypius at 6.10.17.

    viam saeculi latam: Mt. 7.13-14, `intrate per angustam portam, quia lata porta et spatiosa via quae ducit ad perditionem et multi sunt qui intrant per eam. (14) quam angusta porta et arta via quae ducit ad vitam! et pauci sunt qui inveniunt eum.' Cf. the broad ways leading to perdition at 6.14.24 and 7.6.8; cf. also 6.6.9, `inhiabam'.

    text of 6.6.9

    6.6.9

    inhiabam: He sees himself firmly in the grip of ambitio saeculi (and probably not concupiscentia carnis: marriage by this time represented career advancement) beginning to go sour; Bk. 6 will mark several stages of disillusionment with such hopes. Cf. in this paragraph `cupiditatibus', `talibus conatibus nostris', `cupiditatum', `ambiebam', `ambitionibus', `placere inde quaerebam hominibus'.

    inridebas: See on 1.6.7, `inrisor meus'.

    dulcescere: See on 1.4.4, `dulcedo mea sancta'.

    vide . . . domine: Lam. 1.9-11, `vide domine adflictionem meum . . . vide domine'.

    vide cor meum: 4.6.11, `ecce cor meum, deus meus, ecce intus; vide, quia memini, spes mea.'

    tibi inhaereat anima mea: Ps. 72.28, `mihi autem ad-/inhaerere deo bonum est' (see on 7.11.17).

    visco: Also at 6.12.22 and cf. 10.30.42; the image more explicitly: s. 255.7.7, `visco malarum cupiditatum involutas pennas habens'; s. 311.4.4, `quod amas in terra, impedimentum est: viscum est pennarum spiritalium, hoc est virtutum, quibus volatur ad deum'; also at trin. 8.2.3, quoted on 7.10.16.

    relictis omnibus: Lk. 5.11, `et subductis ad terram navibus, relictis omnibus secuti sunt illum' (of the call of Peter, James, and John); Lk. 5.28, `et relictis omnibus surgens secutus est eum' (the call of Levi/Matthew).

    converteretur: Ps. 21.28, `et convertentur ad dominum universi fines terrae'; Ps. 50.15, `et impii ad te convertentur'.

    qui es super omnia: Rom. 9.5, `qui est super omnia deus benedictus in saecula'.

    sine quo nulla essent omnia: Sim. at 4.10.15 and 10.27.38.

    converteretur et sanaretur: Is. 6.10, `excaeca cor populi huius. . . . ne forte videat oculis suis, et auribus suis audiat, et corde suo intellegat, et convertatur, et sanem eum' --quoted (via LXX) at Mt. 13.15.

    miser: The adj. to describe A. in conf. at 1.16.26, 2.6.12, 2.8.16, 3.2.4, 3.10.18, 4.5.10, 4.6.11, 4.15.24, 6.6.9, 8.7.17--all in the pre-conversion books; after that only at 10.28.39, `misericors es, miser sum', and 10.40.65, `hic esse valeo nec volo, illic volo nec valeo, miser utrubique' --at the beginning and end of the long examination of conscience that catalogues the remnants of fallenness and unconversion A. sees in himself.

    pararem . . . laudes: The only occasion on which we are certain that A. delivered such a panegyric was the accession to the consulship of Bauto in January 385: c. litt. Pet. 3.25.30, `cum ego Mediolanium ante Bautonem consulem venerim eique consuli calendis Ianuariis laudem in tanto conventu conspectuque hominum pro mea tunc rhetorica professione recitaverim'. The argument of Courcelle, Recherches 80-82, that this passage must refer to the decennalia of Valentinian II, has been confounded by C. Lepelley, Atti-1986 1.109, drawing on the researches of A. Chastagnol to show that the decennalia would have taken place not in 385, as had been generally assumed, but in 384, too soon after A.'s arrival.

    cogitationum . . . aestuaret: Cf. 2.2.3, `exaestuarent fluctus', with 7.7.11, `fluctibus cogitationis'.

    pauperem mendicum: The sight of a beggar would have rubbed a moral sore spot for A. at this period no matter what other reflections it aroused. Manichean doctrine, often stingingly rebuked by A. in after years, taught that beggars should not be aided: e.g., mor. 2.15.36, quoted on 3.10.18, `si quis enim esuriens peteret'.

    amicis: His friends are always around, still unnamed; see on 6.7.11.

    omnibus talibus conatibus nostris: His Manichean efforts similarly went for naught at 5.7.13, `conatus omnis meus . . .'

    sarcinam: 4.7.12, `sarcina miseriae'.

    laetitiam: The word is used in bono and in malo, but esp. (see on 6.2.2) of the African rites at tombs of martyrs that A. tried to abolish.

    emendicatis: The word is unusual, and occurs notably in contexts of ambitio: for details, see on 10.38.63. It is ironic there, and it occurs here in a similar context, with another ironic twist. Where people usually `beg for' the signs of power and position, all this mendicus has acquired is a little loose change, which suffices him.

    anfractibus et circuitibus: A. pursues these circuitus as early as 4.1.1 and as late as 8.2.3. For the vocabulary, mag. 10.31, `quanto tandem circuitu res tantilla peracta sit, meministine quaeso? . . . [Adeodatus:] vellem quidem tantis ambagibus atque anfractibus esset ad certa perventum.'

    sed placere: Ps. 52.6, `quoniam deus dissipavit ossa hominibus placentium'; en. Ps. 52.9, `volentes placere hominibus, timuerunt perdere locum. . . . inde dissipata sunt ossa eorum, illius [sc. Christi in cruce] ossa nemo confregit.'

    baculo disciplinae tuae: Cf. Ps. 22.4, `virga tua et baculus tuus, ipsa me consolata sunt'; en. Ps. 22.4, `disciplina tua tamquam virga ad gregem ovium, et tamquam baculus iam ad grandiores filios et ab animali vita ad spiritalem crescentes, ipsa me non afflixerunt, magis consolata sunt; quia memor es mei.'

    confringebas ossa mea: Ps. 41.11, `utquid contristatus incedo, dum affligit me inimicus, dum confringit ossa mea'; en. Ps. 41.18, `ossa enim fortes sunt, et aliquando ipsi fortes temptationibus cedunt.' Cf. Is. 38.13, `sperabam usque ad mane quasi leo; sic contrivit omnia ossa mea.'

    text of 6.6.10

    6.6.10

    recedant ergo ab anima mea: Cf. Jer. 6.8, `erudire Hierusalem, ne forte recedat anima mea a te, ne forte ponam te desertam terram inhabitabilem.'

    qui dicunt: who? the worldly-wise? Just below, `interest vero' admits some truth to the objection, but places it in a different perspective.