Chapter One Of Augustine's Confessions By Virgil

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In Book Three Chapter One of Augustine’s Confessions, the scene change to Carthage plays a pivotal role in not only Augustine’s physical life, but also his mental preparation to being surrounded by a cesspool of sin. The immediate influx of new people, new opportunities, and new perceived love is a source of evidence for how impulsive and empty Augustine truly was. In his recollection of the story, he recognizes that his lustful affairs were a distraction to what is ever important: God. By leaving his lustful affairs, Augustine embarked on a quest for his devotion to God. The conflict between a full commitment to love and personal fulfillment has persisted throughout human nature, which is a theme worked with by Classical Author Virgil’s work, …show more content…

Augustine goes on to condemn his love for the idea of love. He believes that his idea of love was wrong, but if he had developed this feeling more accurately then it could have resulted in him finding and accepting something more substantial. Augustine attributes his misdirection of love to physical aspects, thus redirecting his desires to an “object to love” (Augustine III.i.1). He reveals that this objectification of love stems from his love of suffering. Augustine then goes into a discussion about his subconscious desire for the nurturance and love of God as opposed to the draining lust of physical …show more content…

After his many adventures and misfortunes, he dedicated himself to true love- the love of God. Augustine’s conversion process from a love addicted sinner to fulfilling his duty as an enlightened Bishop is directly parallel to Aeneas’ choice between his private love of Dido to his duty of establishing Rome. In both cases, the decisions are painful. However, the adverse reaction to Aeneas’ choice is parallel to Augustine’s conflict of romantic love and personal fulfillment. In this case, the personal fulfillment is suicide. “Sigh, did he, while I wept? Or look at me? Or yield a tear, or pity her who loved him?” (Virgil IV 322-33) Dido cries and is locked into despair after discovering that Aeneus will exchange her love for the founding of Rome. Fallen ill with “fatal madness” (IV 468), Dido commits suicide with her lover’s sword. As opposed to Aeneus and Augustine who had the option to refute love, her decision was to obsess over the loss of love, like Augustine, or choose her personal fulfillment of not wanting to live without that love. Despite that, this decision is arguably more related to Augustine than Aeneus’

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