Virgil and Augustine, Essay Example

The cultural and philosophical values that are represented in Virgil’s Aeneid and Augustine’s Confessions represent a corresponding evolution in western society toward introspection and self-actualization. Where the Aeneid celebrates public virtues of courage, strength, resolution, and duty, Augustine’s thirteen book odyssey chronicles a lifelong journey of the mind that is based as much on private experience as public accomplishment. Careful comparison of the texts shows that the virtues that are apparent in the Aeneid are incompatible with the Christian virtues explored by St. Augustine. The militarism and worldly ambition that are the driving faces behind the journey undertaken by Aeneas are virtually diametrically opposed to the principles of selflessness and benevolence that underlie Christianity. Similarly, Aeneas’s journey is one of physical labor and prolonged voyaging, while St. Augustine’s journey comprised his lifelong exploration of spiritual and philosophical principles.

The distinction between the natures of the two journeys is demonstrated by the opening lines of the Aeneid. Virgil writes “Arms I sing and a man,/The first to come from the shores /Of Troy, exiled by Fate, to Italy/And the Lavinian coast; a man battered/On land and sea by the powers above” (Virgil 2005, p. 1). Many classical Greek virtues are evident in this opening, including the exalting of fame, glory, and fate. By contrast, Confessions opens with Augustine offering all glory and power to God, while claiming that no individual man, including himself, is worthy of praise of celebration. Augustine writes “Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and Thy wisdom infinite. And Thee would man praise; man, but a particle of Thy creation; man” (Augustine 2001, 1.1.1.) The comparison of these opening passages indicates the essential difference between the tone, focus, and vision of the two works.

Essentially, Virgil’s vision is one that idealizes the virtues and moral beliefs of classical Greek society. For this reason, it has sometimes been referred to as a work of propaganda. However, the idealization that is present in the work is an important point for comparison between the Aeneid and Augustine’s confessions. This is because; idealization is also present in the Confessions but this idealism is focused on the idea of spiritual transcendence and communion with God. While it is an oversimplification to state that Virgil’s ideal is one based on pure materialism and Augustine’s is one based on pure spirituality, it is sound to suggest that the depiction of supernatural forces in the respective works shows a movement away from material ambition and power to a desire for moral guidance and personal salvation.

Because both works involve a journey – one outward and one inward – the idea of self-reliance and self-determination is integral to both Virgil and Augustine. One very important distinction between the two works is the way that the authors respectively view their relationship to Divinity. In the Aeneid, the Gods are viewed as being antagonistic and impulsive. In the Confessions God is envisioned as a compassionate entity that works to enable salvation for His creations. The Greek vision of Divinity suggests that the Gods might envy humanity and work to suppress humanity’s heroism, while Augustine’s Christianity advocates the idea that God is constantly inspiring humanity to a higher state of moral goodness and understanding.

For Virgil the core values that were essential to heroism were courage and skill at arms. For example, in the fight between Aeneas and Turnus, the truce between Aeneas’s men and the Italians is broken due to Aeneas’s martial superiority. When Aeneas defeats Turnus and wounds his leg, Turnus’s begging for Aeneas to spare his life is in vain. Enraged by the realization that Turnus killed Pallas, his friend, Aeneas slaughters Turnus. The moral virtue that is associated with Aeneas’s heroism is based on his resolve to pursue murder and vengeance. It is the mastery and conquest of the outer world that marks the stages of Aeneas’s personal development. His growth and moral struggle is externalized into physical action. His journey is through physical space and involves physical struggle.

At the other end of the spectrum, St, Augustine’s journey is one of personal descent into human psychology and spirituality. The task that shapes his journey is that of finding the depth and moral resolution to emulate the compassion of the Divine Creator. Though Augustine’s journey is one that is largely defined by introspection and contemplation, conflict is still a vital part of his journey. The conflict is obviously not one that is based on war and conquest; instead, Augustine’s conflict is internal. The struggle that he faces is one that demands that he resolve the apparent contradictions in Christian philosophy. Augustine’s journey is successful in that he comes to view God as moving past even the glorification of good works. Augustine writes “And we also have some good works, of Thy gift, but not eternal; after them we trust to rest in Thy great hallowing.” (Augustine 2001, 13.38.53) It is through the renouncing of personal fame or even the idea of personal fate that the true nature of Divinity is perceived.

The opposite is the case in Virgil’s Aeneid. In the view of the classical Greeks, martial skill and the idea of aft ewer very closely intertwined.  While Augustine views the purpose of a human life as being connected to living in a compassionate and moral way, Virgil extolls the virtues of Divine intervention and Divine fate as governing principles for conflict and war. For example, when Aeneas is worried about how to deal with the war against the Italians, it is the God Tiberinus who reveals to him the best way forward. Virgil writes “”Aeneas, heart troubled by war,’Lay down on the riverbank under a cold sky/And drifted off at last to sleep./ He dreamedThat Tiberinus, the old rivergod himself” (Virgil 191). The dream instructs Aeneas to sail for help on the Tiber River. Further Divine aid is given to Aeneas by his mother, Venus, who provides her son with powerful new weapons.

Obviously, the idea of Divinity was no less sacred to the Greeks than to Augustine. What is different between the two visions is that the Christian conception of a monotheistic spirituality eliminates the conflicts between Gods that is so prevalent in Greek mythology. The shift away from pantheism signals and apparent move toward wholeness and reconciliation that is also evident in the Christian principles of moral behavior. Christianity stresses charity, forgiveness, empathy, and humility. The moral virtues that created a hero in Greek society were precisely the opposite. The evolution of spiritual and cultural ideas that is evidenced by this contrast in visions is one that shows a movement toward emotion and introspection, away from the power and materialism of the preceding ideal.

The journey of Augustine is one from sin to redemption; it is also a journey from ignorance to wisdom. Aeneas’s journey is from Troy to Rome and the journey’s merit lies in the material conquest of territory and people. It is interesting to note that while the two texts show an evolution away from the exaltation of violence and bloody conflict, a shift of this kind has not taken place in real history. That is to say, war is as prevalent and as glorified in today’ society as it was in Virgil’s time. The idea that virtue can exist in tandem with acting as a warrior is one that is intrinsically incompatible with Christianity. The fact that war persists as a main engine of history in Western civilization is a clear indication that Augustine’s inward journey to understand the complexities of Christianity has proven to be a less powerful influence over culture than the per-Christian ideals of the Greeks.

The fact that Christianity is the more modern philosophy presents an appealing, if ultimately specious, idea that culture as a whole is moving toward a less warlike state. As bloodthirsty as Aeneas and the other Gods and heroes of Greek mythology may be, the contemporary reality of thermonuclear weaponry and global terrorism indicate that modern civilization is every bit as warlike as the ancient Greeks. It is arguable that the idealization of the warrior-hero in Greek society emerged out of a sense that warfare was an instinctive human behavior and therefore one defined oneself as a person through the idea of material conquest and conflict. If Augustine’s journey from sin to redemption can be regarded as a microcosmic example of what is capable of happening at a larger, cultural level, the deep-seated archetypes of Greek mythology continue to function as operating principles in modern civilization.

The evolution of morality and metaphysical vision that is evidence din a comparison between the two works is itself, a projected idealism that is a vital part of the literary and scholarly heritage of Western civilization. However, the idea that humanity is moving from a warlike state to a compassionate state is unsupportable by reference to real world events. The implied evolution that is shown through the differences in Aeneas’s and Augustine’s journeys is one that should inspire us to actualize a new vision of morality and self-determination. This last aspect is quite significant because the idea of fate is a restrictive quantity in Virgil, while Augustine opens up the possibility that we, as individuals, control our own destinies based on the moral choices we make.

In today’s world of self-indulgence and self-aggrandizement, it would seem that Augustine’s message is one of great necessity for our times. It is also evident that the physical conquest and materialism that is exalted in the Aeneid is alive and well in modern culture. Only time will tell if there is a general shift away from the ego-driven conflicts that endanger our planet toward the introspective heroism and empathetic perception of others that is indicate d in Augustine’s writings.

References

Augustine, Saint. (2001) The Confessions of St. Augustine, translated by Edward Pusey. New York: P.F. Collier & Son.

Virgil. (2005). Aeneid (S. Lombardo, Trans.). Indianapolis: Hackett.