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The Role of Rhetoric and Delight in the Theology of Saint Augustine of Hippo

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The Role of Rhetoric and Delight in the Theology of Saint Augustine of Hippo Durham E-Theses Eloquent Wisdom: The Role of Rhetoric and Delight in the Theology of Saint Augustine of Hippo CLAVIER, MARK,FORBES,MORETON How to cite: CLAVIER, MARK,FORBES,MORETON (2011) Eloquent Wisdom: The Role of Rhetoric and Delight in the Theology of Saint Augustine of Hippo, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/601/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Eloquent Wisdom: The Role of Rhetoric and Delight in the Theology of Saint Augustine of Hippo The Rev. Mark Forbes Moreton Clavier Submitted for PhD University of Durham Department of Theology and Religion 2010 Abstract This study examines Augustine’s conception of the role of delight (delectatio ) in the divine acts of creation and redemption. In the first part of the dissertation, I argue that Augustine, who was trained as a rhetor and taught rhetoric before his conversion, came to conceive of theology as the fulfilment of Cicero’s conviction that wisdom and eloquence ought to be united. His approach to Cicero’s rhetorical theory as found in De inventione , De oratore , and Orator shares many similarities with that of Late Antique rhetors (especially Marius Victorinus) in whose works the orator functions less as a statesman than as a physician of the soul. Accordingly, an orator’s role is not to sway the senate or deliberate in law courts (as in Cicero’s thought) but to inform and persuade people towards a fruitful return to the divine. In the second part of the dissertation, I demonstrate how this approach influenced Augustine’s understanding of redemption. He conceives of God as Cicero’s ideal orator, in whom wisdom and eloquence are perfectly united. God engages in a rhetorical contest with the devil whom Augustine portrays in terms of the false orators in Cicero’s De inventione . The devil’s rhetoric comprises an illicit delight in actual sin and an inordinate delight in created goods, both of which exert their power over the human will through suggestion, delight and persuasion and result in a bondage to sin and death. By contrast, God ‘utters’ creation as a delightful song and opposes death’s nihilistic rhetoric by pouring his own delight into the hearts of the faithful; this delight persuades the will to move towards a joyful participation in the divine that is the happy life for which all people long. Ultimately, Augustine identifies this spiritual delight most closely with the Holy Spirit who functions as God’s eternal eloquence. 2 Statement of Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 3 Table of Contents Abbreviations 6 1. Introduction 8 A Beleaguered Rhetor in a Beleaguered City 8 ‘...now I have grown old ’ 11 Augustine: Rhetor and Theologian 14 Delight 18 A Rhetorical Theology 25 PART I: RHETORIC 2. The Ideal Orator 38 Late Republican Rhetoric 42 ‘... quidam eloquens ’: Cicero 48 Late Roman Rhetoric 58 ‘...cuius...eloquia strenue ministrabant...populo tuo ’: Bishops 67 3. The Philosophical Rhetor 73 Marius Victorinus 73 Augustine and Cicero 83 Augustine’s Education 85 Augustine’s Conversion 92 De doctrina Christiana 98 PART II: DELIGHT 4. Participation 117 Participatory Existence 118 Creatio and Formatio 124 Conversio 128 Permaneo 132 Participatory Redemption 139 4 Earlier Texts 140 Expositio epistulae ad Galatas and Confessiones 149 Participatory Redemption in Augustine’s Sermons 154 Book IV of De Trinitate 4 158 Participatory Life 160 5. Worldly Delights 163 Introduction—Delectatio 163 Worldly Delight 169 Illicit Delight 171 Temporal Delight 180 Consuetudo 193 6. Delectatio Domini 206 ‘... to contemplate the Lord’s delight ’ 207 Delight and Creation 216 De ordine and De musica 217 ‘Measure, number and order ’ 228 Beata Vita 237 Participation and the Happy Life 240 7. Beata Delectatio 250 The Holy Spirit 252 Communio 252 Dilectio et Caritas 257 Donum Dei 262 The Rhetorical Contest 267 Romans 5.5 270 Romans 7 278 De spiritu et littera 296 Delectatio Victrix 298 Conclusion 300 Bibliography 304 5 Abbreviations Series CCL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latin (Turnhout: Brepols, 1953-) CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna: Tempsky, 1865-) LCL Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge: Harvard University Press) PL Patrologia Latina, Cursus Completus ed. by J.-P. Migne (Paris: 1857-1866) Ancient Works Augustine b. vita De beata vita c. Jul. imp. Contra Julianum opus imperfectum conf. Confessiones diu. qu. 83 De diuersis quaestionibus 83 doc. chr. De doctrina Christiana en. Ps. Ennarationes in Psalmos ep. Epistulae ex. Gal. Expositio Epistulae ad Galatos ex. prop. Rm. Expositio quarundam propositionum ex epistula ad Romanos fid. et sym. De fide et symbolo Gn. adu. Man. De Genesi aduersus Manicheos Gn. litt. De Genesi ad litteram Gn. litt. imp. De Genesi ad litteram imperfectus liber Jo. eu. tr. In Johannis euangelium Tractatus lib. arb. De libero arbitrio mor. De moribus ecclesiae Catholicae et de moribus Manichaeorum mus. De musica ord. De ordine quant. De quantitate animae retr. Retractationes s. Sermones s. Dom. mon. De sermone Domini in monte Simpl. Ad Simplicianum 6 spir. et litt. De spiritu et litteram trin. De trinitate vera. rel. De vera religione Cicero De inv. De inventione De orat. De oratore Off. De officiis Juvenal Sat. Saturae Seneca the Elder Con. Controversiae Marius Victorinus In Cic. Rhet. Explanationes in Ciceronis Rhetoricam 7 1 Introduction A Beleaguered Rhetor in a Beleaguered City By summer of 384, Augustine had been vexed beyond endurance. His experience of Rome had been a disagreeable one and he was eager to escape from the Eternal City. The omens had been poor from the start. First, he had to endure the tearful entreaties of his mother Monica to remain in North Africa or, if he must go, to take her with him. 1 Next, no sooner had he arrived than he fell seriously ill and believed himself to be ‘on the way to the underworld’. 2 Perhaps worst of all for a man schooled in rhetoric and whose reputation and position in life were due entirely to his teaching of rhetoric, he found his new situation in Rome, which he had admired from afar, very disappointing. Apparently, Augustine’s reputation and influential contacts were such that he had little trouble attracting pupils. Infuriatingly, however, he soon discovered that the well-heeled Roman students had a disagreeable habit of transferring to a new rhetor once payment of their fees was due. 3 No wonder Augustine was ready to endorse the decision of so many prominent Romans— including the emperors—and return to enjoying the idea of Rome from afar instead of its reality from close proximity. Fortunately, Augustine had come into the orbit of one of the most prominent men of late Roman society: Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, an immensely powerful senator, vocal defender of traditional paganism, and profuse litterateur. 4 By his own 1 conf. 5.8.15. 2 conf. 5.9.16. 3 conf. 5.12.22. 4 On Symmachus, see John Matthews, Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court AD 364-425 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), 1-31; John Matthews, The Roman Empire of Ammianus 8 account, Augustine caught Symmachus’s attention partly through the networking of his Manichean friends and partly through an impromptu oration he delivered before Symmachus. 5 As a result, the old senator, still smarting perhaps from his recent political duel with Ambrose over the removal of the Altar of Victory, selected Augustine to become the new rhetor in Milan. 6 With his travel expenses covered by the imperial court, Augustine bade farewell to Rome and, though he did not yet know it, his former life. His move from the orbit of Symmachus into the orbit of Ambrose marked the beginning of his own conversion to Christianity; although he owed his advancement to the help of his Manichean friends, already he had come to reject the religion that he had shared for nine years. 7 Milan of the fourth century was with Trier one of the two administrative centres of the Western Empire. 8 When Augustine arrived in the autumn of 384, the court of the young emperor Valentinian II had for seven years resided defenceless at Milan. Though Augustine now taught rhetoric near the centre of western authority, he had come to an unhappy and beleaguered city. The empire itself was in disarray following the crushing defeat of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople (378), and even as Augustine contemplated leaving Rome, in far away Britain Magnus Maximus (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989), passim ; and Neil B. McLynn, Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), passim . 5 conf. 5.13.23. 6 McLynn, Ambrose of Milan , 169-170 proposes that the fact that Symmachus had been asked to find a rhetor for Milan and that he chose an unknown provincial for the post highlights the political weakness of the adolescent emperor.
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