City of God by Augustine - Book Report/Review Example

Lucretia`s Suicide Your s The book of God’ predicates the argument made by Augustine that the flaw which led towards fall of Rome doesn’t relate to Christianity; rather it was a destined natural tragedy which occurred due to flaws in society and other inevitable factors. It was in 410 A.D. that the Vandals under the command of the Kind Alaric took over the city of Rome, which was earlier acclaimed as the eternal city which would never collapse. However, when the tragedy happened, people from various belief systems started critiquing Christianity. The Christians themselves acclaimed that Rome collapsed because the Gods had abandoned them or punished them for their crimes and immorality, while pagans critiqued that the Gods were unable to protect the city of Rome. Thus, angered and exasperated by the critiques, Augustine attempted to write the book ‘City of Gods’ to prove his point. Therefore, the first ten books are solely attributed to the task of refuting the pagans1. The first five books talk about the belief sought by pagans that the old gods must be worshipped to acquire material benefits in the world. The first book, however, solely speaks on the reality that misfortunes are inevitable and those who attack Christians defy all sense of not only logic but also beliefs. In this context, the suicide of Lucretia plays a pivotal role while Augustine has used it as an instance to strengthen his argument. The suicide of Lucretia was being presumed as a heroic act during the era, which was performed to protect her honor. However, Augustine portrayed the act as bizarre and as a reason to react to her guilty conscious which according to him has nothing to do with the flaws in Christianity. Also, he points to the fact that the suicide had nothing to do with the flaw in Christian beliefs, rather the act refuted principals of logic which only falsely reflect Christian beliefs as the reason behind the suicide. In order to reflect further on the arguments posed, it is crucial to study the context of the scenario. The suicide of Lucretia is the centre point for the entire argument of Augustine in terms of the concept of virginity in Rome during the time of the siege. Also, the suicide is significant in the context of the rebellion which is also attributed to the entire episode of Lucretia. The story signifies that during the siege of Ardea, a group constituted of noblemen, including Sextus Tarquin was talking about their wives. Thus, one of these men proposed that they must visit their wives during the night, and when they reached them, they were all enjoying their time while Lucretia was indulged in her work. At that moment, Sextus fell deeply in love with her and decided to rape her. When Lucretia got raped, she summoned her husband and father, along with their friend Brutus and delivered an interesting speech. In the words of Augustine himself, “What can be well with a woman who has lost her honour. In your bed, Collatinus, is the impress of another man. My body not only has been violated. My heart is innocent, and death will be my witness. Give me your solemn promise that the adulterer shall be punished- he is Sextus Tarquinius. He it is who last night came as my enemy disguised as my guest, and took his pleasure of me. That pleasure will be my death- and his too, if you are men. The promise was given. One after another they tried to console her. They told her she was helpless, and therefore innocent; that he alone was guilty. It was the mind they said that sinned, not the body: without intention there could never be guilt. What is due to him, Lucretia said, is for you to decide. As for me I am innocent of fault, but I will take my punishment. Never shall Lucretia provide a precedent for unchaste women to escape what they deserve. (I.58)”2 Thus, the speech became a significant piece of knowledge which turned into a blueprint for future cases of rape for the medieval women as a reaction to the tragedy of rape. In his book, Augustine refers to the fate of people obliged under the principals of Christianity and argues over the wrongful perceptions. In other words, Augustine makes an effort to answer the controversial questions raised by those confusing and manipulating the beliefs put forth by Christianity. Out of these, one of the most significant perspectives is that of suicide. In case of Lucretia, Augustine clearly distinct himself from those pagans who support and hail the act pursued by Lucretia. He is quite adamant on the argument that though apparently Lucretia committed suicide over the fact that she had sex with another man who wasn’t her husband, yet her act was deemed moral due to the reason that it was one of the ways to convince the society that she hadn’t committed adultery. In this context, Augustine is of the view that this dimension is not at par with the principals predicated by Christianity. Adultery doesn’t constitute the act where one is forced to have sex, thus there is no way that Lucretia could have committed a sin. Augustine argues that ‘who of sane mind will suppose that purity is lost if it is so happens that the flesh is seized and overpowered (1 18)3. Furthermore, he goes ahead and points to the fact that chastity is more of a mental thing rather than something which related to the body and flesh. Going further ahead on the argument, Augustine says that Lucretia admittedly committed suicide in order to convince the world of her innocence. However, he argues that is she really was that innocent then logically speaking she should have committed suicide. In this context, he directly poses a question at his audience to make his argument compelling quoting, ‘if she was an adultress, why is she praised, if she was innocent why was she slain (1 19)4.’ Further adding to the point, he turns to the assumption that even if she wasn’t as guilty in reality, by committing suicide she committed a sin by disregarding the true teachings of Christianity. This case would be similar to that of Judas who slew himself which made him a sinner as he had betrayed the Christ. He had committed the most impactful sin, the sin of murder, since he didn’t just end up being responsible for the death of the Christ but also his own. In the view of Augustine, a murder can only be legitimized by a state, and that too when it is committed to obey a law prescribed by god. Thus, Augustine is attempting to strengthen the argument posed in his book by strengthening the argument against the act of suicide. The element of suicide had become a cult of shame while Augustine attempts to transform it into a cult of conscience. Studying the context closely, it is indicated that moral worth is essentially an internal concept since the suicide committed due to shame is in reality a sin because it indicates the element of pride and not virtue. The principals of Christianity teach humans to turn against shame and against the ideals practiced in society, rather in favor of the rationality and principals of individuals which ought to strengthen the beliefs. To explain the point, Augustine equals suicide to murder, where murder is often committed for punishment, however, punishment must only be predicated and limited to god himself, and humans are clearly not assigned the duty. In this context, suicide is an even bigger sin as it would be self punishment and god hasn’t yet left the decision of choosing whether or not to live on people. In contrast, he suggests the people especially the Christians to await the redemption from life and to leave the decision of forcing an individual to end the life on the state. Considering this argument, Lucretia`s suicide refute logic and faith, and also is unjustified in the context that it drives the individuals from the true essence of Christianity. Also, Lucretia`s death is evident of her personal sense of pride and not the guilt. Thus, he attributed the rebellion in Rome to the flaws in soul and not in the reflection of what appears on the outside as it is merely a manipulation of what is true. Furthermore, analyzing the character of Lucretia from the writings of Augustine, it appears that she was a women who was more considerate of her reputation and her husband than that of her inner-self. Throughout the speech, an element of a vigorous exchange of shame can be sensed. She tried to cover up the element of shame by blood, also she aspires the men to avenge her blood as soon as she commits suicide. Thus, the argument only reflects that Lucretia was fearful of facing Sextus out of shame or rather of beinf adulterous, and thus she prompts her brother and her father along with her husband if they want to avoid the shame of leaving Lucretia unavenged. Therefore, the death of Lucretia reflects two things which seem quite significant during the time, i.e. her admiration for honor and the deep sense of fear she had for shame. This idea isn`t correlated with Christianity as much as it relates with the societal connotations of an ideal women. Thus, the rebellion and the fall of Rome must also not be attributed to Christianity; logically it should also be correlated to societal contrasts and ideas. In other words, the idea that a women was found in bed, and that too with a slave clearly violated how the women or the society as a whole perceived purity and the natural well-being of a house which was the reason behind Lucretia`s fear. In no way can this fear be regarded to Christianity since the concept of moral virtue particularly in this case doesn’t fall under the pretext of faith, rather logic. Lucretia`s death triggers not the morality of men, rather the moral constructs which dictate the men to take care of their women which signified their masculinity. Thus, the rebellion was a result of moral outbursts resulting from a disturbance in the social setup of Rome which was triggered by the event. Another point to consider in this context is the sole reason why Sextus approached Lucretia and no other woman. Sextus observed that while other women were indulged in activities pertaining to pleasure, Lucretia was indulged in virtuous tasks. This again points to a flaw in the extrinsic makeup of society which misled the individuals and also eventually made them rebellious. Further building on the arguments posed by Augustine, it can be noted that he never questioned whether or not the bodies of women who get raped have been violated. It is clear that he believes that they have been and one must condemn the brutal act. However, by virtue of his writings he aims at comforting the women following the Christian beliefs by re-assuring them of the fact that they aren’t guilty in the eyes of their faith, neither by logic. In turn, Augustine states himself in his writings that he doesn’t intend on rebuttals rather his aim is to comfort those who fear guilt. For this reason, Augustine has utilized the argument of sanctity of body and the will as mentioned above as well. Furthermore, the bishop of Hippo during the era was caught up with the issue that the pagans were constantly arguing that those who have been victimized of rape must commit suicide due to which the act was becoming common. Though Augustine has very strong views against rape, he wanted to divulge the individuals into logical understanding of their faith to prevent them from undertaking suicide as an option. Therefore at various points, he continued saying that anyone having any kind of understanding on the faith and logic of Christianity would simply refuse to acknowledge suicide as anything near to a heroic act. In this context, Augustine states, “so long as the soul keeps this firmness of purpose which sanctifies even the body, the violence done by another’s lust makes no impression on this bodily sanctity, which is preserved intact by one’s own persistent continence”5. Thus, Augustine clearly denies that suicide is any kind of a heroic act, rather he condemns the act and states that it is an even bigger sin. Moreover, to further proceed the argument towards a substantial point, another point can also be raised. Augustine`s argument can also be taken in the context of feminism. This implies that applying feminist values to the suicide of Lucretia, the entire argument that the suicide is directly related to flaws in Christianity can be negated. The image of the woman that Lucretia is, is that of someone who sees herself not as an individual in isolation from the society, but as someone who is deeply concerned about her reputation. Furthermore, her household and husband are also significant actors in her life, around which her entire life revolves. Also, clearly she relies on the men in her life for protection and liberty which completely masks her own personality and individuality. A liberal woman who knows her rights and is rational enough to constitute a defense mechanism on the incident that happened would never react in the way Lucretia did. Furthermore, in this context, entities like honor and ego doesn’t really constitute Christianity paradigms, rather these are also social constructs which are a product of human interaction. Thus, Lucretia was a victim of her own pride and prejudices, also the social constructs which clearly effected her quite deeply. Thus, the rebellion which followed was also a result of the flaws in the social constructs and thus, the society`s understanding of right and wrong. If the individuals fails to separate rationality from beliefs and faiths, that isn`t the fault of the Christians, rather the fault lies in the understanding and the belief principals of the individuals themselves. During the era, Rome was clearly a patriarchal society which constituted certain issues inherent in a typical patriarchal society, thus instead of putting Christianity behind the reasoning, the social system must also be analyzed in the context. Thus conclusively, the book ‘City of God’ states the argument posed by Augustine that the error which led towards fall of Rome didn’t lie inherently in the institution of Christianity; rather it was a destined natural tragedy which occurred due to flaws in societal institutions and other extrinsic factors. It was in 410 A.D. that the King Alaric took over the city of Rome, which was earlier acclaimed as the eternal city which would never collapse. However, when the tragedy happened, people from various belief systems started critiquing Christianity. The Christians themselves were acclaiming that Rome had collapsed because the Gods had abandoned them or punished them for their crimes and immorality, while pagans critiqued that the Gods were unable to protect the city of Rome which indicates an inherent flaw in the system. Thus, angered and exasperated by the critiques, Augustine attempted to write the book ‘City of Gods’ to argue over the point. Therefore, the first ten books are solely attributed to the task of refuting the pagans. The first five books talk about the belief sought by pagans that the old gods must be worshipped to acquire material benefits in the world. The first book, however, solely speaks on the reality that misfortunes are inevitable and those who attack Christians defy all sense of not only logic but also beliefs. In this context, the suicide of Lucretia plays a pivotal role as Augustine has used the episode as an instance to strengthen his argument. The suicide of Lucretia was being presumed as a heroic act during the era, which was performed to protect her honor as a direct critique on Christianity since adultery was considered as a huge crime under the belief system. However, Augustine portrayed the act as bizarre and as a reason to react to her guilty conscious which according to him has nothing to do with the flaws in Christianity. Also, he points to the fact that the suicide had nothing to do with the flaw in Christian beliefs, rather the act refuted principals of logic which only falsely reflect Christian beliefs as the reason behind the suicide. Bibliography: Augustine, Marcus Dods, and Thomas Merton. 1950. The city of God. New York: Modern Library. Read More