reception, gifts, and desire in augustine's confesssions and vergil's aeneid

209 Pages·2007·0.66 MB·English

RECEPTION, GIFTS, AND DESIRE IN AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSSIONS
AND VERGIL’S AENEID

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of The Ohio State University

By

Rocki Tong Wentzel, M.A.

*****

The Ohio State University
2008

Dissertation Committee: Approved by

William Batstone, Adviser
________________________________
Fritz Graf Adviser
Graduate Program in Greek and Latin
Richard Fletcher
ABSTRACT

My dissertation is a thematic exploration of themes of reception in Vergil’s
Aeneid and how those themes are received by Augustine in his Confessions. I
begin with the problem of reception in the Aeneid, a world which lacks a clear and
consistent gauge to assess action and desire. Reception is explicated through an
examination of gifts, which is exemplary of giving and reception in general. A
study of gifts is also useful in illuminating the desire that guides reception.
Reception is examined on three levels: reception within the Aeneid itself,
Augustine’s reception of the Aeneid, and reception within the Confessions. The
project resembles Augustine’s conversion process, in that it moves from the
objects of desire in the phenomenal world, such as empire and body to the all-
encompassing desire of the Christian faith for a unified and omnipotent God. The
gifts from God, which are instruments of Augustine’s conversion, include
rhetoric, exempla, and Continentia. By accepting and using these gifts, as God
intends them, Augustine is making a proper return on them. The composition of
his Confessions is one such return, in that it is a gift to his audience, in which he
offers himself as an exemplum in return for the exempla that shaped his
conversion narrative and experience. Augustine’s narrative of this conversion
ii
transforms and appropriates the language and themes of erotic desire as
represented by the Aeneid, so that his conversion narrative effects a conversion of
the Aeneid itself. Augustine offers a solution to the problems of desire in the
Aeneid by defining all problems and issues of reception in terms of a good and
merciful creator.
iii
For Grant, Ben, and Mia
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe a great debt of gratitude to my director William Batstone, for the astute
insight he has offered, the clarity and integrity he has always insisted upon, and
the myriad ways he has shaped my thinking; to Fritz Graf for his kind support,
helpful suggestions, and willingness to assist in so many matters; and to Richard
Fletcher for his generous feedback, conscientious attention to detail, and patient
chats over mushroom frittatas.
I want to thank Tom Hawkins for his copious comments early in the
process and Julia Hawkins for reading countless drafts of the Ascanius portions of
Chapter 1, which greatly helped to direct the project. I must also thank Victoria
Wohl and Erik Gunderson, who gave me my very first lessons in critical theory.
I’d also like to thank all the amazing graduate students and faculty at The Ohio
State University for their thoughtful and thought provoking comments and
suggestions.
Finally I’d like to extend a very special thank you to my parents, an
endless source of love and support through all my schooling; to my in-laws for
their encouragement and confidence in me; to Grant, to whom no
acknowledgement could do justice, and to Ben and Mia for unwittingly
motivating me in their quiet and wondrous ways.
v
VITA

July 7, 1975 . . . . . . . Born Yuba City, CA

1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . B.A., Classical Studies, University of California, San Diego

2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . M.A., Greek and Latin, The Ohio State University

1997-1999 . . . . . . . . Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University

2002-2007 . . . . . . . . Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field: Greek and Latin

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………ii
Dedication………………………………………………………………………...iv
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………..v
Vita………………………………………………………………………………..vi

Chapters:

Introduction……………………………………………………………………….1

1. Embracing Images: Themes of Reception and Desire in the Aeneid………….16

2. Augustine’s Reception of the Aeneid: A Journey Towards Conversion………78

3. Rhetoric, Exempla, and Continentia: the Gift of Conversion…………..........138

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...192

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………197
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INTRODUCTION

A Problem of Reception
In the passage that closes Book 1 of the Confessions, Augustine summarizes the
message of his composition:
quid in tali animante non mirabile atque laudabile? at ista omnia
dei mei dona sunt. non mihi ego dedi haec: et bona sunt et haec
omnia ego. bonus ergo est qui fecit me, et ipse est bonum meum et
illi exulto bonis omnibus, quibus etiam puer eram. hoc enim
peccabam, quod non in ipso, sed in creaturis eius me atque ceteris
voluptates, sublimitates, veritates quaerebam, atque ita inruebam in
dolores, confusiones, errores. gratias tibi, dulcedo mea et honor
meus et fiducia mea, deus meus, gratias tibi de donis tuis; sed tu
mihi ea serva. ita enim servabis me, et augebuntur et perficientur
quae dedisti mihi, et ero ipse tecum, quia et ut sim tu dedisti mihi.

What is not admirable or praiseworthy in a living creature such as
this? But all those things are gifts of my God. I did not give these
things to myself: they are good and all that I am is made up of
them. Therefore he, who made me, is good, and he himself is my
good, and exulting, I thank him for these good gifts, from which I
was made even as a boy. For in this way I was sinning – I was
seeking pleasures, distinctions, and truths, not in God himself but
in his creatures, and I was thus rushing headlong into pains,
confusions, and errors. I give thanks to you, my sweetness, my
honor, and my faith, my God, I thank you for your gifts; but
preserve them for me. In this way you will preserve me, you will
increase and bring to perfection your gifts to me, and I will be with
you, because you gave me that too – the fact that I exist. 1 (1.20.31)

1 All translations are my own, unless otherwise indicated. The translations of the passages from
the Confessions have been influenced by the translation of Maria Boulding, cited as Augustine
(1997), whose word choice, I feel, is sympathetic with my views on gifts and desire in the
Confessions. Like her, I often translate phrases, such as quae dedisti, as “God’s gifts”.
1
Here Augustine begins at the time of composition, confessing God as the creator
of all things and giver of gifts. Then he continues by confessing the sins of his
past, the root of which lay in searching for God in the wrong places and in
erroneous ways. Finally he comes full circle expressing the thanksgiving that is
owed for God’s gifts. This includes acknowledgment that the process of growing
in his gifts, as he does in part through his composition, is accomplished fully by
God. In his proper acceptance of God’s gifts, he achieves the communion with
God, which he regards as the constant and fixed object of his desire and longing,
even when his desires were evil or perverse. Reception of God’s gifts is guided by
desire. In the Confessions desire is called by various terms as concupiscentia,
desiderium, cupiditas with little distinction in usage. When I use the term desire, I
intend to use it as Augustine does, which is succinctly put by Edwards’ as “will
joined to an object.”2
Since all things are made in accordance with God’s will and he is all-
powerful, all things contain God’s desire. For Augustine, evil is the perversion of
the good, therefore evil is introduced when gifts bestowed by God are
misperceived or misused, in other words, when they are received in a way
contrary to God’s intention in bestowing them. For example, Augustine sees his
intellectual acuity as a gift from God, but he uses this gift to seek the approval of
others and to serve his own vanity, rather than to please God and advance his
kingdom. Because there is no evil in the gifts themselves, what Augustine must

2 Edwards (2006) 15
2
turn away from in his conversion is not a matter of what he has but how he has
received it. In other words, Augustine’s conversion is a matter of reception.
Before Augustine can receive God’s gifts properly, he must have
knowledge of the truth, which is synonymous with God (1.5.6). “Making the truth
in his heart” (veritatem . . . facere in corde meo) is also the chief goal of his
Confessions (10.1.1). Truth is revealed to him through Scripture, the authority of
which God willed in order to provide guidance for man, whose powers of
reasoning are not enough to discover it on their own (6.5.8).
God’s Gifts
God’s gifts are given out of his perfect love and grace, yet they demand
repayment. How can a gift that demands a return be unconditional? Derrida
argues that pure gifts are impossible, because in order for there to be a pure gift,
there must be pure generosity, which is not possible, since every gift necessarily
involves a return, whether it is a reciprocation of the gift, gratitude from the
recipient, or a feeling of self-satisfaction for the giver. Therefore the possibility
for the existence of the gift is effaced as soon as it is given.3 Bourdieu similarly
calls gifts into question, reducing gift exchange to a contract.4 Millbank, in
response to Bourdieu and Derrida, proposes ‘agape as the consummation of gift-
exchange’5 and ‘purified gift-exchange – and not ‘pure gift’ is what Christian

3 Derrida (1991)

4 Bourdieu (1977)

5 Milbank (1995) 144
3