Augustine and His Contra Faustum

The Numidian Faustus, referred to as an episcopus manichaeorum , was a much more formidable opponent for Augustine than Fortunatus.^[122] Of

[117] C. Fortunatum 19 (CSEL 25:96): "Rationibus ut discuteremus duarum naturarum fidem, interpositum est ab his, quis nos audiunt. sed quoniam ad scripturas iterum confugisti. . . ."

[118] C. Fortunatum 19 (CSEL 25:97). On an ancient speakers deliberate attempt to incite the audience to make an uproar against his rival in a verbal contest, see V. Bers, "Dikastic thorubos ," 1-15, esp. 9.

[119] C. Fortunatum 36 (CSEL 25:112): "Quid ergo dictums sum?"

[120] C. Fortunatum 37 (CSEL 25:112): "Sed si confiteris te non habere quod respondeas, omnibus audientibus et recognoscentibus quoniam fideles sunt, catholicam fidem, si permittunt ut uolunt exponam."

[121] The debate ended on an almost amicable note; see C. Fortunatum 37 (CSEL 25:112).

[122] C. Faustum 1.1 (CSEL 25:251). See Decret, Aspects du manichéisme , 51-70; Mandouze, ed., Prosopographie de l'Afrique chrétienne , 390-97, s.v. "Faustus 2."

humble origins, he achieved a widely known reputation for eloquence, and was already a distinguished figure when the young Augustine first met him.^[123] In those earlier years, Faustus had come to Carthage and there daily displayed his skill in words;^[124] he commanded immense presence and greatly impressed those around him with the panache of his discourse.^[125] It was to Faustus that Augustine presented his own doubts while a Manichaean auditor, probably in the manner of disciples who proposed aporiae for their teachers to solve. Only years later and after a serious change of heart did Augustine judge the man unlearned.^[126] Three Years after Augustine departed for Italy in 383, Faustus was brought before the proconsularis Africae by catholic Christians and sent into exile until 387.^[127]

Yet even while physically removed from Roman North Africa, Faustus was able to strike back at his persecutors by composing the Capitula de christiana fide et veritate , in which he set forth thirty-three disputationes debunking beliefs held by catholic Christians.^[128] The work began to have influence in catholic Christian circles and soon reached the attention of Augustine,^[129] who reacted to it in the same way that he was to react to the Donatist bishop Petilian's Ad presbyteros circa 400.^[130]

To rebut Faustus' arguments in the Capitula , Augustine composed a lengthy work which he called his grand opus.^[131] Augustine wrote his Contra Faustum as if he were refuting Faustus in person. Like Irenaeus^[132]

[123] SeeConfessiones 5.6.

[124] Confessiones 5.6.

[125] Confessiones 5.13.

[126] Confessiones 5.36. On the prejudice that the learned directed against the "semilearned," see R. Reitzenstein, "Alexander von Lykopolis," Philologus 86 (1930-31): 185-98. Reitzenstein argues (197) that the pagan philosopher Alexander's objections to Manichaeans stemmed from traditional educated elite prejudice against the pretensions to knowledge of "upstarts."

[127] See C. Faustum 5.8 (CSEL 25:280). See P. D. Garnsey, "The Criminal Jurisdiction of Governors," JRS 58 (1968): 51-59.

[128] See P. Monceaux, Le manichéen Faustus de Milève: Restitution de ses Capitula , Mémoires de l'Institut National de France, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 43 (Paris, 1933), esp. 14-43; A. Bruckner, Faustus von Mileve: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des abendländischen Manichäismus (Basel, 1901). Decret views as speculation the supposition that this work was designed as a compendium for the Manichaean polemicist for use in local settings; see Aspects du manichéisme , 61.

[129] See Decret, Aspects du manichéisme , 62, 62n. 2.

[130] See Frend, "Manichaeism in the Struggle between Saint Augustine and Petilian of Constantine," Augustinus Magister (Paris, 1954): 859-66, esp. 861. Compare C. Faustum 1.1 in regard to how the religious rivals' controversial writings came into Augustine's hands.

[131] Retractationes 2.33 (CSEL 36:139).

[132] See Decret, Aspects du manichéisme , 15n. 2.

or Origen, Augustine began his tic five debate by stating, "I judge it convenient to put his words under his name and to place my response under mine."^[133] This dialogic convention enabled Augustine to render a detailed refutation of the favorite arguments of Faustus, and of the Manichaeans in general. He deliberately contrasted his own slow and lowly style with Faustus' sharpness and eloquence,^[134] but explained that "a sharp mind and a polished tongue are of no value unless the steps of the person are guided by his Master."^[135]

Augustine's work was aimed at a broad audience, though perhaps especially at those who harbored Manichaean sympathies. It provided counterarguments to Faustus' pointed questions and anticipated the situation of face-to-face debates: "Et hoc quidem nunc a nobis ita responsum sit, quia uobis placet argumentari et arma temptatis aliena dialectice disputare uolentes."^[136] Even so, Augustine was well aware that he did not furnish his readers with arguments that could pass as philosophical demonstrations. His goal was rhetorical persuasion and not demonstratio . In fact, Augustine cautioned his audience that it was not proper for them to expect philosophical proof in such contexts, for "you should consider first who you are (even as if you are moved by reason) and how very unfit you are for understanding the nature of your own soul, not to mention the soul of God."^[137]

Augustine was willing to provide others with ready-made arguments against Manichaeans, but these arguments were not invitations to further investigation, because this regressive curiosity led to such doubt as attracted Christians to Manichaean teachings in the first place. Augustine confounded Faustus' arguments by the sheer weight of the encyclopaedic learning that he mobilized against them. The same stratagem of underscoring the complexity of human anthropology and cognition was later used to discourage Christians from "undue curiosity" about supramundane issues.^[138]

[133] C. Faustum 1.1 (CSEL 25:251): "Commodum autem arbitror sub eius nomine uerba eius ponere et sub meo responsionem meam." Yet later traditions relished portraying Augustine engaged in a disputatio with Faustus; see J. and P. Courcelle, "Quelques illustrations du 'contra Faustum' de saint Augustin," in Oikoumene (Catinae, 1964), 1-21, esp. plates 1-4. The illuminated manuscripts date from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries.

[134] C. Faustum 1.1 (CSEL 25:251).

[135] C. Faustum 1.1 (CSEL 2.5:251): "Nihil sit acutum ingenium et lingua expolita, nisi a domino gressus hominis dirigantur."

[136] C. Faustum 26.2 (CSEL 25:730).

[137] C. Faustum 33.9 (CSEL 25:796-97): "Si autem quasi ratione mouemini, primum cogitetis, quinam sitis, quam minus idonei ad conprehendendam naturam, non dicam Dei, sed animae uestrae, conprehendendam sane."

[138] See, e.g., Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 27.9-10.