Cicero and Augustine

Anne-Isabelle Bouton (1)

1 HALMA - Histoire, Archéologie et Littérature des Mondes Anciens - UMR 8164

No other author from Late Antiquity was more influenced by Cicero than Augustine. This influence can be measured quantitatively (through citations and allusions), but also manifests itself in the style of Augustine's writing. Furthermore, Cicero's philosophy had a profound effect on Augustine. Various explanations can be given. Most obviously, we can appeal to the fact that the influence of Cicero was at its acme between the end of the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth 2 , and can be seen in the work of the Christian authors Lactantius 3 and Ambrose (whose De officiis ministrorum of 386 was inspired by Cicero's De officiis 4), as well as in Macrobius's commentary on the Dream of Scipio. We must also recall that at that time the Eastern and Western Parts of the Roman Empire were divided by language. This point is particularly significant, as Augustine had little direct access to Greek (at least in his youth). 5 Last century research on Augustine was primarily focused on the question of the influence of Neoplatonism and the identification of the Libri Platonicorum. 6 However, both Testard (1958) and Hagendahl (1967) have highlighted Augustine's debt to Cicero (Testard's focus is on the history of sources; Hagendahl's on the history of ideas). Other studies have focused on particular themes, works, or passages, given due attention to the circumstances in which Augustine read Cicero, 7 and shown how Augustine often strikingly rearranges and transforms Cicero's texts for his own purpose. Augustine-the "doctor of grace" who converted to Christianity in 386 and was appointed bishop in 395-was the most prominent representative of the Church at the end of Antiquity. Given Augustine's Christian identity, it was of course impossible for him to be 'faithful' to Cicero's philosophical outlook. Indeed, his treatment of Cicero has even been termed a 'parricide'. 8 More recently, however, some scholars have described Augustine as 'Cicero redivivus' 9-a topos which is in fact used by some of Augustine's contemporaries. 10 For these scholars, Augustine can be considered a true heir to Cicero the philosopher (and perhaps the only one of this period), precisely because he seeks to determine the scope of Cicero's philosophical project and takes that project seriously. This reassessment of Augustine has been made possible by the fact that Cicero is now no longer seen merely as an eclectic compiler 11 but rather as a philosopher in his own right. 12 Given this reassessment, we must consider not only the extent to which Augustine was influenced by Cicero's 1 Translated by Lucy Sheaf.

Domaines: Etudes classiques; Littératures; Religions

Anne-Isabelle Bouton. Cicero and Augustine. Jed W. Atkins and Thomas Bénatouïl,. The Cambridge Companion to Cicero's Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, p. 252-267, 2021, ⟨10.1017/9781108241649.018⟩. ⟨hal-03621083⟩