Augustine And The Aeneid Analysis

In his Confessions, Augustine presents himself as Christian Aeneas by comparing his own wanderings to search for the truth about Christianity with Aeneas’ journey to find Rome in the Aeneid. The Confessions and the Aeneid approach some similar patterns. Aeneas comes from Troy, then delays his journey at Carthage and finally clearly understands his fate through the underground tour with Sibyl and Anchises. Augustine, likewise, begins his Confessions with his unbridled youth, then talks about his departure from Carthage, and eventually comes to know God through his meeting with Ambrose. Parallelling Aeneas’ lost and final recognition about his mission, Augustine recounts his conversion to Christianity from a sinful boy. Both Augustine and Aeneas

Augustine claims, “I cared for nothing but to love and be loved” (Book II, Ch.2). Augustine demonstrates his desire for love just like Dido shows her love to Aeneas and even commits to suicide in order to pursue her love. By contrast, Aeneas never admits his marriage with Dido. However, there is a major distinction between Dido’s love and Augustine’s love. For Dido, her love is more about carnality and romanticism, while Augustine’s real need is the love of God. That’s why Augustine writes a self-condemnation about his mistaken love at Carthage, as he says, “I also fell in love, which was a snare of my own choosing” (Book III, Ch.1). Augustine denies sexual love. Instead of insisting on romantic love like Dido does, Augustine chooses to give up and begins a new a journey to find what he is destined to do, same as Aeneas leaves for Dido and continues to find

Augustine views Ambrose as God’s “devoted servant” (Book V, Ch.13) who guides him to the true fate. When Augustine listens to Ambrose’s eloquent sermon, he states, “I began to believe Catholic faith… especially since I had heard one passage after another in the Old Testament figuratively explained” (Book V, Ch.14). At first, Augustine is only interested in Ambrose’s speaking style. However, as the preaching moves on, Augustine gradually believes Christianity because he notices that the way Ambrose interprets Bible may be the theology he is looking for. Ambrose’s lecture-like sermon is similar to Anchises’ teaching style in the Aeneid. The teacher is talking, while the student is listening. Anchises directly answers Aeneas’ questions and tells him about Rome’s future, which gives Aeneas confidence to finish his mission. Similarly, through public sermons, Ambrose guides Augustine to interpret the Old Testament spiritually so that Augustine “clearly see a light to guide [his] steps” (Book V, Ch.14). Furthermore, Ambrose’s influence on Augustine also mirrors the way Sibyl teaches Aeneas in the Aeneid. Unlike Anchises’ direct conversation, Sibyl let Aeneas experience the underworld in order to teach him the truth of life and soul. Following the same pattern, Augustine experiences the world around Ambrose who serves as role model for Augustine. One of the most compelling