The Sleepwalkers (38 page)

Again,
there
are
countless
redeeming
aspects,
ambiguities
and
contradictions
in
Augustine's
writings,
such
as
his
passionate
pleading
against
the
death
penalty
and
judicial
torture;
his
repeated
affirmation
that
Omnis
natura,
inquantum
natura
est,
bonum
est
;
^*
it
may
even
be
said
that
"
Augustine
was
not
an
Augustinian".
⁶
But
these
brighter
elements
were
ignored
by
the
generations
after
him,
and
the
shadow
he
threw
was
dark
and
oppressive;
it
blotted
out
what
little
interest
in
nature,
or
inclination
to
science,
still
remained.

____________________

Since,
in
the
Middle
Ages,
the
churchmen
became
the
successors
to
the
philosophers
of
antiquity,
and,
in
a
manner
of
speaking,
the
Catholic
Church
took
over
from
the
Academy
and
the
Lyceum,
its
attitude
now
determined
the
whole
climate
of
culture
and
the
course
of
learning.
Hence
the
importance
of
Augustine,
who
was
not
only
the
most
influential
churchman
of
the
earlier
Middle
Ages,
the
chief
promoter
of
the
Papacy
as
a
supranational
authority,
and
the
originator
of
the
rules
of
monastic
life;
but
above
all
the
living
symbol
of
continuity
between
the
vanished
ancient,
and
the
emerging
new
civilization.
A
modern
Catholic
philosopher
justifiably
said
that
Augustine
was
"to
a
greater
degree
than
any
emperor
or
barbarian
war-lord,
a
maker
of
history
and
a
builder
of
the
bridge
which
was
to
lead
from
the
old
world
to
the
new."
⁷

2.
The Bridge to the City

The
tragedy
lies
in
the
selective
nature
of
the
traffic
which
passed
across
the
bridge
that
Augustine
built.
At
the
tollgate
of
the
City
of
God,
all
vehicles
carrying
the
treasures
of
ancient
learning,
beauty
and
hope
were
turned
back,
for
all
pagan
virtue
is
"prostituted
with
the
influence
of
obscene
and
filthy
devils...
⁸
Let
Thales
depart
with
his
water,
Anaximenes
with
the
air,
the
Stoics
with
their
fire,
Epicurus
with
his
atoms."
⁹

And
depart
they
did.
Only
Plato
and
his
disciples
were
allowed
to
pass
the
bridge
and
were
welcomed,
for
they
knew
that
knowledge
cannot
be
obtained
through
the
eyes
of
the
body,
and
provided
an
allegorical
supplement
to
Genesis,
as
it
were:
Adam,
expelled
from
the
Garden,
was
made
to
proceed
straight
to
Plato's
Cave,
and
to
take
up
the
existence
of
a
chained
troglodyte.

Most
welcome
of
all
was
the
Neoplatonists'
contempt
for
all
branches
of
science.
From
them
Augustine
"derived
the
conviction,
which
he
transmitted
to
the
succeeding
generations
of
many
centuries,
that
the
only
type
of
knowledge
to
be
desired
was
knowledge
of
God
and
the
soul,
and
that
no
profit
was
to
be
had
from
investigating
the
realm
of
Nature."
¹⁰

A
few
quotations
from
the
Confessions
will
illustrate
more
vividly
the
mental
attitude
toward
knowledge
at
the
opening
of
the
Christian
era.
In
the
Tenth
Book,
which
concludes
his
personal
narrative,
Augustine
describes
his
state
of
mind
twelve
years
after
his
conversion,
and
implores
the
help
of
God
to
overcome
various
forms
of
temptations
which
are
still
assailing
him:
the
lust
of
the
flesh,
which
he
can
resist
when
awake
but
not
in
sleep;
the
temptation
to
enjoy
his
food
instead
of
taking
it
as
a
necessary
medicine
"until
the
day
when
Thou
wilt
destroy
both
the
belly
and
the
meat";
the
allurement
of
sweet
scents,
to
which
he
is
fairly
immune;
the
pleasures
of
the
ear
derived
from
church
music
at
the
risk
of
being
"more
moved
by
the
singing
than
by
the
thing
that
is
sung";
the
lure
to
the
eye
of
"diverse
forms
of
beauty,
of
brilliant
and
pleasing
colours";
and,
last
but
one,
the
temptation
of
"knowing
for
knowing's
sake":

"At
this
point
I
mention
another
form
of
temptation
more
various
and
dangerous.
For
over
and
above
that
lust
of
the
flesh
which
lies
in
the
delight
of
all
our
senses
and
pleasures
–
whose
slaves
are
wasted
unto
destruction
as
they
go
far
from
You
–
there
can
also
be
in
the
mind
itself,
through
those
same
bodily
senses,
a
certain
vain
desire
and
curiosity,
not
of
taking
delights
in
the
body,
but
of
making
experiments
with
the
body's
aid,
and
cloaked
under
the
name
of
learning
and
knowledge...
Pleasure
goes
after
objects
that
are
beautiful
to
see,
hear,
smell,
taste,
touch;
but
curiosity
for
the
sake
of
experiment
can
go
after
quite
contrary
things,
not
in
order
to
experience
their
unpleasantness,
but
through
a
mere
itch
to
experience
and
find
out...
Because
of
this
disease
of
curiosity
you
have
the
various
freaks
shown
in
the
theatres.
Thus
men
proceed
to
investigate
the
phenomena
of
nature
–
the
part
of
nature
external
to
us
–
though
the
knowledge
is
of
no
value
to
them:
for
they
wish
to
know
simply
for
the
sake
of
knowing...