Augustine: The Decline of the Roman Empire (2010) CasTaN + ro_sub

Augustine was born in 354 in the municipium of Thagaste (now Souk Ahras, Algeria) in Roman
Africa. His mother, Monica, was a devout Christian; his father Patricius was a Pagan who
converted to Christianity on his deathbed. Scholars believe that Augustine's ancestors included
Berbers, Latins, and Phoenicians. He considered himself to be Punic. Augustine's family name,
Aurelius, suggests that his father's ancestors were freedmen of the gens Aurelia given full
Roman citizenship by the Edict of Caracalla in 212. Augustine's family had been Roman, from a
legal standpoint, for at least a century when he was born. It is assumed that his mother,
Monica, was of Berber origin, on the basis of her name, but as his family were honestiores,
an upper class of citizens known as honorable men, Augustine's first language is likely to
have been Latin. At the age of 11, he was sent to school at Madaurus (now M'Daourouch), a small
Numidian city about 19 miles south of Thagaste. There he became familiar with Latin literature,
as well as pagan beliefs and practices. His first insight into the nature of sin occurred when
he and a number of friends stole fruit they did not even want from a neighborhood garden. While
at home in 369 and 370, he read Cicero's dialogue Hortensius (now lost), which he described as
leaving a lasting impression on him and sparking his interest in philosophy.

At the age of 17, through the generosity of his fellow citizen Romanianus, Augustine went to
Carthage to continue his education in rhetoric. Although raised as a Christian, Augustine left
the church to follow the Manichaean religion, much to the despair of his mother. As a youth
Augustine lived a hedonistic lifestyle for a time, associating with young men who boasted of
their sexual exploits with women and men. They urged the inexperienced boys, like Augustine,
to seek experience or to make up stories about their experiences in order to gain acceptance.
It was during this period that he uttered his famous prayer, "Grant me chastity and continence,
but not yet."

At about the age of 19, Augustine began an affair with a young woman in Carthage. Possibly
because his mother wanted him to marry a person of his class, the woman remained his lover
for over thirteen years and gave birth to his son Adeodatus, who was viewed as extremely
intelligent by his contemporaries. In 385, Augustine abandoned his lover in order to prepare
himself to marry an heiress.

Teaching rhetoric
During the years 373 and 374, Augustine taught grammar at Thagaste. The following year he
moved to Carthage to conduct a school of rhetoric, and would remain there for the next nine
years. Disturbed by the unruly behavior of the students in Carthage, in 383 he moved to
establish a school in Rome, where he believed the best and brightest rhetoricians practiced.
However, Augustine was disappointed with the Roman schools, where he was met with apathy. Once
the time came for his students to pay their fees, they simply fled. Manichaean friends introduced
him to the prefect of the City of Rome, Symmachus, who had been asked to provide a professor of
rhetoric for the imperial court at Milan.


Saint Augustine and Saint Monica (1846), by Ary Scheffer
Augustine won the job and headed north to take up his position in late 384. At the age of thirty,
he had won the most visible academic position in the Latin world, at a time when such posts gave
ready access to political careers. During this period, although Augustine showed some fervor for
Manichaeism, he was never an initiate or "elect", but remained an "auditor", the lowest level in
the sect's hierarchy.

While still at Carthage, he had begun to move away from Manichaeism, in part because of a
disappointing meeting with the Manichaean Bishop, Faustus of Mileve, a key exponent of Manichaean
theology. In Rome, he is reported to have completely turned away from Manichaeanism, and instead
embraced the scepticism of the New Academy movement. At Milan, his mother pressured him to become
a Christian. Augustine's own studies in Neoplatonism were also leading him in this direction, and
his friend Simplicianus urged him that way as well. But it was the bishop of Milan, Ambrose, who
had most influence over Augustine. Like Augustine, Ambrose was a master of rhetoric, but older
and more experienced.