"Saint Augustine and the 'Eloquentia,'" Etudes sur le latin des chretiens, 1 (continued)
8 ST. AUGUSTINE and answers in a quasi-dialogue form, occasional rhymes, and a multitude of word plays which are difficult to translate. He also used the nonliterary word where it would communicate more effectively to the unlettered in his audience. Repetition, particularly of Scripture, is especially noticeable in these Tractates. The result of this compromise with classicism was not a debased, vulgar plebian style; rather, Augustine created a new homiletic style of high aesthetic impact.^^ The translator is not altogether confident that his translation even adequately captures the alluring beauty of Augustinian Latinity.^^ (7) There was, however, no compromise in the content, only in the style. Augustine discussed in his Tractates the theological problems with which he was currently concerned. He was a humble Christian, no savant overly proud of his genius and accomplishments (although one should not think from this that he did not stand up vigorously to those who opposed him, or that he did not take an aggressive and determined stand for what he was convinced was true a' id right). He did not consider his theology too difficult or too abstruse for the simple folk; they received the fullness of his theological knowledge and spiritual experience, whatever the style of his sermon might be. It would seem that these people of God, in spite of their lack of education, were so well informed, natively intelligent, and deeply interested in doctrinal questions that they grasped fairly well what he preached.
24. See Brown, Augustine, 256, on how the fusion of many elements with a modified classicism produced this new life for Christian oratorical style.
25. "Many . . . find it impossible to read these Tractates in the original, but if they are obliged to make use of a translation, they lose much of the beauty and force of the original. For Augustine's power and charm lie very often in the exquisite Latin he employs," E. Pope, "Saint Augustine's Tractatus in lohannem: A Neglected Classic," The Ecclesiastical Review 49 (1913) 169.
26. See Mohrmann, "Saint Augustin predicateur," 96; and Van der Meer, 432-438. One clearly gets this impression from reading these sermons. But Brown, Augustine, 248-249, points out that there existed in the Christian world of this time a split between "an ascetic elite," who sought "the perfect life," and a somewhat demoralized "passive rank and file" who knew that they could not attain this perfection. Augustine, in striving for perfection and belonging to the "elite," may have expected of his people, even though he worked for them with deep love and heroic devotion, more than they were capable of.