Saint Augustine 
                 From "On Christian Doctrine"
                   Translated by D.W. Robertson

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction.

St. Augustine's "De Doctrina Christiana" was completed in 427.
Basically intended to explain the principles of interpreting the
Bible, it nevertheless incorporated, as a reflection of the
extraordinary unity of Augustine's mind, the fundamental principles of
his view of Christian thought.  For example, the treatise provides his
famous distinction between charity and cupidity (III, x[16]):
          
          I call "charity" the motion of the soul toward the enjoyment
     of God for His own sake, and the enjoyment of one's self, one's
     neighbor, or any corporeal thing for the sake of something other
     than God; but "cupidity" is a motion of the soul toward the
     enjoyment of  one's self, one's neighbor, or any corporal thing
     for the sake of something other than God.

And this concept of charity becomes an important critical premise for
the understanding of Scripture, which, according to Augustine,
"teaches nothing but charity, nor condemns anything except cupidity,
and in this way shapes the minds of men" (III, x [15]).  The following
sections can isolate a few of the literary principles treated in this
influential treatise.  The passage on "Egyptian gold," itself an
example of an allegorical interpretation of Scripture, became a
standard argument for the Christian use of pagan authors.  Augustine's
comments on figurative language reflect his insistence upon the
necessity of piercing the letter to arrive at an "inner meaning"
consistent with God's Word, a technique fundamental to medieval
allegory.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Gold out of Egypt]

II, 40

If those who are called philosophers, especially the Platonists, have
said things which are indeed true and are well accommodated to our
faith, they should not be feared; rather, what they have said should
be taken from them as from unjust possessors and converted to our use.
Just as the Egyptians had not only idols and grave burdens which the
people of Israel detested and avoided, so also they had vases and
ornaments of gold and silver and clothing which the Israelites took
with them secretly when they fled, as if to put them to a better use.
They did not do this on their own authority but at God's commandment,
while the Egyptians unwittingly supplied them with things which they
themselves did not use well.(1) In the same way all the teachings of
the pagans contain not only simulated and superstitious imaginings and
grave burdens of unnecessary labor, which each one of us leaving the
society of pagans under the leadership of Christ ought to abominate
and avoid, but also liberal disciplines more suited among them.  These
are, as it were, their gold and silver, which they did not institute
themselves but dug up from certain mines of divine Providence, which
is everywhere infused, and perversely and injuriously abused in the
worship of demons.  When the Christian separates himself in spirit
from their miserable society, he should take this treasure with him
for the just use of teaching the gospel.  And their clothing, which is
made up of those human institutions which are accommodated to human
society and necessary to the conduct of life, should be seized and
held to be converted to Christian uses.

(1) Exodus iii, 22; xi, 2; xii, 35.


[Figurative Language]

III, 5

But the ambiguities of figurative words, which are now to be treated,
require no little care and industry.  For at the outset you must be
very careful lest you take figurative expressions literally.  What the
Apostle says pertains to this problem: "For the letter killeth, but
the spirit quickeneth."  That is, when that which is said figuratively
is taken as though it were literal, it is understood carnally.  Nor
can anything more appropriately be called the death of the soul(2)
than that condition in which the thing which distinguishes us from
beasts, which is the understanding, is subjected to the flesh in the
pursuit of the letter.  He who follows the letter takes figurative
expressions as though they were literal and does not refer the things
signified to anything else.  For example, if he hears of the Sabbath,
he thinks only of one day out of the seven that are repeated in a
continuous cycle; and if he hears of Sacrifice, his thoughts do not go
beyond the customary victims of the flocks and fruits of the earth.
There is a miserable servitude of the spirit in this habit of taking
signs for things, so that one is not able to raise the eye of the mind
above things that are corporal and created, to drink in eternal light.


III, 12

Those things which seem almost shameful to the inexperienced, whether
simply spoken or actually performed either by the person of God or by
men whose sanctity is commended to us, are all figurative, and their
secrets are to be removed as kernels from the husk, as nourishment for
charity.(3)  Whoever uses transitory things in a more restricted way
than is customary among those with whom he lives is either
superstitious or temperate.  But whoever so uses them that he exceeds
the measure established by the custom of the good men among his
neighbors either signifies something or is vicious.  In all instances
of this kind it is not the use of the things but the desire of the
user which is culpable.  Thus no reasonable person would believe under
any circumstances that the feet of the Lord were anointed with
precious ointment by the woman(4) in the manner of lecherous and
dissolute men whose banquets we despise.  For the good odor is good
fame which anyone in the works of a good life will have when he
follows in the footsteps of Christ, as if anointing His feet with a
most precious odor.  In this way what is frequently shameful in other
persons is in a divine or prophetic person the sign of some great
truth.  Certainly union with a prostitute is one thing when morals are
corrupted and quite another thing in the prophecy of the prophet Osee.
If, moreover, it is shameful to strip the body of clothing at the
banquet of the drunken and lascivious, it is not on this account
shameful to be naked in the baths.


III, 25

Since things are similar to other things in a great many ways, we must
not think it to be prescribed that what a thing signifies by
similitude in one place must always be signified by that thing.  For
the Lord used "leaven" in vituperation when He said, "Beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees,"(6) and in praise when He said, "The kingdom
of God . . . is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three
measure of meal, till the whole was leavened."(7)  

     This variation takes two forms. Thus one thing signifies another
thing and still another either in such a way that the second thing
signified is contrary to the first or in such a way that the second
thing is entirely different from the first.  The things signified are
contrary, that is, when one thing is used as a similitude in a good
sense and in another place in an evil sense, like "leaven" in the
above example.  This is the situation where the lion is used to
signify Christ, when it is said, "The lion of the tribe of Juda
. . . has prevailed,"(8) but also signifies the Devil, when it is
written, "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about
seeking whom he may devour."(9) Thus the serpent appears in a good
sense in "wise as serpents,"(10) but in a bad sense in "the serpent
seduced Eve by his subtilty."(11) Bread is used in a good sense in "I
am the living bread which came down from heaven,"(12) but in a bad
sense in "hidden bread is more pleasant."(13)  Many other things are
used in the same way.  Those examples which I have mentioned create
little doubt as to their meaning, for things ought not to be used as
examples unless they are clear.  There are, however, instances in
which it is uncertain whether the signification is to be taken in a
good sense of in an evil sense, like "in the hand of the Lord there is
a cup of strong wine full of mixture."(14)  It is uncertain whether
this may signify the wrath of God but not to the ultimate penalty, or,
that is, "the dregs," or whether it may signify rather the grace of
the Scriptures passing from the Jews to the Gentiles, because "he hath
poured it out from this to that," certain practices remaining among
the Jews which they understand carnally because "the dregs thereof are
not emptied."(15) To show that one thing may have significations which
are not contrary but diverse, we may use an example the fact that
water is used in the Apocalypse to signify people,(16) but it also
signifies the Holy Spirit, as in "out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water."(17)  And thus water may be seen to signify one thing
and another in accordance with the passages in which it is used.

(1) 2 Corinthians iii. 6.

(2) Romans viii, 6.

(3) The image of the kernel and husk has become a commonplace. The
    moralized account of Statius' "Thebaid," written in the sixth
    century and attributed to Fulgentius, states: "Not uncommonly
    poetic songs are seen to be comparable with nuts. For as in a nut
    there are two parts, the shell and the kernel, so also there are
    two parts in poetic songs: the literal and the mystical
    senses. The kernel lies hidden beneath the shell; beneath the
    literal sense lies the mystic understanding. If you wish to have
    the kernel, you must break the shell; if the figures are to be
    made plain, the letter must be shattered. The shell is tasteless;
    the kernel is flavorful to the taster. Similarly, the palate of
    the understanding relishes not the letter but the figure. A boy
    likes a nut whole to play with: but a wise adult breaks it to
    taste it. Similarly, if you are a boy, you have the plain literal
    sense entire without any subtle exposition in which you may
    delight. If you are an adult, the letter is to be broken and the
    kernel extracted from the literal meanings so that you may be
    refreshed by the taste of it." ....

(4) Luke vii, 37-38; John xii, 3.

(5) Osee [Hosea] i, 2.

(6) Matthew xvi, 11.

(7) Luke xiii, 20-21; Matthew xiii, 33. In dictionaries of Scriptural
    signs, figures are often given in both a good sense and a bad
    sense (in bono or in malo).

(8) Apocalypse [Revelations] v, 5.

(9) 1 Peter v, 8.

(10) Matthew x, 16.

(11) 2 Corinthians xi, 3.

(12) John vi, 51.

(13) Proverbs ix, 17.

(14) Psalm lxxiv, 9.

(15) Psalm lxxiv, 9.

(16) Apocalypse [Revelation] xvii, 15; xix, 6.

(17) John vii, 38.


Published in "Medieval Literary Theory."