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The Development of the Idea of Habit in the Thought of Saint Augustine
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
Extract
This study is concerned with Augustine's use of habit (consuetudo) to explain man's reluctance to raise his mind to God, and his difficulty in doing good. In the books that will be examined here, consuetudo is nearly always used in a pejorative sense, and can thus be translated as bad habit (be it of a psychological or ethical nature). Habit as a formal instrument of thought was known to Augustine early in his life from a reading of the Categories. There he learned that habit was a quality of a substance, not a substance itself: ‘One kind of quality let us call habits ἕξιϛ and conditions (διάθεσις). A habit differs from a condition in being more stable and lasting longer. Such are the branches of knowledge and the virtues. Justice, temperance, and the rest seem to be not easily changed.’ Augustine was also aware of the idea of habit as a second nature (consuetudo secunda natura), i.e. a tendency which is created by one's own activity, and which in turn produces effects in a predictable sort of way. This idea was a commonplace of the ancient world, and may have come to Augustine through the professors of rhetoric, who taught speech and composition through the inculcation of good habits.
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References
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205 De util. cred. 1.2.Google Scholar
206 E.g. Diocletian's rescript ordering the seven great books of Manichaeism to be burnt (see Adam, A., Texte zum Manichàismus [Berlin 1954] 82–83); the law of 382 punishing stubborn Manichees with death (Cod. Theod. 16.5.9); the official purge of the Manichees at Carthage in 386.Google Scholar
207 ‘… scripsi … contra Manichaeos De duabus animabus, quarum dicunt unam partem Dei esse, alteram de gente tenebrarum … et has ambas animas, unam bonam, alteram malam, in homine uno esse delirant: istam scilicet malam propriam carnis esse dicentes… omnia vero mala illi malae animae tribuunt.’ Retract . 1.14.1 (CSEL 36.71). When Augustine talks of two ‘souls’ in man, is he interpreting Mani correctly? There has been a great deal of discussion on this point (see Ries, J., ‘Introduction aux études manichéennes’ in Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses, 35. 2 [avril-juin 1959] 365–372). It seems that it would be more in keeping with Manichaean teaching to speak of two ‘natures’ rather than two ‘souls’ (see R. Jolivet and M. Jourjon, Introduction to Six Traités Anti-Manichéens BA 17 [1961] 43). The term ‘nature’ includes the ‘flesh,’ which is certainly evil in the Manichaean system. When Fortunatus debates against Augustine, he does not talk of two ‘souls’ but rather of the opposition of body and soul, truth and lying, light and darkness. In point of fact, Augustine does speak of two ‘natures’ e.g. when describing Manichaeism in the Confessions (5.10.18) and in Contra Fortunatum 21. Whatever the term he may use, he does convey the essentials of the Manichaean position. I have tried to avoid this trouble over terminology by speaking of two ‘substances’ in man (except when citing Augustine).Google Scholar
208 De util. cred. 1.2. This appeal to reason was what had attracted the young Augustine to Manichaeism: ‘I persuaded myself that belief was more to be given to those who taught than to those who gave orders.’ De beata vita, 1.4. Cf. Widengren, G., Mani and Manichaeism (London 1965) 123.Google Scholar
209 ‘Cur non magis hoc signum est unius animae quae libera illa voluntate hue et hue ferri, hinc atque hinc referri potest’ De ii anim. 13.19 (CSEL 30.75).Google Scholar
210 Ibid. ‘Nam mihi cum accidit, unum me esse sentio utrumque considerantem, alter-utrum eligentem.’Google Scholar
211 Ibid. ‘… sed plerumque illud libet, hoc decet, quorum nos in medio positi fluctuamus.’Google Scholar
212 Ibid. ‘Ita enim nunc constituti sumus, ut et per carnem voluptate affici, et per spiritum honestate possimus.’Google Scholar
213 De ii anim. 13.19 (CSEL 25.75). Cf. ibid. 12, where the same equation of terms is made: ‘… sensibilia ab intelligibilibus, carnalia scilicet ab spiritualibus…’ Since Augustine equates ‘carnal’ with ‘sensible’ here, I shall translate ‘flesh’ (caro) as the senses.Google Scholar
214 De vera relig. 41.Google Scholar
215 De ii anim. 13.19 (CSEL 25.76).Google Scholar
216 ‘Sed factum est nobis difficile a carnalibus abstinere, cum panis verissimus noster spiritualis sit. Cum labore namque nunc edimus panem’ De ii anim. 13.19 (CSEL 30.75).Google Scholar
217 Ibid. (CSEL 25.76).Google Scholar
218 Possidius, Vita Augustini ch. 6.Google Scholar
219 C. Fort. 1.19.Google Scholar
220 Retract. 1, 1.16.1.Google Scholar
221 C. Fort. 20.Google Scholar
222 Ibid. 21. This formula runs like a leitmotif through Augustine's works, e.g. ‘Hoc est totum quod dicitur malum, peccatum et poena peccati’ (De vera relig. 12); ‘Nusquam scilicet nisi in voluntate esse peccatum’ (De ii anim. 9.12); ‘peccatum est voluntas retinendi vel consequendi quod iustitia vetat, et unde liberum est abstinere’ (11.15).Google Scholar
223 1 Tim. 6.10.Google Scholar
224 C. Fort. 21 (CSEL 25.101). It is the same situation as that with Evodius: ‘Now what could precede the will and be its cause? Either the will itself (and then nothing else but the will is the root of evil), or not the will (and then there would be no sin). … Sin cannot be attributed to anything except to the sinner’ De lib. arb. 3.17.49.Google Scholar
225 See Ries, J., ‘La Bible chez S. Augustin et chez les manichéens’ Revue des Études Augustiniennes 9 (1963) 201–215.Google Scholar
226 C. Fort. 21.Google Scholar
227 C. Fort. 21.Google Scholar
228 ‘… Nos in necessitatem praecipitati sumus, qui ab eius stirpe descendimus’ C. Fort. 22 (CSEL 25.104).Google Scholar
229 C. Fort. 22 (CSEL 25.104). ‘It cannot overcome’ (vincere non possit) should be taken in the general context of Augustine's thinking about habit, and alongside his parallel analysis of love of hunting (De diversis quaestionibus 83.70), where habit can be overcome, not however absque molestia et sine angore. Jourjon and Jolivet point out the significance of this remark: ‘On ne peut ǒter à l'homme tout pouvoir de sa volonté sur l'habitude elle-měme: s'il en devient le jouet, c'est pour avoir accepté librement d'en ětre l'esclave alors qu'il le pouvait refuser.’ Six Traités Anti-Manichéens BA 17 (1961), note complémentaire 14.770.Google Scholar
230 C. Fort. 22.Google Scholar
231 Ibid. (CSEL 25.105).Google Scholar
232 C. Fort. 22.Google Scholar
233 C. Fort. 22 (CSEL 25.104).Google Scholar
234 Ibid.Google Scholar
235 C. Fori. 22 (CSEL 25.105).Google Scholar
236 ‘Anima vero cum carnalia bona adhuc appetit, caro nominatur. Pars enim eius quaedam resistit spiritui non natura, sed consuetudine peccatorum, unde dicitur “mente servio legi Dei, carne legi peccati”’ par. 23 (PL 40.194). Cf. a similar usage in De musica 6.11.33 (PL 32.1181) ‘Haec autem animae consuetudo facta cum carne, propter carnalem affectionem, in Scripturis divinis caro nominatur.’Google Scholar
237 De genesi contra Manichaeos 2.1.421. In par. 15 Eve is described as given to Adam to teach him obedience in a tangible way: as she must obey him, so he must obey God. She symbolizes the pars animalis of the soul which the virilis ratio submits to its laws, and uses as an aid to command the body (cf. also pars. 31 and 28). Augustine's ‘spiritual’ exegesis of ‘You will bring forth your children in sorrow, and you will turn toward your husband and you will be subject to him’ is along the same lines: the pars animalis experiences difficulties in overcoming bad habits [the pains of childbirth], and turns voluntarily to reason's orders for fear of falling into them again (par. 29). Cf. also De opere monachorum 32.40 (PL 40.580); Tractatus in Johannis evangelium 15.19 (PL 35.1517); De trinitate 12.12.17–19; 13.20–42 (PL 1007–9).Google Scholar
238 De serm. Dom. in monte 1.12.34 (PL 34.1246).Google Scholar
239 The chapter is on adultery, but Augustine intends it to be applied to all sinners: ‘When I say adulterers, I mean every carnal and lustful concupiscence.’ De serm. Dom. in monte 1.12.36.Google Scholar
240 Ibid. (PL 34.1246–7).Google Scholar
241 ‘Talis enim delectatio vehementer infigit memoriae quod trahit a lubricis sensibus’ De musica 6.11.33 (PL 32.1181). Cf. also ‘Motus igitur animae servans impetum suum, et nondum exstinctus, in memoria esse dicitur …’ De musica 6.5.14 (PL 32.1154). Here the impetus would appear to refer back to the ‘carnalium negotiorum … impetus effrenatus consuetudine diuturna …’ of the same paragraph. Note that there are two ‘memories’ in Augustine. There is the more metaphysical memory of his theory of reminiscence and illumination. There is the ordinary, psychological memory which is a faculty retaining and reproducing impressions received from the external senses. Cf. De quantitate animae 33.70 and Thonnard, F.-J., La Musique (BA 7; Paris 1947) note 83 p. 522.Google Scholar
242 ‘[Anima] post peccatum divina lege facta imbecillior, minus potens est auferre quod fecit.’ De musica 6.5.14. It is with some hesitation that one uses Book VI of De musica in a work that is attempting to trace the historical development of Augustine's thought. While all six books were written in 389, the sixth book, according to Marrou, was revised by Augustine after he became bishop (Saint Augustin et la fin de la culture antique [Paris 1938] 580–583). The evidence for this is found in a letter to Memorius (Ep. 101.408–9) where Augustine says that he had corrected this book. As a result, it is difficult to know what passages were written at Thagaste, and what inserted at Hippo. The references to St. Paul on the flesh-spirit conflict probably belong to the emendations.Google Scholar
243 ‘… cum vi consuetudinis malae tamquam mole terrena premitur animus, quasi in sepulcro iam putens.’ De serm. Dom. in monte 1.12.35 (PL 34.1247).Google Scholar
244 De serm. Dom. in monte 1.12.34.Google Scholar
245 Ibid. 1.9.57.Google Scholar
246 Ibid. 1.12.25.Google Scholar
247 Ibid. 1.12.36. See St. Augustine, The Lord's Sermon on the Mount (Ancient Christian Writers 5; Westminster, Maryland 1948) note 144, 190.Google Scholar
248 Ibid. 1.12.34 (PL 34.1247). Cf. note 140 on Christian warfare in St. Augustine, The Lord's Sermon on the Mount 190.Google Scholar
249 The eighth beatitude repeats the first.Google Scholar
250 ‘Inde iam incipit scire quibus modis saeculi hujus per carnalem consuetudinem ac peccata teneatur.’ De serm. Dom. in monte 1.3.10 (PL 34.1233).Google Scholar
251 ‘… id est, contemplatio veritatis, pacificans totum hominem et suscipiens similitudinem Dei.’ Ibid. 1.3.10 (PL 34.1234).Google Scholar
252 Ibid. 1.2.9.Google Scholar
253 Ibid. 1.9.12.Google Scholar
254 On Augustine's special effort to improve his knowledge of the Bible at the beginning of his priesthood, see Holl, A., Augustins Bergpredigtexegese (Vienna 1960) 11.Google Scholar
265 ‘Cum enim charitas Legem impleat, prudentia vero carnis commoda temporalia consectando spirituali charitati adversetur …’ Ep. ad Gal. 46 (PI 35.2138).Google Scholar
256 Ibid. Cf. Prop. ep. ad Rom. 13 (PL 35.2065), where the four conditions are put more pithily: ‘… Ante Legem, sequimur concupiscentian carnis; sub Lege trahimur ab ea; sub gratia, nec sequimur eam, nec trahimur ab ea; in pace, nulla est concupiscentia carnis.’Google Scholar
257 ‘… sic secunda est sub Lege ante gratiam, quando prohibetur quidem et conatur a peccato abstinere se, sed vincitur quia nondum justitiam propter Deum et propter ipsam justitiam diligit, sed eam sibi vult ad conquirendum terrena servire. Itaque ubi viderit ex alia parte ipsam, ex alia commodum temporale, trahitur pondere temporalis cupiditatis, et relinquit justitiam …’ Ep. ad Gal. 46 (PL 35.2138).Google Scholar
258 Ibid.Google Scholar
259 ‘Caeterum qui tanguntur hujusmodi motibus, et immobiles in majore charitate consistunt, … regnum Dei possidebunt’ Ep. ad Gal. 48 (PL 35.2139).Google Scholar
260 ‘… major enim et praepollentior delectatio eorum justitia est’ Ep. ad Gal. 49 (PL 35.2140).Google Scholar
261 Ibid.Google Scholar
262 Ep. ad Gal. 46.Google Scholar
263 Aristotle, e.g. Rhetoric 1.10.1369b6; 1.11.1370a7. Also to be found in Heraclitus, Empedocles, Democritus, and the Pythagoreans, according to Funke, G., ‘Gewohnheit,’ in Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte 3 (Bonn 1958) 139.Google Scholar
264 ‘… consuetudine quasi alteram quandam naturam effici …’ De finibus 5.25.74 (Loeb ed. London 1951) 476. Macrobius, ‘… consuetudo quam secundam naturam pronunciavit usus …’ Saturnalia 7.9 (Macrobii Opera; Leyden 1670) 608. Basil, ἔΘος λὰϱ διὰ µακϱοέ χϱόνου β∊βαιωΘὲν ϕέσ∊ως ἰσχὺν λαµβάν∊ι'… consuetudo per longum tempus corroborata, naturae vim ac robur obtinet.’ Regulae fusius tractatae 6 (PG 31.926 B). ‘Non enim frustra consuetudo quasi secunda, et quasi affabricata natura dicitur’ De musica 6.7.19 (PL 32.1173).Google Scholar
265 De fide et symbolo 10.23 (CSEL 41.29).Google Scholar
266 De libero arbitrio 3.18.52 (CSEL 74.132).Google Scholar
267 Ep. ad Gal. 48 (PL 35.2140).Google Scholar
268 De diversis quaestionibus ad Simplicianum 1.1.10 (PL 40.106).Google Scholar
269 Ibid. 1.1.11 (PL 40.107).Google Scholar
270 De actis cum Felice Manichaeo 2.8 (CSEL 25.837). Cf. also ‘Invaluit enim consuetudo carnalis et naturale vinculum mortalitatis quo de Adam propagati sumus' De div. quaest. 83, 66.5 (PL 40.64).Google Scholar
271 Conf. 1.1.1. Cf. also ‘… the body which is born subject to the penalty of the first man's sin, that is, the liability of death’ (‘Corpus quod de poena peccati, hoc est de mortalitate primi hominis nascitur’) De lib. arb. 3.20.57 (CSEL 74) and Enarr. in ps. 18.1.3; 29.1.12; 129.1.Google Scholar
272 Rom. 6.12; 7.14. cf. 1 Cor. 15.54.Google Scholar
273 Adam, A. compares Augustine with Luther and Barth, pointing out that his reading of Romans was the beginning of ideas which ultimately changed the face of the Christian world. Adam, A., ‘Das Fortwirken des Manichäismus bei Augustin’ in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 69 (1958) 3.Google Scholar
274 ‘… legem peccati dicit, qua quisque carnali consuetudine implicatus astringitur’ Prop. ep. ad Rom. 45–46 (PL 35.2071).Google Scholar
275 Augustine regards Paul as speaking in verses 7–25 in the person of unjustified man. Retract. 1.23.1.Google Scholar
276 ‘… ut possit per gratiam charitas, quod per Legem timor non poterat’ Prop. ep. ad Rom. 45–46 (PL 35.2072). Cf. also Prop. ep. ad Rom. 13.Google Scholar
277 The Apostle ‘iam spiritualis erat …’ Retract. 1.23.1 (CSEL 36.105).Google Scholar
278 De div. quaest. 83, 65.Google Scholar
279 ‘Definitio prudentiae in appetendis bonis et vitandis malis explicari solet’ Prop. ep. ad Rom. 49 (PL 35.2073).Google Scholar
280 Ibid.Google Scholar
281 ‘L’Agostino dell’ VIIIº libro delle Confessioni dà alla consuetudo peccati una porta veramente centrale nel processo di conversione, mentre la prospettiva teologica degli scritti in sostanza contemporanei — dal 397 in poi — sembra già essere andata oltre questa fase, iscrivendo il problema della consuetudo e della sua risoluzione, in quello della caduta d'origine e della grazia predestinante — senza per altro arrivare alle posizioni ben più avanzate della lotta antipelagiana. … Abbiamo notato con interesse anche l'osservazione fatta dal Lekkerkerker [Römer 7 und Römer 9 bei Augustin (Amsterdam 1942)], p. 131, che, studiando l'esegesi agostiniana di Rom. VII, osserva che le pagine delle Confessioni relative alla conversione non sono teologicamente sulla stessa posizione, per es., della 2a q. del 1 libro dell’ Ad Simplicianum.’ Bolgiani, F., La Conversione di S. Agostino e l'VIIIº libro delle ‘Confessioni’ (Turin 1956) 70–1.Google Scholar
282 De verbis Domini serm. 98.6.6.Google Scholar
283 Tractatus in Johannem 49.3. De verbis Domini serm. 98.5.5.Google Scholar
284 E.g. on lying, Serm. Denis 20.2; swearing, Serm. 180.11.12.Google Scholar
285 E.g. De civ. Dei 12.3.Google Scholar
286 E.g. Ennarratio in ps. 136.21; De civ. Dei 21.16.Google Scholar
287 Serm. 151.9.4.Google Scholar
288 Enn. in ps. 5.6 (CCL 38.21). Cf. ‘In homine carnali tota regula intelligendi est consuetudo cernendi’ Serm. 242 (PL 38.11.39).Google Scholar
289 ‘Gnade und Erkenntnis stehen einander nicht feindlich gegenüber, ja es scheint eine innere Beziehung zwischen ihnen zu walten.’ ‘Gnade und Erkenntnis bei Augustinus’ in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 75 (1964) 22.Google Scholar
290 Opus imperfectum contra Julianum 5.11. Henceforth referred to as Op. imp. Google Scholar
291 Contra Julianum 2.10.37. Henceforth referred to as C. Jul. The controversy began with De nuptiis et concupiscentia, Book I (419), which Augustine wrote to show that marriage is good (not evil, as the Pelagians were accusing him of saying). Julian replied to this with 4 books to Turbantius. Extracts from the first of these were sent to Augustine, and answered in Book II of De nuptiis et concupiscentia (420/21) — it is concupiscence, not marriage, that is evil. Augustine then read the four books of Julian, and composed the Contra Julianum (422). In the next move Julian replied to De nuptiis et concupiscentia II with his 8 books to Florus. And the Opus imperfectum is Augustine's reply to this (429/30).Google Scholar
292 For this breakdown of vitium I am indebted to Martin Strohm, ‘Der Begriff der natura vitiata bei Augustin’ in Theologische Quartalschrift (2es Quartalheft 1955) 193ff.Google Scholar
293 See Bonner, G., St. Augustine of Hippo (London 1963) 401 (Appendix C).Google Scholar
294 ‘Ita hoc dicis, quasi nos concupiscentiam carnis in solam voluptatem genitalium dicamus aestuare. Prorsus in quocumque corporis sensu caro contra spiritum concupiscit, ipsa cognoscitur …’ Op. imp. 4.28 (PL 45.1352). Cf. concupiscentia as applied to lust and drunkenness in C. Jul. 6.18.55. See also Solignac, A., ‘La condition humaine dans la Philosophie de Saint Augustin’ (unpublished thesis), ch. 4, ‘La Loi de Péché,’ Rome, Pont. Univ. Gregoriana (1950–1951) 125, and H. Rondet's treatment of the ‘sens profond’ of concupiscence in ‘L'anthropologie Religieuse de Saint Augustin’ in Recherches de Science Religieuse (1939) 170.Google Scholar
295 See Prop. ep. ad Rom. 13–18; De div. quaest. ad Simp. 1.1.12ff. A. Solignac has noted this point: concupiscence ‘contraint et limite sans cesse le vouloir sans toutefois le déterminer absolument’ op. cit. 123. Likewise Mausbach, J., Die Ethik des heiligen Augustinus 2 (Freiburg 1909) 218. N. P. Williams thinks this is running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. ‘He wants to keep freedom in order to preserve man's responsibility for actual sin, and yet he wishes to throw it overboard in order to provide scope for irresistible grace.’ The Idea of the Fall and of Original Sin (London 1927) 370.Google Scholar
296 Solignac, A. has analyzed Augustine's notion of concupiscence as a sort of fundamental tendency ‘dont les deux aspects principaux seraient l'innéité et la perversion. Perversion comme désordre de la personnalité sur le plan psychologique; perversion comme révolte de la chair contre l'esprit, loi du péché, sur le plan éthique. La concupiscence de la sorte sous-tend et pervertit les instincts de l'homme dès le principe de son existence’ (op. cit. 124).Google Scholar
297 There are useful accounts of Pelagianism in Bonner, G., St. Augustine of Hippo (London 1963) 352–394; T. Bohlin, Die Theologie des Pelagius und ihre Genesis (Uppsala - Wiesbaden 1957); P. Brown, Augustine of Hippo (London 1967) 340–387; and, especially for Julian, Albert Bruckner, Julian von Eclanum in Texte und Untersuchungen 15 (Leipzig 1897) 136–165, and F. Refoulé, ‘Julien d'Éclane, théologien et philosophe,’ in Recherches de science religieuse 52 (1964) 42; 233.Google Scholar
298 ‘… indidit affectum quo sibi haec corpora miscerentur Deus … nihil autem malum nihil reum fecit Deus’ Op. imp. 4.40 (PL 45.1360); cf. Op. imp. 1.71; 2.145; 3.142; 4.67; 5.5 and 8.Google Scholar
299 Ibid. 6.20 (PL 45.1545).Google Scholar
300 Ibid. 6.23 (PL 45.1554).Google Scholar
301 Ibid. 6.41 (PL 45.1604).Google Scholar
302 Ibid. 6.19 (PL 45.1543).Google Scholar
303 Ibid. 6.25ff. (PL 45.1553).Google Scholar
304 ‘… sed quia patrum in omnibus efficacior est et major auctoritas, eum dixit [Paulus] formam fuisse peccati, non a quo coepit delictum, sed qui per potestatem sexus virilis, magis fuisse probatur imitabilis’ Op. imp. 2.190 (PL 45.1224).Google Scholar
305 Op. imp. 3.95 (PL 45.1288).Google Scholar
306 ‘Nos dicimus peccato hominis, non naturae statum mutari, sed meriti qualitatem’ Op. imp. 1.96 (PL 45.1112).Google Scholar
307 ‘… nulla magis re quam imitatione vitiorum invaluisse peccata …’ Op. imp. 2.48 (PL 45.1162).Google Scholar
308 ‘Ipsa gratia legem in adiutorium misit: ad eius spectabat officium, ut rationis lumen, quod pravitatis exempla hebetabant et consuetudo vitiorum, multimodis eruditionibus excitaret, atque invitatu suo foveret’ Op. imp. 1.94 (PL 45.1111).Google Scholar
309 C. Jul. 6.23.73.Google Scholar
310 Op. imp. 1.94 (PL 45.1111).Google Scholar
311 Ibid. 2.171.Google Scholar
312 Ibid. 1.67; 110.Google Scholar
313 ‘Liberias arbitrii, qua a Deo emancipatus homo est in admittendi peccati et abstinendi a peccato possibilitate consistit’ Op. imp. 1.78 (PL 45.1102). Cf. Julian's other definitions of freedom: ‘Liberum autem arbitrium et post peccata tam plenum est, quam fuit ante peccata’ Op. imp. 1.91 (PL 45.1108); ‘Voluntas enim nihil aliud est quam motus animi cogente nullo’ Op. imp. 5.40 (PL 45. 1476); ‘Libertas autem nihil aliud est quam possibilitas boni malique, sed voluntarii’ Op. imp. 6.11 (PL 45.1519); and Op. imp. 5.28.Google Scholar
314 E.g. ‘In quibus verbis evidenter apparet, liberum arbitrium malo suo usu esse vitiatum’ Op. imp. 6.13 (PL 45.1524).Google Scholar
315 For details of his earlier exegesis see Platz, P., Der Römerbrief in der Gnadenlehre Augustins (Würzburg 1938) 147.Google Scholar
316 Augustine gives the reasons for his first view in Contra Julianum 6.23.70 and Contra ii ep. Pelag. 1.10.20.Google Scholar
317 The date given by Platz (op. cit. 148). A. Rétif sees signs of a change as early as 412, ‘Apropos de l'interprétation du chapitre VII des Romains par Saint Augustin’ in Recherches de Science Religieuse 33 (1946) 368.Google Scholar
318 For instances of this change see Platz, P., op. cit. 149–150.Google Scholar
319 Op. imp. 1.67.Google Scholar
320 Retract 1.22.1 (CSEL 36.106). ‘Unde quidem iam evertitur haeresis pelagiana, quae vult non ex Deo nobis, sed ex nobis esse caritatem qua bene ac pie vivimus.’Google Scholar
321 C. Jul. 6.23.70. Cf. ‘… quae postea lectis quibusdam divinorum tractatoribus eloquiorum, quorum me moveret auctoritas, consideravi diligentius …’ Retract, ibid.Google Scholar
322 From the Apologeticus primus de sua fuga, cited in C. Jul. 2.3.7 and also in Op. imp. 1.69.Google Scholar
323 C. Jul. ibid. Google Scholar
324 De Oratione Dominica, cited in C. Jul. 2.3.6.Google Scholar
325 Ibid.Google Scholar
326 Cited ibid.Google Scholar
327 De paenitentia 1.3.13 cited in C. Jul. 2.3.5.Google Scholar
328 C. Jul. 2.3.5.Google Scholar
329 E.g. Phil. 3.12–14; 2 Cor. 4.7; 12.7. P. Platz shows that as early as the De sermone Domini in monte and the De continentia, Augustine was applying the words of Paul to a Christian's life. Op. cit. 147.Google Scholar
330 C. Jul. 2.3.5; 8.30; 3.26.61; 6.23.72; Op. imp. 1.67; 6.15.Google Scholar
331 Op. imp. 1.67 (PL 45.1086). Cf. also 1.69; 1.105; 5.59; 6.12–13.Google Scholar
332 Op. imp. 1.67.Google Scholar
333 1 Tim. 1.15–16, cited ibid.Google Scholar
334 Op. imp. 1.67 (PL 45.1086–1087).Google Scholar
335 See Nemesius of Emesa, On the Nature of Man, trans. Telfer, William (Library of Christian Classics 4; London 1955) Introduction 206–210.Google Scholar
336 See Brown, P., Augustine of Hippo 382.Google Scholar
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338 ‘Hinc in persona eius hominis loquitur qui legem accipit, id est, qui primum Dei mandata cognoscit, cum consuetudinem habeat delinquendi.’ Pelagi Expositio in Romanos ed. Souter, A. (Texts & Studies 9; Cambridge 1926) 56.Google Scholar
339 ‘Non ego, quia >velut> invitus, set consuetudo peccati, quam tamen necessitatem ipse mihi par vi.’ Souter, 59.velut>+invitus,+set+consuetudo+peccati,+quam+tamen+necessitatem+ipse+mihi+par+vi.’+Souter,+59.>Google Scholar
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341 Ibid. 193.Google Scholar
342 Ibid. 194.Google Scholar
343 Ibid. Cf. similar parallels on vv. 7 and 20, op. cit. 191–193.Google Scholar
344 Prop. ep. ad Rom. 45–46 (PL 35.2071). Note also ‘lex enim peccati est violentia consuetudinis' Conf. 8.12 (BA 14.32).Google Scholar
345 Op. cit. 19.202; 20.55–59, 61, 64. Cf. also Souter, A., The Earliest Latin Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Paul (Oxford 1927) 198, though note the warnings of B. Leeming on one of these parallels, the massa perditionis in ‘Augustine, Ambrosiaster and the massa perditionis' in Gregorianum 11 (1930) 58–91.Google Scholar
346 In 392 Augustine had written to Jerome, asking for translations of Greek commentators on the Bible, especially of Origen (Ep. 28.2.2). The commentaries did not arrive. Origen, in fact, fell out of favor at this time. We do know that Augustine had codices of Hilary of Poitiers in his library, and in one of these we come across the ‘habit-chain’ image again. Hilary is appealing for instruction in good morals from one's youth on: ‘Difficile est enim ab usitatis desinere, difficile est a familiaribus abstrahi, magnum in se consuetudo habet vinculum’ Tract. in 118 Psal. Lit. 2.1 (CSEL 22.370).Google Scholar
347 ‘Quod si judicium de bono habet voluntas, consuetudo autem carnalium vitiorum, quae lex carnalis vel lex membrorum appellata est, obsistit et subripit, ex eo quod boni voluntatem gero, licet agam mala. … Consuetudinem namque peccandi peccatum nominavit.’ Origenis commentarii in epistolam b. Pauli ad Romanos 6 (PL 14.1087).Google Scholar
348 Op. imp. 1.67.Google Scholar
349 ‘Tu quoque ipse … dicis “evenire hominibus affectionalem qualitatem atque ita inhaerescere, ut aut magnis molitionibus, aut nullis separetur omnino”’ Op. imp. 1.105 (PL 45.1119).Google Scholar
350 ‘Quod in unoquoque agitur per violentiam consuetudinis … hoc actum esse per violentiam summi illius maximique peccati primi hominis in omnibus qui erant in lumbis ejus …’ Op. imp. 5.59 (PL 45.1493). ‘Si autem propter malam consuetudinem, sicut sapis, clamat homo, “Non quod volo, facio bonum; sed quod nolo malum, hoc ago” (Rom. 7.19): certe vel in isto fatemini humanam voluntatem vires bonorum operum perdidisse, cui nisi divinae gratiae subveniat adjutorium, quid ei prodest copiosum et ornatum cujuslibet exhortantis eloquium?’ Op. imp. 2.10 (PL 45.1145). ‘Sed hoc vos non vitiatae in primo homine naturae humanae, sed malae consuetudini cujusque tribuitis, quam sibi praevalentem volens, nec valens homo vincere, suamque libertatem ad bonum perficiendum integram non inveniens, dicere ista compellitur; quasi vero vim consuetudinis malae insuperabilem patiatur, ut ab ea se poscat Dei gratia liberari, nisi infirmata natura’ Op. imp. 6.13 (PL. 45.1524). The same idea is expressed in Op. imp. 1.105; 2.15; 6.12,17.Google Scholar
351 These are words from Julian's attack on Augustine, Op. imp. 4.103 (PL 45.1397).Google Scholar
352 Op. imp. 4.103 (PL 45.1398).Google Scholar
353 ‘Ac per hoc, etiam secundum vos, peccandi necessitas unde abstinere liberum non est, illius peccati poena est, a quo abstinere liberum fuit, quando nullum pondus necessitatis urgebat. Cur ergo non creditis tantum saltem valuisse illud primi hominis ineffabiliter grande peccatum, ut eo vitiaretur humana natura universa, quantum valet nunc in homine uno secunda natura ? Sic enim a doctis appellari consuetudinem nos commemorandos putasti’ Op. imp. 1.105 (PL 45.119). ‘Illum saltem attende, qui dicit “Non quod volo, hoc ago, sed quod odi, illud facio”: quem vos non vultis vitiata origine, sed prevalente mala consuetudine laborare; ac sic etiam vos fatemini liberum arbitrium, male se utendo, posse deficere; et non vultis illo tam grandi peccato, ut omni mala consuetudine fuerit majus et pejus, vitiari potuisse in humana natura liberum arbitrium.’ Op. imp. 6.12 (PL 45.1523).Google Scholar
354 Op. imp. 3.154.Google Scholar
355 Op. imp. 1.69. Cf. also 1.97; 3.187; 5.25; 6.28.Google Scholar
356 ‘Per illas igitur sordes … sibi vindicavit diabolus imaginem Dei, non per substantiam, quam creavit Deus’ Op. imp. 1.63 (PL 45.1082).Google Scholar
367 Op. imp. 1.63; 3.189. M. Strohm explains naturae vitiosae as natures affected with a corruption which seeks to destroy their natural good. ‘Der Begriff der natura vitiata bei Augustin’ 188.Google Scholar
358 ‘Sed illi sic dicunt malam carnis naturam, ut eam malum esse dicant, non malum habere, quia ipsum vitium non substantiae accidens, sed substantiam putant esse’ Op. imp. 3.189 (PL 45.1330).Google Scholar
359 ‘Nos autem a Manichaeo longe sumus, qui naturae bonae sive in grandibus, sive in parvulis, et vitium confitemur et medicum’ Op. imp. 6.13 (PL 45.1525).Google Scholar
360 Brown, P., Augustine of Hippo 393.Google Scholar
361 ‘Itane vero non cernis, Manichaeo te, ignoranter quidem, sed instanter tamen isto tuae loquacitatis inflato atque spumoso strepitu suffragari?’ Op. imp. 6.9 (PL 45.1515). Cf. Op. imp. 1.97; 4.50, 56, 72; 5.25; 6.6, 41. See Yves de Montcheuil, ‘La polemique de S. Augustin contre Julien d'Éclane d'après l’ Opus imperfectum’ in Recherches de Science Religieuse 44 (1956) 193–198.Google Scholar
362 Op. imp. 6.9 (PL 45.1515).Google Scholar
363 Op. imp. 5.41.Google Scholar
364 ‘Addunt ergo vires eidem concupiscentiae peccata, quae accedunt propria voluntate peccantium, et ipsa consuetudo peccandi, quae non frustra dici solet secunda natura’ Op. imp. 6.41 (PL 45. 1605).Google Scholar
365 ‘Vincere consuetudinem, dura pugna, nosti. … Vides quam male facias, quam detestabiliter, quam infeliciter, et facis tamen. … Unde raperis? Quis te captivum trahit? An illa lex in membris tuis repugnans legi mentis tuae?’ Enarr. 2a in p. 30.13 (CCL 38.201).Google Scholar
366 ‘… et tamen malo resistitur, dum concupiscentiae per continentiam denegatur, quod per consuetudinem concupiscitur’ C. Jul. 6.18.55 (PL 44.855).Google Scholar
367 ‘… et tanto amplius in ea superanda voluntas laborabit, quanto majores ei consuetudo vires dedit’ ibid.Google Scholar
368 ‘Something similar’ (‘tale aliquid’) in Op. imp. 4.103 and 5.64. Cf. Mausbach, J., Die Ethik des heiligen Augustinus 2.220–221.Google Scholar
369 The ground for this distinction can be found, e.g. in the Retractations, where Augustine, commenting on his statement ‘There is no natural evil,’ says ‘I was speaking here of nature as it was first created without any defect. This is the nature of man in the true and proper sense’ Retract. 1.10.3. Note also: ‘We use the word “nature” properly speaking of the nature which men share in common, and with which at first man was created in a state of innocence. We also use nature to mean that nature with which we are born mortal, ignorant, and slaves of the flesh, after sentence has been pronounced on the first man’ De libero arbitrio 3.19.54. And ‘primae suae perfectaeque naturae …’ De vera relig. 19 (CCL 32.199). Cf. F.-J. Thonnard, ‘La notion de nature chez Saint Augustin,’ in Revue des Études Augustiniennes 11.3–4 (1965) 246.Google Scholar
370 ‘Man, under the pressure and weight of habit, can simultaneously will to practice righteousness and be under the necessity of committing sin’ Op. imp. 4.103.Google Scholar
371 ‘Adhuc enim habet quo crescat [concupiscentia]; quoniam minor est, quamdiu non a sciente, sed ab ignorante peccatur’ Op. imp. 6.41 (PL 45.1605).Google Scholar
372 De nuptiis et concupiscentia 1.28. He also compares it to drunkenness and timidity. C. Jul. 6.18.55.Google Scholar
373 C. Jul. 2.10.36.Google Scholar
374 C. Jul. 6.20.64.Google Scholar
375 C. Jul. 1.4.12. cf ‘An forte et categorias Aristotelis, antequam tuos libros legant, eis exponens ipse lecturus es?’ Op. imp. 2.51 (PL 45.1163).Google Scholar
376 Op. imp. 2.36.Google Scholar
377 C. Jul. 2.10.36. cf. 5.1.4.Google Scholar
378 C. Jul. 2.10.37.Google Scholar
379 C. Jul. 5.14.51. See also C. Jul. 6.18.54. Op. imp. 3.189.Google Scholar
380 C. Jul. 5.14.51.Google Scholar
381 Ibid.Google Scholar
382 Marrou speaks of ‘un empirisme d'accent très moderne’ S. Augustin et la fin de la culture antique 457. Thonnard contributes an interesting explanation: ‘De fait, les antagonistes n'étaient pas (comme ce sera le cas de saint Thomas) des professeurs d'Université cherchant à préciser d'après les catégories d'Aristote la nature de l'homme et des attributs divins, ou la nature de la liberté et de la grǎce, du péché originel et des privilèges (surnaturels ou préternaturels) du premier homme. C'étaient des moralistes, plus exactement des ascètes, évěques ou moines, qui cherchaient les meilleurs moyens de conduire les fervents chrétiens à la perfection terrestre et au but de la vie éternelle. Aussi s'intéressent-ils avant tout … à la situation historique des hommes actuels et aux ressources qu'ils peuvent trouver dans leur nature, telle qu'elle est maintenant, pour réaliser l'idéal de l'Évangile …’ (‘La notion de nature chez saint Augustin’ 265).Google Scholar
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