Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Athens-BOI

76
AUGUSTINE
tion. He engaged restlessly in philosophical studies, and
passed from one phase of thought to another, unable to
find satisfaction in any. Manichmism first enthralled him.
Its doctrine of two principles, one of good and one of evil,
seemed to answer to the wild confusion of his own heart,
and the conflict of higher and lower impulses which raged
within him. It seemed to solve the mysteries which per¬
plexed him in his own experience and in the world. He
became a member of the sect, and entered into the class of
auditors. His ambition was to be received among the
number of the Elect, and so get to the heart of what he
believed to be their higher knowledge. But falling in with
Faustus, a distinguished Manichaean bishop and disputant,
and entering into discussion with him, he was greatly dis¬
appointed. The system lost its attraction for him; he
gradually became disgusted, and abandoned it. But before
this he had left Carthage, shocked with the licence of the
students, and had betaken himself for a time to Borne in the
pursuit of his profession. There he also soon became dis¬
satisfied, and accepted an invitation to proceed to Milan,
where the people were in search of a teacher of rhetoric.
He travelled thither at the public expense, and was
welcomed by friends who already seem to have recognised
his distinction [Confess., i. 16).
At Milan the conflict of his mind in search of truth still
continued. He was now in his thirtieth year, and for
eleven years he had been seeking for mental rest, unable to
find it. “ To-morrow, ” he said to himself, “ I shall find
it: it will appear manifestly, and I shall grasp it ” [Con¬
fess., vi. 18). But it still eluded his grasp, and he sunk
back again into despondency. The way, however, was
being prepared for his conversion. Ambrose was bishop
of Milan, and, although he had a weak voice, was noted
for his eloquence. Augustine was attracted by his reputa¬
tion, and went to hear the famous Christian preacher in
order, as he himself relates [Confess., v. 23), “ to see
whether his eloquence answered what was reported of it.
I hung on his words attentively, ” he adds, “ but of the
matter I was but an unconcerned and contemptuous hearer.”
He confesses his delight so far : “ The bishop’s eloquence
was more full of knowledge, yet in manner less pleasurable
and soothing, than that of Faustus.” He wished an
opportunity of conversation with him, but this was not
easily found. Ambrose had no leisure for philosophic
discussion. He was accessible to all who sought him, but
never for a moment free from study or the cares of duty.
“Augustine used to enter, as all persons might, without
being announced ; but after staying for a while, afraid of
interrupting him, he departed again.” He continued,
however, to hear Ambrose preach, and gradually the
gospel of divine truth and grace was received into his
heart. First Plato and then St Paul opened his mind to
higher thoughts, and at length certain words of the latter
were driven home with irresistible force to his conscience.
He was busy with his friend Alypius in studying the
Pauline epistles. His struggle of mind became intolerable;
the thought of divine purity fighting in his heart with the
love of the world and of the flesh. He burst into an incon-
trollable flood of tears and rushed out into his garden,
flinging himself under a fig tree that he might allow his
tears to have full vent, and pour out his heart to God.
Suddenly he seemed to hear a voice calling upon him to
consult the divine oracle, “ Take up and read, take up and
read.” He left off weeping, rose up, and sought the volume
where Alypius was sitting, and opening it read in silence
the following passage : “Hot in rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and
envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make
not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof ” (B,om.
xiii. 13, 14). He adds, “ I had neither desire nor need to
read farther. As I finished the sentence, as though the
light of peace had been poured into my heart, all the
shadows of doubt dispersed. Thus hast Thou converted
me to Thee, so as no longer to seek either for wife or other
hope of the world, standing fast in that rule of faith in
which Thou so many years before hadst revealed me to my
mother ” [Confess., viii. 30).
After his conversion, which is supposed to have occurred
in the summer of 386, Augustine gave up his profession as
a teacher of rhetoric, and retired to a friend’s house in the
country, in order to prepare himself for baptism. His
religious opinions were still to some extent unformed, and
even his habits by no means altogether such as his great
change demanded. He mentions, for example, that during
this time he broke himself off a habit of profane swearing,
and in other ways sought to discipline his character and
conduct for the reception of the sacred rite. He received
baptism in Easter following, in his thirty-third year; and
along with him his son Adeodatus and his friend Alypias
were admitted to the Christian church. Monica, his mother,
had rejoined him, and at length rejoiced in the fulfilment
of her prayers. Dying before his return to his native
country, her last hours were gladdened by his Christian
sympathy. She implored him to lay her body anywhere,
but wherever he might be to remember her “ at the altar
of the Lord,” a devout duty which he invites others to share
with him, so that her last request may, “through the prayers
of many,” receive a more abundant fulfilment.
Augustine went back to Borne for a short period and
then returned to his native city, where he took up his abode
in retirement, forming, with some friends who joined him
in devotion, a small religious community, which looked to
him as its head. They had all things in common, as in the
early church, and fasting and prayer, Scripture reading and
almsgiving, formed their regular occupations. Their mode
of life was not formally monastic according to any special
rule, but the experience of this time of seclusion was,
no doubt, the basis of that monastic system which Augus¬
tine afterwards sketched, and which derived from him its
name. Solitary monasticism had sprang up in the Egyptian
deserts before this. The life of St Anthony by Athanasius
had widely diffused the fervour for religious solitariness,,
and greatly touched Augustine at this period of his pro¬
fession. It did not remain for him, therefore, to originate
the monastic idea ; but the association of monks in com¬
munities under a definite order and head received a special
impulse both from Ambrose and his illustrious convert.
As may be imagined, the fame of such a convert in such a
position soon spread, and invitations to a more active
ecclesiastical life came to him from many quarters. He
shrank from the responsibility, but his destiny was not to
be avoided. After three years spent in retirement he took
a journey to Hippo, to see a Christian friend, who desired
to converse with him as to his design of quitting the world
and devoting himself to a religious life. He was the less
reluctant to make this journey, because there being already
a bishop at Hippo he hoped to escape all solicitation. But
although the Christian community there had a bishop, they
wanted a presbyter; and Augustine being present at the
meeting called to choose a presbyter, the people unani¬
mously chose him. He burst into tears, and would fain
have escaped ; but the church could not spare his services.
He was ordained to the presbyterate, and in a few years
afterwards he was made coadjutor to the bishop, and finally
became sole bishop of the see.
Henceforth Augustine’s life is filled up with his ecclesias¬
tical labours, and is more marked by the series of his
numerous writings and the great controversies in which they
engaged him than by anything else. Already he had
distinguished himself as an author. He had written several